Title LIX, Proceedings in Criminal Cases

In case of appeal, the municipal and district courts shall cause true and attested copies of the complaint, other process, records and recognizances, together with any cash bail in the case, to be filed with the clerk of the superior court within 10 days after the date of such or…

In the case of an order to recognize for appearance before the superior court, the circuit court shall cause copies of the complaint, other process, records and recognizances, together with any cash bail in the case, to be mailed or delivered to the clerk of the superior court of…

Whoever violates any provision of RSA 597:10 and 11 shall be guilty of a violation.

If a justice knowingly accepts insufficient bail or fails to make return of his proceedings as required by law, he shall be liable to the same punishment as for aiding an escape in a like case; provided, that this section shall not apply to release on personal recognizance upon a…

Minors and their sureties shall be bound by their recognizance in the same manner as if their principals were of full age.

I. A person convicted of an offense while released pursuant to this chapter shall be sentenced, in addition to the sentence prescribed for the offense to: (a) A maximum term of imprisonment of not more than 7 years if the offense is a felony; or (b) A maximum term of imprisonment…

The superior court may appoint justices of the peace and quorum as commissioners authorized to fix and receive bail in criminal or civil cases as hereinafter provided. The superior court shall not appoint as a bail commissioner anyone whose appointment would present a conflict of…

The circuit court may appoint justices of the peace and quorum as commissioners authorized to fix and receive bail and other fines and fees as authorized by law in criminal or civil cases as hereinafter provided. The circuit court shall not appoint as a bail commissioner anyone w…

I. Bail commissioners shall be commissioned for 5 years and continue in office until their successors shall have qualified. A bail commissioner's appointment may be revoked for cause at any time during the term of his or her appointment by the chief justice of the supreme court o…

On application of a person who is arrested for a bailable offense, at any time before his arraignment therefor, any commissioner may fix the amount of and receive bail in the same manner as the court might do, except in cases provided for by RSA 597:4.

I. The judicial training coordinator, in consultation with the chief justice of the superior court and the administrative judge of the circuit court, shall develop an education program to ensure that new bail commissioners are adequately trained and that existing bail commissione…

I. The bail commissioners shall provide to any person bailed by the bail commissioner under this chapter information on local services that are available to the person relating to homelessness, hunger, mental health, and substance use issues. II. The bail commissioners shall noti…

Every recognizance taken by a commissioner shall be certified and returned to the clerk of the court before which the party is bound to appear, on or before the day of the sitting thereof.

I. Except as provided in paragraph III or VIII, upon the appearance before the court of a person charged with an offense, the court shall issue an order that, pending arraignment or trial, the person be: (a) Released on his or her personal recognizance or upon execution of an uns…

I. The arresting officer, at the point of arrest, shall inform the offender of the availability of the services of the bail commissioner. I-a. In any case where the offender has been arrested for a crime of violence against an individual person, including any act of stalking or c…

The bail commissioners in such cases shall be entitled to a fee of $60. However, clerks of court or members of their staffs who are bail commissioners shall be entitled to collect such fee only when called while not on active duty. In jurisdictions where the bail commissioner is …

Persons arrested on Sunday, or on the evening or afternoon preceding, may be admitted to bail on that day when in the opinion of the commissioner an application for that purpose appears to be proper.

Any police officer may detain any person who he deems to be a necessary witness to a crime; provided, however, within 24 hours, including Sundays and holidays, he shall be brought before a justice of the superior court who may, upon the showing that the testimony of said person i…

Whenever a witness, upon being ordered by a superior court justice to recognize, neglects or refuses to do so, the justice may issue a warrant and cause such witness to be committed to jail until he complies with the order.

Recognizance shall be taken in the name of the state, and with sufficient sureties, unless, in proper cases, the recognizance of the party shall be deemed by the superior court to be sufficient.

Recognizances may be taken with condition to attend the court or before the justice at the next term, from term to term, at a fixed day to which the case may be continued, or from day to day, there to wait and abide the order of the court, and not to depart without leave until di…

Recognizances may be taken in any other form which the court, considering the circumstances of the case, may direct or allow.

