New York State Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon (D-Utica/Rome) today announced that she has introduced two pieces of legislation (A9027 and A9030) to amend the bail reform statute passed as a part of the FY2020 New York State budget which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. While many can agree that New York’s criminal justice and bail system needed reform, the current version of the law does not provide for enough judicial discretion to ensure public safety and security. The reforms were enacted with good intentions, but they have come with many unfortunate and unintended consequences. In just the few days since the law went into effect, a number of cases have emerged in which perpetrators, some of which have a record of committing violent crimes, have been released from jail or given an appearance ticket following an arrest. Some of these cases include:

• A Syracuse man, Darien Shellman who was charged with second-degree manslaughter for the shooting death of his girlfriend.
• In Brooklyn, Tiffany Harris was arrested on menacing, harassment attempted assault charges and released without bail after assaulting three Orthodox Jewish women. She was arrested two more times for similar crimes in the following days.
• A man from Cohoes, Anthony Ojeda, who was charged with second-degree manslaughter and felony assault in the methamphetamine overdose death of a 6-week-old baby.

The first piece of introduced legislation (A9027) will allow for courts to consider a principal’s threat to the safety of any crime victim, person, or the community during their determination to set bail. New York State is one of only three states that do not allow judges to weigh the safety threat posed by any individual when determining whether to remand the subject or set bail.

“In the federal system, and in most other states, a judge is able to consider the danger to the community posed by a criminal defendant when setting bail or when remanding them to jail pending trial,” Buttenschon said. “That is sensible in order to protect crime victims, our communities and all individuals within them. This piece of legislation is necessary to ensure public safety. Judges should be allowed to consider the risk a person poses to the safety of a crime victim, person, or the community at large in determining whether that person should be detained pending trial.”

The second piece of legislation (A9030) would allow courts a further ability to interpret a greater number of serious crimes in its enumeration of “qualifying offenses” that are eligible for bail. The legislation will allow for consideration to be given in the new statute for criminal acts which result in the death of another person, but which are technically considered non-violent crimes, like vehicular manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, class A, B, C, and D drug felonies, and aggravated family offenses.

“This legislation is particularly needed at this time as New York State is in the midst of an opioid epidemic in which thousands have been victims and died,” said Buttenschon. “As it stands, the bail reform statute will no longer allow judges to be able to set bail against persons transporting and selling illegal drugs. Judges will only have the option to issue bail for defendants charged under a statute meant for major drug traffickers that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, but many prosecutors say that these charges are brought against very few individuals across the state and the trafficking of opiates would therefore remain a major problem. The purpose of bail is to guarantee somebody’s return to court. Many of the crimes which are currently excluded from qualifying for bail are serious and there are fears that individuals, including ones involved in the opioid trade will not return to court.”

Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara said, “I applaud Assemblywoman Buttenschon on her leadership in the Assembly regarding these proposed common sense modifications to the bail reform law. These proposed amendments provide for some of the public safety concerns that victims and law enforcement officials are seeking while at the same time not undoing the significant reform sought when the law was enacted. I hope that other likeminded members of the Assembly will join her in helping to bring into balance the rights and concerns of victims with that of the accused.”