The Process Of Bail In The State Of California

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Bail is where you are required to actually post an insurance bond with the bail bondsman, who places it with the court, in order to be released. It usually is an amount which is determined by what is called a Bail Schedule, which has been determined by the judges as to what amount each crime requires to be posted. The reality is that often, what the police will do is arrest you for a more serious crime such as domestic violence. Regardless of what type of injuries, if any injuries even occur at all, they will automatically arrest you for a felony and require you to bail out at an amount at $50,000 vs. being released for a misdemeanor.

In terms of posting that amount, there are a couple of options. One, if you post the $50,000, you get all of that back, which is often a difficult task. The other option is to use the bail bondsman who will charge you a fee usually between eight to ten percent and they will put up the money for you. You, however, do not get back that eight to ten percent. That is an insurance premium, similar to any other insurance premium. There are also other ways to be released. One is to have contact with the bail commissioner. The bail commissioner is a judge who works and reviews cases of individuals who are in custody to determine whether or not the bail amount should be increased or decreased.

It is critical that the individual in custody contact the bail commissioner, a situation that the individual in custody is often unaware of as an option. There are also situations where an individual can be released on what is called an (OR) on their own recognizance. That is the situation where no bond is required and you are required to make a promise to come back. It applies mostly to misdemeanors and in those situations, your promise requires you to come to court on a given date.

A Step By Step Process After Being Released On Bail In California

If you are released from jail either on bail or on an OR, you are going to be informed to come to court approximately in three weeks. During that time, the prosecutor and the police are going to review the case and determine whether or not the case should be filed. It is a critical time for the criminal defense attorney to try to do their magic in order to prevent the case from getting filed or going to court. If the attorney is successful, no appearance is required and the case is dismissed. If the case does go forward, then the first appearance is what is called an arraignment. You are told what you are being charged with. Often, it may be different than what you were arrested for.

Often a police officer may arrest you for a more serious offense than what ends up in court. Again, using the domestic violence example, everyone is arrested for a felony domestic violence. However, probably seventy-five percent of the cases end up being misdemeanors rather than felonies. During that three week period between the arrest and the arraignment, you are going to want to confer with counsel. The benefits of that are what the attorney can do before the case is filed and also to start preparing for your defense.

The downside is you may very well end up retaining an attorney, and the case may not have been filed. In that situation, you may incur legal expenses that are unnecessary. When you balance the potential benefit that a criminal attorney can accomplish prior to the case going to court with the likelihood that a case will not filed, it is clearly critical to contact an attorney immediately.

The Role Of Miranda Rights In A Criminal Case In California

Miranda Rights come into if you are in a custodial situation. Then you must be advised of your Miranda Rights. However, police define or attempt to define custodial situations if a way to be able to still question you without giving you your Miranda Rights. What police officers will often say is that we were just investigating the case, that they were not in custodial situation and they were free to leave!

They were just asking some preliminary questions, therefore, the client was not in a custodial position and therefore was free to leave, and therefore did not have to answer any questions and Miranda did not have to be given. The reality is there is no way a cop is going to let you walk away without some kind of ramification. He may say you are not in custody but you are not going anywhere.

For more information on Process Of Bail In California, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (310) 277-1707 today.