Effective May 18, 2015 the traditional common convenience bond for many non-drug crimes will effectively be eliminated.
The new bond schedule was signed into effect by Chief Judge Peter Weinstein. This means that many offenders will have to wait to see a Magistrate judge before being given a bond. Plainly speaking, the current status quo was if you were charged with the crimes on this list, you could post a bond and get out of jail. This new administrative order means there will be NO BOND and you stay in jail until you have a bond hearing.
It is unclear how the court will deal with this extra burden, if an extra judge will be appointed to relieve what may be a bottle neck in the system. On the other side, proponents of this new measure expects that there will be higher bonds for repeat offenders which may act as a deterrent to subsequent crimes, more pretrial for first time offenders on non-violent crimes and more bond revocation for individuals with pending cases.
Proponents also argue that this measure will eliminate some civil cases for malicious prosecution against law enforcement as a magistrate at the time of the bond hearing will determine if there was probable cause for the arrest in the first place.
The questions as to whether individuals falling into this category will be able to get a non-Public Defender prior to the bond hearing remains to be seen.
If you need more information, contact our attorneys for a free consultation.