Bill > S1129

This bill aims to protect the residents of the Commonwealth from dangerous persons. It proposes several key provisions: 1. It creates a new criminal offense for unlawfully removing, destroying, damaging, or interfering with the proper functioning of a geolocation monitoring device, breath-testing instrument, or other mechanism intended to facilitate recognizance or compliance with conditions of pretrial release, probation, or parole. The penalty is up to 10 years in state prison or 2.5 years in a house of correction. 2. It expands the list of offenses for which the Commonwealth can move for an order of pretrial detention or release on conditions based on dangerousness, including additional violent, sexual, and firearms-related offenses. 3. It mandates that a person detained under the dangerousness provision be brought to trial as soon as reasonably possible, within the timeframe required by the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure. 4. It requires that a hearing to determine if conditions of release will reasonably assure public safety be held immediately upon the person's first court appearance, with limited continuances. 5. It prohibits the release on bail of a person charged with certain abuse or violent offenses involving an identified victim until the victim is notified of the person's imminent release, with a maximum 6-hour hold to allow for such notification.