Tulsa County’s warrant clearing event gives people chance to resolve traffic and misdemeanor cases

Hundreds of people in Tulsa County got to take care of their misdemeanor warrants Friday without going into a courtroom.

Tulsa County Judges, the District Attorney’s Office and Tulsa County Public Defender’s Office say their first off-site “Warrant Clearing" event was a big success. It was held at the Tulsa County Election Board near 11th and Garnett.

What types of cases can be handled?

The event was for people with non-violent misdemeanor warrants. A lot of people had racked up several warrants for not paying traffic tickets or not showing up to court. They were able to get those warrants resolved on Friday in front of a judge without the fear of getting arrested.

One man, Itavious Denney, heard about the Warrant Clearing event on the news, and said he had to go. Denney's cases go back six years, and the warrants have been hanging over his head.

"I had one for just some traffic warrants, one for a DUI, and I didn't even expect them to help me with that, honestly, and they walked me through the process and got that warrant cleared as well as my traffic tickets,” said Denney. "I was nervous at first, thinking, 'Oh, are they going to take me to jail' or anything like that, but it's pretty cool. There's no police here or anything like that. It seems like it's all honest people that genuinely care about helping the people and helping the community out."

Denney met with a public defender, has a payment plan for his cases and is working to get back his driver's license.

Simple and stress-free

Tulsa County Judge Dawn Moody says the goal of this is to help people and make the process simple. She was able to resolve people’s cases on site without them having to step foot into a courtroom.

"The majority of cases have been traffic tickets, a lot of driving under suspension. We had a 2011 truancy ticket that was taken care of this morning,” said Moody.

Moody says they weren’t sure how many people would show up, but says they were overwhelmed to see more than 250 come.

"I've had a couple of people of that I've actually had in my court, and they say, 'It's different seeing you here, you're not in your robe.' It's a much more relaxed environment. Again, this is not a trap, which is what we were trying to explain to everybody; nobody is going to get arrested. If we can't help you because the warrant is one we can't help, we will give you the resources and services to get you back in the courtroom to take care of it,” said Moody.

Judge Moody says the majority of cases they handled were traffic tickets and driving without a license. They were able to resolve cases completely or put people on payment plans so they can move forward with their lives. She says they hope to have another event like this soon.

Other local groups like JusticeLink and Family and Children’s Services also took part in the event.