NYC judge quotes Grateful Dead to slam state bail reform as ‘confusing mess’By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
July 30, 2023
Call him the Dead Head judge.
A Bronx jurist who labels the state’s soft-on-crime bail reform laws “a confusing mess” is stepping up his game — using the legendary Grateful Dead to make his point.
“Maybe you’ll find direction/ Around some corner where it’s been waiting to meet you,” Bronx Acting Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Zimmerman wrote in a ruling last week, quoting lyrics from the rock hit “Box of Rain.”
“Clearly, the bass player and lyricist of the Grateful Dead have never read New York’s bail reform statutes,” Zimmerman wrote. “Instead of direction, the statutes provide judges with obfuscation and legislative sleight of hand.
“The legislature’s cynical attempt to mollify the public’s concerns about safety, without expressly giving judges the tools to address them, has created a confusing mess.”
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/07/30/nyc-judge-quotes-grateful-dead-rock-hit-to-slam-state-bail-reform/
