Yes, generally you can. Most bail bondsmen accept payment and signatures remotely, by phone, wire transfer, or online, so being physically present in Colorado isn’t required to post bond for someone, though a local cosigner or collateral located in state is often still needed.
How Bond Amounts Get Established
There’s usually a bond schedule set by the judicial district as to what they think the appropriate bond is, depending on the level of crime. The more serious the crime you have, the higher the bond is expected to be; the less serious, the lesser the bond.
Judges pretty much follow that schedule, though there are a number of things that cause judges to vary from that schedule to make the bond either less or more, which matters just as much whether you’re arranging this locally or from another state.
How to Bail Someone Out of Jail?
Mitigating circumstances, criminal history, and flight risk are the two things people look at to determine if this person is a danger to society if their bond isn’t higher. The point of bond is to ensure that you’re back in court, putting the bond in such an amount that if you don’t appear, you’re losing a significant amount of money.
The more serious the charge, the more likely it is you may not appear in court, so the purpose of bond is to ensure that you do come to court, regardless of where the person posting it is located.
How a Bondsman and Collateral Work While You’re in Another State
A bondsman will charge you anywhere from 10 to 15% of the bond. If you have a $1,500 bond, a cash property bond, a bondsman will very likely charge you 150 bucks to get out of jail. It’s not uncommon to see people with very low bonds sit in jail because they don’t have $150 to get out of jail, even if a family member in another state is ready to help.
At higher bond amounts, it changes, because now a bondsman not only wants that percentage premium, they also want the full amount worth of collateral, which often includes the title of someone’s house.
Very few people have that much equity in a home, so an increased bond can keep somebody in jail because they don’t have the collateral, whether that collateral would come from Colorado or from another state.
A bondsman will very often post a lower bond on a cosigner’s signature, but not a much higher one, because the consequences if this person doesn’t show up fall on the bondsman and the cosigner, no matter where that cosigner lives.
Criminal History and Its Effect on Bond
Criminal history is usually the simple answer to why people get released quickly or are held on a higher bail bond. If there’s no criminal history, your chances of being released per schedule quickly increase significantly.
If you’re being held on a charge and have a prior criminal history that indicates similar prior offenses, the judge often will look at the paperwork and determine this person is a danger to society, increasing the bond, and having him sit in jail until he posts that increased bond.
Whether Personal Wealth Plays a Role
Your net worth has a lot to do with whether or not you sit in jail, because if you’re sitting in jail, you’re not working. You either have to have enough assets that can cover the bond and allow you to post the bond, or your family, even if they’re in another state, has enough assets to cover the bond or post the bond.
It’s not unrealistic that people with some funds, with some means, have access to leave the country, which is a legitimate concern that comes up. It’s difficult to leave the country if you have a serious case pending, since that often comes through in computer searches and computer histories when trying to board an airplane.
Requesting a Bond Reduction or Different Conditions
Asking the judge to reduce the bond, and maybe increase or change bond conditions, can address whatever concerns the judge has, such as public safety, with bond conditions rather than money. An ankle monitor is one example, letting you determine where and when someone is at 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Urine analysis for drugs or alcohol can also be made part of bond conditions to address a judge’s concerns about drug and alcohol use.
