I joined my Assembly and Senate Republican colleagues on the Million Dollar Staircase to highlight two proposals in response to the criminal case in Suffolk County where body parts were discovered in a local park. Suspects were charged with concealment of a human corpse but were immediately released due to the state’s 2019 bail laws, which made a heinous crime like this not eligible for bail, forcing the judge to release the suspects back into the public. One of the proposals would make body dismemberment/concealment of a human corpse a bail-eligible offense. The other would strengthen laws regarding electronic location monitoring of a defendant subject.

New York’s irrational bail reform policies have allowed dangerous criminals to be let back onto our streets and into our neighborhoods again and again, like those charged in connection with the dismembered corpses on the South Shore. As a consequence of ‘Bail Reform’ enacted by the New York State Legislature in 2019, offenses associated with the mutilation and disposal of deceased bodies are no longer eligible for bail. The Legislature in Albany has replaced the discretion of our judges with their own misguided judgment. This sends a very clear message to criminals that their actions will go unpunished. When you can chop up a body and then grab a slice of pizza after being let go, there’s a problem. Gov. Hochul: Make our communities safe again, and join us to repeal the dangerous bail laws now.