Will a bail bond service likely cover a three million dollar bail in a case such as this one? The cop would be, in my opinion anyway, a pretty high risk for flight. Plus, I don’t think his family has that kind of cash.
Do they often cover multi-million bails, and is the fee still ten percent for such high amounts? $300,000!
Is “bails” a word?
Peace,
mangeorge
Below is an piece from the Oakland Tribune.
At the foot of the article there is a comment on bail bond companies which goes like this:
Incidentally John Burris, the attorney acting for the victim’s family, opines that Mehserle’s bail is makeable because “his family has assets.” If they do, and if such assets are not available in cash, then property to the value of $6m can be pledged to the court.
Link.
That’s kinda what I’d assumed. If the family does indeed have such assets, the bond companies would be all over it. But those assets need to be available in cash. Ten million in real property may have only a couple million, or less, in equity.
Plus the guy is undrstandably scared shitless, and to me would be a huge risk.
With a property bail bond the court takes a lien for the bail amount. The reason the property value needs to be roughly twice the cash value is that in cases of bail jumping the court is entitled to sell the property quickly at below market rate.
This raises the question of what happens in a difficult economic situation, like now for example, if the equity in said property falls to an amount substantially less than twice the cash bail. I wonder if the accused is then hauled into jail because his property bond no longer satisfies the court.
Another matter to consider is that, in some states, the owner of the property must vacate the premises until it is effectively his own once more. Whether or not California is one such state is unknown to me.
Link.
The news was talking about this subject this morning. It seems the family has to secure the 3 mil plus pay the bond company the ten percent! So if the guy skips, the bond company is up the $300,000 and out nothing. I must be mis-understanding this. If the family secures the bail, why would they even need a bondsman/woman?
Bail must be paid in cash. If their security consisted of, say, three million dollars worth of real estate, they would have to liquidate the whole thing to pay bail without a bondsman.
Another report from the Oakland Tribune dated 6 February doesn’t shed much light on the situation.
Further details on this story would be much appreciated.
A judge can’t secretly alter a bail judgement, can one?
And the public has been surprisingly quiet about Mehserle’s release since the day it happened.