BUST & SHOCKING BAIL IN SLAYING
Apparently all of the buzz a out killers being released to walk your streets freely in New York are true. Unbelievable
A Brooklyn man was arrested this week in the fatal 2020 shooting of an Indiana University student — and was then granted bail Friday in what the victim’s father blasted as an “unbelievable” decision by an “inexperienced” judge.
William Freeman, 26, was charged with murder Thursday, more than two years after the death of 20-year-old Ethan Williams, who was on a “dream trip” to New York City with friends when he was shot in the chest outside his Bushwick Airbnb.
The victim’s dad, Thomas Williams, told The Post he was in a state of “shock” after prosecutors told him his son’s accused killer had finally been arrested — and then was taken aback when he learned a judge set a $350,000 bail for the suspect at his arraignment Friday night. “I don’t know that he has the money to make the bail, but apparently all of the buzz about killers being released to walk your streets freely in New York are true. Unbelievable,” Williams said following the hearing in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
He added: “It is with malice toward families of victims that these kinds of judges are operating . . . They seem to forget who the real victims are.”
Judge Leigh Cheng ignored objections from prosecutors, who asked that Freeman be locked up without bail, citing his lengthy criminal history and detailing evidence tying him to the fatal shooting — including a taped confession.
Freeman — who has nine prior arrests for drugs, assault and petit larceny dating back to 2013 — allegedly admitted to opening fire on the college sophomore and his pals on Oct. 23, 2020, in a tragic case of mistaken identity.
He apparently believed one of the people sitting with Williams had murdered his cousin and, wanting to scare them, allegedly fired several shots into the group — striking Williams, prosecutors said.
He then dropped the gun and got away in a cab, said Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Jordan Rossman, adding investigators found DNA matching Freeman’s on the murder weapon.
Freeman already had a warrant out for his arrest in a Manhattan case when cops stopped him Thursday night in a car with no front license plate and not wearing a seat belt, the prosecutor said, asking that the suspect be remanded.
Defense attorney Jay Schwitzman, meanwhile, did not make a bail argument, saying he wanted to thoroughly investigate charges.
Still, Cheng insisted that bail was “appropriate,” and set the amount at $350,000 cash or $600,000 partially secured bond.
“Well, certainly bail is appropriate, and what’s discretionary depending on the risk of flight would be the bail, as I said,” Cheng said after Rossman asked him to “articulate” why he thinks “remand is not appropriate in this case.”
“Obviously you requested remand and I determined for a variety of reasons, obviously the charges are very serious, however, I do believe some amount of bail is appropriate here,” the judge added.
Freeman’s arraignment came just days after the two-year anniversary of the day Williams was buried, his dad said.
Jason Williams said he had begun to lose hope that his son’s killer would ever be caught.
“For two years now, I have prayed every day, usually multiple times, for justice,” he said, adding he won’t consider justice truly served until there is a conviction.