Criminal charges arrest and arraignment
An arrest can be among the most traumatic and confusing experiences in one’s life. Not only for the person being accused of a crime, but also for the arrestee’s worried family members. As far as the police are concerned, they have no interest in keeping these people informed. Depending on the type of offense, two things can happen: you can receive a citation with a future court date or you will be transported to jail. If you are transported to jail, you will go through a long and tedious intake process which begins when they place you in the back of the cop car.
During the whole process, they will be trying to get information out of you, usually through casual conversation or by lying to you about how talking to them will result in your freedom. Be aware that they are either recording what you say or, even worse, taking inaccurate notes about what you say to further establish your guilt. You are well-advised to keep your mouth shut. If you find yourself handcuffed, you are not going to talk yourself out of that situation.
Once you are booked, the jail personnel, not a judge, will set a bail amount based on the crimes you have been booked in on. If you disagree with the amount or cannot pay, you will have an opportunity to argue bail when you go to court. That means you will sit in jail for up to 48 hours after arrest, not including holidays or weekends. If you can afford it, you can simply bail out. There are literally hundreds of bail bondsmen who are fairly indistinguishable. Personally, I would choose a local company as they seem to be more responsive. The cost is usually 10% of the total bail amount and that is non-refundable.
If you call your relatives to post your bail, be extremely cautious. Those phone calls are monitored and recorded. Quite naturally, your friends or relatives will want to know something about the case before they agree to post bail. I have had a number of recent cases where my client admitted to some wrongdoing on the phone with relatives. Once they have your recorded statement, the district attorney needs to do very little to prove their case against you. The best policy is to not talk to anyone about the case at all.
The best thing to do is contact your lawyer immediately. Quinnan Law is available at all hours all week long to help you through your arrest and bail issues. Once you call me, I will immediately contact the bail bondsman to get the ball rolling. I can also contact any relatives if you need them to post bail on your behalf. Retaining me to handle your case is a one-stop shop for getting you out of custody.