By GARRETT BERGQUIST
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
The mother of a murder victim on Tuesday said she is certain new legislation would have saved her son’s life.
Nikki Sterling’s son, Dylan McGinnis, was murdered Oct. 1. Police said the suspect was out on bond at the time while awaiting trial for possession of cocaine, a level 6 felony. Court documents show his $5,000 bond was paid in January 2021 by The Bail Project, a national nonprofit.
It was the second time in three months a suspect had murdered someone in Marion County after The Bail Project covered their bond. After McGinnis’ death, Sterling began lobbying lawmakers to tighten the rules for such groups.
On Tuesday afternoon, the state Senate approved legislation to impose new rules on nonprofit bail organizations. Under the bill, nonprofits could only cover bail for misdemeanors, and then only if the courts set the amount at $2,000 or less.
In addition, any person or organization that bails out more than two people in a six-month period would have to be licensed and regulated by the Indiana Department of Insurance, much the same as traditional bail bond agencies are.
Sterling said her advocacy since her son’s death has given her a sense of purpose. She said blocking nonprofits from bailing out felony suspects will prevent other families from facing what she has gone through.
“If I can impact somebody else’s life, help another mother, stop another mother from getting the same phone call I received that night, then I’ll feel like I fulfilled [McGinnis’] legacy of helping others,” she said.
The Bail Project’s operations director, David Gaspar, said the organization has made changes after McGinnis’ death but writing new rules into state law is the wrong way to address the problem. He said a traditional bond agency covered the surety bond for the suspect in that case and The Bail Project simply covered the rest.
Gaspar said the regulations will be moot anytime a suspect’s family has the means to bail them out on their own.
“Without our work here, there’s not a level playing field for those who are impoverished,” he said. “The question is not about The Bail Project’s work. It’s about the process here in Indiana and across our nation of a constitutional right to bond.”
Earlier in the day, before the Senate’s vote, both Gaspar and Sterling spoke to a House committee which approved a similar bill. The Senate’s vote sends the upper chamber’s version of the bill to the House.