The front page of the April 13th, 2012 edition of the New York Law Journal’s lead top article is “Flight Risk, Gravity of Crime Weighed in Setting Large Bond”. It details the circumstances of a 44 year old woman raising 4 children who has stayed close to her home in upstate New York for most of the last 10 years who has been unable to meet the $2 million bond imposed after she was charged with running a Manhattan prostitution ring. She has been charged with a single nonviolent low-level Class D felony of promoting prostitution which she has pled not guilty to. If convicted, it carries a maximum jail time of 2 ½ years but DOES NOT REQUIRE PRISON time on conviction.

After an acting Supreme Court Justice initially set the bond, a second Justice rejected a Writ of Habeus corpus calling for a lower bond. The articles details the various reasons offered by both her counsel and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as to why she should or should not be given a lower bond or an opportunity to be restrained under house arrest. It refers to prior instances including  another alleged Madam accused of running a call girl ring in California initially charged 10 years ago with felony pandering and a drug violation who was set free on $100,000 bail. It states that some attorneys who have represented defendants charged with promoting prostitution say that her bail is unprecedented for that charge alone. Prosecutors argue that she has ties to “a number of high wealth individuals” who could help her flee. Another consideration is that she is not a U.S. citizen and has a British passport. Her attorney said he will now be asking the Appellate Division, First Department to overturn the bail.
I have synopsized the article for your information and welcome any readers comments open for discussion.



-- Modified on 4/17/2012 5:15:15 PM