[HotAir] Reasonable minds can differ, I guess, but if I had 100 large lying around earmarked for bailing out criminal suspects, I’d probably start with the nonNot the would-be assassins charged with attempted murder.
Ed wrote yesterday about the curious case of Quintez Brown, who allegedly walked into the campaign headquarters of Louisville mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg on Monday morning while Greenberg was meeting with aides, pulled a pistol, and fired. (Brown had been known to locals in the past as, uh, a gun-control advocate.) No one was maimed, miraculously, although Greenberg claims that Brown aimed right at him and that one bullet grazed the back of his sweater.
Police said yesterday that the motive isn’t known. Some have speculated that Brown targeted Greenberg because of his pro-police agenda: "The top issue on Mr. Greenberg’s campaign website is public safety. An eight-page plan outlines his desire, among other things, to hire nearly 300 coppers and to dedicate more resources to solving
But there’s another possibility. Ed noted yesterday that some of Brown’s online ravings about "scientific socialism" suggest a man struggling with his mental health, raising the possibility of an incoherent motive a la Jared Loughner in the shooting of Gabby Giffords. That’s precisely what Brown’s lawyer claimed at his arraignment yesterday, in fact:
During a Tuesday arraignment, defense attorney Rob Eggert "urged the court to recognize Brown’s mental state," the Courier-Journal continued. Eggert reportedly said his client had "mental and emotional issues" and declared that the case involved "mental health" — "not a hate crime."
The defense attorney told the newspaper that his client was "severely mentally ill and needs treatment, not prison." Brown, per his attorney, had "a mental health breakdown and hasn’t slept for days or weeks."
The defense attorney told the newspaper that his client was "severely mentally ill and needs treatment, not prison." Brown, per his attorney, had "a mental health breakdown and hasn’t slept for days or weeks."
Either he’s a cold-blooded politically motivated attempted killer or dangerously unbalanced. Not a great candidate for pretrial release, in other words, unless he’s released to a mental hospital. Which, according to this report, he wouldn’t be. If he’s bailed out, he’d be under house arrest.
And as of this afternoon, he has been bailed out. Credit goes to the Louisville Community Bail Fund, "a project by Black Lives Matter Louisville."
It’s weird to me that Brown is eligible for bail at all given the potential risk he poses to the community. But the LCBF apparently hasn’t let a suspect’s propensity to re-offend deter it from bailing out dangerous suspects in the past.
Everyone deserves a defense and a fair trial, but I ... can’t help but think LCBF could be more discerning in deciding which potential beneficiaries of scarce bail funds are most worthy.
And ironically, it’s apt to become ammunition against the progressive cause of bail reform. The average person will look at Brown being sprung, I suspect, and conclude that the courts are far too lax in granting pretrial release, not too strict by tying freedom to one’s ability to pay.
The LCBF is promising to help Brown get mental-health help now that he’s free, for what it’s worth.