On Sept. 5, a warrant was served on brothers Eric Johnson, 48, and Lance Johnson, 36. Police seized three guns, a bulletproof vest, three boxes of hollowpoint bullets, 140 rounds of ammunition, and over 30 bags of crack cocaine and marijuana from their New York residence. They were arraigned Sept. 7, and Judge Abena Darkeh gave Lance a typical $60,000 bond. When Eric—who had a longer rap sheet—went before Judge Geoffery Wright, however, bail was set at only $500.
That same day, Wright assigned a $100 bail to a man with six felony convictions, including child molestation.
Unfortunately, this isn’t new or unusual for New York—Wright’s father, Judge Bruce Wright, was known as “Cut ‘Em Loose Bruce” for setting low bails in criminal cases. If they want lower crime, perhaps N.Y. legislators need to focus less on concocting increasingly stringent gun control, and more on the revolving doors on the state’s courtrooms.
