§ 12-10-2 - Powers of justices of the peace.
SECTION 12-10-2
§ 12-10-2 Powers of justices of the peace.– (a) The chief judge of the district court shall from time to time appoint, withpower to revoke the appointments, from those qualified justices of the peacewho shall be members of the bar of the state of Rhode Island within the citiesand towns and divisions of the district court, as many justices of the peace ashe or she may deem necessary, who shall be authorized to set and take bail inall complaints bailable before a division of the district court except thoseoffenses punishable by life imprisonment and, in default of bail, to commit tothe adult correctional institutions all respondents arrested on thosecomplaints. The chief judge shall authorize the justices of the peace, soappointed by him or her, to issue warrants and complaints returnable to thedivision of the district court for any offense for which by law a judge of thedistrict court may issue a warrant and complaint, and all warrants so issued,and all warrants and complaints upon which bail is taken or commitments aremade, shall be immediately returned to the divisions; provided, that thejustices of the peace shall not in any case or for any purpose have the powerto issue search warrants. The justices of the peace may also set and take bail,as provided in this section, commit and issue warrants (except search warrants)in any division where the defendant is being held by the state police, themetropolitan park police, conservation officers of the department ofenvironmental management, a sheriff or deputy sheriff, the capitol police, thecampus security forces of the state colleges and universities, or city or townpolice forces.
(2) Whenever probable cause exists that a defendant is aviolator of bail and/or probation in the district court or superior court, uponbeing presented with a violation report by an attorney for the state, and uponmaking a finding that the defendant is subject to violation of bail and/orprobation and that probable cause exists on the new charge being brought, thejustice of the peace shall issue his or her writ of mittimus confining thedefendant without bail and issue a writ of habeas corpus returnable to the nextsitting of the district court and make a finding of probable violation inwriting. The justice of the peace shall proceed to arraign the defendant on thenew charge pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection. The justice of thepeace shall return his or her writs and other documentation of a district courtviolation to the clerk of the district court; regarding any superior courtviolation the attorney for the state shall notify the clerk of the superiorcourt for the county where the case originated for which a finding of probableviolation was made of the finding of probable violation and the attorney forthe state shall, on the same date, request a judge or magistrate of thesuperior court to issue a writ of habeas corpus for the purpose of a violationpresentation before the superior court returnable to the next sitting of thesuperior court in the county.
(b) In misdemeanor cases a justice of the peace may acceptpleas of not guilty in which case the justice of the peace may schedule apre-trial conference date before a judge of the district court.
(c) In non-capital felony cases the justices of the peace mayalso schedule felony screening dates.
(d) The fee for the justices of the peace shall be fiftydollars ($50.00) paid by each individual who appears before him or her;provided, that when a special session is requested between the hours of 11:00p.m. and 8:00 a.m., the fee shall be arranged between the defendant and thejustice of the peace but shall not exceed two hundred dollars ($200). Justicesof the peace shall have immunity for any actions taken pursuant to theprovisions of this section.