Montana Subpoena to Appear at Trial

Failure to respond to a subpoena is punishable as contempt by either the court or agency issuing the subpoena. Punishment may include monetary sanctions (even imprisonment although extremely unlikely).

If you ignore the subpoena, you can be held in contempt of court. This does not mean that you don't have recourse if you are concerned about complying with a subpoena. If there is a legal reason that would permit you to avoid testifying or providing documents, you can file a motion to quash the subpoena.

Under the Fifth Amendment, you can refuse to testify to self-incriminating evidence.So, if you've been subpoenaed and do not want to testify, consult with a experienced criminal defense attorney to see if any of these privileges apply to you, or you could face jail time if you don't show up.

Some purported subpoenas are not valid. For example, if a subpoena violates a case management order or a local rule, or the subpoena issued from another state, the subpoena may be invalid and you may not need to respond at all.

Once the court grants a subpoena, it becomes an order of the court. This means that you cannot ignore it unless you have a lawful reason to do so. Without a lawful excuse, failure to comply with a validly issued subpoena constitutes contempt of court and may result in a warrant for your arrest.

A subpoena to appear to testify is a court order. If you disobey the subpoena by failing to appear, you will be held in contempt, and the court will likely issue a bench warrant for you, and you will be arrested.

Failure to respond to a subpoena is punishable as contempt by either the court or agency issuing the subpoena. Punishment may include monetary sanctions (even imprisonment although extremely unlikely).

The short answer to this is that a subpoena is a legally binding court order for you to appear in Court. Failure to abide by a court order can result in a finding of contempt.In order to be legally binding, the subpoena must be legally served on the alleged victim or other witness.