Suspect in the China Creek Shooting Makes Bail
21-year-old LeMarcus Raekown Martin, a suspect in the shooting of a man near China Creek during the theft of marijuana made bail today. According to Lt. Kenny Swithenbank of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, Martin posted $100,000 bail and is out of jail today.
On August 6, three men stole marijuana during the course of a deal in the China Creek area of Southern Humboldt. The victim attempted to stop them and was shot receiving what the Sheriff’s Department called “life-threatening wounds.”
Martin was expected to have a bail of $500,000 but Lt. Swithenbank said that today he was released with the much lower bail amount.
Earlier Chapter:
- Life Flight Called for After Gunshot Victim Brought to Garberville Hospital; Sheriff’s Looking for Three Suspects
- Sheriff’s Office Describes Three Suspects Sought in China Creek Area Shooting
- Stills From Surveillance Video of the Alleged Suspects in China Creek Shooting
- South Carolina Rapper Arrested for Charges Related to Shooting During Sale of Marijuana in China Creek
- Sheriff’s Office Releases More Information on Man Arrested in Relation to the China Creek Shooting
- Second Warrant Issued in China Creek Area Shooting
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See ya wouldn’t Wanna Be ya
Doubt we will be seeing him back up here for court day?
He’s pretty high profile being a wannabe rapper and all.. he would have to lay very low.
If you actually rap, does that still make you a wannabe?
😂 humboldt kills me. Everything’s “wannabe”. Things are real out there in the big world.
Like his jail time to come
In your free time, check out the suspect on YouTube. “Wannabe” is entirely accurate. Just because he came from somewhere else doesn’t magically give him talent or anything else.
yeah, if you suck, and bite other’s style. He wasn’t getting paid if he had to rob somebody at gunpoint. Thats some desperation shit.
You ever heard of him before this [edit]? Definitely a wannabe.
Well he ain’t no wannabe dumbass… he a real one there.
Equal Justice Under Law
Our Mission
Litigation
Ending the American Money Bail System
Fighting Abusive Private Probation Practices
Protecting the Rights of Drivers Who Are Poor
Ending the American Money Bail System
No one should spend time in jail simply because he or she is poor, but every day about 450,000 Americans sit in jail for that very reason.
Despite the constitutional guarantee that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, our current money bail system forces arrestees to pay an arbitrary amount of bail money to secure release before trial. Those who can afford to purchase their liberty walk free, while those who can’t languish in jail pending trial. The result is discriminatory pretrial detention based on wealth-status, not any meaningful assessment of flight risk or danger to the community.
Equal Justice Under Law is dedicated to ending this discriminatory practice by filing class action lawsuits against money bail systems all across the country.
The Story of One of Our Clients, Crystal Patterson
In October 2015, Crystal Patterson — then 29-years old — was arrested for the first time in her life after a physical fight with her brother-in-law. She works hard at a low-wage job to provide for herself and her 80-year-old grandmother (for whom she is the sole caretaker). After Crystal’s arrest, she was booked in the county jail and told she could be released if she paid $150,000 — money neither she nor her family has.
The poorer you are in San Francisco, the worse the system treats you. A wealthy individual facing Crystal’s exact same charges could simply purchase his or her freedom. In fact, for the rich, the cost is zero, because the full $150,000 is returned when the case ends. For poorer individuals, private bail companies require a non-refundable payment of 10% — $15,000 in Crystal’s case — and poor arrestees never see that money again (it’s more expensive to be poor, as the cruel saying goes). For those living on the brink of poverty, like Crystal, private bail companies offer a predatory option: Crystal could pay 1% of the bail amount — or $1,500 — and sign a debt agreement to finance the balance of the $15,000 at the maximum interest rate allowable by law. Desperate to take care of her grandmother, Crystal scraped together $1,500. After 31 hours in jail, she signed the debt agreement and went home.
Just hours after Crystal left the jail, the district attorney looked at her file and decided there wasn’t enough evidence to file charges. Crystal was never charged with a crime; she never had a single court date; she has no case against her. And yet, she will be paying off the balance of her $15,000 debt — with interest — for years and years to come. For someone with no criminal charges and only doing her best to care for herself and her grandmother, injustices like this must end.
Equal Justice Under Law is proud to represent Crystal Patterson and others like her as we fight to bring an end to America’s discriminatory money bail practice.
