If you are arrested in Chatham County, you will be taken to jail immediately. You will have to stay in jail until a bond is set and you are able to meet that bond. If you are arrested in Savannah, that means that you will be taken to the Chatham County Detention Center—a facility that is so notorious for its condition that it has been featured on MSNBC’s Locked Up television series.
If you are arrested, you must act quickly or you could be held in jail until the end of your case. Many courts in our area are so backed up with cases that even a relatively simple case can take months and months to resolve, leaving you away from your job and family for an extended time.
Bond Hearings
When you are arrested, the judge in your case is required by law to consider giving you a bond within 24-48 hours. However, many times these bond hearings occur before a lawyer has been retained. This puts you at a real disadvantage, especially if the judge denies your bond at this initial appearance. Oftentimes, if a client retains me early enough, I can be present at the initial bond hearing and get a bond set so that my client only has to spend hours, rather than months, in jail before being freed.
Motion for Bond
If you are denied bond at your initial appearance, a good criminal lawyer will file a Motion for Bond immediately when they begin working on a case. Many times, it can take several days for a judge to schedule a new bond hearing. If your lawyer waits to file the Motion for Bond, it could result in you being detained unnecessarily.
If your first Motion for Bond is denied, file again! An aggressive criminal lawyer will never stop fighting for a bond. I have had several clients who had previously retained another lawyer that told them that they would not continue to pursue a bond. I do whatever I can to help my clients get out of jail.