Judge:  Graves' bail is 'excessive, oppressive'

Jan. 6, 2007, 12:33AM
Judge: Graves' bail is 'excessive, oppressive'
But federal jurist says he's powerless to interfere with the $1 million set by the state court

By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Former death row inmate Anthony Graves leaves court after an unsuccessful bond hearing Friday in Galveston.
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GALVESTON — Calling a $1 million state bail "excessive and oppressive," a federal judge Friday nevertheless said he was powerless to interfere with the way a state court handles the retrial of former death row inmate Anthony Graves.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Froeschner's decision not to interfere means that Graves will be returned to the Burleson County Jail in Caldwell to await his retrial on capital murder charges.

"I can agree with you that it sounds pretty excessive and pretty oppressive, but that's the business of the state court," Froeschner said.

Froeschner allowed Graves to post $5,000 in cash as security for $50,000 bail, but said he can't order deputy U.S. marshals to release him until he satisfies the $1 million state bail.

No law was broken

Jeff Blackburn, of Amarillo, one of three attorneys working for Graves for free because they say they think he is innocent, said the $1 million bail set Dec. 20 by Burleson County District Judge Reva Towslee-Corbett was "a ridiculous amount designed to do nothing but keep him locked up."

Blackburn said Towslee-Corbett set the bail on her own initiative without holding a hearing.

Froeschner said that although the $1 million bail might be excessive and there probably should have been a hearing before bail was set, Towslee-Corbett had broken no law.

He said Graves would have to appeal the bail through the state court system before the issue could return to federal court. Blackburn said the defense began the process the day after Towslee-Corbett set bail.

Froeschner's decision disappointed Graves' family and encouraged the family of the victims.

"I don't think the bond was set right in the beginning," said Doris Curry, 58, Graves' mother. "He's not a dangerous person."

But Anitra Davis, 30, a cousin of victim Nicole Davis, 16, said, "I'm pleased that he's staying because that's where he belongs."

Prosecutor named

Towslee-Corbett on Thursday appointed Assistant Attorney General Julie Ann Stone as interim special prosecutor to retry Graves, whose capital murder conviction was overturned last year after a federal appeals court found that prosecutors withheld evidence and elicited false testimony.

The Texas Innocence Network says Graves is innocent of charges that he participated in the slayings of a grandmother and five children in 1992.

The case had no prosecutor for more than two weeks after the request by Renee Mueller, district attorney for Burleson and Washington counties, to recuse her office.

Mueller recused her office after Towslee-Corbett ruled that Assistant District Attorney Joan Scroggins, part of the team that prosecuted Graves in 1994, could not participate in the prosecution.

The case was awaiting assignment of a prosecutor when Towslee-Corbett set Graves' bail at $1 million without a hearing.

In October, Froeschner recommended the $50,000 bail with a $5,000 cash payment, because prosecutors had failed to retry Graves within 120 days and had not sought a bail hearing. U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent ordered the bail, which Graves' attorneys paid.

The Texas Attorney General's Office appealed and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Kent's authority to set the bail, but stayed Graves' release until Jan. 4 to give prosecutors a chance to request a bail hearing in state court.

harvey.rice@chron.com