Federal Arrest Process in Maryland Federal Child Pornography Cases
If you are taken into custody on federal child pornography charges, the following is information on what you can expect from the arrest process including how to pay bond and when you can contact an attorney. For more specific information regarding your case, consult with a Maryland federal child pornography lawyer today.
When somebody is charged with a criminal offense, generally speaking, they will be taken down to one of the many different police stations in the Maryland area and then processed. This means that information about them will be taken down by police officers, and they may be fingerprinted and given a photo ID and a mugshot. Additionally, when they are processed, they’re likely to be given a statement of charges that tells them exactly what they have been charged with.
Paying Bond and Bond Review Hearings
They will also have an opportunity to see a commissioner. A commissioner is an individual that works for the government and reviews the criminal charges, as well as one’s criminal history and community hours, and may set an initial bond.
That initial bond, if paid, will secure your release pending a trial date. If you’re unable to pay that bond to the commissioner, then a bond review hearing will be held usually the next day or within a reasonable amount of time if there’s a holiday or the weekend. Between the time of your arrest and the time that you are able to appear before a judge or a magistrate, a bond review will take place and a judge will have a little bit more information to determine whether a release on some kind of a bond is appropriate.
If the judge does issue some kind of a bond, or have that bond review hearing, an attorney is entitled to be present on your behalf to speak to the judge about what, if any, things the judge should know before granting your release back into the community pending your trial date.
Contacting an Attorney After an Arrest
While you can typically contact an attorney from jail, it is preferable in most cases that you contact a lawyer well in advance of your arrest, or as soon as you believe you are being suspected or investigated at all. If you do happen to wait until after an arrest it is still important to call, however, it can sometimes be difficult to remember an attorney’s phone number, name, or other information that you would have access to otherwise. For this reason, an attorney will often recommend that if you have not retained counsel by the time you are arrested that you phone a family member, friend, or loved one who has access to your personal paperwork and can assist you in reach out to an attorney while incarcerated.