The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office is reporting that, on Tuesday, October 14, at just after 6:50 a.m., Sheriff’s Office detention staff at the county jail in downtown Greensboro discovered 71-year-old Tracey Johnson “unresponsive” inside his cell.
According to a statement regarding the death from the Sheriff’s Office, both detention officers and on-site medical staff immediately began life-saving measures – but it was to no avail.
Emergency Medical Services were notified and arrived at the site at just after 7 a.m.
In spite of the efforts, Johnson was pronounced deceased at 7:39 a.m.
Following this incident, Sheriff’s Office detectives with the Major Crimes Investigative Unit, along with the local Medical Examiner, were notified and an investigation into Johnson’s death was initiated.
At this time, the Sheriff’s Office states, no foul play is suspected and the investigation remains ongoing.
Johnson’s next of kin has been notified of the death.
Johnson had been in jail since Saturday, March 8, when he was arrested in the early morning hours by the Greensboro Police Department on charges of Felony Habitual Breaking and Entering as well as Misdemeanor Attempted Breaking and Entering into a Building.
He was being held at the Greensboro jail under a $20,000 secured bond pending a future court appearance.
Why was he in the county jail over 7 months. Had he not had a court date or trial
Welcome to American justice if you are poor.
So tell us all knowing Oz. What is the solution, he has a long record multiple Felony B/E charges, various misdemeanors. He was a habitual felon. What’s your answer
I vote for courts to either issue cashless bonds or hold people that are a risk to the public on a no bond basis. Take money out of the equation.
Ok so why hasn’t he already been tried and sent to a State prison. He’s a habitual felon. And I call BS on the cashless bail. How has that worked in a lot other cities. Please cite the sources for your answer
Right….the issue is the holding of non-violent offenders in local jails because they can’t afford even modest bail of say $2000 and especially a $50k bond. Why allow a wealthy person to walk pending trial but not a low-income person? It is clearly unfair to have a judicial system based strictly on how much money you can pay. Source, my opinion that justice should be same regardless of personal income and wealth.
In terms of actual studies on the subject, only one state has fully eliminated cash bail. Results are a bit early still, but early indications are that it has not increased crime. https://medium.com/@sdespin/cashless-bail-and-public-safety-fear-facts-and-the-fight-for-fairness-f0bed73a91f6
Once convicted, they get the sentence based on the standards established by our legislature and DOJ leadership. Why does it take so long for someone to be tried and sentenced is another issue entirely as it has many factors such as prosecutor budgets, judge’s caseloads, # of pre-trial motions, etc… Don’t know enough about this particular case to have an opinion on why it was taking so long.
Hope that helps.
He apparently could not make the $20,000 bond. And had no relatives who could post bond or were willing. Typically, you pay a bail bondsman 10% to post your bond. So nobody had $2,000 to pay to get him out on bail. It is a bit sad, but for a “habitual criminal”, thanks the consequences. It likely took at lot of bad life decisions to reach this point at age 71.
Another law suit the city will quickly settle?
We’ll see. He could have just died a natural death as sometimes happens.
Already half dead
You can also ask the District Attorney why close to 100 people are being held in Jail from 1-7 years awaiting trial or plea’s on Murder charges. When will victim’s families get justice. The DA should get with defense Attorneys and present them with a plea sheet saying the defendant agrees to the charges and gets 20 years in prison. If not, we will go to trial and ask for 30+ years. I bet this will move cases. What are they waiting on? 5,6 & 7 years, witnesses forget what they saw, witnesses die, Detectives retire, Detectives die, and the victims don’t get justice. We can do better.
Why don’t we wait for an autopsy?