You can never adequately prepare for a criminal arrest. When apprehended and put in custody, you should start planning how to exit. Your option will be posting bail. However, even though you can use bail to regain liberty while awaiting trial, very few detainees can afford to consolidate the bail funds within a short duration. Therefore, what action should you take under the circumstances?
You can hire a bail bonds firm to finance your pretrial release. At El Don Bail Bonds, we have dependable Redlands bail bonds service to offer guidance and make obtaining freedom pending trial affordable and quick.
Redlands Arrests
California criminal law prescribes various crimes and prohibits all forms of criminal conduct. When you violate these statutes or engage in prohibited conduct, the police can arrest you. Arrests can happen anywhere, including at work, home, or school. Besides, they can happen anytime, including at night when you least expect them.
Even if you violate the law or the police suspect you have violated it, they should follow legal procedures when arresting you to prevent a breach of your rights. Several circumstances can lead to an arrest and placement in police custody. However, not all arrests are lawful.
An arrest is only legal if the police personally see or witness you, a suspect, committing a crime. Therefore, when an officer stops you at a DUI checkpoint or observes signs of driving while intoxicated, the law allows them to make a traffic stop. If, upon further investigation, the officer discovers that you have signs of intoxication, they can administer a field sobriety test (FST), a breathalyzer test, and other standard DUI tests. If the tests indicate drunk driving, the police can arrest you and take you into custody without violating your rights because the arrest was lawful.
Apart from witnessing you commit a crime, a lawful arrest can also happen when an officer reasonably suspects you are committing a crime. The circumstance leading to the arrest is known as probable cause. It occurs when an officer has probable belief that you are or were engaging in a criminal violation. Arrests under these circumstances happen when someone reports an offense like robbery, and law enforcement spots an individual who meets the suspect's description. If you satisfy the suspect’s physical description, the police can stop you and conduct a body search to find any evidence that can link you to the alleged crime. They can lawfully arrest you and take you to jail if they see proof of the robbery. The description and evidence found after the search give the police reasonable suspicion that you are the perpetrator, sufficient to take you into custody.
Lastly, police can make a legal arrest with a valid warrant. The order is a document issued by a judge to the police after they have submitted a file of their investigations regarding a crime. If, after reviewing the evidence the officers have against you, the judge is convinced that you are engaging in criminal activity, then they issue an arrest order allowing police to bring you into custody for further questioning or to lodge formal charges. The arrest order or document must provide the following information for it to be valid:
- The criminal violation you are alleged to have committed
- The suspect’s identity, which in this case is you
- The location where you, the suspect, can be found
- A warrant allowing the officers to bring you into custody
Arrest warrants differ depending on the crime. Therefore, the officer must adhere to the instructions in the order by the judge for the arrest to be lawful. If the warrant is missing crucial information, it is invalid, and any arrest made using it is unlawful.
After a lawful arrest, police take you to custody, where you await booking.
Your Liberties During Arrest
A violation of your Miranda rights during an arrest will make the arrest illegal, and any evidence obtained after one is inadmissible in court. Therefore, before arrest, the police should recite your Miranda rights. These are:
- The privilege to remain silent when asked questions or interrogated by the officers
- The entitlement to speak to or consult with your attorney before answering questions from the officers
- If you cannot afford a lawyer, the court should appoint a public defender, but only when satisfied that you cannot afford private legal counsel.
- During interrogations, any statements you make can be utilized as evidence against you during trial
When you understand these rights, you can note down instances when the officer violates them and cite these circumstances when fighting the charges to show that your arrest was unlawful and that the case should be dismissed. Besides, the law requires law enforcement to recite these rights for you. Failure to do so also makes the arrest unlawful. The charges filed after police violate your rights should be dismissed, and any evidence obtained should be unlawfully rejected.
The Booking
Booking encompasses gathering information of the suspect in custody. It is usually the first step after an arrest and involves several steps, including:
Confiscation of your Personal Belongings
The body search that happens after arrest is usually on the outside. However, once you are in police custody, all your personal effects will be confiscated. Any contraband found on you will be recorded as evidence and presented in court. Confiscating these items ensures other inmates in your holding cell are safe or that you do not harm yourself.
