So You Got Arrested

You’ve Just Been Arrested. Now What?

• BRCK Criminal Defense Attorneys • Season 1 • Episode 1

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You’re in handcuffs. You’re in the back of a police car. So now what? In this episode, the criminal defense team at BRCK Criminal Defense Attorneys breaks down exactly what to do- and what NOT to do- immediately after an arrest in Texas.

Whether you’re facing a DWI, drug charge, assault, or any other offense, we walk you through:

Your Miranda rights

What happens when you're booked

When and how to ask for a lawyer

The bond and jail release process in Texas

How to avoid making your case worse

We’ll also share critical tips that could protect your freedom, your job, and your future. If you or someone you care about has just been arrested in Texas—this is the episode to hear.

Connect with us

youtube.com/@BRCKdefense

www.brckdefense.com

facebook.com/BRCKDefense

linkedin.com/company/brckcriminaldefenseattorneys

instagram.com/brckdefense


UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

The Texas justice system is messy. So let's break it down. You're listening to So You Got Arrested, the podcast that tells you what really happens after an arrest. Hosted by Brick Criminal Defense Attorneys, we talk to the people who've lived it, worked in it, and been shaped by it. Whether you're facing charges or just want to understand your rights, your options, and the smart moves that could change everything, we've got your back.

SPEAKER_04:

So Scott, it's 1994 and a young Steve Barrera is going through a rite of passage that so many here in Texas go through as teenagers. Cruising down South Padre on the beach, green days playing in the background, maybe offspring, who knows, you know, it's the 90s. And next thing I know, there's about three or four police squad cars that pop up behind the vehicle that I'm in. They have lights blaring. I have no idea what's going on. And the officers get out, they have guns drawn, they surround the vehicle and I'm sitting in the back seat. And an officer approaches me with a gun drawn and he's yelling at me, get out of the car. And my foot is wedged under the back seat. I can't get out, I'm scared. I know, You wouldn't be able to tell this just by looking at my tough guy exterior, but I was in a complete panic. I had no idea what was going on, what was happening. Fortunately, it turned out it was a misunderstanding. And after we were put in cuffs and they asked some questions, we were released. But in that moment where I thought, hey, I'm being arrested, that was one of the scariest things I've ever been through in my life. So that's what we're here doing today on this podcast. So You Got Arrested. This is your guide from Cuts to Courtroom. We're primarily focused on these areas that we know and love, the 210, San Antonio, this area and all the areas that surround us. My name's Steve Barrera. And Scott, if you

SPEAKER_01:

would introduce yourself. I'm Scott Simpson. I've been a prosecutor here in Bexar County for about 19 years and in Medina County for two years, along with being a defense attorney for what, like six years or so.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay. And there's a little bit of a contrast there because because I've been a defense attorney for my entire 20 years. And I actually started practice in the small community of Wilson County, Texas. That's where I was raised. So I have a little bit of a different perspective from your big city practice that you bring to the table.

SPEAKER_01:

But Steven's too modest because he comes from a family of esteemed defense attorneys all throughout San Antonio.

SPEAKER_04:

I am the kind of the lesser known, the black sheep of the family, I guess you would call it. So in that situation, Scott, I was being arrested And I was in a complete panic. And I know that typically when somebody is being arrested, our advice to them is to stay calm. Why is that?

SPEAKER_01:

Why? Well, because so. One of the things we say throughout any phase of your life is don't be an ass, right? And so because police don't respond well if you give them attitude in situations like that. And so I'm the more aggressive one. You're the more calm of the two of us. And I think that even though you said you were in a panic, you always exude a feeling of calmness about you. So I'm sure that you didn't give the police officers anything to escalate that already tense situation. Is that fair to say?

SPEAKER_04:

No, that's fair. If anything, they've probably saw me about to burst out into tears in front of them. But the other thing, you know, back then in 1994, I don't know that we had the body cams that we have now. And so now with body cams, you know, these officers, they're recording everything, everything that's happening. In your time as a prosecutor, did it ever make a difference to you the way that somebody handled themselves during the arrest?

SPEAKER_01:

It always makes a difference to prosecution and police. So one of the things a prosecutor always looks at, say a garden variety DWI. One of the things a prosecutor looks like when they're trying to decide whether to offer you deferred adjudication or obstruction is, was the guy being an ass to the police or not? Because I've had prosecutor upon prosecutor saying he was cooperative with the police, he wasn't a bad guy, so let's give him a fair deal. OK, now, if you get if you sit there and the officer pulls you over and you start calling them names and saying, don't you have better things to do and things like that, that carries its way over into the courthouse. It just does.

