“Justice reform” let a violent rapist and murderer out of prison early

As we’ve known for quite some time, Baltimore is a city where many bad things happen. But September was a really bad month even by Charm City’s standards. Around the middle of last month, a maniac named Jason Billingsley assaulted and murdered Baltimore tech CEO Pava LePere, leaving her body on the roof of her apartment building. Only days earlier, he raped another woman and attempted to kill both her and her boyfriend in their apartment. A manhunt lasting for days finally resulted in the capture of the killer at a train station where he was apparently attempting to flee the state. I’m not even bothering to use the word “allegedly” here because Billingsley has already admitted to at least one of the crimes. But if all of that wasn’t bad enough, the situation is even more terrible because it turns out that Jason Billingsley had already been captured and convicted once before. But Maryland’s “justice reform” laws allowed him to get out of prison many years before the end of his sentence. (Fox News Baltimore)

Bond has been denied for accused murderer and rapist Jason Billingsley.

Billingsley is accused of committing several crimes, including the murder of Baltimore tech CEO Pava LePere, as well as a violent home invasion where a woman was raped and a man was assaulted.

Billingsley was arrested at a MARC train station in Bowie, Maryland after a days-long manhunt.

Billingsley appeared by video for a bond hearing held at Baltimore City District court Friday, exactly one week after investigators say LaPere was murdered.

I’ll insert a disturbing content warning, but it’s important to understand just what sort of an animal we’re dealing with here. Billingsley didn’t just assault and kill LaPere. He pretended to be in need of help getting into her apartment building and she unfortunately decided to help him out. He then proceeded to assault her and beat her to death with a brick, leaving her half-naked body on the roof to be discovered a few days later.

At the apartment of the other couple, Billingsley feigned being a maintenance worker before kicking in their door. He threatened the couple with a knife, sexually assaulted the woman, slashed both of them, doused them with what was apparently lighter fluid, and set them on fire. They somehow survived. This vicious monster has no business walking the streets among decent citizens.

Sadly, as NBC News reports, Billingsley has a rap sheet dating back well over a decade. He had already been convicted of sexual assault, armed robbery, and false imprisonment. In 2015 he was sentenced to 30 years behind bars. But thanks to something known as the diminution credit system, he was allowed to whittle a significant portion of his sentence away, leaving him able to walk free after just nine years.

Under a plea agreement, however, 16 of those years were suspended, leaving Billingsley to serve 14 years behind bars. Then in October 2022, five years ahead of his scheduled release, he walked out of prison a free man.

Billingsley was let out of prison under Maryland’s diminution credit system, a policy that allows inmates to reduce the term of their incarceration through such things as good behavior and completing educational courses. Thirty-eight states have similar programs on the books. The violent and repetitive nature of Billingsley’s crimes, however, have left many wondering why he was eligible for the credits and if he should have been released at all.

This guy already had an established history of sexually assaulting women at knifepoint. But he was somehow given credit for “good behavior” behind bars and taking a couple of remote educational courses. Baltimore prosecutors had already suspended more than half of his sentence for his prior crimes, and the prison system knocked off five more years under the state’s “justice reform” laws. (His original conviction also included holding a woman at knifepoint and forcing her to perform oral sex on him.)

And now look what’s happened. How much will it take before liberal legislators in states like Maryland have seen enough? Some people simply don’t need to be walking the streets and are too dangerous to be allowed to do so. They can’t give Billingsley the death penalty because Democrats there abolished capital punishment in 2013. But he needs to be tossed in a cell and have the key thrown away. Do you suppose that the liberals in Maryland would be insane enough to release this guy again for “good behavior?” While it saddens me to say it, I definitely wouldn’t put it past them. In the Justice Reform world, Jason Billingsley’s life is apparently more important than Pava LePere’s.