Horowitz: 'I got nothing to lose': Career criminal released without bail after shoving Asian cop onto NY subway platform



Anti-white and anti-Asian hate is strong among violent street criminals. Yet with more career criminals going undeterred and then released without bail, we will see a lot more of these violent attacks in the coming months. Those are the true public safety concerns that nobody wants to discuss, but they are exponentially more common than white supremacist attacks or police mistakes. Where is our version of Black Lives Matter to make our voices heard?

"That's why you people are getting beat up," yelled Ricardo Hernandez as he allegedly shoved an undercover Asian cop onto a New York subway platform. "I got nothing to lose."

"I will f*** you up!" Hernandez added, according to cops. "This is my house."

That incident occurred Saturday in Queens. The suspect was out without posting bail on Sunday, despite having 12 prior arrests. That, in a nutshell, exemplifies the undeterred crime going on in America's major cities, with the career criminals fully aware of the fact that law and order are absent from our justice system. It's also occurring while Trump supporters are being held without bail for charges of trespassing public grounds and with no prior arrests. Welcome to BLM's America.

According to the New York Post, Queens Supreme Court Justice Louis Nock, who was forced to release Hernandez, lamented, "My hands are tied because under the new bail rules, I have absolutely no authority or power to set bail on this defendant for this alleged offense."

Under New York's bail law passed in 2019, if the crime committed by the suspect is not eligible for bail, the judge cannot require it even if he had prior arrests for high-level crimes.

Putting the criminal justice problems aside for a moment, it's interesting that most of the media have stopped focusing on anti-Asian violence because they realized that almost all the attacks are committed by non-whites. The street hunting for Asians is so bad that last week in Los Angeles, a Mexican-American grandmother was severely beaten by a criminal who thought she was Asian.

On April 9, another undercover Asian NYPD officer was verbally assaulted when suspect Juvian Rodriguez told him to "go back to China before you end up in a graveyard" and allegedly threatened to "slap the holy piss" out of him and stab in him the face.

You can't blame these criminals for exhibiting no fear of the justice system. It's not just the new bail law that is springing some of the worst criminals from jail. Even when criminals are eligible to be held on bail, such as gang member Takim Newson, who was recently arrested for shooting someone in the groin, liberal judges spring them without bail. Newson had 20 prior arrests including charges of shooting at the police and stabbing someone. The prosecutor argued that he should be held without bail, and even the defense attorney asked for $50,000 bail. But Judge Denise Johnson, a rookie judge in Queens, released him without any bail!

The entire lie of "criminal justice reform" began with the trope about releasing "low-level, nonviolent, first-time" offenders. That has rapidly transformed into high-level, repeat violent offenders. States like New York and California are now paroling a number of "elderly" prisoners convicted of murder. Just last week, KTTV-TV reported that one such parolee in California, Eddie Allen Harris, had been charged with murder just weeks after his probation ended. Harris, 67, had been convicted of murdering a woman in Los Angeles County in 1982. He was paroled in 2018 under California's "compassionate" release program, and the terms of his probation ended just weeks before he allegedly stabbed another woman to death. California is now releasing murderers who are 50 years old, 17 years younger than Harris.

Yet despite the greatest surge in crime in a generation, how many Republicans are more focused on criminal punishment reform than on "police reform?" I see no effort to focus on deterring criminals like there was in the early 1990s. The only one I can name is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). The Florida state legislature just passed his anti-crime/rioting bill, which would toughen penalties on those who commit violence in groups against police and destroy public property, as well as protecting the rights of the citizen to defend themselves against the mob.

Until more politicians focus a greater share of their time and energy on deterring violent criminals rather than deterring the police, murder and mayhem will continue to dominate our streets. We don't have an epidemic of gun violence; we have an epidemic of criminal justice "reform."

Horowitz: Woke justice: Ohio criminal released on parole allegedly shoots man to death, released on bail again



Maybe it's something in the air or food or the virus causing the record spike in crime. The source of the crime wave is a real head-scratcher to the political class. But to those of us who live in the real world, the culprit for the sudden reversal in crime trends is obvious. We no longer lock up even the most violent criminals, particularly juvenile offenders. The case of Javontae Williams, 17, in Columbus, Ohio, is as predictable as it is tragic and exemplifies why there are so many violent criminals on the streets today relative to the last decade.

