A New York criminal court has released six suspected drug traffickers from jail without bail under the state’s new criminal justice law.
Suspects Livo Valdez, Jaslin Baldera, Frederick Baldera, Frandi Ledema, Diego Tejada, and Parfraimy Antonio walked out of Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday morning, according to the New York Post. Assistant District Attorney Michael Di Paolo said during the hearing that “none of the defendants are eligible for bail.”
The New York Drug Enforcement Task Force raided an apartment on Monday and found all six suspects packing hundreds of thousands of glassine envelopes with powdered drugs valued at $7 million. Officers believe the suspects were preparing to distribute the drugs over New York and New England.
The suspects’ passports were taken, and each man is due back in court on Feb. 27.
The New York State Legislature passed a slew of criminal justice reforms in April that took effect on Jan. 1. The reforms have received harsh criticism from the law enforcement community in the state.
On Jan. 23, New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea wrote a New York Times opinion piece asserting the reforms “undermine” public safety.
“[The reforms eliminate] cash bail and the possibility of detention for a wide array of offenses, including weapons possession, trafficking of fentanyl and other drugs, many hate-crime assaults, the promotion of child prostitution, serial arson, and certain burglaries and robberies,” Shea wrote.
Carl Heastie, a Democratic assembly speaker for the legislature, has defended the bail reform as creating a more fair justice system for low-income and impoverished people accused of a crime.
“We ended the use of cash bail for lower-level offenses because our criminal justice system must work for everyone — not just those who can afford it,” Heastie said. “By implementing this system, everyone is treated the same.”
