FRANKFORT, Ky. — Wearing a shirt printed with the words “Live Like Madelynn,” Marcie Troutt tearfully described her 17-year-old daughter to lawmakers. Family and friends dressed in yellow sat behind her.
“She had a very bright future ahead of her and was so excited for the next season of life,” she said. “She was taken because someone that shouldn’t have been out on the road was out on the road that night.”
Troutt said Madelynn died in a car crash involving a man who had recently been bailed out of jail by The Bail Project Louisville.
A grand jury has charged a man in connection with the March 2021 crash.
Troutt was testifying Wednesday to support House Bill 313, which would place limits on charitable bail organizations.
“At the end of the day, it is not the Louisville Bail Project whose lives are drastically changed and altered because of the decisions of a criminal,” said Troutt. “It is ordinary families such as mine.”
Under the latest version of the bill, charitable bail organizations could not provide bail for cases set over $5,000 or for defendants accused of domestic violence and abuse.
The legislation would also require organizations to report the names of people who have contributed funds, and the offenses for which the organizations provided bail.
An earlier version of the legislation was filed weeks before Quintez Brown was charged with attempted murder and the Louisville Community Bail Fund paid Brown’s $100,000 bond.
Bill sponsor Rep. Jason Nemes (R, Louisville) said he supports bail, but that Brown’s case highlights the need for the legislation.
“Will they be a danger to themselves? Will they be a danger to the community? Will they be a flight risk? That human judgment is not in the question when we’re talking about a corporation, an entity,” said Nemes.
The Bail Project Louisville expressed condolences to the Troutt family, but they argued the bill would hurt poorer Kentuckians while still allowing wealthy people to buy their freedom.
“Once a judge determines what price it must be to paid for a person to be released from jail, it doesn’t matter who posts the bond: a relative, church or a community bail fund,” said Carrie Cole, with The Bail Project Louisville. “Our U.S. currency is the same as a grandmother’s.”
Rep. Pamela Stevenson (D, Louisville) was one of two lawmakers to vote against the bill and five others passed on the bill.
“It’s broke, but making it work on the backs of poor people doesn’t work,” she said. “Let’s fix the system.”
The bill passed the committee with 11 yes votes and moves next to the full House.