In October 2020, Javontae Williams, 17, was arrested in Columbus, Ohio for the murder of 21-year-old Sage Martin in a mall parking lot on September 20. He is accused of standing over the victim and shooting him point-blank while he lay on the ground. Yet as of last week, he is free as a bird as he awaits trial.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Williams had a lengthy rap sheet and was already under house arrest and electronic monitoring for other crimes. But two and a half months before he allegedly committed the murder, Williams was taken off electronic monitoring in what is known as the "honor system house arrest." Now, despite that he is accused of breaking that honor system in the most profound way, Judge Kim Browne allowed Williams to be released on bail, which he posted last Monday.

The mother of Sage Martin put out the following statement:

Just as the rest of the community, I am truly flabbergasted that first Juvenile Justice Kim Browne gave such a low bond and although I understand Judge Chris Brown did not want to overturn his colleague[']s ruling, I find it reckless considering how the court is very much aware that in 2020 alone, that Javontae has been caught with firearms. As his charges escalated, his punishments lessened. From being in a Juvenile Detention Center to Ankle monitoring, it's very disheartening that Judicial System did the very minimum to stop him from wreaking havoc on our community. I thank everyone for their continued prayers as we await justice as a community.

Prosecutors are now concerned that witnesses, of which there are many, will be scared to testify. This is a growing problem with violent criminals increasingly being released multiple times before trial. Not only is there a risk that they will commit more crimes, but it makes it hard to land a conviction even for the original crime because witnesses are dissuaded from testifying. This is done by design to keep criminals out of prison and on the streets.

Judge Browne was the chief author of a statement issued by the Franklin County Juvenile Court judges in February calling a recent effort by police to target juvenile crime as "unnecessary detention of predominately African-American youths" and called the police press conference "propaganda."

Our country is facing a plague of youth crime, particularly carjackings, but the woke judges are playing the race card against the citizenry of this country. According to the FBI Uniform Crime report, in 2018, black youth were responsible for 58% of juvenile murders, 64% of robbery, 41% of aggravated assault, 52% of motor vehicle theft, and 48% of overall violent crime among offenders under 18. If it is now the policy of our judicial system that black juveniles cannot be punished for violent crime, our country is in grave trouble, and the first to pay for it will be black victims of crime, such as Sage Martin.

Ohio in particular has been hit by rising crime among teens and adults. All of the state's major cities experienced record homicides in 2020. With 147 homicides last year, Columbus surpassed the original record set in 1991. Central Ohio is plagued by a rash of juvenile car thefts committed by children who seem to be younger and younger.

As long ago as 1981, Reagan's Task Force on Victims of Crime observed, "A substantial proportion of the violent crime in this country is committed by juveniles, who are becoming more violent at an increasingly early age." The report also noted that "juveniles too often are not held accountable for their conduct, and the system perpetuates this lack of accountability." Both of those factors are demonstrably more poignant today than 40 years ago and are, to a large degree, fueling the sharpest increase in crime in a generation.

At present, we have an epidemic of crime that has been exacerbated by the race-baiters who believe, as Orwell said in "Animal Farm," that "some animals are more equal than others." Also, COVID, which has been used as an excuse to upend every aspect of civilization, has further exacerbated the trend of people being released to commit more crimes. A woman in Riverside, California, was stabbed to death over the weekend allegedly by a woman who had been released just four days before after assaulting another woman with a deadly weapon. According to CNN, "she was released shortly thereafter on a 'notice to appear' citation due to the current emergency bail schedule in place in Riverside during the Covid-19 pandemic."

Thus, almost every violent criminal is now released to commit more crimes without any deterrent. Meanwhile, the only people in this country who have been held without bail are those Capitol Hill protesters against whom there was "no evidence" showing they "vandalized any property or physically harmed any person."

