Walk It Through: The Bond Hearing
An offense in the officer's presence, a decision within 48 hours, and release without money first.
After a shoving match outside a bar, a person is arrested and held overnight.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One night and one charge. Detention hearings, the risk assessment itself, and the assault charge are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Personal recognizanceRelease on the defendant's own promise to appear. The court orders it, or an unsecured appearance bond, when release would reasonably assure appearance, safety and that the defendant will not obstruct justice.
- Pretrial releaseThe decision, made no later than 48 hours after a defendant is committed to jail, whether and on what conditions to release them before trial. The law relies primarily on release by non-monetary means.
- Deadly forceForce justifiable in an arrest only by a peace officer, or someone summoned to assist one, who reasonably believes it creates no substantial risk to innocent persons, that the crime was one of the serious crimes the section lists, and that there is an imminent threat of deadly force or the force is needed to stop the crime or prevent an escape.
- Resisting arrestPurposely preventing, or trying to prevent, an arrest, graded by how: by other means a disorderly persons offense, by flight a crime of the fourth degree, by force or threat of force a crime of the third degree.