ASSEMBLY, No. 1037

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblyman DiGAETANO

An Act concerning certain arrests and supplementing Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. If a person is arrested and charged with a crime of the first or second degree, the court shall notify the prosecutor's office at least 24 hours prior to any formal bail hearing or informal motion to reduce bail.

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill would require that, when a person is arrested and charged with a crime of the first or second degree, the prosecutor's office be notified at least 24 hours prior to any formal bail hearing or informal motion to reduce bail. The bill was prompted by an incident in Middlesex County, where a person charged with a serious sex offense was released without a formal bail hearing. Because the prosecutor's office did not know of the informal motion to reduce bail, they did not oppose the man's release; the court released him after an informal, unopposed motion by his attorney.

Requires that prosecutor's office be notified prior to bail hearing of defendant arrested for first or second degree crime.