aitah for considerinf leaving my son in the county jail hospital over the weekend instead of paying $9,500.00 in bail?

[u/ShowerElectrical9342]

My son hit a pregnant woman with his vehicle and broke his nose and has stitches on his lip.

He was arrested and is in the county jail hospital. He wouldn't tell me how badly injured the woman is, except that she might lose the baby.

He's a careless, distracted driver who has totalled 2 cars, which his bio dad immediately replaced with even better cars!

But now his bio dad is gone (heart attack) and I don't want to enable this dangerous driving problem.

I'm overwhelmed.

He has had accidents before, and has always been bailed out.

I'm trying to get a regular lawyer because now he says she might lose the baby and sue him.

He's 19.

But no one wants me to take the time to get a regular lawyer instead of this public defender who insists I must send the bail money NOW or my son will be in jail all weekend.

Honestly, I don't know. Maybe that would be good for him. Like a wakeup call.

He didn't mention alcohol, but why else would he he arrested for a car accident?

Help! I have to move fast!

AITAH for even thinking about letting him spend a weekend in jail?

[u/itsyagirlrey]

It's fake. I just saw this movie lmao. It's a bit from the movie Thelma about an old lady who gets scammed over the phone from a fake call about giving money for her grandson to get him out of jail. Very funny OP!

She gets a call saying her grandson hit a pregnant woman with his car, that his nose is broken and he doesn't know the details on the baby, and his public defender insists he needs 10k for the bail to get him out of jail. The old lady ends up getting 9,500$ back from the "bail money." It's a really good movie, highly recommend.

[u/HotRodHomebody → u/itsyagirlrey]

This would make a lot of sense since no public defender is going to insist that it’s an emergency to bail someone out of jail. That is not their focus.

[u/matunos → u/HotRodHomebody]

Would he even have a public defender assigned at this point?

[u/LNinDPtx → u/matunos]

This is exactly what I was going to say. I know things differ everywhere but I don’t know of anywhere or any situation where a public defender would have been appointed before initial arraignment or 1st court date, etc.

[u/legallymyself → u/LNinDPtx]

Bond is set at arraignment so yes it is possible in places.

[u/matunos → u/legallymyself]

Would the guy be arraigned if he's still in the hospital?

[u/LNinDPtx → u/matunos]

I’m just saying this entire post does seem a little fishy. Not entirely outside the realm of possibility but also not quite adding up correctly….imho. That’s all

[u/Human-Shirt-7351 → u/matunos]

It's possible. When the Shanghai Shivers were running rampant in the US, courts got very good at remote hearings, etc. Most courts have stuck with using remote video conferencing on things like bond and arraignment hearings

[u/LNinDPtx → u/legallymyself]

Assuming the bond is legit….

Arraignment is also typically when initial request for public defender would be submitted, right?

[u/Human-Shirt-7351 → u/legallymyself]

Some charges have an automatic bond (mostly petty misdemeanors). Felonies.. most places a bond must be set by a judge

[u/mythrowawayuhccount → u/Human-Shirt-7351]

$9,500 is likely 10% of the full bond, so $95,000...

I can't think of a misdemeanor with a $95,000 bond.

[u/Human-Shirt-7351 → u/mythrowawayuhccount]

I agree on the misdemeanor not having that high of the bond.

I doubt he has a $100,000 bond. She is fairly likely being scanned

[u/Psychological_Tap187 → u/LNinDPtx]

Yeah. Public defender would go to them like wo mi uses before they go before the judge, say sign this, plead guilty, pay your bail,then the fines. Go home.