The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Tim Overton
Jared G. Keenan
Kevin Heade
Re: the June 22 article “Honesty, integrity among elected officials.”
Arizona State Representative Alma Hernandez claimed that Pima County Attorney Laura Conover never contributed to legislation or advocated on the issue of cash bail reform. What Representative Hernandez may not have realized was that County Attorney Conover engaged legal experts at the ACLU of Arizona, the Arizona Black Bar, and Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice (AACJ) when she developed a separate piece of legislation on cash bail over the course of two years. As the team who Conover consulted with from 2021 to early 2023, and who helped her write the proposed policy, we were surprised to see inaccurate claims published. Conover’s focus on cash bail and her piece of legislation are well-known facts that are part of the public record available for anyone to view.
Unfortunately, cash bail continues under Arizona law. Until the Legislature amends the law, judges can and do continue to require cash bail from those arrested, but not yet convicted of a crime. On any given day, approximately three-quarters of the people locked in our county jails are detained prior to trial. Despite the fact that they have not been convicted of any crime and are presumed innocent, they remain in jail simply because they cannot access money to buy their way out. While cash bail reform has proven to be a huge success in places like New Jersey, Arizona continues to use cash bail with devastating consequences for those accused of crimes, their families, and the community at large.
In 2021, a member of the former Pima County Attorney Administration drafted a piece of legislation on cash bail that was touted as reform but would have actually increased the use of cash bail in the state. Concerned about the bill’s expansion of cash bail and failure to address the problems detailed above, Conover gathered us as a team of lawyers to review the language and make amendment recommendations. We agreed with Conover’s concerns and provided multiple proposed changes. However, the bill that Rep. Hernandez would eventually carry never included the changes necessary to fix our concerns with the cash bail system.
Undeterred, Conover gathered us again in 2022, this time to write our own piece of legislation. Conover’s bill would address the true flaws of the cash bail system, giving the state a more just and safer way to handle criminal detention hearings. That year, we worked with then head of the House Judiciary, Walt Blackman, to use a striker bill to incorporate our cash bail reform bill. We all sat together in a hearing, ready to testify in support of our bill.
Although we were unsuccessful in getting our bill over the finish line, Conover has every right to reference her significant work to address the flaws in the cash bail system. No matter how the Legislature shifts in the coming years, we all stand at the ready to work with stakeholders to further improve our bill and bring it back.
Representative Hernandez may have been unaware that Conover was referencing a different bill, but the questions that arose should have prompted her to do additional research or simply pick up the phone and call the county attorney to have a conversation before publishing incorrect allegations.
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