Court Opinion

ID: 9774502
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:22:27.217474+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:09.232877
License: Public Domain

COHEN, Justice,
concurring.
The majority states that “the punishment [range] was a prime consideration ... in setting the bail....” I agree, which gives me concern because the trial judge erroneously stated that 15 years was the minimum prison term and $250,000 the maxi*800mum fine. In fact, 10 years was the minimum prison term, and $100,000 was the maximum fine. If the minimum term had been two years or five years, or if the trial court had grossly overstated the maximum term, and had declined all relief, I would be inclined to order another bond hearing. Here, however, the trial judge granted significant relief, and the flight risk posed by a defendant facing 10 years to life and a $100,000 fine is little different from that posed by one facing 15 years to life and a $250,000 fine. Thus, under the particular circumstances of this case, I do not think the court’s misunderstanding of the range of punishment affected its exercise of discretion in a way that harmed the defendant. Consequently, I join the court’s decision.