By Rick Pfeiffer/pfeifferr@gnnewspaper.com
Niagara Gazette
November 02, 2007 08:57 pm
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Some days you just can’t help but scratch your head and wonder about what goes on in the criminal courts here.
Two cases in Falls City Court this week have left this reporter, and some other court watchers, wondering about what looks like a bewildering use, or lack of use, of bail in drunken driving cases.
The basics of bail are really very simple. Bail is designed to create an incentive for a defendant not to skip out on his or her court dates. Don’t show up for your scheduled appearances and the courts keep the cash you gave them to get out of jail in the first place and you go back behind bars.
Bail can also be used to hold someone in custody who represents a clear and present danger to the community.
If you follow the arraignment patterns in Falls City Court, you’d find there is a practice in DWI cases of regularly setting bail at a level that might be about the same as the fine you’d receive in resolving your case, short of being found not guilty.
Now we can argue about the punitive nature of having to post a bail, equal to the amount of the punishment you might face, simply to exercise your constitutional rights of due process. (In the Falls for example, if you want a hearing on a parking ticket, you have to, incomprehensibly, post a “bail,” equal to the amount of your parking fine, before you can have a hearing. This is not a common practice throughout most of the state). We might also question the regular habit of City Court judges in placing bails, ranging from $100 to $500, in DWI cases involving defendants with no prior criminal records who appear to have ties to the community and who, on the face of their case, don’t appear to be high risks to head to Canada for the rest of their lives.
However, if we decide to accept this particular pattern of court conduct, then you’ve got to wonder what happened on Tuesday and Friday this week.
On Tuesday, Judge Angelo Morinello arraigned James C. Wilson, 40, 1335 Whitney Ave., on charges of driving while intoxicated, third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, no registration, no lights, failure to stop at a stop sign and passing a red light. Wilson was stopped at 2:40 a.m. Tuesday after he drove down 18th Street with his car lights off, through a stop sign and then ran a red light trying to avoid police.
Wilson’s prior criminal record runs a whopping 31 pages, totaling 29 separate arrests on 57 different charges including 24 felonies, 11 of them violent. With 23 criminal convictions, Wilson, who clearly knows his way around a courthouse, is representing himself in this current case.
He is also out on the streets right now. Morinello has set a further hearing on the case for Dec. 9 and, in the meantime, has released Wilson from custody on his own recognizance.
The translation of that is, while a lot of everyday folks are ponying up hard cash while waiting for their day in court, Wilson posted no bail.
Even stranger circumstances surround a Friday DWI arraignment.
In that case, Judge Robert Restaino released Gene McCollum from custody without bail after he pleaded not guilty to charges of driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, speed in zone, unreasonable speed, passing a red light and no seat belt.
McCollum was collared by cops at 8:15 p.m. Thursday after a Traffic Division officer spotted him running a red light as he made a left hand turn from 24th Street onto Walnut Avenue. The officer said McCollum accelerated as he headed west on Walnut Avenue to 85 mph in the 30 mph zone.
As the traffic officer followed McCollum for four blocks, attempting to pull him over, he swerved through traffic before attempting a 40 mph left-hand turn from Walnut Avenue onto 15th Street.
McCollum lost control of his car, jumped the curb, pancaked a street sign, regained control of the vehicle and drove back on to 15th Street, where he hit a parked car.
After he finally stopped, McCollum told cops he’d had six beers, someone else in the car had played a role in the crash, “My friend was holding the gas pedal down.” He also made no apologies for toking up before he got behind the wheel, telling officers, “So I smoked a little weed. So what?”
So if your next door neighbor makes a mistake and drives after having one or two too many and has to pay for their freedom, why do these two guys get a free pass out the courthouse door?
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