Domestic Violence can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony depending largely on the severity of injury to the complaining witness.
Most counties in California have a "bail schedule" which is used to determine how much bail you must post in order to be released from jail after being arrested. Therefore, the charges for which the police arrested you dictate your bail amount. For example, pursuant to the Monterey County Bail Schedule, if you were arrested for violation of Penal Code section 273.5(a) (inflicting corporal injury) as a felony, the bail amount would be $20,000. However, you do not have to pay the full amount. You can contact a bail bondsman who will usually accept ten percent of the total. If you have hired an attorney they will often accept seven or eight percent of the total bail. And, bondsmen usually offer payment plans. The money you pay to a bondsman is not refundable. If you decide to post the full bail amount with the court it will be refunded to you at the end of your case (meaning once you either take a plea, obtain a verdict at trial or, the case is dismissed).
The police may have arrested you for felony domestic violence (DV) but, the final charging decision is up to the district attorney (DA). If the DA reviews the case and determines that there are no injuries, or only minor ones, The DA will either decide to file misdemeanor charges against you or not to file any charges at all. But, again, it's the charge for which you were arrested that determines the bail amount.
If you were arrested for domestic violence pursuant to Penal Code Section 273.5 as a misdemeanor, the bail amount in Monterey County would be $7,500. And, if you were arrested for a more minor DV charge (Penal Code section 243 (e)(1) (domestic battery) in Monterey County, the bail amount would be $5,000.
Bail schedule amounts differ between counties. For example, pursuant to the Santa Cruz County Bail Schedule an arrest for violation of Penal Code Section 273.5(a) as a felony requires $25,000 bail. But, an arrest for the more minor DV charge (as a first offense) requires no bail unless the accused lives out of state.
There are many ways for an experienced domestic violence attorney to get your case dismissed or greatly reduced. Contact our office today for a free consultation and advice.