‘He threatened to kill me and burn down my house,’ so why did a local judge lower his bond twice?

A Wayne County judge criticized for handing out low bonds to dangerous accused criminals is again under fire, this time for reducing the bond of a convicted felon who police witnessed threaten the life of a man in open court. Merlin Koch and his brother, Richard Swift, say they were held hostage in their own home last October by Jonathan Usher, who allegedly threatened to shoot them and burn down their home unless they gave him money.