Meth Dealers Get Out on Bond, Go Back to Labs March 18, 2005
News Summary
Meth-lab operators often are repeatedly rearrested when they are out on bond on drug charges, according to frustrated law-enforcement officials in Tennessee.The Associated Press reported Feb. 28 that the Tennessee constitution guarantees the right to bond, usually within 48 hours of arrest. But Hamilton County police officer Tom Farmer said that the law allows meth dealers and users to return to their labs and addictions.
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has proposed legislation to crack down on methamphetamines, but the measure does not address bail bonds. That would require amending the state constitution.
"The bonding issue is the single most difficult issue in all of this," said Will Pinkston, a spokesman for Bredesen, who noted that the governor's meth task force had public meetings and "heard over and over again ... something ought to be done to address the bonding situation. Everybody clearly recognizes the bonding problem."
Judges could set higher bonds in meth cases, suggested Pinkston. But McMinn County General Sessions Court Judge James F. Watson said that's not a serious option. And Hamilton County public defender Ardena Garth said, "Bail isn't supposed to be to punish. They have got a right to bail and a right to be presented before a judge."
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