‘Bill is step in the wrong direction’

Chief Public Defender Douglas Hartig says the revised draft of House Bill 23-33, or the Keisha King Bail Reform Act, is a step in the wrong direction for the CNMI in terms of reforming the justice system.

He reiterated in an interview that he opposes the Keisha King Bail Reform Act as drafted because it negates the presumption of innocence. “[This bill] violates the right to reasonable bail, which is guaranteed by both the United States and the CNMI constitutions. There’s the belief that the bill would stop or avoid certain types of crime, but we just don’t see it that way at all. We think it’s very unfair and quite possibly unconstitutional and there’s just no need for it. It doesn’t address any currently existing problem here in any fair or balanced manner,” he said.

The Office of the Attorney General supports the bill.

Hartig explained that this bill would ultimately take away a court’s authority to look over the facts when it comes to repeat offenders, and its capacity to use its discretion in deciding whether the individual will be granted bail or not.

“The way things are supposed to work, and it does work, is that the judge has discretion. He can listen to facts from both the prosecution’s side and the defense’s side and he can decide whether a person is a risk. The problem here is when you start to use broad terms like domestic violence. We hear domestic violence and we think of partners who beat each other silly. But this isn’t always the case. This term also includes family trespassing, so you don’t get out on bail in that situation if there was a conviction from years and years ago. It doesn’t matter how long ago,” said Hartig. “That’s just one example. Be it an extreme example, but those facts could occur. But the point is, a judge should be able to look at that kind of case and say whether they should be released to a third-party custodian or not.”

Overall, Hartig says that his opposition comes from the OPD’s duty to protect the rights of everyone, whether they are merely accused of a crime or did commit a crime.

“Our opposition isn’t about letting hardened criminals out on bail to offend again. That’s not what defense lawyers do. We want to protect rights of people who were accused of crime falsely, unjustly, or righteously. It’s the rights that we are protecting. The judge should have the ability to do the same thing. He should have the ability to agree with us or not agree with us. Under this bill, the judge couldn’t do that, it takes away the judge’s discretion and that’s an issue,” he said.

When asked what he thought about the inspiration behind the bill, Keisha King, (the woman who was taken hostage and killed in 2020 by her boyfriend, Gordon Castro, a repeat offender who was out on bail) Hartig said the bigger issue of that incident is not being addressed.

“I would say that the problem in that case—that nobody wants to talk about—is that the problem there was you had an individual who had mental health issues, drug addiction, and had access to a service-issued firearm. No one is talking about gun control, no one’s talking about regulations within agencies that have firearms, and there’s your issue. This bill is not really tailored toward that situation,” he said.