Free Republic

Authorities claim there's no need for sentencing hearing, bail option.. A state legal action in Pennsylvania is sparking outrage .. for the result it demanded: Two farmers arrested and jailed on 30-day sentences with no sentencing hearing and no option for bail. ... Their lawyer, Robert Barnes, charges, "This is the craziest thing I've every seen." ... This is an unlawful civil contempt order. There are certain procedures that must be followed in a civil contempt action and to our knowledge those were not followed here. Even if they had been followed, the maximum allowable punishment is 15 days in...

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell has refused the request from New York City (NYC) District Attorney Alvin Bragg that Raad Almansoori, a suspect charged with the murder of Denisse Oleas-Arancibia in the Soho 54 Hotel on February 7, be sent back to NYC. She explained that "Almansoori was already arrested for murder, but was released without bail. If I send him to Bragg he will be back on the streets of New York posing a threat to innocent lives. Here he is charged with carjacking and stabbing a woman on Feb. 17 and sexually assaulting another woman at a McDonald's...

Four migrants, who were caught-and-released after allegedly attacking two New York City Police Officers near Times Square, have reportedly fled to California. The New York Post, citing a law enforcement source, said that authorities believe that Darwin Andres Gomez, 19, Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19, Wilson Juarez, 21, and Yorman Reveron, 24, have skipped town after the incident. Police believe that the foursome successfully got on a bus bound for California on Wednesday after giving fake names to a church-affiliated nonprofit group that helps migrants leave the Big Apple, the Post reported. The group's getaway was successful after the suspects were...

Hunter Biden reportedly threatened to take extreme action and flee the United States of America if voters reelect former President Donald Trump. The threat represents the often neurotic nature of the president’s son, 53, who faces 42 years in prison for tax and gun charges in an ongoing investigation. “In recent conversations with family friends, he [Hunter] has worried that he might have to flee the country if Trump were to be elected president again,” two people who spoke with Hunter told Politico’s Jonathan Lemire. Recent polling shows Trump leading President Joe Biden in state and nationwide polling:

Leftists and Democrats are being victimized by crime policies they have supported, with the armed carjacking of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tx.) on Monday night becoming a lightning rod for the issue. Following the death of George Floyd in police custody in May 2020, Black Lives Matter riots spread across the U.S. with calls to “Defund the Police,” and support from liberal and Democrat supporters. However, some of those same supporters are now victims of increased crime in cities that embraced the BLM movement, in which defunding or eliminating police altogether has been a central rallying point. On Monday night, Cuellar...

The family of an 11-year-old child who was killed in an allegedly drunken crash has slammed a Portland, Ore., judge for releasing the accused motorist without bail, a report said. Duprie Smith, 29, who suffered a gunshot and was driving himself to the hospital at the time of the crash, was released without bail by Judge Michael Greenlick, despite prosecutors requesting it be set at $100,000. Victim Ryan Ambrose’s family is now demanding justice for the little boy. “He was killed by a drunk driver and now this guy is in his house watching TV and my grandson is in...

Rapper 50 Cent says LA is about to get outta control — thanks to so-called bail reform. The hip-hop “Outta Control” icon took to Instagram to bemoan the ongoing crime crisis in the City of Angels — and said it’s about to get even worse after a judge recently reinstated a controversial no-bail policy there. “LA is finished,” wrote the 48-year-old rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, on Thursday. “Watch how bad it gets out there. SMH [shaking my head].” The rapper included video of a TV segment about the ruling, which eliminates bail for anyone charged with a...

Usually, when we talk about cashless bail, we're talking about suspects who go on to commit murders after they're released — not the ones already accused of killing one innocent bystander and shooting six other people (including a child) in the downtown area of a major city during rush hour. But not in Seattle, where it looks like the judges let everyone out . Note that this is one case where the prosecutor at least tried to keep the accused perp in jail, which is more than you can say for a lot of jurisdictions nowadays : A King County...

Less than a month before those arrested in Illinois will no longer have the option of posting bail as a condition of release while awaiting trial, Gov. J.B. Pritzker quietly signed a package that makes significant changes to the law taking effect in January. In a press release Tuesday afternoon, Pritzker said the bill (HB1095) “addresses misinformation” and makes clarifications “that uphold the principle we fought to protect: to bring an end to a system where wealthy violent offenders can buy their way out of jail, while less fortunate nonviolent offenders wait in jail for trial.” The changes approved last...

Keaira Bennefield’s estranged husband — who now stands accused of killing her with a shotgun — somehow obtained an order of protection against her after he savagely beat the mom of three in their home, The Post has learned. The stunning new details behind the Buffalo woman’s shocking Oct. 5 slaying are contained in an official transcript of ex-con Adam Bennefield’s arraignment in the vicious, caught-on-camera beating inside their home — less than a week before cops say he gunned down his wife. Keaira, 30, said that Adam Bennefield, 45, “told me to ‘shut the --- up’ and that he...

