By: Ilana Siyance
New York State’s updated bail reform laws continue to be a source of controversy.
On Sunday evening, a Bronx judge ordered the release of the suspect accused in the Riverdale synagogue vandalism to be cut loose on supervised release, reversing an earlier decision to hold him on bail. As reported by the NY Post, the 29-year-old suspect, Jordan Burnette, was granted a supervised release by Judge Tara Collins in Bronx Criminal Court.
Earlier on Sunday, Judge Louis Nock, had ordered Burnette be held and set a bail of $20,000. Prosecutors had balked insisting release in compliance with the bail reform laws set in April 2019. Burnette is charged in the vandalism of the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale, and has a total of 42 charges against him, associated with an alleged 11-day crime spree, said Patrice O’Shaughnessy, a spokeswoman for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
“Given the number of attacks, we probably would have asked for substantial bail before January of 2020,” Assistant District Attorney Theresa Gottlieb told Judge Nock earlier on Sunday. The law overhauls the use of bail in nonviolent crimes, releasing the suspects while the cases make their way through the courts. “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,” Gottlieb added. “We will not violate the law.” Judge Nock had gone on a limb and ruled in favor of bail in the case, deciding that the “shattering of glass” is a violent felony.
The Post reported on Monday that during his daily press briefing at City Hall, Mayor DeBlasio weighed in on this by saying that allowing judges to set bail in cases of non-violent hate crimes was “an area that we definitely should look at again because hate crimes are such a profound challenge.” He added that, “the important thing for us to do right now is to work within the law as intensely and effectively as possible to protect people.”
Burnette is accused of shattering the synagogue’s glass doors and windows, smashing multiple car windows, drenching prayer books from Adath Israel in hand sanitizer and throwing the sacred books into the nearby woods. He is accused of terrorizing four Jewish communal buildings over the course of 11 days, returning again and again to pelt rocks through the doors and windows, police said. Based on surveillance videos and witness statements Burnett is also accused of other attacks, which began April 21 when he allegedly pulled the fire alarm at the Riverdale Jewish Center, as per prosecutors. Several of the charges against Burnette are being considered hate related crimes.
It is not yet clear why Burnette was called back into court on Sunday night, just hours after Judge Nock’s ruling, and why he was granted the supervised release.
