Virginia hold while in Florida jail

[gideont4]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida/Virginia

This is concerning my fiance, who clearly has errors in judgement, but nonetheless...

She picked up a felony drug possession charge in Virginia, accepted a somewhat ridiculous deal for 5 years probation, missed an appointment and then another and then stopped going to her meetings, earning her a Virginia warrant in August 2010. In July 2011 she was picked up in Florida and charged with burglary and battery. She was initially given a $10000 bond, until Virginia placed a hold for her warrant there. I have retained attorneys for her both in Florida and Virginia. Her attorney in Florida thinks it best if I bond her out, let Virginia extradite her, and deal with her probation violation there first since she's been sitting in jail for 5 months now without any progress. Her attorney in Virginia is asking if she's had an extradition hearing yet, which I don't think she would've had if she hasn't been bonded out yet, and with the Virginia hold on her I don't think the state of Virginia is even thinking about her case yet. And on top of that, trying to bond her out with a conventional bondsman proves a challenge when most don't want anything to do with her when they find out if they bond her she will be extradited to another state, and the few who will consider it want to know that she will have a bond in Virginia when she gets there. Her attorney in Virginia seems to think that Virginia would have her conclude her proceedings in Florida before thinking about her violations there. I understand that if you do the crime you should expect to do the time, but 5 months in jail without any action is starting to wear on her mentally and I'm trying to do something to move things along.

So my questions are:
Am I right in thinking that if she is bonded out in Florida she will be extradited, or at the very least as long as she is not bonded that Virginia won't pay any attention to her?
Does the extradition hearing come after bail is posted?
Is there a better way to obtain a bond for her other than bail bondsman her aren't cooperative for someone who is looking at being extradited?
If she is bonded out, the hold will keep her in custody I assume. Will it hold her there indefinitely and just be a waste of money?
Would she even be likely to have a bond in Virginia since I doubt they've even considered her case yet?
How can I help in moving things along?

Any help or advice would be appreciated

 

[FlyingRon]

You're in a tough situation. Florida will not let her bond out with a hold in place even if you show up with $10K cash in hand. You better hope that if you do get them to allow her to bond out that you're willing to lose that money if she skips on you again. The thing that going forward with the bond money does is force Virginia to justify their hold (they either have to extradite or remove the hold). Right now you're giving the commonwealth a free ride because she's stuck as a guest of the state of Florida...


I doubt I Virginia is going to just forget about a felony absconder.

You're right a bondsman is going to be leary of this situation. In addition to her history of absconding which makes her a risky proposition, the fact that she may end up in custody in the wrong state may make it harder for them to clear their security. You're likely options are to come up with the cash yourself, find some acceptable collateral to the courts down there, or petition to have the bond reduced (the latter is unlikely). Realize that posting her bond here is very risky.

 

[dave33]

If she has been in jail for 5 months than I think it's for the burglary. If she waived extradition than she should have left if Florida is done with it's charges. I think in most states it's less than 5 months.

Also, since she has been in jail 5 months she should finalize this situation. That way you know the 5 months will count towards whatever sentence she receives. The prison time will also count towards Virginia from the time she waives extradition. goodluck.

 

[rebeccainak]

Whoops- I ghad posted that most jurisdictions wouldn't accept time served in another state awaiting extradiction, but I called my time accounting guru and he said that had changed since i had been in that office and that YES, now most places will accept time served in another state while awaiting extradiction. He said there are still a few places that won't, but that those instances are pretty rare.

Good Luck!