Posted on: Monday, January 7, 2002

Editorial
Good ruling on those acquitted in trials

Circuit Court Judge Gail Nakatani, administrative judge for the criminal division of the Hawai'i Judiciary, is to be commended for a ruling that defends the civil liberties of individuals who have been acquitted in criminal trials.

Nakatani ruled that such defendants must be released immediately, unless they are also being held on another matter. The new policy reverses a previous procedure that had the acquitted individual return to prison until he or she could be processed, all paperwork completed and belongings returned.

During that time, which could be only a few hours but often was a day or more, the person remained in custody and subject to prison rules.

The American Civil Liberties Union had brought suit against the practice, saying it was an illegal infringement on the rights of the defendants.

Prison officials say the process was necessary to make sure all the proper paperwork was filed and that there were no other "holds" on the individual. In effect, if a person was acquitted, then the process of determining the individual's status for other possible offenses was begun. In a fair number of cases, it would turn out that the system had other reasons to hold the person even after the acquittal.

So the procedure appeared reasonable, from the administrative point of view of the corrections system. But the problem belongs to the bureaucracy, not to the individual who has been acquitted. If screening is required, it should begin before the end of the trial.

In its lawsuit, the ACLU made the point that the process was fundamentally unfair because those who could afford bail were always free to walk immediately after acquittal. It was only those who could not afford bail who remained within the system.

It will take some work to get administrative procedures in gear with the spirit of Nakatani's ruling. And the courts will have to be patient; inevitably someone will walk out of the courtroom even though authorities had a reason to hang on to him for some other reason.

That should be the exception, not the rule. On balance, in pursuit of the civil liberties of individual defendants, the result will be worth the cost.