Pretrial Services & Your Pre-Trial Custody Status

Описание: Office Address:
Law Office of David P. Shapiro
3500 5th Avenue
Suite 304
San Diego, CA 92103
619-295-3555
https://www.davidpshapirolaw.com/

My name is Ally Keegan And I'm a criminal defense attorney at the Law Office of David Shapiro in San Diego, where we help good people regain control of their future when charged with a crime. I am here today with one of our incredible legal assistants, Alyssa Rodriguez, who is here to help us learn a little bit about Pretrial Services, which is an organization that she worked for before she joined us. And she's going to give potential clients a rundown of what you might expect when you encounter them early on in your case. So Alyssa, let's start with the basic stuff. What is Pretrial Services? Pretrial Services is an agency here in San Diego County that gives sometimes first time offenders or non-violent offenders, a second chance at being released prior to their case being heard through the court. And before they make that decision, whether or not you may or may not be a good fit to remain out of custody during the pendency of your case, what types of things does Pretrial Services consider?

So there are a number of factors that are taken into consideration at your arraignment hearing, where a Pretrial Services officer could make an argument to the judge or to the court to have you released. They will take into consideration first and foremost, a risk assessment score. And we'll explain a little bit more about what that is in just a bit. They will also take into consideration your day to day life. For example, if you are a single parent or a sole provider at the home, the court is going to try to advocate on your behalf to have you released so that you can maintain your employment and therefore continue to take care of your family. Or if you're taking care of elderly parents, those are all factors that they consider.

And the first thing you mentioned was that risk assessment score. So that would basically be, let's say I have a case that's waiting for my first court appearance, my arraignment, and I'm given a risk assessment score, which is quite literally a number that determines how big of a risk I am to the community. What actually factors into that when you guys compute that number?
The risk assessment score factors any failures to appear that you may have with the court. So basically the court wants to know that one, you are amenable for supervision. Two, that you are going to stay within the county. They want to make sure that they're not presenting a flight risk by having you released. So with the risk assessment score, they're going to look at, if you have any failures to appear, any misdemeanor convictions, felony convictions, any parole violations, if you are a first time offender or a non-violent offender, those are all factors that contribute to your risk assessment score.

And then you'd mentioned other factors about your day to day life and how that might weigh in your favor or against you. So why is that? Why would possibly being a single parent or being employed, how does that help your case with Pretrial Services?

So the court wants to know, verify and establish your community ties. So with that being said, the court wants to know if you are a San Diego resident, if you're going to stay within the county. They want to know if you are a single parent or contributing to the household of children that you're able to maintain your gainful employment. They want to know that if you are released that you're going to continue with any treatment or any programming, so more or less, they want to make sure that they're making the right decision and that they're allowing you to proceed with your case out of custody so that you're able to maintain your family ties, your employment, any treatment, any programming that you're doing ahead of the arrest. They want to make sure that you're able to continue to be present for those things.

So then basically, the Pretrial Services officer takes all this information and makes a report with a recommendation about whether or not that person should be out and supervised or whether they might be to quote, unquote risky and should remain in custody. And for everyone out there, so you know, if perhaps your loved one was kept in custody at their first court appearance, not all hope is lost. There are other options that your attorney, if you have an experienced and qualified attorney that knows how to handle these types of things, they can request other hearings like a bail review, and basically request that the judge reconsider their decision or Pretrial Services reconsiders it, in light of new information that they didn't already have.

The problem is that you only get so many bites at that apple. So you really want to make sure whoever is advocating for you knows what they're doing, and they do it right the first time. But there are options if perhaps you didn't get the decision you wanted right off the bat.