- The 49-year-old alleged arsonist who torched Fox News' Christmas tree will be back on the streets in hours because all of his charges are misdemeanors, meaning that a judge can't set bail
- Arson is only constituted as a felony in New York if the perpetrator harms or attempts to harm a person or if the act is considered a hate crime
- Tamanaha's motive is still unclear and NYPD detectives told Dailymail.com that his actions were not political
- Christmas trees can’t be given an order of protection to prevent Craig Tamanaha from trying to strike again, so security will have to stand guard to protect it
- A Fox News employee watched the homeless man climbing the tree at 12.14am on Wednesday morning
- Crime has soared in recent months with the stabbings, assaults and gun crime all soaring throughout the city
- No one was hurt in the incident at the News Corp building but it comes at a time when the city is just welcoming back international tourists for the first time since 2019
- Christmas in NYC has always been one of the busiest times for tourism but it was suddenly cut off by COVID
- Fox is rebuilding the tree and will plan a relighting ceremony for later this week, an internal memo said
The 49-year-old 'arsonist' arrested for setting fire to the Fox News 50-foot Christmas tree could be back on the street in hours because of the city’s lenient bail reforms.
Craig Tamanaha, who is described as homeless and 'emotionally disturbed', faces six misdemeanor charges for torching the tree and under the 2020 criminal justice reforms that means judges are advised to release the accused.
Arson is only constituted as a felony in New York if the perpetrator harms or attempts to harm a person or if the act is considered a hate crime.
Fox News employees called police after watching Tamanaha climb the tree at 12.14am Wednesday and set it on fire. He tried to scramble away, but was taken into custody.
"There's no question that the legislature has got to reevaluate the nooks and crannies of the bail statute because it's leading to absurd outcomes,’ Mark Bederow, a former Manhattan prosecutor turned criminal defense lawyer, told
Fox News.
In order for a judge to set bail, Tamanaha would have to have been charged with at least third-degree arson, which constitutes a hate crime.
"You'd have to intentionally damage a building or vehicle by starting a fire or explosion as a hate crime, which is an extraordinarily high bar for bail eligibility. Having a personal bias or animus toward Christmas doesn't legally cut it,’ Bederow added.
When a suspect is released on bail for a crime against another person, that person can be granted an order of protection to make sure the suspect stays away from them.
But there is no legal order a judge could give to prevent Tamanaha from approaching the Fox News tree again. "You can't give the Christmas tree an order of protection, so security will have to stand guard," Bederow told Fox News.
Tamanaha caused about $500,000 in property damage, sources told the
New York Post. It is still unclear why he targeted the Fox News tree. NYPD detectives told DailyMail.com that it was a completely random act and not politically motivated against Fox News or News Corp, which owns The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal.
Tamanaha could be held by a judge for a psychiatric evaluation if he is experiencing mental illness. He is currently still in custody at the Midtown North Precinct.
It's unclear how long Tamanaha had been living in the city; he has two prior arrests with the NYPD - one in February and one in March and both were for drugs possession.
Tamanaha is listed as having an address in Brooklyn, but regularly loiters in the area, police said.
“It’s an individual that’s known to us — he has a series of low level arrests and drug arrests. He was issued some earlier this year — some appearance tickets and didn’t come back to court, which unfortunately is something we see all too often. He also has some low-level arrests out of state — I believe it’s Texas,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told
ABC 7.
“I think it’s definitely one where he’s working alone. That’s what it appears. This is all very fresh … It’s probably a little preliminary to say what the motivation was — was mental illness a factor? We’re looking at all of that and we’ll probably have more to say,’ Shea added.
He had a lighter in his possession when he was arrested but the FDNY has not been able to confirm yet if that's what he used to set fire to the tree.
Tamanaha is now in police custody, awaiting transfer and is due to appear later in court on Wednesday on six charges including arson, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.
The incident is another sad example of the senseless and random crime that is ravaging the city and is likely to deter tourists this Christmas, the first holiday season that New York has been able to welcome international visitors since 2019.
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