SPEAKER_04:

Right. And, you know, along that line of giving the officer a hard time, sometimes if you take that to an extreme, it could result in additional charges.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Yes. Yeah. But because there's there's people. obviously when you're drunk getting a ride down to the station, there's people who have made threats and saying, when I get out, I'm going to find you and things like that. And that becomes, you're turning what's a class B misdemeanor DWI into a second degree retaliation charge, the police officer.

SPEAKER_04:

So you're taking something that, you know, maybe a minor offense that maybe at worst results in some probation and you're turning it into a situation where time in prison is definitely a possibility, right? Correct. Yeah. So staying calm is, is definitely, uh, you know, a key bit of advice anytime that you're in the process of being arrested. What about giving statements or talking?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, just understand that everything you say can and will be used against you. Now, we're not going to get into the nuances of what they have to do on the body cam in order for that to be admissible right now. We have 50 weeks of these episodes to do and we'll delve into this along the process. But you have to assume that everything you say is going to be used against you. But that that means it can be used for you too. So if you're pleasant, and you're presenting yourself in a calm way to the officer, that has a lot of value. One of the DWI cases I tried a couple months ago, the officer was saying that my guy was swaying, which is why they obtained a blood warrant, and he didn't look like he was swaying on the body cam. And that made a difference to the jury down the line.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. So those body cams, they can definitely at times be a good thing if you're being arrested, a good thing for your case, but they can also be a very bad thing If, for example, let's say it's a DWI and on that body cam, you're talking about the 10 shots of Patron that you've had that night, right? Or you get out of the car and you peed your pants. That's never a good thing. Right. That's exactly what happens. So, you know, you were talking a little bit about the fact that things that you say can be used in court. So that's one thing that I always like to remind people is we see these things in movies where when people are being arrested, they're saying, oh, the things you say can and will be used again you in a court of law. That's a real thing. A lot of people don't understand that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, everything can come back and bite you. And so understand that you don't have to answer the questions of the police. And so you may disagree with the point I'm going to make here. I know a lot of defense attorneys in town say, don't blow, don't blow, don't blow. But if you're in San Antonio, that means you're gonna get a blood warrant. And I think a lot of us would rather fight a case where it's a blow versus a blood warrant. So just do what you think is right. We've had people, I had a person this week in court whose BAC came, blood alcohol concentration level came back below the legal limit. So that case is gonna be dismissed. So those things can happen too.

SPEAKER_04:

And it is a little different because most of my practice This was in these rural jurisdictions like Wilson County, Atascosa County, Kendall County, Carnes County. And over there, they didn't always have someone who could obtain that blood warrant.

SPEAKER_01:

Medina County doesn't do blood warrants at all. So it's going to be based on whatever evidence you provide. So in those cases, Counties, the advice don't blow is good advice because they can't make you blow. They can't make you do any of those field sobriety tests. But understand that the prosecutor, if we end up going to trial, is going to say, if he really felt like he was sober, why wouldn't he do the test? Now, we may argue about whether that's admissible or not, but that's something for another topic.

SPEAKER_04:

And that's something you let your attorney worry about. Yes, yes. So even after the... part where you're being arrested and the officer has that body cam, there's cameras in the vehicle, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So you got the, you got the, there's two cameras in the vehicle. One's facing the road and the other is facing you in the back seat. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

So let's talk about the one facing in the back seat. Does that ever come into play?

SPEAKER_01:

It comes into play. So pretty much nobody knows that there's a camera on them when they're in the back seat. And so clients have been saying stuff like, oh, I'm really in trouble. I wish, I wish I hadn't have shot that guy or things like that. And And that's completely admissible because you're not, statements you make to police in response to questions, we can argue about whether that's admissible or not. But when you're just rattling on and not in response to questioning, that stuff's coming in. So when you're in the back seat making admissions or crying, like I shouldn't have had all that alcohol before I got in the car, all that stuff's coming in.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I think the adage of keep your mouth shut.

