Standing Up for Justice in a System Under Attack

I am a bondsman—a profession rooted in the Constitution and born from the fundamental principle of justice: the presumption of innocence. For centuries, the right to bail has been a cornerstone of our legal system, ensuring that individuals accused of crimes can maintain their freedom while awaiting trial, so long as they fulfill one essential obligation: to appear in court. This system, when working as intended, strikes a delicate balance between the rights of the accused and the safety of the public.

Yet today, this balance is under attack—not just from those who seek to avoid accountability, but from a judicial system increasingly hostile to secured bail. Across the country, judges are legislating from the bench, dismantling the safeguards that ensure defendants appear for trial. These actions not only jeopardize public safety but also erode constitutional principles and threaten professions like mine.

I know this fight firsthand. I am currently engaged in a federal lawsuit against the Bozeman Municipal Court in Montana, where judges have adopted policies that effectively nullify the role of bondsmen. These policies allow defendants to avoid accountability while forcing bondsmen to shoulder the consequences. By legislating from the bench, these courts are not just ignoring statutory law—they are rewriting it to fit an agenda that seeks to eliminate secured bail entirely.