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Monday, February 26, 2018

Is Ivanka right?

Is there such a thing as a daughter card?
Trump chastised NBC’s Peter Alexander for asking whether she believes her father’s accusers, referring to the 16 women who alleged that he engaged in nonconsensual sexual conduct (it is the president’s and White House’s position that all the women are lying). Ivanka, the senior advisor and assistant to the president said, “I think it is a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he has affirmatively stated that there is no truth to it. I don't think that's a question you would ask many other daughters. I believe my father, I know my father. So I think I have that right as a daughter to believe my father.”
The reason I'm asking is because we also need to know if there is a Daughter-in-law card seeing as how the new mayor's father in law is running this debtor's prison and everything. 
When a defendant is released on a cash bond, on personal sureties or his own recognizance, courts do not get a penny. Attorneys sometimes request a cash bond., but Cantrell has proudly proclaimed he's never set one. So it's all commercial bonds so far as Cantrell is concerned. And a defendant who can't afford one must sit in jail, which takes much of the shine off the presumption of innocence.

And a lot of defendants do await trial in jail, because bonds do not come cheap in Cantell's court. The absolute minimum for the most trival misdemeanor in $2,500, and Cantell always refuses to consider a defendant's ability to pay, so, notwithstanding the Eighth Amendment, excessive bail often is required here. Attorneys who advocate for a lower amount have been threatened with jail for contempt.

Since pre-detention means lost employment, neglected families and less opportunity to prepare a sound defense, Cantrell's de facto denial of bail hardly serves the cause of justice. His job is to ensure defendants appear for trial, but he prefers to punish before conviction.
But, hey, maybe Ivanka has a point and we have no business asking LaToya about any of this.  It's not as if she and her supporters spent the mayoral campaign questioning her opponent's ties to bail bondsmen or anything. So it's hardly germane... 

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