SPEAKER_01:

It's always a good

SPEAKER_04:

one. That might be the right way to do it,

SPEAKER_01:

right? There was a comedian, Ron White, who said, It said that he knew he had the right not to say anything. He didn't have the ability. So, yes, have the ability to not speak when it's not in your

SPEAKER_04:

best interest. So in that situation, you're being taken into custody. The officer now has you in cuffs. He has you in the back seat. He's driving you down. Where do they take you?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, so we deal with a lot of different jurisdictions because we also handle cases in the Hill Country, your old stomping grounds, the 81st. Here in Bexar County, they're going to take you down to the criminal magistrate's office and you're going to be waiting for a couple hours to be magistrated and read your rights. And then, you know, I don't know that we're going to get to talking about bonds in this episode, but then your bond will be set by the magistrate and then you're going to have to wait for a while before you process out.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. So in these smaller counties, you go to the jail. So you go to the local sheriff's department and that's where they're taking you. And so when you get to that local sheriff's department, that's where you get booked. OK. And a lot of people don't understand what's involved in that in that booking process. So you can

SPEAKER_01:

you kind of explain it a little bit. That's not my area of expertise. But I mean, so, for instance, in Medina County, where I did prosecute, you get magistrated by the JPs. They don't have a criminal magistrate. And I don't know if that's true. in like Atta Scotia County or Wilson County.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. So the magistrate is just a judge that you see after you've been arrested and they explain your rights to you and they set bail. Now in these smaller counties like Wilson and Kendall and Carnes, they don't have a full-time judge doing that. They have the local JPs that come in and they perform that function. But here in Bexar County, we have full-time magistrates.

SPEAKER_01:

24-hour magistration. But if you're in a smaller county, you may be waiting for a is set because you have to wait for the jp to come do your magistration right they don't they're not going to they're not there 24 hours right so you're going to sit there overnight until the jp comes in in the morning to do your magistration set bond

SPEAKER_04:

but before you see the magistrate you also have to do things like do that booking photo yes and and so i know like in these small counties that's always the big deal right somebody's booking photo pops up on facebook or booking.com and and that's always the thing that people are embarrassed about is that booking photo right We now, the funny thing is, is there been scenarios here in the last few years where I think there was one guy that got famous from his booking photo just because he was really handsome. Okay. So yeah. So if I got booked, uh, that, that wouldn't be the case for me. Uh, but I do know that there are people who, in fact, there used to be this Instagram feed. I don't know if it's still there. It was called a mug showdies. And the whole idea was it was booking photos of these attractive people. And then, you know, people would comment underneath like, Oh, I can change her or whatever it is, or I'll pay her bail. But the booking photo is usually pretty embarrassing for

SPEAKER_01:

people. But most booking photos are pretty innocuous. What you see generally, you don't see the average variety, garden variety booking photo. The things that are publicized are the weird booking photos. However, when I was a prosecutor, obviously, if we go to trial as a prosecutor, the person's there in court dressed up looking nice in a suit and all. And generally, we're going to present the booking photo to show they're sitting at the same person was arrested back in, on July 1st. 10th of 2024. The

SPEAKER_04:

guy sitting there in the suit with the nice haircut, that's not the same guy that was arrested and is there with messy hair and whatever it is, dried up vomit going down the side of his face. Yes, exactly right. And then during that booking process, they also take your fingerprints. Why do they do that?

SPEAKER_01:

So they take your fingerprints to A, make sure you really are who you say you are. We've had quite a few people give their brother's name and date of birth. And then you end up picking up another charge for failure to ID But so they want to make sure you really are who you say you are. And they also want to see what your criminal history is, because if you're booked for a regular DWI, but you've had a prior DWI that you've pled to, now you're going to be magistrated for DWI second, which is a punishable up to a year in jail instead of six months in jail.

SPEAKER_04:

So when people are concerned about, hey, will I have a record, this booking photo, these fingerprints, this is part of the record that they're worried about. Correct.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And so one of the things, say we get a case dismissed and they get the case expunged or say there's deferred education and we do a petition for nondisclosure, other things that we'll have to spend more time talking about later on down the line. we can no longer guarantee anymore like we could in the old days that all that stuff will be wiped clean because there's ways to find this stuff on social media, even though law enforcement wipes it from all their records.

SPEAKER_04:

Right. So if the judge orders records expunged, that judge, that court order doesn't necessarily apply to mug showdies or whatever enterprise may have your photo, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Correct. Yes. But so look, most of the cases that we deal with, most of the clients, the mistakes you make on a criminal case are not unrecoverable. Don't make it worse. Get a good attorney who can help you out through the process and you can recover from this stuff.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, we're up against a break here. So again, this is So You Got Arrested. This is your guide from cuffs to courtroom. My name is Steve Barrera and I'm joined here by my co-host, Scott Simpson. We're here just to explain the process to you and kind of take some of the mystique out of the criminal justice system here in San Antonio and the surrounding areas.

