🚀 go-pugleaf

Michael R. Gustafson II <mrg@acpub.duke.edu> wrote:
>Dave Briggman (paradigm@mercury.interpath.net) wrote:

>: It's amazing how none of the liberals have made any reference to my 
>: opinion that had he been black he'd still be in the Orange County jail 
>: (a regular term is "pre-trial detention") where the community would be 
>: guaranteed to be safe from him and he would be guaranteed to show up for 
>: his trial. No such guarantee exists with him on house arrest.

>Had he been Black I think there would probably be a greater 
>chance of his either getting a much larger bond or a no-bond
>hold.  Using a Greene-esque line of reasoning, given the 
>general economic state African-Americans face here, the bail 
>as set may have been sufficiently high...

bail for markey wilson, the 16 year old black durham resident charged with
kidnapping and assault (severely beating the male, raping the female) of
two duke students, was set at $500,000. he had a juvenile record behind him
as well, and a juvenile accomplice who should be arraigned today. 

>Which, I suppose, begs the question - should the affluence of the 
>accused or his/her family be taken into account when setting 
>bail? 

markey wilson remains in jail because his family cant (or maybe wont)
post bail. considering the two crimes i think the bails were comparable,
$175,000 versus $500,000, once the history of the accused and brutality
of each were taken into account. like you point out, i dont know if ability
to pay affects a bail setting - i could entertain arguments either way
and dont know what the courts discretion allows.

-mary beth