NY judge asked to release grand jury chokehold death details

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By TOM HAYS

NEW YORK (AP) — Civil liberties lawyers urged a state judge on Thursday to reverse a district attorney's attempt to keep secret the grand jury testimony concerning the police chokehold death of an unarmed man, saying the public needs to reconcile a widely watched video of the arrest with the decision not to indict the officer involved.

"Transparency is better than secrecy. Light is better than darkness," Arthur Eisenberg, legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said at hearing on Staten Island attended by the mother and widow of 43-year-old Eric Garner.

Eisenberg and other lawyers were met with sharp questioning by Judge William Garnett over the legal reasoning that would justify making an exception to the long-standing practice of keeping the process secret. The lawyers sought to convince him that disclosing inner workings of the decision not to indict Daniel Pantaleo — the white New York Police Department officer seen putting the black Garner in what the medical examiner called a fatal chokehold — would restore public faith in the justice system and help legislators decide whether the process needs more transparency.

"You can't reform a system if you don't know what went wrong with it. . It's fundamental," said attorney Matthew Brinkerhoff, attorney for Public Advocate Latisha James.

FULL story at link.


Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, arrives for a court hearing in the Staten Island borough of New York, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. The New York Civil Liberties Union and other petitioners have gone to court on Staten Island to demand that Judge William Garnett open the record in the Eric Garner case, a position opposed by Richmond County District Attorney Daniel Donovan. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150205/us--police_chokehold_death-4d94ae53d5.html

[bobclark86]

1. It's have to be one hell of an exception...

Grand juries in New York are brutal about secrecy. Many a juror has gone to jail for talking about what they've been a part of.

[DeSwiss]

2. So they're asking a judge for justice from the justice system?

- How quaint.

K&R

''The men that American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest the most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.'' - H.L. Mencken

[7962]

3. If there's nothing wrong, there's nothing to HIDE.

Unless the law states that every grand jury record be sealed. If thats the case, I'd like to know the reason