I’ve never heard of Katt Williams, but after reading about his situation, I thought I would write a fews words. It seems that Mr. Williams is a comedian who lives in Los Angeles and has had several issues with the law in recent months. He has lost custody of his children, has been arrested for guns and drugs and most recently missed a court date in Sacramento, California for a serious offense. Katt was out of $105,000 bail for felony evading arrest (Vehicle Code Section 2800.2) and misdemeanor reckless driving (VC 23103). Evading arrest is punishable by a mandatory minimum 180 days county jail and is often cause for a prison sentence. Reckless driving is a two point misdemeanor that carries a maximum possible punishment of 90 days jail and or a fine.
The news reports alleged that Katt was riding on a three wheel motorcycle at high speeds and nearly hit pedestrians. The pursuit was called off by law enforcement due to danger to the public. This is common in the case of motorcycle pursuits where the rider/passenger and innocent people can be killed on or by a high speed motorcycle.
Williams was arrested after a warrant was issued for his arrest in Sacramento County. The warrant was issued when he failed to appear in court…at all. TMZ caught up with Williams (someone seems to know who he is) and he told them that he went to a different court date to deal with a child endangerment case.
Mr. Williams, your lawyer should have told you that court appearances for felonies are mandatory. While it is true that court dates can conflict with one another, judges have discretion in setting many court dates. If we tell a judge we have to be in court in another case, they will usually accommodate our schedules. Next, courts have a hierarchy of what cases come first in priority: Federal cases come before state cases, criminal cases come before civil cases, felonies come before misdemeanors and in custody cases come before out of custody cases. And, if none of those things help, we can often advance or make a court date earlier if necessary. By calling a court ahead of time and telling them of the conflict, we can often change a date by notifying the court and going to court earlier and avoid this type of mess.
TMZ says Katt is out of custody again – presumably by posting new bail. This means after the ten grand he spent already, he likely spent at least that a second time. With twenty grand, Katt could have bought some really nice new guns. But, who am I to tell him how to spend his money.
Good luck Katt.
If you have questions about this or any other criminal law case, call me, Jeffrey S. Vallens (888) 764-4340 or (818) 783-5700 or email me at jv@4criminaldefense.com.