Riddhi Patel, the Bakersfield social justice advocate who threatened to murder members of the Bakersfield City Council last week, had her bail reduced to $500,000 on Tuesday.
Her bail had initially been set at $1 million on 10 counts of threatening with intent to terrorize and eight counts of threatening state officials.
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Driving the news: Patel appeared in court on Tuesday for a hearing on her bail.
- Her attorney, Public Defender Jacob Evans, argued that the bail should be reduced.
- Prosecutor Ken Russell argued for no bail since Patel poses an “extreme threat” to public safety.
The big picture: Judge David Wolf called Patel’s comments “disappointing and disturbing,” but said he feels that they were made in the heat of the moment during the council meeting on April 10.
- Wolf reduced her bail to $500,000 and acknowledged that she does not have a criminal history and does not appear to own any firearms.
- If Patel posts bail and is released from jail, she will turn in her passport, be placed on GPS monitoring and will not be allowed to leave California.
- Patel will return to court on April 24 for a pre-preliminary hearing.
The backstory: Last week Patel urged the Bakersfield City Council to pass a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war but did not find support on the dais.
- “I hope one day somebody brings the guillotine and kills all of you motherf___ers,” Patel said.
- She later addressed the council on a proposal to increase security measures at city buildings, such as installing metal detectors.
- “Regardless of whether you elect people into office, they’ll backstab you,” Patel said. “They’ll let you die. And for that reason – you guys want to criminalize us with metal detectors, we’ll see you at your house. We’ll murder you.”
- Following her arrest, Patel’s employer, the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment announced that it fired her.
