A subpoena is the basic tool used in the judicial system to ensure a witness in a criminal (or civil case) appears to testify during a trial or other type of court proceedings. A subpoena typically is issued by the clerk of the court at the request of the party to a case (the prosecuting and defense attorneys, for example) or the judge herself. Although great care is taken to secure an original subpoena to be served on a witness, there are occasions where this type of court document is lost. There is a procedure through which you obtain copies of lost subpoenas.
Step 1
Go in person to the court clerk's office. Although a good deal of court business is transacted by phone or over the Internet, obtaining a replacement for or copy of a lost subpoena needs to be done in person.
Step 2
Advise an assistant clerk on duty in the clerk's office of the lost subpoena.
Step 3
Provide the assistant clerk with the case number as well as the name of the person subpoenaed.
Step 4
Request a copy of the lost subpoena or a replacement.
Step 5
Confirm that the copy of lost subpoena is duly certified by the clerk's office. A certified copy is one that is authenticated by the clerk of the court as being a true and correct copy of original. A merely duplicated copy is not sufficient to replace a lost subpoena.
Step 6
Obtain the appropriately certified replace or copied subpoena to be served on the witness.