A judge has lowered the bail for several protesters arrested in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, following criticism from Black Lives Matter activists and progressive leaders.
Thirteen individuals, including one juvenile, were arrested as a result of the unrest in Lancaster on Sunday night into early Monday morning. Charges included “Criminal Conspiracy for Arson, Riot, Institutional Vandalism, Failure to Disperse, Obstructing Highways and Other Public Passages, and Disorderly Conduct and Defiant Trespass,” according to the Lancaster Bureau of Police.
Arrestees included Talia Gessner, 18; Taylor Enterline, 20; Kathryn Patterson, 20; Yoshua Dwayne Montague, 23; Jamal Shariff Newman, 24; T-Jay Fry, 28; Dylan Davis, 28; Lee Alexander Wise, 29; Barry Jones, 30; Matthew Modderman, 31; Jessica Marie Lopez, 32; Frank Gaston, 43; and one juvenile, 16.
Magisterial District Judge Bruce A. Roth originally set bail for nine of the defendants at $1 million but reversed course days later, revising the amount down after criticism. At the tine, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) called the bail amount “blatantly unconstitutional.”
According to Lancaster Online, Roth revisited the bail for the following defendants:
-Barry Jones M/30 – $1 million to $100,000 unsecured, he is on house arrest
– Jamal Shariff Newman M/24 – $1 million to $100,000 straight
– Talia Gessner F/18 – $1 million to $50,000 cash, if released, house arrest
– T-Jay Fry M/28 – $1 million to $25,000 straight
Additionally, Judge Dennis Reinaker reset the bail for five defendants:
– Yoshua Dwayne Montague M/23 – From $1 million to $100,000 cash or 10 %
– Kathryn Patterson F/20 – From $1 million to $50,0000 unsecured
– Taylor Enterline F/20 – From $1 million to $50,000 unsecured
– Dylan Davis M/28 – From $1 million to $50,000 unsecured; is on house arrest
– Alexa Wise F/29 – From $100,000 to $50,000 unsecured; is on house arrest
Organizers set up GoFundMe campaigns for some of the protesters, including Patterson, a student at Franklin & Marshall College, and Lee Alexander Wise, a transgender woman who organizers say is being held in the male section of a prison.
The Lancaster Patriot, a forthcoming “weekly conservative print newspaper covering Lancaster County,” shared a video on Twitter of what it said was a crowd “marching toward what they thought was Judge Roth’s address to intimidate him”: more
So the Amish plead for their release before a judge from HI, right? 🙄
de dindus didn like it?
The judge deserves to be horse whipped
Bail is to insure the defendant will show up in court for hearings and trials.
Will these amounts accomplish that? Putting them at too much risk of loss against their possible penalties that they won’t be willing to lose their bail by skipping out?
At least set the condition of out of state/jurisdiction defendants that they not leave the state before their trial without court approval.
These are not law and court order respecting people, the opposite IMO.
That damn judge! He had an opportunity to make a difference, and he folded like a cheap lawn chair.
The judge should go along with it: “You’re right, the bail is too high, bailiff remove the accused back to their cells, there will be no bail!”
The rioters call themselves Marxist revolutionaries. Why does the press call them protestors?
Well, at least he didn’t reduce the charges but, I agree, he just told the enemy that he can be intimidated and that that he wasn’t all that committed to his initial ruling on bail, apparently. He’s a judicial laughingstock.
Freedom ain’t free
Isn’t it illegal to threaten or intimidate the judiciary? I want to know the rest of the story here.
If judges succumb to ‘pressure’ this easily, how about some pressure over some blatantly unconstitutional rulings?