Jackson Municipal Court Judge June Hardwick gave yet another $100,000 bond for murder. JPD arrested Cedric Taylor on March 6 and charged him with murder in the death of Dewan Fortner.
Police found the body of Dewan Fortner behind a vacant building in Bolton. He died from a gunshot wound to the head. He left behind eight children. Judge Hardwick set his bond at $100,000 for murder and $25,000 for the charge of felon in possession of a firearm.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time Judge Hardwick has issued a low bond on a murder charge. JJ reported on April 4, 2018:
JPD arrested Traunta Moore Saturday night for the murder of Courtney "Big Red" Butler on Fort Street late Saturday morning. JPD said the two men began arguing when Moore shot Butler. Moore was also charged with resisting arrest, various traffic offenses, simple assault, and disorderly conduct.Earlier post.Judge Hardwick set his bond at $100,000. He made bail and was released from jail. A Hinds County grand jury indicted him for capital murder. Circuit Judge Joseph Sclafani set his bond at $300,000 at arraignment. His public defender, Alison Kelly, squawked to the new circuit judge, Faye Peterson, that the bond was excessive and asked for it to be reduced back to $100,000 in a motion filed on January 28. Judge Peterson has not ruled on the motion.
Kingfish note: Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba appointed this judge. This low bond is not an outlier but yet another example of how Judge Hardwick treats accused killers in Jackson. The Mayor and his peeps gave a nice dog and pony show about crime to the City Council a few weeks ago. Well, Mr. Mayor, you want to do something about crime? Do something about your judges. Of course, bonds such as this one are what the people of Jackson want. The Mayor's father appointed June Hardwick to the bench, where she gave out low bonds and "Get Out of Jail Free" cards. The people of Jackson knew this when they elected the current Mayor so they are undoubtedly happy with $100,000 murder bonds.
25 comments:
Poor June is not the smartest.
Someone WHO is good at research should data mine Jackson Jambalaya to fine out how often a low bond has been set & the results of that low bond on the community.
(No. of Bonds for Murder-No. of Low Bonds for Murder)/Crime Activity of released perp=Increase of Crimes by giving low Bond
The bail system is very screwed up and manipulated by bail bondsmen. In many cases, excessive bails are set for non-violent offenses and people needlessly set in jail because they have a drug problem. But in cases like this, where someone is a demonstrated danger to the public, they should not be released at all. The answer is not a "high bail" for people who are a danger, it's no bail at all. Bail should only be used to secure appearance for someone who is highly unlikely to re-appear, like if they are from out of state. Of course, none of our politicians will say this because they are afraid of the boogeyman bail bondmsen.
Murder in Jackson is rapidly approaching the misdemeanor level.....at least when the accused gets to Court.
The victim with the bullet to the head wouldn't agree.
What else do you expect from a grown woman who, un-ironically, spells "amerikkka" with three ks?
Kingfish....have you looked at the data that corresponds with setting a high bail and whether or not it serves as a deterrent for crime? For someone who does a lot of research, I’m surprised that you’re not talking about true statistical data. Just curious.
The philosophy of the present administration is that the justice system is completely skewed against Black and poor people. Any judge appointed by mayor Antar must be willing to take a visible swipe at the "system" often enough so that everyone knows that the rich have no advantage in a Jackson Court. Bail is the obvious way to make this statement. Problem is, that statement is more important to these people than the consequences of a revolving door, hence violent crime has become trivial. These nuts are idealists with no foot touching the real world. But at least Antar gave warning: We will be the most radical city in the country.
What is the big talker @12:52 waiting for? Post the "true statistical data". Put up.
Kingfish: you and your readers should look up the 8th Amendment and Lawson Factors.
June Hardwick was, and always will be a public defender. No matter what her title says.
Coming to this blog (and I do that daily) is depressing when I read about this kind of shit and realize I have no say in the matter. And I have no say in anything else, either.
