Mayor Eric Adams should demand the resignation of a Queens judge who cut an ex-con loose nearly three months before he wounded an NYPD cop in a deadly shootout, an irate city lawmaker said Thursday.
Councilman Robert Holden said in a scathing statement that Queens Criminal Court Judge Edward Daniels, who was appointed to the bench by Adams in April, dropped the ball when he released career criminal Gary Worthy without bail — despite pleas from prosecutors and a parole officer to lock him up.
Worthy, 57, allegedly tried to rob two Jamaica businesses on Tuesday before he shot and wounded a 26-year-old woman and NYPD cop Rich Wong, who returned fire and killed the ex-con.
“Mayor Adams called Judge Daniels one of the best and brightest and said public safety is a prerequisite to prosperity,” Holden (D-Queens) said in the statement.
“Yet, Daniels’ decisions have shown a stunning lack of judgement,” he railed. “Denying requests to detain someone with Worthy’s violent record does not reflect the integrity we need in our judges. Mayor Adams must act swiftly to remove the judge he appointed before more violence occurs.”
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Post reported this week that Worthy was on lifetime parole with two stints in state prison and a rap sheet with 17 arrests when he went before Daniels on Aug. 27.
Worthy’s parole officer told the judge that he had not showed up for required meetings with him in three months, and asked Daniels to hold him without bail at Rikers Island, while the Queens prosecutor requested that Worthy be held on $120,000 bail on the new felony assault and burglary charges he faced.
Instead, Daniels ordered that Worthy be released without bail.
Earlier this month, Worthy — whose prison time included a sentence for manslaughter — was arrested again on drug and resisting arrest charges and remained free.
In a statement to The Post on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the state Office of Court Administration, which oversees the judicial system, said the agency does not comment on bail matters.
New York state judges are prohibited from setting bail in most cases due to the controversial 2019 criminal justice reforms passed by Albany lawmakers. However, the felony charges Worthy faced in August — as well as his parole status and lengthy record — could have mandated bail.
Daniels is a former public defender in Queens, heading the firm’s homicide bureau.