How is Bail Set in a Criminal Case?

When a person has been arrested and charged with a crime in Minnesota, they must appear before a Judge so that the Judge can set bail and possibly other conditions of release. Bail really means money. This money is paid to the Court as a guarantee that the person charged will continue to appear back in Court until the criminal matter is concluded.  If the person fails to return, even once, the Court may forfeit that bail, meaning that person won’t get it back, ever. Its important to remember that this is true regardless of who posts the bail on the person’s behalf. Having an experienced criminal defense attorney even at this early stage could make all of the difference. Contact Jack Rice Defense for a free confidential consultation. Call 651-447-7650 or 612-227-1339.

How is Bail Set in a Minnesota Criminal Case?

The Court looks at a series of factors to determine how high to set bail and whether or not to also set additional conditions of release. The standard for setting bail and/or conditions may sound relatively straight forward but is more nebulous than it first appears.  When a person appears before the Court because of a criminal charge, the Judge will look at the following factors:

1. The type of charge the Defendant is facing;

2. The circumstances surrounding the charge;

3. The Defendant’s criminal record;

4. Whether the Defendant poses a flight risk , i.e. the Defendant’s history of returning to court, bench warrants and/or violating conditions.

5. The Defendant’s ties to the community including length of employment, length of time in current residence or in the area and family or personal connections to the area;

6. Other miscellaneous factors.

So How Do You Pay the Bail?

In Minnesota, there is Always a Cash Option

There are several ways to pay bail in Minnesota. One is a cash bail. This simply means that you pay all of the bail in cash. For example, if the Judge sets bail at $100,000, a person charged would be required to deposit $100,000 with the Court before that person would be released from custody. At the end of the case, the $100,000 would be returned to the person charged. The Court must always set an all cash bail option.  

The Other Option for a Cash Option is to Go Through a Bondsman

Under certain circumstances, a bondsman will act as a surety to pay the bail on behalf of the person charged. Using that same example as above, rather than having to come up with the entire $100,000, the bondsman comes up with the $100,000 on their behalf.  The person charged would have to come up with 10% of the bond as payment to the bondsman. In this case, that would be $10,000. 

While this may be a great alternative, there are some downsides.  If the accused fails to show up for Court and the Court forfeits the bond, whoever signed with the bondsman may be obligated to pay the entire $100,000 back to them.  Equally, even if the accused shows up every time and fulfills their obligations, the bondsman will keep that $10,000 as their fee.      

The Alternative to Setting an All Cash Bail is Setting Conditions of Release

The Court also has the option to set conditions of release.  This is an alternate to posting the cash bail.  Conditions of release frequently include:

1. GPS;

2. No use provisions (alcohol or drugs) and random UAs (urinalysis);

3. Anger assessments;

4. Psychological evaluations;

5. Chemical dependency evaluations;

6. Other requirements based upon the Judge’s discretion.

Court may also issue no contact orders, stay away orders as well as other conditions.

Because so many cases are unique, the Court will look at the person in front of them. Sometimes, setting conditions will also help bring the bail down. With this in mind, a Judge may under some circumstances set conditions without requiring any cash at all. As was mentioned earlier, this gets very complicated very quickly.

Experience matters. Hire a criminal defense attorney who has been here not just once but a thousands times

In the end, every Judge is different and they frequently are very subjective in how they weigh the circumstances.  As a result, it is absolutely critical at this stage to bring in an experienced criminal defense attorney.  There are ways to emphasize more important facts and circumstances and to downplay others.  As a result, the difference in bail can sometimes be in the tens of thousands of dollars as a result of an experienced criminal defense attorney.  

Jack Rice has argued thousands and thousands of bail arguments in his career. Know your rights and don’t go this alone. Talk to a criminal defense attorney who knows what is coming at you. Jack Rice is the founder of Jack Rice Defense.  He is a former prosecutor, a Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist and a criminal defense attorney with more than twenty years of his experience. Call Jack Rice Defense for a free confidential consultation at 651-447-7650 or fill out the attached confidential form and we will follow up quickly.