A few updates for everyone:
- Riverside County Public Health Officer has issued an order that anyone going out in public wear a mask. The courts have mirrored that order and as of today Judge Molloy has ordered that no one will be permitted access to the courthouse unless wearing a mask for the foreseeable future. He asked that I mention that to everyone, so don’t forget to cover up before going to court.
- The Judicial Council of California has imposed a temporary statewide bail schedule effective immediately, reducing many bail amounts to zero. Click here to see the order. (see Rules 4 & 5.) We will be meeting with Judge Molloy tomorrow morning to discuss how to implement a new procedure to address this. In the meantime, it may be a good exercise for everyone to review their list of in-custody clients to identify who may benefit from this substantial change.
Full Link to Order: https://cdn.ymaws.com/cacj.org/resource/resmgr/documents/publicinformation/Excerpt_20-141_for_Rules_4-7.pdf - The Sheriff’s Department has been working on a way to allow short video conferences with our clients in the jail from court for the purposes of obtaining verbal 977 authorization. It is shaping up like private counsel would have some access during an hour or so from court in the afternoons. ALL CONFERENCES would be pre-scheduled and priority given to cases that are within the original 60 days for prelim without a time waiver, in order of most imminent court date. More on that to come.
Hope everyone is staying healthy and safe!
From,
Graham Donath, President
Riverside County Criminal Defense Bar Association