A person gives a lift to a casual acquaintence. Said person gets pulled for speeding. The casual acquaintence has a tote bag laying in plain sight on the back seat. The officer asks for permission to look in the bag. Casual acquaintence begins to sweat, but says okay.

The officer finds a kilo of pot in the bag and promptly arrests them both.

Several months later the owner of the car is exonerated by the justice system. Now here is my question: said person posted 10% of a $10,000 bond after he was arrested. Since he was acquitted of the charges, does he get that money back?

Yes. Unless you paid it to a bailbonds man then that is his fee.

Quoted: Yes. Unless you paid it to a bailbonds man then that is his fee.

I guess he's out of luck because he paid a bail bondsman.

Thanks for the quick response!

Quoted: Several months later the owner of the car is exonerated by the justice system. Now here is my question: said person posted 10% of a $10,000 bond after he was arrested. Since he was acquitted of the charges, does he get that money back?

Depends.

If it happened in a state like Oregon, where the 10% was paid directly to the jail (and bailbondsmen don't really exist for the most part) then yes, the poster should get their money back.

On the other hand, if that money was paid to a bonding company, then no, they keep their money as that is how they make funds to pay their employees, keep the lights on, pay the rent, etc.

Chris

In Mo. when you post bond with the court, rather than a bondsman, many courts will hold court costs out of your bail money. In cases where the defendant has posted the entire amount, I've seen courts hit that money pretty damn hard.