LOS ANGELES, CA – A nonprofit organization dedicated to the social justice concept of abolishing the cash bail system has reportedly spent over $91 million in funds to help post bond for criminal defendants since its inception. The nonprofit has fallen under scrutiny due to some of the individuals they have bailed out who went on to either be accused or convicted of murder while on bond.
Based out of the upscale Los Angeles town of Venice, The Bail Project claims to strive “for a more perfect justice system,” with the core means of achieving said goal being the offering of bail assistance to indigent criminal defendants while simultaneously advocating for policies to “take money out of” the criminal justice process.
This past December, as previously reported by Law Enforcement Today, The Bail Project attracted an unsavory media spotlight after one of the criminal defendants they helped bail out in Ohio was arrested for murder five days after he was able to post bond.
But the case of 25-year-old Donnie Allen, who stands accused of the fatal transit shooting in Cleveland, isn’t the only notable instance where The Bail Project secured the release of someone who’d go on to allegedly commit a murder. Since 2020, The Bail Project has helped release three criminal defendants who’d go on to be convicted of murder while enjoying the freedom secured by the nonprofit.
Back in December of 2020, Travis Lang was arrested in Indiana on charges of cocaine possession, breaking and entering, resisting arrest, and burglary. Come the following January, The Bail Project fronted $5,650 to get Lang released on bond. In October of 2021, after Lang skipped out on his scheduled court appearances, he was involved in a drug deal where he nonfatally shot a woman seeking narcotics and killed the uninvolved passenger in her vehicle, 24-year-old Dylan McGinnis.
Lang was sentenced to 96 years in prison back in September 2023 for the fatal shooting of McGinnis, and the victim’s family filed a wrongful death suit against The Bail Project that same year.
In April of 2019, Samuel Lee Scott was arrested in Missouri following a domestic violence incident involving his wife, 54-year-old Marcia Johnson, where he reportedly struck her in the face and threatened to “finish what [he] started.”
Days after his arrest, The Bail Project fronted $5,000 for Scott to be bailed out on April 9th. Mere hours after Scott's release, a friend of Johnson found her unconscious and covered in blood, having suffered several broken ribs, a broken eye socket, and numerous contusions. Johnson sadly succumbed to her injuries shortly after being hospitalized.
Scott was convicted of Johnson’s murder in April of 2022, with local coverage of his conviction highlighting how The Bail Project defended their actions because the order of protection Johnson secured against Scott following his arrest wasn’t issued until “after the bail was posted, and that the organization did not know about the order.”
In an additional statement provided by the nonprofit’s Executive Director Robin Steinberg following Johnson’s murder, she asserted, “No one could have predicted this tragedy,” and that the focus should be on the bigger picture of upending “the larger systems that create poverty, racism and violence, including the pretrial bail system.”
In December of 2020, Marcus Garvin was arrested in Indiana after he allegedly stabbed someone at a Circle K in Indianapolis, with his bond initially being set at $30,000. After Marion Superior Court Judge Shatrese Flowers lowered his bond to $1,500 with a pretrial release condition of GPS monitoring, The Bail Project stepped up and fronted his bail money to secure his release by January of 2021.
Six months after being bonded out by The Bail Project, Garvin fatally stabbed 30-year-old Christie Holt at an Always Inn in Indianapolis. Local reports note that the two were romantically involved, and after stabbing Holt, Garvin transported her body to a wooded area and crudely attempted to dismember her. In June of 2023, Garvin pleaded guilty to Holt’s murder and was subsequently sentenced to 45 years in prison.
When The Bail Project faced criticism over their funding of Garvin’s pretrial release, the nonprofit defended their actions in a statement to a local Fox News affiliate in Indianapolis, claiming the nonprofit takes “several factors into consideration” when choosing whose bail to fund. In the shared statement, at no point did The Bail Project acknowledge that Garvin’s original charges from December 2020 involved stabbing a Circle K patron.
In the nonprofit’s most recent statement in light of the growing criticism they’re facing, a spokesperson for the organization claimed they “are deeply concerned by any allegations involving our clients, especially those that include a loss of life,” but cited that these instances can occur under any sort of release circumstances and conditions “whether someone is bailed out by a bondsman, released on their own recognizance, or supported by a charitable bail fund.”
