A person accused of attacking New York GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin throughout a current marketing campaign rally advised investigators he’d been consuming that day and didn’t know who the congressman was, authorities stated as the person was arrested on a federal assault cost Saturday.
David Jakubonis, 43, made an preliminary court docket look Saturday earlier than a federal Justice of the Peace decide on a single depend of assaulting a member of Congress with a harmful weapon. The cost carries a possible most penalty of 10 years in jail.
He was ordered held till a bail listening to in federal court docket Wednesday. Prosecutors stated he ought to stay detained as a danger of flight and harmful, in response to a court docket submitting.
Jakubonis was arraigned Friday on a separate state cost of tried assault within the second diploma and was launched by a neighborhood decide. That prompted criticism from Zeldin and different Republicans who held it up for instance of the necessity to reform New York’s bail legal guidelines, one thing Zeldin has known as on Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to toughen.
A 2019 bail reform regulation in New York eradicated pretrial incarceration for individuals accused of most nonviolent offenses. The regulation offers judges the choice to set bail in almost all circumstances involving violent felonies, but it surely has exceptions for sure tried felonies like tried assault.
The federal legal criticism filed Saturday alleged Jakubonis, an Iraq War veteran, advised investigators he was consuming whiskey on Thursday earlier than he went onstage as Zeldin addressed a Veterans of Foreign Wars publish within the city of Perinton to ask the speaker if he was disrespecting veterans.
Jakubonis “did not know who the speaker was or that the speaker was a political person,” in response to the criticism, which was filed in Rochester federal court docket. The criticism added that when Jakubonis watched video of Thursday night’s incident he advised investigators he “must have checked out” and that what was depicted within the video was disgusting.
According to video of the assault, Jakubonis raised his arm towards Zeldin as he held a keychain with two sharp factors. The congressman from Long Island then grabbed Jakubonis’ wrist and the 2 tussled to the bottom as others jumped in to assist. Zeldin, who additionally served within the navy, suffered a minor scrape.
A message was left Saturday with the assistant federal public defender representing him.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”