Attorney or Bond: What’s more crucial?

Speaker 1
00;00;00;02 – 00;00;01;08
Hi, everyone. Is it more important to hire an attorney or post bond? This is Christina Williams with Just Criminal Law.
Speaker 2
00;00;09;12 – 00;00;10;17
And David Mann, legal storytelling specialist. Okay! Hire an attorney or post bond. So I guess I’m curious, like everyone, is which is more important to do?
Speaker 1
00;00;20;15 – 00;00;21;15
A lot of times, what will happen is a friend or family member will call me because their, say, significant other is in jail and they have a high bond and they’re not able to necessarily hire an attorney and post the bond. So a lot of time, they want help in deciding what they should do.
Speaker 2
00;00;43;20 – 00;00;45;17
Okay so. Maybe run us through sort of a storyline about what a bond – how much that might be, and what are the parameters surrounding a bond?
Speaker 1
00;00;56;05 – 00;00;57;01
Sure. Say someone is charged with a serious crime, say a violent felony. And they have gone before the judge. They didn’t have an opportunity to have an attorney with them. And the judge set the bond at, say, $25,000 cash or surety. And they, you know, are from a different state. So perhaps they’re having a hard time getting a bondsman to bond them out, because they might be considered a flight risk.
And so our office gets called by that friend or family member, and they’re seeking advice as to what they should do.
00;01;20;06 – 00;01;22;20
So perhaps they’re having a hard time
Speaker 2
00;01;36;13 – 00;01;36;26
Okay. So they call you and there’s a $25,000 bond. This person who’s in jail could just pay that bond if they had that money, or could borrow it. But if they call you, what then happens?
Speaker 1
00;01;51;02 – 00;01;51;23
Well, you know, keep in mind, a lot of times, bondsmen don’t necessarily want to post bond for people if they live in a different state. So when they call us, you know, we explain to them by hiring an attorney, they have strong ties to the community, that the judge will actually consider lowering the bond, so they become less of a flight risk when they go ahead and put forth money to hire an attorney.
Speaker 2
00;02;22;13 – 00;02;22;25
Okay. And then you can get that bond further reduced from that point?
Speaker 1
00;02;28;02 – 00;02;28;15
Right. And so once we’re in the case and we have an opportunity to visit with the prosecutor, we’re a lot of times able to negotiate some terms and conditions that will help assure that person shows up for court, and the prosecutor will agree with us. And so, we go to the judge then, with that agreement, and the judge most times will lower the bond.
Speaker 2
00;02;54;24 – 00;02;55;10
Okay. I bet it gets lowered fairly significantly too.
Speaker 1
00;02;59;06 – 00;03;00;15
Right. I mean, we’ve had, you know, an example like you were talking about, or if somebody has a $25,000 bond. We’re able to negotiate it down to, say, a $5,000 bond and have the person fitted with an ankle monitor, so that the bondsman can monitor the person when they’re out of state.
Speaker 2
00;03;18;17 – 00;03;19;01
Yeah. $5,000 is much easier to handle than $25,000, though both amounts are a lot. So the money that gets paid to you or to an attorney is a way to offset by this different in what you might be able to get their bond reduced to. Is that fair enough?
Speaker 1
00;03;35;09 – 00;03;36;15
Yes. And then obviously, there’s the benefit of having an attorney that is able to represent you on the charges. That’s the highest benefit right there.
Speaker 2
00;03;47;11 – 00;03;48;28
Okay. So this family member that gets the call from their loved one who’s in jail should probably call you. And how might they do that?
Speaker 1
00;03;55;20 – 00;03;57;13
We’ll include a link in the description where they can call, text, or chat with a member of our team, any time, day or night.
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