Alleged abuser gets $150,000 bond

By Steven Jones
Saturday, September 10, 2005
The Selma Times-Journal
After spending about half-an-hour listening to testimony in Alfred Bell's bond hearing, his 17-year-old alleged victim - who spent most of the hearing looking down at her hands with slumped shoulders - stood up.
"If he gets out of jail he's going to do something very, very bad," she said, her voice cracking slightly.
Bell was charged with assaulting the young lady, burning her severely with a clothing iron on her back, thigh and left breast.
The recommended bond in a domestic violence/assault II case is $2,000 to $20,000. Judge Bob Armstrong, Dallas County District Court Judge, set Bell's bond at $150,000.
Bell, a 21-year-old Orrville man, was arrested Thursday evening, by Dallas County Sheriff's Deputies and charged with assaulting his 17-year-old then girlfriend.
The assault was part of a larger pattern, prosecutors said, pointing to the three other appearances Bell made in Armstrong's court, charged with assaulting the same girl.
"We have a pattern of severe domestic violence that has excalated to physical disfigurement," Shannon Lynch, case prosecutor said. Lynch said that it was possible that the suspect could cause further harm to the victim.
Bell's court-appointed attorney, Vaughan Russell, said that the bond wasn't justified.
In fact Russell said, Bell isn't a danger to the community.
"He's never committed an act of violence outside his own home," Russell said. "She (his girlfriend) goes back to his home. She chooses to go back."
Russell said Bell's record did not indicate any kind of "stalking" behavior.
According to information from the SABRA Sanctuary, a domestic violence shelter in Selma, abused women are likely to return to their abuser about seven times before they leave for good.
Armstrong disagreed with Russell, finding for the prosecution.
"I'm not quite as concerned about the community as I am (the victim)," Armstrong said, calling the attack "borderline torture."
Speaking to Bell, Armstrong said that the defendant has been given several chances to change.
"You've been given several opportunities to get your act straight," he said. "You don't need to be out on the street."
Prosecutors said that they were pleased with the bond and that the high bond was needed to protect the victim.
Lynch said cases like this are important to bring the problem of domestic violence to the forefront.
"Sometimes the person you love can be the scariest person in the world," Lynch said. "Any community needs to know about the cycle of violence."
District attorney Michael Jackson said the case was appalling and he pledged that his office would seek the highest sentence possible in this case.
"No person should be subjected to this type of abuse," he said. "I hope (Bell) packed a lot of clothes, because he is going to be in jail a long time."
A preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 22 in the case. Prosecutors plan to seek a revocation of Bell's probation for a previous domestic violence charge then.