A Societal Problem
Wealth-based detention has disastrous consequences: overcrowding of local jails, lost jobs, lost housing, poor sanitation and medical care, broken families, and drained local budgets. In many cases, an arrestee may be held longer in jail while awaiting trial than any sentence she or he would likely receive if convicted, causing innocent people to plead guilty to offenses that they did not commit in order to shorten lengthy pretrial detention. Individuals who are detained are not able to assist their attorneys in the investigation of the charges against them, resulting in wrongful convictions and longer sentences.
As the U.S. Department of Justice said in an amicus brief filed in our money bail case in Alabama, Varden v. City of Clanton:
It is the position of the United States that, as courts have long recognized, any bail or bond scheme that mandates payment of pre-fixed amounts for different offenses in order to gain pre-trial release, without any regard for indigence, not only violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, but also constitutes bad public policy.
Solving the Problem
Equal Justice Under Law is fighting hard to bring this discriminatory system to an end by bringing legal challenges all across the country, calling money bail unconstitutional because it creates two separate systems of justice, one for the rich and another for people who are poor.
Since early 2015, we have filed 12 challenges against money bail in 9 states:
Alabama
California
Georgia
Kansas
Louisiana
Massachusetts
Mississippi
Missouri
Texas
Thus far, these lawsuits have brought an end to money bail in 7 communities:
Clanton, Alabama
Velda City, Missouri
Ann, Missouri
Moss Point, Mississippi
Dothan, Alabama
Ascension Parish, Louisiana
Dodge City, Kansas
Five lawsuits that we have filed are still moving forward against money bail, including two cases currently in federal courts of appeals in California.
In our case Welchen v. County of Sacramento, the judge has ruled that the California Attorney General can be held responsible for her role in implementing money bail. A victory in this case against the Attorney General could have ripple effects across the state and the nation because it will set an important precedent for state officials’ liability.
In our case Buffin v. San Francisco, Sheriff Vicky Hennessy, in a filing written by City Attorney Dennis Herrera on November 1, 2016, made an historic statement that she will not defend money bail in court because:
This two-tiered system of pretrial justice does not serve the interests of the government or the public, and unfairly discriminates against the poor.
Our work is also inspiring potential policy changes at the federal and state levels. We have worked closely with Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA), who in February 2016 introduced the No Money Bail Act, which would help end the money bail system across the nation. We are an endorser of the bill and continue to work closely as it progresses through the Congress. Also, in direct reaction to our work, in December of 2016, California Assemblymember Rob Bonta and Senator Bob Hertzberg unveiled a bill to reform the state’s system saying, “California’s bail system punishes poor people simply for being poor.”
Equal Justice Under Law will continue to work hard to end the everyday jailing of hundreds of thousands of Americans solely because of their poverty.
Selected Media Coverage
(for additional media coverage, please contact our Communications Department at [email protected])
TV/Video/Radio
TV News Story about California Bail System Featuring Clip of Executive Director Phil Telfeyan Testifying Before State Insurance Commissioner. Piece aired on KCBS in San Francisco on January 31, 2017
Radio Interview with Executive Director Phil Telfeyan about Money Bail on Southern California Public Radio on December 5, 2016
Executive Director Phil Telfeyan Speaking about Money Bail at The Davis Vanguard Court Watch Event on November 19, 2016
Print
“Alabama Cities Agree to Stop Jailing People Too Poor to Post Bond” by Amy Julia Harris for Reveal on December 8, 2016
“California Lawmakers Want to Reform a Bail System They Say ‘Punishes the Poor for Being Poor’” by Jazmine Ulloa for The Los Angeles Times on December 4, 2016
“S.F. City Attorney is Right: Cash Bail Can’t Be Defended” by the Editorial Board for the San Francisco Chronicle on November 2, 2016
“DOJ Asks 11th Cir. To Strike Down Cash Bail System” by Lance J. Rogers for Bloomberg BNA on September 14, 2016
“A California Lawsuit Over the Cash Bail System Could Prompt Changes Across the US” by Paul Elias for the Associated Press (here appearing in in The Los Angeles Times) on December 26, 2015
“Why California Jails Poor People Unless They Pay The Bail Bondsman” by Alan Pyke for ThinkProgress on November 3, 2015
“Group Files Class-Action Complaint to Scrap S.F.’s Cash-Bail System” by Evan Sernoffsky for the San Francisco Chronicle on October 29, 2015
“Court by Court, Lawyers Fight Policies That Fall Heavily on the Poor” by Shaila Dwan for The New York Times on October 23, 2015
“Why Was Sandra Bland Still in Jail?” by Leon Neyfakh for Slate on July 23, 2015
“Following Lawsuit, Tiny St. Louis Suburb Ends Its ‘Illegal’ Bail System That Jailed the Poor” by Ryan J. Reilly for Huffington Post on April 9, 2015
Filed Complaints
Commonwealth v. Wagle, originally filed July 18, 2016
O’Donnell v. Harris County, originally filed on May 19, 2016
Welchen v. Sacramento, originally filed on January 30, 2016
Buffin v. San Francisco, originally filed on October 28, 2015
Martinez v. City of Dodge City, originally filed on October 21, 2015
Walker v. City of Calhoun, originally filed on September 8, 2015
Snow v. Lambert, originally filed on August 25, 2015
Cooper v. City of Dothan, originally filed on June 16, 2015
Thompson v. Moss Point, originally filed on June 12, 2015
Powell v. City of St. Ann, originally filed on May 27, 2015
Pierce v. City of Velda City, originally filed on April 2,
So how is this comment relevant in any way to an armed robber shooting at someone. It should be NO BAIL
Yes bail, this is America not North Korea. The HCSO might not have a solid case at this point and add in the discourse at the DA’s office this case is a long long way from trial.
