State lawmakers hear pro-and-con on dropping cash bail for low-risk cases awaiting trial

He was riding in a car stolen from a Madison Heights water park when the driver of the hot car allegedly jerked them to a stop on a dark corner in Detroit, leaped out and shot to death a deputy who'd been giving chase.

That linked this teen to the homicide of a cop . But while the driver and another passenger sit in jail on million-dollar bonds, 18-year-old Karim Moore is free, after his family paid $2,500 and borrowed another $7,500 to reach 10% — that is, $10,000 — of a $100,000 bond. A prominent Detroit judge lowered Moore's bond early this month, dropping it from $250,000 full cash or equivalent.

Moore's release drew the ire of law-enforcement leaders across metro Detroit. And it underscored Michigan's ongoing debate about such bonds, also known as cash bail – the process of paying money or borrowing it from a bond agency to gain freedom for a defendant awaiting trial. This week, state lawmakers held a hearing on whether to ease rules statewide on cash bail.

Cash bail is an old system that police chiefs say helps keep society safe. Yet, opponents blame it for social ills and, actually, more crime. Liberals say it's unfair to the poor. Conservatives say it makes everyone poorer because taxpayers foot the bill for the nation's overflowing jails. Now, cash bail is in Michigan's news.

'Cop killer goes free' Hearing that Judge William McConico , chief judge of 36th District Court in Detroit, dropped the bond for the teenage Moore, police groups said McConico was letting a "cop killer go free." After the shooting, Moore and the other two defendants fled on foot. They were tracked by a police dog and arrested on the porch of a home belonging to someone they didn't know, about three blocks from the shooting scene, according to police. the two other defendants sit in jail on million-dollar bonds, but the lower bond let Moore "bond out" with an electronic tether, free on house arrest with his family. Moore's lawyer said, "He's not the shooter and he has no criminal record."

Lawmakers hear both sides At a hearing on Tuesday, the House Committee on Criminal Justice heard from McConico, along with others for and against easing Michigan's rules on cash bail. Those in favor, including the ACLU of Michigan, say the bill would reduce abuse of cash bail. Opponents, including the national trade association for bail bond agents, fear that outgoing Democrats will rush it through the Legislature's lame-duck session this fall.

State seeks cost cuts This month's focus on cash bail caps years of growing worry, turning to shock over the cost of the nation's prisons and jails. Federal figures show that, since 1970, U.S. jail and prison counts rose more than 400%, while the nation's population went up only 70%. People in pre-trial detention — charged with a crime but awaiting trial — make up more than two-thirds of those behind bars. Presumed innocent, they can't get free without paying cash bail, sometimes as little as a few hundred dollars for driving with a suspended license.

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After hearing of Moore's bond reduction, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard was livid.

"I am shocked and appalled at Judge McConico's ruling that essentially releases a criminal defendant charged in connection with the ambush murder of a dedicated public servant who was heroically killed in the line of duty, for a mere $10,000," said Bouchard. He was echoed by an outraged statement from the Fraternal Order of Police, saying that if not for lenient judges, Oakland County Sheriff's Deputy Brad Reckling, who was fatally shot on June 22, "would still be here today with us and his family."Bouchard went on to say that McConico's ruling "puts the public's safety at risk and is a slap in the face to Brad's family, who have suffered an unimaginable loss." He said McConico "demonstrates an utter lack of respect for the law enforcement community" and his approach to cash bail "undermines community confidence in the justice system."

Moore's defense attorney, Adam Clements, said he'd seen Bouchard's statement.

"I can understand that he's the leader of a bunch of law-enforcement people who feel undervalued. But judges are supposed to be neutral. They're not supposed to be sympathetic to law enforcement," Clements said.

Bouchard said the lower bond was disrespectful to Reckling's family members. At the top of that list is Reckling's wife, expecting their fourth child. Yet, respect for a victim's survivors isn't a factor for setting bond amounts, Clements said. The public, and law enforcers, often wrongfully think that cash bail is a form of punishment. Instead, it's supposed to hold someone in jail who is either a danger to society or "a flight risk" – likely to disappear and be a no-show in court.

Moore's family "strained its finances to afford the reduced bond. You're talking about a working-class family whose mom works a production job for the Big Three," Clements said. When setting amounts for cash bail, judges are required by state law to take into account a defendant's ability to pay.

"People have a right to liberty. Without liberty, you have nothing," Macomb County Prosecutor Pete Lucido said, recalling his decades of practicing criminal defense law. The Oakland and Wayne county prosecutors declined to comment on the lowered bond for Moore. Lucido as well was reluctant to pass judgment on whether McConico set the bond too low. But the prosecutor said he recalled his many years when, as a defense attorney, he stood before judges to request liberty for his clients.

