Statement on Bail Reform by Reverend Lewis W. Stewart with Additional Points by Monroe County Acting Public Defender

The United Christian Leadership Ministry has convened this press conference to clear up the distortions, lies, and misleading statements regarding Bail Reform promulgated by politicians such as N.Y. Gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, Congressional candidate and former Rochester Chief of Police La’Ron Singletary and Law Enforcement officials.

This year thus far, we have experienced the deaths of 40 plus victims of gun violence and the death of former police officer Anthony Mazurkiewicz, the wounding of another police officer Sino Seng and a young woman bystander.  Hundreds of others have also been wounded by gunshots this year.

In 2021, there were 81 persons murdered, over 400 wounded, and 10,000 rounds of ammunition expended in the city of Rochester.

My family has also endured its share of gun violence, grief, and unresolved pain.  A pain that cannot be comforted and wounds which cannot be healed.  The empty chair at the dinner table; the absent loved one who will never return home.  The voice which you can only hear in your dreams.

The community and all communities across America have experienced this tidal wave of unrelenting carnage.

Many of us, since the decade of the 90’s have sought for solutions to end gun violence and we are still searching.  And here is a fact, there were no New York state bail reform laws in the 90’s and gun violence and shootings were still prevalent.

However, some politicians, candidates, and law enforcement executives would impose upon the public the notion that bail reform is the reason for the increase in gun violence.

They are engaging in fearmongering and demagoguery by appealing to public fears that Bail Reform is the cause of the chaos in our society. They are using these fears to push their own political agenda.

The young man who allegedly shot the two police officers is not from New York; but Boston, Mass.  He was not incarcerated in the New York State penal system nor was he a New York state parolee; but bail reform detractors point out that Mr. Vickers is the reason why we need bail reform.  He is being used as an example to derail reforms and so is Lee Zeldin’s attacker. 

Most individuals with misdemeanors and/or non-violent felony offenders should not be sitting in jail for an endless period of time because they lack cash to bail themselves out.  Bail reform laws were implemented so that those charged with non-violent crimes would not be required to pay cash for their release.

The opposers of bail reform also state that New York’s recent gun legislation is making communities unsafe.  Not so!  What do they wish to do – arm every citizen?  We have more guns in America than people.  That says something about this nation’s gun culture; the collective mind set of fear and the willingness to resort to firearms. 

There is no correlative research data that shows a link between bail reform and increased gun violence.  There have been increases in violent crimes throughout recent decades and there was no bail reform at the time of the peaks in crime rates.  Some politicians and law enforcement executives are using simplistic solutions to scare and confuse the public.

Contrary to the false statements being spewed; judges do have discretion in setting bail and can deny cash bail to a violent offender, especially involving a loaded gun.  In the past, judges’ discretion was being abused by judges in racially discriminatory ways.  The New York State Legislature decided in bail reform to limit judges’ discretionary power.  Bail is about having someone return to court and is not based on one’s dangerousness.

We must demand that State Legislators in the Democratic caucus stand firm in their position on Bail Reform.

To these who seek to destroy bail reform, you should dialogue with members of the community and obtain their input as to the needs of the community.

Long ago, the Prophet Isaiah said, “Come let us reason together.”

I ask these politicians and law enforcement officials are you willing to sit down and reason together with UCLM and others at a conference or just continue to make bombastic statements to fuel your own agenda.

We need to look at the real causes of gun violence; and it certainly is not bail reform.

Have you considered systemic and entrenched poverty?  The need for affordable housing, job training and education programs leading to an improved quality of life,

Last year, we offered the Mayor and City Council a proposal regarding the creation of a Rochester Community Public Safety Corps which will assist in deterring crime.  That proposal has been stalled, for whatever reason.

We all desire a better community, where neighborhoods and families are thriving, and they see hope on the horizon, where they can live without fear.  That’s the real concern. Not lies regarding bail reform.  Not a misleading narrative designed to falsify the truth. 

I ask you to search your hearts and ask yourselves – do we really want politics and politicians to polarize us even more?

Do we really want politicians to manipulate, deceive, and divide us or do we want to work to create sane and practical solutions to difficult and complex problems?  The choice is ours.

Acting Public Defender Erik Teifke also appeared with Reverend Stewart at the press conference where the Reverend read his statement. Below are the key points Erik Teifke made:

·      The public defender’s office represents tens of thousands of defendants in the community every year and knows firsthand the positive impact felt by bail reforms.

