By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The letter of the law prevailed in Common Pleas Court when one woman successfully had her bond reduced.
Connie Brady, 34, of Bucyrus, appeared in Crawford County Common Pleas Court Thursday afternoon with her court-appointed attorney Thomas Nicholson for a request to reduce her bond.
Brady had been arraigned in Common Pleas Court back in May on a felony five drug possession charge and had had her bond set at $50,000.
Nicholson argued Thursday afternoon that, per the eighth amendment, excessive bail shouldn’t be required in light of Brady’s felony five charge, the lowest felony that can be charged. He noted that Brady has admitted that she has a drug problem but added, “We don’t think Mrs. Brady is any danger to the community.”
Assistant county prosecuting attorney Ryan Hoovler told Judge Russell Wiseman that they had asked for a continuance of the $50,000 that had been established in Municipal Court at the time. He added that Brady is an admitted crack cocaine user and that her admissions stated she “was a part of using $1,000 (in drugs) a night with two other individuals.”
“I believe the $50,000 is appropriate for this bond,” argued Hoovler.
Wiseman noted that he would have made the same argument as Hoovler when he was a prosecuting attorney but, as a judge, he agreed that the bond could be modified down. He reduced Brady’s bond to $5,000 with the special condition that she enter a drug treatment facility and reside with her father-in-law once released.
“Five thousand dollars is practically no bond given the drug problem out there,” Wiseman explained to Brady. He added that it still did not minimize his view of her alleged conduct.
Brady, along with her husband Nathan Brady, had been arrested May 14 after local law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at 214 West Galen Street in Bucyrus. Brady and her husband had been arrested on outstanding warrants on indictments for felony drug offenses. The arrests were the culmination of a three-month long investigation. Drugs and drug paraphernalia had been seized from the house at the time.
Nathan Brady is charged with felony one pattern of corrupt activity and felony two drug trafficking. His bond was set at $500,000 during his arraignment in May.