CMPD chief lauds governor, legislators for changes to bond and pretrial release
After pushing for change, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings is lauding Gov. Roy Cooper and state legislators for altering how some bonds and other pretrial release conditions will be set for criminal charges.
Cooper signed House Bill 813, dubbed the Pretrial Integrity Act, into law on Friday.
Beginning Oct. 1, some defendants facing more serious charges will have their bonds set by elected judges, not appointed magistrates who mostly toil out of the public eye. Some of the criminal cases to be affected include those where people are charged with murder, kidnapping, rape and human trafficking.
Judges will also be responsible for deciding if and how to hold defendants charged with a crime while they are out on pretrial release. A judge must act within 48 hours before responsibility falls back to a magistrate. The legislation excludes minor traffic offenses, Jennings said.
“We have to ask ourselves: Where is the accountability within the criminal justice system?” Jennings said at a press conference Friday.
“We talk about accountability all the time, but we usually focus that on one or two small areas within the system. We often forget that the criminal justice system is made up of a lot of different components, and every single one of those components should be held accountable,” he added.
In a statement Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather also celebrated the new law.
“With these new measures, victims and witnesses can have greater faith that the judges directly accountable to them will appropriately consider their safety in determining whether a defendant should be released,” the district attorney said.
Jennings, Merriweather and Mecklenburg County Chief District Court Judge Elizabeth Trosch have advocated for the change for months. State Rep. John Bradford, who represents Mecklenburg County, co-sponsored the bill.
Controversy over bonds nothing new
Concerns over magistrates setting bonds either “too low” or “too high” are a constant topic of discussion across the state, University of North Carolina School of Government Professor Jeff Welty told The Observer in May.
In Buncombe County and Asheville, District Attorney Todd Williams and Police Chief David Zack recently expressed support for House Bill 813, news outlet Asheville Watchdog reported.
But for at least one activist, the Pretrial Integrity Act has raised concerns.
Emancipate North Carolina Executive Director Dawn Blagrove described the potential 48-hour wait for a judge as “arbitrary,” and warned that it could have adverse effects, especially on people of color, The Observer reported in May.
