Alabaster to hold Municipal Court Amnesty Day on Sept. 16

Published 2:42 pm Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

ALABASTER – The city of Alabaster will hold an Amnesty Day on Wednesday, Sept. 16 for municipal court cases.

“The city of Alabaster is committed to your safety and health during this pandemic while also ensuring you can resolve any case(s) you may have before the Alabaster Municipal Court,” read a notice on the city’s website. “Understanding the new challenges involved in everyday living, we want to provide our citizens and visitors an opportunity to address their cases without penalty of their failing to appear on any previously set court date and regardless of the circumstances for failing to appear on that court date.”

For a person to be eligible for amnesty, he or she must have an outstanding arrest warrant for either failing to appear in court for a scheduled compliance hearing or failing to appear in court on an initial appearance for a traffic offense.

Amnesty Day will start at 9 a.m. at the Alabaster Municipal Court, located at 1953 Municipal Way.

The schedule will be divided into multiple sessions based on last names: A-F at 9 a.m., G-L at 11 a.m., M-R at 1 p.m. and S-Z at 3 p.m.

Those eligible for amnesty must appear at the time of the session determined by their last names in order to have any active warrant related to failure to appear removed or to be admitted to the court chambers for their appointment with the municipal judge.

However, no person taking advantage of amnesty will be relieved of payment of fines, court costs or restitution, nor will they be jailed for non-payment or for an outstanding warrant in a case in which the only issue is non-payment, according to the notice.

“Any person who has an outstanding warrant for conduct unrelated to non-payment or which is not based on a failure to appear in court for an initial appearance or a compliance hearing may be arrested,” the notice read. “Any person who was ordered to appear in court for a compliance hearing in connection with matters other than the payment of a fine, court costs or restitution, and who failed to appear in court, may be arrested.”

Anyone with questions regarding Amnesty Day should call (205) 664-6835 or email municipalcourtstaff@alabastercourt.org during regular hours of operation Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.