By Lauren Smith
SACRAMENTO – The Public Defender’s office here in Sacramento County Superior Court insisted that $25,000 bail was too high and the charges exaggerated for Reginald Gardner, who has been charged only with misdemeanor resisting an officer and violating a court order.
In the end, Judge Scott Tedmon sided with the prosecution, agreeing that the bail amount was just right.
Assistant Public Defender Samantha Ting noted that bail is currently set at a felony charge amount, despite the misdemeanor charges. She argued that bail should be reduced because the resisting an officer charge was mere “running rather than any kind of violent struggle.”
Deputy District Attorney Renishta Lal argued that bail should remain as set and the court should deny pre-trial release based on “the defendant’s conduct of running from officers, jumping several fences, and entering the victim’s house in defiance of a restraining order.”
She stated that the defendant was seen searching through the victim’s car and lingering around the sidewalk outside her house. When the victim went outside to confront him, he pushed her, went inside her home, then came back outside with her seven-month-old child. The defendant proceed to “yell” and “bang” on her car window “in front of children.”
After hearing that the case involved children as young as seven months, JudgeTedmon said, “That is concerning to the court” and found that “given his evasion history,” Mr. Gardner’s “bail is appropriate to protect the victim and society,” concluding that bail will remain set at $25,000.
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