TOP 7 TEXAS BAIL BONDS TRAPS: DONT GET CAUGHT IN ONE OF THEM!

When you are arrested in the State of Texas, your freedom will be taken from you by law
enforcement as you are arrested and physically taken and enter the criminal justice system.
Whether and when you are free to join your loved ones while you await trial of your case will
depend upon a judicial determination that often involves setting bail. Bail bonds and bail
bonding companies exist to help people in this situation, where they need financial help to make
that bail amount.
Problem is, getting a bail bond just isnt that simple and there are some hazards that a savvy
person should avoid. Here are seven of them.
By Michael Lowe, Esq.
There are many good reasons to hire a bail bondsman to get bond posted. So, I dont want
this to be some kind of diatribe against all bonding companies. Over the many years, Ive seen
numerous easily avoidable problems folks have with
their bonding company. I want this list to be
educational.
Most folks think that they MUST hire a bail bond
company to get their loved one out of jail and thats
simply not true. Many times hiring a bail bond
company to get an inmate out of the county can be a
huge waste of cash.
Money which could have been better used to
resolve the violation ends up wasted on a bail
bondsman. I have written about many of the issues
online; for more detailed information about many of
these issues please go to my Jail release in-depth
article Ive published to help folks dealing with bail problems in Texas.
1. Probation Violation Bonds.
When a judge violates probation or community supervision in Texas, the court will issue a
Capias Warrant. As long as the warrant is issued before probation or community supervision
has expired, the probationer will need to take care of the warrant as soon as possible.
In most cases, the probation is entitled to get a bond IF the probationer is on deferred
adjudication probation. If the probationer is a conviction probationer, he/she might still be
able to post bond. In this case, an attorney will be needed to file a motion for a bond hearing
and request a bond from the judge.
The common mistake is that folks panic and post the first bond they can, which is usually
excessive. A week later, they find themselves back in front of the judge on the probation
violation, wherein the judge can put them back in jail if he/she wants to.
So, you could spend a lot of money on a probation violation bond just to be out of jail for 7
days. Of course, the bonding company isnt going to mention that scenario to you.
They arent also going to tell you that if you hire an expert criminal defense lawyer, like me, the
lawyer might be able to resolve the probation violation without the probationer ever needing
to report to the jail.
They also wont tell you, that many times, a smart lawyer will be able to get probation
continued or reinstated very shortly after the probationer turns himself in on the probation
violation.
So, whats the right way to do it? Hire a good lawyer before you hire a bonding company!
What do I do if I cant get a bond and my loved one is just sitting in jail with no hearing date
set? Article 42.12 section 21(b) entitles every probationer in Texas in jail and awaiting there day
in court the right to have a hearing on the matter no later than 20 days.
BUT ONLY IF THEIR LAWYER KNOWS TO FILE A MOTION FOR THE HEARING!
Most lawyers dont file this motion and, therefore, their client just languishes in jail. I have
published a sample motion that I frequently use to put pressure on the Court, Probation
Department and the District Attorneys Office to get my clients case dealt with right away while
they are in jail on a probation violations.
Now, you may NOT want to file this motion. This motion is useful but only where appropriate.
So, you need to have a lawyer who will explain different strategies needed to get the best
outcome on your revocation hearing.
2. Parole Violation or Blue Warrant
When a Parolee picks up a new case, many times their parole officer will issue a Parole
Violation Warrant or whats called a Blue Warrant. Of course, there will be a bond set on the
new case.
A bail bond company would be happy to take your money to post that bond. Why? Because
they know that the Parolee isnt going to get released from jail. That is, if theres a blue
warrant or a parole violation, the parolee cannot post bond. There will be a hold on them at
the county jail unless and until the parole violation warrant is lifted.
You will need a lawyer, not a bonding company, to deal with this situation. There are many
ways to resolve these cases, so its not appropriate to go into every possible defense. But you
wont want to post a bond. Its a waste of money. Spend your money on a Board Certified
Criminal Law expert: money well spent.
3. Immigration hold or ICE HOLD.
If youve read this far, youll notice a theme developing: Anytime theres a hold on a county or
city jail inmate, youll want to hire a lawyer instead of a bonding company. The last thing you
want to do, is post a bond and then your loved one isnt released from custody.
Thats the whole point, isnt it? Get them out of jail as soon as possible! There are ways to get
a bond on an ICE hold. I discuss this in much greater detail in my published ICE or Immigration
Bond article. You must hire an excellent criminal defense lawyer in this situation. A bonding
company simply cant help at all.
4. Charge more than 10%.
This is an easy one, but somehow folks end up paying WAY more on a bond than they ever
should. It is common business practice all over Texas for the bonding company to charge a 10%
fee to post the bond on your behalf.
What does this mean? The fee to the bonding company is not refundable. The fee is simply
their way of making money off of folks that dont have the readily available cash to post their
own bond.
