Prosecutor Says a $100 Bribe Was Offered to Fix a Bail Bond
In Judge Ronald's Seattle courtroom, Prosecuting Attorney George F. Vanderveer announced that someone offered him cash to set Frank Shapiro's bail at $2,500.
SEATTLE — George F. Vanderveer, Prosecuting Attorney, dropped a bombshell in the midst of the placid proceedings of Judge Ronald's department of the Superior Court by announcing in emphatic tones that he had been offered a bribe of $100 to have the bail bond of Frank Shapiro, charged with an offense against the morals of the community, fixed at $2,500.
“He had been offered a bribe of $100 to have the bail bond of Frank Shapiro... fixed at $2,500.”
A prosecutor's public charge that someone tried to buy a bail fixing is a reminder that the machinery of justice has always been vulnerable to cash. Modern debates over bail reform and court corruption still ask who can buy their way out—and who cannot.
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