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County prosecutions rising; staff cites Safety Act as factor in pretrial release challenges
Summary
Boonstra reported the office has filed about 231 felony cases year-to-date and expects filings to exceed 300 by late October or early November if current trends continue. He and committee members debated how the Safety Act limits detention and urged judges be given broader discretion to detain high-risk defendants.
Boonstra told the committee the office's felony filing total is ahead of recent years and that the office has filed approximately 231 felony cases "as of today," putting staff on pace to exceed 300 by late October or early November if current trends continue. He said the office is closing 20–25 felony matters per month on average but that recent legislative changes — which he referred to as the 'Safety Act' — have constrained pretrial detention in some cases.
Boonstra and committee members discussed the limits the Safety Act places on detention by offense category and said judges sometimes lack discretion to detain individuals unless prosecutors can show 'clear and convincing' evidence of flight risk. Boonstra argued for restoring judicial flexibility, saying the office and judges would prefer that detention decisions be based on individualized risk rather than an offense list. "I think the legislature certainly deserves a lot of the credit when it comes to the safety act and allowing folks to get back out and commit new and interesting crimes whenever they'd like to," he said; members responded with questions about detention standards and options for petitions to revoke pretrial release.
