Q: I have been charged for 2 misdemeanor's in Hawaii. How will this affect my travels if a warrant is issued for my arrest?
I have been charged for 2 misdemeanor's in Hawaii CPD3 and CPD4. I am an Australian citizen currently in Canada. I have a court date on 17/02. How will this affect my travels if a warrant is issued for my arrest or if I am convicted of the charges? If there is a warrant issued for my arrest will this only be in Hawaii or if I enter anywhere in the US will I be arrested? Also at the Canadian border. In the US, Canada and returning to Australia?
A: Entirely depends on how the warrant is endorsed. I doubt, but could be wrong, that a Judge would endorse a warrant to have a person returned to the jurisdiction for minor offences. The CBSA would likely be able to tell if you have outstanding charges in the USA, and would know if there was a warrant. They would certainly investigate and ask questions when you are entering Canada, but I doubt that they would detain you.
A: I cannot answer as to your possible outcome for interacting with border agents for the USA or to the impacts of a conviction for either or both offenses on your ability to travel (more of an immigration law question). But as to the Hawaiʻi criminal law aspect of your question, I can tell you that bench warrants issued by a court in Hawaiʻi for petty misdemeanors (CPD 4) and misdemeanors (CPD 3) are not extraditable from other US jurisdictions. If you were arrested or detained by another State they should not detain you further to conduct an extradition hearing or fly you back in custody after such a hearing because the warrant is not extraditable. Though if you have to fly back to Australia through Hawaiʻi the State would be able to arrest you during a layover in Hawaiʻi if they found you and served you with the warrant and arrested you.
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