Evan Bernstein, CEO and national director of Community Security Service, an organization that trains volunteer security squads for synagogues, said Burnette’s release is a source of pain for Riverdale’s Jews.
“There’s some very unhappy people in Riverdale right now,” Bernstein said.
In the days after Burnette’s release, several national organizations objected to the judge’s decision and called for the bail reform bill to be amended to allow judges to set bail for perpetrators of hate crimes.
Agudath Israel, a Haredi Orthodox advocacy organization, reiterated its support for an amendment to that effect. That amendment was proposed in January by Simcha Eichenstein, a state assemblyman who represents Brooklyn, but it failed to pass.
When a suspect in a series of synagogue attacks in the Riverdale section of the Bronx was released by a judge without bail, it was a tough pill for some in the Jewish community to swallow.
Release of suspect in Bronx synagogue attacks reignites debate over bail reform May 5, 2021 3:05 pm Jordan Burnette, the suspect in a series of synagogue attacks in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, is being charged with burglary as a hate crime. (Screenshot from WCBS-2)
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(JTA) When a suspect in a series of synagogue attacks in the Riverdale section of the Bronx was released by a judge without bail Sunday evening, it was a tough pill for some in the Jewish community to swallow.
It also revived a debate among Jews over New York state’s elimination of cash bail in most arrests a measure hailed by progressive groups and challenged by law enforcement, Republicans and some prominent Jewish politicians.
No bail for violent Jew-hating non-white supremacist after vandalizing synagogues
His crime was classified as a violent crime.
The bail was rescinded and he was released.
On Sunday evening another Bronx jurist, Tara Collins, reversed course and ordered Burnette released without bail, the Bronx DA’s office said.
“Burnette’s lawyer asked for a review of the bail and Judge Collins changed to supervised release,” said Patrice O’Shaughnessy, a spokeswoman for the Bronx District Attorney’s office.
Referring to the no-bail released, communist Mayor de Blasio said it’s an “area that we should definitely look at again.”
Burnette was hit with 42 charges, including burglary as a hate crime and criminal trespass as a hate crime for attacks on four synagogues and a Jewish community center during which he allegedly smashed windows and doused religious books in hand sanitizer.