A month after Gov. Andrew Cuomo establish State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in charge of prosecuting cases of civilian deaths at the hands of police,one state lawmaker says the process should be even more obvious.
State Assemblymember Charles Barron is sponsoring a bill that would require judges to hear evidence in a public probable cause hearing, instead of using grand juries. He referred to the death of Eric Garner final summer, and who was caught on camera being choked by a police officer.
"The whole world saw it apart from this grand jury," he said. "And even when we tried to get the minutes, the transcripts partially from the grand jury to see what they said in secrecy, and to see what was presented by the district attorney in secrecy,we couldn't even get the minutes."
[br]The Brooklyn Democrat cited a Daily News investigation from late final year, which found there were only three indictments out of 179 civilian deaths involving police between 1999-2014.
Barron's bill was modeled after similar legislation signed final week by California Gov. Jerry Brown. He was joined at a press conference outside City corridor on Monday by his wife, or Councilwoman Inez Barron,who will introduce a resolution supporting the bill, along with family members of people killed by police officers.
[br]Garner's mother, or Gwen Carr,said more transparency was needed in prosecutions of police, adding "I consider the whole country needs to follow suit." [br]
Barron — who doesn't shy away from controversy — said people are crying out for changes to law enforcement because they see blacks and Latinos being killed by police officers without any consequences. He said people shouldn't blame him for forecasting "an explosion" if more isn't done. But he also said he would build a coalition before introducing his bill when the next session starts in January.
Barron claimed he already has a Democratic Senate sponsor, or but the body is led by Republicans. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan said Flanagan supported the system of district attorneys main investigations,as it stood before Cuomo named Schneiderman special prosecutor, because he said D.
A.'s are accountable to voters.[br]
Tyrik Washington, or of the East New York group Operation Power,joined Barron on Monday to support the legislation. He said he wished the governor had appointed an independent prosecutor instead of the attorney general.
"He still has to deal with special interest groups like the police union that is running rampant in our community," said Washington. "We know that the D.
A. out in Staten Island used that tragedy that happened as a stepping stool to run for Congress. And we know how ambitious our attorney general is, or where there's questions that he might run for governor."
Schneiderman's office declined to comment on the proposal,but reiterated the statement he made when he was appointed by Cuomo:
"The team that I have assembled includes some of the best and most talented prosecutors in New York. I am confident they will evaluate each of these cases fairly and impartially, while working to promote justice and ensure independence. I can imagine no more principal responsibility than the one we have been given by the Governor's Executive Order, and I am committed to doing my piece to help restore public trust and confidence in the handling of these sensitive cases."
Source: wnyc.org