Celebrity-Backed Bail Funds Freed People Who Allegedly Went On To Kill: REPORT

Bail assistance groups including the Northwest Community Bail Fund, Minnesota Freedom Fund and Bail Project recorded massive funding increases after George Floyd’s death, according to CNN.
Multiple individuals bailed from prison with the organizations’ help were subsequently arrested for murder, the outlet reported.
“The charitable bail funds, just by the nature of the enterprise, are going to be helping the riskier people,” Columbia University Associate Law Professor Kellen Funk told CNN.

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Nonprofit organizations dedicated to bailing criminal defendants out of jail received huge funding increases in 2020 following the death of George Floyd, but some of those they helped release allegedly committed murder afterward, according to CNN.

Several bail groups got social media endorsements from famous figures like Vice President Kamala Harris, recording artist Justin Timberlake and actor Seth Rogen after Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020 and protests spread nationwide, the outlet reported. Floods of donations doubled organizations’ yearly revenues many times over in 2020 compared to 2019, and some of the groups later bailed alleged criminals out of jail who were subsequently arrested for murder.

The western Washington-based Northwest Community Bail Fund saw its revenue soar from $158,000 in 2019 to roughly $5.7 million in 2020, according to CNN. In December 2021, the organization paid $10,000 bail in Seattle for convicted felon Kylan Keaton Houle after he was charged with crimes including stolen vehicle and unlawful firearm possession, but Houle was ultimately arrested again in May 2022 for allegedly shooting a man in the head outside the man’s house.

Northwest Community Bail Fund also bailed alleged Seattle motor vehicle thief Jaycee Cedric Thompson out of jail in January 2021, and he allegedly went on to fatally shoot a homeless man and commit other violent offenses in June 2022, CNN reported. The homeless Michael Sendejo was found guilty of another homeless man’s deadly stabbing in October 2022 after the group paid his $5,000 bail in May 2021 for a felony robbery and assault case that was ultimately dismissed.

“The charitable bail funds, just by the nature of the enterprise, are going to be helping the riskier people,” Columbia University Associate Law Professor Kellen Funk told CNN.

The Minnesota Freedom Fund went from bringing in $231,000 in 2019 funding to eclipsing $41 million in 2020, with Harris having called for donations to the organization that June, according to CNN. A co-director of the group, Elizer Darris, was found guilty in 2001 for the murder of a carnival worker that saw other defendants accept plea deals and occurred when he was 15, North News reported.

The Minnesota Freedom Fund paid $1,500 to free George Howard of Minneapolis from jail in August 2021 after he received a misdemeanor fifth-degree domestic assault charge, with his girlfriend having reportedly said, “I’m scared of you” and “I don’t want to die,” CNN reported. Authorities arrested Howard less than a month after his release and charged him with the second-degree murder of a 38-year-old man during an alleged road-rage incident.

In April 2021, the Minnesota Freedom Fund bailed out Shawn Tillman of St. Paul in an indecent exposure case that was ultimately dismissed, but Tillman allegedly went on to shoot and kill a man on a commuter train station platform in May 2022, CNN reported.

The nationally present Bail Project, headquartered in Los Angeles, received around $42 million in revenue in fiscal year 2020 following a $15 million total during fiscal year 2019, according to the outlet. The organization paid $1,500 bail to free Indianapolis’ Marcus Garvin in January 2021 after his arrest for allegedly stabbing a customer at the gas station that employed him.

Garvin has admitted to assaulting his girlfriend with a knife months later and is charged with murdering her after being seen on surveillance taking her body to a wooded area, CNN reported.

Michael DeWitt of Louisville, who has a long criminal history, faces a murder charge for a February 2021 incident in which he allegedly stole a truck and crashed into a 17-year-old girl’s vehicle, killing her, according to the outlet. The Bail Project had paid to have DeWitt released a week earlier after he was charged with resisting arrest while publicly intoxicated with two allegedly stolen vehicles.

Authorities have arrested and charged dozens of alleged criminals with robbery, attempted murder and other violent crimes after bail organizations helped free those individuals, CNN revealed. Even so, Bail Project Founder and CEO Robin Steinberg argues abolishing cash bail would be justified because its clients have shown up for over 90% of their court hearings.

The Minnesota Freedom Fund, Northwest Community Bail Fund and the Bail Project did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

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