Minimum Legal Proficiency?

Joe Arpaio is the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. He is well-known for being tough on crime, is somewhat controversial. I'm very much in favor of not releasing inmates because of overcrowding, and so forth. Some of his tactics, however, seem a bit unorthodox, but who am I to judge.

Today, however, I read this article, in which Sheriff Joe, while discussing his recent arrest of rapper DMX, shares his opinion on bail and presumptions of innocence.

"He's back in jail again," Arpaio said. "I don't know why judges keep letting this guy out. Every time he goes in there, he gets out on bond.

"I'm hoping this is the one time he's going to pay the penalty for his offense," he added.

Arpaio said the bail had not been set in the recent arrest.

If DMX remains jailed, the sheriff said, he would be isolated from the rest of the inmates for his own safety.

"They may not like his music," he said.

We must remember that our justice system assumes people are innocent until proven guilty. During a suspect's trip through the system, we require increasingly greater degrees of proof at each step on the way to a conviction. First, an arrest simply means that police had probable cause to believe the person committed a crime. Warrants are often not required, and probable cause simply means "a reasonable belief."

Indictments have to be based on legally sufficient evidence that is admissible at trial, and of course, guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The point is that an arrest by no means shows guilt. It simply means that an officer reasonably believed the suspect committed a crime

Where does bail come in? When Sheriff Joe says, "I don't know why judges keep letting this guy out. Every time he goes in there, he gets out on bond," he is displaying a fundamental misunderstanding of how bail law works. The general presumption is that bail must be granted, except for particularly violent crimes, or if the suspect poses a flight risk. In most states, judges have to release someone on bail if they don't fit in either of those categories. As long as DMX doesn't have a history of not showing up for his court dates and so forth, he has a right to bail. Those judges have simply been discharging their constitutional duties.

Furthermore, when Sheriff Joe states, "I'm hoping this is the one time he's going to pay the penalty for his offense," he again does not appear to understand that there is a difference, as far as the presumption of guilt is concerned, between an arrest and a conviction.

I could go on, but I need to go study Wills, Trusts, and NY Civil Procedure today.