In a world turned upside down, violent criminals are treated like nonviolent delinquents, while nonviolent people are treated like mass murderers. But of course, it all depends on the color of skin of the offender. Lady Justice is no longer blind. The woke judges have given her 20/20 vision to discriminate with perfect precision.
Zolnierek/Getty

Horowitz: NY judge releases juvenile murder suspect a second time​ — after he allegedly stabbed a woman



It's a good thing for young Jordon Benjamin that he is not a restaurant owner trying to earn a living and opening his establishment in defiance of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's unconstitutional orders. In that case, he'd actually get locked up. But unfortunately for society, murder and stabbing are not considered high-level crimes sufficient to lock up juvenile suspects like Benjamin in today's version of "justice" in the Big Apple.

For the past year, I've been gathering stories from New York where violent criminals are released from jail only to commit more violent crimes. Now, we will have to create a special section for those released a second time, even after committing an additional violent crime after the first release.

Benjamin is accused of stomping 60-year-old Juan Fresnada to death for 15 minutes on Christmas Eve 2019 together with a few friends after mugging him for just one dollar cash. One of the adult suspects was held without bail. Sixteen-year-old Benjamin was initially charged with second-degree murder and gang assault and was confined to a juvenile facility in Brooklyn, New York. However, like so many violent criminals, Benjamin was set free this past March by Supreme Court Justice Denis Boyle due to – you guessed it – coronavirus. Because, after all, in the minds of these perverted judges, there is a greater threat of a 16-year-old dying from coronavirus in juvenile detention than of an extremely violent youth victimizing someone else on the street.

Except, of course, the opposite is true. On Dec. 14, Benjamin allegedly stabbed Amya Hicks in the stomach as part of a random attack near his Bronx home. The young woman had to undergo surgery for her wounds, but by the time she got out of the hospital, Justice Denis Boyle had already sprung Benjamin from jail again, according to the New York Post.

It's unclear whether COVID was the consideration for release the second time or if this judge in general simply doesn't believe juveniles can be a threat to the public.

Oh, and on top of Benjamin being out of jail, he will now have access to all the personal information of his victim, Amya Hicks. The new jailbreak law signed by the governor in 2019 allows criminal defendants to access all information of witnesses and victims within 15 days of the arraignment, thereby aggravating the anti-bail provision. The same criminal defendants now out on the streets immediately after violently attacking people also have more access to potential witnesses than ever before — while out of jail. Hicks lives just two blocks from where Benjamin and his gang hang out, according to her mother.

Our broken juvenile system is perhaps the greatest threat to our streets today. The system gets more and more lenient while so many youths become more violent than even adults at an increasingly young age. The less they are deterred, the more violent they get and the more their younger brothers learn that crime pays.

Nearly 40 years ago, President Reagan's Task Force on Victims of Crime presciently observed in its final report, "A substantial proportion of the violent crime in this country is committed by juveniles, who are becoming more violent at an increasingly early age."

The problem has gotten exponentially worse in recent years. Juveniles essentially never serve time and are back on the streets to victimize more people, often involving roving gangs of 5-15 hardened and fully grown men in all but name only. "Armed robbery, rape, and murder cannot be laid at the door of mere immaturity or youthful exuberance," warned Reagan's Task Force. "The victims of these crimes are no less traumatized because the offender was under age."

Earlier this year, a teen who killed a senior in a knockout attack at the Frederick County Fairgrounds in Maryland as part of a massive group attack received zero prison time.

Have you heard a single Republican call for a task force for victims of crime and to specifically address the leaky juvenile justice system? Where is the dialogue about true "criminal justice reform" in the way Reagan used the term in 1982 — on behalf of victims of crime?

New York City alone has seen a 103% increase in shootings this year. Across the country, 51 major cities have experienced an average homicide increase of 31% over 2019. Yet both parties — to varying degrees — are focused on the police as the problem, not on the criminals and the policies behind releasing them, which include coronavirus jailbreak. Meanwhile, in 2018, there were just five killings by the NYPD, compared to 93 in 1971.

So why is the negative public policy focus all on the positive trajectory of police shootings and not on the negative trajectory of crime and homicides? Because neither party represents the people. They just sent tens of billions of dollars to the very cities that have shut down our lives while using the virus to release these dangerous criminals.

Victims of crime, taxpayers, and business owners simply don't have a seat at the table in this two-tiered justice system supported by the uniparty controlling our government.

