Previously Published in The Messenger
By Matt Meduri
As lawmakers await the upcoming session of the New York State Legislature in Albany this coming January, bills are already hitting the docket, with their sponsors hopeful those measures will be taken up.
Republicans in the Assembly and Senate have long decried the Democratic trifecta’s inability or unwillingness to bring some pieces of legislation to the floor, while other initiatives to roll back the heavily criticized criminal justice reforms have perennially stalled in negotiations.
The bulk of the Republican Senate Conference convened at the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge on Tuesday morning to discuss one bill that they hope will see the light of day next year, the Pretrial Risk Overview for Threat Evaluation, Custody, and Treatment (PROTECT) Act.
The bill, S.2282A, sponsored by Senator Pam Helming (R-Canandaigua), aims to reform New York’s bail laws to re-empower judges with the discretion to detain defendants who pose a high risk for re-offense, specifically in terms of violent crime. Should the PROTECT Act become law, judges would use a standardized assessment to make informed decisions on whether a defendant charged with a felony or serious misdemeanor poses any danger to the community, their victims, or even themselves. Judges would be able to order pretrial detention, circumventing the state’s current bail laws.
That standardized assessment would be developed by professionals at the Department of Criminal Justice (DCJS) to mitigate any potential biases, racial or otherwise.
Defendants’ financial status would also not be considered. Instead, defendants’ dangerousness would be prioritized.
Mental health and/or addiction issues are also on the table, as treatment could be suggested in accompaniment with their detention.
Pretrial custody decisions would also be required to be made within 48 hours, a component crucial to ensuring timely judicial review.
The bill is being co-sponsored by the entire Republican Conference. Helming was joined in Hauppauge by Suffolk Senators Mario Mattera (R-St. James), Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue), and Alexis Weik (R-Sayville). Additional Republican Senators made the trip from across the Island and even across the State: Senators Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R-Malverne), Pat Gallivan (R-Elma), Mark Walczyk (R-Watertown), George Borrello (R-Sunset Bay), Steve Chan (R-Bensonhurst), Jake Ashby (R-Castleton-on-Hudson), and Tom O’Mara (R-Big Flats).
The Senators were joined by Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches), County Clerk Vincent Puleo (R-Nesconset), and District Attorney Ray Tierney (R).
“Our State Senators are our first line of defense to ensure that our voices are being heard,” said Romaine. “We understand that bail is difficult for people with limited means, but this should not be the test. The test should be how dangerous a person is to be released.”
Senator Helming, also Chair of the Senate Republican Conference, said that her entire conference has been “absolutely relentless in our pursuit of creating a safer and more affordable state for everyone.”
“That includes passing the PROTECT Act to fix the broken bail laws that allow the dangerous repeat offenders to be issued an appearance ticket and released back into our neighborhoods,” said Helming.
Helming shared the story of a young Rochester mother, Abigail Perez, who was stabbed to death, leaving behind her children, aged 11 years, 8 years, and 6 months. Her murderer had previously been charged with assault, obstruction of breathing, and larceny against Perez.
“After that first arrest for attempting to choke Abby to death, guess what happened? He was released pending trial,” said Helming. “So this holiday season, Abby is gone. Her children don’t have a mother. That should have never, ever, ever happened. I blame New York’s bail laws for contributing to Abby’s death.”
Helming added that stakeholders’ and experts’ opinions were “carefully” considered in crafting this legislation – a bipartisan slate of officials including elected sheriffs, not-for-profit leaders, business owners, and religious leaders.
“If I had to sum up the PROTECT Act in one word, it would be ‘commonsense’”, said Helming. “This is a commonsense bill that will decrease the number of victimizations by repeat offenders. That’s something that people across this state are begging for.”
Helming added that the crime crisis and affordability crisis go hand-in-hand, as break-ins and injuries drive up insurance costs and even the costs of some consumer goods.
D.A. Tierney said that as many had “forecasted all along, bail reform has failed.”
“It is a failed experiment that needs to change. Every day, we hear another story of a violent criminal being mandatorily released only to immediately go out and re-offend,” said Tierney. “This is not a coincidence; this is the direct result of prosecutors’ and judges’ inability, due to bail reform, to use their discretion.”
Tierney said that his ability to do just that is “severely hampered” by the current laws, even to the point that his assistant D.A.s “cannot go into court and argue that a clearly dangerous person is, in fact, dangerous.”
Tierney invoked the 2024 Babylon dismemberment case, in which two couples were charged with scattering dismembered body parts across western Suffolk, only to be discovered in parks and community areas. Despite the Suffolk County Police Department having obtained cell site location data and video footage, the judicial system prevented those four offenders from being held.
“It is not about the defendant’s ability to pay cash bail. If we are keeping indigent people in jail as prosecutors, hold us responsible. Hold me, hold my office responsible if that’s what we’re doing. But don’t allow us to not argue dangerousness,” said Tierney, urging citizens to contact their State legislators and Governor Kathy Hochul (D) to pass this bill next year.
Senator Dean Murray invoked a case of a single mother who pulled up to her house with her young son to find the front door ajar and a window screen bent. Upon checking her Ring camera, she found that just five minutes before they returned home, a man was breaking into their house. The defendant was caught shortly thereafter, but was given a desk appearance ticket and released. Later research by the mother found that he had been arrested fourteen times prior, including a three-year stint in State prison for a kidnapping charge.
“That little boy cannot sleep in his own bed at night; he’s petrified,” said Murray. “Had the PROTECT Act been law, that would have never happened. Until this is passed, no one in New York is safe and sound, because that revolving door keeps turning.”