Rule *536 - Procedures upon Violation of Conditions: Revocation of Release and Forfeiture; Bail Pieces; Exoneration of Surety(A) The presiding Judge may issue a bench warrant and order bail to be forfeited whenever the defendant does not appear on a day indicated, within one hour of the scheduled Court action. At preliminary arraignment each defendant shall be given written notice of his next Court appearance. This notice shall state the date, time and place of the required appearance. It shall be the responsibility of the defendant to appear for any scheduled Court action. The defendant shall be served with written notice of any subsequent Court action, but failure to receive notice will not relieve the defendant of the responsibility of appearing. THE SURETY IS UNDER OBLIGATION TO PRODUCE THE DEFENDANT FOR ALL REQUIRED COURT APPEARANCES UNDER PENALTY OF FORFEITURE OF THE SURETY'S BAIL BOND. NO OTHER NOTICE TO THE SURETY SHALL BE REQUIRED.
(B) Any bench warrant issued may be withdrawn by the presiding Judge or Administrative Judge, for proper cause. A bail order sue-out may be withdrawn by the presiding Judge or Administrative Judge at any time before judgment is entered thereon.(D) No bail order sue-out which is reduced to judgment may be rescinded or altered, except by the President Judge of the Common Pleas Court or the President Judge's designee, in accordance with the following procedure: (1) The surety shall file a petition with the Office of Judicial Records as may be provided from time to time.(2) A hearing will be scheduled before a designated Court Officer at which the surety will have the opportunity to demonstrate facts in support of his petition, and to make oral argument. The Hearing Officer will make findings of fact and submit them to the President Judge or the President Judge's designee for review.(3) As a general guideline, judgment on forfeited bail shall be reduced according to the following schedule, absent compelling reasons to the contrary: Amount of time between bench warrant and defendant's return to jurisdiction of the Court | Percentage of judgment which will be reduced |
0 - 60 days | 90% |
61 - 90 days | 70% |
91 - 120 days | 50% |
121 - 180 days | 30% |
Over 180 days | 0% |
(4) For good cause shown, the President Judge or the President Judge's designee may order all or partial vacation of judgment notwithstanding the schedule in subsection 3.(E) Any surety, for proper cause finding the surety's position insecure, may apply to and obtain a Bail Piece from the Office of Judicial Records. This Bail Piece shall entitle said surety to arrest the named defendant for which the surety has deposited bail and surrender the defendant to the Superintendent of Prisons for incarceration. The Superintendent of Prisons shall accept said defendant for incarceration when a proper bail piece is submitted to the Superintendent of Prisons.This rule combines former Philadelphia Criminal Rules 510 and 520. Renumbered June 4, 2014, effective 7/21/2014. See also Administrative Order No. 01 of 2012, In re: Motions to Vacate or Reduce Bail Forfeitures. Amended September 20, 2019, effective 12/2/2019.