How is even thinking about reading all that blabber relevant to civilization?
In this case, no bail should have been granted.
Yeah our bail system sucks. However, if someone tried to rob me and then shot at me, leaving me with serious wounds – I’d be pissed the bail was only $100,000!
One of the most well thought out, best comments, EVAH! Thank you for taking the time to post it, and of course, thanks for exposing the government as a bunch of bass turds.
How long you been waiting for that copy and paste rant?
Where is he from? Is he a local?
If you read the articles occasionally it helps when asking redundant questions the answers to are in the article!!! https://kymkemp.com/2017/08/31/south-carolina-rapper-arrested-for-charges-related-to-shooting-during-sale-of-marijuana-in-china-creek/
Who needs stinkin’ facts? Sarcasm intended.
Lawyers and legal experts say the rules on how high that monetary amount is set vary by city and county, often allowing courts to keep people in jail based on their inability to pay their fees.
“We have to make the criminal justice system more just,” Bonta said. “When you have a system that is making decisions simply and solely based on a person’s wealth, something is fundamentally wrong and that is simply not acceptable.”
Bail reform legislation has failed in California in the past, often because of tough opposition from bondsman companies that argue the current system allows defendants access to their civil liberties.
But lawmakers said they could point to successful reforms in Washington D.C., Kentucky and New Jersey. And they have studied jurisdictions within the state that have developed “risk-assessment” models, which allow court and pretrial staff to use data and other evidence to determine whether a person should be released.
Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) said Republicans are suggesting interest in reform. “Now you have a whole host of groups on both sides of the aisle looking at the cost and fairness of the system,” he said.
Modernization of the pretrial system is urgently needed in California, which relies on pretrial detention at much higher rates than other states, according to the bills to be filed Monday. About 63% of people in state jails, or 46,000 inmates, had not been sentenced in 2015, according to the Board of State and Community Corrections.
That comes at a housing cost to the state of roughly $100 per inmate per day in most counties, or roughly $4.6 million a day.
It also placed an expensive burden on families. When people cannot afford to pay for their release, they can lose their housing, lawyers and reform advocates said. Even three days in jail can result in a loss of wages, jobs and family connections, leaving some defendants 40% more likely to commit crime in the future, studies show.
“The problem we see with money bail is that it is a price tag on freedom,” said Phil Telfeyan, executive director of Equal Justice Under Law, which filed the legal challenges over bail reform in California. “Those who are rich get to pay their way out and those who aren’t have to languish in jail.”
If you bothered to read about all the court cases here and the revolving door that many criminals experience here in HumCo, you might understand why people here want to see higher bail and are tired of the new, lower misdemeanor charges for what used to be felony charges….
You can cite various people who have suffered from the current bail system but you haven’t mentioned the problems caused by the new algorithm being used in New Jersey.
The entire system needs to be re-examined but taking away a bail system that makes people prove they’ll come back to stand trial leaves the victims of crime asking why the victims are punished and suffer more than those who broke the law.
You can be very righteous when defending the people who have suffered from the bail trap but surely equal time should be spent pursuing those who charge people for crimes so that those who are charged are not innocent. The justice system in California is unbalanced in many ways, and bail is just one of them. You see the high profile cases. Here, the stories are about people we know or people who might be like people we know. Most of them don’t have deep pockets either and when something is stolen from them, when their homes are broken into, a car taken, assaulted, whatever the crime, it’s real and personal to them and they want justice too. They want to see the person charged for the crime made to pay and not let go on an OR or for very low bail. If you saw the number of people arrested in this county (and others nearby) who were found to have a bench warrant outstanding for failure to appear, you’d see things differently also.
