A violent Florida felon accused of choking a woman unconscious and attempting to rape and kill her was allowed to walk free on a mere $9,500 bond — and he did, after less than 48 hours behind bars.
Jacoby Tillman, 23, didn’t just have a rap sheet — he had a criminal résumé. With at least four felony cases on record since 2021, including convictions for robbery and beating a defenseless person, Tillman was already well-known to law enforcement. In 2023, he was also convicted of misdemeanor battery. But that history didn’t stop the system from letting him walk free — again.
On July 25, around 8:20 a.m., Tillman allegedly ambushed a woman from behind on the Little Econ Greenway trail in Orange County, Florida. According to the sheriff’s office, he choked her unconscious and left her bloodied and disoriented. The victim, who woke up face down, told deputies her shorts and underwear were missing. When she regained consciousness, she ran for help — encountering other joggers who offered her aid and a spare pair of shorts.
Court records detail that she suffered visible trauma to her eyes and nose. A jogger nearby spotted a man sprinting away from the scene — matching Tillman’s description — and soon after, the woman’s phone and keys were found discarded along the trail.
Security footage reportedly shows Tillman tossing the woman’s undergarments over a fence, apparently without a care in the world.
And as if the physical brutality weren’t horrifying enough, court documents recount what Tillman allegedly told his girlfriend: “I didn’t rape the lady. I was trying to kill the lady.” He elaborated, “Because I wanted to know what it is like to choke someone out.” She also said he had choked her before — and that his own mother tried to help him evade arrest after seeing the attack covered in local news.
After two months on the run, Tillman was finally arrested — only to be released on October 14 after making bond. He didn’t stay free for long. On Tuesday, a judge revoked his bail during a scheduled arraignment, and he is now expected to return to the Orange County Jail.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina was blunt in his reaction to the decision to grant bail in the first place, calling it “atrocious” in a public Facebook post. And many Floridians are asking: how did this happen?
Here’s where it gets political — because it always does. While Florida overall leans Republican, Orange County is a deeply Democratic enclave, and its leadership reflects that. According to the county’s Supervisor of Elections data, six out of seven county commissioners are registered Democrats. The school board tells the same story: five of seven members are Democrats. At the state level, Orange County sends four Democrats and just two Republicans to the Florida House, and two Democrats versus one Republican to the state Senate.
These aren’t just names on a ballot — these are the elected officials shaping local criminal justice policies. It’s no coincidence that in an area dominated by progressive leadership, a man with multiple violent convictions and chilling new allegations could make bail and walk free after two days. “Soft on crime” isn’t just a catchphrase — it’s a political reality, and the results are terrifying.
Local authorities have now warned women to remain alert on public trails, ditch noise-canceling headphones, and avoid jogging alone — not because criminals are locked up, but because too many are being let right back out.
