Phillip Garrido's bail set at $30 million, will undergo psychiatric testing [Updated]

El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Douglas Phimister approved $30 million bail today for Phillip Garrido, saying he posed a danger to the public and was a flight risk, and also agreed to have him undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

 The judge kept Garrido's wife, Nancy, on a no-bail hold in jail. [Updated at 8:50 a.m.: A previous version of this article said the judge kept Nancy Garrido's bail at its original amount. But there was never any bail set for her.

Phillip Garrido also had been on a no-bail hold before today; even if he were to come up with the bail amount of $30 million, he would have to stay in jail because he remains on a no-bail parole hold for a previous conviction.]

Susan Gellman, Phillip Garrido's attorney, requested the evaluation, and Nancy Garrido's attorney, Gilbert Maines, asked that the option be available to his client in the future. Phimister approved the request.

The couple will next appear in court Oct. 29 for a preliminary hearing.

The Garridos were arrested Aug. 26, the day after a sharp-eyed campus police officer at UC Berkeley stopped Phillip, 58, who was on campus distributing religious materials with two young girls.

The couple faces 29 charges of kidnapping and rape and is being held in El Dorado County Jail in the disappearance of Jaycee Dugard 18 years ago. Authorities believe the couple held Dugard in a ragged warren of tents and outbuildings behind their Antioch home and that Garrido fathered her two daughters there.

Dugard, 29, and the girls, age 11 and 15, have been in seclusion since they were reunited last month with family members. Phillip Garrido was convicted of kidnapping and pleaded guilty to rape in a separate 1976 attack.

He was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for the former and received a life sentence in Nevada state prison for the latter but served only 11 years.

-- Maria L. La Ganga in Placerville

Photo: Accused kidnapper, Phillip Garrido appears in El Dorado County Superior Court in Placerville, Calif. today. Credit: William Foster / EPA 

Comments

[Laura]

Bail set for the freaks,why? They could get out and a snatch another innocent child!

[W.{P.]

I thought if you broke parole, you automatically went back to prison. If this is true, why isn't he in prison right now?

[frank]

$30 million Wow! what does that do??? He's on parole, Oh this to make statement right? Well, Too little too late! The pubilcity is not hepling the family and we are going to pay for another costly trial and then when he is conicted AGAIN! We are going to pay for his housing while waiting for the many appeals he is entitled to. This would have never happened if he would have remained in prison, What happen to the 70 or so years he recieved the first time that didn't count right??? .

[bill cormeny]

If he makes bail,find out where the money came from.The wife should get the same bail to be fair to the children.

[OL]

How do you serve 11 years on a life sentence? You mean, if he had been serving his life sentence he wouldn't have abducted and scarred this girl and her daughters? Far out! Weird how that works out. Man, I want that guys Nevada lawyer.

[Noel]

I really can't wait to see what this freak's definition of a "heart warming" story is! May he and his wife pay dearly for their evils.

[Eric of Reseda]

Let's see. The crime was against children? He'll be back out o the streets in a few years.

[David Dennstedt]

I haven't been following this terrible story too closely, but there is one thing that I am curious about. Was this person and his wife receiving early SSI disabilities payments from Social Security. If not then how did they pay the bills. For me the real tragedy is that the system supports people just like this. To send SSI payments to anyone under the age of 55 who is not physically disabled is just not in the best interest of society.

[joseph]

This is a crime but the real crime is the system having been in federal prison late seventies for drug charges I know to recieve a sentence cut could only have been done with approval of your judge means parole didnot have power to drop 40 years!!why does no one look up the real creeps that had a hand in this all public info!!!

[Farbie]

This just goes to show you how this man could get away with holding that girl for so long, and how "The long arm of the law" is STUPID and BLIND! He is in jail now, but as far as I can tell not for a Parole violation which is clearly one of the several reasons this man should remain in jail.

[blue22]

Why is any bail at all set for this monster? The idea that it is theoretically possible--even if highly unlikely-- for him to post bail and get of out jail makes me sick. Why not NO BAIL?

I am a pro-death penalty liberal and I think this guy should fry. And I'd be happy to pull the switch myself.

