Bill Text: NY A08820 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to recognizance procedures and bail reform; repeals certain provisions relating thereto.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 53-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - referred to codes [A08820 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-A08820-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8820 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY December 6, 2017 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. QUART, O'DONNELL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to recognizance procedures and bail reform; and to repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative intent. The purpose of this legislation is to 2 reform the process by which courts in the state of New York evaluate 3 applications by criminal defendants who seek release on their own recog- 4 nizance. New York's current bail statute has been applied in a manner 5 that has led to unsatisfactory levels of pre-trial detention. The 6 purpose of this legislation is to ensure decarceration and release of 7 individuals on their own recognizance in the overwhelming majority of 8 criminal cases by applying a rebuttable presumption of recognizance. 9 Courts in New York must consider only admissible evidence at recogni- 10 zance hearings and must apply the least restrictive measures to ensure 11 an individual's return to court. 12 § 2. Subdivisions 3, 6 and 7 of section 500.10 of the criminal proce- 13 dure law are amended to read as follows: 14 3. ["Fix bail." A court fixes bail when, having acquired control over15the person of a principal, it designates a sum of money and stipulates16that, if bail in such amount is posted on behalf of the principal and17approved, it will permit him to be at liberty during the pendency of the18criminal action or proceeding involved] "Recognizance hearing" means a 19 hearing before the court where the principal appears for the purposes of 20 the court considering recognizance or committing the principal to the 21 custody of the sheriff. 22 6. "Order of recognizance [or bail]" means a securing order releasing 23 a principal on his own recognizance [or fixing bail]. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD13444-03-7A. 8820 2 1 7. "Application for recognizance [or bail]" means an application by a 2 principal [that] to the court[, instead of committing him to or retain-3ing him in] that the principal be released instead of committed to the 4 custody of the sheriff[, either release him on his own recognizance or5fix bail]. 6 § 3. Subdivisions 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 of 7 section 500.10 of the criminal procedure law are REPEALED and subdivi- 8 sion 20 is renumbered subdivision 8. 9 § 4. Section 510.10 of the criminal procedure law, as amended by chap- 10 ter 459 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read as follows: 11 § 510.10 Securing order; when required. 12 1. When a principal, whose future court attendance at a criminal 13 action or proceeding is or may be required, initially comes under the 14 control of a court, such court must, by a securing order, either release 15 him or her on his or her own recognizance[, fix bail] or commit him or 16 her to the custody of the sheriff. Every court when considering an 17 application for recognizance or committing the principal to the custody 18 of the sheriff must apply a rebuttable presumption of recognizance, with 19 the exception of the following felony charges where there is a rebutta- 20 ble presumption of commitment to the custody of the sheriff: 21 (a) Criminally negligent homicide as defined in section 125.10 of the 22 penal law; 23 (b) Aggravated criminally negligent homicide as defined in section 24 125.11 of the penal law; 25 (c) Murder in the second degree as defined in section 125.25 of the 26 penal law; 27 (d) Aggravated murder as defined in section 125.26 of the penal law; 28 (e) Murder in the first degree as defined in section 125.27 of the 29 penal law; 30 (f) Rape in the first degree as defined in section 130.35 of the penal 31 law; 32 (g) Course of sexual conduct against a child in the first degree as 33 defined in section 130.75 of the penal law; 34 (h) Predatory sexual assault as defined in section 130.95 of the penal 35 law; 36 (i) Predatory sexual assault against a child as defined in section 37 130.96 of the penal law; 38 (j) Kidnapping in the first degree as defined in section 135.25 of the 39 penal law; 40 (k) Arson in the first degree as defined in section 150.20 of the 41 penal law; 42 (l) Criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree as defined in 43 section 265.04 of the penal law; 44 (m) Criminal sale of a firearm in the first degree as defined in 45 section 265.13 of the penal law; 46 (n) Terrorism in the second degree as defined in section 490.10 of the 47 penal law; 48 (o) Terrorism in the first degree as defined in section 490.15 of the 49 penal law; 50 (p) Hindering prosecution of terrorism in the first