Troy municipal court to offer amnesty Thursday

Published 9:40 pm Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Troy Municipal Court is offering residents with outstanding municipal warrants a chance to clear their cases without being arrested.

Amnesty is available from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 15, for all people with outstanding municipal warrants.

Neal Armstrong, administrator of the municipal court, said this is a “once in a blue moon” chance for residents to clear up outstanding issues.

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“This is important to help people get their driver’s license back or to get warrants out of the way without having to be humiliated in front of family,” Armstrong said. “It also saves money. When you’re arrested there is a mandated $35 bonding fee, a $12 warrant fee that goes straight to the state and a $25 fee for failure to appear; those are all waived if you come to us on Thursday.”

Amnesty is offered to all individuals who have received traffic, parking, litter, animal or noise citations; failed to appear or pay fines; and for whom contempt warrants have been issued on these charges. Certain offenses such as driving under the influence, reckless driving and non-traffic cases do not apply, but Armstrong said the amnesty day will allow for people facing these charges to spend 10 min utes at the courthouse and bond out on a signature without ever having to spend time behind bars.

“There are situations, it’s sad but true, where people are scared to call 911 for help because of a warrant that they didn’t pay a speeding ticket from 2005,” Armstrong said. “People let tickets get behind whether paying for a speeding ticket or court tickets and go around trying not to get arrested.”

Armstrong warned, however, that any county court warrants are not under amnesty and officers will arrest anyone that shows up with a county warrant as required by law.

Anyone wishing to take advantage of the amnesty may do so by appearing at the Troy Municipal Court located at 300 Elm Street on March 15. One may also call ahead and alert a magistrate beforehand to expedite the process.

Armstrong advised that anyone looking to take advantage of the offer show up Thursday before it is too late.

For more information regarding amnesty court day procedures call the Troy Municipal Court at 334-566-4248.