Bond Hearings in North Carolina – How Bonds Help You Get Out of Jail

In North Carolina, if you are arrested for a crime, you may wonder how you can get out of jail. Although you are innocent until proven guilty, there is often a period of jail time served until you case is resolved either through trial, plea, or dismissal. This is not considered punishment. Rather, it is to ensure that you make it to your court appearances. In almost all cases, however, you have the opportunity to get out of jail by posting a bail, or bonding out. If you are arrested and you are in need of a bond hearing, you should contact a criminal defense attorney right away.

The terms Bail and Bond are often used interchangeably in the criminal justice system. However, it is a little bit more complicated that. Just remember that bail is the dollar amount needed to get someone out of jail pre-trial. Bonds are a way to get that done.

What is a bond and how does it work?

• Simply put, a bond is a financial guarantee to ensure some occurrence. What this means is, someone puts up a certain amount of money with their promise to do something. And if they fail to do that thing, the money is forfeited. In the context of criminal law, the defendant gives money to a government agency and that money Is to be held to ensure that the defendant shows up to court when he is supposed to. If he shows up to Court, he gets his money back, if he does not, that money is forfeited.

What does a Bail Bondsman do?

• Often times, Defendants don’t have the financial means to post the bail amount themselves so instead they hire a bondsman. What a Bondsman does is post the bail amount for the Defendant and charges that defendant a non-refundable fee to do so. If the Defendant shows up to court, the Bondsman gets the money back that he has posted on behalf of the Defendant.

Bond Hearings

A bond hearing is when a magistrate sets the terms and conditions of a defendant’s pre-trial release, including his bond amount. A criminal defense attorney can usually articulate the facts and handle these proceedings much better than someone trying to do it on their own.

• In North Carolina you are entitled to a bond hearing at every level of court (Magistrate, District Court, and Superior Court).
• The Court will look at whether the defendant is flight risk (he’s likely to not show up), and whether he is a danger to society.
• A bond can be either secured (meaning money has to be placed as collateral in order for the defendant to be released) or Unsecured (Meaning the defendant does not have to post money ahead of time to be release).

If you have been charged with a crime, you should contact a criminal defense lawyer right way. Call us at Gilles Law, we can help.