Assemblyman Brian Miller (R,C-New Hartford) today joined his Assembly and Senate Minoritycolleagues, family members of crime victims, and victims’ rights advocates to call for changes to bail reform. Miller is namely calling for judicial discretion to be returned to our courts, which would allow judges to hold the most violent of defendants and those who commit repeated crimes, due to a lack of immediate consequences.

“Bail reforms have failed New Yorkers by making our state more dangerous and leaving many families with heartbreaking consequences. The Legislature must look at all of the solutions on the table, especially the return of judicial discretion, to hold violent defendants,” said Miller. “We can’t keep avoiding the problems bail reform has created for our state. We must put the safety of the public first.”

According to a recent Siena College poll, New Yorkers point to crime as a serious problem across the state. The majority of the respondents agreed that judges should have more discretion on whether to hold defendants before trial.

The daughter of John Lee, Tammy Patrick, spoke at the press conference about the June 2022 murder of her elderly father by Thomas Quillan, who was arrested and released for the brutal assault of another man only 36 hours prior to the murder. Had judges had more judicial discretion to hold violent criminals such as Quillan, the life of Tammy’s father could have been spared.

Editor’s Note: Video of Miller speaking about the public safety measures can be downloaded here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zq3r_9oX0LjfWOGfnlPGcTS30UhoWU2e/view?usp=share_link