BUFFALO, N.Y. — Twenty-four-year-old Shane Casado of Buffalo is now free on bail, but there's a chance authorities could try to take him back into custody before this weekend.
Casado has a bail revocation hearing set for Friday because it recently came to light that he may have lied about having a job.
Casado's lawyer told the court in last week's bail hearing that he wasn't a flight risk because of two things:
- He has family in the area.
- He had been rehired to work at Community Services for Every1.
2 On Your Side called the agency on Tuesday and found out that the latter is not true.
District Attorney John Flynn confirmed this, saying, "We have learned that he has not gone back to work. He is not gainfully employed. And that, in my opinion, makes him a flight risk."
Casado faces a second-degree murder charge. He's accused of shooting and killing 22-year-old Rachel Wierzbicki outside a home on Edson Street in November.
Despite facing up to life in prison if convicted, Judge John Michalski granted Casado bail set at $175,000 cash or bond.
Flynn says that prosecutors were skeptical of Casado's job status, even at the bail hearing: "My ADA told the judge, 'Judge that's speculative. We have no proof that he's going back to work or that he has a job yet.' "
2 On Your Side asked Flynn what the likelihood is that Casado will be brought back into custody to await his trial in jail.
"That's up to the judge. That's not my role at all. I stay in my lane," he said. "A judge put bail on him. He made bail. He paid what he was supposed to pay for the bail. That's the way the system works. He is legally doing what he's entitled to do. Now it's my job hopefully to reverse that, and that's what I'll try to do."
We reached out again to former Supreme Court Justice, Penny Wolfgang, for her take on the latest developments.
"It's probably never going to happen again in the history of these cases, because as I said ... it was an isolated incident," Wolfgang said. "It was very unique, and I had never heard of, in my career, a person being released on bail who was charged with a homicide."
2 On Your Side also reached out to Shane Casado's lawyer, Herb Greenman, senior partner with Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria. We're still waiting from a response from the defense team.