Lawmakers Want Bail Bond Reform after Chase that Injured S.C. Deputy
By Ted Clifford
Source The State
Since receiving an $80,000 bond for a 2018 murder charge, Eugene Ivery III has been granted bond after being arrested on three more occasions. The most recent was Sunday, when Ivery received a $150,000 bond following a police chase that seriously injured a Richland County sheriff’s deputy.
He was released hours later after his bond was paid by the Bad Boyz Bail Bonds.
Ivery’s case is the latest incident that prompted Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott to call for changes in the way bond is evaluated and set in South Carolina. On Wednesday, Lott was joined at a news conference by state Sens. Brian Adams and Dick Harpootlian, who announced that they were exploring legislation to address what Lott characterized as a crack in the criminal justice system.
“I do criminal defense work, everybody is entitled to their bond,” said Harpootlian, D- Richland. “But it’s a problem that’s plaguing the entire state.”
Adams and Harpootlian described the proposed legislation as a bipartisan effort to introduce common sense bail reform.
“I’m a Republican, Sen. Harpootlian is a Democrat. This is not a partisan issue,” Adams, of Berkeley County, said.
Adams said he is exploring legislation that would end practices like allowing defendants to enter a payment schedule with a bond company if they had already violated a bond once. The defendant would be required to pay the full bond before being released.
They are hoping that a bond reform bill might be ready for filing when the legislative session resumes in January, said Adams.
Harpootlian also urged solicitors to make more use of estreatments — a legal mechanism that allows the courts to confiscate the money paid for bond if a defendant violates the conditions of their release. This would make bond companies less willing to grant bond to defendants with a history of reoffending while on bond, said Harpootlian.
In 2021, the Fifth Judicial Circuit, which covers Richland and Lexington Counties, recorded just $790 in estreatments, according to data from South Carolina’s Commission on Prosecution Coordination.
“They’re checks and balances all the way along the system,” Harpootlian said, “but we’ve got to get everybody working together.”
On Oct. 8, deputies smelled marijuana as they approached Keefe’s vehicle at the Gazbah Gas Station at 6200 Farrow Road, according to a statement released by the sheriff’s department. Ivery, who was driving the vehicle, allegedly fled and was pursued by sheriff’s deputies. Deputy Zach Keefe, a K9 handler at the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, was injured when he collided with another deputy during the pursuit.
Ivery only stopped when he ran out of gas, Lott said.
This is the second time in recent months that Lott has taken aim at South Carolina’s bond system. In August, Lott criticized the bond set for a defendant who severely injured another K9 handler while fleeing the scene in his car.
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