In the event you have been arrested whether for a minor
offense or a more serious charge you will be taken to a detention center where
you will be brought before a magistrate. At that time the arresting officer
will present his case against you to the magistrate and request that a warrant
be issued holding you for the charge. At the same time the magistrate will
evaluate whether you should be released from custody or held. If the decision
of the magistrate is that you be held he will determine whether or not to set a
bond for your release or whether to hold you without bond.
The magistrate has the power to release you on your own
recognizance which essentially means that you will be released on your word to
appear in court. He or she also has the power to set a cash bond. The
magistrate determines a cash amount that you can deliver to the court that will
be held to assure your appearance. If you fail to appear for your court
appearance this money is forfeited to the court. The third option available to
the magistrate is to hold you without bond. This means that you cannot be
released from jail until you appear in court and have a judge set a bond, or
until the case is resolved if a judge determines that you should not have a
bond. Generally magistrates will set a personal recognizance or cash bond in
most cases. A finding of no bond is usually reserved for very serious cases
only.
The magistrate is required to determine two criteria in
deciding if you will receive bond and in determining what the amount of a bond
is going to be. The first is whether you are a flight risk. Information that
the magistrate uses to determine this comes from a wide range of factors. If
the magistrate determines that you have failed to appear for court appearances
in the past he or she is less likely to release you on bond. Also the
magistrate will evaluate whether you have a job that would be likely to
encourage you to remain in the area and appear for court. Family ties are also something the magistrate
will consider. The more family you have locally the thought is that you are
less likely to leave the area and not appear. If you own property locally that
is something to be taken into consideration. There is another factor that is
often taken into account by magistrates and that is whether you cooperated with
the police or if you gave them a hard time. Many times a police officer will
recommend to the magistrate that someone not be given bond simply because they
were not cooperative. For that reason it is usually better to be respectful
with the officer. Please understand that being cooperative does not mean that
you should waive your rights or give a confession just so
the officer will like you and recommend bond. Remember, giving that kind of information
might get you out of jail that night but may very well end with your being
convicted and spending a great deal more time in jail. The second criteria used
to determine whether you will be given bond is whether you are considered a
danger to the community. This determination usually comes into play in more
serious cases such as people accused of violent crimes like robbery, assaults,
murder and other crimes of that nature. In fact, there are certain crimes where
there is an automatic assumption that you should not have bond. In these cases
no bond will be set and you will have to appear in court to have a judge set a
bond if he or she thinks it is appropriate.
If it has been determined that you are entitled to bond
you will be released if you have a personal recognizance bond without putting
up money. If it has been determined that you have a cash bond you will either
have to give that money to the court in full to be released or you will have to
contact a bondsman to put up the money for you. Generally, bondsmen charge a
fee of 10% of the bond value as their fee for putting up the bond. This rate
can vary. If you put the money up yourself you will have it returned when you
appear in court and the case is resolved. If you hire a bondsman the 10% that
you give to him will be the fee for writing the bond and you will not get that
back. These fees are usually 10% but they can vary as stated. Attorney Michael
S. Davis is familiar with several bondmen in your area and can recommend or
make arrangements for someone to bond you out and provide you with the best
rates available.
If the magistrate sets a bond at a high cash value and
you are unable to make the bond even with the help of the bondsman or if the
magistrate refuses to set bond you will need to contact a lawyer who can
arrange a bond hearing to have a bond set or have it lowered if it is too high
for you to pay. Usually bond hearings can be set within one day of the date you
are arrested but in some jurisdictions it will be longer and on week-ends it
will not be set until sometime the following week when court is in session. Attorney
Michael S. Davis can assist you in getting into court for a bond hearing and has
represented hundreds of clients in this situation. Generally he is able to
persuade a judge to set a bond that will allow you to get out of jail until
your case is resolved. As stated earlier, there are some cases where the client
is considered by the court simply too dangerous to be released but these cases
are infrequent.
Under normal circumstances your first bond hearing will
be in the General District Court unless you are a juvenile or have been
directly indicted and by-pass the General District Court. If you have a hearing
in the General District Court and a reasonable bond is set nothing further
needs to be done. If the judge at that level refuses to set a bond or leaves a
bond at a level too high for you to pay the matter can be appealed to the
Circuit Court where your attorney will have a second opportunity to persuade a
different judge to set a bond that you can pay and be released.
Attorney Michael S Davis can assist you in obtaining a
bondman who will provide you with fair and reasonable rates and that will
respond day or night to have you released from jail as soon as possible. If you
cannot make bond he can assist you in getting into court quickly where a bond
can be lowered or granted. Attorney Michael S Davis has years of experience in
handling these matters and stands ready to assist you day or night should the
need arise.
Contact Attorney Michael S Davis at 757-721-6453 or visit www.michaelsdavislaw.com for more information.
