Wow. Yet another scandal in plain sight; yet another criminal justice scandal in plain sight in Mecklenburg County.
Recall the public was initially told that Martin Diamond, 23, was “accidentally” released from jail after being charged with four felonies, including rape. Then it turns out that magistrate Sylvia Cherry lingered over Diamond’s case, meeting with him for over one hour before deciding to reduce his $105,000 bond to zero. When that was reported, Chief District Judge Lisa Bell was forced to remove Cherry from her position while Bell “investigated” the case.
Now look at the incredibly low bar Bell has set for Cherry’s conduct:
“No issues with magistrate Cherry,” Judge Bell said. “She has always had a reputation as a hard worker — very loyal, very reliable.” … “I cannot find anything illegal or inappropriate. There was no undue influence or outside influence or evidence that she considered anything that she should not have considered in making this determination,” Judge Bell said.
Ahem. Judge Bell, the inappropriate conduct was releasing a man accused of a violent rape on nothing more than a promise to show up at court. That in and of itself demonstrates that Cherry is unfit to serve as a magistrate. Period.
But check the standard. Did Cherry do anything illegal? Do we have her on tape accepting a bribe to release Diamond? No? Then everything is great. Just like everything is great in a Mecklenburg County judicial system full of certainly incompetent and probably corrupt judges and lawyers. The local justice system is nothing but one big ring of undue influence with one simple goal — get paid.
Here’s the kicker, releasing accused sex offenders with zero bond is old hat in Mecklenburg.
Recall Sam Gilchrist from back in March..
Why did he keep getting released from jail after being charged with the felony of failure to register as a sex offender?
The backstory from WSOC-TV:
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools police said they are trying to find out how a registered sex offender got a master key to a school and used it to allegedly steal band instruments.
Police arrested Samuel Gilchrist, 43, on Friday with two flutes that had been stolen from Northwest School of the Arts.
They said Gilchrist is the prime suspect in a series of thefts that started in January and went unsolved until a confidential informant told them about Gilchrist. The informant told police that Gilchrist had sold the instruments to a south Charlotte jewelry store that then listed them on eBay.
“Apparently, this individual had access to a master key to the school and that’s how he was able to gain entrance to the school,” said Capt. Bruce Bellamy.
Police also learned that Gilchrist is a registered sex offender, who had listed his address as the Charlotte’s Men’s Shelter, which is less than two miles from the school.
Gilchrist has felony convictions stretching back to 1987, according to state corrections records. In March 2001 he was convicted of indecent liberties with a child (a felony) stemming from a November 1999 arrest. Gilchrist served one year in prison on that conviction. In June 2003 he was convicted of felony robbery and served 10 months. In August 2007, same deal.
In 2007 he was also convicted of failure to register as a sex offender and remained in prison until April 2009 on that conviction. By July 2010 Gilchrist was again charged with failure to register as a sex offender. He remained in the Mecklenburg County jail for two weeks until he registered — and then was released with a zero bond according to jail records. That charge is still pending.
In January 2011 Gilchrist was again arrested and charged with — wait for it — failure to register as a sex offender. This felony had an initial unsecured bond of $25,000. Gilchrist was released two weeks later, supposedly having met the sex offender registration requirement.
On February 23rd Gilchrist was arrested again on a misdemeanor larceny charge — $100 bond. After five days in jail, Gilchrist was free to go in some sort of plea deal. Four days later Gilchrist was arrested again for larceny, given a $1500 unsecured bond and released within 24-hours. Ten days later he was popped by CMPD on four felony charges which have kept him in jail ever since.
On March 23rd, Gilchrist was quietly charged with 15 more felonies.
I am sure there was nothing illegal or inappropriate in how Gilchrist was handled, either.