When a particular person is suspected of a crime, the police in Harris County, Texas, will present the case to an Assistant District Attorney. This Assistant District Attorney is also known as a “prosecutor” and is a prosecutor for the County of Harris, not the City of Houston. This prosecutor then decides whether charges should be accepted. If she feels charges are warranted, then charges are filed and a bond is set according to a schedule. The trial court can later reduce or increase the bond, or keep it at the same amount.

The amount of bond generally depends on

• The suspect’s immigration status
• The nature of the alleged offense
• The suspect’s criminal history.

Obviously an illegal alien with a criminal history will have a higher bond than an upstanding citizen charged with the same offense. The purpose of bond ultimately is to ensure the defendant’s appearance in court. Bond should never be used to punish a defendant.

Unfortunately, criminal lawyers in Houston, Texas, often do not take advantage of the bond laws favoring the defendant and fail to request a lower bond that is unreasonably high. That is why it is crucial that a defendant have a Houston criminal attorney who knows what he is doing. The bond laws are relatively straightforward, but that does not mean many Houston criminal lawyers have no idea how they operate in practice.