Unless charged with a non-bondable offense, you are entitled to pretrial release, pursuant to the U.S. Constitution and the Florida Constitution.
The purpose of a bond is to ensure the presence of the accused in court. A bond is an amount of money set by the court that must be paid before the accused is released. You can post a cash bond (which is the entire amount), or hire a bondsman, who will post the bond for a 10% charge (this is the fee to the bondsman and is non-refundable).
There are different types of bonds, or methods of pretrial release.
The best is ROR - release on recognizance. This is a form of pretrial release where the court does not require you to be monitored or to pay any money to get out. You may be ROR'd if you have a local address, have no prior criminal offenses, and the charge you are accused of is a misdemeanor or non-violent felony. The court may still impose pretrial release conditions, such as a
stay-away order (or no-contact order), but you will not have to spend money to get out.
Another form of non-monetary release is Pretrial Services (Miami-Dade) or Pretrial Release (Broward). This type of pretrial release will not require you to pay any money, but you must submit to supervision and report to your pretrial officer as ordered. You may also be ordered to wear an electronic monitoring anklet.
Pretrial Services/Pretrial Release also supervises house arrest, which is less restrictive than being held in custody, but is more stringent than simple Pretrial Services or Pretrial Release. You may be placed on house arrest with electronic monitoring, in addition to posting a monetary bond, if you are charged with a serious felony.
A monetary bond is the most common form of pretrial release. This requires you to pay a premium to a bondsman or post a cash bond in order to be released.
The most restrictive and most serious pretrial condition is no bond, where you remain in custody. Again, this could be because you are charged with a non-bondable offense. It could also be because you had a warrant issued, you violated probation, or you violated pretrial release conditions.
Remember - if you fail to appear in court, get arrested while out on bond, or violate probation, you will likely remain in jail without a bond pending the disposition of your case.
Eric Matheny is a criminal defense attorney serving Miami-Dade and Broward. Call today to discuss your case.