Most people do not know that if they have a Warrant issued from the Police dept. or the Court that they can call a Bail Bondsman and they will find out the charges and if you have a bond set. If a bond is set the Bail bondsman will tell you how much the fee is and will bond the defendant out at the same time as you arre booked at the jail. We call this a pass through. It is quick and easy and most times you don't even get hand cuffed. We here at Bob's 24 Hour Bail Bond do this often and its a great way to get the problem taken care of right away. Most of the time it takes an hour to complete the process. What is even better is the court date and time will be sent to your bondsman and they will keep track of your court dates and send reminders to you so you do not forget them. Its one of the best things your bondsman can do for you after the bail is posted. So if anyone has a warrant or wants to check on a warrant please call us at 352-793-0001. We will be happy to help you.
Always remember, "We Always Treat You Right"
Sincerely,
Bob Alexson
Bob's 24 Hour Bail Bond
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail (and possibly be brought up on charges of the crime of failure to appear ). In some cases bail money may be returned at the end of the trial, if all court appearances are made, regardless of whether the person is found guilty or not guilty of the crime accused. If a bondsman is used and a surety bond has been obtained, the fee for that bond is the fee for the insurance policy purchased and is not refundable.
In some countries granting bail is common. Even in such countries, however, bail may not be offered by some courts under some circumstances; for instance, if the accused is considered likely not to appear for trial regardless of bail. Legislatures may also set out certain crimes to be not bailable, such as capital crimes .
United StatesIn pre-independence America , bail law was based on English law. Some of the colonies simply guaranteed their subjects the protections of that law. In 1776, after the Declaration of Independence , those that had not already done so enacted their own versions of bail law.
Section 9 of Virginia's 1776 Constitution states "excessive bail ought not to be required..." In 1785, the following was added, "Those shall be let to bail who are apprehended for any crime not punishable in life or limb...But if a crime be punishable by life or limb, or if it be manslaughter and there be good cause to believe the party guilty thereof, he shall not be admitted to bail." Section 29 of the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 states that "Excessive bail shall not be exacted for bailable offences: And all fines shall be moderate."
The prohibition against excessive bail in the Eighth Amendment is derived from the Virginia Constitution, on which Samuel Livermore commented, "The clause seems to have no meaning to it, I do not think it necessary. What is meant by the term excessive bail...?" The Supreme Court has never decided whether the constitutional prohibition on excessive bail applies to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment .
The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, like the English Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 , requires that a suspect must "be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation" and thus enabling a suspect to demand bail if accused of a bailable offense.
Judiciary Act of 1789In 1789, the same year that the United States Bill of Rights was introduced, Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 . This specified which types of crimes were bailable and set bounds on a judge's discretion in setting bail. The Act states that all non-capital crimes are bailable and that in capital cases the decision to detain a suspect, prior to trial, was to be left to the judge.
The Judiciary Act states, "Upon all arrests in criminal cases, bail shall be admitted, except where punishment may be by death, in which cases it shall not be admitted but by the supreme or a circuit court, or by a justice of the supreme court, or a judge of a district court, who shall exercise their discretion therein."
Bail Reform Act of 1966It should be noted that, although the Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive bail, there is no inherent Constitutional right for a Defendant to be offered bail in the first place. In 1966, Congress enacted the Bail Reform Act of 1966, which changes that by giving non-capital defendants a statutory right where a Constitutional right is lacking, to be released, pending trial, on his personal recognizance or on personal bond, unless the judicial officer determines that such incentives will not adequately assure his appearance at trial. In that case, the judge must select an alternative from a list of conditions, such as restrictions on travel. Individuals charged with a capital crime, or who have been convicted and are awaiting sentencing or appeal, are to be released unless the judicial officer has reason to believe that no conditions will reasonably assure that the person will not flee or pose a danger. In non-capital cases, the Act does not permit a judge to consider a suspect's danger to the community, only in capital cases or after conviction is the judge authorized to do so.
The 1966 Act was particularly criticized within the District of Columbia , where all crimes formerly fell under Federal bail law. In a number of instances, persons accused of violent crimes committed additional crimes when released on their personal recognizance. These individuals were often released yet again.
The Judicial Council committee recommended that, even in non-capital cases, a person's dangerousness should be considered in determining conditions for release. The District of Columbia Court Reform and Criminal Procedure Act of 1970 allowed judges to consider dangerousness and risk of flight when setting bail in noncapital cases.
Current federal lawIn 1984 Congress replaced the Bail Reform Act of 1966 with new bail law, codified at United States Code, Title 18, Sections 3141-3150 . The main innovation of the new law is that it allows pre-trial detention of individuals based upon their danger to the community; under prior law and traditional bail statutes in the U.S., pre-trial detention was to be based solely upon the risk of flight.
18 U.S.C. ยง 3142(f) provides that only persons who fit into certain categories are subject to detention without bail: persons charged with a crime of violence, an offense for which the maximum sentence is life imprisonment or death, certain drug offenses for which the maximum offense is greater than 10 years, repeat felony offenders, or if the defendant poses a serious risk of flight, obstruction of justice, or witness tampering. There is a special hearing held to determine whether the defendant fits within these categories; anyone not within them must be admitted to bail.
The Supreme Court upheld the 1984 Act's provision providing for pretrial detention based on community-danger in United States v. Salerno .
