Is it Possible to be Taken Off of a Bail Bond?

This question comes from Yahoo! Answers, where we frequently answer bail related questions.

Question: I was arrested for a DUI and had an old warrant for another one. I was booked into a California jail and was sent to the release tank and to be cited out.  The bail bond company I used knew this and waited until 20 minutes before I was going to cited out to post the bond. Now I paid $1,500 for no reason. The Commanding Officer at the jail even asked why did I have a bond posted if I knew that I was going to be cited out. Now I want to get off of  bail completely before my court date. What can I do?

Answer: That’s a very interesting situation and I am sorry to hear that you are dealing with what sounds much like an unethical bail bonds company — but there may be another possibility. In my experience as a California bondsman, a jailer will not take a bail bond for a DUI if the person in custody is going to be “OR’d” (Released on Own Recognizance) or “cited out“.

In most jurisdictions first offense DUIs are released without bail, but repeat DUI and warrants do not qualify for “OR”. In terms of warrants, the legal system recognizes you haven’t taken care of what needed to be done before and they want someone to take responsibility to make sure it is done this time. This makes me wonder if the Commanding Officer was up front with you or just wanting to put salt in a wound when you were told that they accepted a bond unnecessarily.

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