Keep Bailing

“I hate you — I wish you were dead!”  What parent hasn’t had this line screamed at them, when fighting with an angry teen?  But maybe one Houston dad should have paid closer attention to his daughter’s bad behavior, or at least taken the promise ”Till death do us part” made by his bride of 20 years, to heart.

Last week, David Shamp’s wife and daughter were arrested and charged for solicitation of capital murder after Harris County Sherriff’s investigators uncovered their plot to hire a hit man to kill him.  Shamp, 43, clings to the hope his daughter, Ashley, 18, was negatively influenced by his wife.  But police say Ashley knew her mom wanted to kill her dad.  Like a scene ripped from the pages of some very hormonal, misunderstood teen’s diary, Ashley set up a meeting with her ex-boyfriend to persuade her ex to ‘do him up’.  

But the ex-boyfriend had no qualms  ’spilling’ about ‘all the drama’, went to police and wore a wire to their meeting.  He claims Catherine Shamp told him that “she wanted [David] gone and she didn’t care how it was done”.  Mom offered $20,000 to have her hubby hacked  and then gleefully outlined her plan to lure Shamp away to the movies so the ex could pretend to burglarize their house and kill him upon their return. She even threw in a ‘bonus’ of beating her up to make it look real.

After her arrest, Catherine Shamp, 38, told investigators Read more »

Bad economic news, apparently Bondsmen Are Bailing Out, at least according to the Indianapolis Star:

these days, too many clients are asking for bail without the required collateral, such as a home or a car, diminishing bail bondsmen’s customer base. And not helping matters is a new policy by Marion County judges setting less expensive cash bonds for minor offenses…

Couple the economic situation with other “solutions” being offered in terms of bail. I hear talk of temporily lowering the bail schedule to allow more people in California to post bail. Huh? The bail schedule is set Read more »

“Will the bail be decreased at court?” That’s a question we get quite often. Usually, it’s asked when someone is comptemplating should I bail out my friend? Well, the judge has all the lattitude. No, the judge will not automatically lower bail when the defendant goes to court. The judge may increase bail, decrease bail, leave it the same, or change to “no bail.”

Such may have been the question of Allegra Fromby a former elementary school vice president was out on bail in San Bernardino County for $75K. She had been charged with two counts of felony drug possession. At her court appearance on 9/14, her bail was Read more »

Ok, I’ve gotta comment on this story because I can relate to it on so many different levels: parent, bail bondsman, Walmart shopper, on-looker… but first the story:

A 61-year-old Georgia man named Roger Stephens was held without bail yesterday for slapping a two-year old child at Walmart. Stephens was upset that the child was crying. He warned the mother, Sonya Matthews, that he would “shut that baby up” if Matthews couldn’t stop her daughter’s cries by herself.

When the child continued to cry, Stephens followed through on his threat. He slapped the 2-year-old Paige Matthews “across the face approximately four or five times,” according to the Gwinnett County Police Department report. Of course, the child screamed and cried even more after being assaulted, but Stephens said to the mother, “See, I told you I would shut her up.” He was arrested for felony cruelty to children and held without bond at the Gwinnett County Detention Center.

Ok, so as a parent and a member of society: Read more »

Imagine you’re a criminal defense attorney and you receive a 3:00 AM call from an arrested client. “I’m in jail—get me out”, demands your client!  “But I’m not acquainted with a bail bondsman,” you humbly reply.   Your client responds, “You’re a criminal defense attorney–what do you mean you’re not acquainted with a bail bondsman! That’s like a dairy farmer who’s not acquainted with a veterinarian.”

If you’re an attorney, it makes sense to develop a close relationship with a professional bail bondsman. Ok, so maybe you’re not an attorney. You still might want to know a good bondsman. Here’re a few reasons why:

• A quality bondsman can do many extra Read more »

Bail Bondsman and Magistrate Team Up to Tip the Scales of Justice – Electronically

Look around the bail industry and you will find an inordinate number of families in business together. Usually when we think of family business, we assume trust. Unfortunately, a family in Virginia decided to take their family bail business in a completely different direction and bring us our latest reported incidence of bail scams.

In Abingdon, VA, local magistrate, “Tiny” Mullin, was released from his job after using a coworkers electronic signature to set bail for clients of his father, J.C. Mullins, a local bail bondsman from an Abingdon bail bond company. Read more »

Large Bail Amounts, Property Bonds & 1275 Hearings

After reading our Unscrupulous Bondsmen post, I had an email comment from a friend, Gary, complimenting us on the article. He also had this to say:

I am always curious who posts the big bonds $1mm - $10mm for the wealthy or notorious people that are of flight risk.  I guess Bernie Madoff posted his own bail for $10 mm (NY / Federal court lets you post property in lieu of cash ??).  

I assume that Unscrupulous + Bail = Madoff. Read more »

How is Bail Set and Why is Bail Set So High?

When most people hear about a court imposing a bail amount of $1 million or more, they automatically assume the person must be charged with mass murder or some similarly heinous crime. Actually, defendants considered that dangerous rarely get bail at all.

Large bail amounts usually mean that the court thinks there’s a chance the person might not return for trial or the court believes the defendant is dangerous to society. Someone might be willing to lose $50,000 to stay out of jail, but $500,000 or more? That’s a powerful incentive to show up – hence the large bail amount.

Consider the circumstances of these two California cases: Read more »