Democrat John Fetterman in 2018 Speech: U.S. Must ‘Get Rid of Cash Bail’

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), running against Mehmet Oz (R) for the state’s open United States Senate seat, suggested in a 2018 speech that the United States “get rid of cash bail” for suspects accused of crimes.

In the newly unearthed audio, Fetterman suggests at the Pennsylvania Young Democrats Convention in August 2018 that the U.S. eliminate cash bail for suspects accused of crimes so they are either held in jail before trial or released altogether.

“We don’t want to criminalize. We want to get rid of cash bail where it’s appropriate so we don’t criminalize poverty, we don’t criminalize race, all these things that are wrong with our criminal justice system right now,” Fetterman can be heard saying.

The audio comes as prior interviews have come to light, showing Fetterman backing the prison release of convicted second-degree murderers and stating that there is “always that possibility” that they go on to kill more people.

“It would be catastrophic and personally devastating if somebody hurt somebody. There’s always that possibility, theoretically,” Fetterman said in a 2019 interview.

Formerly mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, Fetterman has been a longtime advocate of emptying the state’s prisons. For instance, he has said he wants to release from prison close to 13,000 inmates across the state.

Likewise, Fetterman has said his number one priority is ending Pennsylvania’s law that allows courts to sentence convicted criminals to life in prison without parole. Last year he advocated for eliminating the state’s mandatory life without parole sentence for suspects convicted of second-degree murder.

In 2019, Fetterman successfully lobbied Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolfe (D) to free from prison convicted second-degree murderer Raymond Johnson — known as “a son of the devil” — who murdered a 27-year-old man in York, Pennsylvania.

Fetterman, as Breitbart News reported, oversaw the release of 13 convicted murderers while heading the Board of Pardons. Also, one of Fetterman’s appointees to the board sought to end mandatory life without parole sentences for first- and second-degree murderers.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.