Attorneys ask Katz to end cash bail
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The Queens Defenders wrote a letter to DA Melinda Katz, requesting she ask prosecutors to stop asking for cash bail, a practice the DA’s office says they are already doing. Eagle file photo by David Brand
By Jacob Kaye
A group of public defense attorneys in Queens wrote a letter to District Attorney Melinda Katz this week requesting she ask her prosecutors to stop requesting cash bail in nonviolent cases in an effort to keep the population on Rikers Island as low as possible.
Queens Defenders urged Katz to take Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s lead and make a commitment to not ask for cash bail for many nonviolent offenses, a requirement already written into the state’s laws.
The request comes as the city grapples with compounding emergencies on Rikers Island, which have led to the death of a dozen detainees in the past year.
“Considering the ongoing revelations of the deplorable, inhumane, and intolerable conditions at Rikers Island, Queens Defenders strongly encourages the Office of Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz to immediately follow [Vance] and stop seeking cash bail,” the attorneys wrote. “Now is the time to act in the best interest of all New Yorkers, especially our low-income neighbors who have fewer options to pay cash bail and are disproportionately – and unnecessarily – held at Rikers Island.”
“The Queens District Attorney’s office can take a leadership role and stand for ensuring the health and safety of our city’s residents by ending cash bail for non-violent felonies and seeking release with conditions for more serious offenses,” they added.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan DA’s office said cash bail will only not be requested when the alleged crime is “legally and factually nonviolent and doesn't implicate risk of physical harm; and the defendant isn't a violent felon and doesn't have sex crimes or violent misdemeanor convictions within the last 10 years; and the defendant hasn't failed to appear for the case,” ABC News reported.
Vance’s directive doesn’t really differ from the current bail laws on the books. The majority of nonviolent cases currently are not bail eligible.
“Criminal justice reform legislation passed last year, which the DA supports, already makes most non-violent crimes ineligible for bail,” a spokesperson from the Queens DA’s office told the Eagle. “We consider the least restrictive options that will ensure a defendant’s return to court, including supervised release and other options.”
“We continue to review the securing orders of those who are being held at Rikers on Queens cases, with an eye toward expediting dispositions, advancing sentences and considering jail alternatives while ever mindful of our duty to protect public safety,” the spokesperson added.
Mayor Bill de Blasio urged caution earlier this week when asked about eliminating cash bail.
"There are some low-level offenses where...people do not belong in a jail setting,” he said. "But when it particularly comes to anything regarding violent crime or serious crime, I would be very, very careful."
The Queens Defenders also requested that prosecutors begin to ask for less restrictive means in an effort to ensure a defendant returns to court, a practice the DA’s office says it’s already doing.
The organization said it was “committed to working with the Queens District Attorney’s Office and the courts to find alternative solutions for individuals accused of crimes that can include unsecured, partially secured, and supervised release, released on their own recognizance, mental health and substance abuse treatment, electronic monitoring for more serious crimes, and other options.”
Hettie Powell, the managing director of the Queens Defenders, said that while they understand that there are certain cases where bail may have to be requested, they’re still asking prosecutors to consider the implications.
“We do understand that cash bail has to be set on certain things, but we don't want them to be set on nonviolent cases,” Powell said. “At this period of time, don't ask for cash bail because of the horrible conditions of Rikers Island.”
Though judges can set bail themselves, they often follow the lead of the prosecutors, Powell said.
Recent reporting from Gothamist found that judges in Queens set bail at a lower rate than judges in the other four boroughs in New York City.
“If the [prosecutors] don’t ask, then the judge will not have an opportunity to set bail,” Powell said. “If they're saying, ‘We consent to this person's release,’ it is kind of hard for the judge to say, ‘Oh no, I'm not going to do that, I'm going to set this amount of cash bail.’”
Powell noted that she believes Katz is the right district attorney to take a stand in limiting the population on Rikers Island.
“We believe she's a progressive DA and she has done a lot for Queens County since she has been the district attorney, and we want to continue to work with her because she is a progressive and we believe that she has taken certain steps that [former DA Richard Brown] did not do,” Powell said. “But we are asking her to take that leadership role here.”
