Syracuse, NY — Syracuse’s top two law enforcement officials on Thursday expressed concern that a 23-year-old woman facing four different felonies was free from jail at the time she’s accused of murdering a 93-year-old woman at Skyline Apartments.
Victoria Afet, 23, was released on a robbery charge by City Court Judge Felicia Pitts Davis a week before Connie Tuori’s death in late February, Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard revealed Thursday morning.
At a noon news conference, Syracuse Police Chief Kenton Buckner was careful to not blame anybody in particular for Afet’s release from jail, but noted that people charged with violent crimes aren’t supposed to be roaming the streets.
“That’s what jails were built for,” the chief said in announcing Afet’s murder arrest.
Victoria Afet, 23, of Syracuse, is pictured in this undated selfie.Provided
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick noted that rules prohibited him from criticizing a judge. And he did not name Pitts Davis during his remarks.
But the DA pointed out that prosecutors had asked Afet to be held in jail on $50,000 bail a week before Tuori’s death. The judge decided to release her with no bail.
That’s a big difference of opinion, Fitzpatrick noted.
“One of us was seriously wrong,” the DA said. “I think we now know who was wrong.”
While bail reform was discussed by both the DA and police chief, Fitzpatrick made it clear that the judge had the power in this case under bail reform to keep Afet locked up before Tuori’s murder.
Under bail reform, a judge can keep someone locked up if that person has a pending charge at the time of a new arrest, so long as both the new and old charges each involve harm to people.
Afet was facing a robbery charge in mid February, accused of biting a 74-year-old woman at Skyline Apartments and stealing $38. She was already facing accusations in 2020 that included: slamming someone’s head against a tree, threatening someone’s life while flashing a serrated knife and injuring someone with a knife outside a store.
In this case, bail reform wasn’t the problem, the DA concluded: The same judge would likely have made the same judgment call even before bail reform.
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Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070.