Legal Definitions - warrant upon indictment or information

A warrant upon indictment or information is a specific type of arrest warrant issued by a judge after formal criminal charges have been brought against an individual. It authorizes law enforcement to arrest the person named in the warrant and bring them before the court to answer those charges.

This warrant is distinct because it follows a formal accusation process:

• An indictment is a formal accusation issued by a grand jury. A grand jury is a group of citizens who review evidence presented by a prosecutor to determine if there is sufficient probable cause to formally charge someone with a serious crime (a felony).
• An information is a formal accusation filed by a prosecutor directly with the court. This method is used in jurisdictions that do not require a grand jury for all felony charges, or it may be used for misdemeanor offenses.

In essence, once a grand jury has formally accused someone via an indictment, or a prosecutor has formally accused someone via an information, a judge can then issue this particular type of warrant to ensure the accused individual is brought into custody to face the charges.

Examples:

• Corporate Embezzlement Case: After months of investigation into a large-scale corporate embezzlement scheme, a federal grand jury reviews the evidence and determines there is sufficient cause to charge the company's CFO. The grand jury then issues an indictment against the CFO. Following this formal accusation, a federal judge issues a warrant upon indictment, authorizing U.S. Marshals to arrest the CFO and bring them to court for arraignment.

  This illustrates the term because the warrant for arrest was issued specifically after the grand jury formally charged the CFO through an indictment.

• State-Level Drug Trafficking: In a state where prosecutors can directly file charges for certain felonies, a district attorney's office gathers substantial evidence against an individual suspected of drug trafficking. The prosecutor then files an information with the court, formally charging the suspect. Based on this formal filing, a state judge issues a warrant upon information, allowing local police to apprehend the suspect and bring them before the court.

  This example demonstrates the term as the arrest warrant was issued as a direct result of the prosecutor's formal accusation filed as an information.

• Cold Case Homicide: Decades after a homicide, new DNA evidence leads investigators to a suspect who has since moved across the country and was never initially arrested. A grand jury convenes, reviews the new evidence, and issues an indictment against the suspect. Even though the suspect is not in custody, a judge issues a warrant upon indictment. This warrant is then entered into national databases, allowing law enforcement in any jurisdiction to arrest the suspect when they are located.

  Here, the warrant is issued specifically because a grand jury formally charged the individual with a crime, enabling their eventual arrest based on that formal accusation.