Assemblyman Robert Smullen (R,C-Mohawk Valley and the Adirondacks) today joined Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R,C-Pulaski), Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt (R,C-North Tonawanda) and members of the Assembly and Senate Minority Conferences at a press conference on the failures of bail reform in Albany. Smullen spoke about the murder of John Lee last year by an individual who was released from police custody due to New York state’s disastrous bail reform laws.

“The atrocity of John Lee’s murder by an individual who should have been behind bars will not go unnoticed by our Conference,” said Smullen. “We must keep violent repeat offenders off our streets and away from our loved ones. The 2019 bail reform laws are the reason for the tremendous escalation of crime in our state and they need to be repealed immediately.

“We also need to return judicial discretion to our court rooms. The power to determine the length of incarceration should be entirely up to the presiding judge. This is a common-sense but vital fix to our revolving-door criminal justice system here in New York.”

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