‘Enough is enough’: Chief Drake wants better justice system after repeat offenders re-arrested
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Violent criminals back on the street and committing more crimes have become a frequent topic, and now Metro Nashville’s Police Chief says he’s had enough.
The call for action comes after officers re-arrested three people in just 10 days.
“We’re sounding the alarm,” said Police Chief John Drake before the media on Monday, April 29. “Over and over and over again, just the same people being rearrested, charged with violent crime.”
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Earlier this month, Jamien Taylor was charged with attempted kidnapping and assault. His bond is set at $75,000, which will require a source hearing before a judge before he could be considered for release.
Taylor’s arrest this week comes just one week after he was arrested for making sexual advances toward a woman in an elevator. In that case, the Community Bail Fund posted his $3,000 bond on Tuesday, April 23, and he was released.
Then, Metro police put out an alert for 19-year-old Adrian Cameron Jr. after Metro Police identified him as one of the three suspects involved in the shooting death of rapper Chirs King.
At the time of the shooting, Cameron Jr. was out on bond for the September 2021 murder of 50-year-old Josh Evans, according to investigators. In that case, Cameron Jr. allegedly shot and killed Evans and dumped his body in the Cumberland River. Authorities recovered Evans’ body from the river on Sept. 13, 2021. That criminal homicide case was transferred from Juvenile Court to Criminal Court.
“Mr. Hamilton, he has over 105 charges throughout his lifetime,” Drake explained, referencing Carl Jerome Hamilton.
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The 34-year-old was charged with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, and robbery. According to Metro police, the 25-year-old victim was delivering packages when Hamilton pushed her further into the mailroom and shut the door. He then reportedly sexually assaulted her and forced her to drive him to an ATM where he used her debit card to withdraw $100, according to police.
The apartment building manager told police they knew Hamilton by name, as a result of his arrest at the property on Marth 5 and Jan. 2 for criminal trespassing.
Hamilton had been arrested for kidnapping and robbery in 2020 in relation to his assault on a 24-year-old woman on Academy Place. He was convicted of those offenses in July 2022 and received a six-year sentence.
“Time and time again, how this continues to happen and then not to think the community begins to feel unsafe, because they continue to let these people do harm over and over, but the men and women of the police department also get discouraged because they keep re-arrested these same people,” Drake said.
The chief went on to say over the past year, over 3,000 people have been arrested for crimes including homicide, rape, and aggravated assault. However, he said 16% of them have been re-arrested and were out on pre-trail bond.
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“If you’re involved in a violent crime, if you’re involved in a homicide, carjackings, or you have a long criminal history, there needs to be consideration; there needs to be conversations had to hold these people more accountable and give these people more time to think about what they’ve done,” Drake urged.
He explained it’s not just adults; his department is seeing the same trend among teens.
“We had a robbery crew. The kids were between 14 and 16 I believe, and they committed 17 robberies that we know of,” Drake said. “So, they get arrested last Monday morning, and by that afternoon, early afternoon, they’re already out and people were saying this shouldn’t have happened. It was a mistake made, but still the system can’t make those kinds of mistakes.”
Drake explained it’s especially hard as victims’ families often turn to Metro police, wondering why someone who has been charged with murder was released.
“It’s frustrating to me when you hear someone that committed a murder in 2020, and then 2021 they are committing another murder, and you’re like, ‘How does that happen?’ And then in 2024, they commit aggravated assault where they shoot someone, and you’re like, ‘How did that happen?’ And it’s time for the community, it’s time for all of us in Nashville to start saying, Enough is enough,'” he said.
News 2 has been told Taylor is expected back in court Tuesday for a motion to revoke his bond.
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The Community Bail Fund sent News 2 a full statement:
“Money bail detention is only a problem for poor people. Jamien Taylor has multiple charges and arrest but has yet to have his cases heard in a court of law. His guilt has not been determined. At the same time, the system of money bail and the bias of pretrial detention of poor people is the problem we address as a public entity. Not the type of pending charge or how many charges someone may have. Blaise Taylor recently made bail for 2.5 million dollars on two pre-meditated murder charges. A judge decided he could make bail so he did. I didn’t hear anything about the bonding companies that came together in order to insure his release and got paid. If you have money and can afford bail a bonding company that works ‘for a profit’ will definitely get you out. The only people ‘only people’ who suffer money bail detention and the harms associated with it are poor people.
The 8th Amendment of the constitution of the United States says no excessive bail should be set. This is because in fairness we ‘as a country’ understand that locking up people and subjecting them to incarceration before they are convicted is cruel and unusual, another constitutional protection. In other words, we understand that people who are arrested and not yet convicted of a crime should not be detained ‘locked up’ simply because they are poor. I would argue that people who re-offend often do so because they live in neighborhoods and areas that are highly policed. Not necesarily because they are more ‘criminal’ than anyone else. The bail fund has helped over 2,000 people get released pretrial. About 1,250 of those were innocent and had their charges dropped and dismissed. That is simply too many lives that could have been destroyed for us to ignore. The constitution is right. It would have been totally unfair and cruel and unusal punishment for those people to have spent any unnecessary time in jail as innocent people. Unfortunately, without the bail fund they would have.”
Community Bail Fund
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