degree as defined 51 in section 490.35 of the penal law; 52 (q) Criminal possession of a chemical weapon or biological weapon in 53 the second degree as defined in section 490.40 of the penal law; 54 (r) Criminal possession of a chemical or biological weapon in the 55 first degree as defined in section 490.45 of the penal law;A. 8820 3 1 (s) Criminal use of a chemical or biological weapon in the second 2 degree as defined in section 490.50 of the penal law; or 3 (t) Criminal use of a chemical or biological weapon in the first 4 degree as defined in section 490.55 of the penal law. 5 2. The court shall inform the principal that the conditions of the 6 securing order are subject to modification consistent with the 7 provisions of section 510.25 of this article. 8 3. When a securing order is revoked or otherwise terminated in the 9 course of an uncompleted action or proceeding but the principal's future 10 court attendance still is or may be required and he is still under the 11 control of a court, a new securing order must be issued. When the court 12 revokes or otherwise terminates a securing order which committed the 13 principal to the custody of the sheriff, the court shall give written 14 notification to the sheriff of such revocation or termination of the 15 securing order. 16 § 5. Section 510.20 of the criminal procedure law is amended to read 17 as follows: 18 § 510.20 Application for recognizance [or bail]; [making and] determi- 19 nation [thereof in general] and timing. 20 1. Upon any occasion when a court is required to issue a securing 21 order with respect to a principal, or at any time when a principal is 22 confined in the custody of the sheriff as a result of a previously 23 issued securing order, he may make an application for recognizance [or24bail]. 25 2. Upon such application, the principal must be accorded an opportu- 26 nity to be heard, present evidence and to contend that an order of 27 recognizance [or bail must or should issue, that the court should28release him on his own recognizance rather than fix bail, and that if29bail is fixed it should be in a suggested amount and form] be issued. 30 3. The court shall make a pre-trial release decision for the principal 31 without unnecessary delay, but in no case later than forty-eight hours 32 after the principal's initial commitment to jail. 33 § 6. The criminal procedure law is amended by adding three new 34 sections 510.25, 510.26 and 510.27 to read as follows: 35 § 510.25 Prosecutor; motion. 36 The prosecutor may file with the court at any time, including at any 37 time before or after the principal's release from custody, a motion 38 seeking the pre-trial detention of the principal for which the prosecu- 39 tor shall present evidence to the court demonstrating that: 40 1. The principal will not appear in court as required; or 41 2. The principal will obstruct or attempt to obstruct justice or the 42 criminal process; or 43 3. The principal would threaten, injure or intimidate, a prospective 44 witness or juror. 45 § 510.26 Prosecutor; motion; evidentiary standard. 46 A motion to the court seeking pre-trial detention pursuant to section 47 510.25 of this article must set forth admissible evidence as defined by 48 this chapter. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that the princi- 49 pal be detained pending trial if the court, upon consideration of the 50 admissible evidence, determines by a preponderance of the evidence that: 51 1. None of the pre-trial supervision services available would ensure 52 the principal's appearance in court when required; or 53 2. The principal would injure or intimidate a prospective witness or 54 juror if released on his or her own recognizance. 55 § 510.27 Motion for rehearing; securing order.A. 8820 4 1 1. The parties, after a determination by the court at a recognizance 2 hearing, at any time before trial, may submit a motion to the court 3 seeking to vacate or modify the securing order. A motion seeking to 4 vacate or modify a securing order must include admissible evidence show- 5 ing a change of circumstances with respect to the conditions set forth 6 in section 510.25 of this article. 7 2. The court will determine by a preponderance of the evidence 8 presented whether the securing order should be vacated or modified. 9 3. The court shall reopen a recognizance hearing upon its own applica- 10 tion, at any time before trial, if the court finds that information 11 exists that was not known to the prosecutor or principal at the time of 12 the recognizance hearing that has a material bearing on the conditions 13 set forth in section 510.25 of this article. The court will make this 14 information known to the prosecutor and principal prior to the recogni- 15 zance hearing. 16 § 7. Section 510.30 of the criminal procedure law is REPEALED and a 17 new section 510.30 is added to read as follows: 18 § 510.30 Right to counsel. 