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Bond Violation Show Cause Hearings in Michigan
In a criminal case, after your arrest but before your conviction or acquittal, you will be on bond. There are several mandatory and many discretionary terms and conditions of bond, and these have been previously discussed. A show cause is what happens when someone does something on bond contrary to what’s been ordered.
The most common allegations of a bond violation that we see at the Barone Defense Firm related to alcohol and drug testing. Often, a client will miss a drug or alcohol test, which is the most common alleged bond violation, followed by a positive drug or alcohol test.
A bond violation is a serious matter because it is considered a contempt of court. After the court receives notice from the monitoring agency that there’s been an alleged violation, the court will issue a show cause order. The purpose of a show cause order is to require you to appear in court to show cause why you should not be held in contempt of court for violating a court order. Because the judge has ordered you to do something (test according to a set schedule), and it is alleged that you violated that order, unless you have a defense to the allegations, you will be found in contempt of court. See, e.g., People v Mysliwiec, 315 Mich App 414, 417 (2016).