Taking a crime-agnostic view on providing bail, arguing that it is judges who determine if a person is a threat to the general public by offering cash bail and that the presumption of innocence applies to all, the fund has posted the bonds of hundreds of people accused of crimes, including a number charged with violent crimes.
[5] LeKendra Lottie was charged with attempted murder, with the police claiming that she had driven her small SUV in to an officer, fracturing his leg.
[5] Lottie, who had not been attending the vigil but was picking up her two brothers who were, said the police had instigated the confrontation, breaking her back window and shouting at her to move along.
[4] The first person to have their bond posted was Pittman's mother, one among the five charged with mob action, a day prior to her son's funeral which she otherwise would have missed.
[4][6] The last of the group, one of Pittman's cousins, had his bond posted in December after being held for four months, a period in which he had lost his job.
[12] Sharlyn Grace, one of the founding members of the fund and the then executive director,[13] told The New Republic that the early efforts that were focused on posting individual bonds made clear to the group that structural change was required, that they "very quickly realized that we could be on that hamster wheel forever.
Black also said that the Tribune had "goosed its numbers" by including people who had committed a violent offense outside of the period where they would have been held in pre-trial detention.
[20] A former executive director of the group, Sharlyn Grace, helped draft the Pretrial Fairness Act which would eliminate cash bail.