In yet another textbook case of how New York’s criminal justice “reforms” bring the loss of innocent lives, Lenue Moore was indicted Tuesday in the Sept. 29 murders of Jackie Billini and Levaughn Harvin, plus the killing of Billini’s dog Zeus.
Moore was free that day because Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa Lewis had imposed just $5,000 bail (requiring just $500 from Moore) when he was charged in a brutal April 11 invasion of Billini’s home, in which he allegedly broke her arm and injured two others.
That was “a f—ing slap in the face,” cried Natalie Questa, Billini’s daughter.
Indeed.
A slap directly rooted in the 2019 no-bail law, which clearly ordered the courts to always impose the “least restrictive” conditions on any accused.
That is, to quit setting higher bail for dangerous perps.
(New York law had never formally directed that, but judges routinely did until the Legislature passed its “reform.”)
So when prosecutors asked that Moore be held on $15,000 cash bail or a $30,000 bond for the home invasion — already less than they’d have requested pre-“reform” — Lewis opted for a much lower amount, upheld at a later hearing by Supreme Court Justice April Newbauer.
Billini, feeling unsafe when Moore returned to the neighborhood, asked her friend Harvin to escort her when she walked her dogs — so when Moore allegedly fired a dozen shots at his nemesis, he wound up a double murderer.
We wonder: Are the lawmakers who are ultimately to blame here now giving thanks that they’ve been able to fend off every attempt to undo their disgraceful work?