And if you would rethink, re-see your staunch support for the no bail initiative, then you lack compassion for the people who need it the most. They are the victims but they are being punished as if they were the ones who committed the crimes.
Don’t try to market your kinder-gentler-more progressive approach to how those accused of crimes should be treated. Or not until you’ve come up here and met with some of the victims who think you and your program are full of ____.
All I read of your reply was, “…bothered to read…”
Why was bail reduced? He’s from out of state. Attempted murder.
Because he sang like an old country crooner.
Dingdingdingding! We have a winner!
Bet his youtube followers would love to read this story, about his lowered bail for snitching
So if the Bail was set at $500,000 and he was rich he would still make bail, bail on an accused crime, one he has not been found guilty of….
So we have a system in Humboldt where the rich can “buy bail and freedom” and the poor who can not post bail, accused of the same crime are to sit in a cell for an accused crime, seems a little unfair to the poorer citizens to me!
So are punishments in the form of fines. Traffic tickets are nothing to the wealthy.
The purpose of bail is to ensure the person shows up for trial. Has there been any studies of who runs and who doesn’t?
I can remember things like work, ties to the community, etc being. used to set bail levels. Maybe a poor person with a good local history gets released without having to pay bail at all. Maybe a richer person has assets here that would make him unwilling to leave. If a person is poor but has a history of crime and running, maybe a high bail is appropriate. If a rich person has lots of assets outside the country, maybe a huge bail level will help reduce the expense to the state of finding and bringing him back.
It’s nonsense to eliminate all bail requirements but maybe the whole system needs a readjustment to scrape away the accumulated injustices that have accumulated in our too busy and too lucrative to lawyers justice system.
“So we have a system in Humboldt where the rich can “buy bail and freedom” …”
Change “Humboldt to “America” and your comment is also right on the money, no pun intended.
Bullshit this fuckin guy tried to kill someone , probably gonna write a song about it fucked up musta sang a good one to woo the court into 10 grand get outa jail card those pounds must have sold back home .
Pretty boy!!
No beard. Short hair. Don’t trust him!
$10,000 cash and he’s out. What a joke. He’s laughing all the way back to No. C and telling all he buddies about the ‘hick’ courts Humboldt has. Probably paid off the judge.
Haha sang boy sang! Can’t go home and ya can’t stay hea. 😂 I hope someone is pouring out some shitty booze for you in the near future, loser.
Humboldt County Jail is like eel river catch and release
Now that’s funny
Rumor has it there is a “African” walking along ettersburg road with two duffel bags. SO has been called
What in the heck does this have to do with anything? And why call the sheriff because of a person walking along a road? Jeez.
Especially “Jeez” if by “African” you mean the person i saw walking along Mattole Rd. yesterday. An extremely dark person wearing an extremely white head scarf/shawl. Interesting looking, but certainly nothing like the sorts of urban american gang-bangers i see wanted by LE around here lately.
That is, the thought that this person’s race connected him/her with a crime like the one involved in this post is ridiculous. Worlds apart, at least from appearances. And appearances are all that would have prompted someone to call the Sheriff’s Office on a traveller.
What info could he possibly give them? Yes- everybody here is growing mass weed and selling boxes.Yes- all of his friends are coming here to rob it. What part of that did the local police need to know?!
Yall are right.. there should be no bail for the rich or the poor, they should sit in jail tell they are proven not guilty! NO BAIL system
This dude is half way to mexico right about now..what a bunch of idiots!
His songs are all about how he’s got the gas bag of og cush and how he got it for free, and how he fills his pockets full of dollars from $0 to a pocket full and how he bought his Benz with money he took and he took his gas bag from a punk and he gonna keep on turning over that money and he’s got the trimmers all trimming with tunnel vision so he can turn another profit out from nothing outta pocket, etc. Listen to his incriminating shit. Oh and let’s not leave out all the boasting about his guns and modifications etc. He’s the #1 baller on his block! He has the gas bag!
Everyone knows that the only place you get the gas bag is from Humboldt.
Rap/Hip Hop is a musical art form just like rock n roll, country, etc. Did Johnny Cash really shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die? Geez, as they say ‘ignorance is bliss’.
musical art form? hahahahahahahahaha
Ignorant comment Sarah, someone needs to look up culture in the dictionary [edit]
Yuck. Dude bilking his trimmers too. Dude needs to rot in jail. Sociopath.
what is their reasoning for reduced bail so this weenie CAN bail?
this might be a great story, but not for bedtime.
do not scare the kids!
