US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

The basis of all undertakings of bail, whether upon a warrant, writ of arrest, suspension of judgment, writ of error, or in any other case, is to ensure the appearance of the defendant in court, and the undertaking is forfeited by the failure of the defendant to appear.

If, by reason of the neglect of the defendant to appear, money is deposited as cash bail and is forfeited and the forfeiture is not discharged or remitted, the clerk with whom it is deposited shall, at the end of 30 days, unless the court has before that time discharged the forfeiture, pay over the money deposited to the officer, official, or employee authorized by law to receive fines levied by the court. The court shall then, without any notice to defendant, render judgment absolute for the entire sum deposited and the money shall then become public money of the State General Fund or in bail forfeiture cases pending in the municipal courts the sums shall become public money of the municipality. The state shall remit one-half of the funds it receives to the county in which the defendant was charged. The funds shall be deposited into the general fund of the county and used for the maintenance and operation of the county jail.

(Acts 1993, No. 93-677, p. 1259, §31; Acts 1996, 2nd Ex. Sess., No. 96-881, p. 1695, §1.)