New York judge orders No bail for New York subway shooter as the judge orders psychiatric exam for Frank James.
A US federal judge has ordered that Frank James should be charged with the Brooklyn subway shooting in New York City on Tuesday morning. he should remain in custody and undergo a psychiatric exam.
No bail for the New York subway shooter was set after prosecutors called the assault the ‘worst disruption to the city’s transportation since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001’.
Frank James, 62, making his initial court appearance a day after his arrest in lower Manhattan, is accused of injuring 23 people by setting off smoke bombs inside of a subway car with gunfire in Brooklyn.
Fortunately, no one was killed but many were injured.
No bail for New York subway shooter
James was represented by two very average public defenders as he was formally presented with a criminal complaint charging him with a single count of committing a terrorist or other violent attack against a mass transportation system.
The felony carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and it is likely that if he is convicted he will be punished to the maximum sentence.
Live from Brooklyn New York from the Subway shooting & Live video
Can he get a fair trial?
New York Mayor Adams held a dramatic press conference, using the soundbite “we got him” – suggesting he is guilty of the crimes before the trial.
Although we are not condoning the attack it is hard to look past the rhetoric that is being passed in the media.
Comments like this are the worst attack since 9-11 and creating that link of devastation is going to hamper the Jury’s perception of the assailant.
The district attorney used the very same rhetoric in her opening statement, likening Frank James to the ‘suicide hijackers who flew into the Twin Towers.’
Chaos on the subway train
“The defendant terrifyingly opened fire on passengers in a crowded subway train, interrupting their morning commute in a way this city hasn’t seen in more than 20 years,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Winik told the federal court.
She was evidently referring to the chaos wreaked on the city when two jetliners seized by suicide hijackers were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on a Tuesday morning in September more than two decades ago.
Judge orders psychiatric exam
The mass shooting also followed a string of violent crimes that had already unnerved riders of one of the largest subway systems in the world, including instances of commuters being pushed onto subway tracks from station platforms.
James, dressed in beige jail clothes and wearing a blue surgical mask, spoke only briefly to say he understood the charges.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann ordered James to be held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
The main jail for defendants awaiting federal trial in New York City and the judge orders psychiatric exam which was requested by his lawyers.
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