How do I bond my _____ out of jail in Houston, Harris County, Texas?
Posted By Herman Martinez on Jun 3, 2010 12:35pm PDT
The general public has no idea how to bond someone out of jail. They receive a phone that frantic phone call from a relative, friend, or loved one requesting to be bonded out of jail in the middle of the night. Essentially, a person has three options when bonding out of jail. They may get lucky and be granted a pretrial bond. A pretrial bond allows a person to bond out of jail without having to pay any money. Please keep in mind that typically a pretrial bond is for a low level misdemeanor and given to people that have never been previously arrested. Also, a pretrial bond also takes much longer to process. Next, a person may post a cash bond. I have been told that this is the quickest way to bond someone out of jail. A cash bond is straightforward. A person for the arrested individual goes to 49 San Jacinto in Houston, Texas after the person is booked and pays in cash the amount of bond. For a first time offender , a misdemeanor bond for something like a DWI should be from $500 to $1,500 depending on the charge. A felony bond starts at $2,000 and goes up from there. The cash bond will be returned once the criminal case is concluded provided that the person makes all their court appearances and their bond is never revoked. If the cash is not available a person may use a bonding company to make a bond. Typically, a bonding company charges a fee of 10-20% of the bond amount for their services. Collateral equal to the bond amount is also required by most bonding companies in Houston, Harris County, Texas. Most of these companies are open 24 hours a day. A Houston criminal defense lawyer may not post a bond for a client.