Bail Abuse: A Good Judicial Decision Attacked

The Times Union reported June 6th about a case in Rensselaer County where Judge Jacon released a defendant on his own recognizance. The defendant, 18 years old and local to the county, was the driver in an accident where a 19-year-old passenger was killed.The victim's mother and some elected officials in the county are upset that no bail was set. Anyone can understand the victim's mother being

More on bail

After my last post, someone posted a comment on my old criminal injustice post. The comment was:However, if the case you cited is a Felony, CPL 530.20 requires the people to be heard on bail before a decision is made.By PML, A local JudgeAs I mentioned in a follow-up comment on that post, the comment by the Hon. PML is not correct. CPL 530.20 states, in pertinent part,(b) No local criminal court

Bail - Its true purpose and how it is subverted

Some time ago I had a brief rant about criminal injustice and I mentioned bail at that time. The bail issue came up recently on a couple of my cases so it's in my head again.First, the true purpose of bail -- to make sure the defendant shows up for Court. See People ex rel. Lobell v. McDonnell 296 N.Y. 109, 71 N.E.2d 423, 1947. It is particularly important where the defendant is perceived as a