As soon as you are charged with crime, the state can imprison you. And you have to pay for the privilege of remaining free during the months or years it takes to get a trial to establish whether you are in fact guilty of the state’s allegations.
This happened to me in Pennsylvania, and fortunately I was able to post cash bail, which my veteran lawyer promised would be returned in full after the charges were disposed. When the county returned it they deducted 1% in “poundage.” Strangely, my lawyer had never heard of this, and filed a challenge with the court. After a preliminary hearing on the matter, in which the county solicitor failed to present a legal basis for charging a fee on bail, the court asked for briefs and scheduled a formal hearing. To my dismay, before the hearing my lawyer called to tell me that he found a law from the 1980s authorizing the charge. He noted that the county, in its brief, had failed to find it, but as a lawyer he was professionally obligated to notify the court. Even though it would leave me out the $1,500.
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