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Public commenter criticizes cashless pretrial release after daughter's killing
Summary
An unnamed public commenter told the meeting that Martin Rodriguez, arrested in February on a third felony weapons charge and released on a cashless PR bond, killed her 20-year-old daughter Naomi two weeks later; she called the death “completely preventable” and urged stricter pretrial measures.
An unidentified public commenter told the meeting that Martin Rodriguez was arrested in February on a third felony weapons charge and, despite prior convictions for drug dealing and vehicle theft, was released after two weeks on a cashless PR bond (released on his own recognizance). Two weeks after his release, the commenter said, Rodriguez "put a pillow against my 20 year old daughter, Naomi, and, he shot her in the head and killed her and then shot himself in the stomach before being arrested."
The commenter described the killing as "a completely preventable death and tragedy" and argued that if Rodriguez had been required to post a monetary bond he would not have been able to afford it and therefore would have remained in custody. "Keeping him in jail until, being sentenced for his crime would have kept my daughter alive," the commenter said. The transcript does not specify any bond amount or further procedural details about the arrest or release.
The speaker framed the remarks as support for the change under discussion at the meeting, calling it "a positive move in the right direction to prevent these types of crimes from happening again from repeat offenders." No formal motion, vote, or staff direction concerning this specific case or a change in pretrial policy was recorded in the transcript provided.
