Violation of Pre-Trial Release Conditions

If you are found in violation of your DUI pretrial release conditions, the judge could revoke your bond, requiring you to return to jail until the trial, or even the sentencing. There are a lot of different options for what the judge can do to make the bond conditions more onerous if the defendant violates any bond conditions.

A Michigan DUI attorney can be there to help you mitigate the penalties of a DUI conviction and offer assistance in the case of a violation of pretrial release conditions.

Upon violation of pretrial release conditions, a judge can also revoke your current bond and instead set a much higher bond amount or change it to a different type of bond.

The most favorable kind of bond is a personal recognizance bond in which the defendant does not have to pay any money at all to be released on bond. However, if the defendant fails to appear in court, the court could issue a bench warrant and require them to pay the bond amount set in the personal recognizance bond in order to be released from jail again.

In the case that the judge revokes a bond, the individual forfeits the money that they originally posted for the bond. Typically, the judge will then set a higher bond amount for your release after the original bond has been revoked, and the judge may change the type of bond as well.

The court could also modify a person's bond conditions. For example, if the defendant was initially required to test only twice per month randomly for alcohol on bond, they might be required to test multiple times a week or wear a SCRAM tether on their ankle to continuously test the sweat for alcohol.

One of the most important reasons to hire a Michigan DUI attorney right away is that some of the evidence that could be used to build a defense is typically destroyed pretty quickly.

In many cases there could be audio and/or video recordings of some portion of the person's driving, traffic stop, field sobriety testing and administration, arrest, breath test, and/or booking and time in custody. If this evidence is available, it is very important to request it quickly. Many police departments routinely destroy these recordings in accordance with their internal policies. In many places, this destruction of evidence can happen in just 30 days. Once the evidence is destroyed, it cannot be recreated, and this can seriously harm the individual's defense.

It is important to hire a defense attorney who knows exactly how to request all of the documents, audio and video recordings, 911 call recordings, and everything else that might be helpful to defending your case. This is one of the most important reasons to hire the right attorney quickly because, if that evidence is lost, you will not be able to get it back.