Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

At the arraignment of my boyfriend's case the DA requested the bail which was originally set at 100,000.00 be increased to 500,000.00 in order to protect the unknown witness or affiant associated with his case. The judge increased the bail to 250,000.00 and a bail reduction/pre trial hearing was put on calendar. My question is should I wait to bail him out until after the bail reduction hearing? My fear is that they will find some out of the way reason to increase it and then it will be nearly impossible for my family to post. Would it be wiser for us to go ahead and post bail at the current set amt. of 250,000.00 rather than wait and chance it. If we were to post his bail he would be released this evening at 12 pm however he would still have court in the morning. His belief is that he would rather be out of custody than in custody to attend his pre trial hearing. Any advice would be a great help.


Asked on 10/21/09, 8:27 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Joe Dane Law Office of Joe Dane

I understand - you want him out ASAP. Yes, you can post bail for whatever the set amount is. If it's on calendar for a bail reduction, then you may want to wait to see what happens at the bail reduction hearing. If you bail him out now, you'll have to post $250,000 bail (or 10% of that to a bail bondsman). If you wait and it goes down, obviously you save money. Do I think the judge would increase the bail from the 250,000? I don't know. It depends on the facts of the case. The DA also gets a chance to argue for an increase or other orders at the bail reduction hearing.

This question comes up so often - you may want to read this article from my website:

www.joedane.com/featured/somebody-was-just-arrested-in-orange-county-should-i-bail-them-out/

I assume he had an attorney at his first court appearance. If you have retained a lawyer to represent him, they should be advising you about this. If he had a public defender appointed and you're looking for representation, let me know if you want to discuss it further. There may be things you can tell me about the case to use in a bail reduction. I can also refer you to a reputable bail company. They often reduce their fees for clients I refer to them.

For more about me and my contact information, see www.joedane.com/about

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Answered on 10/21/09, 11:32 am
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

Advice? Hire him an attorney and listen to his advice, based on all the facts of the case. If you have the money to pay a bail bondsman his fee of 10% of the bail amount, then you can afford good counsel. Talk to him before spending the money on bail that you will need to pay the attorney. If serious about hiring counsel, feel free to contact me.

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Answered on 10/21/09, 5:42 pm


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