That record over two days prompted the Defender Association
to inform the courts Tuesday evening that it intended to withdraw all cases
before Coyle, saying it no longer believed
it was in its clients’ best interest to argue their cases in front of her.
In an email sent to the leadership of the First Judicial
District and obtained by The Inquirer, Chief Defender Keir Bradford-Grey wrote
that as Coyle increased some detainees’ bail during hearings ostensibly
designed to expedite their possible release, the judge told attorneys in her
virtual courtroom “that they should be careful what [they] wish for."
“We are compelled reach the unfortunate conclusion that
Judge Coyle does not share the understanding reached by all of the stakeholders
involved in this extraordinary circumstance," Bradford-Grey wrote.
This is the latest sign of discord among the city’s
judiciary, defense lawyers, and the District Attorney’s Office, who have publicly bickered for weeks about how to best to
respond to a virus that is spreading behind bars five times faster than the
rest of the city.
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The decision also created some uncertainty in a process
that, through Tuesday, had led to roughly 380 inmates securing an early release
during five days of emergency hearings that began last week.
The judges have agreed to review the cases of scores of
potentially releasable inmates from lists compiled by the District Attorney’s
Office and the Defender Association in an effort to reduce the population of
the county’s jails, which public health advocates have been warning for weeks
could turn into a breeding ground for transmission of the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, city officials announced the first inmate death
related to the coronavirus in the jails and said 54 more were infected with the
disease.
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