[diasun]

so why are these prisoners now having their shackles covered by the top garmet? Are chains too indelicate to show ?
Also, should there be an online tech system that reveals when judges reduce sentences of convicted felons or grant them early parole regardless of the state in which the conviction occurred?

[Sister Geraldine M. Wagner]

Why in the world isn't this monster being held without bail??!! He should be tried quickly, convicted and put to death. We don't need monsters like this living in our society.

[Rhonda]

I cannot believe this kind of crime hasn't led to his death. This is unforgivable! The guy deserves the death penalty! and his wife deserves the same since she played accomplice to these horrible and sick crimes!

[Unknown]

Im sorry can someone explain something to me? There are teenagers out there, that sell marijuana, or men who get into fights at bars, and get assault charges, or drug charges, and are treated horrible. THEN theres people out there who rape children, teenagers, or women, and have all these privledges like protective custody, and so forth. So my understanding from reading this is basically, since he is crazy, he will get bail, even though the ammount is insane, but I guarantee you all it will drop to an amount that he will be able to afford and we will let another pedofile out to the world. What makes me laugh the most about this, is the fact that hes done it before, and they are still considering giving him bail.. because hes crazy. This is when we need DEATH PENALITIES. His wife also makes me sick, to know you are a women, and your husband is having a sexual relationship with someone who isnt yourself, and your fine with it. You HELP? You need an evaluation yourself, keep crying. You deserve every minute your about to experience, hopefully it adds up to the 18 years you kept the poor girl. I am praying to God they get life sentences.

[andrea]

I can't believe this happened let alone happened for so many years.

[HOMERUN]

We must also keep this same attitude here expressed in this comment section to also apply to public funded school teachers who have underage sex with students...
It is against the law...
Keep the same attitude toward public funded school teachers that are having sex with underage kids.
They must also serve long prison sentences as well.

[HOMERUN]

We must also keep this same attitude here expressed in this comment section to also apply to public funded school teachers who have underage sex with students...
It is against the law...
Keep the same attitude toward public funded school teachers that are having sex with underage kids.
They must also serve long prison sentences as well.

[aaron]

Why set bail? for what? Child molesters can not be rehabilitated, trying to do so is a waste of time, as much as trying to convert a gay person to strait and vise versa a strait to gay, he is childmoleter for life.
Mr. Garrido needs to be KILLED, its the only solution.

[CatieB]

What was the judge thinking?! I do not agree with bail at all. The man has committed so many crimes while on probation, while he was supposedly "under watch" by "professional, competent" authorities, and gotten away with it all. It is a horrendous insult to the victims to allow even the mention of bail for this man. He has been out, working and maintaining contact with the public all these years, and even with the parole officers, who did not deem him "mentally unfit" enough to remove him from the streets, or his work, and the evil he continued to perform right under their noses. It would be a huge miscarriage of justice to now allow him to claim insanity, or "found to be mentally unfit" to stand trial and take the punishment sentenced on him.
The authorities have been horribly negligent in his case, and they need to make sure they do their job with the highest of care and competency this time so this man never has a loophole to jump through and escape punishment. He should never see the light of day again.

[Gajonka]

Hey, guess what? Garrido got a free medical operation performed! Wow are we STUPID!!! First, the idiots that are neighbors can't tell the difference between crap salad and tuna salad, next the sherrif's department probabaly became friends with this POS, now, he notices that he has cancer growing on his face, so he turns himself in, and gets the operation "on the arm!" WOW, how dumb we are.

ELECTROCUTE HIM... TWICE.

[Joseph Trujillo]

The judge's move and law "enforcement's" (term used loosely here) sudden attention to details are 18 years too late. We know the Garridos have harmed entire families. Sadly, there may be other victims we DO NOT know about yet. The Garridos' only worth now is for information about other innocents they may have destroyed. Thereafter, these monsters should be placed in the general prisoner population of any detention facility where they may be housed. They would not see another sunrise. Child molesters and rapists are scum of the earth, even to other criminals. Justice behind prison walls is often swift and final.