Meeting Public Comments

Andrew Ritland [Mahaska County Attorney's Office]

As Mahaska County Attorney, I strongly support raising minimum bonds for violent offenses. All too often, by the time the State is notified of an arrest, the defendant has already appeared before a magistrate, leaving no opportunity for the State to recommend appropriate conditions of release.However, I encourage the subcommittee to consider two amendments:1. Expand the List of OffensesThe list of offenses for increased bonds should include all forcible felonies as defined in section 702.11, including felonious child endangerment, assault, murder, sexual abuse, kidnapping, robbery, human trafficking, firstdegree arson, and firstdegree burglary. Under this bill as currently written, certain lesser offenses would carry higher bonds than more serious violent crimes. For example, assault with a dangerous weapon (an aggravated misdemeanor) would require a higher bond than firstdegree robbery (a class B felony). To address this issue, I would suggest adding the following subparagraph after line 21 on page 1:(7) Any forcible felony.2. Eliminate RedundancyLine 25 contains a slight redundancy. As the subcommittee knows, forcible felonies are already excluded from the uniform bond schedule on line 27. Two offenses listed on lines 15 and 17attempted murder (707.11) and willful injury causing serious injury (708.4(1))are forcible felonies. While including them again on line 25 does not change the meaning of the section, their inclusion is redundant.