| What is a "jail release?"
An industry term that criminal defense lawyers use when describing the service of bonding somebody out of jail.
How long will the jail release take?
On average, it takes 4 to 6 hours for the Sheriff to release someone from custody once all the paperwork is turned in. Before the jail release process begins, however, a lawyer must interview the client, gather background information, fill out the bond paperwork, obtain the probable cause affidavit, and meet with a judge who signs off on the bond. There are a number of steps, and one of our main jobs is to both expedite the process and keep the client informed of what is happened so they are less anxious and know that they will be getting released soon.
How is the bond amount determined?
After reading the police officer’s Probable Cause Affidavit (an abbreviated police report) and cross-referencing guidelines that magistrates try to follow for purposes of unanimity, the judge will set a bond amount. Some magistrates will want information about whether the victim feels safe before setting a bond amount; others will want to know a person's criminal history before setting bond. The magistrate has unbridled discretion to set a bond in any amount. If he or she wants to set a bond for $100,000.00 on a possession of marijuana case, it is so ordered. At that point, it is incumbent upon the lawyer to file a writ and set the issue for a bond reduction hearing to argue that the bond amount is excessive. Different magistrates set higher bonds than others on certain types of cases, but most stay within a pretty predictable range depending upon the facts outlined in the Probable Cause Affidavit.
Why hasn't a bond been set?
For any number of reasons: the person may have just been arrested and is still being processed in Central Booking; there may have been a large number of people arrested and there's a long line at processing; the police officer hasn't turned in his Probable Cause Affidavit and so the magistrate doesn't know the facts in order to set a bond; etc. Every person will eventually have a bond set. It often just takes a while. One of the things we do is try to speed the process by helping compile information for the magistrate to make it easier and faster for him or her to set a bond.
Should I hire a lawyer to get somebody out of jail or a bail bondsman?
Obviously we're biased. We set out the advantages of hiring a lawyer here and here. If you are arrested and facing criminal charges, you have to have a lawyer. You don't have to hire a bondsman. From a purely economic standpoint, it is financially advantageous to avoid duplicating costs. Furthermore, we know that legal fees are expensive, but we don't charge $1,000.00 an hour. Even assuming you pay your heart surgeon or brain surgeon $5,000.00 an hour during an operation (well worth the cost), it seems unconscionable to pay so $1,000.00 or more for a bail bondsman to sign some papers for you to be released. There is a difference between professional services and the often predatory practices of bondsman, loan sharks, and pawn dealers.
One could say this is like the shark warning you to stay away from the piranha. Both of our businesses are often viewed as a necessary evil. All that being said, we often do refer clients to bail bondsman when they are able to provide a service cheaper, faster, or more effectively than we can. In some cases we will refer you to a bail bondsman because the county doesn't allow lawyer-assisted bonds. Other times we will suggest using a bail bondsman if its a matter that only a judge can decide and he or she won't be back on the bench for days. If a person is looking only to get out of jail and is likely to qualify for a court-appointed lawyer, we will refer him to a bail bondsman. The same is true for outstanding warrants for unpaid tickets or very minor matters where time-sensitive legal advice is unnecessary, we absolutely concede that a bail bondsman is the better choice.
However, for more serious cases like DWI, assaults, and felonies; for cases in which it is crucial that we photograph marks on your face or your arms to prove your side of the story; for cases involving high bond amounts or pending criminal investigations in which a detective may be trying to talk you - we feel strongly that this is a critical role that we play in your defense that go beyond merely getting you out of jail.
Is it more expensive to hire you over a bail bondsman?
No; most of the time we're about equal. In more serious cases we may need a larger retainer because we're working on investigation and legal issues that are closely tied to convincing the judge to release the person on bond. However, we typically have less administrative fees and hidden costs because of the types of bonds we use. Furthermore, unlike bail bondsmen, we do not require guaranteed security or collateral for double the bond amount. Neither your car nor your house is at stake when you work with us.
