Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters was so stunned by the $1 million bond set Thursday for a man accused of a $21 theft from 1990 that he wouldn’t object to the man being freed.
“It’s a bit silly. The judge must have been having a bad day,” Deters said today of Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Richard Bernat.
Gary Weaver, 41, of Owingsville, Ky., came before Bernat on Thursday charged with disorderly conduct.
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Weave
r was arrested Wednesday at the Drake Motel in Sycamore Township and charged with cutting himself with a razor following the recent death of his brother and mother.
Weaver pleaded guilty to that charge Thursday and Bernat sentenced him to the one night he’d just spent at the Hamilton County Justice Center.
But another charge against Weaver also was on the books, a theft charge from 18 years ago.
In that case, Weaver was accused of theft of $21.64 from a Loveland store, paying for those goods with rolls of dimes that employees later discovered were rolls of pennies with dimes on each end.
Bernat, who didn’t return calls, ordered the original bond imposed on the case – $1 million – and refused to lower it.
That resulted in Weaver being housed in the Justice Center – which Sheriff Simon Leis Jr. has said is often overcrowded and has unsuccessfully campaigned for a tax increase to pay for a new jail – at least until the case is presented to a grand jury in 10 days.
That upset Hamilton County Public Defender Lou Strigari. “I think it’s an outrageous bond,” he said today. “How can you argue that the jail is full and then set a bond like this?”
Strigari is so upset he plans to file a motion Monday with the 1st District Court of Appeals, seeking to have the bond lowered – and Strigari has an ally in that in the prosecutor.
“We would not object to a lower bond,” Deters said.
Deters is fine with releasing Weaver without requiring any money being posted. “We need jail space for real criminals,” he said.
Bond is intended to ensure that someone who has been arrested will make his court appearances. The theory is that if someone posts money to be released from jail while his court case is pending, that is incentive to ensure the person arrested will come back to court. If that person doesn’t appear, the government keeps the money.
If Strigari is successful and Weaver is released, that will save taxpayers the $65 per day it costs to house each inmate at the Justice Center.
Earlier in the week, Bernat shocked defense attorneys when he refused to set a bond on three men accused of trying to sell between $10 million-$15 million in cocaine to undercover police.
That means no matter how much money the men posted, Bernat won’t release them.
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