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I remember when a bond for a first time DWI was $500. Now, in Tarrant County a person accused of a first time DWI, with no other criminal history, stays in jail for up to 3 days as the system "processes" their income level to set an appropriate bond (where many will do a government pretrial bond) . People are being shipped from small municipalities to the central Tarrant County jail before this is done.  The law allows magistrates up to 72 hours to set a bond and unfortunately, this is about how long it is taking.  Moreover, once a person bonds out many are required to report to pretrial services. Here, they are paying fees and taking drug tests before they are even convicted. I have a current Parker County client who has not had a DWI in 21 years and the magistrate ordered that he have a $500 a month SCRAM bracelet (measures your sweat for alcohol),plus an interlock on any vehicle he drives. He must also report to pretrial services in Parker County once a week. His case is not even filed!  He works out in west Texas! (We are in the process of changing this.) It is outrageous overkill  that a magistrate would make such an order. If he is found Not Guilty or his case is never filed, he does not get one penny back. This did not exist on such a vast scale when I first started practicing law. No wonder all the bail bondsmen are going out of business. The government has taken over and they can't even wait for a conviction. Wrong.


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