State Judges Slammed For Releasing Hundreds Of People Accused Of Violent Crimes

And these same people want to make American less safe by taking guns away from law abiding citizens. Even a Liberal Democrat should want to be safe...

I don't get their love for freeing hardened and dangerous people on the the streets.

 

Is this Judge correct about the law, and if so, are the judges there properly applying the law? If the answers to both are "yes," then it seems the complaints are really about the law itself rather than the judges.

 

While Washington State is blue, Spokane County is on the far east side of the state, bordering Idaho. Trump won Spokane County in 2020 by over 2%. Doesn't matter much because in King and Pierce Counties (Seattle and Tacoma, respectively), Biden won by more than 20%. And more people live in King and Pierce than the rest of the state combined. Point is, Spokane, other than any influence Gonzaga has, is rather red.

 

Spokane County has voted for the Democratic candidate three times since 1948: LBJ and Bill Clinton twice

 

Might need to remind some folk that in our system, the accused are afforded constitutional rights, and there is a presumption of innocence in the system, which is to say due to bedrock values regarding freedom, the state has to have really good reasons to hold the accused in jail awaiting the resolution of their case. Demonstrated danger to the public, unlikelihood of returning for subsequent court appearances are the two most common reasons. But even where someone might be accused of a violent crime, this presumption of innocence still holds as does the expectation that people can remain free until the resolution of the case. Let's try to be a little better in critical thinking rather than mindless reactionaries.

 

I swear I've never seen this applied to any Republican accused of wrongdoing. could be me

 

We have the same presumptions and standards here in Florida. A lot of the judges here simply ignore them. Pretrial detention is the exception, not the norm. You don't get to jail people before you convict them of a crime unless you prove it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, what's the point of the presumption of innocence? The Constitution protects our liberty.

 

I know of liberal orgs right now fighting for Republicans who have been unjustly accused of wrongdoing and/or deprived of their liberty. So yes, it's definitely you.

 

Awesome! I was referring primarily to this forum; however, I'll take my medicine and be happy that there are Liberals (not Leftists) who still take our constitutional rights seriously. Good on them.

 

The presumption of innocence applies to the criminal legal system, not to people's opinions on a forum. Your opinion and my opinion don't determine whether somebody can attain their liberty. The government decides that. Now, if we were being considered for jury duty and had already made our minds up, we shouldn't serve on the jury. But that's a wholly separate issue.

 

Are you suggesting that if someone is a republican they're more likely to be held in jail awaiting trial?

 

Back in the day when I did this, the standard for pretrial detention without bind was accusation of a life or Capital felony and evidence to the level of proof is evident and presumption is great. A higher standard than to concoct.

 

We amended the Florida Constitution in 1982 to allow for pretrial detention in cases that didn't include life or capital felonies if one of three circumstances are present (protect the community from risk of physical harm to persons, assure the presence of the accused at trial, or assure the integrity of the judicial process) and no conditions of release would sufficiently mitigate that risk. However, the burdens on the prosecution are quite onerous under our Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Due to that, prosecutors often don't seek pretrial detention. Instead, they intentionally ask judges for bail amounts they know the accused can't afford. That allows them to avoid having to comply with onerous standards while still getting the pretrial detention they want. It should be unconstitutional, but no Florida judge has admitted that in a published opinion (yet).

 

Right. Thanks. I remember that now. Haven’t practiced nuts and bolts criminal law for 38 years.