The man who allegedly shot six outside a Nashville nightclub on Sunday was previously released from jail on a $50,000 bond, the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) confirmed.
Williams is accused of injuring six in a shooting near the Soho Lounge in South Nashville, with MNPD reporting officers were initially responding to a call about “persons with guns fighting.”
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The man police say was responsible for the Friday shooting that claimed the life of a Memphis police officer and left two more wounded was previously arrested in March on theft and gun charges.
Memphis Police Department (MPD) arrest and bail records obtained by The Tennessee Star reveal that 18-year-old Jaylen Lobley, who died in the Friday shooting with police, was previously arrested on March 5 after police responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle.
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Bills advancing through the Tennessee General Assembly would make it a misdemeanor crime for a defendant to violate the conditions of their bail.
The legislation seeks to create a new Class A misdemeanor offense to charge defendants who violate the terms of release secured by paying a bond. Lawmakers specifically want to amend the existing Tennessee Code that mandates arrest warrants be filed for those who violate their release terms to also include the criminal offense.
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The Georgia State Senate passed a bill that would increase the number of criminal offenses for which a criminal must pay bail before release and limit the ability of individuals and non profits to post bail repeatedly.
Introduced by Senator Randy Robertson (R-Cataula), SB 63 would require those judges to set bail for defendants accused of committing 30 additional crimes and remove the ability of any individual, business, nonprofit, or other group from posting “more than three cash bonds” per year.
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A spokesman for Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) on Monday provided The Tennessee Star with new details about the constitutional amendment proposed last week in Memphis to allow Tennessee judges to refuse to grant bail to more violent criminals.
Sexton was joined by Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and Memphis Mayor Paul Young in a Friday press event with other lawmakers and community leaders to call for the constitutional amendment, which would need to be approved by Tennessee voters in a public referendum.
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Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) joined Memphis Mayor Paul Young and a number of lawmakers from both major political parties at a Friday press event in Memphis to call for an amendment to the Tennessee Constitution that would empower judges to deny bail more often.
Sexton, Johnson and Young were joined by State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) and State Representative Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis), and other local leaders, to call for the constitutional amendment.
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The Davidson County General Sessions Court judicial magistrate who set the $10,000 bond for Shaquille Taylor in a case related to an alleged carjacking that occurred in September was identified to The Tennessee Star by the State Warrant and Bond Office on Friday as Steve Holzapfel. Taylor is accused of shooting 18-year-old Belmont University student Jillian Ludwig in the head after missing a court appearance related to the carjacking case.
Ludwig died on Thursday, two days after Taylor allegedly shot her while she was walking near the Belmont University campus. Taylor is currently in custody with a new bond of $280,000 on charges that are expected to be upgraded to murder.
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Shaquille Taylor, 29, the alleged killer of Belmont University freshman Jillian Ludwig, who died on Thursday after being shot in the head while walking near campus on Tuesday, was released from Metro Nashville Davidson County Jail on September 23, after bonding out subsequent to his arrest on September 21 on felony auto theft charges.
A $10,000 bond was set by a Davidson County General Sessions Court judge when he was arraigned on those charges, and the company who posted the bond, Brooke’s Bail Bonding, told The Tennessee Star it was doubled when Taylor missed court on November 3. A clerk at the Davidson County Criminal Court told The Star on Thursday that records show Brooke’s Bail Bonding paid $10,000 to the court. Brooke’s Bail Bonding owner Brooke Harlan said her company was attempting to secure a new court date for Taylor at the time of his latest arrest.
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Connecticut House Republicans are calling for a public hearing on a proposal by the state’s court system that would reduce bail for some criminal defendants, a move they argue could jeopardize public safety.
The judicial branch’s Rules Committee voted earlier this month to approve a plan to lower the percentage of bail a person must post to be released after they are arrested from 10% to 7% and increase the cap on bonds that can be posted through the court clerk’s office to $50,000 from $20,000, among other changes.
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I first ran for office because I saw problems in our state and wanted to be part of the solution for positive change. One such issue is the growing epidemic of crime in our communities.
My biggest frustration lately is seeing issues in our community, but having a Governor with whom the Legislature fundamentally disagrees on the solutions. It often feels like the wheels are spinning but we are going nowhere.
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In a busy and divisive day, the Republican-led Legislature on Wednesday passed several crime bills, a measure blocking what some say is the Evers administration’s assault on the First Amendment, and a resolution demanding the governor call an election for Secretary of State.
Many of the measures passed mostly along party lines, including a bill that defines “serious harm” and “violent crime” in state law. The proposal is tied to a bail reform constitutional amendment on next month’s spring election ballot. Under the amendment, judges would be allowed to consider expanded factors when issuing bail to violent offenders, beyond whether the defendant would show up for his court date.
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As recently as the mid-2000s, row offices were unwinnable for Democrats in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania — a GOP stronghold for over a century. By 2011, the Democrats would take over the Board of Commissioners. They now enjoy a three-to-two voter-registration advantage.
But now some Republicans sense voters are wearying of what the Democrats have overseen during their dozen-year ascendancy, including a “bail reform” measure that has unsettled local police. The commissioners also frequently increase property taxes, most recently by eight percent in 2022.
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While all eyes are on Wisconsin’s crucial Supreme Court election, the April 4 ballot also includes an important question asking voters to amend the state’s constitution.