UNKNOWN:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03:

Facing a criminal charge and unsure of what's next? We understand the immense pressure you're under. That's why our 5,000 clients have trusted Britt Criminal Defense to navigate them through the criminal justice system. Our proven blend of experience and modern tactics will empower you to get your life back on track and emerge with a clear path forward. Don't fight this alone. Call us today. Britt Criminal Defense. Helping our clients move on with their lives.

SPEAKER_01:

They set bail and they ask you if you want a court-appointed attorney or whether you are going to hire an attorney. You're not bound by that. So if you say, I want to hire an attorney and then later on you end up not being able to afford one, you can get a court-appointed or vice versa. If you say you wanted a court-appointed and then you realize, This is too important. I want to hire a good attorney. Then you can do that. But they still have to ask you that attorney question as part of the magistration. They're going to give you the range of punishment for what you're charged with, explain what the charges are, and then they're going to set the bond. And part of what they're doing is seeing if you're a flight risk, Do you have a local address? Okay. And what's your criminal history?

SPEAKER_04:

So does that make a difference if you're not local? Let's say you're arrested in Houston and you live down in the Valley. How might that affect?

SPEAKER_01:

So obviously it depends on the crime, right? I mean, if it's a DWI and you're in town, because we have a lot of tourists here. Sure. So we got people here in town who pick up DWIs, drive in rental cars, and you're still going to get a bond to make bonds. They're not going to do a crazy bond on you just because you're from Houston or Dallas. Okay. But if you're not not here legally. That's going to be a problem. They're going to set a higher bond because they're worried about you being deported and not being able to show up to court. If it's a violent crime, if we're talking about a shooting, if we're talking about any kind of robbery, they're going to look at, are you here? You have ties to the community when they just factor in the bond. So everything's a factor. The thing is, as we talk about cases, we try to talk about them in general, but every case is specific. Every case is different. And the good magic look at it all that way. The good prosecutors look at it all that way and the good defense attorneys look at it all that

SPEAKER_04:

way. Right, right, right. Now, in the process of seeing that magistrate may play out a little bit differently here in San Antonio than it might in these smaller counties like we talked about. Like I know for a fact in counties like Wilson County, Atascosa County, Carnes County, Kendall County, they don't have a magistrate setting bail overnight. And so what that means is if your loved one gets arrested and at 6 p.m. and there's no magistrate available until the morning, your loved one's not eligible to get out until the morning. Correct. So they're spending the night because of that, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. And so, and the other side of it in Bexar County, so you could get magistrated at 2 o'clock in the morning, okay? And then... hopefully a loved one is talking to a bond company for you and they go and the bond company posts bond, we're looking at in Bexar County about 12 hours from the time the bond is posted to the time you actually get processed out. That's just because of how many cases we have in Bexar County. So even if your loved one gets down there, say you get arrested at 10 o'clock at night, the bond company makes the bond by 11. And you're thinking, oh, geez, I'll be out by one o'clock. Not really. You're going to be out like 12 hours after the bond is posted in general.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, and the thing that I like about bear county that's different from some of these other areas is they actually have a website right you can just to see if your bail has been set on your loved one they have the bear county central magistrate website they don't have that in a lot of the smaller counties you're just kind of waiting on that phone call from your loved one to say hey this is what bail set at

SPEAKER_01:

now i will say this though though so then the website will say bond posted and you're and you may be thinking okay so he's coming out any minute just because it says bond post it doesn't mean he's going to be out in the next 10 15 minutes and i guess I shouldn't say he because women get arrested too. Not as often.

SPEAKER_04:

So if somebody is arrested and they're in custody and their families are worried about them, what should the families be doing?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the earlier you get the bond set, get the bond over there, the quicker the process can move. So we do have families who do cash bonds rather than use a bond company. So in Bexar County, the bond on the DWI may only be$2,000. So they come to the jail, to the tower there right there off of Commerce Street. And they walk in there and they give the cash bond. So we just had a case where the case was dismissed later on and our client was figuring out how to get the money back. And so I went to, it's actually in the basement of the old courthouse. And I've been working at the courthouse since 1996. And I walked, they showed me where, they told me where it was. And I walked into the office and like, I said, I've been working working in here for 25 years. And she goes, let me guess, you've never been in this office before. But they were very helpful. So now I know I can tell you where to go when you're trying to get your bond money back if you do a cash bond.

SPEAKER_04:

And so a cash bond is just a situation where you have the option if they set your bail at$2,000 of putting up the entire$2,000 for your loved one so they can get out. And then at the conclusion of the case, if they made all their court appearances, you get that money back.

