Over one million people were arrested in California throughout the course of 2017. Getting arrested is never an ideal situation, as it causes stress not only for the person under arrest, but also for the people who attempt to help the arrested person. These people, usually family and friends, want to do everything they can to help their loved one in jail, but often feel as if the legal system is impossible to decipher and navigate. This is especially true when it comes to bail; family and friends feel as if the bail system is too complicated for them to understand, and too expensive for them to afford. However, there exists an option that can be of great help to people who feel as if they are stuck in this type of challenging dilemma. At Bail Bonds, our trained bail bond agents can handle the bail process for you, at a minimal cost compared to posting bail without outside assistance. Our bail bondsmen have substantial experience obtaining releases for people under arrest, and are highly familiar with all of the officials involved in the process. Dial 323-579-1415 now in order to talk on the phone with our highly-qualified bail bondsmen with Bail Bonds, who can talk you through the process and provide answers to any of your questions.
Process of Being Placed Under Arrest
If you are suspected of committing a crime by the police, and genuine probable cause exists that links you to the alleged crime, then the police are legally permitted to arrest you. Once arrested, the suspect is usually sent to the nearest county jail, which for people arrested in Orange County, CA is typically the Orange County Jail, also known as Central Jail. After being transported to this facility, you will be booked by the jail. This means that officials in the jail will speak with you in order to obtain information about yourself, such as your home address and date of birth. These officials will also most likely take a scan of your fingerprint, as well as take your picture for record-keeping purposes. Typically, the booking process takes a couple of hours to complete.
After your booking has been completed, your case is sent to the local prosecutor. This prosecutor will decide whether or not to file charges against you, and if so, what kind of charges to file. The Sixth Amendment of the Constitution grants anyone arrested under suspicion of criminal activity a right to a speedy trial, meaning there isn’t legally supposed to be a long waiting period between the arrest, charges being filed, and the trial itself. However, this doesn’t always happen, as prosecutors in Orange County are often overwhelmed by a large number of cases. Fortunately, the bail process allows you to be set free from jail without having to wait through this complicated process.
How Does Bail Work?
Bail is generally understood as a set quantity of money an individual is obligated to post to the court system in order to obtain a release from jail after being arrested. The quantity of money posted with the superior court does not permanently belong to the court system, in fact the money will be returned to the arrested person or their family/friends once the defendant makes an appearance at his/her court case. In this way, bail is not meant as an additional penalty for a crime, but rather as a method of making sure that a person set free from jail will appear for his/her court date by providing a monetary incentive to do so. However, it should be noted that an option to post bail is not granted to every person placed under arrest, as a judge may choose to deny bail under specific conditions. If the judge maintains a reasonable belief that a person may participate in criminal activity after being released, then the judge may not grant that person the option of bail. Also, if the judge maintains a reasonable belief that the arrested person may attempt to flee the county or the country, in order to avoid facing charges, the judge may deny bail in this situation as well.
Different quantities of bail money are required to be posted, as the amount depends on the level of alleged crime. A judge is granted a certain amount of leeway when making decisions regarding the quantity of money you must post for bail. The judge may take into account factors such as the circumstances of your criminal case, your personal history with the community, and your criminal record if it exists. Yet, while a judge does assume some leeway when deciding a bail amount, the judge must within reason generally follow the bail amounts listed in the bail schedule. Bail schedules determine the dollar amount that must be posted as bail for all the different kinds of crimes a person can commit, depending on the severity of the crime. There does not exist a statewide bail schedule document, in fact each county’s superior court has its own bail schedule. The bail amount for a violation involving Lewd Conduct in a Public Place is $1,000, and the bail amount for manufacture of a controlled substance is $75,000. Click here for the full bail schedule associated with the superior court of orange county.
Bail can be paid in three main ways. Cash bail allows you to pay the full amount to the clerk of the superior court, in order to acquire a release. However, this option is highly costly, as bail for many crimes costs tens of thousands of dollars, and as a result most people don’t elect to post bail through a cash payment. A second option is through a property bond, via which you can place a lien on your house or car in order to post bail, but most people don’t select this option either, as most people don’t want to place a risky lien on something as important as a house or car. As a result, the most common option for posting bail is what is called a bail bond.
