I grew up in the town, I guess nothing should surprise me from town whose police force raided my parent's home and took prints from Gustav Dore's illustrations for Dante's "Divine Comedy," claiming that they were satanic. But I felt sick tonight reading a copy of the Chico Enterprise- Record that my parents had accidentally left behind. (they don't buy it, someone gave it to them, honest) here are some quotes from a brief front page article bearing the headline "Bombed Out" dated December fourth.
"Dennis Leroy Pelton, 32.... was arrested Monday evening for possessing a destructive device --- a "cherry bomb" --- in a public place. Pelton was booked into the Butte County Jail on $500,000"
Pelton was apparently recently paroled for a drug possession offense, and the police stopped his car for a moving violation. In the search of his car, they found an m-80 under his seat. Think back to the fourth of July, the one that you had such a great time lighting fireworks in the vacant lot, or down by the river. Then think about being thrown in jail with a $500,000 dollar bail for it.
From the 5 or so badly written paragraphs of the article, I gathered that Pelton was not exactly an outstanding member of society, with drug and gun possession convictions. But $500,000 is the entire budget of a mid-sized town. $500,000 will buy 1000 beat up ford vans like the one I own. $500,000 would feed all of San Francisco's homeless for at least a day.
I do not claim to understand all the intricacies of the case, nor of setting bail. But it seems to me that bail amounts should be set after weighing the seriousness of the crime, the wealth of the accused, and the risk of flight. I find it hard to believe that a petty criminal who has just been released from prison would have a spare half million lying around. As for the "risk of flight" factor, why set bail at all in such cases? Does holding someone without bail require an extra hearing, or some such bureaucratic inconvenience? While reading the San Francisco Chronicle of December tenth, I ran across an article that illuminates the relative seriousness of the crime of having a firecracker in one's car in Chico. The Chronicle reports that three navy submarine cadets were arrested on suspicion of gang-raping a sixteen-year-old girl. Bail was set at $100,000.
I assume, though it seems overly charitable in this case, that prosecutors and policemen were once average people just like everyone else. People who could imagine sneaking some of dad's beer out on prom night, or lighting those great m-80s their cousin from Wyoming brought them. Now apparently, they can imagine locking someone up with no possible hope of being released on bail for the same sort of thing. One of us is out of touch with reality. I guess it must be me, I have this twisted idea that the punishment should fit the crime.