A Murder Case

According to a witness, 19 year old Joseph Tylutki – the defendant – was bickering over money with his friend, Vincent Bohlman, also 19, when Tylutki shot Bohlman thrice in the chest and killed him.  Bohlman was not carrying a weapon, also according to the witness.

Apparently Tylutki had placed a knife in Bohlman’s hand after killing him in order to lie to the court of law later on that Bohlman had tried to kill him first (“Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death”).

The plaintiff in the case is Bohlman’s mother.  When Michael Bloom, the Defense Attorney, argued that Tylutki is neither “a danger to the public” nor a “flight risk,” Barbara Sattler, the Pima County Superior Court Judge lowered his bail from $750,000 to $25,000 (“Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death”).

The plaintiff had already pleaded with the Judge not to lower Tylutki’s bail.  Dan Nicolini, the Deputy Pima County Attorney had similarly argued against a reduction in the defendant’s bail amount, stating that Tylutki may very well be a “flight risk (“Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death”).”

However, the Judge maintained her decision.  Tylutki is presently allowed to pay $25,000 to move to his parents’ home from where he would be required to “regularly report to court officials (“Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death”).”  The defendant would also have to “submit to drug testing” on a regular basis seeing that “[f]ive bags of marijuana packaged for sale” had been found in his room (“Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death”).

Opinion

Tylutki’s bail amount should not be lowered seeing that he has already murdered his friend and may very well murder others if he is able to pay $25,000 to move out of jail to his parents’ home.  As a matter of fact, the defendant should not have the option of being set free by paying any bail amount.

Clearly, a person with the ability to murder his or her friend must be identified as “a danger to the public” given that he or she cannot be expected to respect the rights of others either (“Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death”).

Bloom cannot prove that Tylutki would not murder another individual if he is set free.  Furthermore, even if the defendant is required to “regularly report to court officials” there is no evidence that he would not disappear between the scheduled dates of reporting (“Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death”).