Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state’s final spending plan will loosen limits on cash bail.
Even if she truly gets her way, will judges — especially in New York City — actually use that discretion to lock up more clear threats to public safety?
The gov’s “conceptual agreement” with the Legislature’s leaders will apparently remove the mandate that jurists impose “least restrictive” conditions that still ensure accused criminals won’t flee.
But they still haven’t agreed on the law’s exact new language, and the devil’s in the details.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins might yet get new language that renders the relatively minor change meaningless — and many serious crimes will remain no-bail in any case.
Plus, the same political machines that elected the legislators who gutted the bail laws in the first place also choose most state judges.
And plenty of judges seem hostile to jailing anyone. Some recent examples:
- Bronx Judge Naita Semaj this month set accused child-killer ex-con Tyresse Minter free without bail, insulting both prosecutors and the victim’s mom in the process.
- Hochul then intervened to have Minter jailed for violating parole — only for Acting Bronx Supreme Court Judge David Lewis to order him sprung again, albeit this time with GPS-monitoring.
- In the case of accused Harlem smoke-shop gunman Messiah Nantwi, Lewis reduced his bail enough to lead to release on charges of shooting at cops, leaving him free to allegedly kill two people hours apart on April 9.
- Last February, Semaj cut loose two teen criminals — including one charged with murder — over the objections of the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
- Manhattan Judge Valentina Morales released Khalifa Quattara, despite two open felonies in two boroughs, back on the streets with electronic monitoring — despite noting he’s a flight risk.
- Morales also let accused serial criminal Kenneeth McDonald go on supervised release after his arrest for allegedly shoving his 92-year-old grandmother off a chair.
Every defendant is presumed innocent.
But some crimes are so heinous, and some accused so incorrigible, that pretrial detention is clearly warranted.
Except it’s not so clear under New York law, or to many New York City judges.
We hope Hochul at least actually won the minor fix she claims, but at best it’ll mean only a small gain for the safety of a public that New York politicians seem to hold in contempt.
