To better protect our communities from crime, Sen. Mantzavinos passed legislation to prevent more defendants accused of dangerous and violent offenses from getting out of jail without bail before their scheduled trials.
Passed with bipartisan support, Senate Bill 7 (S) directed the Delaware courts to use secured cash bail as the baseline for determining the conditions of pre-trial release for anyone accused of 38 serious offenses, including certain gun crimes, assault charges, rape, sex crimes against children and Class A felonies.
The legislation also explicitly retained the discretion of the courts to set a minimal cash bail based on the facts of each individual case and the flight risk posed by each defendant. The legislation further requires an automatic secondary bail review hearing in Delaware Superior Court for defendants charged with the serious offenses spelled out by SB 7 (S). Finally, the legislation required defendants released on bail for any of the crimes listed in SB 7 (S) to forfeit any firearms in their possession.
