Body parts case puts New York’s bail reform law back in spotlight
The call comes one day after Steve Brown, Jeffrey Mackey, Amanda Wallace and Alexis Nieves were charged with crimes relating to mutilating and dismembering corpses.
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There’s a renewed focus on New York state’s controversial bail reform law after four suspects charged in connection with the body parts case were released.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney is calling for changes to the law, including an amendment that would allow judges to consider a defendant’s “dangerousness.”
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“The bottom line in this case, if prosecutors were able to argue dangerousness in their bail application those four defendants would still be in jail,” Tierney said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
But Serena Martin-Liguori with New Hour-Long Island disagrees with the district attorney’s stance.
She calls evaluation of dangerousness by judges a “slippery slope,” because it cannot be measured objectively.
Martin-Liguori says, “It’s shows not to create fairness and equality. It is something completely subjective. What someone might think is dangerous someone else may not.”
None of the four suspects were charged with murder.
They have been charged with hindering prosecution, evidence tampering and concealment of a corpse.
The offenses are considered non-violent under state law and are not eligible for bail.
Democrat state Sen. Monica Martinez has introduced new legislation which would make concealment of a corpse a bail-eligible offense.
