LIGHT FATHER – LIGHT SON
Judge easy on bail, like dad
The son of famously lenient Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Bruce Wright — nicknamed “Cut ’Em Loose Bruce” for setting low bails on violent criminals — appears to be picking up where his dad left off.
Manhattan Civil Justice Geoffrey Wright, 66, who fills in at criminal court about once a year, was on the bench Sept. 7, when two brothers, busted with a cache of guns and drugs, were arraigned.
Eric Johnson, 48, went before Wright, while his brother Lance Johnson, 36, saw Judge Abena Darkeh.
Although he had a lengthier rap sheet than his sibling, Wright set bail at a paltry $500 for Eric, while Darkeh smacked Lance with a more standard $60,000 bond, court records show.
The lowball figure came despite Manhattan prosecutor Hannah Yu’s request to set Eric Johnson’s bail at $100,000. “The defendant is a violent predicate felon,” she told him. “He has multiple firearm convictions on his record as well as multiple aliases and has bench warranted on at least one case.”
The prosecutor told the judge, who is the brother of Assemblyman Keith Wright, that cops executed a search warrant on Sept. 5 at the brothers’ pad at 50 Stuyvesant Ave. in BedfordStuyvesant and seized three guns, a bulletproof vest, three boxes of hollowpoint bullets, 140 rounds of ammunition, and over 30 bags of crack cocaine and marijuana, according to the complaint.
Defense lawyer Sergio De La Pava urged Wright to release Eric without bail.
“Five hundred dollars cash or bond,” ruled Wright, who has become known for setting stunningly low bails, to the great annoyance of prosecutors, many of whom would like to see him barred from criminal court, a source said.
Eric posted bail, and at his next court appearance, on Sept. 11, another judge, Richard Weinberg, jacked up the bail to $75,000, and he was immediately taken into custody.
Wright’s father once released a man who shot and seriously wounded a cop during a holdup of a Manhattan steakhouse on $500 bail.
In another example of his soft spot for defendants with lengthy rap sheets, on Sept. 7, excon Ricardo Moya was arraigned before Wright on drug possession charges and prosecutors asked for $50,000 bail.
Moya, who is homeless and has six felony convictions, which include bail jumping, child molestation and burglary, got $100 bail from Wright.
Wright did not immediately return a call for comment.