We all know how these bond hearings go: the prosecutor pushes for higher than he expects to get, the defense attorney asks for lower than he expects to get, and the judge usually splits the difference, or favors the prosecution somewhat. It seems that all sides agreed that the man was to be bonded and if he made a $15,000 bond he probably would have made a $25,000 bond. Pointing a finger at the judge doesn't change that fact.
Why didn't the prosecutor ask for no bond? He's usually the guy in the room with a copy of the defendant's record.
2 comments:
Yes, we all know how it goes. If you have a judge who always sets a bond, asking for no bond is a useless exercize. The fact is, the judge went lower than the prosecutor asked, the guy walked. We'll never know if 25k would have sufficed, because the judge rejected the prosecutor's recommendation.
Asking for no bond in Minnesota is a particularly useless exercise, as the Minnesota Constitution provides that a defendant cannot be held without bail. It can be set extremely high, but it must be set.
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