its weird, but judges have the power to order people jailed...they sign bench warrants for people who don't appear, arrest warrants every day... pretty cool what all a judge can do.. like jail someone for violating a court order, or protective order, or restraining order..
Exactly.
They do it constantly.
True story here... I was sitting in court once and a person who had a wreckless driving case didn't show... their attorney couldn't make it and the attorney had sent a letter in to the courts explaining the situation, requesting a continuance, and that the person was out of town for work.
A bailiff read the letter from the attorney in open court and the judge must have had some kind of bad day because he issued a bench warrant straight away.
No question... no nothing... I talked to the bailiff at lunch and he was actually dumbfounded. He had never heard of the judge issuing a bench warrant when a continuance and letter had been sent to the courts.
Judge just decided he wanted to do it.
The Bailiff had no choice but to issue the warrant as he was requested to do, but it was virtually unheard of he said.
The bailiff even called the attorney on the case to let him know what had happened because he was so shocked by it.
Judges have a lot of power... can do anything they want in their court and there isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it.