CHAPTER 8.5. BAIL AND RECOGNIZANCE
IC 35-33-8.5
Chapter 8.5. Bail and Recognizance
IC 35-33-8.5-1
Sheriff; approval of bail
Sec. 1. When any person is committed for want of bail, and the
amount of bail is specified in the warrant of commitment, the sheriff
may take the recognizance and approve the bail.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180.
IC 35-33-8.5-2
Recognizances; recording
Sec. 2. Every recognizance taken by any peace officer must be
delivered forthwith to the clerk of the court to which the defendant
is recognized. The clerk must thereupon record the recognizance,
and, from the time of filing, it shall have the same effect as if taken
in open court.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180.
IC 35-33-8.5-3
Recognizances; sureties; affidavit of qualifications
Sec. 3. A court or officer required to take or accept any bail or
recognizance or to approve the sureties offered on any bond or
recognizance in any case of a criminal nature, may require any
person offered as surety thereon to make affidavit of the person's
qualifications or to be examined orally under oath touching the same,
and such court or officer may take such affidavit or administer such
oath.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180.
IC 35-33-8.5-4
Sureties; qualifications; judgments and decrees; appeals
Sec. 4. (a) One (1) surety on every such recognizance must be a
resident freeholder of the county in which the prosecution is pending,
and the surety or sureties must be worth at least double the sum to be
secured and must have property in this state liable to execution equal
to the sum to be secured, and when two (2) or more sureties are
offered to the same recognizance, they must have in the aggregate the
qualifications prescribed in this section. Whenever by the laws of
this state a surety company is authorized to become surety on
recognizance bonds, such surety company may be accepted as
sufficient surety on any such bond.
(b) The recognizance shall be in form substantially as provided in
IC 27-10-2-10, conditioned for judgment on ten (10) days notice to
the surety. No pleadings shall be necessary and no change of judge
or change of venue shall be granted. The obligor may except to the
ruling of the court and appeal to the court of appeals as in civil cases
without moving for a new trial.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180.
IC 35-33-8.5-5
Pending proceedings; renewals
Sec. 5. The recognizance as provided for in IC 27-10-2-10 shall
be continuing, and the defendant shall not be required to renew it
during pendency of the proceedings, unless ordered to do so by the
court for cause shown. But, at each term of the court, after such
recognizance is taken, the court shall inquire into the sufficiency of
the sureties.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180.
IC 35-33-8.5-6
Murder; admittance to bail
Sec. 6. When any person is indicted for murder, the court in which
the indictment is pending, upon motion, upon application by writ of
habeas corpus, may admit the defendant to bail when it appears upon
examination that the defendant is entitled to be let to bail.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180.
IC 35-33-8.5-7
Surrender of principal
Sec. 7. When a surety on any recognizance desires to surrender
the surety's principal, the surety may procure a copy of the
recognizance from the clerk, by virtue of which such surety, or any
person authorized by the surety, may take the principal in any county
within the state.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180.
IC 35-33-8.5-8
Amount of bond; payment into court
Sec. 8. At any time after forfeiture and at any time before
judgment upon the recognizance, the surety may pay the amount
named in the bond to the clerk of the court, who shall give the surety
a receipt therefor.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180.
IC 35-33-8.5-9
Liens; real estate; release
Sec. 9. All recognizances, taken to secure the appearance of a
defendant in the circuit court to answer a criminal charge, shall be
immediately recorded by the clerk of said court in the order book and
entered in the judgment docket of said court, and from the date of
such recording and entry such recognizance shall be a lien upon all
the real estate in such county owned by the several obligors. If the
real estate owned by any one or more of said obligors be situated in
any county or counties of the state of Indiana, other than that in
which such prosecution is pending, it shall then be the duty of the
clerk of the court where said action is pending, upon order of such
court and as such court may direct, to immediately transmit to the
clerk of the circuit court of the county, or counties, where said real
estate is situated, a certified copy of said recognizance, and the clerk
or clerks, to whom such copies are so certified, shall immediately,
upon receipt thereof, record the same and enter them upon the
judgment docket of the circuit court of such county, in the same
manner as required of the clerk of the court wherein said cause is
pending, and the same shall become a lien upon all the real estate in
such county, or counties, owned by any one or more of said obligors,
in the same manner and to the same extent as if said lands were
situated in the county where said cause is pending. The clerk to
whom such document is transmitted shall be entitled to charge and
collect the sum of one dollar ($1) for the services herein required of
the clerk, which sum shall be paid by the defendant or the defendant's
obligors, and which shall accompany said certified copy. Upon the
final determination of said cause and the full and complete
compliance with all of the requirements and conditions of said
recognizance upon the part of the defendant, the court wherein said
cause was determined shall order the release of all liens created by
said recognizance as herein provided, and the clerk of said court shall
transmit to the clerk of the circuit court of each county wherein said
lien may have been recorded, as herein provided, and such order
when recorded in any of said counties shall operate as a full and
complete release thereof as to all lands of such obligors situated in
any such county. The fee of any clerk for recording any such release
shall be fifty cents ($0.50), which fee shall be paid by the obligor
whose lands are thereby affected, and shall accompany the copy of
such order when transmitted by the clerk of said court. Judgments,
if any, rendered as in this article provided, in the event of the
forfeiture of any recognizance bond affected by this article, shall
bind and be a lien upon all the real estate of the principal and
sureties, within the county in which such judgment is rendered, from
the date of such entry and recording of such recognizance in the
clerk's office, the date of which lien shall be stated in such judgment
of the court. A transcript of such judgment shall also be filed in the
office of the clerk of the circuit court of each other county, if any,
where such recognizance may have been recorded as herein
provided, and when so recorded shall be a lien upon all the lands of
any obligor therein situated, from the date of the recording of such
recognizance bond, in like manner as in the county of original
jurisdiction, as herein provided, and shall be without relief from
valuation or appraisement laws. Should such surety be relieved from
liability from such bond as by law provided, such clerk shall proceed
to release from the lien provided herein all the surety's such real
estate as though such case had been completed and the case finally
determined.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180.
IC 35-33-8.5-10
Subrogation
Sec. 10. Whenever any person has been compelled to pay to any
prosecuting attorney, clerk of the court, or sheriff, under mere color
of judicial proceedings in attachment or garnishment at the suit of the
state, the amount of any forfeited recognizance, such person so
paying shall, from the date of such payment, be subrogated as against
the recognizors in such recognizance, to all the rights of the state
under such recognizance, and shall have a cause of action against
such recognizors for the amount so paid, as if such recognizance and
all the rights of the state under the same had been assigned by the
state to the person or persons so paying, at the date of such payment.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180.
IC 35-33-8.5-11
Subrogation; enforcement; costs
Sec. 11. Whenever any claim or claims to which any person is
subrogated under section 10 of this chapter shall be sought to be
enforced by any action or legal proceedings, the proper prosecuting
attorney shall be made a party to the action or proceedings, to answer
as to the fact of such payment and to protect the interests of the state
in such action or proceedings: provided, that nothing in this section
or section 10 of this chapter shall, in any event, create any liability
or authorize judgment against the state, or render the state, or the
attorney, liable for any costs (including fees) in the action or
proceedings.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180. Amended by P.L.106-2010,
SEC.10.
IC 35-33-8.5-12
Sheriff; process; powers and duties
Sec. 12. The sheriff must return every process issued to the sheriff
with the sheriff's doings fully endorsed thereon, and every process,
judgment and commitment of the circuit and criminal courts must be
executed by the sheriff.
As added by P.L.5-1988, SEC.180.