Deadly beating of bail bondsman in Sacramento sparking frustration aimed at city leaders
SACRAMENTO - The deadly beating of a bail bondsman Kevin Brace in Downtown Sacramento is creating frustration and anger for many.
Advocates for victims of violent crimes joined Kevin's boss and family to call on Sacramento's City Council to do more to keep Sacramento safe.
"You never think about what can happen to your family, your friends, your community, until it does," said Jordan Brace who is Kevin's niece.
The owner of Greg Padilla Bail Bonds wants the City of Sacramento to invest more in public safety and protect the citizens.
"Now my employees are afraid to come to work in Downtown Sacramento," said Padilla. "I hope people can put the nexus of this unfortunate murder in the place and we can effect change."
On Wednesday, suspected killer Jacob Mandell came into the courtroom, but this was not his first time in an orange jumpsuit.
Records show he had previously been arrested for DUI and domestic violence.
So how was he allowed to be a wrestling coach at El Camino Fundamental High School, a San Juan Unified School District school?
San Juan Unified said every employee goes through fingerprinting before hiring. It gave us this statement:
"All employees of San Juan Unified are required to go through a fingerprinting process before getting hired and starting in the district. After submitting fingerprints, we receive confidential information regarding the history and background of each individual from the Department of Justice. Based on the information we receive, it is then determined if that individual is cleared to work for our district.
If an individual has prior arrests, we assess every situation individually, taking into account the charges, convictions, dates of incidents, etc. An individual with prior arrests may be hired with restrictions in place, such as not being allowed to drive students, etc.
There are some convictions that would immediately disqualify an individual from being hired, such as those that involve neglect or harm to minors, possession or selling of narcotics, etc.
The motive behind the beating is still a mystery with loved ones demanding change."
"This is not OK that this happens to anyone, to me, to the people standing behind me," said Jordan. "Anyone could be next."
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg gave CBS13 this statement on what happened:
"We want to express our deepest sympathies to the family, coworkers and friends of Kevin Brace. Such a crime should never occur anywhere. The ongoing investigation into the circumstances of this brutal killing will shed more light on what happened. The proposed City budget does not cut public safety coverage in our city and does not reduce funding for any of our violence prevention programs in downtown or elsewhere. Any assertion to the contrary is simply false. We have contributed millions of dollars to maintaining a clean and safe downtown and are maintaining our ongoing funding commitments."
Mandell will be back in court on June 12 at 8:30 a.m.