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While I was at work, a deputy delivered to my home a subpoena to be a witness. It was not given to me, I have not seen it, and the individual that it was given to has not mentioned it to me; I found out about it from a 3rd party. What happens if I don't show up at this hearing?
Optional Information: State/Country of Question: Oklahoma Already Tried: The supboena was delivered on Friday evening, the court date is Monday at 0900. There was/is no time to try anything.
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Generally, ignoring a subpoena is not a good idea. A judge has the discretion to issue a warrant for your arrest if you fail to show; they can also find you in contempt of court, resulting in a fine and/or jail. If you have a reason you can't show up, such as you will be out of town on a preplanned vacation or business trip, or a medical emergency, you'd want to try to contact the attorney who sent the subpoena and explain the circumstances.
You mention that the subpoena wasn't served on your personally; this is okay as long as it is left at your home with some age 16 or older.
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I have been told by police officers & process servers that if it is not placed in my hand it has not been served. I also read in the in Federal guidlines that the server must explain to me the terms of the document. Oklahoma guidelines are vague... they start talking about serving a witness subpoena but before they get to the actual act of serving, they switch to a document/property subpoena which I understand is a totally different thing.
Thank you for your reply. If this is not a federal case, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure will not apply, only the state rules. From my further research, it does appear that you are correct, that the Oklahoma Rules of Civil Procedure state you must be personally served, if not in person, then by certified mail. There is a small caveat to that, however -according to an Oklahoma process server website that I found, substitute service of the subpoena is allowed where a party is not able to find a person, and they have obtained the prior permission of the court to do so (it would be noted on the subpoena itself). You state you haven't seen the subpoena, so you wouldn't know if this applies or not.
This site is not set up for legal advice, nor am I an Oklahoma attorney, therefore I cannot advise you what to do. It's unfortunate court is tomorrow because you don't have time to really do anything at this point. I can tell you that a process server must generally file an affidavit of service with the court showing that service was effective. I would not want to be in a position, however, where I was not in court, and a judge deemed that I should have been there, and decides to issue a warrant for my arrest.
One more thought -you can try calling first thing tomorrow (or having your attorney call, if you have one, that would be even better) the attorney issuing the subpoena and inform them that proper service was not made, and you will not be honoring the subpoena, and that if they want your testimony, to re-issue it properly.
Experience: Experienced in multiple areas of the law.
I figured I could argue the validity of the subpoena, but I also figured I'd be arrested on contempt and have to go before the judge to do it... And that would be the next day (after spending the night in jail) that's how it works here. I'm all for doing the right thing and tend not to do the commonly accepted thing even if it costs me. Showing-up will surely send my son to trial, where I will exonerate him. But it's totally unnecessary, embarrassing, and costing me money (I'm paying the bill). The ADA hasn't even spoken to me, and as I am the only witness, she will regret that. I just needed to reassure myself that the right thing is always the right thing, even if it makes you feel like a geek.