State bail reforms are “reckless,” says Orange County DA

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GOSHEN – Pre-trial bail for a litany of crimes including residential burglary, most drug sale and possession charges, some homicides, assaults from drunk driving crashes, and weapons offenses, will be a thing of the past as of January 1, 2020 when new criminal justice reforms approved by the state take effect.

Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said they were enacted with little to no input from DAs or police.

Hoovler cited the recent Orange County case in which Rene Morataya, 55, made an illegal U-turn on Route 9W in the Town of Highlands in front of a motorcyclist, killing the operator, George Guy, 62, of Highland Falls.

Morataya was arrested days later in Westchester County and sent to the Orange County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail. Hoovler said that would be different had it happened next year.

“What is so insane about this case is that if this case happened on January 1, 2020, the individual who hit the motorcyclist and fled the scene to another county, who is in line to be deported and has ties to a foreign country, would not even be held on bail for killing an individual in Orange County,” the DA said.

Hoovler said 90 percent of those arrested effective next year will be released without bail with many failing to return to court resulting in the need for additional law enforcement to go after them.

A non-exhaustive list of charges for which a defendant must be released from custody, without bail, after January 1, 2020, includes:

  • Burglary in the second degree (residential burglary)
  • Burglary in the third degree
  • Robbery in the second degree (aided by another person)
  • Robbery in the third degree
  • Manslaughter in the second degree
  • Criminally negligent homicide
  • Aggravated vehicular homicide
  • Vehicular manslaughter in the first and second degrees
  • Assault in the third degree
  • Aggravated vehicular assault
  • Aggravated assault upon a person less than eleven years old
  • Vehicular assault in the first and second degrees
  • Criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds
  • Criminal possession of a firearm
  • Criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree
  • Criminal sale of a firearm to a minor
  • Criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and second degrees
  • Criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first and second degrees
  • Criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds
  • Use of a child to commit a controlled substance offense
  • Criminal sale of a controlled substance to a child
  • Patronizing a person for prostitution in a school zone
  • Promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child
  • Possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child
  • Promoting a sexual performance by a child
  • Failure to register as a sex offender
  • Bribery in the first degree
  • Bribe giving for public office
  • Bribe receiving in the first degree
  • Arson in the third and fourth degrees
  • Grand larceny in the first, second, third, and fourth degrees
  • Aggravated cruelty to animals
  • Overdriving, torturing and injuring animals
  • Failure to provide proper sustenance to animals
  • Animal fighting
  • Unlawful imprisonment in the first degree
  • Coercion in the first degree
  • Criminal solicitation in the first degree
  • Criminal facilitation in the first degree
  • Money laundering in support of terrorism in the third and fourth degrees
  • Making a terroristic threat
  • Obstructing governmental administration in the first and second degree
  • Obstructing governmental administration by means of a self-defense spray device
  • Promoting prison contraband in the first and second degrees
  • Resisting arrest
  • Hindering prosecution
  • Tampering with a juror
  • Tampering with physical evidence
  • Aggravated harassment in the first degree
  • Directing a laser at an aircraft in the first degree
  • Enterprise corruption
  • Money laundering in the first degree



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