Based out of the upscale Los Angeles town of Venice, The Bail Project claims to strive “for a more perfect justice system,” with the core means of achieving said goal being the offering of bail assistance to indigent criminal defendants while simultaneously advocating for policies to “take money out of” the criminal justice process.
This past December, as previously reported by Law Enforcement Today, The Bail Project attracted an unsavory media spotlight after one of the criminal defendants they helped bail out in Ohio was arrested for murder five days after he was able to post bond.
But the case of 25-year-old Donnie Allen, who stands accused of the fatal transit shooting in Cleveland, isn’t the only notable instance where The Bail Project secured the release of someone who’d go on to allegedly commit a murder. Since 2020, The Bail Project has helped release three criminal defendants who’d go on to be convicted of murder while enjoying the freedom secured by the nonprofit.
Back in December of 2020, Travis Lang was arrested in Indiana on charges of cocaine possession, breaking and entering, resisting arrest, and burglary. Come the following January, The Bail Project fronted $5,650 to get Lang released on bond. In October of 2021, after Lang skipped out on his scheduled court appearances, he was involved in a drug deal where he nonfatally shot a woman seeking narcotics and killed the uninvolved passenger in her vehicle, 24-year-old Dylan McGinnis.
Lang was sentenced to 96 years in prison back in September 2023 for the fatal shooting of McGinnis, and the victim’s family filed a wrongful death suit against The Bail Project that same year.
In April of 2019, Samuel Lee Scott was arrested in Missouri following a domestic violence incident involving his wife, 54-year-old Marcia Johnson, where he reportedly struck her in the face and threatened to “finish what [he] started.”
Days after his arrest, The Bail Project fronted $5,000 for Scott to be bailed out on April 9th. Mere hours after Scott's release, a friend of Johnson found her unconscious and covered in blood, having suffered several broken ribs, a broken eye socket, and numerous contusions. Johnson sadly succumbed to her injuries shortly after being hospitalized.
Scott was convicted of Johnson’s murder in April of 2022, with local coverage of his conviction highlighting how The Bail Project defended their actions because the order of protection Johnson secured against Scott following his arrest wasn’t issued until “after the bail was posted, and that the organization did not know about the order.”
In an additional statement provided by the nonprofit’s Executive Director Robin Steinberg following Johnson’s murder, she asserted, “No one could have predicted this tragedy,” and that the focus should be on the bigger picture of upending “the larger systems that create poverty, racism and violence, including the pretrial bail system.”
In December of 2020, Marcus Garvin was arrested in Indiana after he allegedly stabbed someone at a Circle K in Indianapolis, with his bond initially being set at $30,000. After Marion Superior Court Judge Shatrese Flowers lowered his bond to $1,500 with a pretrial release condition of GPS monitoring, The Bail Project stepped up and fronted his bail money to secure his release by January of 2021.
Six months after being bonded out by The Bail Project, Garvin fatally stabbed 30-year-old Christie Holt at an Always Inn in Indianapolis. Local reports note that the two were romantically involved, and after stabbing Holt, Garvin transported her body to a wooded area and crudely attempted to dismember her. In June of 2023, Garvin pleaded guilty to Holt’s murder and was subsequently sentenced to 45 years in prison.
When The Bail Project faced criticism over their funding of Garvin’s pretrial release, the nonprofit defended their actions in a statement to a local Fox News affiliate in Indianapolis, claiming the nonprofit takes “several factors into consideration” when choosing whose bail to fund. In the shared statement, at no point did The Bail Project acknowledge that Garvin’s original charges from December 2020 involved stabbing a Circle K patron.
In the nonprofit’s most recent statement in light of the growing criticism they’re facing, a spokesperson for the organization claimed they “are deeply concerned by any allegations involving our clients, especially those that include a loss of life,” but cited that these instances can occur under any sort of release circumstances and conditions “whether someone is bailed out by a bondsman, released on their own recognizance, or supported by a charitable bail fund.”
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