The best-case scenario following a Colorado arrest is being released from jail on a personal recognizance bond (PR bond). This means you do not have to put up any bail bond money.
Instead, you just have to promise to show up to all future required court dates. PR release is also commonly called OR release, short for “own recognizance.”
How do I get an OR release in Colorado?
Courts may automatically grant OR release in minor cases where the defendant is not a flight risk or a safety risk. But when the judge does set a bail amount, the defendant’s attorney can request a bail hearing to argue for OR release.
In my experience, judges may be persuaded to reduce bail or grant an OR release if you:
- have no criminal history, or the last criminal case was long ago;
- are employed;
- have ties to the community, such as leasing or owning a home and having family nearby;
- have no history of missing court appearances; and
- do not have a drug or alcohol addiction or mental health problems.
Often, the only condition that accompanies OR release is that you must appear at future court dates (if required). Though the judge may add other requirements, such as:
- a stay-away order requiring you to avoid contact with any victims in the case,
- abstaining from drugs and alcohol,
- submitting to random drug and alcohol tests,
- surrendering your passport,
- staying in the county or state,
- surrendering any firearms,
- avoiding certain locations,
- electronic monitoring (wearing an ankle bracelet with GPS tracking),
- attending counseling, and/or
- attending rehab.1
What if I miss court?
If you miss a required court date while on OR release in Colorado, the judge will issue a bench warrant for your arrest. At this point, you can be arrested at any time and hauled into court to answer to the judge.
In minor cases, police are unlikely to go out and search for you if you have a bench warrant. Though if you get stopped for a traffic violation – and the police run your name and see the outstanding warrant – then the police will arrest you immediately.
Once a bench warrant issues, your attorney can file a motion to quash the warrant and hold a hearing on the matter. If this is the first time you missed court – or if you have a good excuse for missing court such as being in the hospital – the judge will likely recall the warrant.
Still, judges have the complete discretion to remand you to jail for violating your OR release conditions. Sometimes, you can bail out. In other cases, you must be held in jail without bail pending the outcome of your underlying criminal case.2
Defendants arrested for minor offenses are more likely to be released on their own recognizance.
How much bail do I pay?
In cases where a Colorado court sets bail, you can be released only if the court gets paid the full bail amount. The court then holds onto this money while your case is pending.
Once your case ends, the court will return the bail money. (Note that if you violate your bail conditions, you may have to forfeit your bond money permanently.)
If you cannot afford bail, you may hire a bail bondsman. You pay the bondsman a small percentage of bail (usually 10%), and the bondsman posts the entire bail amount. When the case ends, the court returns the money to the bondsman.
Note that each Colorado court has its own procedures for posting bail.3
Defendants who cannot afford bail can hire a bail bondsman.
Additional Reading
For more in-depth information on O.R. release, refer to the following scholarly articles:
- Doing the Bare Minimum: Why a Preference Should Be Expressed for Personal Recognizance Release – Rutgers Journal of Law & Public Policy.
- An Inquiry to Identify the Jurisprudential-Legal Nature of Orders of release on own recognizance Through a Critical Review of the Existing Doctrines – The Judiciary Law Journal.
- Trends in Own Recognizance Release: From Manhattan to California – Pacific Law Journal.
- A Proposal for an Own Recognizance Release Bail Program, with Focus on the DWI Arrest – Idaho Law Review.
- The impact of extralegal characteristics on recognizance release among misdemeanants – Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice.
Legal References
- CRS 16-4-103. CRS 16-4-104. See also: Fullerton v. County Court, (Colo. App. 2005) 124 P.3d 866; Herbertson v. People (1966) 160 Colo. 139, 415 P.2d 53; People v. Lewis (Colo. 2024) 555 P.3d 576.
- CRS 16-2-110.
- See note 1. See also Martell v. County Court of Summit County (Colo. App. 1992) 854 P.2d 1327.
