OPPOSE LD 1421!
A group of liberal lawmakers want to bring New York-style bail reform to Maine, requiring judges to release those arrested for misdemeanors and “nonviolent” felonies.
This policy is failing in New York, and already NY lawmakers are calling for its repeal. Here are a few examples why:
The Times Union reported that Albany County Judge William Carter had to release 52-year-old Paul Barbaritano (mugshot pictured above)— “a man charged with recklessly choking and stabbing a woman to death”—because his second-degree manslaughter charge didn’t meet the criteria for bail.
Anthony Hart of Glens Falls was arrested and charged with arson last November, but was released without bail due to the then-upcoming changes to New York’s bail laws; two months later he was arrested for the second-degree rape of a 14-year-old girl, reported Spectrum News.
And a repeat offender, Charles Barry, was arrested six times between Jan. 1 (when the reform law went into effect) and Feb. 16 this year. He was freed without paying bail each time, despite a record of 139 arrests and six jail sentences. The Daily Mail reported, “As police led Barry out of a precinct on Thursday after his latest arrest, he yelled to a reporter: ‘Bail reform, it’s lit!’”
Maine’s bill was moved out of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee to the Judiciary Committee in what appears to be an attempt to avoid push back by law enforcement at the hearing. Shockingly, most of the testimony at the public hearing was in favor of eliminating bail in Maine, and not a single law enforcement agency representative submitted testimony at the public hearing.
There may be a need to reform Maine’s bail process, but law enforcement must be at the table.
Contact the Judiciary Committee about LD 1421, An Act To Amend the Maine Bail Code. This bill could be voted on at any time.
LD 1421 is sponsored by Representative TALBOT ROSS of Portland. Cosponsored by Senator BREEN of Cumberland and Representatives: HARNETT of Gardiner, HICKMAN of Winthrop, MAREAN of Hollis, PIERCE of Falmouth, TIPPING of Orono, WARREN of Hallowell, Senators: DESCHAMBAULT of York, ROSEN of Hancock.