An accused jilted madman who flew into an ax-wielding rage at a Lower East Side McDonald’s was released without bail at his arraignment, authorities said Sunday. Michael Palacios, 31, who allegedly grabbed an ax and trashed the Delancey Street fast-food joint in a fit early Friday, was arraigned on fourth-degree criminal-mischief and possession-of-weapons charges hours later and freed, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said. Neither charge is eligible for bail under the state’s lenient criminal-justice reforms. According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, Palacios slammed two tables and a plate-glass partition during the early-morning rampage. Palacios also told...

A California district attorney has found that more than 70% of criminal suspects released on $0 bail between 2020 and 2021 in his county committed new crimes. The California Judicial Council in April 2020 implemented the statewide Emergency Bail Schedule, or $0 bail, which supporters say makes the criminal justice system more fair for those who cannot afford to get released. "When over 70% of the people released under mandated $0 bail policies go on to commit additional crime(s), including violent offenses such as robbery and murder, there is simply no rational public safety-related basis to continue such a practice...

New York’s “No Bail” law, approved by statewide Democrats in 2019, has helped free from jail two Mexican drug cartel smugglers arrested with about $1.2 million worth of crystal meth. This week, the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York announced the arrests of 19-year-old Luis Estrada and 34-year-old Carlos Santos — both from southern California — for charges related to smuggling crystal meth. According to investigators, Estrada was arrested on July 5 with more than 40 pounds of crystal meth in his possession. Estrada also had two cellphones and a room key to a...

A 19-year-old man has been held on $1 million bail after an alleged anti-gay attack that sent the victim to the hospital. Decatur police allege Ethan Dickerson restrained and hit the victim repeatedly with a pipe wrench Thursday at a Decatur home. Authorities said Dickerson allegedly threatened to kill the victim in a homophobic rant, according to The (Decatur) Herald & Review. "'You know why I have to do this. ... You're gay. ... You're evil ... I'm going to kill you,'" a police affidavit quoted Dickerson telling the victim, the Herald & Review reported. Dickerson faced preliminary charges of...

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- New details are emerging about a violent robbery on the doorstep of a Los Angeles home, in which the victims were beaten and robbed of jewelry and a "large amount of money." Police say the robbery happened on the evening of Nov. 26 at a home on Fuller Avenue in the Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles...The victims had walked home after dining at a restaurant in the area, police say. As they got home, several suspects wearing vests with the word "police" on them and displaying some type of badge showed up. At least one had...

Police in Los Angeles have announced 14 arrests in connection with 11 recent smash-and-grab robberies at stores where nearly $340,000 worth of merchandise was stolen, but all the suspects have been released. Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said that most of the accused robbers suspected of ransacking businesses between November 18 and 28 bailed out or met no-bail criteria, and one is a juvenile. At a joint news conference on Thursday announcing the arrests, both Moore and Mayor Eric Garcetti called for an end to a no-bail policy for some defendants aimed at reducing overcrowding at Los Angeles County...

ALBANY — A Cohoes man charged with second-degree manslaughter and felony assault in the methamphetamine overdose death of a 6-week-old baby was ordered released from the Albany County jail on Tuesday under supervision of probation officials. Anthony Ojeda, 38, a native of Mexico, who had been jailed without bail after initially being held on $100,000, cannot leave Albany County and must attend substance abuse counseling. He will be subject to electronic monitoring of his whereabouts and must surrender all passports, County Judge William Carter told the defendant. “Although the possibility is remote, there is still a possibility that he could...

A Minnesota fund established to help bail out violent and non-violent demonstrators participating in the George Floyd protests is in hot water over the lack of transparency about spending its funds. The fund “Appreciate all those calling for transparency,” the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF) tweeted Monday. “We see y’all. Our values and mission have not changed since 2016. Be on the lookout for things coming on our end. Be well.” Protesters, social justice activists, and numerous celebrities — including Justin Timberlake, Seth Rogen, Steve Carell, Jamie Foxx, and Ariana Grande, just to name a few — have generously donated to...

A serial burglary suspect with a long criminal history is free without bail despite allegedly being involved in a recent string of burglaries in Fremont, Milpitas, San Jose, Santa Clara and Palo Alto, Fremont police said. Kristopher Sylvester, 34, of Fremont, was arrested by Fremont detectives on April 2 for allegedly committing multiple commercial burglaries, possessing a loaded firearm, evading police and violating his probation, according to police. Sylvester was booked into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, but an Alameda County Superior Court judge released him without bail on April 7 after he was arraigned. The judge set a court...

Not even this brutal, caught-on-video mugging — in which a struggling 83-year-old woman was dragged to the ground, and her purse wrenched away — is enough to get a suspect locked up these days under the state’s new bail reform law. Exclusive video obtained by The Post allegedly shows 56-year-old Dana White, of Jamaica, Queens, walking up behind the victim in front of a building on Eldridge St. on the Lower East Side at about 5:45 a.m. Monday. -snip White was arrested shortly after the coldhearted attack and charged with robbery — but was released without bail by the new legislation,...