New York State passed bail “reform” a few years back mandating that all non violent crime arrests would be turned right back out on the street if they promised to appear in court to be adjudicated. Sounds reasonable, after all only poor people remain in jail without bond, right?
No, not right. The majority of criminals that remain in jail when they qualify for bond are there because their own family doesn't want them out victimizing people. They know if mom or grandma puts up the house as collateral they might just lose that house if little Timmy runs away. Yet most states including Oklahoma allow judges some discretion in allowing OR bonds if the criminal isn't a flight risk or doesn't pose a danger to society. That wasn't enough for New York liberals and they passed what they tried to pass here in Oklahoma last session.
Meet Gerod Woodberry, a New York criminal that was set loose after four Manhattan bank robberies in almost as many days. And sure enough, Woodberry robbed a fifth bank the next day and was arrested for a fifth time on bank robbery charges. Woodberry was smart, he used a note, not a gun to rob the banks so was classified as non violent.
So cops spent Saturday hunting once again for fugitive Gerod Woodberry, who allegedly pulled four heists at Chase banks in Chelsea, the Upper West Side and the West Village between Dec. 30 and Jan. 8.
Because Woodberry allegedly robbed using a note, rather than a gun, no New York jail can currently hold him, no matter how many times he robs banks. Now these are felonies but under the recently changed laws no judge is allowed to take into consideration his criminal past or anything else, they must release him on his promise to behave and show back up at court to be prosecuted.
The story quoted Woodberry as being as surprised as anyone:
“I can’t believe they let me out,” Woodberry marveled as he retrieved his vouchered property at One Police Plaza in lower Manhattan, sources told The Post. “What were they thinking?”
Officers risk their lives arresting men like this and likely watch the criminal walk out of jail before they have processed the paperwork on the arrest. Meanwhile Woodberry has netted over $3000 in the five bank robberies and no doubt terrorized many bank employees in the process.
Should Woodberry show up for court he will walk back out of the arraignment with a public defender paid by taxpayers, zero bail costs, meanwhile the state and city will spend hundreds of thousands prosecuting the five crimes. Yet there is no bondsman or family that co signed for Woodberry's bail bond so there will be no one looking for him when he misses his court dates.
In fact, there is no reason for Woodberry to stop robbing banks. Should he be convicted and sentenced to prison on the five bank robberies he will serve all five consequently, meaning the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th robbery won't cost him a day in jail, a dime in attorney or bail costs, nor a single day more in prison. Why stop robbing banks at this point? Save up the money to make it worth his time for going to court and likely receiving suspended sentences or at the worst, serving a few years for five twenty year prison sentences.
