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JGO meeting to discuss further bail reform and preliminary hearing bills is postponed
Marissa R. Flores
The House of Representatives Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee’s scheduled meeting last Thursday to discuss further bail reform and preliminary hearing bills was canceled as a precautionary measure due to Typhoon Mawar.
JGO Committee chair Rep. Marissa R. Flores (Ind-Saipan) notified members of the committee that the meeting scheduled that day at 1pm has been postponed until further notice.
“An updated committee meeting notice and agenda will be forthcoming,” Flores said.
The meeting was set to discuss further H.B. 23-33, HS1, or The Keisha King Bail Reform Act, and H.B. 23-42, or the preliminary hearing bill. Rep. Flores is the author of the two legislations.
H.B. 23-33, HS1 seeks to deny bail for violent, repeat offenders and imposing conditions of release and protecting victims. H.B. 23-42 will amend procedures for a preliminary hearing in a criminal case.
Chief Public Defender Douglas Hartig and attorneys Robert T. Torres, Charity Hodson, Bruce Berline, and some other lawyers oppose the two bills. At the JGO meeting two weeks ago, Torres, Hodson, and Berline asserted, among other things, that H.B. 23-33 undermines the principle of “innocent until proven guilty.” With respect to H. B. 23-42, Torres, Hodson, and Berline also argued, among other things, that it also undermines the constitutional principle of innocent until proven guilty.
CNMI Chief Solicitor Robert Glass defends the two bills.
Glass said H. B. 23-33 just focuses on repeat violent offenders who have violated the conditions of their release and probation.
Glass said with respect to H. B. 23-42, what the bill does is it takes the initial case in the CNMI Supreme Court, which held that there is no constitutional right to a preliminary hearing.
The JGO Committee did not act on the two bills and set a new meeting supposedly for Thursday to allow Hartig to share his opinion. Hartig was off-island at the initial meeting, but he already submitted his written comments opposing the legislations.
