What is Bond in Arizona?

Hi, my name is Steve Glazer with The Glazer Law Office, and we’re going to talk about a concept called bond.

In every criminal case, a judge has to set release conditions and it can be done in a variety of ways. They can release you on your own recognizance, which is a promise to appear. No money is involved in order you secure your appearance.

There are other types of release. One is unsecure bond, which means you don’t have to pay any money in order to get out of jail. You just simply, if you don’t appear when you’re supposed to, then you owe the court money.

Third party release is another type of release where you have a third party, another person who will swear to the court that will bring you to and from court.

But, what’s most common is either one- being released on your own recognizance for relatively minor offenses, misdemeanors, and low level felonies.

But, what’s most common is a court setting bond. Bond is where you give money to the clerk’s office. That’s in a dollar figure that is used to secure your appearance. So, if you show up to all your hearings, when your case is over you get the money back. If you don’t show up, they’re simply going to keep your money.

So, the more serious the offense, the higher the bond is. If you are caught transporting marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroine, narcotic drugs, dangerous drugs, whatever it might be, those are relatively serious offenses, a bond might be $100,000. Or, if you’re involved in a murder case your bond might be 1 million dollars, sometimes higher. If you get stopped for a DUI, a common bond would be $1,500, give or take, if you’re convicted, what the fine would be if you’re convicted of a DUI.

Your prior criminal history would be taken into consideration. The more crime you’ve committed in the past, the more likely you would have a tendency to flea the jurisdiction because the punishment gets higher. You could be deemed a flight risk. The greater history you have of failing to appear at court would factor into how high the bod is going to be in a particular case. There are a variety of factors the court takes into consideration to set an appropriate bond.

If you have any questions about bond, or how to bond out of jail, give me a call. 928-213-5916.