Bail is something that is imposed on you to make sure that you return to court. Basically if you’re charged with an offense and you have no prior record and no history of failure to appear in court your bail will be lower than somebody whose has an extensive criminal record and has a history of not appearing to court. Bail is just to ensure that the person will come back to court because quite frankly many people get the charges and don’t come back until they’re picked up the next time. This will ensure that you will lose something of value, mainly cash.

If you’re charged with a municipal court offense, which is punishable by under six months in jail, the maximum bail is $2500 except -- unless the judge puts on the record his grounds for seeking bail over that.

If you’re charged with a felony in that situation the bail is set by a schedule, a bail schedule, and that sets forth the range, you know, what the minimum bail should be, what the maximum is. It’s just a guide to the judge. You have a constitutional right to bail except -- well, you have a constitutional, constitutional right to bail in every case except for a death penalty case. If you’re charged with murder and the State is seeking a death penalty, my understanding is you do not have a right to bail. Every other case you have a right to it, but I mean sometimes the bail conditions are so high, you know a million dollars cash, that most people cannot afford it.