Video: Family Asks Judge for Explanation for Low Bond in Death Case

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — A Columbus city judge explains why he set a $7,500 bond for a man accused of running over a women and then leaving the scene of the accident.

Relatives of 50-year-old Eva Richards asked Judge Marc Amos to explain the process and his decision during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. Richards was killed April 10 as she walked along 7th Avenue North near 17th Street.

Police have charged 37-year-old Terrance McBride with hitting her, getting out of his vehicle and then driving off. He was caught three hours later by police and confessed to hitting the woman. He’d also washed his 1999 Yukon and changing its tag.

Richard’s family has complained McBride’s bond was too low for a man who has several prior arrests, including prison time for cocaine possession, and who left their relative to die. Amos said he was following the law when police told him McBride wasn’t a threat to the community or to flee, as the law and supreme court have ruled.  Amos said the courts have ruled the intent of bond was to make sure the person got to court, not to serve as punishment, and that leaving him in jail on a high bond would cost the city, force him to lose his job and create other issues when the man likely will plead.

“And it just wasn’t enough because that was a life. That was my sister, her mother, her sister and her mother as well,” one of Richards’ sisters told council members.

“I promise you that I considered all those things and I know where you’re coming from. And if it had been my mom, I’d be thinking exactly the same thing as you are thinking,” Amos said.

Amos and the family spoke at length following the council meeting. If convicted of the charges against him, McBride faces from 5 to 20 years in prison.