You are arrested.  The police must follow specific procedures during your arrest, such as searching you for weapons or drugs,  reading you your Miranda Rights and they may also confiscate property that you may have on you at the time of arrest and have you sign an inventory form.  They will then take you to jail.

You are booked. During your booking, you will be fingerprinted, photographed and will need to give your basic information such as current address and your birthdate.  Depending on the circumstances of the crime for which you were arrested, you may have to participate in a police line-up or give a sample of your handwriting.  You are then placed in jail, potentially until your trial, which could be months away.

After booking. Your case will be sent to a prosecutor, who will decide whether or not to prosecute you or drop the charges.  If they want to prosecute, you are then arraigned.

Call McKinney Bond’s. Depending on the crime, you may be offered bail according to a bail schedule after you are booked without waiting for your arraignment.  It may be beneficial to wait until your arraignment (which should happen within 48 hours of your arrest) because bail may be set lower at your arraignment than the bail schedule suggests.  Call McKinney Bond’s as soon as you are offered bail and we’ll help you determine what is best for you and your case.  If you accept bail and make arrangements with your bond with us, you will be released at that time.

Your arraignment. If you choose to wait until after your arraignment, at the time of your arraignment, you will be asked to enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, nolo contendere or no contest, which mean you are agreeing to a conviction without admitting guilt.  At this time, if bail has not already been arranged, a judge will determine bail

Call MKinney Bond’s. We’ll make arrangements with you to set up a bond for your bail.

You go home to your loved ones.