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[DOWN]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...bail-spends-5-months-rikers-article-1.2656363

He could have been free for the cost of a cup of coffee.

A Queens man spent nearly five months at Rikers Island — from November 2014 to April 2015 — without knowing his bail was just $2, according to records and his lawyers.

Aitabdel Salem, 41, who was acquitted of bail jumping at a Manhattan Supreme Court trial last week, had been jailed on $25,000 bail for attacking an NYPD cop who was arresting him for stealing a coat at a Zara store in the Flatiron District on Nov. 21, 2014, court papers show.

Although Salem didn’t know it for more than four months, he caught a lucky break when prosecutors could not get an indictment. He was ordered released on Nov. 28, 2014 on the police assault arrest.

But he still had dollar bails set on each of two minor offenses — that included tampering and mischief charges — so he could not have been freed without first paying the tiny amount.

 

[Dalek]

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

They prob. did it purposefully b/c he assaulted a cop.

 

[VanWinkle]

Perfect.

 

[Ray Wonder]

I wonder how much he spent in commissary while there. That's fucked up.

 

[Joni]

It is simply his lawyer that fucked up.

 

[Wendel Clark]

that's only fifty cents more than a buck 50

 

[Coriolanus]

It is simply his lawyer that fucked up.

It is not his lawyer that's gonna foot the bill for all the time he spent there tho. The administration has/should have an interest in releasing someone when bail is that insignificant.

 

[DizzyCaffeine]

It is simply his lawyer that fucked up.

Probably a public defender.

Lawsuit incoming.

 

[Fermbiz]

Rikers Island prison is a hell hole.

 

[RickyRozay]

I figured when the court sentences you they have to disclose if bail is possible and how much, I guess thats not the case.

 

[Skellig Gra]

How is bail $2? You can't even get a loosey for that in the city these days.

 

[DOWN]

I figured when the court sentences you they have to disclose if bail is possible and how much, I guess thats not the case.

They had disclosed it initially, but when it didn't get finalized, they failed to inform him that his largest bail was dropped

 

[Transistor]

that's only fifty cents more than a buck 50

But a buck fifty less than tree fiddy

 

[DOWN]

How is bail $2? You can't even get a loosey for that in the city these days.

There were multiple pending indictments I guess and the judge set it super low on a couple of them because there was already a huge bail pending. But the huge bail case fell through so all that was left were two tiny bails