When a person is arrested they are generally taken right down to the city or county jail in order to be processed and booked. They are to wait there until they are able to get bailed out or until they sign a form saying that they will return for their court dates. The manner by which they are able to be released is determined by a judge. Most people are going to have a bail hearing of some kind, and if they are not able to afford to pay the bail (or some portion of it), then they will remain in the jail until a date for their trial can be set.
Setting Bail
Bail is set by a judge based on the nature of the offense that the individual has been charged with. A judge will review a very brief set of facts about the individual and the crime they are charged with. At this stage of the process the judge is not going to take a deep dive into each and every case. He or she just wants to set the bail based on a few overview factors that are easy to see and fairly easy to figure out. You don’t have much say at this stage of the game, but you can hire an attorney to try to help you after the bail is set.
What If There Is No Bail?
There are certain charges that may prohibit a person from receiving bail at all. This could be because they have been charged with a violent crime and the state in which they are charged does not allow for bail for those who have been charged with such a crime. It is fairly common as many states would like to avoid letting out violent offenders if they can avoid doing so.
Arguing For Better Bail Conditions
A judge sets the bail and the conditions for the bail, but your attorney may argue for better conditions for you once that bail is set. This is to say that they may be able to convince a judge to lessen the amount of bail that you have to pay or to loosen up some of the restrictions that may be set as part of your bail terms. Both things are serious issues when it comes to having your bail in place.
As the defendant, you want to have to pay as little bail as possible while at the same time have as few of restrictions on your freedom as possible. It is only possible to get both of these things if you have a great attorney working for you to get it done. He or she can take your case to the judge and help them understand why you deserve a different set of rules.
Getting A Ten Percent Payment Plan
Many defendants use a system by which they only pay ten percent of the cost of their bond. They pay this to a bail bondsman who agrees to cover the remainder of their bond as long as that person continues to show up to court on each scheduled court date as they are supposed to. Of course, a person who does not show up to court as they are supposed to can be charged with additional crimes such as failure to appear. They can also get additional charges if they fail to appear and have taken out a bail bonds loan to cover their bond. That is called bond-skipping, and it is a very serious issue.
An attorney can help make sure that you are permitted to use the ten percent rule to get just the bond that you need at a much lower out of pocket cost to you. This is one of the biggest favors that the attorney you hire can do for you. He or she will be saving you a ton of money by doing this because you don’t have to come up with the full amount, but you can still enjoy the freedom of getting out of jail based on just putting up ten percent. After that, you can start to work with your attorney on your defense.
