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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1993-03-31, Page 22f a Page 221/4- Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, March 31, 1993 Getting bald -to by Mona Irwin.. Just what's it all about, anyway? Everybody's familiar with the general idea of a bail hearing - you go to court and somebody tells you how much money (or the equivalent in property) you have to cough up to stay out of the pokey. But who decides whether you're even eligible for bail? And who decides how much bail you have to come up with? The final decisions belong to the Justice of the Peace (JP). In Goderich, that's Karen Sturdy. But the police and especially the local Crown Attorney are responsible for collecting the information on which the JP will base her decision. In Goderich, bail hearings are held Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So let's say John Q. Felon . is charged with something. If the crime isn't very serious, and Felon has a small prior record (or none at all), the police have the authority to charge him on the spot and then let 'him go. If they do that, they'll hand him • an appearance notice, which is about the size of a traffic ticket. He has to sign it, and the arresting officer signs the affadavit of service that comes with it, to help prove to the court. Felon got the appearance notice. . • If police take Felon to the station, but decide to release him from there, he and the arresting officer will sign a promise to appear: Tech- nically, says Sturdy, the promise to appear is thesame thing as the appearance netice. The promise to appear is just written out on a larger piece of paper and there's no affadavit of service with it. "Around here, when the police call me, it's usually because they want the person remanded" until hig .• bail hearing, Sturdy says. If police or the Crown Attorney want Felon held in custody until his . hearing, .the .Crown may have bail hearing, Sturdy has to be called. decided to ask that, he be kept in within 24 hours of his arrest. A n d custody until his trial., under the law, she says, Felon must That means a `show cause' hearing, in which the Crown must be brought to a bail hearing within three days of being arrested. . explain the reasons why Felon. "Sometimes the Crown might ask should not be released, because "if to have the bail hearing adjourned, you're arrested, you have the right but more often it's the accused," to be rele'ased as soon as you're Sturdy says, "He may have to get a brought before the court,',says surety arranged, or get a lawyer." A Sturdy. • sUrety is someone willing to take TWO things influence the Crown the responsibility of seeing that the Attorney's decision to ask for the accused appears in court when he person to be kept M. jail, and the or she is supposed to. The surety . JP's decision to grant the request. may have to pledge money that will The first •is whether the person have to be paid if the accused does will be in . court next time, he's not show up for court. ' scheduled to be. This is particularly However, if John Q. Felon asks important if the accused lives out - for • an adjourment, he must side the court's jurisdiction, says understand that he'll be in custody Huron County Crown Attorney Bob until he gets his lawyer or surety, Morris - for example, if Felon hails or whatever it he needs. from' Toronto or Windsor or "If he needs a lawyer, duty coun- anywhere outside of Huron County. selwill come over and give hint Also, has the accused ever been legal advice," Sturdy says. "But . called to court in the past, and not they don't have to go in and con- shown up? , stay out of jail . • t ••;•.:.c.:;•;" < • or ' • v,v,KSV,14‘, V AO:AV 'seta 4:4 t •ducra-bail-hearing for-hinE-Some—The-send-feetor-is-whether-the, will, some won't." • person is likely to commit a second When Felon comes to, his bail. offence if he or she is released, CANCER CANADIENNE CANADIAN soatrt SOCIETY DU CANCER 'Morris says. "That .turns on the person's his- tory and the type of offence. com- mitted," he adds. First-time offenders are rarely held in custody - unless they've committed a fairly serious crime. "But if someone has a history of break-ins, and they've just been accused of another break-in, history shows there's a likelihood that he'll do it again if he's let go," says Morris. Even if Felon lives in the com- munity, Sturdy will also look at how and where he's living. "My concern is 'mainly that they've got a. place they can live and they've got work or something in the area," she says. "If I've got a man who's charged with break-ins, and I know he has no work and no place to stay, I'd be very foolish to release him, because how's. he going to support himself? He'll just go right back and break into someplace else." . It's-up-to-Mcuris-to-deeide-ahea of time whether there's anything in the person's history that would „ make a sho cause hearing neces- sary. If there is, he must bring the evidence backing his argument to :the bail hearing and present it to the JP. But if John Q. Felon were.already out on bail, and he commits another crime, it becomes a 'reverse onus' situation, in which it's up to Felon and his lawyer to. convince the court he should not be held in jail. "A lot of the time, the Crown gets together with the defence (lawyer) and they agree on a joint submis- sion for a release," Sturdy says. That means both lawyers will .present a united front at the bail hearing. On the other hand, if, for example,' Morris argues for deten- tion and Sturdy believes it's not necessary; she will probably ask him what conditions he wants' to see the accused released under. The Crown can demand such things as that the accused stay away from certain people, mot drink nything aleoholier—ob§erve—a- curfew. "If they're reasonable,' they'll be da included," says Morris. Most conditions include a general order to "keep the peace and be of good behavior," which basically means Felon is to stay out of any more trouble. Courts have recently started adding yet another con- dition: a ban on possessing or using weapons, especially in assault cases. If Felon is agreeable, he'll sign some documents - including one listing the conditions he must obey , - and be on his way. "If be refuses to agree to any of these conditions, they go through the whole bail hearing," says Stur- dy, and the Crown will explain why, if Felon doesn't agree to the free.conditions, he should not be set And once he's released, if he disobeys the conditions, he'll be looking at a separate charge as well as facing a reverse onus situation. Chances are Felon will have little to do during his bail hearing. It is not a trial, and although the charges are read into the record, he cannot be cross:examined on the charge or anything related to it. "But we do get into his record," says Sturdy. "Somebody with a lengthy record pretty well knows they'll need surety." The surety, can put up a . residence or cash bail. Sometimes they'll be asked for $1,000 bail'with no deposit, which means the money is not 'deposited with the court at that time. The surety will not have to give up the money at all as long as the accused shows up for, subsequent court appearances and abides ,by any conditions that were set for his release. "The conditions of bail bind him until the (trial) is completed, even if it's a year from now," §•ays Sturdy. And if the surety suddenly chai ges his mind, Felon could end tit back behind bars anyway, at least until he can get someone else to put up bail. Ifthe crime is relatively minor, and especially if the person is a first-time offender, the police may decide to let him go, 'after getting a verbal or written promise that he'll: go to court wheri he -'s ordered to. But releasing a person from the police station, as opposed to hol- ding a bail hearing, can present. potential problems. • • "If I go out as a Justice of the Pence and release (an accused), we can't get any conditions at that time," Sturdy ,says. Years ago, she adds, a lot of • 'mini bad hearings' 'were held at police stations rather than in the court house. "We've been trying to eliminate those so people come into the court Setting, with the court reporter, the prosecutor and the council for the accused, and everything goes on the record Rh the accused understands the ieriousness.of it,". she says. "I think .sometimes he or she • , -didriunderstandwhe:n--the—JP--- appeared at the police station and said, 'Here,.sign this and you're on our wa ." ok what daffodils clo. ttlit4.4% It \I Li 1 1 \ 11. Si R R OR. ‘I'S 'D. S. RR. R. Every year, there's more living proof that your help turns hope into triumpb over cancer. Right now, someone living in hope for tomorrow is depending on your donation today.,, Cancer can be beaten.