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Bail set at $1.5 million for man charged with shooting Boston police officer

A Dorchester Municipal Court judge set bail today for career criminal Grant Headley at $1.5 million - $1 million for attempted murder and gun charges for allegedly shooting Officer Kurt Stokinger Friday morning and $500,000 for distribution of cocaine for a Jan. 5 arrest, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

The DA's office provided this account:

Assistant District Attorney Mark Hallal, chief of the DA’s Senior Trial Unit, told the court that DCU officers observed an apparent drug transaction Tuesday afternoon and approached the buyer, who admitted buying a quantity of crack cocaine from the seller, later identified as Headley. Headley left the scene in a black Acura before he could be apprehended, and officers undertook efforts to locate him.

On Friday morning, Hallal said, officers observed Headley traveling on Mt. Bowdoin Terrace in the same black Acura. When he pulled over at about 10:25 am, the officers boxed his vehicle in with their own unmarked cruisers and approached on foot.

Headley exited his vehicle with a firearm in his hand, turned, and began firing multiple shots at one of the officers while moving toward him, Hallal said. The officer was struck once in the left leg. The officer returned fire but did not hit Headley, who fled through a vacant lot toward Geneva Avenue.

As police and civilians aided the injured officer, another officer who was approaching the scene spotted the assailant running from the scene. This officer reversed course and drove toward Geneva Avenue in an effort to locate the gunman. Aided by a civilian witness, the officer observed Headley running down the driveway of a Geneva Avenue residence. The officer drew his firearm and ordered Headley to stop, to no avail. This officer continued his pursuit, tackled the defendant, and took him into custody with the assistance of additional responding officers.

Officers recovered $765 in cash and the key to the Acura on Headley’s person. Along his path of flight, investigators recovered a .40 caliber Glock semiautomatic handgun with an obliterated serial number and a large-capacity magazine. It was still loaded with seven rounds in the magazine and an additional round jammed in the chamber. They also recovered outerwear similar to that Headley was wearing at the time he allegedly opened fire and a plastic bag with nine apparent rocks of crack cocaine.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

Why does a career criminal even get offered bail for attempted murder?

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...until proven guilty"

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Unless he stopped off at Clarendon Wine Company to get a Powerball ticket Friday morning, $1.5 million might as well be no bail.

George Zimmerman got bail after actually killing someone, so all in all this is not the worst case of bail.

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That was arguably a defensive situation. This is cut and dry attempted murder.

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Then killed him for defending himself.

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Just because you don't understand how bail works, doesn't mean he shouldn't receive it.

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Because the 8th Amendment doesn't stop existing just because you happen to think that the accused did something particularly awful.

The rule of law! Coming soon to a jurisprudence near you!

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He also screamed the BPD tried to "assassinate him", but this was after he was too cowardly to show his face in court.

I can't wait to see this monster go away for 20 years.

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... wouldn't they have done it during his arrest?

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One would think so. They would've had every excuse in the world to "assassinate" him after he just shot one of their fellow officers. Then he flees on foot while holding a gun.

Even after all that, he is tackled and arrested. There goes his assassination conspiracy theory.

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It's all a part of their devious plan.

Oh, they are in it for the long game. Some day, perhaps soon, perhaps later, maybe violently or perhaps simply of "old age", he will die. Who'll be laughing then?

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Even after all that, he is tackled and arrested

[Insert issacg's stock quote about our police being better paid, trained, etc., here.]

On a related note, I have posted below a comment from the Globe story on the arraignment:

“Thank God the suspect also wasn’t shot in the situation,” Evans said.
********
Is he serious? What a disgrace. Evans is a useless as his Mayor. They pander to anti-cop liberals and their President

That someone could write that is almost enough to snuff out the little remaining faith I have in humanity.

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They would've had every excuse in the world to "assassinate" him after he just shot one of their fellow officers.

That's a reason. It's not an excuse.

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Bail can be denied for dangerousness. This scumbag should surely qualify.

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Just because you've decided he's guilty for this crime doesn't mean he actually is. That's why he's given bail.

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Yes, I agree that the bail set is okay, but the idea that a suspect represents a danger is a part of the bail guidelines. For someone to say that he should not be granted bail due to dangerousness is not the craziest thing out there.

Yes, the default is to grant suspects bail, being held without bail is not unheard of.

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My knowledge of this stems almost entirely from Law & Order (SVU specifically, to my immense shame), but isn't bail usually denied if the suspect is deemed a flight risk? And if he's deemed a flight risk but they want to impose bail all the same, they just impose an impossibly large amount? There may be different rules attached to each; I'm not sure. If the suspect is trusted to sit tight until the trial, then I think they're granted a more manageable (a relative term, to be sure) bail figure.

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Default is no bail. Then bail is based on the probability of the accused showing up at court, which has several factors taken into account such as rootedness in the community and seriousness of the crime.

But yeah, this is the next thing to no bail.

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Why? Because the police claim he shot a cop? Was it unprovoked? Do you know anything about him or the situation at hand directly? If he shot the cop, was he aiming for the leg or is just a bad shot? He didn't kill the cop (in fact the cop is already out of the hospital today). How dangerous to the rest of us is wounding a cop when it comes to setting bail?

Note, I am NOT saying he's not a scumbag or that he isn't the one that shot the cop that day. What I'm saying is that until the evidence is laid out in court, the court can't act on what he *may* have done.

