There are different types of bail bonds in Houston, we try to offer Houston bail bond information and hope that it is helpful to the reader.
A Houston City Bond deals specifically with a Class C Misdemeanor offense that is prosecuted and adjudicated in the City of Houston Municipal Court. A Harris County Bond deals specifically with a Class A and B Misdemeanor offense or a Felony offense. These two types of bonds are the most common; however Justice of the Peace Bonds and bonds for other municipalities (city bonds) that deal with Class C Misdemeanors are also posted every day by Houston Bail Bond Companies here in Harris County.
A common misconception is that if a person was arrested by a particular local police officer such as a City of Houston Police Officer, or for another example a City of Baytown Police Officer, that since the person in jail was arrested by a particular police department everything that happens as a result of that arrest deals solely with that local police department and the local court that is associated with that police department. Any Law Enforcement Officer can make an arrest. Depending upon what a person is arrested for, the prosecution and adjudication of the offense may fall into one of several different court possibilities.
For information about Houston Bail Bonds contact us at 713-864-2464
When a person contacts a Houston Bail Bond Company trying to find out information about someone who has been arrested, or about an open warrant, many times a bail agent will ask lots of questions so that they can try to help locate an individual in jail or properly research the possibility of someone having an open warrant.
To an individual that has no experience with warrants or getting someone out of jail, when asked, if the person was charged with a City or County offense by the agent of a Houston Bail Bond Company, a person will in many cases say that a person has been charged with something totally different than what the person has actually been charged with because they associate the Houston Police Department with all police agencies.
An experienced bail bond agent will recognize the confusion and properly try and help someone.
An inexperienced bail agent may inform someone that a person is not in jail or that a warrant does not exist when in fact a person is in jail somewhere or a person does have an open warrant.
While a person should be able to reasonably believe that a bail bond agent knows what they are doing, that is not always the case. We have no employees so we always give accurate information. Most bail bond companies have employees, and in many cases they have new employees who are learning on the job. In order to provide you with accurate information we have included some of these examples to try and explain how it works.
Any law enforcement agency including a Texas Department of Public Safety Patrol Officer, a Harris County Sheriff Deputy, a Harris County Constable, or a local City Police Officer can and will perform their lawful duty by issuing traffic citations and by making arrests when necessary of persons believed to be involved in unlawful activities.
Then as stated above, depending upon what a person is actually charged with and by which law enforcement agency that files the formal complaint, the incarceration of, and the prosecution, and adjudication of that formal complaint against that person falls into the jurisdiction of one of several possible courts.
This simply means that any law enforcement officer, a City of Houston Police officer for example, can make an arrest and file a formal complaint but in this example if the arrest was made for anything other than a Class C Misdemeanor which would be prosecuted and adjudicated in the City of Houston Municipal Court, then the Authority over the prosecution would be with the Harris County District Attorney and the adjudication of the criminal charge if filed as a Class A or B Misdemeanor would be in the Harris County Criminal Court or if filed as a Felony would be in the State of Texas District Court.
Therefore, if a person were arrested by a City of Houston Police Officer; lawful due process requires that Police Officer to take the person arrested to the nearest jail facility that relates to that Police Officers Police Agency, in this example that would be the City of Houston Jail. If the arrest were made for a criminal charge constituting a Class C Misdemeanor that person would remain in the City of Houston Jail and either post a bail bond (a City bond) to be released from jail or stay in the City of Houston Jail until the case is taken before the City of Houston Municipal court and adjudicated. If the arrest were made for a criminal charge constituting a Class A or B Misdemeanor or a Felony offense (a County bond) then that person would be held in the City of Houston Jail until the formal charge (complaint) is either accepted or denied by the Harris County District Attorney. If the formal charge is accepted by the Harris County District Attorney then the person in the City of Houston Jail would be transferred to the Harris County Jail which is the proper jail facility for that person to be held in.
In most cases it is possible for a person to be released from any jail they are being held in by posting a bail bond without being transferred to another jail facility.
There are some exceptions and the best way to find out is to contact an experienced bail bondsman. Our telephone # is 713-864-2464.
A Class C Misdemeanor offense is the most minor type of offense a person can be charged with. The most common type of Class C Misdemeanor is a traffic violation. There are many other type of Class C Misdemeanor offenses that include but are not limited to city ordinances such as health ordinances that typically relate to a restaurant or building ordinances where certain permits are required or a violation can occur; other violations of this type might be a sign permit violation.
There are minor violations that may seem like they are more criminal in nature such as a bad check or being in possession of drug paraphernalia or possibly a simple assault or shoplifting offense. The offenses that may seem more criminal in nature can sometimes and often are filed as more serious offenses by the arresting officer so it is important to understand that just because these type of offenses may be filed as a Class C Misdemeanor they can and are filed everyday as Class A and B Misdemeanors and Felony offenses too.
Class C Misdemeanors are prosecuted in the many Municipal Courts and Justice of the Peace Courts throughout Harris County Texas.
Class A and B Misdemeanor offenses are prosecuted in the Harris County Criminal Courts and include but are not limited to charges such as DWI, Possession of marijuana, theft, assault and many other offenses that while being serious offenses are still not considered as serious as a felony offense.
Felony offenses are prosecuted in the State District Courts and include but are not limited to DWI 3RD OFFENSE, large quantities of marijuana, possession of control substance, robbery, assault and many other offenses that are considered to be more serious in nature.
Many times people have difficulty understanding why it takes so long to get information or why it takes so long for someone to be booked into jail or released from jail. We encourage anyone to please contact our office anytime day or night to simply get information about different types of bail bonds in Houston. We will do everything we can to be helpful and give the kind of information that will help you make decisions based on accurate information.