Letter: Why didn’t someone help driver make bail?

Graphic by Lori Deaton

Hannah Guffey committed suicide in the Buncombe County jail because she couldn’t afford to make bail! Why didn’t someone help her make bail? I thought Asheville has a bail reform group that helps people in jail make bail.

And I thought both society in general, as well as the criminal justice system, recently decided that no one belongs in jail just because they can’t make bail. There must be a good reason to keep someone in jail!

In this country, a person is innocent until proven guilty. And Hannah Guffey wasn’t proven guilty of anything!

And because there is some indication that the woman biker swerved into Hannah’s car’s path, making striking the woman biker unavoidable, had the case gone to trial, the prosecutor could not have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Hannah Guffey struck the woman biker rather than the other way around, so the jury would have had to acquit.

Consequently, Hannah Guffey kept her good name in life. And Hannah Guffey retains her good, good name in death. Hannah, your family and fiancé and friends are going to miss you. Sleep well!

— Richard D. Pope
Hendersonville

Editor’s note: The Citizen Times reported that Guffey was charged with DUI, driving while license revoked, felony hit-and-run, and careless and reckless driving in the July 18 death of cyclist Jane Norton Beach, who was hit from behind on Brevard Road. A Highway Patrol report of the accident says Beach made a right turn onto Brevard Road before she was struck. Guffey died July 28 in the Buncombe County Detention Center of an apparent suicide, according to the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department, the Citizen Times reported the following day. She had been in custody under a $10,100 bond.

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3 thoughts on “Letter: Why didn’t someone help driver make bail?

  1. Johnny to the A

    A good reason to keep someone in jail?

    “Guffey was charged with DUI, driving while license revoked, felony hit-and-run, and careless and reckless driving in the July 18 death of cyclist Jane Norton Beach, who was hit from behind on Brevard Road.”

  2. BRUCE

    “Hannah Guffey committed suicide in the Buncombe County jail because she couldn’t afford to make bail!”

    What a ridiculous claim. I suspect Ms. Guffey committed suicide because in addition to feeling awful about the fact that she killed someone, her charges of “driving under the influence, driving with license REVOKED, and FELONY HIT AND RUN” establish a pattern of behavior that indicates Ms. Guffey was not someone to face the responsibilities of her actions.

    Nevermind what a jury does or doesn’t do and in fact I don’t even care if the biker dashed out intentionally to get hit. The facts are Hannah should not have been behind the wheel in the first place, let alone under the influence! She ran over someone with their car and left them to die, any notions of Hannah being a good person are laughable.

    • Broadway Barney

      Mr. Pope certainly has an “interesting” perspective.
      EXCELLENT response BRUCE!!!

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