Prominent Kentucky officials, including Chief Justice John Minton Jr., support bail reform.

A phone survey said 76% of Kentucky voters support bail reform.

More than 60% of U.S. jail inmates are there because they can't afford to make bail.

When criminal defense attorney Julie Kaelin ran for judge last year, she made no secret of her support for bail reform and eliminating cash bail that she argues favors the rich over the poor.

Now that she's sitting on Jefferson District Court, she is practicing what she preached.

To the dismay of the Louisville Metro Police Department, she has released a series of defendants without making them post cash bonds first — including several accused of domestic violence.

For example, Dominique Fort, 27, was charged March 4 with criminal mischief and menacing for allegedly pointing a gun at a woman and throwing a cinder block at her car. Kaelin released him on a $1,000 surety bond, meaning he simply had to promise to pay that money if he failed to appear.

When Jacob Rich, 35, was charged Feb. 6 with assault, wanton endangerment and unlawful imprisonment for allegedly handcuffing a woman, pistol whipping and choking her and cutting her hair with a knife, Kaelin ordered him released to home incarceration on a $25,000 surety bond.

The next day, another judge, describing the allegations as "very dangerous," raised the bond to $500,000 full cash, meaning Rich would have to post the entire amount to make bail.

Read this:Louisville defense lawyer will do almost anything to win. And he often does

And when Dwight Taylor, 36, was charged March 2 with rape and assault for allegedly entering a woman's home, sexually assaulting her and strangling her until she lost consciousness, Kaelin ordered him released on home incarceration on a $250,000 surety bond.

Another judge changed it to a cash bond in that amount, marking it "FC" — for full cash — "Danger."

In a statement, police spokeswoman Jessie Halladay said some officers believed Kaelin's decisions were "not in the interest of public safety."

"Our officers work diligently to find justice for victims, and some of these decisions have been frustrating," she said.

Other detectives have complained that Kaelin has allowed defendants accused of burglary and noncompliance with sex offender laws to appear by summons rather than be arrested, Fraternal Order of Police 614 President Nic Jilek said.

More news:Louisville lawyer wins $80M verdict over weedkiller Roundup

Judge defends unfairness of cash bail

Kaelin offers no apologies.

"I make my decisions based on what I think is fair, not what I think the police want," she said.

She said high bonds are unfair to the poor because only the rich can afford to pay them, and she's not the only one.

Chief Justice John Minton Jr., Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Whitney Westerfield are all supporters of bail reform in Kentucky.

Kaelin said that defendants — including the ones she let free on cashless bonds — are presumed innocent and that the police department's public opposition is "absolutely devastating" to that presumption.

She recalled how in 2017 when she was a defense attorney, police "maligned" Judge Sean Delahanty’s decision to release one of her clients who was charged with murder on home incarceration.

The client, represented at trial in February by another lawyer, was acquitted.

Defense lawyer Rob Eggert defended Kaelin's decision to release his client, 23-year-old Deon Mucker, on a $2,500 surety bond after he was charged Feb. 6 with robbery and burglary for allegedly forcing his way into a woman’s home, forcing her to fall down a flight of stairs and taking her cellphone.

Eggert said Mucker has made his subsequent court appearances and stayed out of trouble.

As for allowing defendants to appear by summons, usually about five or six weeks after they are charged, Kaelin said that's appropriate when the law provides for probation if they are convicted and the defendant has a good record and is likely to appear.

Still, Kaelin said when she heard the department didn't like how she was handling cases, she arranged a meeting with LMPD Chief Steve Conrad, which is set for Friday.

More headlines:Ethics charges levied against House GOP leaders over election case

Kentucky among states targeting cash bail

The dispute comes as advocates in Kentucky and other states are pushing for the end of cash bail.

Westerfield, a Republican who represents Christian, Logan and Todd counties, has said that with cash bail, "If you’re wealthy enough, you can always get out of jail no matter what you did," while if “you’re poor enough, you can’t get out of jail no matter what you did."

Although a House bill to limit cash bail died in this year’s short legislative session, Westerfield said he expects it to be debated in the interim.

And the bail reform movement appears to have popular support in Kentucky.

A phone survey of 625 registered Kentucky voters in December conducted for the state Chamber of Commerce found that 76 percent supported changing Kentucky’s bail system so those charged with nonviolent, nonsexual crimes can be released before trial without making a cash payment.

Under Kentucky law, judges are required to set bail based on the seriousness of the alleged crime; the potential danger of release to the community; the defendant’s ties to the community; and the likelihood the defendant will appear.

But unlike in federal courts, where defendants can be ordered held with no bail, judges in Kentucky must set bail in some amount, other than in capital murder cases.

Josh Abner, a spokesman for Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell, said he has voiced his support for bail reform many times.

But he said "any move to a cashless bail system must include the opportunity for prerelease detention hearings. Prosecutors must be able to argue for detention when they feel a particular defendant is a danger to the victim or the community."

Read this:Braidy Industries extends stock sale deadline again to fund $1.7B mill

Many poor defendants can't make bail

Across the country, reformers are chipping away at money bail, arguing that it discriminates against the poor, ruins lives, fuels mass incarceration and contributes to wrongful convictions as defendants accept deals just to get out of jail.

Kaelin and others cite studies that show people who are detained because they are unable to make bail are more likely to lose their job, lose their home and commit more crime.

A 2013 study of 153,000 arrests in Kentucky supported by the Arnold Foundation found that low-risk defendants who are unable to make bail and held two to three days are 40 percent more likely to commit more crimes before trial than similar defendants released within 24 hours.

Nationally, more than 60 percent of people in America’s overcrowded jails are there because they can’t afford to pay their bail amount. That works out to roughly 450,000 Americans in jail daily.

In Kentucky in 2016, there were 64,123 defendants charged with nonviolent, nonsexual crimes jailed before trial because they could not afford their bail, according to a study of state court data by the nonprofit Louisville-based Pegasus Institute. They spent an average of 109 days in jail.

California, whose governor, Jerry Brown, called cash bail a tax on the poor, eliminated it last year, while New Jersey did away with it four years ago.

In Washington, D.C., which cut out cash bail in 1992, 94 percent of defendants are released before trial and 90 percent of them show up for court.

See also:Gov. Matt Bevin appoints justice to fill Kentucky Supreme Court vacancy

Kentucky eliminated commercial bail bonds

In the five years ending in 2018, about 90 percent of defendants released were not arrested again before their cases were resolved, according to data collected by the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency. Defendants who are deemed too dangerous to be released may be ordered detained until trial.

Kentucky in 1976 became one of the first states to abolish commercial bail bonds and to have judges set bond for defendants using a risk-assessment score based on the seriousness of their offense, their past record and likelihood of returning for court.

But judges are free to ignore it and sometimes do, Kaelin said.

In fact, after a law was enacted in Kentucky in 2011 requiring that judges at least consider risk-assessment scores, there was only a small increase in the percentage of defendants released before trial, according to a study of more than 1 million cases conducted by a George Mason University law professor.

Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/andreww.