|
DELEGATE CHILD: No. This section
says that he shall be entitled to release.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Key.
DELEGATE KEY: But as I read it, I
see it says, "pending trial, conditioned only
upon such bail or on other terms".
I am asking you, cannot those other
terms be incarceration?
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Child.
DELEGATE CHILD: I would not say so,
under this section.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Key.
DELEGATE KEY: Why not?
DELEGATE CHILD: Well, the judge
would name the conditions for release. If he
could not meet them, then of course he
would have to remain in jail.
DELEGATE JAMES: (presiding): Dele-
gate Key.
DELEGATE KEY: I wonder about the
weight of the further statement, secure his
appearance before the court.
DELEGATE CHILD : That is what bail is,
to secure his appearance for trial.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Key.
DELEGATE KEY: I am not talking now
about the word "bail". I am talking now
about other terms to secure his appearance
in court.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Child.
DELEGATE CHILD: Well, I did not write
this section. That is one objection to it, that
the terms there are ambiguous to me.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Bamberger has been trying to get the
floor. Judge Sherbow, I will recognize you
next.
Delegate Bamberger.
DELEGATE BAMBERGER: Delegate
Child, you say that under section 8, the
General Assembly may provide lesser con-
ditions than bail. It may, for instance, allow
a person to be released without bail; that is,
on his own promise that he will be back for
trial. Is it not true that unless this section
5-B is included in ,the constitution, the Gen-
eral Assembly could also say that when a
|
person is arrested or indicted or charged
with some particular crime, and any crime
at all, not necessarily a serious crime, that
he shall not be entitled to release on bail.
In other words, without stating that there
is a right to pre-trial release, that the Gen-
eral Assembly could say, in certain crimes
there shall not be bail ?
DELEGATE CHILD: No, because you
have already your constitutional provision
which says, "excessive bail shall not be re-
quired." It has been in there since 1851.
DELEGATE BAMBERGER: Then I take
it your answer is that section 8 gives an
absolute right to bail and the only provision
is that it may not be excessive?
DELEGATE JAMES: (presiding): Dele-
gate Child.
DELEGATE CHILD: Yes.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Bamberger.
DELEGATE BAMBERGER: Why do you
object to stating that explicitly in the con-
stitution ?
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding) : Dele-
gate Child.
DELEGATE CHILD: Because we do not
need it.
DELEGATE BAMBERGER: Your only
argument against section 5-B is, then, that
it is unnecessary, that it is a right which
the people have, and that we need not state
it?
DELEGATE CHILD: No, sir. I said that
this section goes too far. It has language in
it which is dangerous and that section 8 is
what we have. We have passed a very liberal
statute under it; we have passed very lib-
eral rules under it; and we certainly do not
need two provisions on bail in the Declara-
tion of Rights.
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Bamberger.
DELEGATE BAMBERGER: Section 8
prescribes a limit on the amount of bail,
section 5 states a right to bail in certain
offenses. What is it that is stated explicitly
in 5-B which you say is not implicit in 8?
DELEGATE JAMES (presiding): Dele-
gate Child.
DELEGATE CHILD : Well, for one thing,
it is more restrictive in one way than sec-
tion 8. Section 8 provides only that in capi-
tal cases a man, in certain circumstances,
would be entitled to bail.
|