·      Historically in this state, judges had a tremendous amount of discretion when a person went before them for even a petty offense. Often the judge was an older white male presiding over a case of a younger person of color. Where there is discretion, there is potential to abuse that discretion. For generation after generation in this state, judges did just that. They had the discretion and they abused it.

·      A person of color is twice as likely to be held in jail after their initial court appearance than a white person.

·      Controlling every other criteria, the difference is reduced to racial prejudice. It may not be overt or intentional but the evidence suggests strongly, that for whatever reason, judges were setting bail in the cases of persons of color and they were not doing it when the defendant was white.

·      Every time a judge makes a decision, a police officer files an accusation and the defendant goes to court, the judge has to make decisions including about whether that person gets to return to their family, their community, their job. Every time a judge makes the decision to hold someone in jail, that person is plucked out of their life: from their cellphone, their children, their job. They miss doctor’s appointments. They need to make rent. If they don’t emerge from jail soon, that’s a landlord looking for renters, an employer looking for an employee, that’s a person who has to re-enroll in school. When you’re in jail and you’re plucked out of your life, your life is disintegrated. This makes you more vulnerable to the streets.  

·      Deciding to put someone in a cage while they’re waiting for their case to proceed is an extremely grave matter. Judges when presented with these decisions are holding people when they didn’t need to. The bail is not to punish people, it’s to ensure that people show up for court if we let them go.

·      Ninety plus percent of people come back to court when they’re asked to.

·      An extraordinary small percentage of people commit crimes when they are released. An even smaller percent (less than one percent) commits a violent crime. So the suggestion that releasing folks so they can salvage and maintain their lives is presenting a danger to the community is not supported by the evidence. It is false and it does nothing to solve the problem of increased gun violence.

·      Bail reform is good. It is overdue. It’s a response to historical abuses by judges.

·      The judge has to make a decision: Will this person, regardless of what they are charged with, come back to court? If the answer to that question is yes, that person should be released.

·      Bail reform was put in place because judges were not engaging in fair, reasonably neutral analysis. They were routinely holding people they never needed to hold. And they were exercising that discretion differently, depending on race. That is the back drop. That’s why bail reform was put in place.

·      Opponents of those reforms have tried diligently, persistently to whittle and water down the reforms. They are trying yet again. They would like a judge to determine whether someone is dangerous. If I ask one person about this, it might differ from another person’s view. It’s subjective and it will lead to the same abuses and discretion that got us here in the first place.  

·      Bail reform is a positive for the community. The people are not in jail. We’re saving $638 million per year and we’re no less safe. Bail reform is a win across the board. This law should not be whittled or watered down any more than it already has. It’s shameful that it’s been watered down so much.

·      Since bail reform doesn’t impact violent crimes. Those people are being held at higher rates than they were in the past. And the bail amount is exorbitant. People of no means are being held for $50,000 or $100,000. Whether people are accused of a misdemeanor, felony or violent felony nearly everyone returns to court and  almost no one commits a violent crime.

·      An example of a judge’s abuse of setting bail. A pregnant woman was accosted by a Rochester police officer. She had no priors and she was not a flight risk. Yet the presiding judge hit her with $25,000 bail for an alleged violent felony offense. The defendant in this case, when they were arrested, tried to jerk away or run away. As do many people in this community.

·      If when you jerk away the officer claims to experience pain in their wrist or a laceration to their finger, you’re charged with a violent felony offense. It was unintentional but because it was a police officer performing a lawful arrest, it’s a violent felony offense which can be punished by seven years in prison. If you run away from a police officer trying to arrest you and you get a one block lead, if the officer falls and skins his knee, that too is a violent offense that can get you seven years in prison.

·      In the case of the pregnant woman, she was arrested, indicted and expected to appear in superior court. She did appear with Erik Tiefe. They had been in touch for a month prior to the appearance. When she walked into court the judge in the time before bail reform had discretion to do this, revoked her bail and took her into custody. The judge did that because he wanted to look tough on crime and protective of police officers. Tiefe believes the judge looked exclusively at the charge and the race of the client when he made that decision. Tieke convinced a court of sufficient jurisdiction to overrule that decision and got that woman back to her community.