Bound by Bond: Debate rages over system, security
Published 12:00 am Sunday, September 1, 2002
Misti Frederickson has her opinion about the safety of residents in Selma. She doesn’t believe a shortage in police manpower is the only problem.
In her letter, Frederickson pointed to a recent bond hearing held for Kelvin Ellis. Ellis is charged with the armed robbery of a local restaurant. During the robbery, Ellis allegedly pointed a gun at a restaurant employee’s head and pulled the trigger.
The gun didn’t fire, but Frederickson doesn’t care.
District Court Judge Nathaniel Walker initially set bond for Ellis at $15,000. Because defendants in Dallas County only have to post 8 percent of a bond, Ellis could have been back on the street again for as little as $1,200.
Circuit Court Judge Jack Meigs later raised his bond to $50,000 after a grand jury indicted the suspect.
Bonds are not punishment. In the legal system, they are intended to ensure that a suspected criminal returns for his trial.
Still, a number of Selma residents &045;&045; including Selma Police Chief Robert Green &045;&045; feel bonds should be used to protect the public until a trial is held, especially in cases involving violent crimes or repeat offenders.
Green has dubbed some of the bonds set in recent cases as &uot;absolutely ridiculous.&uot;
Others, like Frederickson, target the judge charged with setting bonds initially for suspected criminals. In Selma, that judge is Nathaniel Walker.
Walker attempted to answer his critics recently in a letter to the editor published in the Times-Journal.
The Times-Journal attempted to interview Walker on several occasions in the past week, but he steadfastly refused to comment. He dismissed the focus on how bonds are set as nothing more than a mud-slinging attack on him.
That’s something people like Darrie Pettway will have to decide. Pettway is the restaurant employee at whom Ellis allegedly pointed his gun and pulled the trigger.
In his letter to the editor, Walker wrote, &uot;The bias and slanted reporting of the [Times-Journal] is something that I have ignored during most of the years that I lived and worked in Selma. But enough is enough!&uot;
In one way or another, most people agree that enough is enough.
During the Times-Journal’s attempts to interview Walker, the district judge said he would have no comment to any question asked.