Opinion ID: 2629455
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The bail bond statutes: chapter 10.19 RCW

Text: ¶ 30 The legislature's scheme to encourage the giving of bail, while at the same time securing the appearance of the defendant, is clearly articulated in Washington's bail bond statutes. RCW 10.19.090 mandates forfeiture upon the defendant's failure to appear: In criminal cases where a recognizance for the appearance of any person ... shall have been taken and a default entered, the recognizance shall be declared forfeited by the court, and at the time of adjudging such forfeiture said court shall enter judgment against the principal and sureties named in such recognizance for the sum therein mentioned, and execution may issue thereon the same as upon other judgments. RCW 10.19.090 anticipates that judgment and forfeiture will occur within 30 days. ¶ 31 RCW 10.19.100 then provides a means to delay and, possibly, prevent execution for those sureties who are willing to post a second bond to secure judgment on the recognizance bond: The parties, or either of them, against whom such judgment may be entered in the superior or supreme courts, may stay said execution for sixty days by giving a bond with two or more sureties, to be approved by the clerk, conditioned for the payment of such judgment at the expiration of sixty days, unless the same shall be vacated before the expiration of that time. For those sureties that are willing to take on extra financial risk and post a stay bond under RCW 10.19.100, RCW 10.19.105 allows the forfeiture judgment under RCW 10.19.090 to be vacated if the defendant is returned within 60 days: If a bond be given and execution stayed, as provided in RCW 10.19.100, and the person for whose appearance such recognizance was given shall be produced in court before the expiration of said period of sixty days, the judge may vacate such judgment upon such terms as may be just and equitable, otherwise execution shall forthwith issue as well against the sureties in the new bond as against the judgment debtors. (Emphasis added.) For sureties that are not willing to post a stay bond and/or are unable to secure the presence of a defendant within 60 days, return of the bond is still available under RCW 10.19.140 within a 12-month period after forfeiture. RCW 10.19.140 provides: If a forfeiture has been entered against a person in a criminal case and the person is returned to custody or produced in court within twelve months from the forfeiture, then the full amount of the bond, less any and all costs determined by the court to have been incurred by law enforcement in transporting, locating, apprehending, or processing the return of the person to the jurisdiction of the court, shall be remitted to the surety if the surety was directly responsible for producing the person in court or directly responsible for apprehension of the person by law enforcement. Under RCW 10.19.140, if the surety is directly responsible for returning the defendant within 12 months, the amount of the bond can be returned to the surety minus any costs that law enforcement may have incurred in assisting in the return of the defendant. [4] If the surety cannot recover under RCW 10.19.105 or RCW 10.19.140, the court still has the discretion to vacate the forfeiture under its inherent equitable authority. Jackschitz, 76 Wash. at 256, 136 P. 132. ¶ 32 In this case, All City chose not to apply for a stay bond under RCW 10.19.100 and is therefore not eligible for relief under RCW 10.19.105. Although All City argued below that it is entitled to relief under RCW 10.19.140, the trial court held All City's telephone conversations with Kramer were not sufficient to find All City directly responsible for Kramer's arrest, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. State v. Kramer, 141 Wash. App. 892, 900, 174 P.3d 1193 (2007). All City did not raise its argument regarding relief under RCW 10.19.140 before this court, so we do not address it. RAP 13.7(b). If All City is due any relief in this case, it must come from the court's inherent equitable authority to exonerate the bond.