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Things to Look for When Selecting a Malicious Wounding Attorney: Part 3 - The Bail Hearing

Usually, courts hold bail hearings in the mornings before the regular docket. The docket is composed of the cases already scheduled for that day's court business. Sadly, a great many innnocent people charged with malicious wounding are held in jail for one, two, or even three days before they can appear before a judge to seek their release on bail.

At this stage, you should already have hired an attorney if at all possible.

Many times in malicious wounding cases, the Commonwealth's Attorney will urge the court not to set grant bail, or if the court is inclined to grant bail, to set a very high bond. If the accused does not have an attorney, the courts will usually defer to the Commonwealth Attorney's arguments and either deny bail, or wait until an attorney is retained and schedule the bail hearing later.

The purpose of bail is to ensure that the accused will appear for all future court dates, will remain in the vicienity of the court's jurisdiction, and that his release will not pose an unreasonable risk of harm to others in the community.

In most cases, release on either a secured bond (requiring payment of money, or a pledge of assets sufficient to cover the amount set) or unsecured bond (a personal recognizance bond) is not a great problem. Most persons accused of malicious wounding have a bond set. However, if the accused has a prior criminal record with convictions for felonies involving some form of violence to a person, bail may be denied, or set at a higher amount than usual.

In my experience, people represented by attorneys at bail hearings in malicious wounding cases fare much better than those who are not represented by counsel. This is not to say that unrepresented defendants are routinely denied bail. However, if an accused does not have an attorney arguing strongly for his client's release, he or she will remain in jail unless the judge takes it upon himself to make the necessary inquiries of the accused and the Commonwealth's Attorney to decide if bail is justified.

Mr. Stelly regularly appears in the courts of the City of Richmond, Henrico County, Chesterfield County, Goochland County, and Hanover County.

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