US KY: Series: Meth - A Rising Blight (Part 2D)

After The Arrest

BONDS OFTEN LOW FOR METH SUSPECTS

Many Set Free In Louisville

Most suspected meth cooks arrested in metro Louisville in the past two
years were set free with little or no bond, The Courier-Journal has learned.

A review of methamphetamine manufacturing cases in district court for the
past two years found that 39 out of 88 suspects were released on their own
recognizance. Nineteen others were released on bonds of $2,000 or less.

James Sage, 30, was arrested in May on suspicion of manufacturing meth
after officers found a lab in his vehicle, authorities said. He was
released on his own recognizance.

Jason Goldsmith, 26, was arrested last year on methtrafficking charges. He,
too, was released on his own recognizance.

While they were awaiting the resolution of their cases, they were arrested
again, this time together, allegedly for manufacturing meth. Authorities
said they were in a meth lab in a southern Louisville garage in early
September when it exploded.

The two men were hospitalized for serious burns. And then they were
released again on their personal recognizance.

Sage and Goldsmith could not be reached for comment.

Jefferson Circuit Judge Barry Willett said judges' bonds are not meant to
be punishments. Bonds are meant to ensure people show up in court, and by
law a bond "shall not be oppressive."

"There is a presumption of innocence," Willett said. "You can't just put
everyone charged with a crime in jail on high bonds."

Yet he acknowledged that a judge also must consider the person's likelihood
to commit another crime.

"If a judge believes the subject would resume criminal activity, that's a
factor in issuing a high bail."

Cheyenne Albro, director of the Pennyrile Task Force in Western Kentucky,
said judges need to understand that meth cases are unlike others and that
manufacturing endangers more people than the cook.

Low bonds - or no bonds - worsen the problem, he said.

"Anyone will tell you meth addiction is a sickness. You are just putting
people back out to continue feeding that disease."

State Sen. Dan Kelly, R-Springfield, who is Senate majority leader and a
lawyer with clients battling meth addiction, said he believes that those
arrested on meth charges should be assessed for their level of addiction.

"Someone should not be bonded out unless to a treatment center if they come
in addicted," Kelly said.

In Missouri, which has led the nation in the number of meth lab seizures
for the past five years, county prosecutors routinely asked judges to issue
high bonds in most meth cases.

Troy Leavitt, former metro meth prosecutor in the Kansas City area, said he
would ask for $50,000 to $100,000 bonds.

"The judges would agree to it," he said. "When we're talking about a meth
lab, we're talking about someone who is a threat to the community."