The constitutional amendment proposes to reform a bail system that most agree is broken, although there’s argument on how to fix it. State Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) and State Rep. Cindi Duchow (R-Delafield), authors of the legislation, offer answers to many of the most frequently asked questions surrounding their proposed amendment.
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Last week, following the killing of police officer Peter Jerving, local and state leaders alike called for change to stop the senseless, preventable, tragic violence in Milwaukee. And they’re right. While the causes of violence are many, solving the crisis that is the Milwaukee criminal justice system would go a long way.
Let’s start with the front line – police officers and police policies.
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A constitutional amendment proposal to reform Wisconsin’s cash bail system is now headed to voters in April’s election. Following the Republican-controlled Senate’s approval of the measure earlier this week, the GOP-dominated Assembly on Thursday passed the resolution.
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A measure calling for a state constitutional amendment on bail reform is one step closer to going to Wisconsin voters.
The Senate in session Tuesday passed the measure 23-9, sending it to the Assembly for a vote on Thursday. If the resolution passes, it will head to voters to decide in an April election that includes a Wisconsin Supreme Court race that could determine whether the court’s majority is controlled by conservatives or liberals.
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Republicans in Madison are moving quickly to change how bail works in Wisconsin.
A pair of lawmakers want to take the first vote next week on a Constitutional amendment that would give judges more latitude in deciding when to keep someone in jail and when to release them.
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While Ohioans can vote on some bail reform issues on Election Day, lawmakers and other policy groups continue to work on other aspects in the General Assembly.
The ballot wording on Issue One gives the legislature room to pass bills that would add to the requirements judges must use to establish bail. That, according to the Columbus-based Buckeye Institute, provides an opportunity to continue to tackle issues it believes are key.
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Ohio voters will decide in November on a bail reform measure that could move the state toward cash bail and requires judges to consider public safety when setting bail provisions.
Attorney General Dave Yost praised the passage of House Joint Resolution 2 and Senate Joint Resolution 5 as issues that came in response to an Ohio Supreme Court decision upholding an appeals court ruling that public safety cannot be considered when determining bail.
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A recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling focusing on considerations a judge weighs when setting bail has led to activity in the Ohio Statehouse.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost expressed so much concern about the court’s 4-3 decision in DuBose vs. McGuffey, a ruling that upheld an appellate court’s decision permitting the reduction of a murder suspect’s bail without considering community safety, that he recently announced his support for a proposed constitutional amendment regarding bail reform.
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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Tuesday pardoned 30 individuals that were convicted for a host of violations, including drug distribution.
With the added numbers, Evers has now released 337 convicted criminals in his first three years leading the state.
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A far-left philanthropist who has been called “mini-Soros” is allegedly behind bail reform laws across America, including the one in Waukesha County, Wisconsin that freed career criminal Darell Brooks on $1000 bail before he allegedly plowed his SUV into participants of the Waukesha Christmas Parade.
Brooks was charged with six murders and a litany of other crimes after the attack, which also injured dozens more.
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Billionaire philanthropist John Arnold is one of the creators of a bail calculation tool used in Waukesha, Wisc., the jurisdiction that set Darrell Brooks Jr.’s bail so low that he was able to be leave jail and allegedly plow an SUV into a crowd of Christmas parade-goers, killing six people and injuring several dozen others.
Arnold and his wife, Laura, fund a range of left-leaning social and legal projects, including bail reform, abortion rights, anti-gun work, and single-payer health care. A commentary published in Investor’s Business Daily called them “the mini George Soroses” because of the notable similarities between their political-philanthropic goals and those of the notoriously left-wing philanthropist, according to legalnewswire.com.
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In a prophecy 14 years in the making, the Milwaukee prosecutor whose office let Waukesha parade massacre defendant Darrell E. Brooks off on $1,000 bail for an earlier serious offense admitted his steadfast support for bail reform would one day have deadly consequences.
“Is there going to be an individual I divert, or I put into a treatment program, who is going to go out and kill somebody?” Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm asked in an interview with the Milwaukee-Journal-Sentinel in 2007. “You bet. Guaranteed. It’s guaranteed to happen. It does not invalidate the overall approach.”
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Democratic-run cities that have implemented bail reform have seen a rise in criminal activity amid the release of criminals with multiple offenses who went on to commit additional crimes following their releases.
Just five days before allegedly plowing a red SUV through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisc., killing six, the suspected attacker, who had a long criminal history, had been released on $1,000 bail in a case in which he was accused of running a woman over in his car. The low bail for the suspect — even the Milwaukee County DA has since acknowledged it was “inappropriately low” — has thrust bail reform back to the forefront of the national conversation.
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A suitcase of marijuana, drunk driving, car burglary, a high-speed chase, murder and prostitution were some of the issues discussed during more than nine hours of testimony this week in front of Tennessee’s Joint Senate Judiciary and House Criminal Justice Committee to Study Bail Reform.
Much of the early testimony centered on data and costs regarding how those accused of misdemeanors and felonies are handled in the pretrial process.
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Bi-partisan bills in both the Ohio state House and Senate introduced this week seek to reform the way the cash bail system works in the Buckeye State.
The dual legislation pieces, Senate Bill 182 and House Bill 315, would replace the current cash bail system with a new one determined by a person’s ability to pay the bail.
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