News-Record.com

My column today:

An angry judge is pushing for changes that could make it harder for dangerous criminal suspects to get out of jail.

Guilford County’s top judge was already on the case.

Whatever happens, District Court Judge Susan Bray deserves credit for speaking out about a problem that makes a lot of people mad: alleged offenders being turned loose while waiting for trial — and then committing more crimes.

Bray reached the boiling point after Phillip Jeremy Holland was charged with assaulting Holi Olga Grant for the second time in three weeks. The first time, a magistrate released Holland on a written promise to appear, despite a record that included assault on a female and violating protective orders.

The second attack, April 18 at a women’s shelter in High Point, put Grant “in the hospital with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain,” Bray wrote in a memo to Catherine Eagles, Guilford County’s senior resident Superior Court judge, and Chief District Court Judge Joseph Turner. Releasing Holland without bond after his initial arrest was “completely inappropriate,” Bray fumed.

Once he was arrested again, Holland’s bond was set at $500,000.

Bray went on to propose a dozen changes to bond guidelines. Among them:

• Considering “weight of evidence against the defendant” when setting bond.

• Placing “very high” bonds on individuals charged with new crimes while on pretrial release for an earlier offense, “and I mean VERY HIGH.”

• “Verified gang involvement should trigger a high bond ... We can’t make it easy for gang members to get right back out of jail and terrorize the community.”

• Consider higher bonds for offenses “against children, the elderly and women (by men).”

Bray, who’s running unopposed for re-election, stated her objective in the memo: “We do have an obligation to put the safety of our community first.”

But community safety isn’t the only obligation the courts have. Another is to protect people’s rights, even people accused of crimes.

“Everybody is entitled to consideration of a bond,” Judge Eagles said Monday. “That’s a constitutional requirement.”

The Bill of Rights prohibits “excessive bail.”

Greensboro attorney Samuel Spagnola raised a similar concern on my blog in response to Bray’s memo: “A charge is NO evidence of guilt, and to base a bond merely on the charge alone as opposed to the factual basis for the charge and the other factors set out by statute runs counter to our system of justice.”

Eagles agreed that “you’re not going to have a trial” when a magistrate decides whether to set bond. But clear guidelines can help. She and Turner are working on the first update since 1995.
It’s overdue, District Court Judge Tom Jarrell said Monday. Bray “is right on the money, and I agree with her completely,” he said.

But bond guidelines, Jarrell added, are “merely guidelines.” When it comes to setting bonds, Guilford’s 14 District Court judges “all have a different take on that part of the job.” He named himself, Bray, Teresa Vincent and Wendy Enochs as those who draw “a hard line on bonds.” All are former prosecutors.

At the same time, keeping more offenders locked up requires jail space.

“The fact the jail is full is not a factor a judge should have to consider,” Jarrell said. But to Eagles it’s inescapable.

“The reality is the jail is really overcrowded. It’s not a safe place for the folks who work there. Something needs to be done,” she said.

Eagles supports building a new jail, but even with voter approval, that’s years away. In the meantime, judges and magistrates make decisions daily that determine whether accused offenders sit in jail, get out on bond or walk free.

Bray’s goal is laudable: “guidelines that are more responsive to protection of the community.”
What’s so difficult is balancing public safety against defendants’ rights and the reality of limited jail space. There’s no “mathematical formula,” Eagles said.

But, somehow, the equation should favor victims who don’t deserve to be hurt again and again.