Court Opinion

ID: 9567567
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:55:42.75332+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:00:41.135870
License: Public Domain

BURKE, J.
I dissent. The words of our Constitution (art. I, § 6) are reasonably susceptible to the interpretation that, although there exists a *352general right to bail in non-capital cases, nevertheless our courts possess the inherent power to deny bail, or to impose reasonable conditions upon the grant thereof, in any case wherein defendant poses a substantial risk of harm to others or to himself. The instant case presents a striking example of the propriety and necessity of the foregoing interpretation of the bail provisions of our state Constitution.
Defendant was originally arrested for possessing two sawed-off shotguns and live shotgun shells. He exercised his constitutional right to bail and was released on bail of $500. Immediately thereafter, according to the People, defendant set about to kill the police officers who had arrested and booked him by mailing to those officers a package containing a live pipe bomb capable of causing severe injury or death. Defendant is presently charged with various offenses, including attempted murder. Must he be released on bail once more? I believe not.
First I would hold that defendant (regardless of his present dangerousness), by committing a serious crime while enjoying the freedom secured by bail, thereby forfeited any further right to bail, at least with respect to the crime (or crimes) so committed. Certainly the California Constitution was not intended to render the courts powerless to' control and punish the misuse or abuse of their own process. Any other rule would seemingly permit a defendant, bent on obstructing justice, harassing witnesses, or causing mischief or mayhem, to make repeated applications for, and receive, bail following successive unlawful criminal acts, until his ultimate purpose is finally accomplished. In the hands of persons such as defendant herein, the right to bail would itself become an instrument of crime, a sword, and not a shield. Therefore, I am persuaded that our courts properly may refuse bail to one who has demonstrated his unwillingness to fulfill the condition, necessarily implicit within the grant of bail, that he remain on good behavior pending trial. (See Rendel v. Mummert (1970) 106 Ariz. 233 [474 P.2d 824]; 8 Am.Jur.2d, Bail and Recognizance, § § 25, 26.)
But even had defendant not been on bail when he committed the alleged offenses at issue, I believe the California Constitution would permit the courts to exercise some degree of discretion to refuse bail to one whose conduct threatens substantial harm to others or to himself.1 The majority *353explain that both at common law, and under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, denial of bail in certain noncapital cases was and is permissible. (See Carlson v. Landon, 342 U.S. 524 [96 L.Ed. 547, 72 S.Ct. 525].) Accordingly, in jurisdictions governed by constitutional provisions incorporating the language of the Eighth Amendment, denial of bail may be premised upon the necessity to provide for the welfare and safety of the community. (See, e.g., People v. Melville, 62 Misc.2d 366 [308 N.Y.S.2d 671, 677-680]; Mitchell, Bail Reform and the Constitutionality of Pretrial Detention, 55 Va.L.Rev. 1223.)
Unlike the language of the Eighth Amendment, that excessive bail shall not be required, the California Constitution also contains a provision that “All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offenses when the proof is evident or the presumption great. . . .” (Art. I, § 6.) Yet, that provision is reasonably susceptible to the interpretation that all persons are entitled to be considered for bail without regard to the type of offense committed (e.g., rape, mayhem, arson, etc., with the exception noted). In other words, the California provision might have been intended as insuring that the courts will not routinely deny bail whenever a particular class of offenses is charged, without regard to the particular defendant’s suitability for bail. Under such an interpretation, the courts would retain a degree of discretion to deny bail when necessary to promote the public safety and welfare.2
Moreover, even if we assume arguendo that a constitutional right to bail exists, it is noteworthy that the framers of our state Constitution also recognized the “inalienable right” of all men to enjoy and defend their life and liberty, to protect their property, and to pursue and obtain safety and happiness. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 1.) The constitutional provisions concerning bail have no greater standing or priority than the one just referred to— the two must be read together. The necessary implication in doing so is that the courts must retain the inherent power to achieve a suitable balance between society’s right of defense, protection and safety, and defendant’s own right to bail.
Thus, courts in other jurisdictions having constitutional provisions substantially identical to those in California, have held that in spite of those *354provisions, the right to bail is not absolute, and the courts possess discretion to refuse bail, or to attach conditions to- the grant of bail, in an appropriate case. (See, e.g., Rendel v. Mummert, supra, 474 P.2d 824, 827-830; State v. Johnson (1972) 61 N.J. 351 [294 A.2d 245, 252].) More importantly, the California courts have consistently acknowledged the foregoing principle. As stated in Bean v. County of Los Angeles, 252 Cal.App.2d 754, 757 [60 Cal.Rptr. 804], “A defendant in a criminal action is entitled to be released on bail as a matter of right except for a capital offense when the proof is evident or the presumption great (Cal. Const., art. I, § 6) or where for the safety of the individual or for the protection of society it would be proper to deny bail.” (Fn. omitted, italics added; see also Evans v. Municipal Court, 207 Cal.App.2d 633 [24 Cal.Rptr. 633]; In re Gentry, 206 Cal.App.2d 723 [24 Cal.Rptr. 208]; In re Keddy, 105 Cal.App.2d 215 [233 P.2d 159]; In re Westcott, 93 Cal.App. 575 [270 P. 247]; In re Henley, 18 Cal.App. 1 [121 P. 933].)
I would adopt the foregoing rule, for I believe it properly takes into account not only the constitutional rights of the defendant but also the constitutional rights of society, which are given equal, if not preferred, status under our Constitution. Of course, under that rule, no man accused of a noncapital offense could be denied bail solely on the basis of some insubstantial possibility of doing future harm. “Denial of bail because of the dangerous potential of a defendant if let at large in the community should only be imposed in rare and extraordinary cases. In those cases the evidence must be clear and convincing, the peril must be apparent.” (People v. Melville, supra, 308 N.Y.S.2d 671, 680 [denial of bail to defendant accused of bombing occupied dwelling].) The trial court, in denying bail, must find that a substantial risk of harm exists, that no reasonable alternative (such as imposing protective conditions to the grant of bail) exists, and that there is a substantial likelihood that defendant in fact committed the offense of which he stands accused. Finally, denial of bail is not wholly unreviewable but may be challenged in the appellate courts as an improper abuse of discretion. Therefore, I would conclude that ample safeguards exist to guarantee the right of bail in all proper cases.
The often heard solution that the necessary protection to the public may be accorded by having the judge fix an amount of bail which the particular defendant would be unable to furnish merely evades the issue and does indirectly what it is argued may not be done directly. Furthermore, doing so would violate the prohibition against excessive bail.
Justice Douglas, denying bail on appeal in Carbo v. United States, 7 *355L.Ed.2d 769, 774 [82 S.Ct. 662, 666], remarked that “If, for example, the safety of the community would be jeopardized, it would be irresponsible judicial action to grant bail.” (Fn. omitted, italics added.) I strongly believe that our Constitution affords a firm basis for similarly denying bail in the instant case.

The majority suggest that the provisions of- the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5000 et seq.) might afford adequate protection to society from a dangerous person such as defendant. Yet, the provisions of the act might require more than simply a showing of dangerousness, namely, some mental or physical deficiency, disorder or abnormality. The act seemingly would be inapplicable to the cold-blooded, professional criminal, and yet it is precisely such an individual who poses the greatest threat of harm.

The majority refer to certain contrary statements made during the constitutional debates of 1849, but we are concerned with the intentions of those who adopted the 1879 Constitution, not its predecessor. Moreover, apart from the acknowledged shortcomings of reliance upon debates as a key to constitutional construction (People v. McCreery, 34 Cal. 432), the 1849 debates do not relate to the propriety of denying bail for the protection of society.