An attorney’s take on bail bonds in McKinney TX.
Every now and then, I will get a call to help get someone out of jail. Normally, an attorney doesn’t actually bail out an individual. Usually, a friend, family member or bond agent will post the bond for the individual AKA the principal.
First, you should understand that a bond is simply a fiduciary promise to appear in Court.
When I say fiduciary, I mean money. When someone puts up a bond, they are promising to pay that amount of money to the county if the subject doesn’t show up to Court.
A bond company is providing a service of providing the money or collateral for the subjects release. If the individual doesn’t show up to Court, then the bond company gets sued for the bail or bond amount. Oh by the way, the person that was in jail also gets sued. As does any co signers.
So, what the bond company is actually doing is loaning the person in jail the money necessary to get out of jail.
Who decides how much the bond amount is? Usually a judge or magistrate(that’s just really a fancy word for a judge) sets the bond or bail amount. Here in Collin County, a justice of the peace or municipal judge will visit the jail in the evening and in the morning to arraign the defendant(let him know what he is being charged with) and then set a bond.
Sometimes, it takes a long time for someone to get arraigned. IT is not uncommon for this process to take an excess of 12 hours on the weekends. So, a defendant can have an attorney file a writ of habeus corpus(more fancy language, actually it’s Latin).
A “writ” tell the sheriffs office that a bond must be set for the individual. In other words now he doesn’t have to wait for the judge to arraign him. Actually, the “writ” process has been around since the early 13th century and is noted in the Constitution. It basically is asking that the body of the subject, habeus corpus, be brought forward by Court order, writ.
What does all this mean? It means an attorney can get your bond set before your friend in jail has to wait for the judge.
If you have questions about writs, going to jail, getting out of jail, bail bonds in McKinney or the Constitution of the United States, give my office a