As reported earlier in the week by The Daily Wire, a woman named Tiffany Harris was arrested and released for two different alleged attacks within three days due to early-implemented “bail reform” in New York. On New Year’s Eve, Harris was arrested yet again.
Harris “was nabbed for allegedly slugging three Jewish women and yelling ‘F-U, Jews!’ but let go Saturday with no bail, despite an open assault case. Last month, she got no jail for a felony in another incident,” The New York Post reported. “Nabbed again Sunday in a new attack, she was once more freed, on no bail, Monday.”
Harris was then most recently picked up on Tuesday at a Brooklyn area hotel “on an arrest warrant issued earlier Tuesday after she allegedly failed to comply with court-ordered monitoring,” the Post reports, citing officials.
“They issued a bench warrant around 5 p.m. this evening,” said New York City Sheriff Joseph Fucito, according to the outlet.
“At 6:18, I was notified that she was a fugitive. We put together teams of deputy sheriffs that did basic background investigation, and started conducting interviews and canvassing known locations,” Fucito added.
“She went to the office as instructed, gave the information she needed, clearly she wanted to leave,” Lisa Schreibersdorf, Harris’s lawyer, said of her client. “Anyone would want to leave in that circumstance, no one felt she did anything wrong.”
On Wednesday, Jaclyn Cangro, a reporter for Spectrum News Albany, outlined a list of crimes New York judges are no longer allowed to set bail for, as of January 1. Although, it appeared New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, implemented the reform earlier, hence Harris’s releases.
“Confused about bail and discovery reform? This is the list of crimes New York judges are no longer able to set bail for. That means pending conviction, those charged with these crimes will stay out of jail (unless for certain circumstances),” explained Cangro.
The list includes charges related to burglary, robbery, stalking, possession of a controlled substance, and criminal possession of a weapon.
Confused about bail and discovery reform? This is the list of crimes New York judges are no longer able to set bail for. That means pending conviction, those charged with these crimes will stay out of jail (unless for certain circumstances). pic.twitter.com/IJ4jcweaOl
— Jaclyn Cangro (@JaclynCangro) January 1, 2020
New York, as of January 1, has implemented controversial discovery reform as part of criminal justice reformation in the state.
As detailed in an op-ed published in the left-leaning New York Daily News this summer, all five borough district attorneys have said the reform goes too far in favoring defendants.
“One of the primary reasons why witnesses are hesitant to cooperate with an investigation is confidentiality,” said the authors, Seth Barron and Ralf Mangual. “Prosecutors will no longer be able to assure witnesses that their identity will be protected, even in the case of grand jury testimony, which the new law will now require be disclosed. (While there’s a provision to ask a judge for a protective order to shield a name, that would come after cops and prosecutors talk to witnesses to make an arrest and build a case.)”
“If you talk to any assistant district attorney, they will tell you that one of the first questions they are asked by victims and witnesses is: ‘Will the defendant know who I am?’ ‘Will they know where I live?’” explained Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez.