How Savannah courts decide who gets bond

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Whether someone arrested in Savannah gets out on bond depends on the charge, the court and the person’s past record.

WTOC spoke with a local criminal defense attorney about how some of those decisions are made.

Misdemeanors and felonies

According to Georgia law, someone charged with a misdemeanor is automatically entitled to a bond, though a judge can set certain conditions and a bond amount.

For certain serious felonies, lower courts cannot issue a bond, but Superior Court can.

In Superior Court, judges follow Georgia statute. They weigh a defendant’s background, criminal history and the facts of the case. They also consider four key risk factors.

Local defense attorney Skye Musson described those factors.

“So there’s main things they look for, risk to re-offend or commit a new felony if they’re released, risk to intimidate witnesses or to tamper with the case, something like that, risk to not show up to court. So if you have a client who just has 30 FTAs, failure to appears on their record, the reality is that judge is going to be a lot more nervous. And then the fourth thing is going to be their ties to the community. Are they a risk to flee?” Musson said.

Probation and continuances

Musson said there is a higher burden to getting bond if someone is already on probation, because that person is already under sentence. She said bond is often only granted in those cases when the person is looking for treatment alternatives.

A judge’s consideration also includes multiple continuances in a case. A person is more likely to get a bond if their case keeps getting pushed back, according to Musson.

“I think the judges are taking into account right now is that it’s taking so long to get cases, homicide cases, to trial. And so while they may not be inclined to set a bond early, the third, the fourth, the fifth time a case is passed, especially if it’s passed for a reason other than simply just there’s another homicide being tried, the judge is going to start to take that into account,” Musson said.

90-day rule and own recognizance release

In Georgia, a person arrested but not indicted within 90 days becomes entitled to a bond.

Some people are released on their own recognizance outside of the courts. That decision is made by the sheriff’s office.

“The sheriff is going to have to make that assessment of is this in his budget? Is it fair to the taxpayers? And is it something that poses a risk to society at large? He has to take into account basically the risk versus the overall cost to the taxpayers. And there are certain crimes in which he has a certain right, a certain level of authority to set standardized bonds when somebody, especially when somebody has no history,” Musson said.

More serious charges usually mean stricter conditions when a bond is granted, and higher amounts. Musson said it’s easy to jump to conclusions on these cases, but said they all involve multiple complex legal factors.