Whose bail really is it?
November 25, 2009


The idea behind bail is to insure someone's appearance in court.


Bail is posted, a suspect is released, and if he, or she, continually shows up for court hearings, bail is returned.


If a suspect "skips bail," the bail is forfeited.


But what happens to the bail if a suspect doesn't appear in court on no fault of his own — like if he is kicked out of the country.


Well, whomever posted bail is out of luck. At least in Morris County.


There are no simple cases, it seems, involving illegal aliens and this is another example of that.


In a now-famous case, Carlos Ulloa Murillo, 21, was charged with sexual assault in April, 2008. In August of that year, he posted $50,000 bail through TBA Bail Bonds. But since it was known that the suspect was here illegally, he was not released. Rather, he was picked up by federal authorities and ultimately deported to Honduras.


That caused a ruckus in its own right. Morris County authorities were incensed that Ulloa Murillo was dispatched out of the country before being punished for his alleged crime. There still is not an ultimate solution to that problem, although the courts have ruled that bail (we're back to that again) can be increased to keep an illegal immigrant charged with a serious crime in custody if deportation is possible.


Last week with the suspect back in Honduras — presumably — a court hearing ensued about the $50,000 bail.


What should happen to it?


A case certainly can be made that the bail should be returned to the company that wrote the bond. After all, the suspect in this case did not flee. He was in custody of one type or another since his arrest. True, he did not show up for a trial. But that was because the federal government deported him.


Judge John Dangler in state Superior Court, Morristown, essentially said tough luck. He said the insurance company that covered the bond should have known that the suspect was a candidate to be deported.


It is never easy trying to get money from government — especially when government is holding it in the first place, as is the case with bail. The $50,000 that will not be returned will be split by the state and Morris County.


That's good for them, but an appeal of Dangler's ruling by the insurance company, Financial Casualty & Surety Co., seems prudent. Losing bail when a suspect was prevented from appearing in court by the actions of another government unit has a sour ring to it.

Fred Snowflack is editorial page editor of the Daily Record. Contact him at fsnowfla@gannett. com

http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 0991124052