NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A bond blunder is bringing Tennessee Senators to the table to consider whether legislation could prevent another alleged attacker from slipping through the cracks of the criminal justice system.
The Senate Bail Task Force was formed after a series of deadly mistakes resulted in Mississippi man, Bricen Rivers, who was arrested in Nashville for allegedly beating his ex-girlfriend, Lauren Johansen in Dec. 2023, posting bond and leaving a Tennessee jail seven months later without his court-ordered ankle monitor. Police say Rivers returned home and killed Johansen.
The newly formed task force met for the first time Tuesday to hear testimony from bonding companies, GPS monitoring companies, and other industry experts about whether changes to legislation can be made to improve the system.
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The lawmakers used the nine issues that a 20th Judicial District judge ruled went wrong in the Rivers case to guide the conversation, including problems with bonding companies surrendering defendants, the conflict of interest that arose from the same agent operating both the bonding and GPS monitoring companies, and the lack of state or local regulatory guidelines for monitoring companies.