Despite being denied a lowered bond by a judge, the man accused of killing a glamorous realtor in Texas has walked free from jail after posting a half a million dollar bond.
Kendrick Finch, 34, the Dallas man charged in the death of Ashlee Long, who was shot after Finch became angry after her friend touched the Mercedes Benz Finch was riding in, paid the $500,000 bail while awaiting trial in her case.
‘The person who shot that bullet is walking the streets, and that’s kind of the problem that we’re focused on this week,’ Long’s stepsister, Gillian Kimber told Fox 4.
Dramatic video of the young and blonde woman being shot by Finch was made public at a hearing two weeks ago, when the alleged murderer asked a judge to lower the bond.
The judge refused to lower the amount of the bond, however, Finch was able to get the funds to make bail and was released last week.
‘I feel like you shouldn’t be able to murder someone and get out on bail, and as a family member, to kind of have the possibility of seeing someone like that out in public, I just don’t really think it’s right or just,’ Kimber added.
Long, 28, was shot dead on April 5 while visiting Dallas for work.
Images from surveillance video show her in downtown Dallas with a handsome mystery man, later identified as William Kistler, at 2:30 a.m.
Kistler and Long were crossing the street when Kistler touched a white Mercedes Benz as it drove by.
The vehicle stopped on the street and Kistler immediately reached for his gun, which was in Long’s purse.
While she tried to stop him, Finch who was a passenger in the car, got out handing a gun as well.
At that point, Finch started shooting at the pair on a busy street filled with shops, restaurants and apartment buildings, striking Long in the process.
Kistler, who was able to fire three shots from his firearm, was also hit – he was taken to the hospital while Finch fled the scene.
Finch called police hours later and identified himself as the shooter. However, he didn’t turn himself over to investigators until April 18.
His defense team has argued he only fired on Kistler and Long out of self defense.
‘We know for sure Ashlee Long would be alive today except for William Kistler. William Kistler is the one who started everything that night it showed in the video,’ Finch’s attorney James Healy stated in court.
‘We don’t have the toxicology report yet of these two individuals, but I can bet where that’s going to end up.
‘He’s trying to fight random people on the street, and then my client’s car – driving by at a normal rate of speed – gets hit.’
As Daily Mail exclusively reported, Kistler was also arrested the night of Long’s death on charges of being a felon in unlawful possession of a firearm.
He previously faced charges of assault causing bodily injury to a family member, burglary of habitation, violation of a bond or protective order, boating while intoxicated and driving without a license, according to public records.
He remains in jail on unrelated outstanding warrants.
It’s unclear how the two knew each other – he does not work in her line of business, and she was engaged to be married to a different man in the Houston area where she lived, according to her online obituary.
‘It doesn’t surprise me that they charged [Kistler]. He’s clearly, in my opinion, carrying a firearm as a convicted felon, but there are other charges that they could have pursued as well that we are going to find out why they did not,’ Healy told the Daily Mail on Wednesday.
‘This all started because of Mr. Kistler’s actions. He had a fire arm and is a convicted felon and then the actions led to the death of Ashlee Long.’
Described as a successful realtor working in the Houston suburbs, Long was also a bride-to-be, engaged to her high school sweetheart Jacob Underwood, her family wrote in her obituary.
Long’s family has now launched a website, prompting supporters to email the governor about bail reform.