BILL NUMBER:  S4305A

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to exoneration
of bail


 PURPOSE :
Directs courts to exonerate bail and order recognizance when no grand
jury action has occurred for 45 days from arraignment, unless the
people show good cause.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :
This measure would amend sections 530.20 and 530.40 of the Criminal
Procedure Law to require the granting, by a local criminal court or
superior court, of a defendant's application for exoneration of bail,
absent a showing of "good cause" why bail should not be exonerated,
where a felony complaint has been pending for at least 45 days from
the defendant's arraignment thereon with no action by the Grand Jury.

 JUSTIFICATION :
This measure would address the bail status of a defendant charged in a
pending felony complaint who makes bail and may be required to return
to court repeatedly, often over a period of several weeks or months,
while awaiting Grand Jury action. As noted in a recent New York Law
Journal article on the topic, a defendant in this situation can
              

request that the criminal court exonerate his bail and return the
money pending action of the Grand Jury and subsequent arraignment in a
superior court if indicted. The local courts, however, are often
reluctant to do so.  Assistant district attorneys routinely claim they
are within the People's statutory speedy trial time frame...and that
the bail is necessary to ensure the defendant will return to court for
his next scheduled appearance. It is interesting to note, however,
that the similarly charged defendant, unable to make bail, must be
released on his own recognizance 45 days after the initial arraignment
in the local criminal court, if the district attorney has failed to
obtain an indictment citing CPL section 190.80. This results in the
rather perverse situation where one defendant must be released without
bail while another defendant, facing the same charges and potential
penalty, who made bail and returns for his court appearances
regularly, is not entitled to have his bail funds returned.

MacNamara, Outside Counsel, Defendants' Limbo:   FROM FELONY COMPLAINT
TO GRAND JURY ACTION , NYLJ, June 27, 2003 at p.4, col.  4. Noting
that a defendant who is able to raise sufficient money for bail often
does so by borrowing from family members and friends, the author
argues that "it is unreasonable that those individuals should have to
suffer financially due to prosecutorial inaction or indifference.
Forty-five days is more than a sufficient time period for the People
to secure an indictment. If the People have not secured an indictment
within 45 days of the initial court appearance, the incarcerated
defendant should be released and bail should be exonerated for the
defendant who was free on bail. This will encourage the People to
critically evaluate their case at an early stage and either secure an
indictment or offer a reasonable plea."

Id., at p.5, col.4 Where there is no action on a pending felony
complaint for a period of 45 days from arraignment, a defendant who is
able to make bail should, barring unusual circumstances, be in no
worse a position with respect to his or her bail status than a
defendant charged with an identical offense who could not make bail.
Accordingly, we have prepared this measure, which would address this
discrepancy in the law by, in effect; creating a "presumption" in
favor of bail exoneration after a 45-day period has elapsed with no
Grand Jury action on a felony complaint.  Specifically, the measure
would add a new subdivision three to CPL section 530.20 to require the
granting by a local criminal court of a defendant's application for
exoneration of bail, absent a showing of "good cause" by the People
why bail should not be exonerated, where the felony complaint, on the
date of such application, has been pending in such court, with no
action by the grand jury, for a period of at least 45 days from the
defendant's arraignment thereon. The measure would make a similar
amendment to CPL section 530.40, to allow the defendant's application
for exoneration to be made in a superior court when the felony
complaint is pending there.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
A.4486 Reported from Assembly Codes to Rules Committee

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
No fiscal impact on the State

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.