skip bail

Also, jump bail. Fail to appear in court for trial and thereby give up the bail bond (paid to secure one's appearance). For example, I can't afford to skip bail--I'd lose half a million, or We were sure he'd jump bail but he finally showed up. This idiom uses skip and jump in the sense of "evade". The first dates from about 1900, the variant from the mid-1800s. Also see make bail.

With reference to a defendant in a criminal trial, a colloquial expression meaning to leave the jurisdiction or to avoid appearance in a criminal trial after bail has been posted, thus causing a forfeiture of bail; to abscond after the posting of bail. See also flight.