Bail enables individuals arrested for various crimes to exit jail awaiting trial, but under strict conditions. When the judge grants bail and you can afford the amount, you can deposit the figure as a lump sum and regain your freedom. Alternatively, if paying bail upfront is not feasible, consider seeking the help of a bail bonds company. If you or an individual you know has been apprehended, you should talk to 24 Hour Online Bail Bonds for our Meriden bail bonds.
Bail at a Glance
The legal arrangement between you, a defendant, and the court that enables you to obtain a pretrial release is bail. In the agreement, you pay a particular sum, determined by the court, to ensure you adhere to the judge’s instructions, including attending scheduled hearings. The bail sum is usually contained in the bail schedule, and although the court has the discretion to increase or reduce the predetermined figure, it must do so within the law.
When deciding on bail, the judge considers the crime’s nature, flight risk, criminal record, and history of jumping bail.
The law allows you to deposit money in person, which is unlikely because you are less likely to have the cash with you during an arrest. Therefore, you must call a loved one to pay the amount using any approved method, like cash. After the bail payment, you will reunite with your family and have the opportunity to better prepare your defenses against the charges to prevent a guilty verdict. Regardless of the trial outcome, you will be refunded if you adhere to all court conditions. However, the court will deduct some charges from the bail when refunding bail, so you should expect a difference in the amount you deposited.
Bail induces or encourages you to attend the scheduled court hearings. It is not a penalty for your offense. When you skip court without a valid reason, you forfeit the funds, and the presiding judge issues a bench warrant.
Understanding Meriden Bail Bonds
Bail bonds are monetary tools that facilitate pretrial discharge. Meriden bail bonds provide financial support to defendants without the money to post bail. Many factors influence the bail figure, and the amount increases depending on the gravity of the criminal violation. A misdemeanor offense will have a smaller bail than a felony. If your bail is thousands of dollars, even your family will have problems consolidating the funds within a small window, extending your stay behind bars. Therefore, as the arrestee or the person helping a defendant exit jail, you should partner with a Meriden bail bondsman.
A critical phase of the bond process is entering into a contract with your bail bondsman. The company usually drafts the contract after conducting a risk assessment of the bond. Based on their review, they state the requirements of the bail bond contract.
Instead of posting the total bail, your cosigner or indemnitor deposits a 10% premium fee with the firm. Unlike bail, the premium fee is nonrefundable and acts as payment for the bond services.
Once you append your signature to the contract and pay the relevant fee, a bail bondsman visits the jail where the arrestee is detained to secure their release within hours.
Relying on Meriden bail bonds is for more than just arrestees who cannot cash bail. Even when you have the cash to pay bail, you should rely on bondsmen to avoid delays in your release. If there are suspicions that the funds you use to pay cash bail are proceeds of crime, you will stay longer in jail until the court corroborates that the funds are not illicit. Therefore, you should partner with licensed and reputable bail bondsmen instead of risking these delays.
Besides, you want to spend only some of your savings on bail. You will need a private attorney to help you defend against your accusations. When you deposit all the funds with the court, you will have financial problems hiring an experienced private attorney, which could hurt your chances for a favorable outcome. However, with bail bonds, you only need a fraction of the total bail to exit jail, leaving you with sufficient funds to hire an experienced attorney and prepare for the trial.
Depending on your unique circumstances, the service could require you to pay collateral to secure the bail bond they are depositing on your behalf. With collateral, even when you skip court, the bail bondsman can seize the property or asset and auction it to regain their lost investment. Conversely, when you adhere to the pretrial discharge conditions and the matter concludes, the court will exonerate the bond, and they will return the deed for the collateral.
Meriden bail bonds enable defendants to regain their freedom and resume their routines affordably. Therefore, if you are interested in these services, you should understand the conditions and costs involved and the repercussions of disregarding court conditions.
Own Recognizance (OR) Discharge
Not all arrestees have to pay bail to exit jail. Whether you will deposit bail or not to acquire a pretrial discharge depends on the unique circumstances of your case, the perceived risk of jumping bail, and the crime’s nature.
When the court lets you leave jail without paying bail, you are said to have obtained an own or personal recognizance release. However, before granting an OR discharge, the court considers several aspects.
The first consideration is your ties or bond with the community. The court will likely release you without bail if you have strong ties like employment, a family, or a long-term business.
Similarly, the court considers previous convictions, especially the ones related to your current charge. The court will grant an OR discharge if it is your first offense.
Before an OR release, the judge considers your perceived fight risk. They will evaluate the gravity of your crime, possible penalties, and prior instances of disobeying court injunctions. If you are unlikely to flee before trial, the court can discharge you pending trial without bail.
If you have been in employment for a long time and are financially stable, this indicates stability, and the judge may be more willing to discharge you without bail.
The existence of family members like children and a spouse who depend on you will strongly motivate or encourage you to appear for set hearings, which could increase your chances for OR release.
The court also considers whether you pose any risk to yourself or society. If the court deems you a threat to the community, your chances of bail or other conditional releases are minimal.
Failure to Appear (FTA)
When you leave jail on bail but fail to return for subsequent hearings or the trial, you are deemed to have violated your release conditions and risk an arrest.
Skipping court without valid reasons has serious consequences. One of them is bail forfeiture. After you skip your court appointments, the court retains the money and issues a warrant for your arrest. In Meriden bail bonds, when you skip court and they forfeit your bond, the company comes after you or your cosigner to sell the asset or real property used as collateral to cover the losses incurred.
Also, FTA results in issuing a bench warrant authorizing police to arrest and present you in court. You should know that a bench warrant is different from an arrest warrant. Bench warrants are issued not for a new crime but for violations of court orders. The court issues a warrant for jumping bail, failing to pay victim restitution, or disregarding probationary terms.
Bench warrants are initiated by the presiding judge, unlike arrest warrants, which are requested by the police when they have probable cause to believe that someone is engaging in a criminal violation. The purpose of the warrant is to arrest the suspect and commence criminal proceedings.
Another consequence of skipping court is that you could be denied another pretrial release and remain in jail until the case concludes. Defending your case reduces the chances of a favorable outcome. Therefore, try your best to attend court hearings, and if you do, talk to your attorney or bail bondsman to communicate to the court your reasons for not appearing.
The valid reasons for not appearing before a judge when scheduled are:
- Your skipping court was not deliberate
- You were not sufficiently notified of the scheduled hearing
- You had a genuine emergency for not showing up
Courts recognize that emergencies happen, and if you have a genuine emergency, the court will not punish you for skipping court. You can maintain that you were in custody in a different jurisdiction or had a medical emergency.
Arguing that you believed you were innocent or had other commitments on the said date is not a valid reason for not appearing.
Jail Information
Meriden Jail
142 East Main Street,
Meriden, CT 06450
Court Information
Meriden Superior Court
54 West Main Street,
Meriden, CT 06451
Find a Reputable Bail Bondsman Near Me
Through 24 Hour Online Bail Bonds, you can circumvent the financial burden of bail. Our Meriden bail bonds offer affordable and effective bail services. We only require a deposit of the premium fee, and we will provide the financial support you need to obtain a pretrial release. Call us at 800-930-8999 to schedule a meeting.