What Happens If I Leave New Orleans After Being Arrested?

Seth: Next year New Orleans is supposed to have 10 million plus tourists, so a lot of these people will end up unfortunately getting arrested in New Orleans. So, can they leave New Orleans once they’ve been arrested?

David: That’s a good question, and you cannot leave New Orleans, unless you have an attorney filing a motion to leave the jurisdiction. If you were released on bond, that means that a bond condition is that you cannot leave the jurisdiction of the court, which sometimes may be the parish or the state of Louisiana. So obviously these tourists, unless they file a motion, can obviously get in trouble if they leave the jurisdiction without the court’s approval.

Seth: And I think sometimes when people get out on bond, they think that’s it. Then we get that call a lot of times, “Hey, I’m home in New York now. I got out of jail, so I’m good, right?” And they don’t realize they’ve missed a court date, maybe it’s that Monday, maybe it’s three weeks from now.

David: Exactly, and if you miss a court date, a lot of times a judge can issue a bench warrant for your arrest, for failing to appear in court. That’s something that hiring an attorney in New Orleans, we can actually appear on your behalf a lot of times for a misdemeanor, or even sometimes felony cases, when we get progress reports and things like that from the court, as long as you give us permission to do that. So that’s one good thing about hiring an attorney in New Orleans.

Seth: So I think there’s a few things. When someone gets released from jail, they may have potential court dates and also there’s certain crimes, like domestic violence or maybe drug crimes or they have to report in either your domestic abuse class or they need to enroll and take a drug test or have a status hearing. And then, ultimately, they can’t leave the city of New Orleans or the state of Louisiana without filing this motion to leave the jurisdiction, which is discretionary. The judge doesn’t have to grant it. On certain violent cases, he may not want to.

David: Exactly.

Seth: Or she may not want to.

David: And it becomes an issue too if you’ve used a bondsman, because you have to get the bondsman approval to leave the jurisdiction. So, in addition to the judge agreeing to allow you to leave. So that’s something that, obviously, we can talk to the district attorney, to the bondsman, as well the judge, and try and get everyone to approve you to be able to leave the jurisdiction. Get the motion signed, so you can return home and return to work.

Seth: So if you get arrested in New Orleans, you need an attorney to go through all of these items to make sure you are comporting with the court’s wishes. Give us a call, 504-599-9997 and myself or David will be happy to review your case and help you be allowed to leave the city. Thank you so much.