The judge who released NYPD Officer Peter Figoski’s alleged killer — without bail — a month before the murder was under fire on Thursday. Some are saying she made a huge mistake.
Her name is Judge Evelyn LaPorte and given what she knows she probably wishes now she had a do-over when Lamont Pride came before her on Nov. 4.
“She made a terrible decision and needs to be held accountable for that,” City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., said.
Vallone, the Council’s Public Safety chairman, is furious that the judge released Pride, the man accused of using an illegal semi-automatic to kill Officer Figoski, without bail and over the objections of the prosecutor, who had pointed out that Pride was also wanted in a North Carolina shooting.
“This was outrageous. This judge is mandated by law to set bail based on a bench warrant history and ties to another state, both of which she had violated her duty and, unfortunately, we saw the tragic results,” Vallone said.
Her former boss, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, refused to second guess her, even though he will have to prosecute Pride in the shooting of Officer Figoski.
“It was her understanding of the circumstances that she didn’t think bail was appropriate. We disagreed, but I’m not going to criticize her because it’s easy to do that. I think overall she’s a very good judge,” Hynes said.
“She has always been a very good judge. She was a good assistant DA. She worked for me.”
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3 Responses
If that’s a good judge, I’d hate to see what he considers a mediocre judge.
As long as she sets very high bail for every Orthodox person remotely accused of molestation, she will be a fine judge by Hynes;s criteria,
Setting zero bail for this murderer, that ok.
we are in big big trouble….
bahby, well said.