How do you explain this? In the span of one week, a mother is charged with second degree murder in the death of her baby. Whether it was actually murder, an accident or just neglect, at this time we don’t know. Her bond is set at $300,000 and she is jailed. A few days later an alleged drunken driver doing his impersonation of a guided missile out of control rear-ends a carload of passengers leaving Gary’s Barbecue, killing an 8-year-old child and sending three others to the hospital, two in critical condition, the other a pregnant mother-to-be. Bond for this person is set at $20,000, and the next morning after the accident, he is out of jail.

One person definitely committed a crime; the other might have. How do you rationalize the disparity in bond?

— Terry Trammell

Salisbury