COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A new Ohio bill would limit charitable bail for violent offenders, increase bond minimums for repeated failures to appear and allow the Ohio Attorney General to appeal judges' decisions on bail.
State Reps. Jeff LaRe and D.J. Swearingen announced the Holly Act, named after the woman injured in a violent downtown Cincinnati fight last summer, in a press conference at the Ohio Statehouse Wednesday.
Holly herself was in attendance, speaking about the moment she was knocked unconscious in the middle of the road. Court documents show Montianez Merriwether, one of the men prosecutors accused of causing the fight on July 26, was arrested earlier that month for receiving stolen property, having weapons under disability and more, but bonded out.
"That should concern all of us," she said. "This is about accountability, and when someone shows a pattern of dangerous behavior, the system must take it seriously. A revolving door approach to low bail puts real people at risk."
Swearingen said the bill would require risk assessment tools to be used both when determining if bail won't be awarded and in sexually oriented offenses or violent offenses when determining bail amounts.
If, during a pretrial hearing, a judge decides that a defendant is eligible for bail, the bill would also give the Ohio Attorney General the authority to appeal that decision and argue for an individual to be detained until trial.
LaRe said the bill would require that a minimum bond for release be set at 25%, not 10%, for a defendant who has failed to appear in their current case, or has failed to respond to two or more summons within the past five years.
"Showing up for court is not optional, and repeatedly ignoring court orders should carry meaningful consequences," LaRe said.
It would also place "reasonable guardrails" prohibiting charitable bail organizations from posting bail for what LaRe described as "serious and violent offenses." Charitable bail organizations would have a cap on how much they can give and would be required to report their operations in annual reports, he said.
When a person does post bond, the bill requires courts to confirm they are financially responsible for the full amount before approving it. He said that people have "to provide more information to get a library card" than they do to be released on bond.
"Bail must mean something," LaRe said. "It cannot simply just be a paper promise."
Swearingen said he expects that changes will be made to the bill in the coming months.
"I expect that there'll be a lot of testimony," said Swearingen. "There'll be a lot of input from key stakeholders in the justice system. We're going to listen to all of them."