City Council could call the Mayor on the carpet to discuss her but it won't do it. They'll bitch about her in private but won't do anything on the record.
3:36 Presumably you are referring to the 8th amendment's prohibition against excessive bail. If so, you might also note the prevailing case law regarding bail as set for murder charges. You will note that most often at the preliminary stage (which is when municipal judges preside) there is usually no bail at all or very high bail (often in the millions). Since investigations are still ongoing and the accused will have ample opportunity to challenge bail before the actual trial court, this practice is fairly routine and prevails in most jurisdictions. With an accused murderer most communities expect their municipal judges to be better safe than sorry. Except Jackson.
8th amendment cases are pretty interesting especially the old ones dealing with cruel and unusual punishment. I echo your observation. However, I don't think they give any cover whatsoever to Jackson Municipal Court Judge's and their generous bail for homicides.
This Judge understands that murder is just not that big a deal in Jackson except when a white person kills somebody black. Then it's a BIG BIG deal.
BLM
Prior convicted felon charged with murder by firearm. June is a joke.
18 U.S. Code § 922 Defines Felon in possession of a firearm as a federal crime. Why is the BATFE not involved? I doubt that a federal judge would be so lenient.
to 8:16am... felon in possession of a firearm is also a violation of state law. " why isn't BATFE involved you ask? you dont know much about the federal system do you? the feds absolutely pick and choose the cases they want to investigate and prosecute. they dont come running every time some thug jackson is arrested.
125.000$ bond total. thats going cost about $14,000 to bail out. despite the fact that all the humanoids on thus blog think everybody is filthy rich ,trust me they are not. how many of you guys got $14,000 at your disposal? this guy is not going anywhere any time soon. try reading the 8th amendment. i realize thats very difficult for some people.
famous u-tube quote by hardwick....."true monarchs groom their successors" . well i guess she was groomed by her true monarch chockwe lumumba.
Really? One from a year ago mentioned in this post met it and got out of jail.
Tommie Young was only 18 years old and bailed out on a $100K bond less than 24 hours after it was set.
These bail bondsman take "installment plans" but there is no verification whether the payments are actually made past the first couple of them.
9:50 The 8th amendment IS NOT a get out of jail free (or cheap) card. The safety of the community AND the seriousness of the crime are SUPPOSED to be factors in determining bail. In most communities outside Jackson nothing is more unsafe or as serious as murder. A justice court or municipal judge is merely setting a PRELIMINARY bond, which can be changed as the facts become available, so they MUST protect the community (unless it's Jackson) as a first priority. Obviously Mr. Lumumba's and Harwick's priority is something else and the result is that murder means little more than a big misdemeanor. Court's from Seattle to Miami routinely order no bail whatsoever or million dollar bail for murder suspects in preliminary hearings, so stop acting as if you know something about the 8th amendment your fellow Mississippians
don't.
What Hardwick and some other Judges are doing is a damn disgrace and most people in Jackson know it. They just go along to get along.
"Murder in Jackson is rapidly approaching the misdemeanor level.....at least when the accused gets to Court.
The victim with the bullet to the head wouldn't agree."
March 13, 2019 at 11:48 AM
Neither would all the lynching victims when it was commonplace. Oh I forgot, those who committed the lynchings didn't get charged at all.
I actually agree with your statement but don't make blacks committing murder more egregious than whites who did and do the same.
TO 11:23AM ....SO YOU KNOW EVERYTHING about courts from seattle to miami , huh? well if you are so smart why are you stuck in a cotton chopping third world backwater like mississippi? and BTW im not one of your"fellow mississippians".
9:41AM, I am very familiar with how federal law enforcement works. Thank you for reinforcing my point. Sorry you didn’t recognize satire.
4:55PM Are you serious? Why are you even on here? Also, are you 12 or under? That’s the only excuse for the grammar used in that post. Maybe you should check your ability to sound like a cohesive adult before calling our state a “third world backwater.”
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