{UAH} A BLACK FEMALE CRIMINAL RELEASED BY A DEMOCRAT JUDGE MUDERS A 93 YEAR OLD WHITE WOMAN

Skyline murder suspect was accused of attacking other woman, 74, in same building and freed a day later

Updated Mar 25, 2021; Posted Mar 25, 2021

Firefighters prepare to leave the Skyline building at 753 James St. on Feb. 25. Police have been called to the building at least 527 times since Sept. 1, including the homicide of an elderly woman discovered Wednesday.

By Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com and Samantha House | shouse@syracuse.com

Syracuse, NY — A woman being investigated in the recent murder of a 93-year-old woman at Skyline Apartments was charged in mid-February with attacking another elderly woman in the same building, but a judge released her, Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard has learned.

Victoria Afet, 23, remains under suspicion Thursday in the slaying of Connie Tuori. A homicide lawyer had been assigned to defend her, indicating charges are likely. (Update: Police announced midday that Afet was charged in the murder.)

Afet has a history with law enforcement that includes charges that she robbed and bit another elderly woman at Skyline on Feb. 18. She was released by a judge the next day.

That raises the question: Did Afet murder Tuori after being released from jail with no bail on the earlier robbery charge?

Tuori’s body was found last week, but Afet couldn’t have killed her anytime this month: She’s been jailed on unrelated charges since Feb. 28, records show.

Authorities, however, are investigating whether Tuori was killed weeks before she was found in her apartment when police were called to check on her.

Afet’s last short stint of freedom, from Feb. 19 to 28, came after Syracuse City Court Judge Felicia Pitts Davis released her from jail without bail on charges from the earlier Skyline attack.

In that case, Afet was charged with a crime that can’t typically result in jail under the state’s recent bail reform laws.

The reform law, however, does have a legal exemption that would have allowed the judge to set bail and hold her in jail. The judge chose not to use that exemption, although the prosecution advocated for it at the bail hearing.

Police and prosecutors have declined comment on Afet’s case, citing the ongoing investigation. Judges are not allowed to talk about pending cases.

But the circumstances of Afet’s release from jail around the time of Tuori’s murder are revealed through public records, sheriff’s office jail records and interviews with lawyers involved in the case who spoke to Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.

By the time she faced the judge Feb. 19, Afet already had four ongoing felony cases, a short, failed stint on probation and a misdemeanor larceny conviction, public records show.

She’d been jailed seven separate times in the past three years and had gotten released or bailed out each time, according to records provided by Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Jon Seeber.

The February robbery and biting incident at Skyline was not considered a bail eligible charge -- something a judge could set bail and jail a person on -- under the state’s recent bail reform law: third-degree robbery, described as the forcible stealing of property, is not classified as a violent crime. The biting itself was minor enough it wasn’t even considered a crime.

However, the bail reform law allows a judge to make an exception to the rule: a defendant can be sent to jail if charged with a new offense during a pending case, if both the new and old cases involve identifiable harm to other people.

In this case, Afet had been accused of robbing a 74-year-old woman at Skyline, stealing $38 and biting her hand, police said in a felony complaint filed in Syracuse City Court. And she had prior ongoing allegations that included, in separate cases from 2020: slamming a woman’s head against a tree, flashing a serrated knife while threatening someone’s life and injuring someone with a knife outside a store.

Given that, prosecutors asked City Court Judge Felicia Pitts Davis to keep Afet held on $50,000 bail on the Skyline robbery case, records show. They argued that Afet’s prior charges fit the bill for the exemption to the bail law.

But the judge opted instead to release Afet on pretrial release. That’s akin to probation, aimed at people awaiting their day in court.

It’s unclear how much of Afet’s other criminal cases Pitts Davis considered at the time; judges aren’t allowed to comment publicly about pending cases. Also, prosecutors had agreed to reduce charges to misdemeanors in all but one of those older cases.

