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Woman fears for life after convicted ex-cop allowed to post bond
Posted at: 06/19/2012 5:43 PM
| Updated at: 06/19/2012 5:53 PM
By: Mark Mulholland
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BALLSTON SPA - Robert Schunk spent three days in the Saratoga County Jail.
The Halfmoon Town Judge sentenced the fired Albany cop last week to one year and fifteen days.
He was convicted at a trial in March of criminal mischief and harrasment. A jury found him guilty of kicking in the door of a bathroom where his ex-girlfriend was hiding and roughing her up.
"I fear for my life constantly. He's told me on several occasion that he will kill me," Barbara Waters told NewsChannel 13 Tuesday afternoon.
Waters says when Schunk went to jail last week, for the first since she was attacked in April of 2010, she didn't fear for her life. But her relief didn't last long.
Just three days into Schunk's sentence, Saratoga County Judge Jerry Scarano allowed the former Albany cop to post a two-thousand dollar bond and go free, until his appeal is heard.
"I don't know what judge would let somebody out like that. Putting him in jail for three days probably just made him more angry," said Waters.
The District Attorney is disappointed with the ruling, saying the judge should've considered Schunk's checkered past, including arrests for violent felonies and drunken driving. And for what he calls a pattern of stalking his victim despite orders of protection.
"This woman has moved many times, has been terrorized by this man over many years and it's been documented," said Jim Murphy. "So, I'm very frightened for her."
Schunk's attorney, Cheryl Coleman, says Waters accused Schunk to deflect attention from her own arrest for allegedly breaking into Schunk's home in Albany.
"She had made these charges in retaliation for her own arrest." Coleman maintains the Halfmoon Town Justice should've allowed her to question Waters about the arrest and says that will be one of the issues on which she plans to base the appeal.
The same judge who allowed Schunk to post bail will hear his appeal.
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