Aitabdel Salem was acquitted of bail jumping at a Manhattan Supreme Court trial a little over a week ago. He was in jail on $25,000 bail for allegedly attacking an NYPD cop during a shoplifting arrest back in November of 2014.
Although Salem didn’t know it for more than four months, he caught a lucky break when prosecutors could not get an indictment. He was ordered released on Nov. 28, 2014 on the police assault arrest.
But he still had dollar bails set on each of two minor offenses — that included tampering and mischief charges — so he could not have been freed without first paying the tiny amount.
Salem blames his previous attorney for not informing him of his easily obtainable freedom. This news came as part of Salem’s new defense team’s argument that his recent “bail jumping” charge is the result of Salem’s ignorance of his pending (and missed) court date.
“You can’t do what you don’t know and if you’re a defendant in a criminal case you certainly have a right to rely upon the system what your next court date is,” Goldbergh argued in his summation.
Salem may be cleared of this charge but his bail, in connection to the 2014 shoplifting case, has been raised to $30,000 and he remains in jail awaiting the results of those charges.