Bail Revoked For Alleged Waffle House Shooter, Who Was Given Monetary Bail For Some Unknown Reason
Let's use this opportunity to talk about how stupid bail is.
(Photo by Jason Davis/Getty Images)
Bail is dumb. Okay? Like it’s regressive and archaic and racially biased and a simple Google search of “bail reform” will reveal pages of articles and books and documents about why this system needs reform. The Marshall Project has done yeoman’s work collecting a bunch of information and explanations for why the bail system is in serious need of an overhaul. But you don’t really need special knowledge or information to noodle out for yourself that keeping people in prison, or releasing them, based on their ability to pay, IS FREAKING STUPID. This isn’t 18th Century Yorkshire. The value of one’s property is not a legitimate factor in determining the extent of a person’s freedom.
If you are new to the bail reform “debate,” welcome to the case of Travis Reinking, the alleged “Waffle House Shooter.” Reinking, allegedly, murdered four people at a Waffle House in Tennessee. After he was disarmed by hero James Shaw, he ran and evaded police for a day. Reinking was captured alive (Reinking is a white man, so of course he was), and at his booking he was held on a $2 million dollar bond.
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Again, this is clearly, facially dumb. We have to accord Reinking the presumption of legal innocence… we don’t have to be saps who put potentially deranged men back on the street if their Daddy can pay 10% of $2 million dollars.
Reinking allegedly committed heinous, violent acts. He did so, potentially, with the aide of his father who was told to keep Reinking’s guns but apparently gave them back to him. He fled the scene of a crime and attempted to evade capture. There is no universe in which Reinking should have been given the opportunity for bail.
A judge in Tennessee eventually saw it that way. Tennessee state judge Michael Mondelli revoked the bail order Tuesday, pending a bond hearing Wednesday where I feel confident Reinking will once again be denied bail.
But the reason why this happened is because Tennessee (and almost every state) has a “right to bail” statute, except for death penalty cases.
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On its face, this isn’t the worst protection in the world. Pre-trial incarceration can be devastating to the lives of those accused, and since they maintain their legal innocence, it’s pretty unfair to hold them before a final adjudication has been reached on their alleged crimes. People should have a right to go home until they’ve been proven guilty.
The problem is not with a “right to bail.” The problem is with bail as a monetary requirement. Placing a financial barrier to freedom is just wrong. Conversely, letting potentially dangerous people walk free simply because they or their families can provide enough collateral to the bail-bondsman is also colossally naive. Figuring out whether a person is a risk the community, or not, should have nothing to do with money.
If you are suspected of shooting four people at the Waffle House, you shouldn’t get out before trial, even if you can post the ELEVENTY GABILLION DOLLAR bond. If you are suspected of skipping out on your check at the Waffle House, you should probably be able to go home to your family while awaiting your fate, without having to pay the government a vig. If you are a flight risk, you stay in jail. If not, you can go until your trial. Many of the considerations that go into bail are entirely legitimate. The problem is that the system takes all these factors into account and spits out a dollar figure, instead of making a binary decision about freedom or incarceration.
It’s all so dumb. Travis Reinking will probably not get out on bail. That it’s even a possibility should highlight how stupid monetary bail really is.
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Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.
