Rule 4. Warrant or Summons upon Information

(a) Issuance. — If it appears from a verified information, or from an affidavit

or affidavits filed with the information, that there is probable cause to believe

that an offense has been committed and that the defendant has committed it,

a summons shall issue requiring the defendant to appear and answer to the

information. Upon the request of the attorney for the state the court shall issue

a warrant, rather than a summons, for any information containing at least one

felony offense, and may for good cause shown by the state, issue a warrant for

a misdemeanor offense. More than one warrant or summons may issue on the

same information. The warrant or summons shall be delivered to the sheriff or

other person authorized by law to execute or serve it. If a defendant fails to

appear in response to the summons, a warrant shall issue.

(b) Form. —

(1) Warrant. — The warrant shall be signed by a judicial officer and it

shall contain the name of the defendant or, if the defendant’s name is

unknown, any name or description by which the defendant can be identified

with reasonable certainty. It shall describe the offense charged in the

information and command that the defendant be arrested and brought

before the court from which it was issued.

(2) Summons. — The summons shall be in the same form as the warrant

except that it shall summon the defendant to appear before the court from

which it issued at a stated time and place.

(c) Execution or service; return. —

h reasonable certainty. It shall describe the offense charged in the

information and command that the defendant be arrested and brought

before the court from which it was issued.

(2) Summons. — The summons shall be in the same form as the warrant

except that it shall summon the defendant to appear before the court from

which it issued at a stated time and place.

(c) Execution or service; return. —

(1) By Whom. — A warrant shall be executed by a sheriff or by some other

officer authorized by law. A summons shall be served by any peace officer or

by any person over the age of 19 years, not a party to the action, appointed

for such purpose by the clerk. A summons to a corporation shall be served by

delivering a copy to an officer or to a managing or general agent or to any

other agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process

and, if the agent is one authorized by statute to receive service and the

statute so requires, by also mailing a copy to the corporation’s last address

within the state or at its principal place of business elsewhere in the United

States. The officer executing a warrant shall bring the arrested person

promptly before the court, or for the purpose of admission to bail, before a

commissioner.

(2) Territorial Limits. — A warrant may be executed or a summons may be

served at any place as permitted by law.

(3) Manner. — The warrant shall be executed by the arrest of the

defendant. The officer need not have the warrant in the officer’s possession

at the time of the arrest, but shall provide a copy of the warrant to the

defendant as soon as possible. If the officer does not have the warrant in the

officer’s possession at the time of the arrest, the officer shall then inform the

defendant of the offense charged and of the fact that a warrant has been

issued

t of the

defendant. The officer need not have the warrant in the officer’s possession

at the time of the arrest, but shall provide a copy of the warrant to the

defendant as soon as possible. If the officer does not have the warrant in the

officer’s possession at the time of the arrest, the officer shall then inform the

defendant of the offense charged and of the fact that a warrant has been

issued. The summons shall be served upon a defendant by delivering a copy

to the defendant personally, or by leaving it at the defendant’s dwelling

house or usual place of abode with some person over the age of 14 years then

residing therein or by mailing it to the defendant’s last known address.

(4) Return. — The officer executing the warrant shall forthwith make

return thereof to the court from which it issued. At the request of the

attorney for the state, any unexecuted warrant shall be returned to the

judicial officer by whom it was issued and shall be canceled. On or before the

return day the person to whom a summons was delivered for service shall

make return thereof to the court to which the summons is returnable. At the

request of the attorney for the state made at any time while the information

is pending, a warrant returned unexecuted and not canceled or a summons

returned unserved or a duplicate thereof may be delivered by the judicial

officer to the sheriff or other authorized person for execution of service.