People v. Douglas

On February 8,1978, the defendant failed to appear for his scheduled jury trial on three traffic offenses. That same day, the trial court issued a warrant for the defendant’s arrest and ordered that his bail be forfeited; the defendant was arrested a few hours after issuance of the warrant.

Two weeks later, a hearing was held on the trial court’s order for rule to show cause why the defendant should not be held in contempt of court for his failure to appear at trial. The State’s case consisted solely of representations made by the State’s Attorney, the truth of which was judicially noticed by…