Felon Who Killed California Deputy Was Released Months Earlier on $500K Bail Instead of Receiving Life Sentence for Third Strike

The felon who killed a California deputy in late December was released months earlier after a Democrat judge dropped a kidnapping charge and reduced his bail to $500,000 instead of handing him a life sentence for committing his third strike.

William Shae McKay, 44, was eligible to be imprisoned for 25 years to life under California’s three strikes law when he faced a kidnapping charge for imprisoning a woman against her will for four days in March 2021. He had been convicted twice of violent crimes prior to this case.

While San Bernardino County Superior Court trial judge Cara D. Hutson did convict McKay in November 2021 of false imprisonment, receiving stolen property, and leading police on a high-speed chase, she acquitted him on the kidnapping charge. She also delayed his sentencing after the defendant’s lawyers requested a new trial and the dismissal of his prior strikes, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Huston then reduced McKay’s bail from $950,000 to $500,000, which he posted in March and walked out free.

On October 15, McKay was arrested again in Fontana on suspicion of transporting narcotics and possessing ammunition as a felon. However, he was released on a $50,000 bond the next day, despite already being out on bail, his extensive criminal history, and being convicted of his third strike, the LA Times noted.

Two months later, McKay shot and killed Riverside County deputy Isaiah Cordero, 32, after he was pulled over in his truck in the area of Jurupa Valley on December 29. McKay was later spotted in San Bernardino County and was pursued by over a dozen law enforcement vehicles before dying in a shootout with at least ten deputies.

Cordero’s mother, Rebecca Cordero, laid part of the blame for her son’s death on the Democrat judge for lowering McKay’s bail but also on the political climate and anti-law enforcement sentiments, the Associated Press reported.

Grieving mother Rebecca Cordero and other family members follow as Riverside County Sheriff pallbearers escort casket carrying Riverside County Deputy Isaiah Cordero, killed last month during a traffic stop, at a funeral service at Harvest Christian Fellowship Church on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, in Riverside, California. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

“The actual cause of death: disdain, disrespect, disregard, a dysfunctional system that has unfairly been politicized,” Rebecca Cordero said during the eulogy at Isaiah’s memorial service.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco also slammed Hutson for not holding McKay in prison even though he was convicted of a third strike.

“He should have been immediately sentenced to 25 years to life,” Bianco said. “We would not be here today if the judge had done her job.”

McKay’s first conviction came in 1999 when he pled guilty to a felony conviction for assault with a firearm after he led police on a 100-mile-per-hour chase, including through a construction zone, according to the Mercury News. He spent three years in state prison.

The second conviction came in February 2005, while still on parole from the first conviction, when he pled guilty to robbery and assault with intent to produce great bodily injury. According to reports, McKay and an accomplice attacked a couple sleeping in their home, where he choked a man and smothered a woman with a pillow before stealing $3,700 from a safe.

He was sentenced to 13 years in jail and was paroled in April 2016.

McKay’s third conviction came when he held a woman against her will from March 23 to 27, 2021. McKay duct-taped her wrists and ankles, punched her in the face several times, and made several threats against her life. The woman was able to escape the home and call the authorities.

Two days later, McKay and a female accomplice led California Highway Patrol on a 20-mile chase through the desert before they were surrounded. The female accomplice stabbed a police K9 before they both were arrested, the Mercury News noted. The female accomplice received three and a half years in prison.

You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.