Maybe he hid the pot and they want to find it. Pretty boy needs to go to the big playhouse.
None of these comments mean a damn thing until CHUMP weighs in. CHUMP, stop harvesting for a minute and comment!
I wonder if his bail money was gotten from ill-gotten gains . I know the chump is very busy right now
It’s a black guy shooting a white guy. Why did BLM allow him to even be arrested in the first place?
I’m surprised he was arrested. The white man was obviously being racist, and the poor black man just defended himself. He’s a good boy, a singer with. Atrial talent, sang gospel at his neighborhood church, and donates medicine to those who hurt back at home. You all just misunderstand the poor boy.
Damn straight.
Dunno, Jethro.
But did the Klan sign off on your comment?
That’s the real question.
It’s a win every way you look at it. This young man gets to walk free and do whatever his heart desires, hopefully, far from here. The county doesn’t have to spend a dime to house, feed and clothe him. The county just received $10,000.00 in cash to spend as it pleases. He’ll never come back so no costly trial for the taxpayers. It’s all very good business.
If he skips bail, the county receives $100,000 and unless the bail bondsman finds him, the bondsman is on the hook for it.
The bail bonds folks will be after him sooner than the county if the wannabe rapper disappears having paid the bondsman $10,000. The bondsman posted the full $100,000. The county only makes money if the wannabe skips his appearance, leaving the bail bondsman on the hook. The bail is ridiculously low for armed robbery, etc.
The bondsman didn’t post $100,000 to the county, but rather bonded $100,000 and keeps the $10,000, that is why bail bondsman, cops and judges all drink coffee and eat donuts in the morning…. lots of money to be scammed out of forcing “arrested suspects” to pay a collateral fee (bail) in order to get out before trial, the bondsman who gets $10,000 to “bond on paper” $100,000 makes bank! The county never receives payment unless way down the line they submit a warrant bond to the bail bondsman for full payment…. . Such a scam, and discriminatory for the guy who doesn’t have the full $100,000, he loses the $10k no matter what, unless he has $100k in the bank…..
Yeah our bail system sucks. However, if someone tried to rob me and then shot at me, leaving me with serious wounds – I’d be pissed the bail was only $100,000!
So this maggot flies from the east coast with intentions of robbing someone. The robbers end up shooting the victim and they let this POS out of jail??
Remember, a key to our justice system is that he is a suspect. He hasn’t been convicted.
Yes ma’am. However, his bail could have been set higher since he is from out of the area.
So Basically this guy’s crime is no more serious than growing marijuana, at least according to the bail schedule, Grow or deal pot and you could have even a higher bail set on your release….
Where is the justice, growing or selling pot gets $100,000 bail, as well as attempted murder and robbery, what a disparity!
Apr 8, 2014 – In January, bail was set at $1 million for a Cullman man charged with drug trafficking for allegedly growing marijuana …
Prosecutors: Letter carrier busted selling marijuana on duty – Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune › news › local › breaking
AMP – Jun 24, 2017 – A veteran mail carrier was ordered held in custody on $100,000 bail Saturday after authorities said he ran a …
Blair man posts $100,000 bail after marijuana, weapons found in his home …
Omaha.com › news › crime › blair-man-…
Nov 2, 2016 – A Blair man posted $100,000 bail Wednesday after being charged with running a marijuana-growing operation and
You probably hadn’t heard that cannabis is the Devil’s lettuce so it’s much worse than murder and rape according to the God damn peabrains!
Yup, marijuana kills thousands every day, that why pot bail is as much as murder or attempted murder!
Time to make cannabis eradication and busts the “lowest priority for law enforcement”….. such a waste of resources and money busting pot farmers…. meanwhile home invasions, burglaries, missing persons cases are ignored or left up to victims families to solve….
Careful: a bunch of prohibitionist peabrains, and even some of their useful pawn supporters, consider cannabis The Devil’s Lettuce! Can you believe there are still such ignorants around HERE!!!
Lower the bail amount so the suspect can find local judgment
Anyone want to wager on him not showing up to court?
Looks like he got picked up again today:
LEMARCUS RAEKWON MARTIN
Booking Number: 17-08168
Booking on: 8/30/2017
County: Spartanburg
Date of Birth: 11/13/95
Gender: M
Race: B
Charges
Violation Code: 17-09-0010 3135
Violation Description: FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE
http://mugshots.goupstate.com/Details.aspx?BookingID=17-08168
Good catch. Let me see what I can find out about this.