If you get arrested tomorrow for shooting a cop for absolutely no reason, would you want the same rules of "no bail" applied to you because shooting a cop is a big danger to the community and well, you probably are guilty, right? There's a huge range of bail between ROR and No Bail. My guess is that this one is even sufficiently high enough that he probably won't post it anyways...but it doesn't mean we should stop offering it. Save that for the ones that scream during arraignment that if you let them out, they'll keep killing, etc.

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To answer your third paragraph, if witnesses, including the victim, claimed I shot a cop and in court the Assistant DA asked for a dangerousness hearing, I would totally understand. Mind you, my record consists of a warning for speeding in Hyde Park 15 years ago and an actual speeding ticket 10 years back. Honestly, I would set my bail in this case at $500,000. I am rooted in the community, which might lower it to having my house put up as surety along with an ankle bracelet.

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Only requires $150,000 cash up front - chump change for a seasoned dope-peddling gangbanger whose crew probably clears more than that in a week.

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Someone still fronts the balance.

This guy ain't Darryl Whiting. I would wager that I have more money in my bank accounts than this guy has lying around (or in the bank, though I doubt that). Unless his dad, who has apologized for all of this, has the means and more importantly is willing to take the risk, he should get comfortable at Nashua Street.

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Here's how bail and bonds work: http://www.attorneys.com/felonies/how-does-bail-work/

Here is what bail is and what its function is: http://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/resources/law_related...

Something to remember:

Bail is not a fine. It is not supposed to be used as punishment. The purpose of bail is simply to ensure that defendants will appear for trial and all pretrial hearings for which they must be present.

If someone is already waiting trial on a serious charge when they are hauled in on a new one, bail will be set for the new one, but may be revoked for the earlier one in order to hold the defendant for trial.

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The general tendency is for a street dealer to make not much more than minimum wage. It's like any other business, the management sufficiently far from the action makes the dough.

If he was a particularly valuable dealer, maybe they try to make bail for him, but chances are there are a half-dozen guys who want to take his place.

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Police departments across the State and country should protest the fact that known
criminals are out on the streets, wreaking havoc, murdering, terrorizing, and Police
are expected to Protect and Serve.

DAs, Defense lawyers, Judges and the Justice Dept. should be held accountable and
scrutinized by citizens and the media just as Law Enforcement has been.

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Is it the system of bail, innocence until guilt is proven, or are you proposing that if convicted of any crime somebody should be behind bars forever?

Maybe I'm dense, maybe you're vague, I'm willing to accept either or both

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I'm against repeat offenders continuously in trouble, out on bail, plea bargains, short jail sentences, defense lawyers playing let's make a deal with the hardened, ruthless gun toting drug dealers, gang members, who have no intention of changing their ways.

I'm pissed off reading about people with long histories of crime, still getting another chance to commit murder/attempted murder while innocent people reap the consequences of their actions.

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that police are expected to do... policework?

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That the presumption of innocence means that people get defense lawyers? Or that these lawyers actually represent their client's interests in court?

Not like BPD and the courts haven't been known to mess up, or anything like that ...

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aldos, SwirllyGrll

I'm ranting about the state of some communities-continuously suffering because of the actions of the Gangbangers, Thugs, and Drug dealers (OF ANY Ethnic Persuasion) that don't give a rats ass about anyone but themselves, their guns and their violent agendas.

Kids and parents afraid of the violence near school zones, or homes. Afraid to play outside. Elderly people afraid to sit or sleep near a window because of stray bullets.

Yes the police have a job to do. Yes Defense lawyers are hired to defend, but I still think the Legal system needs to start playing hardball with the Repeat Known Felons with a love for guns and violence.

*And the younger kids being recruited and groomed to do the same. (And learning how to play the "defense lawyer game".)

I don't live in that type environment, but that could change, couldn't it?

I guess for some of us who don't live in that environment it's not a big deal.

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Read "Between the World and Me". The guns, gangs, and slinging drugs are the only way most of the people involved find any way of empowering themselves. The system is rigged to deny them in a lot of ways until they only find the easiest way out...the way to take back their empowerment. If you think you're going to break them with "hardball", you're part of the problem.

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Kaz, I agree empowerment and other alternatives are needed.

To me it is frustrating, and my anger is mixed with sadness about the way some of these young people have to live or have chosen to live.

But what about those who at a young age refuse to participate in after school programs, stay in school initiatives, job training, post incarceration programs, etc. because it ain't cool, or their parents don't make them?

Then they ( The Offenders -'The guns, gangs, and slinging drugs'-And Parents) use the excuse that the "system" is against them.

Many times parents need to play hardball first, so the Legal system does not have to.

I agree that the "system" is not perfect, and some "powers that be" do not care much about helping, just about getting their paycheck.

What do we do with the hardened criminals?
How do you make a kid take advantage of what is available to them so they don't become a hardened criminal by the time they are in their 20s?

I will read this book 'Between The World And Me' . To Anyone Interested, here is a link.http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/17/books/review/ta-nehisi-coates-between-...

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This article is about Springfield MA , but could easily be in the Boston area. The person's penchant for using a gun is upsetting.

Maybe if he gets another chance, he will change his ways, or actually murder his intended target, or an innocent passerby/bystander, that could be a child, even someone you may know.

In 2010, the reputed gang member was arraigned on attempted murder charges for allegedly shooting two people on Liberty Street.
On Friday,1/8/16, he was arraigned again, on the same charges, after allegedly shooting two different people on Liberty Street.

McNair, 25, of Springfield, pleaded not guilty to six firearms and assault charges during his arraignment in Springfield District Court.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/01/springfield_man_held_on_1...

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