The good news is that a bail bondsman is pretty easy to find in Bell County because most of them have catchy business names, like Quik Release, Strike 3, Justice or Freebird Bail Bonds.

At least one defense attorney thinks surety bonds and bail should only be used in extreme cases.

John Galligan, a criminal defense attorney in Belton, said he doesn’t think money should be spent on excessively high bail amounts to convince defendants to cooperate.

“I get a little upset when I see bail, and especially high bail, being used for other purposes,” Galligan said.

Particularly, Galligan said, when defendants aren’t spilling to law enforcement officers.

Galligan, who has practiced law for nearly 40 years, shared a recent incident where a paraplegic woman rolled her wheelchair over a phone cord during the course of a police investigation. Galligan said it was an accident.

The wheel severed the phone cord and police charged her with interfering with an emergency call.

She was arrested and bail was set.

“I was just sitting there scratching my head, thinking what the heck,” he said.

Galligan said that particular case, and others like it, are a waste of the court’s and the county’s time.

“What was she going to do, wheel herself down I-35?” Galligan said. “She was not a flight risk.”

Much of his career has been representing soldiers as a military attorney.

There, things are different.

In Uncle Sam’s Army, there’s no such thing as bail.

There is either pre-trial confinement, restriction or release to his or her unit with a summons to appear in a federal military court.

In the civilian world, the accused sits in jail until a magistrate reviews the case and sets bail.

“He’s not going to get out of jail unless he bonds out of jail,” Galligan said.

Bail is a surety or a monetary promise by a criminal defendant to appear in court. It can be paid in cash or its equivalent, such as a property deed, can be deposited with the court.

In some instances, a bail bondsman acts as a surety by pledging money for the appearance of a criminal defendant in court.

The agents or bonding companies have a standing security agreement with local court officials, in which they agree to post an irrevocable “blanket” bond, which will pay the court if a defendant for whom the bond agent is responsible, does not appear.

Bond agents usually charge a fee of 10 percent of the bail amount. This fee is not refundable and represents the bond agent’s compensation for his or her services.

In Bell County, the fees vary between 10 and 20 percent.

For instance, if you are arrested for DWI and have no prior convictions, you may only have to post bail of about $500.

“We have a 20 percent cap that we charge,” said Yvonne Link, a bondsman for Freebird Bail Bonds in Belton. “A lot of times if you have $30,000 or something big, we sometimes charge 10 to 20 percent. We bond people out of jail no matter what they do.”

The highest bail she has seen in her short career is $100,000, but that individual paid the entire amount to the court, she said.

Certain criteria must be met to get the court to set bail.

It’s good to have a place to live, a source of income, and friends or relatives with cash.

Sometimes, defendants decide not to appear in court.

“We try and talk them into coming back in,” Link said. “Usually on a misdemeanor charge, they can be talked into coming in. We have to talk to a lot of people and there is definitely a lot of whining.”

Link said if they can’t be talked into coming in, they are tracked down by a private detective.

When a person comes to a bail bondsmen, they can do what is called a “walk through.” The person is walked over, booked into jail and then released immediately, Link said.

Business is always good and bonding companies mostly see people charged with DWI, passing hot checks or assault.

Link said they deal with a lot of soldiers.

Friday morning, she got to work at 8 a.m. to find a Fort Hood soldier waiting for her.

He’d been standing across the street at the Bell County Law Enforcement Center before he decided to cross the street.

Ken Knowles Jr., who runs Central Bail Bonds in Wichita Falls with his father, said the bond business is an extremely competitive racket.

“We try and work with everybody,” Knowles said. “It’s a company and it’s a business.”