Hearing of cases like these sour a lot of people on criminal justice reform.
A man in Albany, News York is arrested for shooting and killing another man, in an incident that left another five people injured.
What has residents and law enforcement upset is that the suspect, Jhajuan Sabb, had his bail set at $1 by the judge.
Yes, $1 bail for a murder charge and this isn’t his first brush with the law.
Last year, Sabb was arrested for threatening to kill police officers in response to George Floyd’s death.
In Facebook Live videos, Sabb threatened to throw bricks at the Troy police station and police cars during a planned protest. In November he pleaded guilty to making an interstate transmission of a threat to injure another person.
Because of that federal case, Sabb remains in jail.
“The courts tell CBS6 this $1 bail ensures that the time Sabb is serving now for the federal case, can be counted towards his second-degree murder charge. County court leaders say this is a result of the bail reform laws. They say under the new bail reform statutes, judges have the discretion to consider the least restrictive non-monetary condition. In Sabb's case, the judge could have released him, or remanded him, and he chose to set that condition at $1.
Now local law enforcement leaders are shaking their heads. Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple says it's ridiculous.
Sheriff Apple tells CBS6, “Thank God there's a hold on him, from the federal system, but that could be lifted today, that could be lifted Tuesday, and what happens then? Somebody's going to pay a dollar and a murder is going to walk out of jail. This is making a mockery of our criminal justice system and people need to stop this."
The Albany County DA’s office says they would like to fight the bail decision but they are limited by the new statutes on bail reform.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares' Office says: "We are looking for legal remedies to address this bail decision, but we are limited as this is an application of the new statutes. We are doing what we can to ensure he is held in custody."