Your loved one getting arrested and booked in jail can be a stressful experience, not sure how to expedite their release. The first thing that comes to your mind is to find a way to ensure they don’t spend another minute in jail. If you are looking for a quick and convenient way to get them out, you need to find a bail bonds company to handle this situation.
With bail bonds agents across Salinas and the greater Monterey County in California, Exit Bail Bonds is an easily accessible bail bonds company for locals. We ensure that you not only get your loved ones out of custody but also learn important aspects of bail bonds so that you know how to handle a similar situation in the future.
Understanding Bail Bonds
To start with, bail is the financial agreement made for a criminal defendant with the primary aim of ensuring that he/she will appear in court for the case hearing. If your loved one gets arrested, you may decide to seek expert bail bonds services from an agency that will pay the full amount set by the judge. In turn, your loved one can be released awaiting their trial date.
If the defendant does not appear in court for the trial, bail money may be forfeited. Additionally, he/she may face further charges for Failure to Appear, which is a separate criminal offense that is punishable by up to six months in jail. Nonetheless, the required bail amount is set by a judge after considering certain elements of the crime, the defendant’s financial status, among others. Before we look at these elements, let’s have a look at what happens when a person is arrested in Salinas or the Greater Monterey County.
What Follows an Arrest?
Once the police make an arrest, the arrestee is taken to a local city or county jail. The following steps follow:
- Identity Verification
This process is crucial in determining who the accused is and where they reside, and usually involves examination of the suspect’s official documents. Fingerprinting may also help to ascertain the suspect’s identity.
- Taking a Mug Shot
A mug shot, also known as police photograph, is done so that the police can have photographic records of their suspect. The main aim of this is to ensure the victims of the crime and public investigators can quickly identify the alleged offender.
- Filing of Formal Charges
A state prosecutor reads a police report and decides if there is enough reason for a defendant to get charged with the crime, and hence, files for formal charges.
- Bail Determination
After the filing of charges, a judge determines the bail amount to be posted for the offense a defendant has been accused of committing. Before this determination, the court must determine if the alleged defendant is eligible for bail.
In addition to the above steps, the suspect’s personal belongings will be confiscated to ensure they don’t have anything that might harm other cellmates or themselves if they are detained. This whole process may take minutes to several hours depending on the capacity of the jail and the kind of charges, with the exception of bail determination that happens in court.
How Does Bail Bonds Work?
After an arrest, the defendant is given a date for the bail hearing, when they will be required to appear in court. The judge has complete discretion on whether to grant or deny them bail and how much money the defendant will pay if their bail request is granted. If the defendant is facing serious criminal charges such as murder, the judge will deny them bail, or he/she can set the bail amount high.
If the judge decides to grant the accused bail, he/she will have a wide range of amounts to choose from, depending on the jurisdiction. If the defendant is facing a misdemeanor offense that is non-violent related, for instance, they might get bail for about $500 or less. Note that the bail amount could go higher if you have prior convictions of the same or similar offense. A defendant that is facing a felony charge may get a higher bail, of up to $20,000. That is why Exit Bail Bonds is here, to make sure that you can post any bail amount that the court gives to get your freedom back.
Once the bail amount has been set, it is now up to the defendant to either pay the bail amount and get their freedom back or to stay in custody and await their trial. The full amount of the bail must be paid in full until the outcome of the case is determined.
Means by One Can Acquire a Bail Bond?
There are four primary ways in which you or your loved one might get released from police custody if the bail amount is already determined:
- Posting cash for the full amount of bail determined,
- You can decide to use property title deeds such as houses or land and hand them over to the court,
- The judge may choose to let you go on your own recognizance, and
- Seeking the services of a bail bonds agency where they send a bail guarantor to represent you and pay your bail. Often, people seek the services of a bail agent if they can’t afford to pay for cash bail.
How Can I Get Services of a Bail Bonds Agency?
A bail bonds agency will send a bail agent after the completion of the arrest and booking process. The agent will begin the process by inquiring the necessary information on the defendant’s situation. Some of the details they require before posting your bail include the full names of the defendant and their booking number, the specific jail in which one is detained, charges they are facing, and the amount of money set as bail. This information enables the bail agent to inform you of the amount you will be expected to pay the agency as a service fee.
When the bail bonds agent determines that the defendant is not likely to flee and avoid appearing in court, then they make the bail available for purchase. If you are seeking these services for your loved one, you will be required to sign a bail application form, receipt, and a bail agreement to finalize the paperwork.
Before signing for the bond, the parties involved are made aware of their rights, and the bail is posted before the defendant is released. To post your bail, the bail bondsman will require some form of collateral to ensure that you will pay the 10% premium they charge for their services. Acceptable forms of collateral include stocks/shares, jewelry, bank accounts, personal credit, real estate investments, and credit cards.