State lawsBail laws vary somewhat from state to state, as is typical of U.S. jurisprudence. Generally, a person charged with a non-capital crime is presumptively entitled to be granted bail. Recently, some states have enacted statutes modelled on federal law that permit pretrial detention of persons charged with serious violent offenses, if it can be demonstrated that the defendant is a flight risk or a danger to the community.
Some states have very strict guidelines for judges to follow; these are usually provided in the form of a published bail schedule . These schedules list every single crime defined by state law and prescribe a presumptive dollar value of bail for each one. Judges who wish to depart from the schedule must state specific reasons on the record for doing so. Some states go so far as to require certain forfeitures, bail, and fines for certain crimes.
In Texas, bail is automatically granted after conviction if an appeal is lodged, but only if the sentence is fifteen years imprisonment or less. In Tennessee, all offenses are bailable, but bail may be denied to those accused of capital crimes.
FormsIn the United States there are several forms of bail used, these vary from jurisdiction, but the common forms of bail include:
Bail bondsman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A bail bond agent, or bondsman, is any person or corporation that will act as a surety and pledge money or property as bail for the appearance of persons accused in court. Although banks, insurance companies and other similar institutions are usually the sureties on other types of contracts (for example, to bond a contractor who is under a contractual obligation to pay for the completion of a construction project) such entities are reluctant to put their depositors' or policyholders' funds at the kind of risk involved in posting a bail bond. Bail bond agents, on the other hand, are usually in the business to cater to criminal defendants, often securing their customers' release in just a few hours.
Bail bond agents are almost exclusively found in the United States and its former commonwealth, the Philippines. In most other countries bail is usually much less and the practice of bounty hunting is illegal. The industry is represented by various trade associations , with the American Bail Coalition forming an umbrella group in the United States.
HistoryThe first modern bail bonds business in the US, the system by which a person pays a percentage of the court-specified bail amount to a professional bonds agent who puts up the cash as a guarantee that the person will appear in court, was established by Tom and Peter P. McDonough in San Francisco in 1898.
Modern practiceBond agents have a standing security agreement with local court officials, in which they agree to post an irrevocable "blanket" bond, which will pay the court if any defendant for whom the bond agent is responsible does not appear. The bond agent usually has an arrangement with an insurance company, bank or another credit provider to draw on such security, even during hours when the bank is not operating. This eliminates the need for the bondsman to deposit cash or property with the court every time a new defendant is bailed out. The laws on bail bonds are generally inconsistent throughout the United States. Federal laws affecting it include the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution (which contains the Excessive Bail Clause ) and the Bail Reform Act of 1984, which was included in the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 . The Uniform Criminal Extradition Act sponsored by the Uniform Law Commission is widely adopted.
All bail bond agents have lengthy bail bond agreements. All agreements in California are to be verified and certified by the California Department of Insurance. Most bail bond agreements are given to the bail bond agents by their insurers, and the insurers have already verified and certified all bail bond agreements for their agents.
PricingBond agents generally charge a fee of 10-15% of the total amount of the bail, with a minimum of $100 in some states like Florida, required in order to post a bond for the amount. This fee is not refundable and represents the bond agent's compensation for his or her services. Some states, such as North Carolina, charge a flat 15% where other states that charge 10% can also bill the defendant for phone calls, gas, mileage, anything that has to do with the apprehension of the subject, etc. One argument for abolishing the bail bonding industry is that when a bailed defendant flees, the state does not receive the full bond amount from the bond agent but only a percentage which is often as low as 5%. This means that the bond agent makes a 5% - 10% profit at the states' expense even when the bailed defendant flees. In many locations, such as Dallas, Texas, bail bondsmen owe thousands of dollars in forfeit fees. However, in some states such as Florida, this is not the case. Bondsmen are responsible for paying the forfeitures, and if they do not pay the full amount, they can no longer write bonds in the state.
As an alternative, some courts have recently instituted a practice of accepting 10% of the bond amount in cash, for example, by requiring a $10,000 bond or $1,000 in cash. In jurisdictions where the 10% cash alternative is available, the deposit is usually returned if the case is concluded without violation of the conditions of bail. This has the effect of giving the defendant or persons giving security for the defendant a substantial incentive to make the cash deposit rather than using a bail bond agent.
For large bail amounts, bond agents can generally obtain security against the assets of the defendant or persons willing to assist the defendant. For example, for a $100,000 bond for a person who owns a home, the bond agent would charge $10,000 and take a mortgage against the house for the full penal sum of the bond.
Recovery and bounty huntingIf the defendant fails to appear in court, the bond agent is allowed by law and/or contractual arrangement to bring the defendant to the jurisdiction of the court in order to recover the money paid out under the bond, usually through the use of a bounty hunter . Some states, such as North Carolina, have outlawed the use or licensing of "bounty hunters" so each bail bondsman must re-apprehend his own fugitives. The bond agent is also allowed to sue the indemnitors, any persons who guaranteed the defendants appearance in court, and or defendant for any money forfeited to the court should the defendant fail to appear.
In most jurisdictions, bond agents have to be licensed to carry on business within the state. There are some more seemingly unlikely organizations that often provide bail bonds. AAA, for instance, will often extend its auto coverage to include local bail bonds for traffic related arrests. This provides an extra service to their members, and frees the member from needing immediate cash.