A infamous soft-on-crime Brooklyn choose is at it once more — refusing to set bail for the gun-wielding thug accused of attempting to kill one other man and wounding a service canine, The Put up has discovered.
Brooklyn Prison Courtroom Decide Janice Robinson has already gained a rep for going straightforward on accused criminals, and remained true to type Tuesday when she launched alleged gunman Adrian Benitez at his arraignment.
Benitez, 29, was hit with tried homicide and a slew of different felony costs after he was nabbed for final week’s brazen broad daylight capturing in Greenwood Heights.
The creep allegedly opened hearth throughout a spat with one other man, and the stray bullet struck Honey, a 7-year-old Labradoodle service canine for a girl with Down syndrome, in line with a police.
Prosecutors within the Brooklyn District Legal professional’s Workplace had requested that Benitez be held on a $150,000 bail — however Robinson as an alternative launched him with solely a promise that he’d return to courtroom for his subsequent listening to in three months, in line with legislation enforcement sources.
“We’re not speaking about any person who shoplifts shampoo from a drug retailer,” one annoyed supply fumed Wednesday.
“That is one other particular person with pictures fired, charged with tried homicide, a bullet lacking it’s supposed goal, fortunately, solely injuring an harmless canine,” they stated. “Does it should be a baby in a stroller subsequent time?”
The supply additionally darkly quipped, “properly at the least this choose is constant.”
Robinson’s bail-halting methods have been revealed by The Put up in an unique report on Sunday.
The lefty choose, a Democrat elected to the bench final yr after 20 years as a lawyer for insurance coverage firms, has persistently set no or minimal bail for defendants earlier than her, a evaluate of the instances discovered.
Of the 13 instances examined by The Put up, eight defendants have been in a position to breeze out of courtroom with out bail, together with two charged with tried homicide, whereas the remaining 5 confronted low bail that they have been in a position to submit.
The Workplace of Courtroom Administration, which speaks for judges within the state, didn’t reply to quite a few requests for remark earlier than the report was printed.
In an e-mail Wednesday, OCA spokesman Al Baker stated the workplace doesn’t touch upon particular rulings.
“You will need to word, nevertheless, that the overwhelming majority of bail choices activate the courtroom’s discretionary weighing of a broad vary of things in an effort to make an individualized evaluation of the defendant’s danger of flight to keep away from prosecution,” Baker added.
Police stated Benitez bought right into a beef with a person who was speaking to a girl close to Greenwood Cemetery round 5:45 p.m. on Aug. 19, pulling out a handgun and pulling the set off.
The supposed goal wasn’t hit, however a stray slug struck and wounded the helpless pup, a service canine for 64-year-old Teresa Pezzolla, who has Down syndrome.
Benitez was busted Tuesday and in addition faces costs of three counts of assault, felony possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment and aggravated cruelty to animals, on prime of the tried homicide rap.
The accused shooter has no prior unsealed arrests, authorities stated. He’s due again in courtroom November 24.
Robinson, the Brooklyn-born daughter of Jamaican immigrants, was elected to the bench in 2024 and took a seat within the borough’s civil courtroom Jan. 1, 2025, in line with stories.
She was lately transferred to the felony bench.
The choose is the niece of Nick Perry, a Democrat who served within the state Meeting almost 30 years representing components of East Flatbush, Canarsie and Brownsville and later served briefly as US ambassador to Jamaica.
Robinson graduated from Hofstra College and earned a legislation diploma from American College. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the primary black sorority, and spent the primary 20 years of her authorized profession as a lawyer for insurance coverage firms earlier than turning to politics.
— Further reporting by Kyle Schnitzer and Amanda Woods
