Bench Warrants: Discussion

Greetings,

I am curious as to any other people's dealings with bench warrants. I can attest as to what I have come to learn first-hand in two different states. First off, a bench warrant is a different kind of warrant, as opposed to a warrant of arrest. The "bench" warrant does not authorize entry into one's private dwelling, or even another's. You can sit there until doomsday and there isn't a damn thing they can do about it, EVEN if they KNOW you are there. It encompasses one of those situations where they can pick you up IF they see you in public.

But, I have done some limited research of various state statutes, and find that they are very vague (deliberately, no doubt) as to what justifies initiating a bench warrant, what constitutes proper notice of a hearing BEFORE a warrant can be issued, and WHO is authorized to issue said warrants.

Also, I had read a statute somewhere long ago that had a one year limitation on bench warrants, at which point they would have to be renewed at the request of the complaining party. If not, the warrant is dead. Has anyone else heard of such a statute?

Does anyone have any similar experiences or potentially valuable input in this area? I feel that given the experimental manner in which many of us are dealing with the courts, we should be finding out just to be prepared, if nothing else.

Sincerely,
truth