My friend and I were drag racing in Santa Ana. We were both pulled over and because we both had been drinking, we were taken to jail. My friend had to get a bondsman to post bail for him, but I got out on OR. Why was I let off and he wasn’t?

When you are arrested, taken to jail and booked for a crime, such as drag racing or drinking and driving (or both in your case), a judge will determine the amount of bail that you will have to pay in order to be released from jail. In some cases, a judge determines that no bail is needed. In other cases, a judge denies bail. In your case, a judge determined that you did not need to post bail because you would be able to be released from jail on OR, which is an acronym that stands for Own Recognizance. Most likely, you were released on OR because you did not have any prior offenses and the judge believed that you would return to court to stand trial.

However, your friend may have been released on bail for a variety of reasons. He could have had a prior arrest, which would have showed the judge that his behavior is potentially dangerous. Your friend may have said something to an arresting officer that could lead the judge to believe that the friend may not return to court to stand trial for the arrest. Or your friend could simply have had a different judge than the judge that determined your OR release. It is also likely that the judge thought that your friend deserved a harsher punishment for the same crime for any reason.

Both of you are required to return to court in order to stand trial for the drag racing and the drunk driving. You may both have to serve more time in jail, depending on what the judge determines at the time.

The biggest thing that you can take away from this situation is the knowledge that the court does not treat all people the same way. The judge truly will take exogenous factors into consideration when determining your bail and the amount of time that you need to serve in jail for the crimes that you have committed. The best thing that you can do in order to receive a lesser sentence (and to avoid having to pay bail in the future) is to always be compliant with the judge and arresting officer, always remind the representative from a trial release program that you are willing and planning to return to court to serve trial and, most of all, be polite.