Story Archive

Eighth Amendment

Antonio Marquis Willis, 25, surrendered to police in Killeen, Texas: he had a warrant out for him for murder. When brought before the newly elected Justice of the Peace Claudia Brown — who hasn’t even finished her training yet — she wanted to set Willis’s bail at $100,000. But, she said, she was “pressured” to set it higher than that, so she raised it to $4 billion, apparently the highest bail amount ever set in the United States. “In America, we’re supposed to be a society that assumes people are innocent until proven guilty,” Brown said. “When a man walks in and says ‘Here I am, I want to prove my innocence,’ he is not a flight risk.” So why was she being pressured to set a bail so high Willis couldn’t get out of jail before his trial? Her campaign platform was the justice system is flawed, and says the pressure she received proves her point. Another judge, meanwhile, declared the $4 billion amount unconstitutional, and reset Willis’s bail to $151,000. (RC/Killeen Daily Herald) ...Which proves the wisdom of checks and balances.