MILWAUKEE — Eighteen-year-old Dionta'e Hayes made his first appearance in court virtually on Wednesday.
Hayes is one of three charged in the shooting of an off-duty police officer during an attempted robbery in the Third Ward last week.
Hayes was charged with:
- Drive or Operate Vehicle w/o Consent
- Attempt Take and Drive Vehicle w/o Consent
- Harboring/Aiding a Felon (A/B/C/D or unclassified felony/life)
- Bail Jumping-Felony
- Resisting or Obstructing an Officer
- Bail Jumping-Felony
The only time Hayes spoke was towards the end of the hearing. He asked the judge what will happen to him. The judge read back the court order to him.
The state asked the court for a cash bail amount of $500,000, stating a separate outstanding case in which he's charged with two felonies, including injuring an officer, which are similar to these charges.
"Given (that) those charges are very similar, and they deal with not following orders of an officer and the tremendous amount of potential incarceration time, in this case a significant amount of cash bail is warranted," said Assistant District Attorney Adam Best.
Hayes' attorney asked the court to put him on house arrest.
"Based on this, I don't think there's enough here to support a half-million in cash bail and would ask you consider substantially lower," said Attorney Colleen Taylor.
Ultimately, Milwaukee County Court Commissioner Grace Flynn found Hayes to be a bail risk.
"I am going to order $100,000 cash bail," Flynn said. "I think that's appropriate to assure your appearance in court."
As we've previously reported, Hayes was charged back in October for a separate crime. A public safety assessment at the time considered Hayes a low risk of missing his court date or committing new crimes while released.
He was given a $500 signature bond, meaning he didn't have to pay the money up front.
Those public safety assessments are meant to be a tool in the process of establishing bail.
According to court documents, two of the three suspects in the case were out on less than $1,000 bond for separate crimes at the time of the shooting.
Hayes' co-defendant, Keasean Ellis-Brown was also out on bail at the time of the shooting.
According to court records, police attempted to stop a car Ellis-Brown was driving, but he took off. After crashing the car, police say Ellis-Brown ran from officers with a gun in his hand. They say the car was later determined to be stolen.
Ellis-Brown was also deemed a low-risk, according to the public safety assessment and was given a $1,000 cash bond, which he paid.
Ellis-Brown is now accused of being the one who shot the off-duty Milwaukee Police Detective after police say he tried stealing a car. Although he has been charged, he is not in police custody.
Police say if anyone has any information about Ellis-Brown's locations to call crime stoppers at (414)224-TIPS or contact MPD.
The third suspect in the Shake Shack incident is in police custody, but he has not gone before a judge yet.