That usually meant someone had to pay cash bail, typically financed by interest paid to a bail bond agency. Lucido said he'd seen jails fill up during his lifetime and heard critics say cash bail is often abused. The result? Growing opposition to requiring the cash.

"We've seen some legislators saying, 'No more cash bonds. Either hold or release.' And the Legislature wants to push this through in lame-duck," he said. Lucido said he wants judges to retain their ability to impose cash bail in Michigan, so that family members who contribute to bailing out their relative "have skin in the game" to assure that person's attendance in court.

Lucido, as a state senator a few years ago, pushed for Michigan's bail reform to include another way to reduce the head count in jails. For non-violent misdemeanors such as a first-time charge of driving while intoxicated, or shoplifting, Lucido suggested building super-speedy trials into Michigan law.

"When somebody is going to sit in jail for a misdemeanor and they don't have the money to post bail, I recommend what I call a rocket docket. That means the system has to try those cases in 72 hours. Bam. Either you're guilty, or you're out of there," he said. But his idea was blocked by a concern that witnesses might not be available on short notice.

The focus on Michigan's bail system sharpened in a state report released in 2020. That followed a year of testimony from dozens of experts and countless discussions by state lawmakers from both parties. The result was the "Governor's Joint Task Force on Jail and Pre-Trial Incarceration." In a nutshell, it had this conclusion: Judges should be allowed to retain their "discretion" for setting bail amounts, or "bond," in any case where there's either a clear risk to the public or a good chance that a defendant will disappear. Otherwise, judges should drop requirements for cash bail.

Ordering that would stop unnecessarily locking up thousands of Michiganders each year while they await trials for minor offenses. It's the goal of a package of bills, Nos. 4655 through 4661), said State Rep. Luke Meerman, R-Coopersville, the lone Republican who is co-sponsoring the bills. He along with several Democrats testified in favor of the bills, at a hearing on Tuesday of the House Criminal Justice Committee. Meerman said he'd followed the issue for six years.

"I consider myself quite conservative. But there's even a Libertarian path on this. We need to respect people's liberty," Meerman said on Wednesday. In his testimony, he cited the 5th and 14th amendments to the Constitution, telling committee members that they "enshrine our right to due process."

In the interview, Meerman added: "For me, it's innocent until proven guilty. Doggone it, that goes to our Constitution and we'd better get it right." He helped run his family's dairy farm before turning to politics. Meerman said he differs with other advocates of cash-bail reform in not wanting the state to do away with the bail bond industry, viewed by some as predatory lenders.

"I think the bail bondsmen, bail bonds people, still have a role to play," he said. Another supporter of change who testified on Tuesday was Phil Mayor, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan. Michigan's cash bail system "punishes people for their poverty and actually makes all of us less safe," Mayor said, shortly after the hearing.

"Everywhere that studies have been done, they've found that there's no impact on public safety from eliminating cash bail, or public safety even improves — because when you throw someone in jail for lack of $300, they may lose their job, they may lose their housing by missing a rent payment, and in the long run they may go back to committing crimes," Mayor said. At the hearing, he told the state lawmakers about specific ACLU clients who suffered big setbacks when they were unable to pay cash bail, according to a transcript of his remarks.

In 2019, Mayor was the lead counsel on the ACLU's federal class-action lawsuit against 36th District Court in Detroit, challenging the court's entire cash bail system used by all 31 judges and six magistrates. Filed on behalf of seven Black plaintiffs, the lawsuit charged the court with discriminating against low-income defendants who were unable to post bail, and it also charged that poor defendants rarely had lawyers when bail amounts were set during arraignments. Settled in 2022, the lawsuit dramatically reduced the use of cash bail, Mayor said.

At Tuesday's hearing, another who testified in support of the bills was McConico, who as chief judge of 36 District Court in Detroit had to implement the new system, beginning in May of last year. On Wednesday, McConico summarized his remarks for the Free Press.

"This is an issue that is not partisan, and it does not impact the safety of anyone in Michigan. We have shown at 36th District Court that we can have cash-bail reform and at the same time bring down crime in Detroit," McConico said, pointing to data on the court's website.

"We have eliminated cash bail for people who drive without insurance, people who drive on a suspended license, people with no registration. These people are still able to work, still able to care for their children, still able to pay their rent" instead of sitting in jail, he said.

McConico said he hopes the bills pass this year. If not, they'll expire and their sponsors would need to introduce them again and, he said, "their chances in the next term will be a lot harder" without Democrats in control of the Legislature.

"It's not impossible. We have to find more Republicans open to this," he said.

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