It Is Very Important That You Talk to an Attorney Quickly If You Find Yourself Arrested.
Video Transcribed: My name is Tahlequah Criminal Defense Attorney Ryan Cannonie, and I’m with the Wirth Law Office in Tahlequah. And I talked a little bit in a different video about what happens before you’re arrested, and I talked a little bit about bond in that, but I realized I probably need to talk a little more about it, because it’s really the next stage of the process in the criminal system.
So once you’re arrested, or once a warrant is served on you and you’re arrested for the warrant, you’ll go to jail, and then you’ll be given a bond. Now, sometimes you’ll be given a bond, like your public intoxes sometimes will have a standard bond.
Sometimes court systems have standard bonds, where if you commit A, the bond is whatever they set it at. Certain offenses you have to go before a judge. Domestic violence, you’re always going to have to go before a judge to receive a bond on those cases.
And your bond is not always going to be money. There could be other factors associated with that, as well. So when you do go before a judge, you have a certain time limit that they have to have you in front of the judge by. And when you go in front of the judge, they’re going to look and see if there’s probable cause for your arrest.
Now, if it’s a warrant, they’ve already made that finding when they issued the warrant on you. And if it’s just a officer arresting you out on the street, the officer’s going to have typed up a little something.
Or if it’s too quick of a turnaround, sometimes officers will show up to court and swear in and give a verbal probable cause of what happened, and then they’ll type something up later.
Now, probable cause, like I mentioned in my other video, is just a fancy way of saying that it’s likely you did what they said that you did. It’s just a bare bones, does this meet criminal elements? Did you do it in, well, if you’re here, did you do it in Cherokee County? What date was it done?
Has the statute of limitations run? Different things like that. And that’s all going to be in that document for the judge to review. Once they’ve reviewed that, if they find there’s no probable cause, then most of the time they’ll just order right then for you to be released. If they find that there is probable cause, then they’re going to issue a bond.
Now, like I said, bond is not always money. It can be money. It can be other aspects. One thing that you see a lot in domestic violence cases is a no contact order. And if you’re a victim in one of those cases, sometimes … I’ve actually had three, I think three.
I had one retainer recently, one client, and then I’ve had two others that have called, where the victims did not want the case to go forward.
They did not want a no contact order. The whole thing was blown out of proportion kind of is their side of it. But they weren’t there when the bond was done.
This happens pretty quick. So a no contact order was issued. So they can’t be around their boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, parent of their child, someone they live with. So it’s more than just money when you go in.
Other things that can be put on your bond is you can be assigned an ankle monitor with passive or active monitoring. Active’s a lot more money. You’re usually going to have to pay that yourself.
I know at one point, I don’t know if this was reduced because of the Department of Corrections, because they were the ones that put it on the person, or if this was just a standard fee, but I know at one point it was about 300 bucks a month that I know a guy had to pay one time, but I’m pretty sure they’re actually a little bit more than that to do the ankle monitoring.
You can be, I already talked about no contacts, but you can also be banned from going to certain premises, residences, restricted movement. Your bond is usually going to make it so you’re not to leave the state.
You can have all these restrictions on your bond. So if you haven’t already got an attorney before you go in on your bond, it’s good to have an attorney in there, because if you don’t, it’s going to be you, the judge, and a seasoned prosecutor who knows what they’re doing, arguing the law, arguing statutes, and you standing there kind of like, well, this doesn’t sound fair, but what can I say?
Having a Tahlequah criminal attorney in there is going to help you hopefully get better bond recommendations. Maybe the attorney can be in there and say, “Hey, look, I’ve already talked to the victim. They don’t want a no contact order, so don’t put that in there.”
And then talk and negotiate with the prosecutor about saying, “Hey, they want contact. By the way, they also don’t want these charges filed. Let’s start talking about getting these declined.” That’s something that an attorney can do for you right then.
It is very important that you talk to an attorney quickly, or your family talks to an attorney quickly, because you have a very short window from arrest to going in a bond. And once your bond is set, you can ask for it to be changed, but it’s a much longer process than just having an attorney with you that day and trying to get stuff done then.
So if you find yourself in situation, especially here in Tahlequah, in a criminal matter in Cherokee County, then give us a call. Come to our Tahlequah law office for representation.
If it’s not in Cherokee County, we still represent people outside of this county, Muskogee, all around, and our offices actually, one thing nice about being connected to a Tulsa firm is that we have access to all the attorneys and paralegals and private investigators from that firm, that if, for instance.
I can’t help you here in Cherokee County, it’s a case in Comanche County or it’s a case out in wherever in Oklahoma, your situation down in Idabel, who knows, then we probably have an attorney that can help you. And you’d have an office here in Tahlequah you could go to for questions, but your attorney may be in a different county for you. So give us a call. We can help.
