A Fayette man

who has twice avoided trial on child molestation charges due to being

in the hospital will remain on bond, at least for now.

Superior Court

Judge Christopher Edwards considered revoking the bond of Farrell Lloyd

Pitts at a hearing Thursday morning. Edwards said his main concern was

insuring that Pitts, 69, appears at his next trial, scheduled for August.

Edwards said

he declined to revoke Pitts' bond, particularly since the county would

have to foot his medical bill if he had another cardiac attack while in

jail, which could cost upwards of $100,000.

"I'm trying

to be fair to the taxpayers, fair to the defendant and fair to everyone

else involved," Edwards said.

Pitts' attorney,

Ed Garland, said Pitts was prepared to fully waive his right to attend

the trial, but Edwards said he wanted Garland to make arrangements for

Pitts to participate in the trial from a hospital room in the event he

is hospitalized again during the August trial date.

Garland said

he understands it would be easy to set up such a communications system

with two computers.

If Pitts is

hospitalized again and in the opinion of his doctor is unable to communicate

to his attorney, the trial would not be held then, Edwards added.

The judge also

wanted an agreement confining Pitts to travelling just in Fayette, Clayton

and Fulton counties so he would not end up hospitalized in, perhaps, another

state when the trial date came.

Pitts was originally

scheduled to go to trial on the charges in October. But he was hospitalized

days before the trial with heart trouble and underwent an operation to

insert a stint. That resulted in the first postponement of the trial.

Again in April,

Pitts was scheduled to face trial and was hospitalized days before, forcing

a second postponement. He underwent a heart catheterization test at the

hospital and was not released until four days after the trial was scheduled

to begin.

Pitts is accused

of child molestation, aggravated sodomy and enticing a child for indecent

purposes. The offenses involved a 6-year-old boy back in April 1998, according

to the indictment filed against Pitts.

Pitts and his

wife, June, both testified during the hearing about events leading up

to both hospitalizations. Pitts said he wants to get the trial overwith,

but at the last hospitalization the doctors told him if he went to court

instead of the hospital, he could have died.

Pitts said

the April hospitalization was brought on after he visited the family physician

complaining of chest pains, and the physician told them to call 911 and

send Pitts to the hospital if the symptoms occurred again.

The couple

went home and hours later, Mrs. Pitts called 911 because Mr. Pitts was

experiencing chest pain and pain in both arms.

Testimony also

revealed that Pitts has suffered several heart attacks dating