NEW ORLEANS — Tuesday morning Judge Angel Harris revoked Bryan Andry’s bail. This hearing was for two armed carjackings he’s accused of committing last year, prior to allegedly stabbing Portia Pollock to death.
Harris is the same judge who reduced Andry’s bail on the robbery charges from $250,000 to $100,000, which allowed him to be let out on bail with an ankle monitor.
According to Rafael Goyeneche, President of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, Harris’s decision led to the death of an innocent victim.
“Not only should his bail not have been released, but the conditions that she imposed…. apparently she didn’t even verify that he was complying with the conditions of release,” said Goyeneche.
Judge Harris had three Zoom conferences with Andry after he was released in March.
“There’s no reference in those minute entries as to whether the judge confirmed that he in fact had a monitor,” said Goyeneche.
It’s still unclear if Andry was wearing the monitor or if it was working during the time of Pollock’s murder. Now, city leaders are planning a criminal justice committee meeting to discuss what went wrong.
“The system itself needs to be looked at what is the mechanism to determining who gets to go on electronic monitoring. Once they’re on electronic monitoring, who monitors that, who’s responsible if somebody comes off? There are many, many, many questions relative to this process that have to be answered,” said New Orleans City Councilman Jay H. Banks.
The city is looking for answers as to why an innocent woman, Portia Pollock, is now dead.
“This is something the judge will have to live with. The death of this woman should of never occurred,” said Goyeneche.
We reached out to a spokesman for Judge Harris as well as the bail bond company in the Andry case and have not heard back.
Andry has a lengthy criminal history, dating back to the 1990s. His court date for Pollock’s murder will be in July.