In RE McSHERRY
Opinion
Opinion
Munoz, J.
Penal Code section 1272 provides that a criminal defendant who has been convicted of a misdemeanor, but not yet sentenced, has an absolute right to bail. We issued a writ of habeas corpus to consider the question of whether a trial court may impose reasonable bail conditions on the granting of that bail. We hold that it may, but that the conditions have to be reasonable and related to public safety.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In April 2003, petitioner, Leonard James McSherry, was charged with violating five counts of Penal Code section 653g (loitering about schools). At the initial bail hearing the prosecutor informed the court that petitioner had been convicted in 1974 of abducting an eight-year-old girl and placing her into his car, where he proceeded to masturbate in front of her. In 1979 he was sentenced to state prison after he grabbed a 15-year-old girl from a school, told her he was a police officer, drove to another location, masturbated in front of her and then digitally penetrated her. In 1986 he was convicted of five separate counts of violating section 653g and served two and one-half years in the county jail. In 1989 he was convicted of rape and…