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How did a man accused of assaulting Lee Zeldin get free without bail?


It didn’t take long for the attack on Representative Lee Zeldin during a campaign event to become the latest flashpoint in the political battle over New York’s bail laws.

Hours after last week’s attack, Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor of New York, was criticized for being a problem by Democratic-led changes to bail. important in his campaign, say on Twitter that he hoped that the man arrested in the attack, David Jakubonis, would be freed.

He then spoke at length when his prediction came true, emphasizing in press conferences and televised appearances that Jakubonis’ release without bail demonstrated the problems involved. guarantee law.

But almost immediately, the involvement of Mr. Zeldin’s political allies raised questions about the incident. Many Democrats have grasped the relationship between the candidate and Monroe district attorney, Sandra Doorley, who was recently listed on Mr. Zeldin’s website as campaign co-chair. They noted that the police chief who filed the complaint against Mr. Jakubonis, Todd K. Baxter of Monroe County, was also a strong opponent of the bail law.

And finally, they wondered why Mr. Jakubonis was charged with willful second-degree assault, a charge that did not qualify for bail, virtually guaranteeing his release as Mr. Zeldin had predicted.

“I don’t know why a prosecutor wouldn’t press charges,” said Charles D. Lavine, a Democrat who chairs the congressional judiciary committee and is a former criminal defense attorney. more serious crime. “This is a situation where someone attacks an elected official with a weapon. Is it possible – as some have suggested – that the charge was drafted in a way that would allow Zeldin to appeal against bail laws in New York state? That I don’t know”.

State Representative Demond Meeks, a Rochester Democrat, went even further, saying he was surprised by the “lighter” charge, given Doorley’s reputation as an “aggressive” prosecutor. , and said the incident was “certainly a political ploy”.

There is no evidence that the charge was chosen to secure Jakubonis’ release, to amplify Zeldin’s campaign message. Several criminal attorneys from Monroe County say the charges are consistent with the details of the July 21 assault.

And in an interview, the investigating officer at the sheriff’s office who filed the complaint, Jeffrey Branagan, said there was no comment from the district attorney’s office, other than to speak to him. that the charge does not qualify for bail.

A spokesman for the sheriff’s office, Sergeant Mike Zamiara, said Tuesday that the sheriff’s office was “aware of some of the controversy surrounding this case.”

However, he stressed that “the sheriff’s office doesn’t have a dog in this fight and we don’t want to be in it. There is no attempt to influence anything here.”

A spokesman for Mr. Zeldin’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The episode began at a campaign stop near Rochester on Thursday, when a man, identified by police as Mr Jakubonis, approached Mr Zeldin while he was giving a speech. In the video of the encounter, Mr Jakubonis appears to place his left arm on the candidate’s shoulder, then moves his right hand, where he is clutching a bunch of pointed plastic keys in the shape of a child’s head. cat, towards Mr. Zeldin’s chest. , say “You’re done”, several times.

Mr. Zeldin appeared to hold him back with ease, and the man was quickly brought to the ground, taking the candidate with him. Mr. Jakubonis was charged by the Baxter Sheriff’s office later that evening; Mr. Zeldin was unharmed.

Sheriff Baxter has been outspoken in his opposition to changes to the state bail law, which went into effect in early 2020 and has since been revised twice. Democrats passed changes that prevented people from being imprisoned for relatively minor crimes. (More serious crimes, including violent crimes, still qualify for bail.)

Opponents of the law say the changes have led to an increase in crime, but the data do not show that, and the researchers say that, because the law coincided with the start of the pandemic, it will take many years to come into full force. is determined. But with certain types of crime on the rise, many have been charged, released and resettled, providing ammunition to critics of the law.

In November 2019, Sheriff Baxter wrote an opinion piece urged the state to reverse the regulation before it went into effect, and said that “the public will be shocked at the negative impact this law has on the safety of our communities.” And the day after Mr. Jakubonis’ attack, The sheriff announced on Twitter that he cleared his calendar to discuss the “fix” of criminal justice reforms with any interested state legislators.

Mr. Branagan said he did not speak with the chief of police before determining the charges against Mr. Jakubonis.

He said he drove to the scene of the attack and interviewed Mr Zeldin and some of his staff about what happened. Previously, he had not spoken to Mr. Zeldin, a congressman representing Suffolk County on Long Island, and said he did not know who the candidate was.

After completing his investigation, Mr. Branagan called the district attorney’s office three times. The first two were for Perry Duckles, a deputy to Ms. Doorley, whom Mr. Branagan announced he planned to file charges of attempted second-degree assault.

At the time of their second call Mr. Duckles had just been informed that two police officers were shot in Rochester. So he asked Branagan to lead further conversations about the case with Matthew Schwartz, the district attorney’s felony unit chief.

During a conversation with Mr Schwartz, Mr Branagan confirmed to Mr Schwartz that the charge did not qualify for bail.

Branagan said it was not unusual in Monroe County for the sheriff’s office to file such charges without a prosecutor present, and that attorneys who practice in criminal court there agreed.

However, the district attorney’s relationship with Mr. Zeldin has come under scrutiny in Mr. Jakubonis’ case. Calli Marianetti, a spokeswoman for Ms. Doorley, said that the district attorney was not personally involved in any exchanges about the allegations against Mr. Jakubonis and that as of Friday, she has decided to withdraw from the case. . (Mr Zeldin, on Monday, claimed that Ms Doorley reused herself in an “immediate decision” following the attack, according to the Albany Times Union.)

Ms Doorley, Mr Duckles and Mr Schwartz were not available for comment.

Ms. Marianetti added that Ms. Doorley stopped advising Mr. Zeldin’s campaign in the spring. She said that because there was never any paperwork formalizing Ms Doorley’s role, there was no “official withdrawal” from the campaign. In an emailed statement later on Thursday, Ms Doorley’s office said it informed Mr Zeldin of her decision not to participate in his campaign on April 28.

Defense attorneys and former prosecutors practicing in Monroe County say the allegation of attempted assault is consistent with the specifics of Jakubonis’ attack on Zeldin, and they found nothing. questionable about the circumstances in which it was filed.

Jill Paperno, who worked as a public security guard in Monroe County for 35 years before leaving for private practice in the spring, said the allegation of attempted assault was justified on the pointed keychain Mr. Jakubonis was holding. holding looks unlikely to perform. causing “serious physical injury” will be charged with a higher degree of assault. (In New York, serious physical injury means a significant risk of death or the possibility of disfigurement or impairment of bodily function.)

Donald M. Thompson, partner at Easton Thompson Kasperek Shiffrin firm in Rochester and a criminal defense attorney, agrees that the charge accurately reflects the allegations, that it is not particularly lenient and is not unusual when the two agencies discuss. advance fee.

Asked if it could be coordinated for Mr Zeldin’s benefit, Mr Thompson mused.

“As a political consideration, is that possible?” he say. “I think we cannot rule that out. Is there any proof of that? Not that I know. But certainly those with that inclination can make that argument. Because we can’t pull back the curtain, you can’t say, that’s why it happened or it wasn’t why it happened. “

Mr. Jakubonis since then federally charged with attacking a member of Congress using a dangerous weapon. He has been in federal custody since Saturday; A remand hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.





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