Bail Reductions in Pennsylvania

When a defendant is seeking bail reduction in Pennsylvania, they are well within their right to do so. If they feel that the crime they committed did not deserve a bail dollar amount that was so high, then the Bail Reform Act gives him or her the opportunity to request a hearing that would lower that amount in order for them to be released. There are laws that prohibit the judge from setting a bail that is unreasonably high, and this will all depend on important factors that relate to the case in particular.

For example, when asking for a Pennsylvania bail reduction, the judge will consider the seriousness of the crime itself. He or she will have to decide if they want to make it easier or harder for the defendant to be released from jail. As long as the court sets an amount that it can justify, then there is nothing unlawful happening. But, if the main motive is to simply set the bail so high that it is the equivalent of no bail at all (resulting in the defendant being held in jail even though they did “receive” bail), then the court’s actions are technically unlawful in nature.

On the other side, the prosecution has the right to ask for the bail to be raised. Their goal would be to prove to the court that the raising of it would benefit the case being that the defendant may, say, flee if they are released. A good criminal defense attorney is always ready for this type of action, and would be ready to shoot down any bad accusations or presumptions about what their client will or will not do if the bail was lowered instead of risen. The prosecution may even try to go as far as saying that the defendant would try to tamper with the case or influence witnesses if they were released because of a lowered bail amount.

Still, the overall record of the accused would be one of the main things the judge looks at when they ask for a bail reduction in Pennsylvania. The judge wants to be fair, and an experienced criminal defense attorney is there to be sure that this is the way things go during a reduced bail hearing. The defendants’ lawyer will also argue whether the conditions of bail (such as the stripping of passports or the requirement of an ankle bracelet) are justifiable.

For more information concerning this particular process, please feel free to contact us at 215-833-0133.