SPEAKER_01:

Correct. You get the money back. So that's the advantage of the cash bond. Whereas the money you paid to the bondsman, you don't get back. They guarantee the full amount in case you don't show up to court. Now, the interesting thing I learned was, so if the case is dismissed, you get the full amount back. But if you plead, they take up a little percentage of the money that you put up.

SPEAKER_04:

I didn't know that. So while your loved one's in custody, it may be a good idea to start reaching out to some bail bond companies. Right off the bat. To see what you can do to get your loved one out. Yes. And when that bail amount is set, let's say that the bail amount is extremely high, and it's so high that the bail bond company won't get your loved one out, or you just can't come up with the money to get the bail bond company to get your loved one out. Is there anything that can be done? I'm

SPEAKER_01:

going to say the old days, okay? Ten years ago, you and I used to be able to walk into a courtroom in Bexar County the next day, assuming it It happened on a weekday and get the judge to reduce the bond. We can't do that anymore. Now we have to file the motion. And what we're looking at now, so if we file a motion to reduce your bond, I'm getting a hearing date in Bexar County of two weeks from that. Okay. So an

SPEAKER_04:

emotion is just where we're asking the court to do something.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. And we have great success of getting the bond reduced, but we can't just get it done in a day or two. We have to file the motion, get a setting on the motion, and then appear in court. And the magistrate who does that here in Bexar County, Judge Nahara, is a great... person, we used to be partners together at the VA's office. Very fair, wonderfully fair. And he will do the right thing on the bond. but we're gonna take two weeks to get a hearing.

SPEAKER_04:

And I imagine during that time period,

SPEAKER_01:

people get frustrated. They get real frustrated and they yell at us for, how come you haven't got our son out of jail yet? So it's important for them to know upfront, it's a process.

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, that's a tough scenario for the families. You have a loved one who's been arrested. At that point, they haven't been found guilty by anyone. They've just been accused of this crime, but now they're stuck in custody and they're missing work. you know, they, if they have kids or kids are wondering where's mama, where's daddy and they're locked up and they have no way of getting out.

SPEAKER_01:

So that's why it's important. You got, you got to, hire an attorney who will explain all this to you, but you got to be willing to listen and not just yell at them. Okay. So I had a case where a guy, I think he had a really good self. He does have a really good self-defense claim. He had two$50,000 bonds. We waited two weeks, but I got the judge to reduce the bond to 15 and 15. So that's 30,000 instead of a hundred thousand. So the family had to pay the bonds company$3,000 instead of$10,000. So I saved them seven because you don't get the bond money back from the, and so I saved them$7,000 by them waiting for two weeks. Right. Okay. And, and so, and I went to go see the client at the jail and explained to him at the process. And then they sent me a picture of them home for father's day. Right. And, and so, so we'll get it done. And$7,000 is not nothing. Sure. It's your, your loved ones should be willing to wait for those couple of weeks to say, if I can save you that kind of money. Sure. Absolutely. Now, what about, but I don't know, like, like how quickly you can get a bond setting, like in the 81st or anything.

SPEAKER_04:

So in these smaller counties, the problem that you run into is unlike Bexar County, they don't have a court available every day. So in a county like Wilson or Kendall or Atascosa, they may have court once or twice a week. And so it's not as simple as just finding a day that works for us. It also has to work for the court. It has to work for the prosecutors. So it takes a little bit of time. The good thing is in some of these smaller it's the same prosecutors that have been there for years. And so sometimes you have a working relationship to where you can reach out to them to see if maybe you can get some kind of an agreement done without having to wait the week or two to get into court. So, but every court's different.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'll say, For us, it's not sometimes. We know all the judges and the prosecutors. In Medina County, because I prosecuted there for two years, I just call one of my friends there and say, hey, can you agree to the bond reduction? And then if so, we just do a motion and we send it over to Judge Kindred, who's a wonderful guy, and he signs it nice and quickly. expertise matters and knowing people matters. Sure. Absolutely. And I always, I always tell the clients that, so a lot of these prosecutors are people that I trained when I was a prosecutor. Doesn't mean they're going to do me any inappropriate or special favors. Sure. It means they're going to listen to me when I call. Right. They're going to take my call. Right. And that, that does

SPEAKER_04:

make a difference. Makes a difference. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And so, you know, my, the advice that I always give to people, because there's times where I get families who call and they say, well, well, Steve, you know, do we get our loved one How soon do we get them out? My general advice is you want to get them out as soon as possible because cases take a long time to get resolved. So if you don't get them out, they could be in there for a year or two while the case is going through the courts. Now, that being said, I always give this caveat. Look, you know your loved one better than I do. If your loved one is dealing with some kind of drug issue or they're likely to go out and to commit another crime and make the entire situation that much worse, maybe leave them in a little bit. Let them dry out. Maybe let them have that come to Jesus moment before you get them out. Because if you get them out and they go and they immediately commit an offense, then you've just made that entire situation worse.