The Role of Bail Bond Agencies
Bail bond agencies are vital in the lives of defendants who want to carry on with their lives as they await their trial. An arrest will significantly disorder your life. If you were working for instance or running a business, it means that your duties may have to be put on hold until your release. Other defendants want to continue attending a school or even being with their families until their case is determined. This is where bail bond agencies come in.
Many people are unable to post their bail because they cannot afford it. The court allows such persons to get in touch with a bail bond agency that will help pay the bail amount on their behalf as well as assure the court that they will attend the trial on the set dates. Such agencies do all this for a small fee, a non-refundable fee that ranges between 10 to 20% of the total bail amount. If you agree, the agency will agree to pay the remaining amount of money to the court if you fail to show up in court.
The leading role of a bail bond agency is to ensure that accused persons are not wasting their time in jail when their case has not even been determined. Instead, they are living their lives and attending trial until that time that the verdict is determined.
In that case, a person who has been accused falsely will not have to spend more time behind bars for a crime they did not commit in the first place. It will be unfair for such a person to waste so much time in jail when they are innocent, to begin with.
What Criminal Charges Require a Bail Bond?
Cash bail is mostly allowed for minor charges. However, most criminal charges are likely to qualify for the bail bond. Occasionally, cash bonds don’t exceed $1000, and the defendant is required to pay entirely in cash before they are released.
Most crimes already have a pre-determined bail amount, hence, allowing the bail agent to get you out of police custody as soon as possible. For most violent felonies such as murder or multiple charges, the judge may most likely deny bail.
According to the 8th amendment, everyone is entitled to post bail. However, the judge may decide to revoke that right for the best interest of the case and the victims who may have been affected by the crime. If the bail gets rejected, the judge has a strong reason to believe that the defendant is likely to escape and fail to show up for trial.
What Are The Benefits of Hiring a Bail Bondsman?
The main advantage of using the services of a bail agent is the fact that it reduces the amount you pay for bail. You only pay for the service fee, which is usually 10% of the total amount set as bail. You can use the money you save to pay for other legal expenses.
Also, seeking professional services reduces the delays that could occur if you were to find the money and pay for cash bail. The agency will most likely post your bail as soon as you have finalized agreements. By doing so, your loved one gets out of jail faster.
Hiring a bail bondsman also increases the chances of a fair trial. Getting a bail guarantor to represent you ensures that you get expert information concerning bail; thus, putting you in a position to consult with your attorney and build a strong defense strategy. This improves your chances of getting a fair trial.
Determination of Bail Amount
Posting bail doesn’t mean that you are guilty of the crime for which you got arrested. It is just a surety that you will appear in court when the set date for your hearing arrives. Before placing the bail, the judge puts into consideration different factors such as:
The seriousness of the crime
The judge is likely to set bail for as low as 500$ for minor offenses while felonies could attract even a bail that is 10 times higher than the amount for a misdemeanor. Even so, the judge may deny bail if the crime is “very severe”.
Your current Criminal Record
If you have been convicted for a crime in the past, your bail may be set higher than that of an individual arrested for the first time. Besides, if you have another ongoing case, the judge will consider denying your bail since more charges can increase your chances of fleeing.
Age of the Accused
The younger you are, the lower the bail a judge is likely to set for you if you are arrested for a crime.
Noteworthy, these factors help judges to determine whether the defendant is capable of skipping their court proceedings (and even fleeing the state). If high chances are that this will happen, the judge would most likely deny bail.
In the recent past, judges have started using a bail calculator to determine the amount of bail a defendant is required to pay. The bail algorithm uses factors such as age and criminal record to determine the likelihood of a defendant to flee and fail to appear for a court hearing.
Conditions for Posting Bail
The court does not grant bail without giving conditions that the defendant must adhere to if they want to be set free to await their case hearing from home. The conditions are set for several reasons, for instance, to ensure that the accused will appear in court on the set a date for their trial and also to protect the society where the defendant will be going back to.
Again, the judge has total discretion in the setting of these conditions. Some of the most common bail conditions are:
- The defendant will be required to abide by all state laws. If they are arrested again, they may never get to post bail again.
- The defendant will be expected to stay away from any drug or alcohol, especially if the underlying case involved drug and alcohol abuse
- The defendant will not be allowed to use or own any weapon
- The court may demand that the defendant stays away from some people or some places, especially if their presence close to those people or in those places will endanger others.
- The court will demand that the defendant gets stable employment to ensure that they are closely monitored while out there.
Reliable Bail Bonds Agency Near Me
Reliability is vital when you are looking for someone to guide you and post your bail. With Exit Bail Bonds Company, you don’t just get reliable agents; our agents are experienced, dedicated, and willing to address all of your concerns to give you a better understanding of the bail bonds process. For immediate assistance in Salinas and the greater Monterey County area in California, call our local office at 831-915-8784 today.