The 48-hour bail law - WesternSlopeNow
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo (KREX) — The phrase, “have your day in court” now rings true for weekends, at least for some. Governor Jared Polis signed “the 48-hour bail law” last July but it just took effect in Mesa County.
Dan Rubinstein, Mesa County District Attorney, says, “as of this past Saturday was the first time under the new law. It went pretty smoothly, obviously, it’s a burden on my staff, the deputy sheriff that has to come and open up the courthouse, pretrial services that have to come in and do the reports, rather than a Monday morning law.”
Rubinstein says there are other areas of the court involved in the process and it’s been challenging to staff weekends, but he believes it’s the right thing to do, “it’s good public policy, a lot of these arrests are misdemeanor arrests and they’re arrests that now are going to get a PR bond, so to hold them in custody for something they would get a PR bond over the weekend, is not a good idea.”
Old law looked like this, if you were arrested after 5:30 am on Friday, you couldn’t appear before a judge until Monday. Now, anyone who is arrested by 2 p.m. on Saturday can appear before a judge that same day at 7 p.m. The bond officer will appear virtually, but Rubinstein says all victims should have the same opportunity regardless of what day it is.
Rubinstein also says, “I want to make sure that a victim who is victimized on a Tuesday has the same experience of being able to come to court to meet with our victim specialist and meet with the lawyer, the DA and understand what’s going on.”
One of the bill sponsors, Rep. Matt Soper, a Republican says, Mesa County was the driving force behind the bill, “Mesa County was kind of the example that this bill was based off because Mesa County is really the idyllic court system, we do everything right.”
Rubinstein believes this new bill will reduce the likelihood of recidivism and could delay the possibility of having to build a new jail pod. A new jail pod would be a multi-million-dollar project, so avoiding it would save taxpayers a fortune.
source: https://www.westernslopenow.com/news/local-news/the-48-hour-bail-law/
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