Horowitz: Houston accused murderer released from jail arrested 5 months later for another murder​



If you think the problem of murderers being released only to commit more murder is limited to blue states like California and New York, think again. The latest case of a violent self-confessed murderer in Houston being released only to allegedly murder again five months later should serve as a wake-up call to state legislators in Texas and other supposedly red states. There is a dramatic need for criminal justice reform that is actually aimed at locking up violent criminals, not releasing them.

Homicides are up 44% this year in Houston. The reason likely has a lot to do with people like Edward O'Neal, who was released from jail this year. O'Neal is being charged with murder in Harris County for allegedly shooting 39-year-old Derrick Mike to death at an apartment complex on Nov. 28. Like most murders, this one was 100% preventable had our criminal system been functioning properly by focusing on public safety, not sensitivity for murderers.

KTRK-TV reported that O'Neal confessed to stabbing his friend Ryan Roberts to death almost five years ago. Yet somehow, five years later, he still hadn't been convicted and sentenced to prison because his lawyers kept using O'Neal's mental state as a means of gumming up the wheels of justice.

The dysfunction of our treatment of violent, mentally ill criminals lead to the next dysfunction of jailbreak policies. In June 2020, Felony Mental Health Court Judge Mark Kent Ellis lowered his original $50,000 bond to $25,000. O'Neal bonded out of custody. Again, this is a man who reportedly confessed three times to a brutal murder that is believed to be part of a devil-worshipping satanic ritual, yet he bonded out on just $25,000. This is not a college student picked up for possessing marijuana.

According to court records, even O'Neal's own mother told investigators she was afraid of his release. The mother of the original victim, Ryan Roberts, informed KTRK that she also warned against his release. "I told the DA he should not get out. He killed my son, he'll be killing again," said Christina Roberts.

This is a case that reveals the dark side of the criminal justice "twindemic" of the violent mentally ill not being locked up and the general jailbreak policies of Harris County.

President Ronald Reagan railed against the treatment of mentally ill criminals in the justice system for years and how it was so hard to keep them off the streets. It has only gotten worse since his time. It's one thing to say that the mentally ill should be confined separately from other criminals; it's quite another to suggest they be released. If anything, those who are mentally ill are the biggest danger to society if they have proven violent proclivities — you know, like satanic murder. Yet leftists are simultaneously pushing de-incarceration of lucid criminals and abolishing of mental asylums for the criminally insane. They desire every public safety threat to remain on the streets.

Harris County has become just as bad as New York with pretrial bond releases. Last year, a Harris County judge initially offered an accused cop killer relatively low bail, despite his history of being released on crimes and bragging about it. In February, Gerald Washington was accused of murdering a random man in Houston just hours after being released for another murder despite his prior criminal record.

In August, the Texan reported, according to Andy Kahan of Crime Stoppers Houston, 57 victims have been murdered in Harris County over the past two years by defendants who had been released on multiple felony bonds and personal recognizance bonds. That doesn't account for all those who served light prison sentences or were let out of prison early and went on to murder. And the momentum toward more and more leniency is getting stronger in the system with each passing day.

The reality is that the spike in homicide throughout the nation is the direct result of known violent criminals simply not being locked up. From Nov. 21 through Dec. 4, Houston has experienced twice as many murders as last year over the same period of time.

The jailbreak is also mixing in with the mental health crisis induced by the panic policies from some of the very same Houston politicians who are pushing draconian lockdowns. The same politicians who decriminalize murder are now criminalizing living, and it has made people more violent. There has been a 65% rise in domestic violence calls to a hotline at the Houston Area Women's Center since September 2019. According to police, the number of strangulation incidents in Houston has nearly doubled this year.

Indeed, the mix of coronavirus panic-driven fascism together with release of criminals has made an entire civilization mentally ill — dangerously so.

Next month, the Texas legislature is set to reconvene. There is a Republican governor as well as Republican lieutenant governor and attorney general. Addressing the loopholes for violent criminally insane people in the justice system should be the first priority. They must also clamp down on the power of these judges to release all violent criminals. While they are at it, they should end the lockdowns.

All those measures would go a long way in maintaining ordered liberty. If they fail to address these issues, they can't blame the fallout on Biden and Democrats. They control all of government, yet the state's policies increasingly look like those in California and New York. Who needs Democrats when you have compromised Republicans selling out our citizens with criminal justice deform?