Bail bonding companies called to testify about bond for man accused of murdering girlfriend

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A panel of Nashville judges has called two bail bonding companies to testify before the Court over the matter of an accused murderer’s bond amount.

The panel called both Brooke’s Bail Bonding and On Time Bonding to come before the Court on August 15.

The two companies posted the bond for Bricen Rivers, who was indicted in December for especially aggravated kidnapping, one count of stalking and one count of coercion of a witness for the domestic assault of his girlfriend Lauren Johansen.

Rivers was initially held in the Metro Jail in lieu of his $250,000 bond. In April, his bond amount was lowered from $250,000 to $150,000, according to the hearing order. In June, the two bonding companies posted bond worth $75,000 each on his behalf, allowing him pretrial release.

Part of the conditions of his release included electronic monitoring, geographic restriction and no contact with Johansen.

However, days after he was released from jail, Johansen was found murdered and stuffed in the trunk of a car .

The Court is now looking into the circumstances of his pretrial release , stating there may have been “certain irregularities” accompanying the bond posting. In order to “ensure the reliability of these companies,” the Court said, the judges want the companies to come in and answer questions about the bond.

They have made the evidentiary hearing public “give the public interest implicated ” in the case, the panel said.

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