A Bronx judge reportedly ordered an alleged synagogue vandal released on supervised release Sunday, changing course regarding another jurist’s previous decision to hold him on $20,000 bail.
According to the New York Post:
The suspect, 29-year-old Jordan Burnette, was granted supervised release by Judge Tara Collins in Bronx Criminal Court — hours after he was ordered held on bail on 42 charges stemming from his alleged 11-day crime spree, said Patrice O’Shaughnessy, a spokeswoman for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. Under New York state law, a suspect hit with Burnette’s charges cannot be held on bail.
But that didn’t stop Judge Louis Nock, who earlier Sunday ordered that Burnette be held in lieu of $20,000 — even though prosecutors insisted the man had to be sprung under the state’s controversial bail reform laws.
“Given the number of attacks, we probably would have asked for substantial bail before January of 2020,” Assistant District Attorney Theresa Gottlieb reportedly told Nock prior to the latest decision on Sunday.
“The legislature did not include hate crimes in its revision of bail reform and, under the law as it exists today, this is not eligible,” she continued, adding, “We will not violate the law.”
However, Judge Nock made the ruling once he decided the “shattering of glass” constituted a violent felony, the Post article said.
The suspect was arrested over the weekend following several vandalism incidents at synagogues in the Bronx and faces charges including burglary as a hate crime.
Burnette is accused of lobbing rocks at the windows of four synagogues but authorities did not give a motive, according to Breitbart News.
NYPD Hate Crimes shared surveillance video on April 25 of the suspect throwing an object at a building:
In February 2020, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was criticized by residents tired of the city’s rising crime rate and blamed his policies of neighborhood jails, homeless shelters, and the state’s abolishment of bail for criminals labeled “non-violent,” Breitbart News reported:
The heated town hall came as crime in New York City has risen, as noted by the New York City Police Benevolent Association, since the beginning of the year when the bail reform law was implemented. Compared to this time last year, crimes such as rape, robbery, grand larceny, burglary, and grand larceny auto are all up.
It was not known why the alleged synagogue vandal was brought back into court Sunday evening or why he was given supervised release, the Post article concluded.