MARTIN: Calgary judge says extra layer of protection helpful in bail cases

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The “revolving door” of criminal suspects being released on bail only to allegedly reoffend could be shut by forcing accused persons to find someone in the community to ensure their good behaviour.

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That’s the opinion of at least one Calgary judge and it appears to be a sound one.

In a written decision rejecting a cash bail proposal for a central Alberta man, Calgary Court of King’s Bench Justice Nick Devlin said a surety-supervised release would provide a reasonable level of confidence in the public that Mac Ronald Smith might get on the road to rehabilitation.

Cold, hard cash, however, wouldn’t do the trick, Devlin said.

Releasing suspected criminals basically to the custody of responsible individuals in the community is a practical way of ensuring compliance of bail conditions.

Sureties are forced to put up their own cash or property on the condition that they effectively act as an accused person’s jailer in the community.

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If a surety is concerned that an individual is not complying, they can revoke their support, sending an accused back into custody pending trial.

In the case of Smith, Devlin noted, that while the accused seems genuinely interested in escaping the drug-driven lifestyle he has fallen into, the risk of him failing without community guidance is too great.

But having a surety or sureties in place would provide an additional level of public security, in that Smith would have an extra layer of incentive to behave — a further loss of liberty if his guarantor became concerned he wasn’t maintaining the straight and narrow, the judge noted.

For those who think locking up every criminal suspect and throwing away the key pending trial is the answer, you’re missing the point. The right to seek release on bail is one every accused has and the vast majority are granted liberty without further problem.

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In Smith’s case, though, his re-release after allegedly further offending while already out on bail should never have occurred without more than him putting up cash, Devlin said. “In this case, there was little in the way of a bail plan beyond Mr. Smith depositing a further, relatively small sum of money. There was no element of supervision in the community to mitigate the risks his re-release manifestly posed. He ought not to have been released without more.”

Smith was arrested last April, in connection with allegations he was in possession of large amounts of stolen property and firearms on a rural property near Rocky Mountain House. At the time he was serving an intermittent jail term and was already on $500 cash bail on prior charges.

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He was again released on $800 cash and a promise to pay $2,500, before he was arrested again a month later and detained, a decision Devlin was tasked with reviewing.

The judge said simply asking accused persons to pony up more cash to get out of jail can’t be the normal practice.

“The history leading up to this application is significant and also a source for serious concern about bail practices in this province, especially as concerns have increased relating to alleged repeat offenders being released through a revolving door of small and ineffective cash bails,” Devlin said.

“There continues to be a prevalent misunderstanding in this province that small cash bails or promises to pay by the accused are somehow sufficient to deal with the risks posed by accused individuals who pervasively offend while on bail or probation.”

Devlin said there is criticism of Ontario’s “over-reliance” on sureties, but in Alberta we have the opposite problem.

“This court observes repeat offenders habitually released on further small cash bails. There is little or no ‘pull’ to these bails.”

Accused persons will always have the right to release pending trial, but Devlin’s got a point, sometimes something is required to mitigate the public’s risk.

KMartin@postmedia.com

X: @KMartinCourts

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