A bond, as it relates to a criminal case, is almost like a security deposit that is going to assure the court that the person is going to appear at any future hearing date. If you place a bond, you are giving that money to the courts as a guarantee that you will appear in court at a future date, and, as a penalty that if you do not appear on that future date, the bond would be forfeited just like a security deposit will be forfeited if they backed out of a deal. If you want to know more about bond in West Palm Beach DUI cases, consult a skilled DUI Attorney that can answer your questions.
Determining Bond Amount
The bond amount is determined typically by the type of crime that is committed, the amount of crimes that are charged, whether or not the person has a prior record, and where the person lives, whether they are perceived to be a local resident or not and whether they present a threat to the general community if released.
In West Palm Beach, there is a bond schedule. There is a predetermined schedule for almost every offense that there is. Every offense will have a bond on it except for crimes of violence—assault, battery, robbery, rape, kidnapping, murder, and vehicular homicide. Crimes of violence will not have a bond. Instead, the person must appear in front of a Judge.
Posting Bond Amount
Bond in DUI cases in West Palm Beach will be posted depending upon the scheduled bond for the person, depending upon the type of crime, the amount of crimes, the number of crimes on a person’s prior record, and so forth.
Bond can be posted in West Palm Beach in one of two different ways. Once a person has been booked and their bond has been determined, they can put up cash—so if a person’s bond is $10,000, they put $10,000 cash as a deposit with the Sheriff’s office, and they will give the person a receipt saying that they gave $10,000, and then they will get that $10,000 back assuming that the person does appear in Court until the case is resolved, and the bond is released when the case is over with.
Role of a Bondsman
Most people cannot afford to give the Sheriff or the Clerk of the Court $10,000 and park that money there for however long it is going to take for the case to be resolved. What they would do instead is hire a bail bondsman. A bail bondsman would pay the bond of $10,000 in exchange for the person paying 10% as a premium.
A person can post the bond by putting up their own cash or they could pay a bondsman 10% of the bond and the bondsman will bind an insurance policy that if the person does not appear in Court, the insurance company will pay the full amount of the bond to the Court as a penalty. The cost of the insurance policy is typically 10% of the bond.
Under this example, if a person has a $10,000 bond and they do not want to park $10,000 in cash with the sheriff’s office or with the clerk’s office, the person can hire a bail bondsman who, for $1,000, which is 10% of $10,000, will place the bond for the person. Now, the thousand dollars is not refundable because it is a fee for the service whereas if the person puts up the $10,000 straight, there is no fee and the person would get that back. If an individual wants to know more about bond in West Palm Beach DUI cases, they should work with an Attorney that can help them pay bond, and can fight for them.
