Larimer County debate pits bondsmen against county pretrial office

Face The State Staff Report

An ongoing debate pitting bail bondsmen against Larimer County's pretrial service program is raging, with a focus on who can better provide services associated with the arrest, bonding, and monitoring of those accused of crimes.

Bondsman Steve Mares alleges there is an overabundance of monitoring low-risk defendants at great cost to the county, which is now faced with cutting up to $6 million from next year’s budget. Mares also said the expansion of the pretrial services program has taken business away from private sector bail bonds companies. “We provide these [same] services at no expense to the taxpayers,” he said.

Larimer County directs $1.7 million to its pretrial services division, an arm of the justice system that keeps an eye on defendants released from jail who still need to appear in court. This pretrial supervision unit accounts for $802,000 of the division's total budget and employs 19 people. Comparatively, Jefferson County, home to half a million residents - twice as many as Larimer - has a pretrial service division that employs just 11 people and has an annual budget of $686,154. According to Tom Bay, a Jefferson County program manager, he and his colleagues average 175 cases at a time. Meanwhile, in Larimer, case loads range from 75 to 230 cases at a time, according to Sharon Winfree, a Larimer court services manager.

“This supervision [in Larimer] allows more defendants to be released from custody to continue working, paying taxes, supporting their families or paying child support, and meeting their other financial responsibilities, while minimizing risk to the community and appearing for all Court proceedings,” wrote Sharon Winfree in an e-mail to Face The State.

According to information provided by Winfree, Larimer’s pretrial staff assesses each defendant to determine the least restrictive bond based on the nature of the offense and the defendant's criminal history, connection to the community and potential to commit another offense. Conditions of pretrial release may include telephone contact with pretrial staff, home visits, drug testing, mental health or substance abuse treatment, counseling or GPS monitoring.

Previously, anyone accused of a felony was booked into the county jail, and in most cases, a judge would set bond after an initial court appearance.

But Mares argues that such extensive government supervision prior to trial is excessive. “These people haven’t even been convicted of anything,” he said. “Our goal as a bail agent is simply to allow people to be out on bond, but also make sure that person gets into the courtroom. As long as that person makes it into the courtroom our job has been done.”

Rob Corry, a Denver criminal defense attorney, agrees that pretrial services are excessive and they often violate a defendants rights. "People are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, and all too often pretrial services consists of pretrial punishment before the person has been adjudicated or proven guilty of any offense," he said.

Defendants who cannot post cash bonds will resort to using a bond agent, who guarantees payment of the full bond amount should clients fail to appear in court. Bond agents typically charge a non-refundable fee or attempt to secure collateral from family or friends for the full bond amount.

According to Mares, private sector bail bonds companies are 93 percent successful in getting their customers to show up in Court. Winfree, however, defends the government's pretrial process, saying over 97 percent of defendants under her office's supervision appear for court, and that those placed under pretrial supervision are able to post bond earlier. Her office services about 450 people per month, or over 5,000 per year while Mares says private bond companies average about 2,000 bonds per month over the past year.

This tug of war between pretrial services and bond agents has also surfaced on the state level. Last year, Rep. Terrance Carroll, now Speaker of the House, backed off a plan to expand public bonding after a hearing highlighted by a visit from bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman.