Bond lowered for suspect's friend in Charleston church massacre
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A federal magistrate on Thursday lowered bond for a man accused of failing to tell authorities all he knew about the suspect in the massacre of nine black people at a Charleston church in June.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Shiva Hodges lowered the bond to $25,000 for Joey Meek after his attorneys urged the judge to reduce his $100,000 bond set last month. His lawyers asked for the lower bond based on a pretrial report on Meek's finances and criminal history.
Authorities say Meek lied and failed to report to law officers all he knew about Dylann Roof's plans to shoot parishioners at Emanuel AME Church.
His attorneys have argued that Meek's bond should be lowered because he has been in solitary confinement since his Sept. 17 arrest, is not a flight risk and has a limited, non-violent criminal history. Meek is on probation, having pleaded guilty earlier this year to possessing a stolen vehicle, according to Lexington County court records.
Neither Meek, his attorneys not his family would comment as they left the courthouse.
Experts have told The Associated Press that the charges against Meek may help prosecutors get him to testify about Roof's state of mind before the shootings occurred.
"By having a charge against him (Meek), they have more leverage with him to go ahead and make some sort of plea bargain: You testify. You tell us the truth, and we'll give consideration on the charges or penalty involved," long-time criminal defense attorney Jack Swerling said last month shortly after Meek was charged.
Meek has said Roof stayed with him before the shootings. Meek previously told CBS News that Roof had complained that "black people was taking over the country."
Meek said that Roof told him he wanted to "start a civil war."
"It was a plan," Meek told CBS News about the attack. "He said that he was planning it for six months."
In the indictment, prosecutors allege that Meek knowingly lied to an FBI agent when he said "that he did not know specifics of Dylann Roof's plan to shoot individuals on a Wednesday, during Bible Study, at an AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina."
The indictment does not specify how the government knows Meek was lying.
Meek, of Lexington, S.C., also said Roof told him that he used birthday money from his parents to buy a .45-caliber Glock semi-automatic handgun. Meek said he took the gun away from Roof the night of his drunken rant but gave it back when he had sobered up.
The judge who is hearing state murder charges against Roof has issued an order reaffirming his trial will start next July 11. The order appoints a third attorney to help in Roof's defense.