BAIL REFORM
When Public Defenders Play Offense: Bail Reform Comes To Nevada By Caroline Lemcke & Nancy Lemcke
J
ose Valdez-Jimenez did not fit the profile of someone you would expect to find stealing leggings from Victoria’s Secret or a juicer from Macy’s department store. At 57-years old, “Papi”, as he was known to his family and friends, was a bespectacled Cuban immigrant with head of thinning, wiry grey hair; his slight frame reflected his frail health. A tile setter by trade, Mr. ValdezJimenez worked various low wage jobs to support his wife and two minor children along with his elderly mother. He was also a career thief. By the time of his May, 2018 arrest for the leggings and juicer thefts, Mr. Valdez-Jimenez had amassed approximately 23 felony convictions. Most were theft and/or drug related. This, together with his numerous aliases and varying identifying information, made him a poor candidate for pre-trial release. When he was booked into the Clark County Detention Center, law enforcement officials set a money-bail amount of $85,000. The following day, a Las Vegas justice of the peace found probable cause for his arrest and, in Mr.
Valdez-Jimenez’s absence, reduced his money-bail to $40,000. Unable to pay that amount, Mr. ValdezJimenez remained in custody until three days later, when prosecutors filed charges against him and the presiding judge appointed the Clark County Public Defender to represent him. His attorney immediately asked the court to reduce the $40,000 money-bail to something Mr. Valdez-Jimenez could afford. The court denied the request. Not long thereafter, the Clark County grand jury indicted Mr. Valdez-Jimenez on several theft-related felonies deriving from the leggings and juicer thefts. Prosecutors obtained an indictment warrant fixing Mr. Valdez-Jimenez’s money-bail at the $40,000 set by the justice of the peace. Still unable to pay that amount to secure his release, Mr. Valdez-Jimenez remained in custody as a trial date was set. Indeed, his lack of financial resources meant he would be relegated to awaiting his trial date from the confines of the Clark County Detention Center. Given his rather prolific criminal history, this did not seem unreasonable. But the process by which the courts in Clark County
