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Section 17-6-15 – Necessity for commitment where bail tendered and accepted; opportunity for bail; receipt of bail after commitment and imprisonment; imprisonment of person who offers bond for amount of bail set; effect upon common-law authority of court

May 11, 2021 | Criminal Procedure, Georgia

(a) After arrest, if bail is tendered and accepted, no regular commitment need be entered, but a simple memorandum of the fact of bail being taken shall be sufficient.
(b)

(1) A reasonable opportunity shall be allowed the accused person to give bail; and, even after commitment and imprisonment, the committing court may order the accused person brought before it to receive bail. No person shall be imprisoned under a felony commitment when bail has been fixed, if the person tenders and offers to give bond in the amount fixed, with sureties acceptable to the sheriff of the county in which the alleged offense occurred; provided, however, the sheriff shall publish and make available written rules and regulations defining acceptable sureties and prescribing under what conditions sureties may be accepted. If the sheriff determines that a professional bonding company is an acceptable surety, the rules and regulations shall require, but shall not be limited to, the following:

(A) Complete documentation showing the composition of the company to be an individual, a trust, or a group of individuals, whether or not formed as a partnership or other legal entity, or a corporation or a combination of individuals, trusts, and corporations;
(B) Complete documentation for all employees, agents, or individuals authorized to sign or act on behalf of the bonding company;
(C) Complete documentation showing that the company holds a valid business license in the jurisdiction where bonds will be written;
(D) Fingerprints and background checks of every individual who acts as a professional bondsperson as defined in Code Section 17-6-50 for the professional bonding company seeking approval;
(E) Establishment of a cash escrow account or other form of collateral as follows:

(i) For any professional bonding company that is new to the county or that has operated continuously in the county for less than 18 months, in an amount and upon terms and conditions as determined and approved by the sheriff;
(ii) Once a professional bonding company has operated continuously for 18 months or longer in the county, then any such cash escrow account or other form of collateral shall not exceed 10 percent of the current outstanding bail bond liability of the professional bonding company; and
(iii) No professional bonding company shall purchase an insurance policy in lieu of establishing a cash escrow account or posting other collateral; provided, however, that any professional bonding company which was using an insurance policy as collateral as of December 31, 2013, may continue to do so at the discretion of the sheriff.
(F) Establishment of application, approval, and reporting procedures for the professional bonding company deemed appropriate by the sheriff which satisfy all rules and regulations required by the laws of this state and the rules and regulations established by the sheriff;
(G) Applicable fees to be paid by the applicant to cover the cost of copying the rules and regulations and processing and investigating all applications and all other costs relating thereto; or
(H) Additional criteria and requirements for approving and regulating bonding companies to be determined at the discretion of the sheriff.
(2) This Code section shall not be construed to require a sheriff to accept a professional bonding company or bondsperson as a surety.
(3) This Code section shall not be construed to prevent the posting of real property bonds and the sheriff may not prohibit the posting of property bonds. Additional requirements for the use of real property may be determined at the discretion of the sheriff. The sheriff shall not prohibit a nonresident of the county from posting a real property bond if such real property is located in the county in which it is offered as bond and if such property has sufficient unencumbered equity to satisfy the sheriff’s posted rules and regulations as to acceptable sureties.
(c) This Code section shall not abrogate or repeal the common-law authority of the judge having jurisdiction.

OCGA § 17-6-15

Amended by 2014 Ga. Laws 577,§ 3-1, eff. 7/1/2014.