bail bonds

June 24, 2022

Can Anyone be Eligible for Release From Jail Without Bail in California?

After your arrest and detainment, a judge will typically set your bail. Bail is an amount of money that you post to be released from detention in jail. Once bail is set, you or your loved ones can pay it in the form of bail bonds, cash, or property. When you are bailed out of jail, you are expected to return for your scheduled court date. If you do not attend court, then you will lose the rights to the bail that was posted for you. If you attend your hearing, then you will be reimbursed.

If a judge decides that you should be released on what is called ‘your own recognizance,’ then you will not have to post any type of bail to be released from prison. If you or a loved one has been arrested and you are confused about the bail bond process, reach out to a San Diego criminal defense lawyer right away.

Who Can be Released on Their Own Recognizance in California?

Being released on your own recognizance (O.R.) means that the judge believes that you are trustworthy enough to come back for your court date without having to put up collateral, or bail. For the majority of the state of California, O.R. release does not just automatically happen, and while many criminal defendants may be eligible, not everyone is.

Those individuals seeking O.R. release cannot have any of the following be true:

The charges are so substantial that a conviction can lead to a death sentence.
The defendant’s release may put public safety in jeopardy.
There is no belief that the defendant will actually come to their court date.

Being released on O.R. is the best possible outcome after an arrest, but getting to this point is not an easy task. This is one of the many reasons why having an experienced legal defense attorney on your side after you are arrested can be so invaluable. An attorney who knows the criminal justice system in California and understands exactly what is necessary to argue for O.R. release on a defendant’s behalf is a critical tool in preserving your freedom.

The San Diego criminal defense attorney David M. Boertje has a track record of success helping clients tangled up with the criminal justice system achieve O.R. release. If it is possible to get released on one’s own recognizance, attorney David M. Boertje can argue effectively on a defendant’s behalf to secure this ideal situation. Continue reading

April 22, 2021

Why You May Have to Spend More Time Behind Bars After a California Arrest

by David M. Boertje

Individuals who are arrested for alleged crimes can be held in prison until their trial date, even though being arrested does not prove a crime was committed or that the person who was arrested is guilty of any wrongdoing. When this happens, the “innocent until proven guilty” idea does not seem to really apply. The amount of time that a person must sit in jail while they await the official filing of charges and setting of a court date can take months. Defendants who are arrested are extremely lucky to be able to see their day in court in a few weeks, but most of the time, a person awaiting a court hearing will at least spend a couple of months behind bars. The most severe felony criminal charges can keep a person awaiting court for years.

The reason why it can take so long to get a court date is that there are a lot of procedural actions that have to be taken when a person is arrested, including:

The prosecution will review a case and determine if charges should be filed.

October 11, 2019

Bail Assistance in San Diego

by David M. Boertje

When you are under arrest by the police, your first thought might be, “Will I go to jail?” If you do go to jail, then your first thought might be, “How can I get out of here?” One way you can get out of jail is to post bail with the law enforcement agency that has you in custody. Your experienced criminal defense attorney can provide bail assistance by working to get the bail reduced.

Three Ways to Get Released from Jail

There are three ways for defendants to get released from jail – bail, cash bail, and on their own recognizance (OR). Although this article’s primary focus is the bail option, you should be aware of the other two options. These options are:

Cash bail – paying the full amount of bail in cash
O.R. – your own recognizance

How Does Bail Work in San Diego?

Depending upon the severity of the crime you are accused of, the bail amount will be a high amount or low amount. When a person is put in jail, the bail is set at a monetary value. For instance, the bail for a DUI causing injury, according to the San Diego County Court Bail Schedule, is $20,000. For murder, there is no bail.

Hearing the bail amounts can be confusing to people. Some family members are unable to pay the bail amount, which leaves their loved ones sitting in jail, for even a simple misdemeanor.

The way bail works is that the bail will be set at a certain amount, but through the use of a bail bondsman or bail company, only 10% of the bail is necessary to get out of jail.

Example of How Bail Works

The way bail works is serious business. Imagine that your bail is set at $2,000. When you hire a bail company, the company will cover the entire $2,000, in exchange for a $200 fee. When you show up to all of your court hearings, the company will get their $2,000 back, and still keep your $200. This is how the bail company makes a profit.

If you fail to appear at your court hearings and skip out on the bail that was paid for you, a bounty hunter may be sent to locate you and take you back to jail so they can recover their funds. Continue reading

December 23, 2016

Bail System is Next Target of California Criminal Justice Reform Efforts

by David M. Boertje

Adding to the already long list of criminal justice reforms enacted in 2016, it is reported that for next year, California lawmakers plan to make it a top priority to reform the system through which judges award criminal bail, saying courts across the state are “punishing the poor for being poor.”

Assemblyman Rob Bonta and Sen. Bob Hertzberg said they plan to introduce bills stating the Legislature intends to enact laws that will reduce the number of people detained before trial and address the racial and economic disparities in the bail process. It is still under deliberation what the details of these bills will be. The lawmakers have put together a broad coalition of organizations and lawmakers to tackle the issue, but they predict that the insurance and bail industry lobby will be reform’s biggest opponents.

The bail system has seen unprecedented momentum towards reform. In October of 2015 a lawsuit was filed against the state of California alleging that the current fixed bail scheduled system is unconstitutional and does not provide equal opportunities for wealthy and poor incarcerated individuals. San Francisco’s attorney general Dennis Herrera has already come out publicly against California’s bail system.