In less serious offenses, a person that has been arrested can make bail right away and be out of the prison system within hours of booking. There are a lot of qualifications that have to be met however, for this to happen. The Bail Bonds in Minnesota process can be relatively easy if the person convicted does not have a previous history of illegal activities. If this is not a first conviction or if it is serious enough the bail can be set relatively high or not at all.
As with most things in the field of law, there are precedents set with previous cases which determine why certain conditions are prescribed. For instance, a bail bonds commissioner or judge has a pre-set amount of bond that is set for regular crimes. A commissioner is brought into a case when the illegal activity happened outside of regular business hours and a judge is not available. A judge is the presiding factor over a case that consider all of the variables such as the defendant’s criminal history, if they are under the influence of any substance, and the facts surrounding the crime.
Once the bail has been set the defendant can look into a bail bonds process in which they can hire a Bail Bonds in Minnesota company to help them pay the bill. By law, the defendant must come up with a certain amount of the bail, usually again depending on the severity of the crime and other conditions. The bonds company puts up the rest of the money and the defendant may go free, for the time being anyway.
The bail bonds company then keeps the percentage of the bond money for their payment for the opportunity for the defendant to walk free until their case is ready for trial. The defendant is responsible to make every hearing involved in their case and all court sanctioned appointments. The bail bonds company stands the chance to lose their money if the defendant does not show up for their appointments.
As with any money lending type of situation, there is some form of collateral that is posted. In the case of a bail bonds service the collateral usually comes in the form of a friend or family member that will have to pay back the bond money if the defendant is convicted of bail-jumping, or not following through on their responsibilities to the court.