Still, the record shows that Pitts Davis considered and rejected an argument from prosecutors to keep Afet jailed on the bail-reform exemption that involves harm to people.

After Afet’s release on Feb. 19, she continued getting in trouble, records show.

On Feb. 26, state troopers arrested Afet and charged her with driving a 2005 Honda Civic that had been reported stolen in DeWitt, said Trooper Jack Keller, a state police spokesman.

She was ticketed and released in that case without going before a judge, records show.

Two days later, state police found Afet in another stolen car in the Baldwinsville area, Keller said. This time, she was driving a car that had been reported stolen in Syracuse. She was also carrying methamphetamine and hash oil, the trooper said.

That time, Afet was arraigned before a judge. Since Pitts Davis had placed Afet on pretrial release earlier in February, that was another factor that could be considered in sending her to jail.

This time, Clay Town Justice Jeffrey Schiano ordered Afet jailed with no bail, records show. Afet has been in custody ever since.

Not counting the homicide probe, Afet has a total of seven pending cases and one conviction, records show:

April 10, 2020: Accused of stealing a Chevrolet SUV from outside a North Side store. She was seen getting into vehicle with a bandaged, bloody hand injury, according to court records. When the vehicle was later recovered, blood inside was matched to Afet, police said. (Afet wasn’t arrested until Oct. 22, 2020, after DNA blood analysis completed.)

June 16, 2020: Accused of stealing from the Butternut Street Rite Aid, then flashing a serrated knife at a civilian who tried to stop her; also accused of threatening to kill the civilian. Sent to jail with unknown bail, remained there for a month. That case is still pending in City Court after prosecutors consented to pursuing misdemeanors, not felonies.

July 16, 2020: Pleaded guilty to misdemeanor petit larceny from May, which also closed or reduced several other pending cases. Sentenced to three years on probation, freed from jail for the first time since June 16.

Aug. 16, 2020: Accused of injuring someone with a knife outside a North Side store. That case has been indicted as an assault and is pending in felony court. She faces up to 7 years in prison, if convicted. (Afet wasn’t arrested in this case until Oct. 1, 2020.)

Aug. 22, 2020: Accused of slamming another woman’s head into a tree on Highland Street. That case is also pending in City Court after prosecutors consented to pursuing a misdemeanor.

Aug. 23, 2020: Sent to jail in head-slamming case, with bail set at $2,500 cash or $5,000 bond. Bail is increased as older cases linked to Afet: additional $20,000 bail in head-slamming incident from June; additional $1,000 bail in SUV theft case from April. Remains jailed for nearly next five months.

Sept. 4, 2020: Accused of violating probation from her sentence in the earlier petit larceny conviction. Specific allegations are unknown, though new arrests are considered probation violations.

Jan. 13: Officially taken off probation, resentenced to nine months in jail. Because she’d already spent six months behind bars since her crime back in June 2020, she’s released from jail Jan. 29. (Under jail rules, an inmate only serves 2/3 of a sentence, assuming there’s no problems in custody.)

Feb. 18: Does not show up for felony court for 10:15 a.m. arraignment on indicted assault charge stemming from 2020 knife incident outside store. Around 4:30 p.m. the same day, accused of robbing and biting the 74-year-old woman at Skyline Apartments. Released from jail the following day, after arraignment, on pretrial release. A grand jury is now hearing the Skyline robbery case.

Feb. 26: Accused in DeWitt stolen car case. Ticketed by police and released.

Feb. 28: Accused of driving another stolen car in Baldwinsville. Also charged with drug possession. At arraignment, sent to jail with no bail, based on her prior pretrial release provisions.

March 17: Connie Tuori, 93, found dead by police in her 12th floor apartment at Skyline, 753 James St. Police were checking on her condition after she missed an appointment. Her death ruled a homicide.

March 23: Defense lawyer Susan Carey confirms to Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that she is meeting with Afet in jail that afternoon regarding the Skyline Apartments homicide. Authorities decline comment.

Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070.

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