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ment that belief that a man is innocent
until presumed guilty?
What this Majority Report says in 5-B
is that every man charged with a crime
has a right not to be held in jail until he
is found guilty.
It says that the General Assembly may
never say that a man who is arrested and
charged with a particular crime may not
under any condition be released pending
trial.
It does not take away any discretion
from the court.
The purpose of bail is solely to assure
that that person who is charged with a
crime will not flee the jurisdiction, will not
be unavoidable for the trial at which the
State shall have its right to prove his
guilt.
The court under 5-B is perfectly free not
only to require the posting of property or
money as bail, but also to exact other
terms, for instance, reporting to a proba-
tion officer or reporting to the court at
regular intervals.
THE CHAIRMAN: You have one-half
minute, Delegate Bamberger.
DELEGATE BAMBERGER: Whatever
is reasonably necessary in the mind of the
court in the exercise of the discretion of the
court to assure the people and the State
that this man will stand trial for the of-
fense for which he is charged. What this
does say is that no man may be held in
jail until he has a trial and is found
guilty of the crime for which he is charged.
I urge you to reject the amendment and
to support the Committee's report.
THE CHAIRMAN: Now, we have a
period of uncontrolled and limited debate.
Does any delegate desire to speak in
favor of the amendment?
Delegate Hardwicke.
DELEGATE HARDWICKE: Mr. Chair-
man, the trouble with section 5 (B) is that
it does not do anything that the proponents
of it claim that it does. It does not have
these guarantees in it and, as a matter of
fact, on the very face of it, it opens up a
new area of pre-trial punishment by the
phraseology "or other terms as are rea-
sonably necessary."
In other words, the bail requirement is
still there and an additional area of penalty
can be imposed by the "or other terms as
are reasonably necessary."
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I am reminded that in Julius Caesar's
Gallic Wars, he goes on at great length
into the fact that the ancient Germans had
secured the appearance of the accused
persons at a trial. The magistrates would
hold their children as hostages. That was
a very effective way, and those with a lot
of children to spare might get off as well
as the rich man might get off on the
present bail bonding procedure.
I suggest that under section 8, the ex-
cessive bail provision, we have adequate
flexibility to do by statute what section
5 (B) claims to do by constitutional man-
date. But section 5 (B), I suggest, is an-
other one of these false hopes that we have
been asked to bat down again and again.
It does not give the hope to the poor
man. It only sets up an additional restric-
tion, an additional possibility of holding
him, and I suggest, therefore, that section
5 (B) ought to be stricken from this con-
stitution.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any delegate
desire to speak in opposition to the amend-
ment?
(There was no response.)
Does any delegate desire to speak in
favor?
Delegate Borom.
DELEGATE BOROM: Mr. Chairman, I
want to speak against the Minority Report.
THE CHAIRMAN: Against the—
DELEGATE BOROM: Minority Report.
THE CHAIRMAN : Very well.
DELEGATE BOROM: As I listened to
the arguments and read part (B) in section
5 and looked at section 8, I do think that
there is a distinct difference between the
two.
I think with part (B) of section 5 we do
have a variation if we look at the termi-
nology: "An accused, except in cases pun-
ishable by death or life imprisonment, shall
be entitled to release pending trial condi-
tioned only upon such bail or other terms
as are reasonably necessary to secure his
appearance before the court."
We have alluded to the fact that the man
with money may be able to secure bail
when a poorer person may 'not be able to.
One of the discretions that may be left
to the court for the setting of the amount
of bail to secure the accused's appearance
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