Goes Before the House Next Week
SB 252 basically destroys our centuries old bail bond system and turns lose the majority of criminals without bail, only a promise to show up or pay the bond money if they refuse to show up at their court dates.
The legislation is fraught with problems. First, bail is a Constitutional right set forth by the U.S. Constitution. Second, if an OR or PTR bond is refused the judge has to issue a ruling that states that the criminal is likely guilty by a preponderance of the evidence. At that point the criminal can apply for a bail bond.
Meaning anyone out on bail bond is automatically assumed guilty.
Another problem is that Oklahoma County has over 400,000 arrest warrants already waiting to be served. That is not a typo, over four hundred thousand warrants already in effect but not served meaning nearly a half million criminals are roaming free or that many criminal cases where justice has not been served.
The failure to appear rate (FTA) is between 69 and 53% each month since January of this year. Bail bonds have an FTA of 10% and most of them are recovered by the bail bondsmen before the 90 days mark where the bonds are forfeited and have to be paid to the Court Clerk.
Statewide around $35,000,000 in bail bonds are forfeited and collected each year. Most are drug trafficking illegal aliens where the court approves a $150,000 bond, the bondsman collects that much in cash for collateral, plus $15,000 for the bond fee, and when the illegal never shows up the bondsman pays the $150,000 to the court. The whole system of illegals and bonds are a wink, wink, don't tell thing for the court system. Other than that the system works well especially for the average joe or jill that gets in occasional trouble.
Another problem is that SB 252 clashes with our version of the Marshy's law that was passed as a state question to protect victim's rights. As SB 252 is a statute change and not in our state constitution, the constitution will override SB 252 should it be passed. Check out Section II-33 in our state constitution.
Victims rights in Oklahoma came about in 1996 through SQ 674. Here is a good description from an editorial right before it was passed:
“It requires crime victims to be treated with fairness, respect and dignity, free from intimidation, harassment or abuse. It requires the state to notify victims when an accused or convicted person is to be released from custody. Victims and families also would have a right to be present at proceedings where the defendant is present and to be heard at sentencing and parole hearings.
Much of this is already in place, but judges sometimes make their own rules. Constitutional provisions cannot be casually tossed aside.”
However there was no teeth, no mechanism for victims to defend their rights and thus no recourse. SQ 794, Marshy's law, fixed some of that. It amended the state constitution to guarantee rights in an equal manner to the defendant's rights. The victims have the right to be notified and appear at any court proceeding and speak and be heard. They have a right to reasonable protection from the criminal. They have a right to see proceedings go forward without unreasonable delays. They have a right to speak to the D.A. prosecuting the criminal.
Victims lost the right to know the defendant’s location following arrest, prosecution, and during confinement or probation, but they would be notified when the criminal was released. This works for both adult and juvenile proceedings and if their rights are not protected they have a right to file a complaint with the court and force compliance with their rights.
The ACLU thinks otherwise and claims that holding a criminal till they pay bail is unconstitutional as is jailing people for not paying fines and fees.
Not so, the U.S. Constitution grants the right of reasonable bail and Section II-13 or our state constitution says that imprisonment for debt is fine if it is for the non payment of fines and penalties imposed for violation of the law.
Other states have passed the legislation and learned quickly that one third of the accused never show back up. This was precipitated by a federal lawsuit filed by ACLU types and a court order that forces release within 24 hours on all misdemeanors even if the person was in jail for refusing to show up for court! Literally catch and release if the criminal claims they cannot afford bail.
And the bond amounts being forfeited will never be collected as the fines and fees are hardly ever collected from career criminals.
