Aug 28, 2023
When a judge incarcerates a client awaiting trial, each of whom has not been convicted and is therefore presumed innocent, the practical result is that they go straight to sentencing without passing go, without collecting 200 dollars.
Pre-trial detention should be reserved for the worst, or most potentially violent alleged offenders. But it's not.
And the bigger problem is pre-trial detention facilities are often worse than the prisons where a client may end up serving their actual sentence. The deprivations and danger are prevalent, and the ability to defend themselves and provide meaningful assistance to their lawyer is therefore far more difficult.
It's time to rethink pre-trial detention in the federal system.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- Burden of proof in a detention hearing;
- How prosecutors use pre-trial detetion as leverage in plea bargaining;
- Statistics concerning frequency of government's motions to revoke bond;
- Pre-trial revocation through the lens of the Sam Bankman Fried case;
- Revocation statistics for those charged with witness tampering, especially in DC;
- Distinguishing between SBF’s conduct and Trump’s conduct and asking why Trump continues to avoid the consequence of Pre-Trial Release;
- Judge’s Chutkin’s potentially “hollow threat” of expediting trial as a consequence of pre-trial release violations.
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