It’s really common for people to get arrested on a Friday or Saturday night for things like fights, DUI, or drug related offenses. If you are arrested on a weekend will you have to stay in jail until Monday when courts are back in session? Whether or not you can get bonded out of jail on a weekend depends on your unique situation.
When someone is arrested they are supposed to be arraigned, or taken in front of a judge to set bail, within 24 hours of their arrest. But that doesn’t always happen. If you’re arrested on a weekend you may not be able to be arraigned until Monday of the next week or even later if the court docket is already full. However, if you meet certain requirements and the offense you were arrested for has a set bond fee then you can be bonded out of jail on a weekend.
The court system is already overloaded so some jurisdictions have create a set bond fee schedule for common offenses. If you’re arrested for one of those offenses and you meet some basic requirements like if you haven’t been arrested for violent crime or you have never been arrested at all you can just pay the pre-set bail fee for that offense and get out of jail. If you are arrested and you’re not sure if you qualify for this type of automatic bond have your family or friends call us with your booking number and other information and we can help them determine if you qualify.
If you do qualify for bail and you don’t have the money to pay it you can get a bail bond. A bail bond company will put up the money for your bail for a fee, usually 10% of the bail amount, and then you will be able to get out of jail immediately even on a weekend. When you show up for your assigned court date the money will be returned to the bail bond company and as long as you have already paid the fee you won’t owe any more money. If you don’t show up for the court appearance you will owe the bail bond company the amount of the bail plus fees and other charges so skipping your court appearance isn’t a good idea.
No one wants to spend the weekend in jail, especially for a stupid mistake. But since most people aren’t that familiar with the criminal justice system you and your family or friends might not know how to navigate the criminal justice system to get you out of jail fast. If you are arrested on a weekend call us right away or have a friend or family member call us. We can help them determine if you can be bonded out immediately and help them with the process of getting the money for your bail and paying it to the court so that you can be free as soon as possible.