Man Spends 5 Months In Prison Without Being Told His Bail Was $1
Even the worst public defender should never let something like this slide.
A New York man spent 5 months in Rikers Island despite the fact that his bail was simply $1. In the time he was imprisoned, thousands of tax dollars were undoubtedly spent. He is looking to take action against the city as well as his "lawyer".
A NYC man who was accused of stealing says he spent 5 months in the bing—and no one informed him that his bail was less than a subway ride. The Queens resident is now suing the city and his Legal Aid lawyers for keeping him in the dark.42-year-old Aitabdel Salem, was arrested on Nov. 21, 2014, on charges he attacked an NYPD officer trying to detain him after he allegedly stole a coat at Zara. His court date was set just a week later and no one, his lawyer nor the jail, brought him in front of a judge. The judge had reduced his bail to just $1 from $25,000 that day and he had no way of knowing. That happened several times, where he had a court date and wasn’t produced in front of the judge over several months.
Eventually all of his charges involving that case were “waved” over legal technicalities, according to the NY Daily News report. Salem had no idea this was happening. -(Bossip)
How the hell does this happen??