AB 789: Criminal procedure: release on own recognizance.

Existing law prohibits the release of any person on his or her own recognizance who is arrested for a new offense and who is currently on felony probation or felony parole or who has failed to appear in court as ordered, resulting in a warrant being issued, 3 or more times over the 3 years preceding the current arrest, and who is arrested for any felony offense or other specified crimes, including theft, until a hearing is held in open court before the magistrate or judge.

This bill would further apply this prohibition to any offense involving domestic violence or any offense in which the defendant caused great bodily injury to another person, and would remove the prohibition as it pertains to an offense of theft. For all other new felony offenses, the bill would prohibit the release of a person on his or her own recognizance without a hearing in open court if the person has failed to appear in court 3 or more times over the 3 preceding years, unless the person is released under a court-operated pretrial release program or a pretrial release program with approval by the court.