When a bail bond is exonerated by the court, it relieves all parties from the financial obligation to the bail bond. In most cases, this indicates that the defendant has met his or her obligation to the court, having appeared when ordered to do so. After all, the bail bond is not only considered cash money, but a promise the defendant will appear in court to face the alleged criminal charges.
In certain instances, a bail bond can defeat its purpose in the criminal justice system. For example, just the other day, I received an emergency phone call from a criminal defense attorney because our mutual client was taken into custody. I immediately inquired as to the status of the bail bond I had posted for our client back in mid March.The courtroom clerk stated the bail bond was “exonerated” due to a late filing by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office?
Pursuant to California Penal Code Section 1305, the bail bond must be exonerated 15 business days from the appearance date on the bail bond if there is no filing. Having mentioned the above, we had posted our bail bond for the client around March 15th. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office didn’t file the case against our client until the first week of June. Thus, by operation of law, the bail bond was exonerated sometime in late April.
This created a real problem for our client because the bail bond originally issued and paid for by his family was no longer valid!! In this scenario, most bail bond companies would charge a new premium.
Fastrak Bail Bonds finds this an unfair business practice. Why should our client have to pay for a new bail bond due to the District Attorney’s Office dragging their feet? We immediately posted a new bail bond and had our client released at no extra charge.
Fastrak Bail Bonds has been providing bail bond services since 1996. We can be contacted 24 hours day at 1-800-525-5915. Thank you.