By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Less than three months before career thief Barion Blake allegedly stabbed a Columbia University employee and stuffed him in the trunk of his own BMW, he violated the terms of his parole twice in Manhattan but stayed a free man both times, DNAinfo has learned.
Blake, 30, an ex-con who police said has a history of stealing BMWs, might have been behind bars last week — instead of allegedly carrying out a brutal attack on Columbia University contracts attorney Akeem Ajimotokan — if two judges and parole officers had ordered Blake incarcerated, according to court records.
Blake was arrested and charged with marijuana possession on Nov. 10 in Inwood, where he apparently lives with his wife, court records show. He was allowed to go free on that arrest, after his lawyer argued the pot didn't belong to him, and that Blake would lose his job as a construction worker if he got incarcerated again.
Prosecutors asked for $1,000 bail, but Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Neil Ross released Blake on his own recognizance, according to court records.
Days later, Blake was arrested on third-degree criminal trespass on Nov. 19 inside the lobby of 9 Thayer St. in Inwood, where he told police he had no right to be inside, but added, "I can't get arrested because I'm on parole," according to court records.
Blake was arraigned the next day, and was released on his own recognizanze by Manhattan Criminal Court Judge ShawnDya Simpson, despite prosecutor Shira Arnow's attempt to keep the "high risk" ex-con in on $2,000 bail, court minutes show.
A spokesman for the New York State court system defended the judges' rulings, saying bail must be based on a person's likelihood to make court dates.
"In New York State the law says bail can only be used to ensure a defendant returns to court," said David Bookstaver, spokesman for the Office of Court Administration. "It cannot be used for preventative detention or for punishment."
Blake is still on the run after he allegedly traveled to Ajimotokan's New Jersey home last week in an apparent attempt to steal his BMW. He signed a bill of sale, and then allegedly stabbed Ajimotokan and tossed him into the trunk, police said.
Police sources said Blake swapped the license plates on the car with a pair he'd taken from Queens, then drove the BMW toward his apartment in the Dyckman Houses in Inwood. He then abandoned the blue 2008 BMW — with an unconscious Ajimotokan still inside — after getting into a fender-bender with a taxi.
Ajimotokan reportedly remains in Harlem Hospital.
Blake's parole supervision was transferred from New Jersey to New York on April 12, 2010, after he spent about a decade in prisons in both states on various convictions.
Although he reports to a New York State parole officer, New Jersey has enforcement rights based on the interstate agreement, a spokesman for the New York State Division of Parole told DNAinfo.
A representative from New Jersey's parole agency did not return repeated calls from DNAinfo about Blake's parole status.
The agency's handbook, though, says a re-arrest is not an automatic violation, but parole officers must be promptly informed and a revocation hearing process could begin "before the pending criminal charges are disposed of in court."
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. recently said New York State should toughen its laws to allow judges leeway in charging repeat misdemeanor offenders, like Blake.
"I believe that we have in our city a small number of people that cause a disproportionate amount of the problems," Vance said at a recent Midtown community meeting.
