Catch and release -- accused criminals back on the streets
Reporter: Cory Marshall
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Call it a "catch and release" -- Christina Marie Paulson is facing burglary charges in connection with a recent home burglary. Tuesday night, the 31-year-old appeared in video court, within hours she was back on the streets -- released on her own recognizance.
"Pretrial release probably does a beautiful job in certain cases but there are a lot of cases where in my opinion, they shouldn't be involved," Tucson bondsman, private investigator and officer of the court, Roberto Ponti told 9OYS.
Aside from his business, Ponti researched pretrial release options for years.
Ponti admits that as a bondsman, he is a stakeholder, but as a taxpayer he doesn't see the reasoning behind a more serious offender's pretrial release.
According to pretrial performance statistics provided by Pima County Pretrial Services, less than nine percent of defendants released on recognizance fail to appear in court. Additionally, less than five percent of defendants commit pretrial crime.
Pretrial Services Director, Rick Peck tells 9OYS the ideology behind the ROR is backed by a 1951 Supreme Court decision stating judges need to look at defendants as individuals.
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