A 44-year-old man arrested for felony assault on a deputy, burglary, and vehicle theft was released three times in less than two weeks before allegedly shooting a beloved former prosecutor's office employee to death in her own home, and two California district attorneys say the state's bail laws are to blame.
Derek Spencer's final encounter with law enforcement ended early on a Monday morning in the rugged forest near Iowa Hill, a remote community in Placer County, California. Deputies found him crouched behind a berm. He opened fire. They fired back and killed him. By then, Fox News reported, Spencer had already left a trail of alleged crimes across three counties, and Cheryl Macy, 76, was dead inside a home where tactical teams found her body riddled with gunshot wounds.
The timeline that preceded Macy's death reads like a catalogue of missed chances. Spencer cycled through Sacramento County jails and courtrooms from September 3 through September 17, charged with violent felonies and property crimes, and walked out every time, twice on bail, once on his own recognizance. Within days of his last release, authorities say, he stole guns, fired at a moving vehicle, rammed a sheriff's patrol car, shot at deputies and helicopters, set two wildfires, and murdered a grandmother.
Sacramento County deputies first arrested Spencer on September 3 on suspicion of felony vandalism, resisting arrest, and assaulting a deputy with a deadly weapon. Five days later, on September 8, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office filed charges that included felony assault with a deadly weapon likely to cause great bodily injury and attempting, through threats and violence, to prevent a deputy from performing official duties.
Prosecutors asked the court to keep Spencer locked up. A judge set bail as required by state law. Spencer posted it and walked out on September 11.
Two nights later, at roughly 11 p.m. on September 13, Folsom police responded to an alarm at a model home on the 4600 block of Dehone Circle. Officers found Spencer exiting the property and arrested him on suspicion of burglary. He was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail, and released on his own recognizance the next day, September 14.
Two days after the burglary arrest, Sacramento County deputies picked Spencer up again, this time on suspicion of stealing a vehicle. He posted bail and was released September 17. Prosecutors were still reviewing the burglary and vehicle-theft reports when Spencer stopped showing up.
On September 18, Spencer failed to appear for his preliminary hearing in the deputy-assault case. A judge issued an arrest warrant. By then, the system was a full step behind a man who had already demonstrated, repeatedly, that releasing him meant more crime.
The day after he skipped court, September 19, Spencer allegedly stole another vehicle and guns in El Dorado County and fired at a moving vehicle there. On September 20, Placer County deputies began hunting him after he allegedly pointed a gun at victims in the county. Deputies spotted him in the Iowa Hill area. Spencer allegedly rammed a sheriff's patrol vehicle and fled into the dense forest.
What followed was a chaotic and dangerous manhunt. Spencer allegedly fired at deputies and at law enforcement helicopters overhead. Residents in the surrounding area were warned to lock their doors and stay inside. Tactical teams moved through rugged terrain to close in on him.
When a team cleared a home where Spencer had been seen, they found Macy inside, shot to death. Investigators believe Spencer killed her before fleeing deeper into the forest. Authorities have not publicly identified any prior connection between the two.
A California Highway Patrol aircraft using infrared technology located Spencer shortly before 2:30 a.m. Monday. Deputies moved in. At roughly 4 a.m., Spencer fired from behind a berm. Deputies returned fire and fatally struck him.
Spencer had allegedly set two separate fires during the standoff. The flames threatened three SWAT operators on the ground. The Washoe County Sheriff's Office RAVEN aviation unit, based out of Nevada, flew through darkness and low-visibility conditions to hoist all three operators out of the fire zone. The unit said the mission relied on a specialized night-hoist capability available to only a limited number of law enforcement aviation teams in the region.
The Placer County Sheriff's Office described the case as a "dangerous crime spree that took a tragic turn, resulting in the loss of an innocent life."
Macy was not a stranger to the justice system, she spent her career inside it, working for the Placer County District Attorney's Office from 2006 to 2020. She was a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. Her granddaughter Addison told local station KCRA that Macy had a habit of giving three squeezes in a hug, each one meaning "I love you."
Addison recalled:
"She was the only person who's ever done that and told me that."
Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire honored Macy at a county Board of Supervisors meeting, calling for answers, transparency, and accountability. His office released a statement that cut straight to the failure.
"As prosecutors, our responsibility is not only to seek justice after someone is harmed, but to speak plainly when the system presents warning signs that cannot be ignored."
Gire's office said Spencer's repeated releases raised "serious questions" about whether state law and recent court decisions give judges enough power to prevent similar tragedies. The fatal deputy-involved shooting and Macy's death remain under investigation.
The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office placed blame squarely on the state's bail framework, and specifically on the California Supreme Court's Kowalczyk decision, which the office said has limited judges' ability to detain repeat offenders before trial, even when they may pose a danger to the public.
The office's statement to Fox News Digital did not mince words:
"Sadly, this should never have occurred but bail reform in California has prioritized criminal offenders over victims."
The statement continued:
"While the District Attorney's Office has and will continue to argue that dangerous and repeat offenders like Derek Spencer remain in custody, California must repeal the Kowalczyk decision and change the law to prioritize victims when addressing bail."
The Placer County DA's office echoed that position, saying the loss of Macy was "devastating to our office and to the entire community." Both offices, one that prosecuted Spencer's initial charges and one that employed his alleged victim for more than a decade, arrived at the same conclusion: the law tied judges' hands, and a woman died because of it.
Consider the sequence. A man assaults a deputy with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors charge him with violent felonies and ask a court to hold him. The court sets bail because the law requires it. He posts bail. He burglarizes a home two days later. He is released on his own recognizance. He steals a car two days after that. He posts bail again. He skips court. He allegedly steals guns. He allegedly fires at strangers, rams a patrol car, shoots at deputies and helicopters, sets fires in a forest, and murders a 76-year-old woman in her home.
At every step before the rampage, the system had Spencer in its hands and let go. The judges who released him may have been following the law as written. If so, the law is the problem, and the people who wrote it, defended it, and upheld it own what came next.
Cheryl Macy gave three squeezes for "I love you." California's criminal justice system couldn't hold a violent repeat offender for three weeks.