Identity Verification
The first step of the booking is verifying your identity as the accused. The information the booking officer will require you to confirm includes address or residence. Also, they scrutinize your official documents to corroborate your name, age, sex, and other identifying details. Besides, the officer can conduct fingerprinting for identity verification.
Mug Shot Taking
Otherwise called a police photograph, a mug shot helps law enforcement develop your photographic record. The photographs enable investigators and victims of your offenses to identify you quickly.
Conduct Background Checks
The officers will also run checks on your criminal history to determine if you have prior convictions or pending arrest orders.
Lodging of Formal Charges
Once the police have recorded your information, they will submit your file containing all your information and alleged crime to the district attorney. The DA reviews the file and decides if the evidence in the report is sufficient to proceed with formal charges. If the evidence is adequate, they will file formal charges. However, when the prosecutor feels more investigations are required to lodge charges, they will send the file to the officers. And because you have not been charged with a crime, the police will release you without bail. Nevertheless, you will require bail when they prefer charges. Bail enables you to leave jail pending the court’s decision on your charges.
The prosecutor should file charges within 48 hours of the arrest. If you are detained for many hours without booking or formal charges, your legal representative can contest the unlawful detention. The attorney requests a writ of habeas corpus that orders the officers to produce you before the court to determine whether the arrest was lawful or unlawful. Booking takes minutes to hours, depending on the traffic at the police station.
You must know that when apprehended for a minor violation and you do not have a criminal record, you do not have to undergo booking. The officer can release you on a citation, a promise to appear in court on the date indicated. Once you sign the paper, you can leave and return to court for the hearing. If you choose not to sign the citation, you must undergo booking. Booking is also mandatory for serious offenses.
After Booking
After booking, the prosecutor evaluates your file and decides whether or not to prefer charges. When they lodge a formal count, the case will go to arraignment.
Arraignment Hearing
Once you are charged, you will be presented before a judge, who will read out your charges, and you can enter a plea. You can plead guilty, not guilty, or no contest. No condole means you will not be challenging the charges. When you decide to fight the charges, you should consider securing a pretrial release. You are innocent until proven guilty. Therefore, you have a right to exit custody before standing trial. Authorities do not want you behind bars because it violates your rights. Additionally, detaining suspects leads to jail congestion and increases the cost of operating these facilities. Nevertheless, they are concerned about your safety and that of the public and that you could fail to return to court to answer your charges.
Therefore, the court evaluates your case to decide if they should grant bail or release you on your own recognizance.
Own Recognizance (OR) Release
While in court for the arraignment proceeding, the court evaluates your case to determine your eligibility for an OR release. The court imposes bail to ensure you obey pretrial release terms, including the requirement to appear for scheduled court hearings. Bail acts as a guarantee of your future court attendance.
So, if you can show the court, with the help of your legal representative, that you will not try to live within your jurisdiction or jump your arranged court meetings, the judge will not require any guarantee in terms of bail. They will release you on your own recognizance, where you promise to attend all court proceedings unless you have a genuine reason to skip court. The factors the court considers to determine if to grant your request are:
- Your community ties
- Whether you are a threat to yourself or society
- Your current charge
- Your criminal record
If your current offense is the first and not severe, the court can consider an OR release. Also, if you have a reputable character, have strong community ties, like a stable job, business, or family, and are not a danger to society, the court will release you on your own recognizance. Judges are hesitant to grant these releases because of misuse by suspects. Nevertheless, when you build a solid case, you can obtain one.
Release on Bail
Bail refers to money or financial guarantees that an arrestee deposits with the court to guarantee future court attendance. It is available for defendants not released on a citation or OR. When you obey all court conditions, especially the one requiring you to attend court, the court refunds your money regardless of the court’s verdict. If you jump court, you forfeit bail, meaning you will not receive a refund. Further, the court instructs the officers to re-arrest you.
