Arthur Hearing Attorney in Miami
One of the services a Miami criminal defense lawyer is often contacted about is an Arthur hearing, otherwise known as a bond hearing for non-bondable charges. A bond is a guarantee that a person will show up for trial, secured with some sort of item of monetary value or money itself. Bail and bond are terms that are interchangeable in Miami. Generally, someone goes to a bondsman and puts up a certain percentage of the bond amount while the bail bondsman puts up the rest. There may be additional requirements from the bond agent such as paperwork and cosigners to guarantee appearance at trial. The bond is then posted, and the person is released from jail until their criminal trial. Receiving legal assistance for criminal charges in Miami is strongly recommended to be able to get out on bond.
Normally, bonds range between $500 and $1,500 for misdemeanor offenses, which include things like trespassing, DUI, or battery. Bonds will usually range between $5,000 and $100,000 for felony offenses but can be much more. The actual amount depends upon the number of charges, the degree of the charges, and the defendant’s priors. But there are some crimes for which a person may not be eligible for a bond automatically. These are known as capital felonies, and they are serious felonies that can carry decades or life sentences in prison, making the court extremely wary about offering bail as an option.
Arthur Hearings for Capital Felonies
Capital felony is the classification for the most serious of crimes. In Florida, they are considered non-bondable offenses absent a special kind of hearing, which is known as an Arthur hearing. Some of the capital crimes that you may need a Miami criminal defense lawyer for include murder, armed kidnapping, attempted murder with a firearm, armed drug trafficking for certain drugs, burglary with battery and sexual battery.
In Florida, these crimes are considered to be non-bondable offenses. That means if a person is arrested for one of these crimes, they will not get a bond at their first appearance hearing. They are not automatically given the opportunity to be released from jail and have to wait for a judge to later determine what is going to happen to them.
However, if you have a criminal defense attorney in Miami, they will be able to ask for an Arthur hearing, which may be able to grant the accused an opportunity to get out of jail by posting bail.
Arthur Hearing Procedure
An Arthur hearing is a procedure to allow for the consideration of a bond for those accused of a capital felony. In this hearing, the defense will work to prove one or more factors that can lead the judge to agree to a bond amount. For example, your criminal defense attorney may be able to prove that the state does not have enough evidence for the charges they brought against you, or the defense may be able to prove that the accused is not a danger to the community and is extremely unlikely to run. This can be difficult to prove and requires a considerable amount of work from a Miami criminal lawyer. But if you can convince the judge at an Arthur hearing that there is not enough evidence against you or that you are not going to run, the judge may let you out on bail.
What Happens at an Arthur Hearing?
You may be wondering what happens in an Arthur hearing. It is like a trial, but on a smaller scale and without a jury present. The decision to grant bond or not is entirely up to the judge. As we said, there is no jury at an Arthur hearing. In an Arthur hearing, both the prosecutor and the defense will present their case to the judge. If the judge thinks that the defendant deserves to have a bond amount set, he or she will do so, and it will be their sole discretion how much the bond will be. There is no restriction on bond amounts when it comes to capital felonies. It is extremely important that someone charged with a capital felony hires an attorney as soon as possible. It is important not only so they can get one of these hearings, but so their defense is presented as effectively as possible, and the bond amount is reduced as much as possible.
Why You Should Get Out on Bond
Those accused of a capital felony actively seek ways to get released from custody. You should want to be released on bond because things get better for you in court if you are out on bond. For one thing, the very fact that you are out on bail and that you’ve come to court proves to the judge that you are a responsible person and that you are not a threat to the community. This makes the judge and state see you more favorably. Plus, arriving yourself in a nice suit with your attorney by your side makes a much better impression than being dragged to the courthouse from jail in an orange jumpsuit.
Also, while out on bond, you can work closely with your attorney to present your best possible defense. If you are out of jail, you can assist your attorney with getting you prepared for court. Another thing that you should keep in mind is that if you are out on bond, you can make arrangements in the event you decide to accept a plea for your case. If you believe you may have to spend time in jail, then you want to make arrangements for your possessions, your home, pets and all of the other things that can be challenging to deal with when someone goes to jail.
Make sure that you contact our Miami criminal defense attorney so that you can get your Arthur hearing and hopefully get out on bond. If you can get an attorney to prove that you are not a flight risk or that the state doesn’t have enough evidence against you, there’s a good chance of getting a bond.