U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Baverman has denied T.I.’s lawyers’ request that their client be released on bond while he awaits trial on federal weapons charges [to learn all the details of the case click here and here].
Judge Baverman announced that he will hold another hearing a week from today to further consider the bond proposal presented by T.I.’s lawyers in court today.
T.I.’s attorneys presented a bond proposal to the court asking that their client be released on a $2.2 million bond (with a half-million dollar cash deposit), in addition to a $1 million signature bond signed by T.I.’s recording home, Atlantic Records. The label also contributed five $100,00 signature bonds signed by five executives from Atlantic and Warner Music. Additionally, two $100,00 surety bonds from different bonding companies and the $1.5 million equity in T.I.’s two homes were also offered up to the court. A total of $5.4 million was presented to procure T.I.’s release.
Judge Baverman does not believe that much money for bond is needed, but he is demanding that T.I. post $2 million in cash – not $500,000 as his lawyers had proposed – plus the equity in all the property he owns.
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Attorneys for T.I. also proposed putting their client on monitored home confinement until trial, along with having a person in the home 24 hours a day to monitor activities there. Judge Baverman said that he wants to consider companies to do that monitoring and hear evidence regarding them. If the judge does decide to release T.I. to such monitoring until his trial, he will be essentially imprisoned in his home, unable to leave the premises. T.I. will also have to wear an electronic monitoring device.
If released, additional conditions placed on T.I. until trial will include his submission to drug tests, any searches of his property, and the removal of any safes in his home.
In addition to learning that he will remain behind bars for at least another week, T.I. was also formerly arraigned this morning on the three charges that a federal grand jury formerly indicted him on two days ago.
T.I. entered a plea of not guilty to the charges of illegally possessing unregistered machine guns and silencers, unlawfully possessing those guns, and possessing those weapons as a convicted felon.
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Contrary to previous reports, due to the formal indictment on Wednesday federal prosecutors were not forced to show probable cause for T.I.’s arrest at today’s hearing.
During the proceedings at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building and Courthouse in Atlanta federal prosecutors argued that T.I. should not be released on bond because of his previous criminal history, and that he was arrested buying machine guns, he poses both a flight risk and a danger to the community.
Prosecutors also revealed in court today that T.I. had roughly a half-pound of marijuana in his vehicle when he was arrested. Reportedly, when he was taken into custody T.I. told ATF agents that he had just smoked marijuana. But per an interview conducted with a pre-trial services officer he claimed he had not smoked marijuana in more than a year.
This contradiction reportedly distressed Judge Baverman, who otherwise expressed that he was impressed by T.I.’s talent, as well as the generosity he’s shown to the community.
T.I. has assembled a “dream team” of attorneys to defend him at trial. In addition to his previously hired counsel, Dwight Thomas and Steve Sadow, Ed Garland and his longtime legal partner Don Samuel have joined T.I.’s defense team.
Previously, Garland helped spare the Baltimore Ravens’ Ray Lewis from going to jail on murder charges.
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According to federal mandatory sentencing guidelines, if convicted at trial T.I. is likely facing five years in a federal penitentiary.
