Do You Think I’ll Get Bail?

When someone is in remand awaiting a bail hearing at facilities like Maplehurst and Toronto South or at courts such as 1000 Finch in North York, 1911 Eglinton Avenue East in Scarborough or the Brampton court at 7755 Hurontario Street, they most often want to know the chances of them leaving via a bail hearing. Practically speaking, what most don’t realize is that you really only get one shot at it since a bail review is an available but costlier process that requires the court to see a change in circumstances before they would let you out. So if you think that a personal undertaking is unlikely, you’d might want to give it your best shot with a reliable and trustworthy surety who is a Canadian citizen, over 21 and is known as a responsible person (preferably with a job and is sound of mind) and a lawyer that has experience getting people out of these types of jams.

Most people get out on bail since most crimes committed in our criminal justice system are on the lower end of the spectrum in general. What crimes and offences make it the least likely that you will get bail, you ask?

In no particular order, it’s harder to get bail if you:

• Have been accused of going on a serious crime spree with several (2 or 3) charges that suggest wanton indifference to public safety in a recent time span.
• You’ve been charged with murder or another major crime (terrorism).
• You’ve been accused of being associated in gang related activity involving guns.
• You have failed to appear to court in the past even though you have promised the court that you would.
• You don’t have a surety to vouch (pledge) some money for you.
• You are from another province or country and don’t have a surety or you have a surety but they don’t have the money to put up for your behalf.

It’s only in the last case that the court usually asks for money up front. In all other cases save for a personal undertaking, your surety merely pledges to give money on your behalf should you fail to meet the conditions imposed upon you by the court. That being said, a bail hearing is no walk in the park. The prosecutor will do their job to represent the public interest and try their hardest to evaluate the situation as per their experience and while your lawyer will focus and concentrate on the pros to letting you out, the prosecutor will moreso aim for the cons (no pun intended). If you’d like to know about your chances of getting bail, contact Pierre Bonsu…

He Knows These Streets!