In Las Vegas, there are many judicial arenas of limited and fuller jurisdiction. What do I mean when I say this? Suppose you are driving over the posted limit, you are not wearing a seat belt, and two years ago you were arrested for shoplifting an item worth over $250, i.e. a felony. You thought that you had completed all of the terms that the judge ordered such as community service, payment of a fine and all fees. So, you thought there could not be any problem with that older case.
As the police officer (depending on what area of town you are in you may be pulled over by The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department [also known as LVMPD]; The North Las Vegas City Police; The Nevada Highway Patrol; and, the Henderson City Police), is deciding to pull you over for speeding and failure to wear a seat belt, the officer has entered your vehicle information into the "SCOPE" computer to see whether the vehicle is registered and to whom it is registered.
The officer will ask you for your identification and insurance papers. The officer will enter your identification information into "SCOPE" and up will pop your prior grand theft felony case, which is now showing that a "no-bail" bench warrant has been issued. The police officer will verify the legitimacy of the "no-bail" warrant and then will arrest you on that charge. If you were pulled over in downtown area of Las Vegas, you would be taken to the Clark County Detention Center to wait for your next court date. At that hearing, you will learn what you did not finish from the last case.
Many times, a good attorney will have already pulled the minutes of the old case and may be able to obtain information that will establish to the judge that you did all you were supposed to do and then you should be released. If that cannot be accomplished, then it is your attorney's job to try to re-negotiate the case with the deputy district attorney and come up with what ever remedy is best for you. You must be consulted and agree with any new negotiations of your case. You must be sure that you truly understand what you will be required to do to finalize the case. In our jurisdiction, you usually only get one chance to clear up previous mistakes.
Now, had you not had the problems with the old case, the officer would probably have only written a citation stating the charges and the next court date.
Depending upon the area which you were driving, the ticket will specify WHICH court you need to appear at, i.e. either the Las Vegas Municipal Court, or the Clark County Justice Court, the North Las Vegas Municipal Court, or the North Las Vegas Justice Court. Each one of these courts has differences in the way their court rooms are run, and have different processes/procedures for permitting an attorney to appear on you behalf so that you do not have to waste time from your job or travel back to Las Vegas only to obtain a new court date.
The foregoing is a pretty simple description of what can happen based upon a traffic misdemeanor charge. But I hope it shows why having an attorney with you throughout the whole ordeal is very important.
Having an attorney is an absolute must if you are charged with any crime that could result in a sentence of imprisonment in either the Clark County Detention Center or the Nevada Department of Corrections.
