Yolo County DA's Office Calls Emergency Bail Schedule 'Get Of Jail Free Card'
YOLO COUNTY (CBS13) — The Yolo County District Attorney's Office is concerned about the ongoing use of the emergency bail schedule.
This comes after a West Sacramento man, 25-year-old Denis Bugreyev, was arrested on suspected attempted murder charges. He was arrested five previous times and released under the emergency bail schedule in Yolo County.
"It should have been a red flag when he was rearrested after being let go once," Martin Tatro, West Sacramento, said.
"It scares me that they are letting people out on the street that are known felons that have committed crimes and commit them again," Merry Mendoza, West Sacramento, said.
CBS13 wanted to know how Bugreyev was able to walk the streets after being arrested five times prior to the attempted murder charge.
"Because of the emergency bail schedule, the first arrest was the felony possession of a concealed dirk or dagger that was a zero-dollar bail. And it typically is an offense where bail is set," Melinda Aiello, Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney for Yolo County, said.
The emergency bail schedule mandate statewide expired in June but Aiello said the Superior County of Yolo County decided to maintain the previously mandated schedule.
"We view this emergency bail schedule as a get out of jail free card. And he essentially got that when he was arrested for the felony on August 25th," Aiello said.
The Superior Court of Yolo County also issued a press release on June 17, stating that Yolo County was able to avoid the spread of COVID-19 or having hotspots in jails and detention centers.
CBS13 called and emailed the Superior Court of Yolo County to ask why the emergency bail schedule continues to be in place and if it would consider removing it. It told us they had received our request and would get back to us but we haven't received answers to our questions at this time.
"We did urge the court to go back to their emergency bail schedule which allowed for the booking of more individuals," Aiello said. "It was kind of a balance between the emergency bail schedule and the prior one."
The Yolo County Sheriff's Office said right now there are 197 people in its detention center which can currently hold 342 people.
Some can level with the court's decision to continue to follow the previously statewide mandate but have their concerns.
"I understand why they are doing it but, yeah, if someone keeps doing it and abusing it then there's a problem," Daniel Tatro said.
The District Attorney's Office also told CBS13 there haven't been new conversations between its office and the court about the possibility of removing the emergency bail schedule since their June discussion.