In criminal cases, the testimony of witnesses is not just crucial, it's the cornerstone for establishing the facts and proving the charges. Prosecutors typically must call witnesses at a preliminary hearing, during a motion, or at trial. The defense is also entitled to call witnesses at the right proceedings, underscoring their pivotal role in the legal process.

To call a witness, you don't just ask, you wield the power of a subpoena. You issue a subpoena and have it served on them, essentially ordering that person to appear in court. It's a legal command that cannot be ignored.

It is worth noting that defense attorneys have the same subpoena power as prosecutors in a Los Angeles criminal case, ensuring a fair and balanced legal process. This power is exercised to ensure that all necessary witnesses testify in the case, and they can present material evidence that supports one side or the other.

So, as to whether someone can be arrested, certain circumstances must exist for them to be arrested for failing to appear in court. This highlights the seriousness of the legal process and the consequences of failing to fulfill one's legal obligations.

For example, let's say there's a preliminary hearing in a felony criminal case pending in Los Angeles. The prosecutors issued a subpoena for a witness. They served it on them—in other words, they sent out a police officer.

The police officer put it in their hand and said, ' You need to come to court on this date. ' The subpoena is really clear about when the person has to come to court, and the person decides not to come. Maybe they don't want to come because it's their husband who is in trouble, and now they don't want to prosecute the husband because the husband is the sole supporter of the family, and they've had a change of heart.

Prosecutor Seeking a Continuance If Witness Doesn't Show Up

If they don't appear at the preliminary hearing, the prosecutor can request to continue the case and state, "I have a subpoena issued for this person." Then, they'd show the judge the proof of service, which would demonstrate that the person had been served with the subpoena, who had served it, and that the service had been done properly. Then, they'd have to ask the judge to issue a body attachment for that particular witness.

The judge would do it as long as all the criteria were met. Then, with that body attachment, they could send law enforcement to take the person into custody, bring them to court, or hold them until the court proceeding, and then force them to testify against the individual.

The judge would instruct them to testify. If they try to plead the Fifth, the judge could say, ' No, you don't have the right to plead the Fifth because you're not necessarily going to say anything that incriminates yourself. '

You just don't want to testify, so that's the right way to do it. Sometimes, prosecutors try to do it the easy way by either calling the person to inform them that they must appear or sending a letter in the mail.

This is not an official method. If the person who got called or was sent a letter in the mail doesn't show up, the prosecutors cannot issue a body attachment and cannot arrest that person because they didn't do it the right way with a subpoena in their hands, so they're clear that they have to show up.

Seeking Body Attachment For an Arrest and Brought to Court

So, the answer is yes. A person can be arrested for failing to appear in a criminal case, provided the party issuing the subpoena has done so correctly. This means that the subpoena must have been properly served, and the person must have been aware of their obligation to appear in court. The same goes for the defense.

The defense serves a subpoena on the right person and hits them with it. They, too, can ask the court to issue a body attachment and get that person arrested and brought into court to testify in the criminal case.

The next question is, will prosecutors really start arresting their witnesses or even victims in criminal cases? The answer is that sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. There needs to be a clearer, defined answer for that.

In my view, having done this for twenty-five years, if it's a serious enough case where they really want to apprehend the defendant because they perceive them as a significant danger to the public or even the victim in the case, they will arrest witnesses to secure the defendant's arrest.

Why? Because they feel that is the best way to serve the public by ensuring this person is convicted of the crime and punished for their actions. Another thing is that they must be able to locate the person to whom they're trying to issue the subpoena.

If they can't find the person, then there's really nothing you can do about that. I've had defense cases, and I've seen prosecution cases where it's just impossible to find those witnesses. It's not anybody's fault. Often, witnesses intentionally evade the police because they don't want to be served with a subpoena, and even the defense is trying to locate witnesses.

We've had cases where my investigator was unable to locate someone. That person didn't have an address. They did not want to be served. They did not want to be part of the case. So, yes, you can get him arrested if you can serve him. But if you can't serve him, that puts you in a really difficult position in trying to get that particular witness into court.