Board endorses criminal rule.

The Board of Governors has endorsed amendments offered by the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee to amend Rules 3.131 and 3.132, which concern pretrial release of defendants charged with violent crimes.

The board acted in September at its Ponte Vedra meeting on the recommendation of the rules committee

The committee's fast track subcommittee took up the first appearance rule as a result of the Supreme Court's June rulings in State v. Raymond, SC03-1263, 906 So.2d 1045, and in In Re: Florida Rules Of Criminal Procedure 3.131 and 3.132, case no. SC05-739. 907 So.2d 1169. The court declared unconstitutional a statute on first appearance bonds. In that invalidated law, legislators mandated that nonmonetary bonds be denied at first appearances for defendants accused of violent crimes that resulted in a...