Stephanie Lazarus, 49, a 26 year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, is accused in 1986 of shooting and bludgeoning Sherri Rae Rasmussen.

Steven Lazarus, the brother of Stephanie, spoke to media last Friday after a pretrial saying that her bail needs to be lowered because it is an illogical price when compared to celebrity defendants, such as Robert Blake or Phil Spector who were only held on a $1 million bail during their trials.

In June of 2009, Lazarus was arrested after the evidence in the case was re-examined by cold case detectives as they matched a saliva sample from Lazarus to bite marks on the victim.

Lazarus’ bail was set at $10 million by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, Robert Perry, under the suspicion that she would flee if the bail amount was lower.

Lazarus’ attorney also felt the bail amount was set at an unfair amount. He said, “It’s ridiculous. Phil Spector gets $1 million bail? Robert Blake gets $1 million bail? They’ve got the money to go anywhere. Who has $10 million cash? It is basically preventative detention.”

If Lazarus is freed, she’d be able to access weapons which could be a risk to herself and others, according to Judge Perry. He said the case was “unusual” and says that there is imperative evidence that if able to, Lazarus would flee if she’s released on bail.

Is her bail too high as her brother claims? Bail amounts are set based on threat to society and likelihood of return to court. Judges have significant latitude in setting high bail. Apparently, this judge felt the bail is justified.

According to friends, family and colleagues at the preliminary hearing, they all stated Lazarus was deeply in love with John Ruetten, whom she had dated for a while before he married Rasmussen.

Lazarus pleaded not guilty to the capital murder in May of 2009, however she was arrested June 5, 2009 and has remained in custody ever since.

Lazarus is being held at the Lynwood Jail, also known as the the Century Regional Detention Facility, which is Los Angeles County’s women’s jail. She faces a life sentence is found guilty.

If for some unfortunate circumstance you are jailed in California and want to bail yourself out, you’ll need to pay 10% of whatever the bail amount is. For example, if your bail is set by the judge at $10,000, you’ll need to come up with $1,000 to pay a bail agent.  Even in this strapped economy, there are a lot of families who can get together and come up with that kind of money. Pretty basic, right?

As a caveat, if your bail amount was set  at $30 million dollars (as in the case of  one, Mr. Phillip Garrido), you would need to pay your friendly bail agent 10%, well… $3 million dollars.  Let’s just say that like the rest of America,  the Placerville  judge wasn’t taking too kindly to Mr. Garrido when he showed up for his day in court. Seems as the accused kidnapper and rapist of Jaycee Dugard, Mr. Garrido’s stiff bail amount would make it very difficult for him to get back onto the streets. A fit decision, I’d surmise. However, Garrido’s bail amount was far from being the highest ever set. And he isn’t alone when it comes to notorious people with multi-million dollar bails.

A Washington County judge set a bail at $6 million in 2006 for Steve Van Keuren, the man charged with killing his former girlfriend along with her boyfriend.

There was also the $10 million bail set in 1992 for Russell Lund, 59. The millionaire was charged with murdering his estranged wife and her boyfriend. Russell Lund committed suicide after the bail was posted.

There was an $11 million dollar bail amount set for a Brooklyn doctor who allegedly drugged and raped his female patients. When charged, he was upset that Justice Cassandra Mullen wouldn’t reduce his bail. She turned around and set it over 10 times higher.

A $20 million dollar bail amount was set for Drew Peterson. As you might remember, accused of murdering his wife in Joliet, Ill.

And the big Kahuna of all bail amounts set is $50 million for a man named Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, AKA, Clark Rockefeller.  He allegedly kidnapped his own 7-year-old daughter.  Guess he didn’t have a cool $5 million laying around, so he asked for a bail reduction, which turned around on him.  The judge dismissed his option for bail all together.

… Although, there was once a judge in San Francisco who briefly set a prostitute’s bail at $5 billion dollars. (That’s billion with a “B“) But we’ll chock that up to bail folklore for now.

In California and other states, the law states that judges cannot deny defendants the basic right to a reasonable bail. Some can eschew this law by setting bail so high, the average Joe, along with their family members for several generations couldn’t ever afford to spring them out of jail. An interesting take on the bail system to say the least.

In a previous post, I wrote about some of the longest jail terms ever given out in the United States. Believe me, after reading some of the prison terms given, I’d opt for the big bail amount. At least I’d have plenty of time to save up.