In criminal defense, there are situations where people are arrested in one county or one state. It's determined that they have a warrant in another county or form, someone's charged in a form, and they have a warrant in California. The state that has them is trying to send them back to California to answer for the charges there.

When somebody is moved from one location to another to face the charges in that state, it's called extradition – and basically, that's moving the person's body from the state that has them to another state to face the charges that they have pending in that state. There is a process that must be adhered to extradite somebody from one state to another.

Identification Of The Person Being Extradited

This process has to do with first identifying that the person being deported is the person they are looking for in the state with the pending charges. This is an identity hearing where the person is entitled to argue they are not the person that they're looking for. Therefore, they should not be deported back or to where they allegedly have pending charges.

Another option in this circumstance is if you know that you're the person they're looking for. You're wasting your time trying to argue against identity because they're probably going to have photographs, fingerprints, and a variety of other ways to determine that you're the person to be extradited under Penal Code 1548 PC. 

In this case, you can simply waive the identity hearing and extradition and let them send you back to the location where you have charges pending. This is something you will want to discuss with your attorney and make the decision that makes sense for you based on the totality of the circumstances you're dealing with.

Do they Extradite People Every Single Time?

Sometimes they don't deport somebody from one location to another because the state that wants that person's body doesn't fulfill what they are supposed to do to get them. In other words, sometimes there needs to be transported, documents need to be signed, so a lot of times, there's a waiting period that applies to your particular case.

Once that waiting period is gone, if the state that has the charges against you does not come and get your body, or does not show that they want to execute on the extradition, then obviously, you're going to be let go if you don't have anything pending in the jurisdiction that has their hands on you.

So, the bottom line is if you or a loved one has an extradition situation in California. Suppose you want to get it dealt with. In that case, you're going to probably want to hire a defense lawyer in either the location where the person is in custody or the location where they have the case pending so that you can get this matter taken care of quickly and effectively.

The bottom line is first to contact the jurisdiction where the warrant is pending and get an attorney there to look into and see what can be done. Sometimes bail can be posted in that matter, and the person can be released. Several different angles can be utilized in an extradition situation, but having the right attorney is crucial to guide you through a sometimes-difficult legal system successfully.