WLWT: Inside Ohio’s Issue 1 bond reform proposal
UC Law professor weighs in on proposal before state voters
Ohio voters will consider Issue 1 on the November ballot. If passed it would remove the Ohio Supreme Court’s authority on determining bail amounts and conditions. Additionally, it would require courts to consider public safety and other factors when setting them.
Bond reform gained traction in response to an Ohio Supreme Court ruling in January after a $1.5 million bond was set for a Cincinnati man accused of fatally shooting a man during a robbery.
A lower court ruled the bond be set at $500,000 and the state’s High Court agreed saying public safety concerns brought forth by the victim’s family could be met by other requirements such as requiring electronic monitoring of the criminal defendant, which was done in the case.
Issue 1 has the support of Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
Donald Caster, assistant professor at UC Law and a staff attorney for the Ohio Innocence Project, spoke with WLWT for a story about the bond proposal.
“I want to be safe in my community and I want my wife to be safe in our community,” Caster told WLWT. “That all concerns me, but I also don’t want to lock people up without giving them some due process.”
Caster and other legal experts noted that Ohio already has a mechanism to keep dangerous defendants locked up known as a pretrial detention hearing. The hearing requires the prosecution and defense to provide evidence why the accused should or should not be denied bail.
Clear and convincing evidence must be shown the accused committed the offense and is a danger to society.
“One of the other concerns is that the Ohio Constitution says the Ohio Supreme Court makes the rules that courts have to follow in criminal cases including decisions about bail,” says Caster during a WLWT segment.
Listen to the full WLWT segment on Issue 1 in Ohio.
Learn more about Ohio's Issue 1 online.
Featured image courtesy of Unsplash.
Related Stories
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
App turns smartwatch into detector of structural heart disease
November 10, 2025
An app that uses an AI model to read a single-lead ECG from a smartwatch can detect structural heart disease, researchers reported at the 2025 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Although the technology requires further validation, researchers said it could help improve the identification of patients with heart failure, valvular conditions and left ventricular hypertrophy before they become symptomatic, which could improve the prognosis for people with these conditions.