- Upon being charged and arrested, the police have the authority to release you immediately or from the police station. This will often occur when you do not have a significant criminal record and/or where the circumstances of the charges are relatively minor. However, should the police decide you should be kept in custody or seek onerous conditions of your release, the police will bring you before the Justice of the Peace. Generally, this must be done within 24 hours of your arrest.
- This is the first opportunity for the accused person to speak to bail. The Crown Prosecutor may be opposed to your release but it is ultimately the Court that determines whether or not you will be released and with what conditions. The Crown Prosecutor will present reasons why you should be denied release while your lawyer will make representation as to why you are a good candidate for release. The Justice of the Peace bail hearings run seven days a week (even on weekends).
Why you may not want to speak to bail at this first instance
It is important for you to put the strongest possible release plan for the Court’s consideration. For some individuals, it may be advantageous to wait to speak to bail so that you can:
- Retain and instruct a lawyer to speak to your bail for you.
- Get documents that you want to present at your bail hearing (job confirmation, confirmation of education programming, confirmation of addiction treatment programming, etc).
- Secure a surety.
- Review disclosure.
Most of the time, you adjourn your bail hearing so that you can put together a cogent release plan and get the necessary resources in place before speaking to bail. It is important to note that in general, you get one shot at bail. It is to your benefit to place all the important information before the Court so that you have the best chance at bail. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot do bail over and over again until you get bail. A King’s Bench bail review is different than doing bail over again.
The Crown can also apply for the adjournment of your bail for a maximum of 3 days. This is usually done so that they can bring forward other outstanding matters to revoke your previous release.
If your initial Justice of the Peace bail is adjourned, your bail will be addressed in Provincial Court on a date that is convenient to you and when you have had an opportunity to get all the necessary information to give to the Court. This way you can be fully prepared to address the bail consideration and propose an adequate release plan to the Court.