|
those who attacked them been out on bail
pending trial. This is a rare instance, but
an important one.
Also, with regard to pre-trial mental ex-
amination, I do not know the effect of this
amendment, and I fear that the effect of
it may be to limit and perhaps to destroy
altogether the right to have a person ex-
amined prior to trial either for his compe-
tency to stand trial or his mental condi-
tion at the time of this alleged threat.
A vote against this amendment is not a
vote against bail reform. This is a vote
against putting something in the constitu-
tion which goes much too far and should
be handled by rule and by statute and,
therefore, I urge your vote against it.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Bam-
berger.
DELEGATE BAMBERGER: I should
like to respond to Judge Henderson Js com-
ment about the Legislative Council. My
understanding from the Legislative Coun-
cil is that they have taken no action on
the proposal for bail reform and are mak-
ing no report at this session of the Gen-
eral Assembly.
Secondly, I think we are missing the
point. If a man is a dangerous criminal and
has propensities to commit a crime while
awaiting trial, he may not be held if he
has enough money to make bail. I cannot
imagine that in the case of a man who
cannot raise bail that if he is a person
who is so irresponsible and anti-social as
to be a threat to the court or the witnesses
or other people, that anybody could dis-
agree with the judgment of the magistrate
that a man with those kinds of criminal
tendencies is going to be so responsible as
to come to trial. Do you believe for a min-
ute that somebody who says "I am going
to shoot the judge or shoot a witness" will
say "Don't worry, I will come back to trial
next Thursday". I think that is ridicu-
lous. That man is not going to come back
for trial and he can be held.
All that this says is that the price of
your freedom shall not be money; keep that
in mind. You may threaten the judge and
threaten the witness and be a terribly
dangerous person and you have a right to
bail and if bail is set and you have the
money you can walk out. If you do not have
the money, you cannot walk out.
What this amendment does is to insure
that judgment shall be made based not
upon the person's wealth, but merely upon
the essential fact whether or not he will
|
return for trial. I urge you to support the
amendment.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Bennett.
DELEGATE HOSTETTER: Mr. Presi-
dent, for three and a half months I have
sat in committee meetings and at the Con-
vention and have listened to all the pleas
for the poor and downtrodden criminal and
at this point, sir, I believe I have heard
about as much as I would like to hear, and
I should like to move the previous ques-
tion.
THE PRESIDENT: Any further discus-
sion?
Are you ready for the question?
(Call for (lic question.)
The Clerk will ring the quorum bell.
The question arises on the motion to
order the previous question. All in favor
signify by saying Aye; contrary No. The
Ayes have it. It is so ordered.
The question now arises on the adoption
of Amendment No. 11. A vote Aye is a
vote in favor of the Amendment. A vote
No is a vote against.
Cast your vote.
Has every delegate voted?
Does any delegate desire to change his
vote?
(There was no response.)
The Clerk will record the vote.
There being 46 votes in the affirmative
and 64 in the negative, the motion is lost
and the amendment is rejected.
The next amendment, Delegate Willoner,
do you desire to offer your amendment?
DELEGATE WILLONER: No.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
Delegate Dukes, do you desire to offer
your amendment, amendment O?
DELEGATE DUKES: I believe amend-
ment O was the amendment we previously
treated as the style amendment, Mr. Presi-
dent, and I did not offer it. It is the only
one I know about.
THE PRESIDENT: Amendment O is
the one simply to transfer the position of
the section on sovereign immunity.
DELEGATE DUKES: That is the
amendment that I decided not to offer
earlier, and I would still not like to offer it.
|
