On Tuesday's Fox & Friends First show, co-host Jillian Mele gave attention to one of several critical factors that are helping to increase violent crime in New York City, highlighting the case of a violent criminal who attacked an Asian cop, possibly attempting to murder him, but was quickly released from jail because of bail reform. The liberal media who otherwise claim to care about such hate crimes have so far not given this dysfunctional part of New York's criminal justice system.
The Fox News host began the segment:
Suspect Ricardo Hernandez accused of trying to shove an undercover Asian NYPD officer onto subway tracks. He's facing three hate crimes charges, and has 12 prior arrests under his belt. But, thanks to New York's progressive policies, he was released without bail the next day.
She then brought aboard Republican New York City council member Joe Bocelli to discuss the law that made it impossible for the judge in the case to keep the repeat offender in jail longer. Quoting Justice Louis Nock, Mele began the discussion:
Let's go ahead and pull up what the judge says on this new -- New York's bail reform that has obviously left their hands tied. He says, "My hands are tied under the new bail rules. I have absolutely no authority or power to set bail for this defendant on this alleged offense." Your reaction, Joe?
Bocelli explained that, in spite of the serious nature of the attack that could have turned out much worse, the judge was not allowed to impose bail because it turned out that the victim managed to avoid injury:
The judge is applying the law absolutely correctly. I mean, this officer was not injured probably because he was a young or in shape officer and not an elderly Asian man or some other victim in New York City. But remember, this isn't a bug of the system we have in New York City. This is a feature.
He then complained about how the state's Democratic legislature wrote the law:
Democrats reformed how we apply bail in this state late in 2019. They had the option of including this kind of violent hate crime in the category of crimes that would still be eligible for bail. They chose not to. This was done by design. And, unfortunately, when Democrats control every lever of government from your local city council to the state legislature and beyond, this is the result. The result is that crimes go unpunished.
After Bocelli predicted that bail reform would be an issue in this year's mayoral election, Mele noted that the law could have been written differently to be tougher on such criminals but still implement other reforms.
The number of homicides and other violent crimes surged in New York City in 2020.
This episode of Fox & Friends First that exposes some of the more serious problems with liberal policies was sponsored in part by Tractor Supply Co. Let them know you appreciate them helping to educate the public on such important issues.
Transcript follows:
Fox & Friends First
April 20, 2021
4:22 a.m. Eastern
JILLIAN MELE: Suspect Ricardo Hernandez accused of trying to shove an undercover Asian NYPD officer onto subway tracks. He's facing three hate crimes charges, and has 12 prior arrests under his belt. But, thanks to New York's progressive policies, he was released without bail the next day. ... Let's go ahead and pull up what the judge says on this new -- New York's bail reform that has obviously left their hands tied. He says, "My hands are tied under the new bail rules. I have absolutely no authority or power to set bail for this defendant on this alleged offense." Your reaction, Joe?
COUNCILMAN JOE BOCELLI (R-NYC): Yeah, yeah. The judge is applying the law absolutely correctly. I mean, this officer was not injured probably because he was a young or in shape officer and not an elderly Asian man or some other victim in New York City. But remember, this isn't a bug of the system we have in New York City. This is a feature. Democrats reformed how we apply bail in this state late in 2019.
They had the option of including this kind of violent hate crime in the category of crimes that would still be eligible for bail. They chose not to. This was done by design. And, unfortunately, when Democrats control every lever of government from your local city council to the state legislature and beyond, this is the result. The result is that crimes go unpunished.
MELE: Are you surprised that this hasn't changed? I mean, we've talked about this bail reform law a million times, it seems like, especially over the last few months. Why is this still a thing?
BORELLI: It's incredible. There just isn't a desire for the woke, blue check mark left to give in to regular, everyday New Yorkers. I think we're going to see this play out in this year's mayoral elections here in the city because people who were once considered frontrunners -- people who are very far left and progressive -- people who would do something like bail reform -- they seem to be not doing well with polls right now. I think regular New Yorkers are actually getting sick of this woke progressivism that just puts all of their needs and concerns on the back burner.
MELE: And, look, there are ways -- I think you would agree, Joe -- that you can reform the criminal justice system and do it properly while still keeping the streets safe. And people who have all of those prior offenses -- as we mentioned at the top of the segment -- aren't on the street when, you know, they're not supposed to be.
BORELLI: Right, I mean, in this case -- in this case, all the judge was hoping for was discretion. I mean, you have a violent crime. Just the fact that this officer wasn't injured is the only criterion which wasn't met in order to impose bail on the suspect. This is about a case where a judge should be able to have some discretion.
This person thought they were abusing a perhaps defenseless victim in New York City. They pushed him on a railroad tracks -- I mean, the intent here is certainly to do damage -- to hurt another human and possibly to kill them. This should be in the discretion of a judge, not some silly rubric in Albany.