New York Court of Appeals Rules Judges Can't Limit Bail to Cash ALBANY - Responding to concerns that low-income defendants often have trouble making bail, New York State's highest court ruled on Thursday that state judges may not require that defendants post bail in cash. In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals said that New York judges must give defendants the choice of at least two methods of posting bail, like paying in cash or using a bondsman. Defendants typically pay bondsmen only a fraction of their bail amount, as well as a fee and sometimes some other form of collateral, in exchange for the bondsman's posting their bail. The ruling was a victory for civil libertarians and the defense bar, which have often argued that bail restrictions are onerous and slanted against the poor, who may not be able to afford the amount that judges set. "I'm not much in favor of money bail, period," said Jerome E. McElroy, the executive director of the New York City Criminal Justice Agency, a nonprofit organization that provides pretrial release services. I would be in favor of presenting the defendant with alternative ways in which he can make it. Bail is designed to ensure that defendants return to court for required proceedings while their cases are pending. Judges have the discretion to hold defendants in jail without setting bail. About 44 percent of New York City defendants who are offered bail do not post it, Mr. McElroy said. The ruling stems from a case in the Bronx in which Shaun McManus was arrested three years ago on charges of violating an order of protection. A State Supreme Court justice ordered that Mr. McManus be held in $20,000 bail, and said that he could only post it in cash. Mr. McManus appealed the decision, citing a clause in state law saying that a "court may direct that the bail be posted in any one of two or more of the forms." That clause, Mr. McManus argued, meant that judges were required to allow at least two ways of posting bail. The Bronx district attorney's office, which was prosecuting the charges against Mr. McManus, argued that the way the statute was written showed that the Legislature intended judges to have discretion in what type of bail they set. Judge Victoria A. Graffeo, who wrote the opinion, said that "providing flexible bail alternatives to pretrial detainees - who are presumptively innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt - is consistent with the underlying purpose" of the law. Judges still have the discretion to require defendants to post high amounts of cash if they want to be released on bail, Judge Graffeo wrote. For instance, she wrote, a judge could set a bail of $20,000 cash or a $200,000 bond, which would need to be secured with a 10 percent payment, meaning that the defendant would still have to come up with $20,000 cash.