New York Daily News

Jail em, judge!

Brooklyn jurist ripped for letting suspects out

- BY CHRISTINA CARREGA, ROCCO PARASCANDO­LA and REUVEN BLAU

JUST CALL HER Turn ’Em Loose Loren.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Loren Baily-Schiffman, 65, has come under fire after releasing four men, including one who allegedly tried to steal a cop’s gun, without bail on Sunday.

“It’s outrageous!” fumed Dennis Quirk, who represents state court officers. “She should be demoted back to civil court.”

Baily-Schiffman was elected as a civil court judge in 1999. She was later appointed to the more highprofil­e post of acting Brooklyn Supreme Court judge, where she handles weekend arraignmen­ts.

In that role, she released Kurdel Emmanuel, 29, who was charged with trying to snatch a police officer’s gun inside the waiting area of the 83rd Precinct stationhou­se on Knickerboc­ker Ave. in Bushwick around 11:15 a.m. on Saturday.

The prosecutor asked that Emmanuel be held on $250,000 bail, but Baily-Schiffman let him go without bail, court records show.

The Office of Court Administra­tion defended Baily-Schiffman (photo) on Monday.

“A judge has broad discretion when deciding to set bail or bond,” said court system spokesman Lucian Chalfen.

Baily-Schiffman made a similar decision in the Derrick Gadson case.

A shirtless Gadson, 56, allegedly threatened to kill Sister Maria Amador as she prayed inside the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights at about 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Prosecutor­s requested that he be held on $25,000 bail at the hearing Sunday, court records show. Instead, she placed him into Mayor de Blasio’s Supervised Release Program.

On Sunday, Baily-Schiffman also let go two men charged with a hate crime after they allegedly punched an African-American man while spewing racial slurs.

Rudolph Evmeneko, 27, and Bernard Szurant, 25, allegedly began their assault on John Godwin, 42, as he walked past them with his girlfriend at E. 17th St. and Avenue R in Sheepshead Bay at 5:50 a.m. on Saturday.

“You punk mother------, you punk ass n-----,” they yelled, according to the criminal complaint. The two men then pumped their fists into their hands, and said, “This is our neighborho­od, you f----n----- get out of here,” court records reveal.

They also threatened to “lynch” Godwin and called him a “charcoal burner” before they punched him, the criminal complaint says.

Prosecutor­s sought $50,000 bail for each man, court records show. But Baily-Schiffman released each on his own recognizan­ce.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States