Bail Bond's Defeated Purpose - California Penal Code 1305(A)(5)

Under California Penal Code Section 1305(A)(5), the purposes of a bail bond are defeated by the untimely filing of a criminal complaint by the District Attorney's Office. This California penal code section requires that the court exonerate the bail bond 15 business days from the date of arraignment if no criminal (complaint) case has been filed.

This can create an unexpected problem for the defendant in the near future. After all, the defendant was released on the bail bond based on the alleged charges at time of arrest. The defendant expects to appear in court for the underlying criminal charges out of custody, the intended purpose for posting the bail bond. Unfortunately, a bail bond can't be reinstated once the court has exonerated a bail bond. So, if the District Attorney's Office fails to file within 15 days of arraignment, but files the complaint any time after, the defendant is looking at a possible warrant for their arrest and having to post a new bail bond!

Fastrak Bail Bonds finds this to be more than unfair to the defendant, our client. Our bail bond company's policy is to post a new bail bond with little to no fees, saving the client hundreds if not thousands of dollars. The only requirement is that the new bail bond must be directly related to original criminal charges and case (missing complaint) not previously filed.