Law enforcement officers call it catch and release or the revolving door. Someone is arrested and before long, they’re out on bond and often caught again. And released again.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott talked about it at a press conference regarding the mass shooting in Meadowlake Park Saturday, which left nine shot and two others injured, one of whom was hit by a car.
One of two teenagers arrested fleeing the shooting had been arrested twice before on weapons charges. TyQuan Kelly, 18, was charged Saturday with unlawful possession of a weapon. He had been charged in March and April 16 and was free on a $50,000 bond.
Bond was set on the new charge at $10,000.
He has not been charged with the shootings at the park.
Lott implored the General Assembly to tighten the law that allows for people accused of subsequent violent or felony arrests to be released.
“Bond court magistrates are failing us,” Lott said. He called the bond system a “huge crack” in the judicial system.
“These bond court magistrates are letting people like this out, back on the streets where they’re hurting people,” Lott said. “I am sick and tired of having to stand up here at a press conference and talk about that.”
Asked about Kelly’s bond hearing, the person who answered the phone at Richland County Central Court said she could not speak to the press and her supervisor was in court all day.
Meanwhile, legislators and law enforcement officers, like Lott, are pressing for reform.
The South Carolina Senate passed a bond reform bill April 12 after the House passed one in March.
Both bills would require bond revocations upon subsequent felony arrests or those involving guns and give circuit judges responsibility for setting those bonds rather than magistrates.
A conference committee will sort out the differences between the two bills before it can be enacted.
“Legislators, help us out. Pass bond reform,” Lott said.