The father of a teen killed during a Halloween confrontation with Straight Edge gang members is outraged that one of his son's alleged attackers has been released on bail.
"I feel as if I've been slapped on the face again," said Bernardo Repreza Sr., father of the slain Bernardo Repreza Jr., 15."Lowering the bail (for a murder suspect) is the most stupid thing I've seen a judge do. I am outraged, because my son was not just a dog that they killed. . . . That kind of people should not be free."
Colin C. Reesor, 18, charged with murder, a first-degree felony, was released from the Salt Lake County Jail Saturday on a $50,000 bond. Third District Judge William Barrett agreed to reduce the bail during a court hearing Friday after defense attorney Brad Rich argued that Reesor is not a danger to the community.
Reesor's family put up their home as a $100,000 property bond, twice the amount required, to "guarantee that he will in fact stay out of trouble and will appear in court," Rich said.
In December, Judge Sandra Peuler refused to lower Reesor's bail, set at $500,000, amid rumors that there had been threats from both the victim's and defendants' sides. Peuler pointed to the "extremely violent and senseless" slaying and said she was more concerned about preserving the safety of the community.
"The real problem was that there were such strong feelings in the community that everybody was concerned that there'd be some danger there," Rich said. "At this stage, (Barrett) was convinced that everybody had calmed down a little bit and . . . it was possible now to get him released while protecting the safety of everybody."
Bernardo Repreza Sr. does not believe the community is safe with Reesor out on bail.
"To begin with, my son had many friends who have wanted to avenge him," he told the Deseret News in his native Spanish. "That judge is not looking at the safety of the state but only at the safety of one person.
"If anything happens to anyone in (Reesor's) family, we take no responsibility for that," he said.
"I don't know that there is anybody out there actively believing that they've got to take the law into their own hands," Rich said. "My concern was, if (Reesor) is out wandering around, he might stumble into somebody who may do something stupid. But if he's home minding his own business, I don't think anybody is going to seek him out."
As a condition of his release, Barrett ordered Reesor to remain under home confinement, allowing him to leave his parents' house only for work or school. He also is forbidden from having any contact with any witnesses, gang members or his two co-defendants, Andrew D. Moench, 18, and Sean Parley Darger, 17.
Reesor, Moench and Darger were among a group of some 30 Straight Edgers the night Bernardo Repreza Jr. was killed near 150 E. 100 South. Straight Edgers are mostly white, middle-class teens who profess to shun, among other things, drugs, alcohol and premarital sex, according to court testimony.
The melee that led to the slaying may have started after somebody yelled a racial epithet to one of Repreza's friends, according to court testimony. Prosecutors say that during the fight, Darger hit Repreza with a spring-loaded baton, Moench struck him repeatedly with a bat, and Reesor stabbed him in the abdomen with a 4-inch knife.
The trio are scheduled for a five-day trial beginning July 6. A bail hearing for Moench is scheduled for Tuesday. Darger's bail was reduced last year after he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and he was released from jail.