§ 135.035 Bringing in defendant not yet arrested or held to answer

When someone is charged with a crime but hasn't been arrested yet, the court needs a way to get them in front of a judge. If the person doesn't show up on their own for the first court hearing (called arraignment), the court will issue an arrest warrant. This warrant allows police to take the person into custody and bring them to court to face the charges.

This process only kicks in if the person hasn't already been arrested and isn't in custody for the charge. If someone chooses to show up voluntarily for their arraignment, the court doesn't need to issue a warrant at all. The point of this rule is simple: someone can't be charged with a crime and then just be ignored by the system. The court has to take steps to make sure the case actually moves forward, either by the person appearing on their own or by police bringing them in through an arrest warrant.