criminal-law constitutional-law texas court due-process
Can state keep a part of my cash bond if found not guilty?
<p>In Texas speeding is a class C misdemeanor. If someone takes this to trial and the state requires a cash (bail) bond (twice the maximum find amount plus court costs) they must pay it to the county or the state.</p>

<p>They will keep this bond until the trial is over or the case is disposed.</p>

<p>If found not guilty, or the judge dismisses the case in the defendants favor, can the state or the county then require / deduct a 20 dollar processing fee before they return the bond to you? What law (in Texas) gives them the right to just take part of the money they required you let them use for several years?</p>

<p>I was under the impression that when the state loses they don't get to require payment from the accused.</p>

<p>Also, since the amount does not exceed 20 dollars, does that preclude the use of  the 7th Amendment to force them to allow a jury trial to justify this?</p>

<p>Regarding the second part of your question:</p>

<p>The 7th Amendment does not apply in state court, so any right to a jury trial there would depend upon the constitution of the State of Texas (specifically <a href="http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/CN/htm/CN.1.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Article I, Section 15</a> of the Texas Constitution). This is the case because the Bill of Rights applies by its terms only to the federal government. Under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation_of_the_Bill_of_Rights" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Selective Incorporation doctrine</a>, the 14th Amendment causes some of the Bill of Rights to apply in state court but not all of it. In particular, the 7th Amendment is one of the parts that does not apply in state court as determined in the U.S. Supreme Court cases of <em>Minneapolis &amp; St. Louis R. Co. v. Bombolis</em>, <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/241/211/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">241 U.S. 211</a> (1916) and <em>Pearson v. Yewdall</em>, <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/95/294/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">95 U.S. 294</a> (1877).</p>

<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleventh_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" rel="nofollow noreferrer">11th Amendment</a> would probably bar a federal lawsuit over this matter, since the proper defendant would probably be the State of Texas which is immune from suit in federal court except by another state or the United States. You would still have a right to assert your substantive federal constitutional rights in any state court litigation, however.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/CR/htm/CR.17.htm#17.42" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 17.42</a>, Personal Bond Office, is the Texas law that allows a "personal bond fee" to be collected. It defines the bond fee as the greater of $20 or 3% of the amount of the bail.</p>

<p>The U.S. Supreme Court in <a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/404/357.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Schilb v. Kuebel</a> held that administrative fees charged to both innocent and guilty were constitutional and did not impose a cost of prosecution on the innocent.</p>
