“We would love to recommend no bail.”
“No way,” said the judge.
“We understand that, Your Honor. But given her prior convictions for crimes and how she’s been nothing but a menace to society for who knows how long, and given the heinous nature of this crime, we strongly recommend bail of no less than a million dollars, sir.”
Ricki was floored. “A million dollars?” she whispered to Vince. “They can’t do that, can they?”
“They can,” said Vince. Although he doubted if that would happen as even the onlookers in the gallery with no ties to that particular case were audibly aghast at the prosecutor’s bail suggestion.
The judge had to bang his gavel. “Order in this courtroom,” he said with bite in his voice. “I said order!”
And the courtroom came back into order.
The judge then reviewed the case file more closely. “What say you, Mr. McAfee?”
The public defender was eager to speak. “The State’s suggestion is outrageous, Your Honor.”
“I didn’t ask you for a summary of the State’s argument. I need to know your argument.”
“Miss Richardson is very young, sir. She’s only nineteen. She vehemently proclaims her innocence, and we honestly believe, when the evidence is presented, that she will be totally exonerated.”
The judge looked at the public defender. “I’m going to rule with or without your recommendation. Get on with it.”
The PD got on with it. “Because she is not a flight risk, Your Honor, and because she has never been a danger to her community despite the little dig the prosecutor threw in there, we believe she should be released on her own recognizance and no bail amount should be set.”
“Not gonna happen,” said the judge.
“Then we recommend ten thousand dollars, Your Honor.”
Even that amount was out of Ricki’s reach, but at least it was far more sensible.
The judge deliberated within himself. Then he began writing in the record. “This case will be placed on the docket for trial at a later date after I have concluded the entire docket for today. Bail will be set at four-hundred thousand.”
“Thank you, Your Honor,” the prosecutor said.
“Next!” said the judge as he closed the case file.
Ricki watched as Erica was led out of the courtroom through a side door. She was able to look out into the gallery and see her sister. She smiled at her and waved with her shackled wrists. Ricki waved back. It was heartbreaking to her.
“Let’s wait in the hall,” Vince said to Ricki when Erica disappeared behind that side door.
They got up and went out into the hall.
“What does four-hundred-thousand dollars mean?” she asked Vince. “She doesn’t have to pay all of that, right?”
“It has to be paid in full if she expects to get out of jail until her trial date, yes,” said Vince. “The laws are changing, but they haven’t changed yet.”
“But I thought you could pay some of it to get out on bail,” said Ricki.
“If you can’t pay the full cash amount, then you can get a surety bond.”
“What’s that?”
“That’s when you hire a bail bondsman to put up the bond on your sister’s behalf. But you have to pay a non-refundable fee of ten percent.”
Ricki frowned. “But ten percent of four-hundred thousand dollars is forty-thousand dollars.”
“That’s correct.”
