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1999 SESSION

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SB 820 Criminal procedure; bail.

Introduced by: Thomas K. Norment, Jr. | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS PASSED: (all summaries)

Criminal procedure; bail. Provides that any person convicted of (i) possessing a firearm on school grounds with the intent to use it, or displaying it in a threatening manner, (ii) possessing a firearm after having been previously convicted of a violent felony, or (iii) simultaneously possessing a firearm and drugs with intent to sell, shall not be eligible for probation and shall be sentenced to a minimum, mandatory term of imprisonment of five years, which shall not be suspended in whole or in part and which shall be served consecutively with any other sentence. The minimum, mandatory term is reduced to two years if the previously convicted felon’s prior felony was nonviolent. The bill also broadly amends the bail procedure by requiring an arresting officer to provide, to the extent possible, to a judicial officer the criminal history record of an arrestee; requiring a judicial officer to attempt to obtain such record; and creating a rebuttable presumption that a person should be denied bail if charged with any of certain defined acts of violence and drug and sexual offenses, a crime for which life imprisonment or the death penalty is prescribed, any felony if previously twice convicted of the sexual or violent offenses and certain firearm offenses, or any felony committed while on bail prior to a felony trial or sentencing. Current law does not create a presumption of no bail for the firearm offenses, or the offenses measured by penalty or prior offenses, or for a felony committed while on bail. The bill removes the 16-year “lookback” period which a judicial officer may investigate for prior offenses upon which the no-bail presumption is currently based. The bill requires a judicial officer, when setting bail, to consider, in addition to factors existing in the law now, whether the accused is likely to obstruct justice or attempt to obstruct justice or intimidate witnesses or jurors, etc. The bill also expands the list of conditions of release which may be imposed upon a person admitted to bail. The bill allows an attorney for the Commonwealth to appeal any bail decision made by a court over his objection and, upon motion and notice to the accused admitted to bail, to reopen the issue of bail in order to seek to revoke it. This bill is identical to HB 1691.


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