CRIMINAL DEFENDANTS COULD BE HELD WITHOUT BAIL MORE EASILY IF
NEW SENATE BILL PASSES
Florida prosecutors are advocating for reduced pretrial detention requirements, alarming defense attorneys who fear increased jail
populations.
Senate Bill SPB 7068 proposes judges to order pretrial detention solely based on hearsay for certain “dangerous crimes” like murder and
carjacking, aiming to spare victims from immediate testimony.
However, critics argue this could coerce more defendants into plea deals due to prolonged
incarceration. Last year’s legislation mandated pretrial detention for severe felonies. The new bills aim to expand this, with the House bill HB 7067 allowing detention for all “dangerous crimes” based on hearsay.
Criminal defense attorneys spoke against the bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice and said an expansion of pretrial detention would cause more people to take plea deals just to get out of jail.
Florida law, just updated last year, now requires a prosecutor to ask the judge to send a defendant to jail without bail if they are charged with a capital felony
(death penalty case), a life felony (requiring life imprisonment if found guilty) or a first-degree felony.
In that same bill (HB 1627), the Florida Legislature made it mandatory for state attorneys who seek pretrial detention hearings to require them within five days of the first appearance, usually the day after the arrest.
Our Criminal Defense Attorneys fight to protect the rights of our clients and have successfully litigated to reduce thousands of sentences and fines.
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