Reacting to a large public outcry, Cobb County Chief Magistrate Judge Frank R. Cox has tripled the bond for a DUI suspect accused of killing a teenager as he slept in his home. The family of 14-year-old Elliot Savary had expressed outrage after a Sunday evening hearing where 44-year-old suspect Janette Lynn Eason of Dallas, Georgia was granted a $35,000 bond. According to the Cobb County Jail booking sheet, the original bond was granted by part-time Magistrate Judge Hugh Robinson. Following the hearing, the victim's family called it a travesty. Monday morning the Cobb County Sheriff's Department, who still has custody of Eason, announced that Chief Magistrate Judge Cox had raised the bond to $100,000.
Chief Magistrate Cox told 11 Alive's Jennifer Leslie he had seen news media coverage of the case Monday morning. "I was concerned about the facts," Cox said, "and about her danger to the community." Judge Cox said he was aware of the concerns of the victim's family. "To lose a 14-year-old child, it's not right," cried an emotional aunt, Theresa Choto after the first Sunday night hearing for Eason, "She does not deserve to be on the streets." Choto was one of several of the victim's family who attended the hearing. Eason faces 8 charges, including DUI and First Degree Vehicular Homicide.
The Paulding County woman is accused of taking her husband's Ford F-250 pick-up truck early Sunday morning and driving it recklessly through a neighborhood, knocking over several mail boxes on Legend Hollow Lane, before slamming into the house where the Savary family was sleeping just before 3 a.m. The truck crashed through the garage, through the bedroom of 14-year-old Elliot Savary and into the bedroom of his sister, 13-year-old Leah.
Rescuers worked for two hours to remove the truck and get to the victims. Elliot died and his sister suffered leg injuries. Neighbors say they found 44-year-old Eason still sitting behind the wheel of the truck, smoking a cigarette. Police say her husband had called them before the crash to say the couple had fought and she had driven off in his truck intoxicated.
Elliot Savary's angry and emotional relatives called Sunday night's brief bond hearing "a travesty of justice". "She does not deserve to be on the street," said his aunt, Theresa Choto, "she can hurt others. It's not only our Elliot, but she could go out there and do the same to other families."
Suspect Eason was not injured in the crash. Thirteen-year-old Leah Savary was treated at a local hospital for her leg injuries and released. The family has not yet announced plans for her brother's funeral.
11 Alive News has been deluged with viewer complaints about the original amount. Eason's could have gone free after posting only $3,500 of her original $35,000 bond. Now she must come up with at least $10,000 of the higher $100,000 amount. At last report, she was still in the Cobb County Jail.
