Maryland Bail Bonds Blog

Recently the District Court of Maryland changed its policy regarding preset bails on warrant cases that were previously set by a Judge. For the most part these preset bails are fair and reasonable with some exceptions, but to change this policy and to allow the District Court Commissioners the ability to change the bails that the Judge's previously ordered is quickly appearing to be a very frightening problem.

I think that the commissioners and sometimes the judges fail to understand some very important things here i.e. (THE PURPOSE OF BAIL). The SOLE PURPOSE of BAIL is to ENSURE OR GUARANTEE THE DEFENDANT'S APPEARANCE IN COURT. The Judges and or the Commissioners should not concern themselves with what percentage a Bondsman accepts to release a Defendant more so that the Defendant is not a danger to the community and that he or she not flee the Jurisdiction of the Court.

This is why it is so important for Defendant's to be released on bail. A Bail Bondsman has a strong financial incentive to apprehend and return the Defendant to court should he or she fail to appear. A Bondsman never stops looking for an individual that failed to appear on their bond because once they locate that person they are released from liability and or they recover their bond money that they forfeited to the Court.

I submit to you that a District Court Commissioner CANNOT ENSURE the Defendant's appearance in Court if he or she fails to appear thus making that individual a possible danger to the community with only the Police to search for them with very limited manpower.

I have been doing warrants for 13 years now and I can tell you for certain and I am positive that the Police would back me when I say to you that some of my most dangerous cases are Defendant's with misdemeanor charges. Now the Police Departments warrant system will triple soon and the tax payers will cover the cost once everything gets out of control which it will should this continue.

Bail Bondsman arrest and commit 97% of bail jumpers. The pretrial services of Bail Bondsman are privately funded with no red tape delays. The great citizens of Maryland as well as Baltimore City with all of the recent budget cuts to the Police Department will be happy to know that the great number of Fugitives will greatly increase very soon!

It has been a known fact for some time that any person that goes in front of a Baltimore County Judge, and appears late to court is in for a rude awakening. At a court proceeding a Judge will call your name when it appears on the docket, if you do not raise your hand or walk up to the stand the Judge will automatically issue a failure to appear (FTA) bench warrant. Once an FTA is issued you have the option of turning yourself into the police, writing a letter to the Judge to explain the situation, contacting an attorney so that they may try and get the warrant recalled, or coming into Big Boyz Bail Bonds and allowing us to help facilitate the entire process for you.

In the past, Judges have given some leniency with regards to FTA's. However, lately the Judges are setting extremely high bails on individuals even if they are five minutes late to court. It is very common practice that a Judge will set a bail in the $15,000-$35,000 range for a first time FTA. Once the bail is set, the Judges have been very reluctant to recall the warrant or to lower the bail. In the end, you are stuck with an extremely high bail for something that could be as minor as driving on a suspended license.

Recently, Big Boyz Bail Bonds posted a bail for an individual on February 14, 2010. The individual contacted our office on Saturday March 20, 2010 regarding his scheduled trial date of March 24, 2010. He advised us that he would not be able to make this trial date because he was currently hospitalized. Upon hearing this, Big Boyz Bail Bonds decided that we would assist the individual with this matter, something that no other Maryland Bail Bonds Company would do.

Upon our request we had the individual's Doctor immediately fax documentation to us supporting this claim. The individual also provided us with his phone number in the hospital room, which we verified to be accurate. We wrote a letter (shown above) to the Judge on the individual's behalf stating that the individual was hospitalized and that we were requesting a postponement of his trial. After going through all of these steps, and providing a very good reason why the individual would not be able to make his trial date the Judge proceeded to deny our request and issued a bench warrant in the amount of $35,000.

Recently, Baltimore County district court commissioners have been given the authority to change a Judges pre-set bail. In the past, when a Judge issued a pre-set bench warrant, the court commissioner did not have the authority to change a Judges pre-set bail; merely they could advise an individual of the bail amount. Perhaps one of the reasons that this was changed was because of certain Judges setting outrageous preset bails. Therefore, if a Judge now sets a pre-set $35,000 FTA bail, the court commissioners now have the option to change that bail.

This newly instated policy can be both beneficial and detrimental to both an individual as well as the bail bondsman. On the positive side, commissioners are now able to lower bails or potentially release individuals on simple FTA matters. For example, if an individual was five minutes late to court and the Judge set a $35,000 bail, the commissioner now has the option to change that bail when the individual is served on the warrant.

On the negative side, one of the very beneficial services that Big Boyz Bail Bonds provides to our clients is our turn-in service. In the past, we have been able to arrange turn in bails for clients without concern of whether the bail might get increased when they see the commissioner. Because the Court Commissioners now have the ability to change a Judges pre-set bail, this will certainly impact our ability to provide this service.

Missing a court date used to be a very simple problem to deal with. However, with all of the changes that have been taking place lately and Judges abusing their power by setting extremely high bails on individuals; it has become increasing more complicated to deal with FTA's. With all this being said, Big Boyz Bail Bonds is still available to help anyone who needs assistance with an FTA. We will still be able to provide our clients with a turn-in service, although it may require a little more flexibility. If you have any questions or want to inquire about a possible bench warrant for an FTA please call us at any time: 410-534-6070.