West Palm Beach Criminal Lawyer Blog : Ronald Chapman: West Palm Beach Criminal Lawyer | Florida Criminal Attorney: DUI, Assault & Battery, Felonies | Criminal Law Firm

          It is an all-too-frequent occurrence in Florida's criminal courts that a judge will set a bond in a given case, yet the accused individual continues to remain in jail because he cannot afford to pay that bond.  That is precisely what happened in the case of Stallings v. Ryan which arose in Miami.

          David Stallings actually had two different cases.  In the first case, he was charged with 22 counts of sexual battery on a victim under the age of 12 and 21 counts of sexual battery/engaging in a sex act with a family child under the age of one.  In the second case, he was charged with 30 counts of sexual battery on a victim under the age of 12 and 29 counts of sexual battery/engaging in a sex act with a family child under the age of one.

          Because Stallings was being held in jail without any bond at all, he asked the trial judge to set a reasonable bond.  The judge held a hearing but ordered that Stallings continue to be held without any bond.  Stallings appealed that ruling to Florida's Third District Court of Appeal which, in turn, ordered the trial judge to set a reasonable bond.  In response, the trial judge set a monetary bond for both cases totaling $910,000.

          Stallings then filed a second petition for writ of habeas corpus in which he argued that such a high bond was unreasonable and excessive in light of the appellate court's prior ruling.  The Third District Court of Appeal once again agreed with Stallings and this time ordered that the trial judge set a reasonable bond of no more than $100,000.  In so doing, the Third District Court stated that "the law is well-settled that excessive bond, depending on the financial resources of the defendant, is tantamount to no bond at all.  Based on [Stallings's] financial resources, the bond set was clearly excessive and tantamount to no bond.  Furthermore, in light of [Stallings's] proven strong ties to the community, compliance with prior court orders, and ownership of residential property, which can be used as collateral for a reasonable bond, the present bond amount [of $910,000] is unwarranted."

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          When a person is arrested for a State crime in Florida, he is typically taken before a judge within twenty-four hours of his arrest so that the judge can set the conditions of his release from jail.  That hearing is called a first appearance, and it is governed by Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.130.

          Sometimes, though, a prosecutor who is later assigned to a particular case does not believe that the conditions of pretrial release are as strict as they ought to be.  That prosecutor may then file a motion pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.131 asking, for example, that the amount of bail be increased.  However, before a judge is authorized to raise the amount of bond or otherwise make the conditions of pretrial release more stringent, the prosecutor must first show "good cause."

          The issue of what constitutes "good cause" was presented in the Florida case of Keane v. Cochran.  In Keane, the first-appearance judge set bond at $2,100.  Three months later, the prosecutor on the case filed a motion asking the trial judge to increase the bond.  At the hearing on the motion, however, the prosecutor failed to present any evidence justifying an increase in the bond.  In spite of that, the presiding judge still increased the bond to $10,000.

         Keane appealed that decision to Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal and won!  The Fourth District Court stated that "[i]n order to have good cause to modify a bond, the [prosecutor] must present evidence of a change in circumstances or information not made known to the first appearance judge."  Because the prosecutor in Mr. Keane's case failed to present such evidence, the appellate court ruled that the trial judge erred when he increased the bond from $2,100 to $10,000.

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