Thats right. You can post a cash bond and bypass the bonding company altogether. If you post
a cash bond, you will get all of your money back (minus a processing fee) when the case is
done.
Ive seen bonding companies charge more than 10% by adding additional reporting fees to the
cost. Out of state defendants and inmates get hit the hardest. Local bonding companies will
charge much higher than 10% for these folks. Ive even seen some that charge the full bond
amount.
IF YOU CAN AFFORD TO PAY THE FULL AMOUNT OF THE BOND IN CASH, DONT HIRE A
BONDING COMPANY.
How can a lawyer help? Many out of state folks might be able to post a cash bond but they
arent local. A lawyer can help with this situation. In many cases, I can post a bond, when I am
also hired on the case. For me, posting a bond is merely a courtesy that I do for MY clients. My
main objective is to undo the criminal charge and clear up my clients record later on. I am not
merely interested in getting someone released from jail.
5. Bondsmans Lawyer or Referred Attorney from Bonding Company.
I wrote in great detail about this trap here. What happens? You hire a bonding company and
then they recommend you hire a particular criminal defense lawyer to handle your case.
Can you say CONFLICT OF INTEREST?! The problem is that the lawyer will be working almost
exclusively FOR THE BONDING COMPANY. This means his duties are to the bonding company,
not so much to the client.
By the way, did I mention that its illegal? Yes, the Texas Occupations Code section
1704.252(11), explicitly prohibits the bonding company from recommending an attorney to
their client or referring the client to an attorney. Nuff said.
6. The City or Municipal Court Bond Scam
I saved the best for last. This is the worst and most prevalent bond pitfall. Ive also written
about this before.
There are 26 cities or municipalities within Dallas County. Each city has their own municipal or
city jail each with their own Magistrate Judge. The Magistrate Judge is NOT the judge assigned
to the criminal case later on.
The Magistrate is simply a stand-in attorney that the city hires to perform certain simple tasks.
One of those tasks is to set bonds on criminal cases for at large warrants and arrestee or
inmates of their municipal jail.
Dallas County has their own bond schedule.
The problem is that most city Magistrate Judges dont set their bonds according to the Dallas
County Bond Schedule. They set them WAY HIGHER!
Most family members related to someone recently arrest will panic and do anything within
their means to get their loved one out of the city jail. Theyll do this, even if the bond is set
multiple times above the recommended Dallas Count bond schedule. Its not their fault. They
dont know that the bond being set is excessive.
Wouldnt the bonding company tell me the bond is too high? Not if you can afford to pay it. I
know its sad. But bonding companies arent interested in getting the best deal for their clients.
For the most part bonding companies want to collect the highest fee possible as quickly as
possible; next client! What can a smart lawyer do to remedy this injustice?
On almost all misdemeanor cases and many Felony cases I can set a Dallas County Bond
Schedule bond at any time. I can do this through something called a Writ of Habeas Corpus or a
Bond Writ.
Once I get the bond set according to the Dallas County schedule, I can usually post the bond
myself. I have done this many times. I have saved my clients many thousands of dollars in this
process.
As I previously mentioned herein, I am the lawyer in the case. So, this isnt something I do and
then walk away from the case. I get bond reduced by filing the writ FOR MY CLIENTS. I need to
get hired on the case do this. Every situation is different, so its a good idea to consult with a
Board Certified Criminal Law expert to answer your questions.
7. Is a Walk Through the best you can do?
If you have an active warrant for you arrest and you call the bonding company, they may say
you need to do a walk through. In other words, they are saying you need to walk into the
County Jail and be arrested, processed, put in a jump suit, see the Magistrate and then hope
you dont get lost in the system somewhere.
No, that really did happen! Here is a summary of the problems Dallas County has seen in the
past. You may hear that a walk through will only take 5 or 6 hours. Thats not always the
case.
The bottom line is if you can afford to hire an attorney to defend you in your case, you should
hire YOUR lawyer before you deal with the warrant. A smart lawyer might be able to get your
booking totally waived.
In this case, you wont need to go to jail. A lawyer might also get you a P.R. Bond so you dont
need to pay any money for a bond. A P.R. bond is simply your promise to appear in court later
on.
A smart lawyer might even be able to make your case totally go away without ever posting
bond. How? Well, the warrant gets removed from the sheriffs computer if the case is
dismissed. Thats one way. Of course, there are many other ways to deal with an at large
warrant without posting any bond. However, you will need a good lawyer to help and thats
what I do for my clients.
About the Author:
Michael Lowe is a Texas trial attorney practicing criminal defense law in the Dallas area for
many years after first serving as a felony prosecutor for the Office of the District Attorney for
Dallas County. He is Board Certified by the State Bar of Texas in Criminal Law. Mr. Lowe has
tried to verdict over 150 criminal trials so far in the state and federal systems.