The Law and You

If you are currently in police custody or are about to be arrested, here are some simple rules to follow.

1. Be polite to the police but answer only their questions about your name, residence, date of birth, where you work, etc. Do not answer any questions about the crime with which you have been charged until you have had an opportunity to speak with a lawyer.

2. Let me repeat that. DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CRIME WITH WHICH YOU HAVE BEEN CHARGED UNTIL YOU HAVE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK WITH A LAWYER.

The police are not your friend. They are decent men and women who are doing a job, but their job is to convict you of a crime. Don't help them by giving them a statement.

3. Once you are arrested you will be fingerprinted and photographed and then taken before a Justice of the Peace for the setting of bail. In New Castle County, sometimes you will be taken to a Justice of the Peace in the County itself -- other times, before Justice of the Peace at Court 18 at Gander Hill Prison. If you are taken to Gander Hill Prison, before you appear before a Judge, you will be interviewed by a Pre-Trial Services Officer. This person will not ask you questions about the offense alleged but rather will ask you about who you are, where you live, what your ties are to the community, what your prior record is, what resources you have available to post bail. For less serious offenses, the Pre-Trial Services Officer will generally recommend to the Court that bail be set in an unsecured amount or at a low amount which must be secured. Secured means to post either cash, property or a bail bond for the amount of the bond. In some instances, if bail was set at, for example, $1,000.00 secured, you may be able to post as little as ten percent under the bond to be released. If the bond is unsecured, all you will have to do is sign your name to the bond promising to appear. If you post property or cash to secure bond, upon completion of the case and if you have made all of your appearances, the money or property will be returned to you.

On the other hand, if you post a bail bond to secure your release, you will have paid the bail bondsman a fee to post the bond that is not refundable to you. The bail bondsman will normally charge at least 10-15 percent of the face amount of the bond as a premium for posting the bond. In other words, if the bond is $10,000, it will probably cost you somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500 to get a bail bondsman to post bond for you. At the conclusion of the case, even if you have made all of your appearances, that money paid to the bail bondsman is not returned to you.

The cheapest way to post bail which is secured is to post the equity in a piece of Delaware real estate which you or a friend owns. This results in a lien being placed against the title to the property in the amount of the bail. At the conclusion of the case, if you have made all your Court appearances, the lien is released and equity in the property is then free and clear again.

Once bail has been set by the Justice of the Peace, you will either make bail or not. In other words, either you will be released or not. Even if you are not released, assuming you have been charged with a felony, you will be entitled to what is called a Preliminary Hearing in the Court of Common Pleas within 10 days from the date of your arrest. Normally, the Preliminary Hearings are scheduled the full ten days following your arrest. At that time, during the Preliminary Hearing, your attorney will have an opportunity to request that the Court re-examine the issue of bail to determine if bail might be lowered to an amount that you can meet or post.

To summarize, if you are about to be arrested, be polite to the police and stay calm, do not physically resist. However, you are to give no information to the police other than your name, home address and other biographical information. You are not to make any statements at any time to the police regarding your alleged offense.

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