My nephew was falsely accused of domestic violence and beating up an old dude in California, which has very "pro-victim" laws. They set bail at $100,000, and this kid was a former Marine with no criminal history at all. Thankfully, we got him bailed out, and once he was out, I could do some investigating on my end and got him out of it.
Anyway, after $10,000 for bail and $7,000 for a local lawyer, the charges were all dropped. But he could have been really screwed if his uncle hadn't been a lawyer.