A Chicago-based charity has worked to free at least 20 defendants facing felony charges—including attempted terrorism and assault of a police officer—as an unprecedented crime wave rocks the city.
The Chicago Community Bond Fund, which opposes cash bail and pretrial incarceration, has posted bond for the alleged felons, putting them back on the streets before their trials. The charity, like other community bond funds across the country, is now flush with cash, raising $3.5 million from 75,000 contributors in late May and early June. Bond funds together have taken in $90 million in the weeks following George Floyd’s death alone, according to the New York Times.
Much of that financial support came courtesy of celebrity donors like Harry Styles, Seth Rogan, Abbi Jacobson, and Lizzo, who urged fans to contribute to local bail funds. John Legend and Chrissy Teigen similarly announced that they would make a large donation to a national fund called the Bail Project.
Bond receipts obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show that the Chicago fund has posted bond for defendants charged with violent crimes. Of the 24 people the group freed on May 31 and June 1 in Cook County alone, seven faced weapons charges.
Among the individuals freed by the group is 25-year-old Christian Frazee, who was charged with attempted terrorism and possession of an incendiary device. Prosecutors say Frazee was detained in the early morning hours of June 1 as he approached squad cars wielding a molotov cocktail and a lighter. He allegedly had a butane torch lighter and a bat in his backpack. – READ MORE
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