The 36-year-old Wahiawa woman charged in a 10-count indictment that includes second-degree murder of 10-year-old Geanna Bradley, for whom she and her husband were legal guardians, was denied supervised release Wednesday.
Brandy Blas, wearing gray prison garb and shackles, was no longer pregnant as she was when beaten in the Oahu Community Correctional Center, where she initially was jailed. She gave birth to a healthy baby about a month ago, her court-appointed attorney, Harrison Kiehm, said before the hearing. The infant was immediately taken from her after the delivery, he said.
She was brought to Circuit Court for the hearing from the Women’s Community Correctional Center, where she is now being held.
Blas, her husband Thomas Blas, and mother Debra Geron were arrested Jan. 18 after Bradley’s body was found at their Wahiawa home. The child had been bound with duct tape, starved and beaten. A grand jury denied the three suspects bail.
Circuit Judge Paul Wong denied Brandy Blas’ motion for supervised release over arguments made by Kiehm that she has no prior criminal record, and that she is not a flight risk because she has never taken a plane except for a single trip to Molokai, when she was 3 years old.
The judge said she was indicted on “10 different criminal offenses … so serious that allows for imprisonment without the possibility of
parole,” making her a serious flight risk.
While these are allegations, the court pointed out that with the hindering prosecution and conspiracy charges, she runs a serious risk of obstruction and likely will engage in illegal activity.
Brandy Blas testified she is a 2006 graduate of Leilehua High School, was born and raised in Wahiawa and had lived at 33 Karsten Drive since the sixth grade.
Kiehm said Brandy Blas’ father, seated in the courtroom, lives at 33 Karsten Drive, the home where Blas grew up (and where Bradley’s body was found.)
“No one is disputing she is being charged with a serious offense,” Kiehm acknowledged, adding Brandy Blas wasn’t burglarizing homes or running amok.
“Flee the jurisdiction isn’t even in her vocabulary,” he added.
He requested bail be set at $100,000.
Deputy Prosecutor Erika Candelario objected to the motion, saying that if found guilty of the crimes she is charged with, Brandy Blas could get life without the possibility of parole, which makes her a flight risk.
Besides murder, she is also charged with hindering prosecution, conspiracy, kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a minor, persistent nonsupport, and if released, she poses a serious risk of obstruction of justice.
Candelario said Blas already has made false statements to emergency medical technicians, and has given instructions and directions to other people, so she definitely poses a risk.
