Anyway, to recap "from our last episode": John was denied bond by a magistrate following his arraignment on July 2nd. Last Thursday, his attorney filed a motion for a District Court judge to review the magistrate's ruling. On Friday, the District Court judge looked at the case, acknowledged a few obvious facts, and promptly upheld the magistrate's original ruling denying him bond. John's attorney immediately filed an appeal to the Circuit Court, and a hearing was scheduled for Wednesday morning.
And now for the continuing saga: The hearing was Wednesday morning. Nobody thought he'd be given bond. But, lo and behold, the Circuit Court judge granted his request. That was very surprising (and dismaying) to a lot of us. People are now going into hiding.
Evidently this Circuit Court judge was a former defense attorney, which may or may not have been a factor in his decision. He might simply have been bored, out-to-lunch, drunk, smoking pot, or just plain stupid. Who knows? Dad says the hearing lasted about ten minutes, and that most of that time was monopolized by John's attorney. He went on and on, claiming that John was a wonderful guy with ties to the community, that the shooting was done in self-defense (which isn't true and should not have been considered relevant in a bond hearing anyway), and that the prosecution didn't have any evidence to support the notion that John is an obsessed, stalking sociopath, and thus a danger to himself or others. The prosecution was given very little time to say "actually, yes, we really do have evidence, starting with..." etc. etc. etc.
Most people charged with crimes in America are granted bond -- in other words, they're given the option of putting up collateral in the form of bail with an agreement to stay in town and otherwise behave themselves -- in exchange for being able to spend their pre-trial days/weeks/months/years out of jail. The idea is that you're innocent until proven guilty, so the government shouldn't ruin your life prior to conviction. Most people, however, aren't being charged with first degree murder.
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, first degree murder is a class 2 felony, punishable by 20 years to life. Under Virginia statute, a judge making a bond ruling in such a case is required to operate with a bias against granting the defendant what's called "admission to bail" (i.e., setting a bail amount).1 That's subject to rebuttal by the defense, of course, but they're supposed to start with the presumption that the person is a flight risk and/or a dangerous person, which are the legal criteria for holding someone without bond. The judge is not to attempt to assess the merits of the criminal case itself, but simply determine if the person is too dangerous or too slippery to let out of jail prior to trial.
Personally, I think the judge made a grave professional error, that he ignored the statute, ignored the facts presented to him by the prosecution, and is placing innocent people in danger as a result. I think he ought to be reprimanded. I'm biased, of course, but evidently, so was he. The detective and the prosecuting attorney (who have at least half a century of professional experience between them), plus another attorney I spoke to, were all agog.
HOWEVER...
...NOTWITHSTANDING THE ABOVE...
...John is, as of this moment, still in jail. What's that you say? He was granted bond on Wednesday morning, has loads of cash, and is still sitting in the tank?!! Why, yes! He is! (The cash, by the way, also makes him a flight risk, pardon my peeve...) Anyway, he's still in jail for now -- that could change. But in the mean time, we're grateful. We're not sure of the exact sequence of events following Wednesday's hearing, but we do know the following:
- Katie Swart (our prosecutor, whom we love) quickly filed an emergency appeal which hasn't been ruled upon yet.
- John has been having trouble finding a bail bond agent who's willing to sign him up. The reason for that is not public information. But given the fact that they'll lose $400,000 if he doesn't behave himself during his release, I'm thinking that might be a factor. (Observe the subtle hint of sarcasm.)
The moral of this story is that sometimes bail bond agents are smarter than Circuit Court judges. Go figure. I'm just grateful he's still in jail, and I hope he doesn't get out.
Sooner or later, we'll see how this soap opera plays out. That is to say, "Join us next time for more thrilling drama (as we rip our hair out) in "As the Bail Turns!" Yadda, yadda, yadda...
~ Lisa
1 The statute regarding admission to bail reads as follows: "The judicial officer shall presume, subject to rebuttal, that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of the person or the safety of the public if the person is currently charged with...an offense for which the maximum sentence is life imprisonment..." (Code of Virginia, §19.2-120.B, emphasis added).