The Basics of Bail Bonds
Bail bonds are the most often used method of posting bail in California and across the United States, as they allow you to post bail at a fraction of the cost without taking on a large financial risk. Even if you do possess enough money to post cash bail, it still may be a better decision to use a bail bond, as the money you save can be used to pay for better legal representation.
A bail bond is a contract between an accused person (as well as the person who paid for the bail bond) and the bail bond agent. In this contract, the bail bondman agrees to pay for the full amount of the bail, and in exchange the arrested person (or their family/friends) agrees to pay a percentage of the full amount of the bail and to appear in court when required. California law dictates that the percentage you pay as part of a bail bond can be no more than 10% of the total bail amount. The purpose of this law is to prevent people from being taken advantage of by predatory bail bond companies looking to exploit people with unfairly high bail bond rates. Since bail bond companies are required to relinquish the full quantity of bail money to the court system, they are motivated to make certain that a person set free from jail actually shows up to their court hearing. Oftentimes, a bail bondsman will require you to post some sort of collateral with the company, in order to provide a further incentive for appearing on your court date. If the defendant does not show up for their court date, then the bail bond company will seize this collateral and sell it, in order to cover the cost of forfeiting the full bail amount.
The Bail Bond Step-by-Step Process
If you are looking to secure a bail bond in order to gain someone’s release from jail, the first action you should take is to reach out to a qualified bail bond agent. To have a conversation with a highly qualified bail bondsman in Orange County, get on the phone and call 323-579-1415. While it is possible for a person in jail to acquire a bail bond for themselves, it’s more common to see someone else, usually a friend or family member, obtain this bail bond for them, as it is much easier for them to access the required funds. After contacting a bond agent, he/she will request that you provide them with specific information regarding the alleged crime as well as provide them with arrested person’s personal information. This information is used to draft the bail contract and application. After the application has been processed, and the contract has been completed, the bail agent must receive payment before taking further action. As mentioned above, this payment constitutes a percentage of the total bail amount. Additionally, depending on the quantity of money required to post bail, the bail bond agent may require you to post some form of collateral. The process to obtain a bail bond typically takes less than 1 hour.
After the completion of payment and the posting of collateral, the bail bond agent or someone else from the bail bond agency will be sent to the jail. Once at the jail, this bail bond agent will post the full bond amount, for the purpose of acquiring a release for the arrested individual. In California, bail bonds can be posted 24/7, and Bail Bonds never closes, so you should never hesitate to contact us immediately, so the arrested person you are worried about can be released as soon as possible. If everything goes normally, it should only take a few hours for the bail bondsmen to post bail and for the individual in question to be released.
After being set free from jail, the contract with the bail bond agency, as well as the law, requires that the individual follow any guidelines set by the judge and appear on time to his/her court date. Failure to do so will result in the bail bond company selling any collateral posted, without hesitation. If collateral was not posted, the bail bond company may employ a bounty hunter to capture the individual and deliver him/her to Orange County authorities.
Bail Bonds Company: Our Services
If you are in Orange County, and are looking for a bail bond agency to help you get somebody out of jail, call 323-579-1415. Our agents possess years of experience, and understand how to work the system in order to get an individual released from prison as quick as humanly possible. Also, at Bail Bonds we put a priority on confidentially, and guarantee that your information will be kept totally private and never shared with anybody.
At Bail Bonds, we provide you with the lowest rates in the bail bond business, and offer a variety of payment options that make paying for a bail bond affordable for anyone. Bail Bonds now even offers 1% bail bond option for those who qualify, meaning you only have to pay 1% of the total bail amount instead of the standard 10%. To qualify for this rate, we require that you post collateral that could cover 1.5x the value of the bail amount posted. This is a great option for those who are highly confident the incarcerated individual will appear in court, and looking to pay as little as possible in the short term.
Contact Info for Orange County Jails and Courts
Orange County Jail (Men and Women’s Central Jail)
550 N. Flower St.
Santa Ana, CA 92703
714-647-4666
https://www.ocsd.org/divisions/custody/jails
Superior Court of Orange County
700 W Civic Center Dr, Santa Ana, CA 92701
657-622-8459
https://www.occourts.org/
Contact an Orange County Bail Bond Near Me
If you are currently looking for a way to get someone you care about released from county jail, don’t hesitate and call 323-589-1415, our office is open 24/7. The bail bond agents at Bail Bonds will provide you with a free consultation and with accurate bail information upon request. We offer the lowest rates available, and are nationally recognized for our high-quality service.
