Ok.......... keep in mind that this all took place at about 10PM.... talked to 2 magistrates.... following statements:
"We do not set bonds in Kentucky, we are civil processors and as such we hold elected offices and deal with civil matters such as water rights, etc... criminal and civil law matters are handled by the court system and the judge system".
So I called the Fayette county sheriffs dept. and was put through to the bonding dept.... got a clerk who was part of the district court (that is open 24 hours) who files bonds when they are brought in.... this is the system and how it works presently..... :
A defendant is arrested, he is taken to the jail and a "Judge" who is on duty 24 hours, determines if he has a bond... he can set the bond as full or 10% and the defendant is then taken to the jail or the clerks office if he/she wants to bond and pays either the full amount plus a $25 fee or the 10% plus a $25 fee.
I ask the clerk who goes after the defendant if he fails to appear... answer, the sheriffs dept.... to which I said... "wow, I bet that ties up some of your resources..." and she said... "you better believe it.'
I then told her how Virginia works and how the commercial bail system and recovery is all privately operated although overshadowed by the DCJS.... how it costs the state nothing and we do all our own pickups and paperwork and although the state regulates our business, it basically uses none of the state funds for operation.
By this time, there were several other clerks listening to me on 'speaker' phone and one of them in the background actually said... cause I heard it very clearly.... "damn, we need "Dog" in our state... is that what you do Mr. Marx.... ?" I quickly explained to them that I was not a TV actor but a legal, licensed bondsman with over 10 years experience and not to confuse TV with real life... and they all agreed and laughed at "Dog" but I think I got them to look at us in a different light... hopefully. I do think I gave them something to think about... they all said it would greatly reduce their case load and allow them to worry about other more important things other than chasing a skip.... I agreed and they gave me the following number to call in the morning....
I will post this here for anyone to follow up on this call.... this is the bonding office located in the Fayette county sheriffs dept..... call this number and ask for the judge's office who sets the bonds and go from there.... I will make the call myself sometime tomorrow, between 8 and 4.... I recommend some of you do the same..........
Fayette county (Lexington) 859-246-2228, then 0 for the operator... just ask for the judge's office or who ever is in charge of setting the bonds and start asking questions like I do.................. I know many of you are a lot smarter and much more articulate than I... so go to it.
|
