Outrage as NYC Judge Frees Suspects in Elderly Assault Case

Shocking Release of Suspects

A judge in the Bronx, New York City, has faced back­lash after releas­ing two sus­pects accused of assault­ing an 82-year-old woman, despite warn­ing one of them that she was “out of chances” due to her pri­or record.

Assault on Elderly Victim

The two sus­pects, Tam­mie Moore and William Ballinger, were charged with sec­ond- and third-degree assault for alleged­ly punch­ing and slam­ming the elder­ly vic­tim to the ground dur­ing an unpro­voked attack. The inci­dent occurred on August 2nd near East 212th Street and White Plains Road.

Judges’ Controversial Decisions

Dur­ing the sus­pects’ arraign­ments, Judge Craig Ort­ner told Moore that she was “out of chances” due to her lengthy crim­i­nal record. How­ev­er, he still decid­ed to release her on super­vised release, rather than set­ting bail as request­ed by prosecutors.

Outrage from Victim’s Family

The vic­tim’s daugh­ter expressed out­rage at the judges’ deci­sions, stat­ing, “Why would they do that? I think they should be kept in jail. Now that they’re loose, who knows what they’re going to do next.” She added that the inci­dent has “hand­i­capped” her moth­er from going out, as she fears for her safety.

Concerns for Public Safety

The release of the sus­pects on super­vised release has raised con­cerns about pub­lic safe­ty, as both Moore and Ballinger have pri­or crim­i­nal records, includ­ing a pre­vi­ous rob­bery con­vic­tion for Ballinger. 

The judges’ deci­sions have been crit­i­cized for fail­ing to take into account the seri­ous­ness of the alleged crimes and the poten­tial threat to the community.