PONTIAC, Mich. (WXYZ) — The wife of slain Oakland County Sheriff’s Deputy Bradley Reckling spoke out on Friday about bail reform laws.
“Had some of these decisions been different, had his bond not been reduced, maybe Brad would have been here, and I would still have my husband, and my children would still have their dad,” said Jacqueline Reckling, widow of Bradley Reckling.
VIDEO: Acqueline Reckling speaks after news conference
Jacqueline Reckling is talking about the 18-year-old man accused of shooting and killing her husband.
VIDEO: Who are the suspects in the murder of Bradley Reckling
Deputy Bradley Reckling was gunned down back in June as he was following a stolen vehicle with three suspects inside of it.
One of those suspects got out of the vehicle and opened fire.
“Holidays are coming up, which are really tough; it’s a time of joy and celebrating family, and instead, we just have a really big hole in ours,” said Jacqueline Reckling.
According to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, at the time of Reckling’s murder, two of the three suspects were out on bond for other alleged crimes. Those crimes included armed robbery and carrying a concealed weapon.
“If you committed a violent crime… you need to be behind bars for the public’s safety and for the victims of your previous crimes,” said Bouchard.
Currently, state lawmakers are discussing bills that would require judges to take a defendant’s ability to pay into consideration when setting cash bail.
“We need to be very careful about incarcerating someone before the sentence is handed down,” said State Representative Luke Meerman.
Meerman is one of the lawmakers sponsoring the bail reform bills.
He says the laws would prevent putting suspects in non-violent crimes who can’t afford high bond in jail.
“Bail should be there in order to keep people out of our communities who are a danger to our community… and if there not a danger to our community, then we don’t need to use bail in that case,” said Meerman.
The ACLU of Michigan sent 7 News Detroit this statement when it comes to bail reform laws in the state.
Cash bail is about forcing people to pay money to purchase their freedom when they have been charged with a crime, but remain presumed innocent until proven guilty. For decades, Michigan courts have abused cash bail and locked up countless poor people, simply because they cannot afford to pay, as they await trial for minor offenses like driving without a license or disorderly conduct.
Bail reform in Detroit has proven the point: in Detroit, bail is no longer used to lock people up just because they are poor and during the time since reform began, violent crime in Detroit has plummeted.
One ACLU client locked up behind a $200 cash bail for sleeping in a park after dark missed a CPS hearing and wound up losing custody of his children. This type of thing destroys the fabric of our community, wrecks the economic lives of low-income families, and causes recidivism. The bills pending before the legislature will make Michiganders more safe, not less, by eliminating such abuses, while still preserving judicial discretion to require cash bond in cases where there is evidence that a person charged with a crime presents a flight risk or a danger to the public. Scaremongering by those who oppose these commonsense reforms does not change these facts.
Meanwhile, Jacqueline Reckling says while lawmakers are considering changes to bail laws, more needs to be done to keep violent offenders behind bars.
“I think it’s really important to bring awareness to the fact that the decisions that these judges are making, they impact life and death,” Reckling said.