Bail in Redlands can be hefty, making it difficult to consolidate. If you do not have the funds, consider speaking to an experienced Redlands bail bonds firm for financial assistance to post bail or advice to compel the court to lower bail.
The bail proceeding allows you to explain why you feel your bail is unfair and why the court should reduce it or release you on OR. The bail amount for various offenses in the bail schedule. The only person who can adjust the schedule figures to increase or reduce the amount is a judge, although the changes should be done within the law.
The hearing could be successful based on the evidence presented, and the court could reduce your bail. However, the figure could be revised upwards in some cases, increasing your bail further. Some defendants are not entitled to bail if the court believes they will destroy evidence once released.
Using Redlands Bail Bonds for Bail
A bail bond is a promise guaranteed by money deposited by your Redlands bail bonds company, assuring the court you will avail yourself when requested. When you skip court, the court retains the bond money, or your Redlands bail bonds firm owes the court an equivalent of your bail. Additionally, the judge will issue orders for your arrest.
You have the option of paying bail in cash. However, because you do not have the funds, you turn to the company for financial support in exchange for a small fee. You leave jail pending trial on a bail bond when you hire a bail bondsman to pay the funds for you. The cost of hiring the company is 10% of the bail. The small fee, although nonrefundable, enables many defendants to benefit from their constitutional right to bail.
Redlands Bail Bonds Process
When you contact Redlands bail bonds service to help with your pretrial release, the company will require certain information before offering their services. These details include:
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Indemnitor Information
It is difficult to contact a Redlands bail bonds company while in jail. As a result, you need someone trustworthy to deal with the company for you. The person is an indemnitor or cosigner. Before entering a contract with the bail bondsman, the indemnitor must provide their information. The company will want to see the cosigner’s valid California driver’s license for identity verification. The service will also demand an address or a utility like a mortgage bill.
The cosigner must also provide copies of paystubs to show they are employed. Therefore, when speaking to the person going to see the bail bondsman, inform them to bring with them a few names of referees, a phone number, and an address.
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Personal Details
You must share your official name, birth date, address, social security number, and employer information. The information is critical when drawing up the agreement. Once you are free, the bail bondsman will require you to visit their office to provide details that you omitted.
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Arrest Information
You must also furnish the company with details of the arrest. The information includes the location of the arrest, type of charge, the police department that apprehended you, and inmate number. When the service has this information, it becomes easy to locate the jail or detention facility the police are detaining you.
The documents the Redlands bail bonds require to process your release from jail are:
- Arrestee information form
- Payment for the forms
- Details of your responsibility as the company’s client and scheduled court hearings
- Payment processing authorization
Your indemnitor provides information on your arrest. Once done, the bail bondsman draws up the agreement, and after they sign, an expert is sent by the company to your jail to facilitate the release.
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Obtaining Bail Bonds Over the Phone
Today, your cosigner does not have to travel to the bail bondsman’s office to complete the process. It is possible to fill out the forms online and make the payment from any location. Documents that require signing can be signed online, and other relevant details can be provided in bail forms or over the phone.
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Using Collateral to Secure Bail Bonds
Collateral is any valuable item the cosigner pledges as a surety in the event you default on the contract. It can be real property, expensive jewelry, a bank account, or a car title. If you attend court as required, the collateral is returned. However, when you skip court, you or the cosigner loses the item or property.
Jail and Court Information
Redlands Jail
212 Brookside Ave
Redlands, CA 92373
Redlands Superior Court
216 Brookside Ave
Redlands, CA 92373
Find a Reliable Bail Bondsman Near Me
Even the people with criminal records do not enjoy staying in jail. Therefore, after arrest and booking, you should start working on your release immediately. A bail bonds company is the most suitable one for helping you with the pretrial release and offering advice on the approach you should take. At El Don Bail Bonds, we will provide guidance and help you leave Redlands jail waiting for trial. Call us at 760-342-0444 to protect your rights after arrest and help you with the booking and post-booking process.