Here is a selection of national and local news related to bail bonds and jail.
R. Kelly is in jail and still in the news. Some call it “a substantial change of circumstances” but in most cases it is known as “I want my money back.”
“An attorney for the woman, Valencia Love, who paid the $100,000 bail money for Kelly to be released from jail earlier this year asked Flood to return that money to her. “There’s been a substantial change of circumstances,” attorney John Collins said. “In this instance, he’s held no bond, so the purposes of the bond are frustrated in Illinois.” Collins said the woman who paid Kelly’s bail had no knowledge of additional investigations against Kelly when she agreed to put up the 10% of his $1 million bond required to spring him from jail. With Kelly now being held without bond on separate federal sex crime charges, Collins said, “there’s no need to have her money sitting in deposit.”
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It does happen quite often in sports, or after sports, when the game continues in a different court. Please note the detail about “jumping a 10-foot fence.”
“Speedy Noil, who played for the Aggies from 2014-16, was arrested on charges of assault, evading arrest and failure to pay bond on two previous charges, according to Travis L. Brown of The Bryan-College Station Eagle. Noil was released after posting $14,000 bail.
Per the report, Noil was accused of striking a man who was helping serve an eviction notice to Noil on April 19. Noil struck the man in the side of the face with a closed fist, and the two wrestled after that hit. Noil then fled as officers arrived.
Noil pulled a knife the next day when a security guard asked him to turn down loud music at The Lofts at Wolf Pen Creek. After placing the knife on a desk, Noil again fled, this time escaping by jumping a 10-foot fence.”
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And in Galveston, Texas, there is a sea of change, at least for now.
“A federal district judge on Wednesday issued a temporary injunction in a 2018 lawsuit where attorneys for inmates have called Galveston County’s money bail system discriminatory against poor criminal defendants. The court’s order doesn’t target the entire pretrial system — which has largely changed since the suit was filed after federal rulings against Harris County. But it requires poor arrestees to have a lawyer at their first court appearance, where their bail is set to determine the monetary or other conditions under which an arrestee can be released from jail before trial.
The ACLU of Texas, which represents Galveston County inmates in the lawsuit, said in a statement after the order that it was the first court in the country to conclude that the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees a right to counsel, requires defense attorneys to be provided at initial bail-setting hearings.
“It’s a matter of basic fairness that you should get a lawyer before a judge decides whether to lock you in jail,” said Trisha Trigilio, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Texas. “Unsurprisingly, without lawyers to advocate for their release, many people wind up in jail who shouldn’t be there. And even a short time in jail can have devastating repercussions on someone’s life.”