Judge won’t reduce bail for BB shooting suspect
Defendant, whose bond stays at $1M, is facing 3 counts of attempted murder
The bail for Jesse Leal Rodriguez, the Orange County man accused of shooting at an occupied car on a Norco street and suspected of several of the 100-plus BB gun shootings on Southern California freeways this spring, will remain at $1 million, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Robert English, an attorney hired by Rodriguez’s family, had urged visiting Riverside County Superior Court Judge William R. Chidsey Jr. to reduce bail to $100,000. Deputy District Attorney Phil Joo asked Chidsey to hold Rodriguez without bail, or at the current $1 million at minimum.
In making his decision, Chidsey noted the California Highway Patrol’s belief, stated in an affidavit written to obtain higher bail, that Rodriguez was responsible for at least six shootings. Chidsey said that while no crashes and few serious injuries were reported from the freeway gunfire, the consequences were potentially serious.
Rodriguez, 34, is jailed at Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.
Rodriguez, who lives just outside of Anaheim, has pleaded not guilty to three
counts of attempted murder and three counts of assault likely to cause great bodily injury. The charges were based on the three occupants of the Tesla that was fired upon May 25.
In a recent jailhouse interview with the Southern California News Group, Rodriguez denied carrying out any of the shootings. He said he had a BB gun in his car when he was arrested in Riverside because he had taken it away from his stepson, who along with his friends had been shooting at “old ladies.”
In seeking reduced bail, English told Chidsey that Rodriguez has resided in the area for 34 years and lives with his wife, three children and his mother. English produced a letter of support from the owner of the plumbing company that employs Rodriguez and said the family relies on his income. Rodriguez’s wife does not work outside the home, and his mother has a job that pays only $15 an hour, English said.
Moreover, English said, Rodriguez suffered a blood clot in his lung while in jail that required hospitalization, and that he believes Rodriguez could receive better medical care out of custody.
Joo noted Rodriguez’s two felony firearms convictions (English had termed them “brushes with the law”) and said Rodriguez is “an extreme danger to the public.”
Rodriguez has not been charged with any of the other shootings that the CHP blamed on him.
“If there was real evidence beyond speculation, they would have charged him,” English said outside court after the bail hearing.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Sept. 20.