House Bill 2419 provides some much needed reform to West Virginia's pretrial and bail system. While the bill is not a complete fix, and is not intended to be such, the ACLU fully supports this legislation. This is why we find ourselves in the strange position of opposing an amendment that adds a good and important reform.
The bill was amended in the Senate Judiciary committee to require a prosecutor and defense attorney be present at any time when bail is considered. Pretrial decisions have the potential to deprive people of significant rights and liberties before they have had the chance to prove their innocence. A defense attorney should be present to assure that these rights are protected.
Unfortunately, this amendment puts the cart before the horse, and if passed, could lead to the demise of this important and necessary legislation. Currently, many counties do not have enough defense attorneys (or prosecutors) to be on standby for these initial appearances. The system has to be changed before they can be required to be on-call.
In reality, public defenders and court-appointed defense attorneys are underfunded and stretched perilously thin. There are significant disparities in funding between prosecutors and defense, giving preferential treatment to the accusers against the accused.
The government has shirked its duty to adequately fund the legal system. Increasingly, the burden for funding our system is placed on the most vulnerable. Criminal defendants are often strapped with steep court fees. Litigants who have suffered harm and seeking that harm redressed also must pay to access justice.
These are important issues. We need to reform our legal system. We need to make sure we don't rely on the hurt and the vulnerable to provide the funding to keep the courts open. We need to ensure that people don't only have a right to defense, but a defense attorney who has the time to provide zealous defense at all stages of the process.
These are changes that have to happen. But HB 2419 contains important reforms. We cannot risk losing HB 2419, and this is why we cannot support amendments in the bill.