By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – An attorney for a 46-year-old woman who is facing charges alleging she stole more than $300,000 from her Alabaster employer has asked a Shelby County District Court judge to lower the suspect’s bond, claiming her current bond violates her Eighth Amendment rights.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Rebecca Ann Norton on Aug. 14, 2015, and charged her with one felony count of first-degree theft of property and three felony counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument.

According to her arrest warrants, Norton allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from an Alabaster-based company between August 2013 and August of this year.

Since her arrest, Norton has remained in the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $500,000. In an April 10 motion, Norton’s attorney, Victor Revill, requested Norton’s bond be set between $12,500 and $75,000.

“While the court has discretion to set bail above or below the recommended ranges, the defendant’s bond of $500,000 is excessive and violates her United States constitutional right to be free from excessive bail pursuant to the Eighth Amendment,” read the request.

Revill claimed Norton “does not have the financial capacity to pay high bail,” and said she has many ties to the Alabaster community. The request says Norton “has several members and friends in the community that will vouch for (her) reliability and character,” and says Norton “has been attacked by several inmates during the period of time she has not had a bond.”

District Court Judge Danny Crowson is set to rule on Revill’s request during an April 27 hearing at the Shelby County Courthouse at 8:30 a.m.

The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office previously said it is seeking a harsher-than-normal sentence for Norton because ““the offense involved an attempted or actual taking or receipt of property of great monetary value, or damage causing great monetary loss to the victim.”