Is it a better investment to hire Sumpter & Gonzalez over a bail bondsman?
Yes. By hiring Sumpter & Gonzálezat the outset of a case, rather than using a bail bondsman, you invest your money in the process of resolving the charges. Bail bondsmen make nearly all of their money in the few hours it takes to get someone out of jail by charging you 10% to 20% of the bond amount. For example, if you spend $4,000 on a bail bondsman, you pay $1,000 to $2,000 for each hour they work. When you hire a bail bondsman, you do not receive any legal advice, you do receive any help figuring out the next steps in fighting the charges against you, and you have to navigate the most anxious time of the process by yourself.
I've never met you, I'm looking on the Internet, and --I don't mean to be rude-- but how can I trust you?
No offense intended. After all, I'm writing these questions.
First, check out each of the attorney's profiles on TexasBar.com. It doesn't tell you whether we're any good or not, but you can at least verify where we went to law school, whether any of us have had disciplinary sanctions in the past 10 years for stealing a client's money or some sort of shenanigans, and that we're licensed to practice law. Second, there was a recent profile of our Firm in the Texas Lawyer, a publication that almost every lawyer in the state reads on a weekly basis. Click here to be redirected to the article about our practice that was featured on the front page. Finally, you can review the types and number of speaking engagements and presentations that the lawyers in the Firm are regularly invited to participate in. Some are presentations to law student and graduate students at the University of Texas School of Law; others are part of public policy discussions where we are invited to present the voice of the defense. Most of our presentations are for training and education of lawyers with audiences ranging from 75 to 900 lawyers.
At some point in the future I hope our profession rebuilds the public perception of credibility above that of used car salesman, but until then: trust, but verify.
I am trying to get a friend or family member out of jail. I want to help, but I don't want to commit them to hiring you to represent them in the underlying case?
Perfect - we agree with you. We are not bail bondsman - and we don't want to encroach on their business model of helping people who are looking to pay as little as possible to get out of jail without any thought or concern about their future criminal case. While we think this is a pretty shortsighted approach to an arrest, for some people it's just not that big of deal.
For most of our clients it is a big deal, and who they choose as their criminal defense lawyer is even a bigger deal. Just as most people have a primary care physician, in an emergency you don't care which doctor you see in the ER, you need medical attention stat. We feel the same way about a legal emergency. While we differ from the ER in that we develop long-term attorney-client relationships often after helping somebody get out of jail, hiring Sumpter & Gonzalez at the outset doesn't preclude you from meeting with or hiring any other lawyer in the universe to defense against the underlying case. In fact, we often encourage our clients to consult with other lawyers so that they choose the best lawyer for their defense. If it's not us, then we still have provided a valuable service during a time of crisis.
How much legal work or legal advice can you really get done in jail?
Depending upon the case, a tremendous amount. It isn't a question of being in jail, it is knowing the questions to ask a client in order to preserve evidence that may be destroyed or altered before the client gets out of jail. Furthermore, because of the size of our Firm and our ability to quickly marshal resources in serious cases, we are able to call upon each other in an emergency to get things done while the primary lawyer is in jail meeting with the client. In the past years we have been able to preserve evidence at the scene of an intoxication manslaughter before the rain washed evidence away; photograph red marks on a client's arm which proved his version of the events and led to a case's dismissal; meet with the victim and mediate a dispute and misunderstanding which resulted in all charged being dropped; dispute the signs of intoxication or impairment which were exaggerated in an offense report. We have also stopped interrogations, preventing felonies from being filed, and resolved cases with the District Attorney before the client was even released from jail.
Sometimes time is of the essence, and the sooner we can respond, the better the result for the client.
I have more questions. This FAQ isn't long enough.
Send them to me at david@sg-llp.com. It's taken us three years to finally scrape enough time to dedicate to writing this website, so hopefully I can add the answers to additional questions before 2010.
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