‘Woke’ Judge Defends Releasing Suspect Days before She Murdered 3-Year-Old Child

A “woke” Ohio judge has come under fire after he released a suspect back onto the streets just three days before she murdered a 3-year-old child.

After the courts raised concerns about Bionca Ellis’s mental state, Rocky River Municipal Judge Brian Hagan chose to release her.

The judge argues that locking up Ellis would have violated her rights.

Three days later, she stabbed a toddler to death.

On June 2, 32-year-old Ellis allegedly stole a knife from a Volunteers of America Thrift Store.

She then headed to a Giant Eagle grocery store in North Olmsted, Ohio, about 15 miles west of Cleveland.

In the store, she came across 38-year-old Margot Wood and her 3-year-old son, Julian.

Ellis followed the mother and son throughout the store.

Surveillance footage shows she even tailed them into the parking lot.

Once outside, she launched an unprovoked attack against the toddler and his mom.

She stabbed young Julian in the face and back with the stolen knife as he sat helpless in the shopping cart.

Footage shows she also stabbed Margot as she attempted to move her child to safety.

Julian later died from his injuries.

Margot was wounded but is expected to survive.

Interestingly, police didn’t label the murder as a “hate crime,” instead insisting that the attack was “random.”

At a court hearing on Monday, Ellis smirked and laughed as she heard the horrific charges against her.

Julian’s father and Margot’s husband, Jared Wood, pleaded with the court:

“Do everything you can to keep this monster behind bars.”

However, it emerged that the justice system in Ohio failed to keep Ellis in custody when it had the chance.

Just a few days before the deadly assault, Ellis appeared in court for a hearing for a probation violation in connection with a robbery at Walmart last year.

Magistrate Gregory Sponseller of the Rocky River Municipal Court had already ordered Ellis to receive a psychiatric evaluation.

Sponseller said she seemed to have difficulty comprehending what he was saying.

He even suspected that Ellis had fallen asleep while he was talking to her.

“I’m not sure she fully understands the simple requirements the court has imposed on her,” Sponseller told the court.

Unfortunately, no mental health professional was available.

Judge Hagan then determined at the time that to keep Ellis in custody on a minor alleged parole violation would have violated her rights.

So he authorized her release.

Three days later, little Julian was dead.

However, Judge Hagan has defended that decision and insists he has no regrets.

“I’m confident in the way this court handled the matter,” Hagan told WJW.

“We did it by the letter of the law.

“There was nothing there to send up the alarm.”

“There wasn’t any red flags shooting up that pole.

“There wasn’t any indications here.”

An investigation into Ellis’s recent history with law enforcement actually reveals several “red flags” and “indications.”

It is unclear whether Judge Hagan Ellis’s recent history, however.

Back in January, Ellis was arrested in Bakersfield, California, for multiple counts of battery after she allegedly assaulted three people.

A few weeks later, she was back in Ohio, telling Cleveland police that she had murdered someone in California.

She allegedly told police officers that planned to kill again.

Bakersfield officers could not find any open murder cases that matched the details Ellis described.

As a result, cops in Cleveland took her to a mental health facility.

Then in March, police in Kissimmee, Florida, arrested Ellis for trespassing after she supposedly rented a hotel room without the means to pay for it.

She then spent the next few weeks in a Florida jail.

Ellis is now behind bars again, this time at Cuyahoga County Jail on a $5 million bond.

She pled not guilty to 10 new counts, including two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Prosecutors have already stated they intend to seek the death penalty.

Ellis’s mother, Yolanda Eggleton, believes the system failed the Wood family as well as her daughter.

“I think she was hallucinating,” Eggleton said.

“Bionca has been on several medications that did not work out for her.

“The hallucinations and the voices just got the best of her.”

“My condolences to this family,” she continued.

“When I found out, I was devastated. I’m devastated.

“No child should ever have to lose their life.”

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