3.25 - E. Review Of Bail Decisions

• Jurisdiction: New York

E. Review of Bail Decisions

The initial bail decision of the local criminal court rendered at arraignment can be reviewed by a superior court judge while the case is still pending in the lower court.⁴⁶³ Defense counsel should consider such an application when recognizance or bail has been denied, or when the bail set might be considered excessive.⁴⁶⁴ Only one such review is available while the case is pending in the local criminal court.⁴⁶⁵ A judge’s decision regarding bail is not appealable; however, the denial of bail or the setting of excessive bail is reviewable by a writ of habeas corpus. The reviewing court is limited to the issue of whether the constitutional or statutory standards prohibiting excessive bail have been violated.⁴⁶⁶ Except in extraordinary circumstances, the scope of review is limited to the record before the court that set the bail at issue.⁴⁶⁷

The proper scope of inquiry for a habeas court reviewing another court’s bail determination is whether “the bail court abused its discretion by denying bail without reason or for reasons insufficient in law. . . It is not the function of the habeas court to examine the bail question afresh or to make a de novo determination of bail.” ⁴⁶⁸

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Notes:

^[463] . CPL § 530.30. Under this statute’s subdivisions, it appears that the superior court is largely sitting as a habeas corpus court and is not to alter the bail simply because it has a difference of opinion. Weisenfeld, 37 N.Y.2d 760; People ex rel. Klein v. Krueger, 25 N.Y.2d 497, 307 N.Y.S.2d 207(1969); People ex rel. Lobell v. McDonnell, 296 N.Y. 109, 71 N.E.2d 423 (1947); People ex rel. Shapiro v. Keeper of City Prison, 290 N.Y. 393, 49 N.E.2d 498 (1943); People ex rel. Geitschier v. Bednowsky, 227 A.D.2d 510, 643 N.Y.S.2d 361 (2d Dep’t 1996); People ex rel. McVann v. Bednosky, 227 A.D.2d 423, 642 N.Y.S.2d 554 (2d Dep’t 1996); People ex rel. Hunt v. Warden, Riker’s Island Correctional Facility, 161 A.D.2d 475, 555 N.Y.S.2d 742 (1st Dep’t), appeal denied, 76 N.Y.2d 703, 559 N.Y.S.2d 982 (1990). A habeas corpus petition that fails to indicate a prior application for the same relief, such as bail reduction, is insufficient on its face and fatally defective. People ex rel. Taylor v. Jones, 171 A.D.2d 906, 566 N.Y.S.2d 779 (3d Dep’t 1991); see also CPL § 530.30(3).

^[464] . CPL § 530.30.

^[465] . CPL § 530.30(3).

^[466] . People ex rel. Klein, 25 N.Y.2d 497.

^[467] . People ex rel. Rosenthal v. Wolfson, 48 N.Y.2d 230, 422 N.Y.S.2d 55 (1979).

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