Bail agents face death sentence in California

Clustered near county jail and the courthouse, San Diego bail bond agencies sit at the intersection of crime and punishment, ready to play their part in the criminal justice system by helping people avoid incarceration while they await trial. They are, by their own accounts, the unsung heroes of the accused.

Now it's their turn to appeal to a higher power.

Last week Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 10, effectively eliminating cash bail and the niche industry surrounding it, valued at $2 billion annually in the U.S. California-specific revenue is hard to pin down, but Aladdin Bail Bonds, one of the nation's largest bail bond companies, is based in Carlsbad and is expected to pull in $14.4 million in 2018 U.S. revenue, according to research outfit IBISWORLD.

Ultimately, the new law aims to level the playing field for rich and poor, ensuring that those who are detained ahead of trial are in custody because they need to be, not because they don't have the money to get out, said bill author Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-van Nuys.

There are other victims though.

“It would put us out of business completely,” said George “Junior” Stahlman III, whose local bail bond business, King Stahlman Bail Bonds, was established by his father, the late George “King” Stahlman, in 1954. You've surely heard its famous jingle, “It's better to know me and not need me than to need me and not know me.”

“We're a mom and pop store — a San Diego family business.”

Currently, judges in California set bail for defendants, or a fixed amount that must be deposited with the court to ensure someone charged with a felony, and a misdemeanor in special cases, returns for court hearings and trial. If the defendant cannot post the entire bail, the court will accept a promise by a bail bond agency to pay the entire amount. The defendant then must pay a non-refundable premium to the agency in question, which is typically around 10 percent, and also promise to pay the full amount if he or she doesn't appear as directed.

Under the new “pretrial risk assessment” system, which goes into effect on Oct. 1 of next year, people arrested on most misdemeanor charges will be automatically booked and released. Everyone else will be graded by a “validated risk assessment tool” — aka computer software — that scores a person's likelihood to return to court, and whether or not the person is a threat to public safety. Those deemed by the tool to be “low risk” or “medium risk” will be released after making a written promise to return to the court — with money no longer a factor in the process. Higher risk individuals, meanwhile, may or may not be released with supervision, via tracking devices paid for by taxpayers, following a prevention detention hearing.

A referendum drive, launched by a coalition of agencies and supported by bail agents, aims to stop the law from being enacted before the public can weigh in, which would be during the November 2020 election. But, as it stands, the 2,795 licensed bail bondsmen and bonds women of California, 265 of whom call San Diego County home, need to think about finding a new career.

“I stand to lose a business that I built from nothing,” said Wendy Zamutt, the owner of the San Diego-based Bail Bond Woman agency and a licensed agent since 1996.

“Am I sad? I'm very sad. I'm not sad for Wendy, the bail bondwoman. I'm sad for California, because we're going to lose our Eighth Amendment right to bail.”

Zamutt, who sold pagers before entering the bail services business in the mid-90s, speaks of her role in the justice system as one mostly misunderstood by the public. She's not a vulture, preying on people when they're down and out. Rather, in her eyes, she's a friend with a shoulder to cry on and a bank account that guarantees a loved one's release.

“I'm here to rescue you,” she said.