Freed after NY bail reform, robbery suspect arrested by feds

NEW YORK — A federal prosecutor in New York said Friday that the case of a suspected serial bank robber accused of committing a heist in Brooklyn hours after being released from custody shows that the state’s newly enacted bail reform is making New Yorkers less safe. Prosecutors say Woodberry was arrested after the Jan. 8 robbery but was released on Jan. 10 under the state’s hotly debated bail reform law, which eliminated cash bail and pretrial detention for most nonviolent felonies. “No sound, rational and fair criminal justice system requires the pretrial release of criminal defendants who demonstrate such determination to continuously commit serious crimes,” U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue said in a statement, adding, “The recent reforms have made a bad situation worse by entirely excluding classes of purportedly “nonviolent” felonies -– like the bank robberies here -– from pretrial confinement eligibility.” Donohue said Woodberry turned himself in Friday as he was being sought by federal agents who took up the case because the state court system kept releasing him under the new bail law, which went into effect at the beginning of the year. While opponents say bail reform is allowing dangerous criminals to walk free, supporters of the reforms say cash bail and pretrial detention for nonviolent crimes unfairly penalized low-income New Yorkers who could not afford bail.