|
 E-mail Story Print Friendly
Opinion editorials Handling of Pit Appeal Calls for a Time-Out |
Front Page 
opinion editorialsThis editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by editorial page staff and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers
.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Find Right Balance on Repeat-Offender Bonds
When a state court judge considers whether a career burglar should be granted bond and in what amount, the only thing that judge is supposed to consider is whether the defendant is a flight risk. He or she then sets a bond amount to ensure the defendant stays in town and shows up in court.
That's a problem for local residents, who wish the defendant — a guy like 21-year-old Joseph Esquivel, for example — would either stay in jail or skip town and become somebody else's problem. Instead, these defendants bond out, then hang around and do what they do best: break into people's houses and steal electronics, checkbooks, cars, i.e. other people's stuff.
There has to be a better way to protect a Joseph Esquivel's legal rights while not setting everyone else up to be his next victim.
State court judges hit upon a model in December, when a committee of six upped the amounts of certain "jailhouse bonds" for violent offenders to prevent defendants from getting out too easily and in some cases committing new crimes before appearing in court on their original ones. So instead of coming up with just $500 to get out of jail on a charge of misdemeanor battery, defendants now have to cough up $2,500 if they want to get out of jail before appearing before a judge. Yes, the higher amount might keep them in jail, but if/when they bond out it might get them to think twice before getting in another bar fight or hurting a spouse.
That didn't happen with Esquivel, one of the city's top burglars, who got out of jail April 14 after being charged with, you guessed it, burglary. He was back on the street for a week when police picked him up again.
For burglary.
Lt. Harold Medina, who oversees the Albuquerque Police Department's burglary unit, says Esquivel "is a perfect, prime example of how one individual can cause havoc to a community and cause harm to our citizens if he's not properly dealt with."
Dealing with the issue properly should include a reasonable bond that takes into consideration not only if a defendant will stick around, but whether he will in all likelihood stick it to another victim.
Perhaps serial burglars should be next on the agenda for jailhouse bonds — assuming they were not — but making the necessary change to really fix this will likely require a constitutional amendment allowing judges to take community safety into account in setting bond.
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
