Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced that, in two separate felony cases, bail applications were denied – and defendants released without security – by the same Suffolk County District Court Judge.
“Measures enacted in 2019, under the guise of bail ‘reform,’ have been an abject failure. New York, unlike 48 other states and the federal system, precludes public safety from being considered in the determination of pre-trial release. Our lawmakers should prioritize fixing this reckless policy before more residents get hurt or killed,” said District Attorney Tierney. “That being said, both of these defendants also fit the definition of a flight risk, and it is disappointing that the court chose to release them without any means of financial security whatsoever.”
Weapons Possession
In the first example, the District Attorney’s Office had advocated for $250,000 cash bail for a Brentwood man charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a Class C violent felony. At the time of his arrest and arraignment, the defendant was out of jail after posting bail following indictment on an identical charge in Brooklyn.
Both charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 15 years incarceration, followed by 5 years of post-release supervision.
In the Suffolk case, the defendant, on April 8, 2025, a suspect in multiple shootings, had allegedly posted multiple videos to his personal social media page displaying a firearm from his residence in Shirley. Following an immediate investigation by members of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office’s Gang Task Force and Suffolk County Police Department’s Gun Crime Reduction and Intelligence Units, members of law enforcement executed an emergency search warrant at the Shirley residence that the defendant had allegedly posted the videos from. Upon execution of the search warrant, members of law enforcement recovered two firearms, including a loaded 9mm pistol which appeared to be the same firearm that the defendant had allegedly posed with in his social media posts. Also with him at the time of his arrest were five other defendants, one of whom being a prior violent felon who himself was on probation for a prior weapons-related conviction.
On April 10, 2025, the defendant was arraigned on a felony complaint before Suffolk County District Court Judge John B. Zollo. The District Attorney’s Office, recognizing that the defendant was a severe flight risk, and had already disregarded release mandates of the Brooklyn court, requested the imposition of significant pre-trial security, via a written, detailed bail application. Judge Zollo, however, released the defendant from custody to pre-trial services without any monetary bail. He is due back in court on April 14, 2025.
Child Sexual Abuse
In the second example, on April 9, 2025, Judge Zollo released a father without any securing conditions, after the father was arraigned on a felony complaint charging him with Course of Sexual Conduct Against a Child in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 25 years, followed by a maximum of 20 years of post-release supervision. The District Attorney’s Office had requested that this defendant be held on $150,000 cash, $300,000 bond, or $1,500,000 partially secured bond.
The defendant had been arrested in Orange County and brought back to Suffolk County to face the charge. The allegations in the case are that between November 2018 and February of 2019 the defendant, on multiple occasions, rubbed his penis on his then 8-year-old daughter’s vagina, as well as additional allegations of a sexual nature. The defendant is the victim’s biological father.
The District Attorney’s Office requested a confidential stay away order of protection for the victim and the significant bail set forth above. Though the District Attorney’s application was precluded from considering public safety and risk of recidivism, due to the nature of the charges, the severity of sentence exposure, and the lack of ties to Suffolk County, the defendant was properly identified by prosecutors as a serious flight risk. Judge Zollo nevertheless ordered the release of the defendant on his own recognizance, with no monetary bail or monitoring. That defendant is due back in court on April 29, 2025.
Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.