Bail Controversy Re-Ignited in Wake of Murder of Milwaukee City Inspector

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There's a time and a place to discuss certain things at certain times.

There can be no doubt that very soon the debate over bail amounts, especially for repeat offenders, will once again ignite at Milwaukee City Hall after the fatal shooting of Department of Neighborhood Services inspector Greg  Zyskiewicz.

On Monday, three of the five who were arrested were formally charged with murder.

Deshaun Scott, Qhualun Shaw and Eric Smiley were charged with the crime spree.

Among the charges, Deshaun Scott was charged with first degree reckless and homicide. Shaw and Smiley were charged with felony murder.

Smiley, 21, was out on no more than $1,000 bail for a pending case involving weapons violations, theft and resisting.

" I wish would legislate common sense for our bail commissioners. But, so far that statue hasn't passed," says Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn. "I think there's a time and a place for examining the status of the prior arrests and how the rest of the system's previous work. Right I think it's really important that we focus on this case and on the fact that we still have a family grieving and hopefully provide some measure of justice."

Here are the arrest histories of all five suspects as detailed by the Chief.

Suspects from first stolen car:

16 year old-arrested for car theft, turned over to children's center, has  has previous arrests armed robbery in 2016 and car theft in February, 2017.

17 year old arrested for inspector's homicide and robbery has previous arrests for robbery and assault and battery dating back to 2012.

Suspects from second stolen car:

17 year old-arrested for inspector homicide and robbery, has arrest for possession of dangerous weapon and car theft in 2016.

19 year old arrested for cart theft. Arrested for obstructing and car theft in 2013 and  open warrant for resisting and obstructing.

21 year old charged with inspector homicide and robbery, has previous arrests for weapons violations and car theft in 2011 and was out on bail for two open cases of possession of firearm and concealed carry, plus bail jumping, car theft and resisting an officer.

CBS 58 News began documenting the debate over bail and sentencing several months ago.

Since Judges are limited in speaking publicly about cases that appear before them, we can only go on their statements from the bench.

To hear from Judge Conen on low bail amounts click here or click here

To hear from Judge Rosa of gun court click here

To review our most recent interview with Chief Flynn on the issue click here

The Public Safety Committee will be meeting April 7th.

Chairman Bob Donovan said in the immediate aftermath of the killing, that he plans to bring up the issue of city worker safety. 

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