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An Alabama judge rejected calls from prosecutors and community members to increase bond for a man charged with attempted murder as the suspect remains out of jail.
The shooting took place on Oct. 4 just after 11:30 p.m. following the Morehouse-Tuskegee Classic college football game in Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery Police Chief Jim Graboys said two people were killed and 12 were injured, adding that only one of the 14 victims was the intended target. He said there were multiple shooters.
“This started as the result of an individual, one of these 14 (injured or killed), who we believe was targeted, in which basically an exchange of gunfire erupted,” Graboys said. “When that exchange erupted, multiple people in the crowd pulled their own weapons and started discharging.”
One of the suspects, Javorick Whiting, 19, was arrested on Oct. 16 and charged with attempted murder in relation to the mass shooting. According to court documents, the suspect Whiting allegedly shot was last reported in critical condition.
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After being taken into custody, a judge set bond at $60,000, which Whiting was able to post on Oct. 17 through a bail bond company, court records obtained by Fox News Digital show.
After outcry from the community, prosecutors filed a motion to increase Whiting’s bond, arguing $60,000 is “woefully inadequate.”
“The current bond amount is woefully inadequate to protect the public from this dangerous and violent criminal,” the DA’s office wrote.
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The DA’s office wrote that the 19-year-old’s actions show he’s a “danger to the community” and therefore should be behind bars.
However, District Judge Michael Godwin denied the motion to increase bond, writing that prosecutors didn’t present any new evidence. Godwin wasn’t the judge who set Whiting’s $60,000 bond.
“The issue the Court has with the State’s request is that there is no new or additional information the State has presented to the court that was not presented or available at the initial appearance hearing when bond was addressed,” Godwin wrote.
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Republican Gov. Kay Ivey previously expressed her frustrations in a Facebook post.
“Today, we learn that one of the four suspects has been released back onto the streets,” Ivey wrote on Oct. 20. “This is exactly the legal loophole that I and many in the Legislature sought to close when I signed the Safe Alabama package. Next May, all Alabama voters will have a chance to end mandatory bail for those suspected of attempted murder by voting to expand Aniah’s Law. I will not forget today’s troubling news when casting my vote.”
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Aniah’s Law was passed in 2019 in honor of Aniah Blanchard, who was murdered in 2019 by someone who was out on bond for violent offenses. The law allows judges and prosecutors to request and deny bail for offenses such as kidnapping, murder, rape and aggravated child abuse.
Lawmakers recently passed legislation which would add attempted murder to the list of eligible charges in Aniah’s Law, but it still needs to be approved by voters in the state.
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