AB 433

Criminal case data reporting

This bill requires the Department of Justice to collect from the Director of State

Courts all of the following information for each criminal case: 1) the county in which

the case was filed; 2) the name of the prosecuting attorney assigned to the case; 3)

the name of the court official assigned to the case; 4) the criminal charge filed; 5) for

each case, whether the court released the defendant without bail, upon the execution

of an unsecured appearance bond, upon the execution of an appearance bond with

sufficient solvent sureties, or upon the deposit of cash in lieu of sureties, or denied

release, and the name of the court official who made the decision; 6) for each case for

which a court required the execution of an appearance bond with sufficient solvent

sureties, the monetary amount of the bond and the name of the court official who

made the decision; 7) for each case for which a court required the deposit of cash in

lieu of sureties, the monetary amount of cash required and the name of the court

official who made the decision; and 8) for each case, any other conditions of release

imposed on the defendant and the name of the court official who made the decision.

Under the bill, DOJ must publish an annual report using the data collected on

its website in an interactive format, and also submit a report on the data to the chief

clerk of each house of the legislature for distribution to the appropriate standing

committees.

Bail for persons with previous convictions for bail jumping

Under current law, a person accused of a crime is eligible for release before

conviction under reasonable conditions designed to do any of the following: 1) assure

that he or she will appear in court; 2) protect members of the community from serious

harm; or 3) prevent the intimidation of witnesses. The conditions of release may

include monetary bail only if the court finds that there is a reasonable basis to believe

that bail is necessary to assure that the defendant will appear in court or, if the

defendant is accused of a violent crime as defined under current law, if the court finds

that there is a reasonable basis to believe that bail is necessary based on the totality

of the circumstances. “Violent crime” is defined to include crimes such as homicide,

battery, mayhem, sexual assault, reckless injury, false imprisonment, human

trafficking, taking of hostages, kidnapping, stalking, witness or victim intimidation,

disarming a police officer, straw purchasing of firearms, endangering safety, arson,

felony burglary, carjacking, robbery, harassment, bomb scares, and mistreatment of

animals; crimes to which a domestic abuse or dangerous weapon penalty enhancer

may be applied; the violation of a domestic abuse, child abuse, or harassment

injunction; or the solicitation, conspiracy, or attempt to commit a Class A felony.

Under the bill, if the defendant has a previous conviction for the crime of bail

jumping, the court must impose bail to assure appearance in court and the defendant

may be released only if he or she executes a secured bond or deposits cash in lieu of

a bond in an amount of at least $5,000. Under the bill, if the defendant is accused