A New York judge has freed a man who was allegedly caught with a gun and hundreds of rounds in the Bronx – the same day she allowed a murder suspect back on the streets on a mere $5,000 bail , learned The Post.
Judge Leticia Ramirez, who was elected a civil court judge but was assigned to criminal court on Sunday, released Matthew Velardo on probation against prosecutors’ request that he be held on bail, officials said. .
Velardo, 22, was charged with felony weapons after being arrested with a Tires American Tactical .22 rifle, extended magazine and 500 rounds in the trunk of his car, court records show.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark’s office had asked that he be held on $50,000 bond, $150,000 bond or $150,000 bail, a spokesperson said.
Ramirez also ignored prosecutors’ request to hold accused killer Vernon Gowdy without bond.
Gowdy, 54, a smokehouse worker, was charged with fatally stabbing a man during a fight outside the store on Saturday.
Ramirez set Gowdy’s bond at $5,000 when he was arraigned on Sunday for murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon, and he was released later that day after paying the sum, authorities say. and prison records.
Gowdy worked at the Magic 7 Smoke Shop on Fordham Road and was allegedly involved in a fight sparked when a store manager came across a passing 59-year-old man, cops say.
The man, Kenneth Fair, had made the contact as intentional and Gowdy choked him, pulled out a knife and stabbed Fair once in the chest, authorities said.
Gowdy, a former employee of city parks, had a criminal record that included 15 prior arrests and prison terms in the 1990s, sources said. He was accused of exposing himself to a Parks Department colleague in 2011 and was also arrested in the 1991 murder of Anna McCoy, but was not prosecuted due to a lack of evidence.
“What does it take for someone to be held in prison?” a Bronx police officer told the Post. “We keep arresting criminals and they keep getting released.”
Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state’s Office of Court Administration, defended the judge’s rulings in the Velardo and Gowdy cases, saying bail in New York is “solely to secure” the return of the accused in court.
“With recent criminal justice reform laws, a judge must consider the least restrictive form of bail to secure the return of defendants,” Chalfen said. “In both cases, that’s obviously what the judge did…as required by law.”
He said it was “standard practice” to assign judges to courts as needed, explaining why Ramirez was transferred to criminal court that day.
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