SPEAKER_01:

I have many stories about, I used to always tell my kids that I'm not going to necessarily get you out right away, but there's an actual case where a capital murder case where, where this younger kid, he's around 20. He worked up at the, at the rim, stole some from other, other employees at one of the shops there, picked up a misdemeanor theft charge. Parents bond them right out. A month later, he steals a car. So now he's got a felony conviction while he's on bond for the misdemeanor theft, bond them right out. And then he breaks into a home and kill somebody. Now he's serving the rest of his life in prison. And I would have said after that second one, Leave him for a little bit. You bonded him out. He committed a new crime. He probably needs to sit.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, and a lot of that. and sometimes it gets frustrating for people because they want us to tell them, yes, 100%, either get your loved one out or don't get them out. A lot of it has to do with, look, you know these people. You know your loved one. You know what they're dealing with in their life, what they're going through, and so you should kind of act accordingly with that.

SPEAKER_01:

And let's not pretend that families can afford bonds sometimes. If somebody's got a very serious crime, they may have a$50,000 bond, and I may tell you, That's as low as it's going to get. We can file a motion to reduce it, but that's an appropriate bond. Sure. And so that's as good as it's going to get. And they're not going to be able to afford it. We have clients who don't have family. Sure. Absolutely. And so they're not going to make the bond and they're going to sit until the case is resolved one way or the other.

SPEAKER_04:

Right. Right. Right. Which, unfortunately, you know, sometimes here in the state of Texas can take quite a long time.

SPEAKER_01:

Correct. Yeah. And so. You know, I always tell my clients, we can work out something at any stage in the process, but if we decide we want to go to trial, we're looking at about a year and a half after indictment, not after arrest. I guess we should talk about that at some point, but not today. So

SPEAKER_04:

if, but let's take a scenario where somebody does get out on bond. Now, at what point should the family be calling an attorney?

SPEAKER_01:

After they bonded out without, geez, I would think they'd call an attorney while they're getting them bonded out, I would hope. But let's assume that they focus on doing the bond. The earlier you call the attorney, the better. And why is that? Because stuff happens and then they want us to come in later and fix it. And there's stuff that mistakes have been made. And now it's too late. I can't put the genie back in the bottle. Right. Right. Like somebody bonded the person out and they... got GPS and then they violated the conditions of GPS. And so GPS is

SPEAKER_04:

just the equal monitor that, you know, kind of tracks where you're at, where you're going, restriction in a certain area.

SPEAKER_01:

And so they've gone and violated that condition and now they're rearrested and now they call us. Right. Okay. And now everybody's already mad because they've already proven that they can't follow the conditions of bond. Right. And they want us to make it all all well

SPEAKER_04:

yeah so i think the general advice would be you know when the loved one's arrested that first call should be to a bondsman you want to find a bondsman um and then uh once your loved one is in the process of getting out that might be the point where you want to might start looking for a lawyer to kind of help you out

SPEAKER_01:

but i i have like fail i have clients repeat Not that the client is repeated, but they felt like that friendly friend has committed a crime and they've called me up before they called the bond company. And so there's different bond companies I've recommended just because I know there's bond companies that are kind of the people who are looking to get off your bond right away and get you rearrested. And there's bond companies that are reputable and fair.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, and so the good thing is, is this is our first episode of So You Got Arrested. But in our second episode, we are going to get into some of these issues. That's a very big thing for people. You know, what happens when you're out on bond? What does that mean? What does that look like? And what are the restrictions that can be placed on you until you get to that very first court appearance? So we'll take that up in our second episode. We appreciate you joining us here for So You Got Arrested, your guide from cuffs to courtroom with Scott Simpson and Steve Barrera. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for listening to So You Got Arrested. If you found this podcast helpful, share it with someone who needs to hear it. For more legal insights and real talk from the front lines of the Texas justice system, follow us and subscribe. And remember, Brick Criminal Defense has your back. For more information, visit us at brckdefense.com.