The Arizona Court of Appeals
issued an opinion the other day – found here – that basically holds up parts of
Arizona’s bail law against the United States Supreme Court's opinion in U.S. v. Salerno, and concludes that the
state provisions lack due process.
Get used to this. Virtually every
state has a “no bail” provision that is likely deficient in some way when held
up to Salerno, and it’s only a matter
of time before other states and federal courts start saying so. Think, too,
about all those states that have “no bail” provisions that are routinely
ignored by judges who would rather use money. Ain’t no due process in that kind
of pretrial detention, either.
It’s these kinds of things
that, long ago, caused me to write that bail reform is inevitable. It's still true. All the
markers are there, and you simply can’t avoid it.
