The Bail Challenge has poured greater than $90 million into bailing suspects out of jail, together with people who later killed folks whereas free on bail.
The group says its mission is to offer “free bail help” and “reunite households.” In a number of situations, nevertheless, defendants bailed out by the group later killed somebody, at occasions shortly after being launched from jail. In complete, the group claimed in a 2024 report that it has offered $91 million in “bail help” to defendants.
Under are people accused or convicted of homicide after The Bail Challenge paid their bail.
Donnie Allen
Donnie Allen allegedly murdered 27-year-old Benjamin McComas at a Cleveland rail station round 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 14, in response to FOX 8.
Allen was beforehand charged with drug possession, breaking and getting into, vandalism, obstructing official enterprise and possessing prison instruments in relation to a separate incident at a Cleveland rail station on Dec. 4.
His bond was initially set at $15,000, however Decide Pleasure Kennedy lowered it to $5,000 on Dec. 8.
The Bail Challenge offered the $500 for Allen to be bonded out of the Cuyahoga County Jail.
5 days after being launched from jail, Allen was arrested for the alleged homicide of McComas.
Two members of the family advised Fox Information Digital they’d advised The Bail Challenge that Allen shouldn’t be launched, as a result of he would proceed to reoffend and wishes skilled assist or to stay incarcerated.
The group ignored their warnings, they mentioned.
“We knew that he would find yourself in [jail] anyway, as a result of he does break into folks’s vehicles and whatnot. We simply, we’ve all the time wished one of the best for him. Each time he begins doing good, he self-sabotages and simply finally ends up again in jail. And that’s the explanation why we felt the necessity to allow them to know that they shouldn’t submit his bail,” one member of the family advised Fox Information Digital. “I simply really feel like the entire state of affairs may have been prevented and a life could be dwelling had they listened to what we needed to say after they requested.”
Allen has a prolonged rap sheet, which dates again to at the very least 2019 and contains housebreaking, assault on a peace officer, resting arrest and extra.
Allen’s lawyer, James Jenkins, beforehand advised Fox Information Digital that the Dec. 14 alleged homicide was “removed from” an intentional murder.
Travis Lang
Travis Lang was initially arrested in December 2020 on costs of possession of cocaine along with three different felony costs, together with breaking and getting into, resisting arrest and housebreaking, in response to FOX 59.
The Bail Challenge assisted in making a $5,650 fee in direction of his bail, and he was launched in January 2021.
Dylan McGinnis, 24, was shot and killed by Lang on Oct. 1, 2021.
McGinnis’ mom advised Fox Information Digital that he was serving to a buddy get again on her ft when he was killed.
FOX 59 reported that McGinnis was within the automotive with a girl who was doing a drug cope with Lang when he was shot and killed.
Lang was charged with homicide after McGinnis’ dying and convicted in 2023.
“Simply understanding Dylan and the sort of person who he was, in my view, he most probably simply didn’t need her to go by herself or be alone. He most likely feared for her,” mentioned McGinnis’ mom, Nikki Sterling.
Samuel Lee Scott
Samuel Lee Scott was arrested in April 2019 in St. Louis, Missouri, after he hit his spouse, 54-year-old Marcia Johnson, within the face and threatened to “end what (he) began” in January.
Scott was charged with misdemeanor home assault, and The Bail Challenge posted his $5,000 bail on April 9.
Simply hours after Scott was launched from jail, Johnson was discovered by a buddy along with her head and physique bloodied.
She was discovered “unconscious, had a damaged eye socket, a number of damaged ribs, and was bruised from head to toe,” in response to a possible trigger assertion.
Johnson died shortly after being hospitalized.
Scott was charged with first-degree homicide in relation to Johnson’s dying. He had earlier convictions for assault and drug costs. Scott was discovered responsible of murdering his spouse in 2022 and sentenced to life with out parole.
The Bail Challenge’s Government Director Robin Steinberg beforehand mentioned in an announcement that whereas the group was “deeply saddened” with Johnson’s dying, blame shouldn’t be directed in direction of the group.
“Nobody may have predicted this tragedy,” Steinberg mentioned in an announcement. “It’s vital to do not forget that had he been rich sufficient to afford his bail, or bonded out by a industrial bail bond company, he would have been free pretrial as properly. In occasions like this, we should come collectively for this household and preserve sight of the necessity to remodel the bigger techniques that create poverty, racism and violence, together with the pretrial bail system.”
Marcus Garvin
Marcus Garvin was initially arrested after he was charged with battery for an incident in December 2020 the place he allegedly stabbed a buyer at an Indianapolis Circle Okay comfort retailer, in response to WRTV.
His bond was initially set at $30,000 for that incident, however was lowered to $1,500 on Jan. 11, 2021, by Marion Superior Court docket Decide Shatrese Flowers, who ordered him on GPS monitoring.
The Bail Challenge paid Garvin’s $1,500 bond, in response to FOX 59.
On July 24, 2021, Garvin stabbed 30-year-old Christie Holt to dying at a motel and tried to dismember her physique.
Finally, Garvin determined to dump her physique close to the motel.
Garvin admitted to stabbing and killing Holt, and repeatedly apologized however mentioned “she deserved it,” an affidavit mentioned.
He added that he missed her and nonetheless liked her, however felt like “he had no different possibility.”
Garvin pleaded responsible to homicide and was sentenced to 45 years in jail.
In an announcement to Fox Information Digital, The Bail Challenge mentioned: “The Bail Challenge condemns violence, and we’re deeply involved by any allegations involving our purchasers, particularly those who embrace a lack of life,” the group mentioned. “Instances like these are extraordinarily uncommon. Throughout greater than 35,000 folks now we have supplied with free bail help, the overwhelming majority return to court docket with a 92% look charge. That is in line with analysis exhibiting that severe or violent rearrests earlier than trial are unusual, and after they do occur, they’re seen throughout each sort of launch – whether or not somebody is bailed out by a bondsman, launched on their very own recognizance, or supported by a charitable bail fund.”
Fox Information Digital’s Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