A surety for the appearance of a party or witness may be discharged by order of the superior court from further liability upon surrendering the party in open court, during the pendency of the original cause and before trial, on payment of the costs of any proceeding against them,…

Sureties may be discharged before forfeiture of the recognizance by committing the principal to the jail of the county, by leaving with the jailer a certified copy of the order to recognize and of the names of the bail, and a certificate of the bail thereon that they have committ…

The copies and certificates provided for in RSA 597:28 shall be sufficient authority for the keeper of the jail to detain the party committed until he shall be discharged by due order of law; and the accused may be again recognized with sureties, agreeably to the original order o…

All money deposited for bail shall be held for the use of the state until the clerk of the superior court where the bail is deposited shall certify that no liability exists against the bail.

When the sureties in a recognizance, without their fault, are prevented from surrendering their principal by an act of God or of the government of the state or of the United States, or by sentence of law, the superior court, on petition and notice thereof to the county commission…

If any party recognized to appear makes default, the recognizance shall be declared forfeited, and the state may cause proceedings to be had immediately for the recovery of such forfeiture.

Any court, for good cause, may strike off a default upon a recognizance or order it to be struck off at a future day, upon a substantial compliance with the condition.

The superior court may render judgment for the whole amount of any forfeited recognizance and interest and costs, or for such part thereof as, after hearing counsel, the court may think proper, according to any special circumstances in evidence affecting the case or the party lia…

Actions upon recognizances may be brought and tried in the county or judicial district thereof in which they were taken, unless the court shall order the venue to be changed.

No action on a recognizance shall be defeated, nor judgment thereon be arrested, for any omission to record a default at the proper term, nor for any defect in the form of recognizance or of the scire facias, but the court may order the record of process to be amended to conform …

In actions brought upon recognizances taken in criminal prosecutions, it shall be sufficient to set forth in the writ the substance of the recognizance and the time and place at which the same was declared forfeited, without setting forth the complaint or indictment or any subseq…

Any court may issue a warrant for the arrest of a person under recognizance to appear before the court who fails to appear according to the condition thereof or of any person who, being party to a criminal proceeding, is, by escape or otherwise, improperly at large.

If a recognizance is forfeited and paid in any case in which, if the recognizor had been convicted, any sum might have been due and payable to the complainant or to any other person, the superior court may ascertain the amount and may order it to be paid from the state treasury.

I. Whenever a party recognized to appear for any offense defaults, the court may impose an administrative processing fee in the amount of $50 in addition to any other fine or penalty assessment. II. The administrative processing fee provided for in paragraph I shall be retained b…

I. Whenever a party recognized to appear for any offense involving driving makes default and the recognizance is declared forfeited, the court shall send a notice of default to the division of motor vehicles. The division shall send a notice to the person owing the recognizance, …

The court, upon petition and notice to the county attorney, prosecutor or party interested, may order the discharge of any person imprisoned for inability to find sureties in a recognizance, upon such terms as may be deemed just.

If any person is charged with murder, the superior court or any justice thereof, upon application and notice to the attorney general or county attorney, and examination of such evidence as may be laid before them, may determine the amount of the bail, and take the recognizance re…

If a person is arrested in one county on a warrant for an offense alleged to have been committed in another county exceeding the jurisdiction of a justice to determine, the officer, on the arrestee's request, shall take the arrestee before a justice for the county or judicial dis…

A justice before whom a party is taken pursuant to RSA 597:40 may, upon good cause shown, take the recognizance of the party to appear before the court or justice as directed in the warrant on a day and hour named, within 10 days following. He shall certify the fact upon the warr…

The officer shall forthwith deliver the warrant and recognizance to the justice or court before whom the warrant is returnable, who may thereupon summon before him and order to recognize any witness that he may deem necessary to appear at the same time and place.

Every court and justice may, when a person is accused of an offense in which said court or justice is authorized to receive bail, release said person on personal recognizance or require said person to recognize, with sureties, to appear at a future time before said court or justi…

Upon motion duly made, a court shall schedule a bail hearing. Every court may, when a person is accused of an offense or a probation violation in which said court is authorized to receive bail, release said person on personal recognizance or require him or her to recognize, with …

If it appears from an affidavit filed by a party that the testimony of a person is material in a criminal proceeding, and if it is shown that it may become impracticable to secure the presence of the person by subpoena, a justice of the court in which the defendant will be tried …

I. If a person is ordered released by a bail commissioner, the person, or the state, shall be entitled to a hearing, if requested, on the conditions of bail before a justice within 48 hours, Sundays and holidays excepted. [Paragraph II effective until January 1, 2027; see also pa…