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Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Law - Kentucky Attorney accused of posting bonds
Indiana has bail bondsmen - they are the subject of several earlier ILB entries. Kentucky does not have bail bondsmen, but, as the following lengthy story by Andrew Wolfson of the Louisville Courier Journal makes clear, the practice has continued. The report begins:
He trolled the Jefferson County Jail on weekends, offering to post bail for families desperate to get their loved ones out from behind bars, according to court records.Then he would ride his bicycle to his home on Main Street, where he would meet his new "clients," unveil bundles of cash wrapped in newspaper and turn the money over in exchange for a fee, former customers have told police.
Today, Louisville defense attorney William O. Ayers goes on trial in the first of two cases in which the commonwealth alleges he illegally operated as a bail bondsman -- three decades after the practice was abolished in Kentucky.
Witnesses are expected to include a Jefferson Circuit Court judge and a defense lawyer, who says Ayers admitted to him he posted bond for a client -- and showed him his bank statement to prove it.
Ayers, 61, also is charged in a third indictment with failing to file income tax returns. He has pleaded not guilty.
Ayers declined last week to comment about his trial, but his legal team -- two well-known attorneys representing him for free as a professional courtesy -- said that while his practice might be unusual, it is not illegal.
A mysterious figure in the courthouse, Ayers has had hundreds of clients, despite having no business listing in the phone book or with directory assistance.
Tall, gaunt and bald, he bears a striking resemblance to the pitchfork-holding farmer in Grant Wood's famous painting, American Gothic, say other attorneys, including his own lawyers.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 9, 2008 09:25 AM
Posted to General Law Related