Judge Richard Carey set bail for Hernandez at $5,000 cash or $50,000 surety. If Hernandez makes bail, he will be on a GPS tracking device and must abide by a number of conditions.
SPRINGFIELD — A judge ruled Friday that Heriberto Eddie Hernandez, the Springfield man shot last week by a police officer during a confrontation in Kenefick Park, is a danger to his victims and the community.
Hampden Superior Court Judge Richard J. Carey then said he believed there were conditions under which Hernandez could be released that address the danger.
He set bail for Hernandez at $5,000 cash or $50,000 surety. If Hernandez makes bail, he will be on a GPS tracking device and must abide by a number of conditions.
Assistant District Attorney Anthony Gulluni had argued there were no conditions under which Hernandez could be released without posing a danger to the victims or community.
City police officer Roberto Matos testified at the dangerousness hearing Friday that Hernandez came at him with a knife and would not obey his commands to drop the knife and get on the ground.
Matos said Hernandez repeatedly said he was going to kill him.
Defense lawyer Daniel Bergin said police never found the knife alleged to be used. They just found the sheath of the knife in Hernandez's hand.
Gulluni said it is the prosecution's position there was a knife with a blade, but whether or not there was, Matos had reason to believe Hernandez' had a knife in this hand.
Hernandez pleaded innocent in Hampden Superior Court Friday to three charges of assault with a dangerous weapon (with Matos as victim), and a charge each of threat to commit a crime and malicious damage to a motor vehicle.
Cindy Vazquez, the mother of two children with Hernandez, testified Friday she was not afraid of Hernandez and he was not a violent person.
Hernandez is accused of breaking two of her car windows with a bat.
It was Vazquez who approached Matos, a school resource officer at Chestnut Middle School, on Aug. 28 to tell him Hernandez had smashed her car windows.
She testified she followed Matos as he tried to get Hernandez to stop, and heard Matos tell Hernandez repeatedly to drop the knife and get on the ground. She said she also kept telling Hernandez to comply.
Hernandez had denied charges in District Court and became eligible for release under a number of conditions set Tuesday by a judge on a joint recommendation by the prosecution and defense.
But Hernandez was indicted late Thursday after Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni's office presented the case to a Hampden Superior Court grand jury.
After the grand jury indictment Thursday, Bergin agreed to bring Hernandez into Hampden Superior Court this morning. Bergin and Hernandez arrived at the courthouse shortly before 9 a.m. with Hernandez using crutches.
Hernandez, 49, of Springfield, was shot in the leg by Matos.
Mastroianni said Wednesday he takes responsibility for his staff not pushing harder to revoke Hernandez's right to bail during District Court proceedings.
District Court Judge Mark Mason ruled that Hernandez could be released on a $5,000 personal surety, providing he was fitted with a GPS monitoring device, stayed away from both the Chestnut Accelerated Middle School and Brightwood School as well as two other Springfield addresses, and had no contact with Matos.
The judge signed off on what Mastroianni said Wednesday was an agreement made between the prosecuting and defense attorneys before the dangerousness hearing.
That agreement, Mastroianni said, should not have happened. He said it was "a failure within my office" to recognize the serious nature of the charges against Hernandez and the potential impact of his release on the community.
The Hampden Superior Court indictment allowed the prosecution to have a dangerousness hearing there where Gulluni argued Hernandez should be held without right to bail for the 90 days allowed by law.
Police did find a small folding knife in Hernandez's pocket when Matos got Hernandez to the ground.
Matos said hundreds of children were coming out of the school when Marquez approached him and pointed out Hernandez, telling Matos about Hernandez smashing the car windows.
Matos said Hernandez was telling him to "get the f... away" and pulled something up from his waistband. Matos said he saw a blade.
He said Hernandez ran and then reached into his waistband and pulled out a long knife with a sheath on it.
Gulluni asked Matos if he is fearful now. "A little bit," Matos said.
Carey adopted the conditions of release set by Mason, but added the $5,000 cash bail.
Vazquez testified Hernandez was angry at her because she was "talking to someone" on Facebook. She said he had been depressed and suicidal but said he did not have the courage to kill himself.