Bond, restrictions set on Trump in Georgia election case

Extract from The New Daily

The New Daily

8:52am, Aug 22, 2023 Updated: 9:54am, Aug 22

Former US president Donald Trump will reportedly turn himself in and be processed at Georgia’s Fulton County jail this week.

CNN quoted two sources familiar with the plan as saying Mr Trump agreed to report to the jail on Thursday US time after negotiations with the district attorney’s office.

Mr Trump will need to pay a significant bond to secure his release will be ordered not to send threatening social media messages ahead of his trial in Georgia on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss.

A court filing on Tuesday showed a $US200,000 ($312,000) bond agreement signed by Trump’s lawyers and Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis, sets out release terms including restrictions on intimidating witnesses and obstructing justice.

“The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media,” states the order, signed by Fulton County Superior Court judge Scott McAfee.

Typically when police make an arrest in Fulton County, the arrestee is booked into jail and must appear before a magistrate judge within 72 hours.

That is unlikely to occur in this case as the accused have already been indicted and have negotiated the terms of release and bond before surrendering at the jail.

Mr Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and 18 co-defendants were indicted in the Georgia case on August 14. Willis gave them until Friday at noon to surrender to charges against them or face arrest.

Prosecutors in the case have proposed that the trial start on March 4, 2024, while Mr Trump’s lawyers have asked for a 2026 trial.

Notorious jail

Fulton County Jail was built in 1985 to house around 1300 inmates, but has been criticised for its conditions as it routinely holds more than 3000 prisoners in recent years.

A report by the Southern Center for Human Rights asserts that the jail provides “unhygienic living conditions” that have led to outbreaks of Covid-19, lice and scabies.

It claims inmates are “significantly malnourished” and dealing with a condition called cachexia, also known as wasting syndrome.

Last week, a 34-year-old man died after being found unconscious in a medical unit cell at the jail, where he had been held since 2019. 

He was the sixth person to die in the county jail system this year.

– with AAP