A Superior Court judge granted a request Thursday to allow a former police officer out of jail on bond while awaiting his appeal, officials said.
Former East Point officer Howard Weems was convicted in December of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison for causing the death of Gregory Towns.
The April 2014 incident involved using a Taser on a handcuffed man and killing him.
Weems is appealing the conviction and wants a new trial, defense attorney William McKenney said.
Weems’ partner, former police officer Marcus Eberhard, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Experts say it is one of the most severe punishments of a police officer in memory and signals a legal strategy gaining favor in Georgia in cases against law enforcement officials.
Weems’ attorney asked the judge to grant him bond.
“If you remand this man for three months or longer, he's going to be in jail serving his prison sentence,” McKenney said. “By the time we have closure, whether it’s here or in the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court, his prison term is over.”
Judge Henry Newkirk said he has never granted bond for a case like this in his nine years on the Superior Court bench. But he said Weems has lived an exemplary life and doesn’t believe the former officer will violate his bond agreement.
Newkirk granted a $10,000 bond, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Towns’ family was so upset with the judge's decision that they abruptly left the courtroom, saying they had to leave before they “say something that would land them in jail,” Channel 2 reported.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard was also livid, releasing a statement calling the judge’s actions insulting:
“What happened today is an insult piled upon an insult. Our County is still recoiling from the weight of several high profile incidents involving the failure to detain dangerous defendants, and the release on bond of a defendant charged with murder who subsequently commits another murder. While these circumstances are fresh on the minds of citizens of our County, our Court today releases — on a meager $10,000 bond — a man held responsible by a jury for the death of a handcuffed man who was illegally tased over a dozen times. I believe this is outrageous! I shall take every step to appeal this action and correct this wrong if it is possible to do so.
Even Martha Stewart, who was convicted of a nonviolent financial crime, served a jail sentence while awaiting appeal. But in Fulton County defendants convicted of involuntary manslaughter are granted appeal bonds.”
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