Tag Archives: pretrial detention

We Have A Problem With Some Of Our Judges

Posted on by

In August, Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death while riding the light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was killed by a a violent repeat offender who had been arrested 14 times and was STILL free. The North Carolina legislature passed Iryna’s Law in response to her murder. The law basically limits pretrial release of criminals. Well, evidently some judges have not learned from Iryna’s murder.

On Tuesday, Zero Hedge reported:

A federal magistrate judge appointed during the Biden administration earlier this week released the anarchist accused of posting a bounty targeting Attorney General Pam Bondi. 

The judge, Douglas Micko, allowed Tyler Maxon Avalos to be released from a Minnesota federal prison as long as he does not travel outside the state and undergoes GPS monitoring. 

Avalos was arrested on Oct. 16 after allegedly posting a $45,000 bounty on Bondi, alongside an image of her with a target symbol over her head. 

…The post included the caption, “*cough cough* when they don’t serve us then what?” 

According to prosecutors, Avalos’s TikTok profile used an anarchist symbol in place of the letter “A” in “Wacko.” The page also featured a link to “An Anarchist FAQ Book,” according to Law and Order. 

An FBI affidavit detailed Avalos’s lengthy criminal record, including a 2022 felony stalking conviction and a 2016 felony third-degree domestic battery.  

He was also charged in April 2016 with misdemeanor domestic assault, which was later upgraded to felony domestic assault by strangulation. 

Would the judge have let loose a criminal who threatened a Democrat? This is just asking for trouble.

When Our Justice System Is Unjust

Posted on by

The Epoch Times posted an article today about the treatment of some of the people who entered the Capitol Building on January 6th.

The article reports:

A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the pretrial detention of a Capitol breach suspect largely on the basis of his past history of “violent language” though he did not commit acts of violence, potentially making it harder for other defendants accused in connection with the Jan. 6 incident to secure release ahead of their trials.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit on July 7 upheld a lower court ruling ordering the pretrial detention of Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who faces both felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with the Jan. 6 incident, including for allegedly entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct, though he is not accused of committing violent acts.

In an opinion (pdf), Judge Robert Wilkins said that the appeals court concluded that the non-violent nature of Hale-Cusanelli’s alleged offenses weighed “just slightly” in favor of release, as did his lack of criminal history, but that this was outweighed by factors including “overwhelming” evidence against him in the case, as well as a “well-documented history of racist and violent language” and that he “has been generally engaged in hateful conduct, if not necessarily violent conduct.”

Note that the Judge considers ‘hateful conduct’ a reason to deny the pretrial release request. The man has no criminal history and was not accused of committing violence. He is essentially being held for ‘thought crimes.’ Contrast this with the dismissal of the cases against most of the people who were burning down major American cities last summer. Something is very wrong here.

The article concludes:

It is unclear how the district court’s new ruling might affect other Capitol breach defendants, with several dozen remaining in pretrial custody of the more than 535 arrested and charged in connection with the incident.

It comes as former President Donald Trump on Wednesday spoke at a press conference at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, criticizing how Capitol breach defendants were being treated.

“People are being treated unbelievably unfairly,” Trump said. “When you look at people in prison and nothing happens to Antifa and they burned down cities and killed people,” he said, referring to last summer’s unrest in the wake of the police-custody death of George Floyd.

“There were no guns at the Capitol,” Trump said, “except for the gun that shot Ashli Babbitt,” referring to the military veteran shot and killed by a Capitol police officer during the Jan. 6 incident.

At the same time, two high-profile conservative legal activists are claiming the Department of Justice (DOJ) is using a double standard in its treatment of Capitol breach suspects, compared to those who were arrested during last summer’s riots.