Judge jails woman who refused to testify; prosecutors, 2 other judges help win her release
When a Kentucky woman refused last week to testify against her boyfriend in a domestic violence case, she wound up in handcuffs.
Jefferson District Judge Sheila Collins questioned Jasmine Stone, 21, who did not have a lawyer, then ordered her jailed for filing a false report. She was released, about six hours later, after Chief Circuit Judge McKay Chauvin set aside her $10,000 bond, saying that bond should have been determined by an arraignment judge, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. The original bond amount was reportedly double the bond that had been set for Stone’s boyfriend in the domestic case.
Prosecutors cooperated with the public defender’s office in seeking Stone’s release, with both sides agreeing that it was inappropriate to charge a witness for recanting her testimony.
District Judge Erica Williams, who later dismissed the charge against Stone, apologized to her “on behalf of everyone who wears a robe,” the newspaper reports.
“This was outrageous and disgusting,” Williams told Stone. “What happened to you should never happen to a victim.”
The situation came to a head at a Thursday bond reduction hearing for Stone’s boyfriend, Lomac Jeter, 33, who was facing an assault case, the Courier-Journal reports. When Stone apparently changed her story from what she had earlier told a Louisville police officer, supported by photos of her injuries, the judge ordered a deputy sheriff to charge Stone, despite a prosecutor’s protests.
Hat tip: Associated Press.
