An Adams County District Court docket choose on Tuesday declined to cut back the $5 million bail for an Aurora neighborhood activist charged with murdering a person in retaliation for his son’s dying.
Decide Jeffrey Ruff cited considerations concerning the groundswell of neighborhood help for the defendant, Lumumba Sayers Sr., 46, who’s charged with first-degree homicide and menacing within the Aug. 10 dying of 28-year-old Malcolm Watson.
The choose famous {that a} contingent of Sayers’ supporters beforehand applauded and cheered when the handcuffed man entered the courtroom and {that a} prior listening to had was a “full out-of-control circus” due to battle and feelings between the sufferer’s household and Sayers’ supporters.
“That’s the very neighborhood you might be suggesting are those who preserve him accountable and preserve him in line (if he’s launched),” Ruff informed Sayers’ protection legal professional. “That could be a concern.”
Sayers’ legal professional, Megan Downing, had argued his cash-only bail ought to be lowered from $5 million to not more than $500,000, citing his deep ties to the neighborhood and lack of prior legal historical past. She additionally stated his well being was deteriorating in jail — he’s misplaced 50 kilos since his arrest — and that he was not protected behind bars. He was attacked in jail in October and was hospitalized with severe face accidents, she stated.
Prosecutor Laura Anderson argued that Sayers would current a hazard to the neighborhood if launched and stated he confessed to taking pictures Watson in a recorded change.
“This was a deliberate homicide of an harmless particular person,” she stated.
Investigators consider Sayers killed Watson at Watson’s son’s celebration at a Commerce Metropolis park on Aug. 10. Two witnesses informed police they noticed Sayers stroll as much as Watson and shoot him a number of instances. One other witness recorded Sayers making an attempt to plant a gun below Watson’s physique after the killing, in response to a police affidavit.
Police allege the killing was retaliation for Sayers’ son’s dying. Lumumba Sayers Jr., 23, was killed in August 2023. Nobody was convicted of homicide in that case, however the suspected shooter was Watson’s pal, in response to the affidavit.
Sayers Jr. was an anti-violence advocate, and collectively along with his father operated the Heavy Palms Heavy Hearts Heart, a fitness center in Aurora that the elder Sayers stated was devoted to stopping gun violence.
Ruff additionally cited the latest passage of Modification I — which restores the power for judges to carry individuals with out bail when they’re charged with first-degree homicide — when he dominated Tuesday.
“Voters have additionally weighed in, they’re telling us they don’t need these instances on bond,” he stated. “How does that have an effect on this? We are able to have a debate about that. However…all the neighborhood — the state — is saying, ‘We don’t actually really feel protected with individuals charged with these crimes out strolling amongst us.”
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