19 A principal or defendant has the right to the aid of counsel at a 20 recognizance hearing. If he or she appears upon such recognizance hear- 21 ing without counsel, he or she has the following rights: 22 1. To an adjournment for the purpose of obtaining counsel; and 23 2. To have counsel assigned by the court if he or she is financially 24 unable to obtain the same. 25 § 8. Section 510.40 of the criminal procedure law is amended to read 26 as follows: 27 § 510.40 Application for recognizance or [bail] commitment; [determi-28nation thereof,] form of securing order and execution ther- 29 eof. 30 1. An application for recognizance or [bail] commitment must be 31 determined by a securing order which either: 32 (a) Grants the application and releases the principal on his or her 33 own recognizance; or 34 (b) [Grants the application and fixes bail; or35(c)] Denies the application and commits the principal to, or retains 36 him or her in, the custody of the sheriff. 37 2. Upon ordering that a principal be released on his or her own 38 recognizance, the court must direct him or her to appear in the criminal 39 action or proceeding involved whenever his or her attendance may be 40 required and to render himself or herself at all times amenable to the 41 orders and processes of the court. If such principal is in the custody 42 of the sheriff [or at liberty upon bail at the time of the order], the 43 court must direct that he or she be discharged from such custody [or, as44the case may be, that his bail be exonerated]. Any restrictions placed 45 on a principal released on his or her own recognizance must be the least 46 restrictive that will ensure the principal's return to court. 47 [3. Upon the issuance of an order fixing bail, and upon the posting48thereof, the court must examine the bail to determine whether it49complies with the order. If it does, the court must, in the absence of50some factor or circumstance which in law requires or authorizes disap-51proval thereof, approve the bail and must issue a certificate of52release, authorizing the principal to be at liberty, and, if he is in53the custody of the sheriff at the time, directing the sheriff to54discharge him therefrom. If the bail fixed is not posted, or is not55approved after being posted, the court must order that the principal be56committed to the custody of the sheriff.]A. 8820 5 1 § 9. Section 510.50 of the criminal procedure law is amended to read 2 as follows: 3 § 510.50 Enforcement of securing order. 4 When the attendance of a principal confined in the custody of the 5 sheriff is required at the criminal action or proceeding at a particular 6 time and place, the court may compel such attendance by directing the 7 sheriff to produce him or her at such time and place. If the principal 8 is at liberty on his or her own recognizance [or on bail], his or her 9 attendance may be achieved or compelled by various methods, including 10 notification and the issuance of a bench warrant, prescribed by law in 11 provisions governing such matters with respect to the particular kind of 12 action or proceeding involved. 13 § 10. The criminal procedure law is amended by adding a new section 14 510.60 to read as follows: 15 § 510.60 Statistical reports. 16 The division of criminal justice services will compile and publish 17 data on the disposition of all recognizance hearings in all courts, 18 disaggregated by county and including the following information: 19 1. The aggregate number of recognizance hearings; 20 2. The aggregate number of defendants and principals who were heard at 21 recognizance hearings; 22 3. The race, ethnicity, age and sex of each defendant or principal; 23 4. The crimes each defendant or principal were charged with; and 24 5. The disposition of each hearing whether for recognizance or commit- 25 ment. 26 § 11. Article 520 of the criminal procedure law is REPEALED. 27 § 12. Section 530.10 of the criminal procedure law is amended to read 28 as follows: 29 § 530.10 Order of recognizance [or bail]; in general. 30 Under circumstances prescribed in [this] article 510 of this title, a 31 court, upon application of a principal charged with a crime or a defend- 32 ant [charged with or] convicted of an offense, is required or authorized 33 to order [bail or] recognizance for the release [or prospective release] 34 of such principal or defendant, or commitment of such principal or 35 defendant during the pendency of either: 36 1. A criminal action based upon such charge; or 37 2. An appeal taken by the defendant from a judgment of conviction or 38 a sentence or from an order of an intermediate appellate court affirming 39 or modifying a judgment of conviction or a sentence. 40 § 13. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 11 of section 530.12 of the crimi- 41 nal procedure law, as amended by chapter 222 of the laws of 1994, is 42 amended to read as follows: 43 (a) revoke an order of recognizance [or revoke an order of bail or44order forfeiture of such bail] and commit the defendant to custody; or 45 § 14. Sections 530.20, 530.30, 530.40, 530.45, 530.50, 530.60, 530.70 46 and 530.80 of the criminal procedure law are REPEALED. 47 § 15. This act shall take effect immediately.
