BOSTON — Suffolk County District Attorney John Pappas testified in support of a bill filed by Gov. Charlie Baker to change the process by which people are released on bail or held because of their dangerousness.
“An Act to Protect the Commonwealth from Dangerous Persons” was filed last month to update state statutes surrounding bail, dangerousness hearings, and other aspects of pretrial release or detention.
Pappas asked the Joint Committee on the Judiciary to adopt the bill Monday, especially a provision that would allow prosecutors to appeal a District or Municipal Court judge’s abuse of discretion in setting bail. Massachusetts judges have unfettered discretion in setting bail, and while a defendant may appeal a bail order, prosecutors may not.
During his opening remarks at the hearing, Pappas recounted a case of a man with a prior default in a case charging assault with intent to kill who was charged this summer with indecent assault and battery on a young child of a relative, according to a statement from Suffolk County spokesman Jake Wark.
The Charlestown Municipal Court judge who arraigned the case declined to set cash bail and instead released the defendant to home confinement wearing a GPS monitor.
When he learned the courthouse was out of GPS monitors, he rescinded the order and instructed the defendant’s wife to call police if he left the house, according to the statement.
The man violated the orders almost immediately and days later the court heard testimony that he violated a restraining order and attended a soccer game where the victim’s mother was present. The court granted an arrest warrant only to learn the man had provided a false address, according to the statement.
“When the defendant was finally taken back into custody, a second judge didn’t just deny prosecutor’s motions to revoke his personal recognizance, to set higher bail, or to impose at least the GPS monitoring that had previously been ordered and then rescinded,” said Pappas. “This second judge actually relaxed the conditions of his house arrest, effectively rewarding him for violating the terms of his release.”
Pappas also supported provisions within the bill that would allow judges to consider a defendant’s prior history of violence when determining whether to grant a dangerousness hearing and would remove the requirement that prosecutors seek a dangerousness hearing only at arraignment. He asked lawmakers to look favorably on the bill’s requirement that the courts create and use a text-messaging service to notify defendants of upcoming mandatory court appearances.
“For defendants who present neither a public safety threat nor a flight risk, the text message service provision of the governor’s bill is, to my mind, overdue,” he said. “For these defendants, an automated reminder is sufficient — and perhaps even more effective than monetary bail. At a time when our own SJC notes that cellular phones are used by almost everything, there is no reason for our courts not to explore their efficacy in this regard.”