Court Opinion

ID: 9659309
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:39:54.445355+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:06.443209
License: Public Domain

STRINGER, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. Although I agree with the majority’s determination that this •matter is not moot because it is capable of repetition yet evades review, I disagree with the conclusion that cash only bail violates the Minn. Const, art. I § 7. The constitution does not prohibit the imposition of cash only bail and the ruling of the majority significantly limits the discretion of Minnesota district courts as to appropriate bail.
The majority’s reasoning seems to flow from what I believe to be two faulty assumptions. First is the claim that the sole purpose of bail under Minn. Const, art. I § 7 is to protect the defendant from the court’s power to detain before trial. In reaching this conclusion the majority looks to the Pennsylvania Quakers who, after experiencing persecution by English courts, drafted the Pennsylvania state constitution to limit the scope of judicial power. Whatever the concerns of the Quakers, the U.S. Supreme Court as well as this court have long ago and often stated that the primary purpose of bail is to ensure the defendant’s appearance and submission to the judgment of the court. See Ex Parte Milburn, 34 U.S. (9 Pet.) 704, 710, 9 L.Ed. 280 (1835) (“A recognizance of bail, in a criminal case, is taken to secure the due attendance of the party accused”); Reynolds v. United States, — U.S. —, 80 S.Ct. 30, 32, 4 L.Ed.2d 46 (1959) (“The purpose of bail is to insure the defendant’s appearance and submission to the judgment of the court”); State v. Mastrian, 266 Minn. 58, 59, 122 N.W.2d 621, 622 (1963) (“The purpose of bail * * * is to permit [defendant’s] release if appearance at trial can otherwise be guaranteed.”).
Bail reconciles the defendant’s submission to the court with his liberty interest. See Bandy v. United States, — U.S. —, 81 S.Ct. 197, 5 L.Ed.2d 218 (1960) (bail is the device that reconciles the “right to freedom during trial and pending judicial review * * ⅜ with the possibility that the defendant may flee or hide himself’); In re Shetsky, 239 Minn. 463, 471, 60 N.W.2d 40, 46 (1953) (The purpose of bail is “to relieve the accused of imprisonment and the state of the burden of detaining him pending the trial and at the same time * ⅜ * to insure his presence for trial at the call of the court without in any way delaying, impairing, or unduly burdening the administration of justice.”). “Bail acts as a reconciling mechanism to accommodate both the defendant’s interests in pretrial liberty and society’s interest in assuring the defendant’s presence at trial.” Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Note, The Eighth Amendment and the Right to Bail: Historical Perspectives, 82 Colum. L.Rev. 328, 329-30 (1982). In its interpretation of Minn. Const, art. I § 7 the majority has recast this “reconciling mechanism” into the notion that bail is “intended to protect the accused rather than the courts.” Under *355this construal, the cushion that bail historically provided between a defendant’s liberty and a court’s power to detain has now become a shield for a defendant’s protection against the power of courts. Not only does this misconstrue our previous rulings on bail-it ignores its fundamental purpose of assuring the appearance of a defendant in court.
The majority asserts in footnote four that I do not place enough importance on Pennsylvania’s constitutional history in interpreting the purpose of our constitution’s bail clause. It is notable that Pennsylvania law, on which the majority places such reliance, has never ruled that cash only bail violates its constitution. With no ruling on the issue in Pennsylvania, the majority’s conclusion that cash only bail is prohibited in Minnesota seems an unwarranted leap of logic.
Second, the majority’s analysis of the “sufficient sureties” language in the constitution overlooks a common usage of “surety” as well as the meaning of “sufficient.” The majority argues that both definitions of “surety,” including “[a] formal assurance; esp., a pledge, bond, guarantee, or security given for the fulfillment of an undertaking,” Black’s Law Dictionary 1456 (7th ed.1999), connote a third person assuming responsibility for another’s obligation. “Surety,” in this sense however, must refer'to the form of guarantee the court may impose to assure the appearance of the defendant, whatever that form may be, as that is the interest the U.S. Supreme Court and this court have repeatedly held to be at stake. See Reynolds, — U.S. —, 80 S.Ct. at 32; Mastrian, 266 Minn. at 59, 122 N.W.2d at 622. There is thus no constitutional mandate, policy interest or logical construction served by construing “sufficient sureties” to mean defendant’s access to third parties. Moreover, sufficient” is defined as “[ajdequate; of such quality, number, force, or value as is necessary for a given purpose.” Black’s Law Dictionary at 1447. The term “sufficient sureties” certainly does not prohibit cash only bail. More logically, it requires that the court, before releasing a defendant, must set bail to assure that the defendant will reappear in the courtroom, and provides the trial court with discretion to achieve that result.
Appellant fled to Florida to escape going to jail for a gross misdemeanor and the district court could not be reasonably assured of his next appearance in court. I would affirm the decision of the court of appeals holding the cash only bail imposed by the trial court does not violate the constitution and was within the discretion of the trial court.