Who is actually in charge of setting the amount of a bond when someone is arrested?
The short answer is, the arresting officer usually sets the bond, and the first appearance judge has the ability to raise or lower it. In Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsbourough Counties there is a "Uniform Bond Schedule ", which basically gives the judge guidelines of what the bond should be. However, a judge can go up or down from that schedule for any reason.
There was a recent St. Petersburg Times article about Pinellas County bond hearings. The point of the article seemed to be that the judge makes a decision too quickly when considering a bond reduction. What the article failed to mention, however, is how experienced the judge, the prosecutor, and most defense attorneys are with bond hearings and the law behind them. The judge, and the prosecutor can spot a flight risk or a threat from a mile away. Of course they are not right 100% of the time, but they usually are.
Basically, a judge will look at:
- Ties to the community, included in this is the length of time the person has lived here, whether or not they own property here, if they are employed, and if they have family here.
- The wishes of the victim.
- The safety of the public.
- Whether or not the person has failed to appear for court hearings in the past.
Note that the purpose of requiring a bond is to ensure that you will show up in court.
So, if you are arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana your bond will be quite low. However, if this is your 3rd possession arrest and you've failed to appear for court hearings in the past - the bond will be higher. Similarly, if you shoot someone and the vicitm or the vicitm's family shows up at the bond hearing and says they are afraid, your bond will probably not be reduced. A victim who cares enough to show up a bond hearing is almost always fatal to the defendant's request for reduction.
Hernando County, on the other hand, appears to have a very arbitrary bond schedule. The nemesis behind this blog is a recent arrest of a man for trafficking pills. His bond was set at $4.3 million dollars. Why give him a bond at all? Unless you want the press to pick up the story and make Hernando County sound even more ridiculous than it already does.
So, if that guy has $430,000 (which is 10% - for the math challenged) he might be able to find a bondsman somewhere to bond him out. Unfortuantely, most bond companies I have ever talked with require collateral (a house, truck, bank account, gold) in the amount of the entire bond. Chances are this guy isn't getting out any time soon. Even if he could come up with the $430,000, he probably doesn't have $4.3 million in assets, or he wouldn't be living in Hernando County.
Bonds are usually very easy to get reduced, unless the judge thinks you are a flight risk, or you are a threat to society. If you need a bond or bond reduction - call me. I may be able to help.
