Justice Department Will Review Diallo Verdict
New York Officers Acquitted
.c The Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. (Feb. 26) - Four white New York City police officers acquitted of murdering unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo may not have long to celebrate the jury's finding.
Despite being acquitted Friday of state criminal charges, the officers still face a daunting array of legal challenges: a possible federal civil rights case, likely disciplinary action by the police department and a wrongful death lawsuit - all stemming from the shooting of Diallo, whose death in a hail of 41 bullets touched off weeks of civil disobedience over police treatment of minorities.
Justice Department prosecutors are weighing the evidence and reviewing the record of the state trial that acquitted four white New York City policemen in the killing of an unarmed African immigrant to see if federal civil rights charges should be brought.
They must decide whether justice was done in the state trial in Albany, N.Y., and whether the evidence shows the officers used their positions to willfully deprive Diallo of his constitutional rights because of his race or whether they conspired to violate those rights. Those are the two possible bases for any federal prosecution.
``We have been monitoring the trial,' Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin said Friday an hour after the verdict came in. ``Now we will review the case to see what, if any, federal action is required.'
There are well-known precedents for filing federal charges after local prosecutions fail in police brutality cases. The most famous came in the 1991 videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King by four white Los Angeles policemen.
``This is not the end,' Anthony Gair, an attorney for Diallo's mother, Kadiatou, said after the verdict Friday.
The Diallo jury of four blacks and eight whites deliberated for more than 20 hours over three days before returning the verdict: not guilty on all counts - 24 in all - from murder to reckless endangerment.
The officers had all contended that they fired in self-defense on Feb. 4, 1999, after Diallo, 22, reached for an object they thought was a gun while standing in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment building. The object turned out to be a wallet. Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, was hit 19 times.
All four officers were charged with second-degree murder, but Justice Joseph Teresi said the jury could consider less serious charges. The case was moved to Albany after an appeals court ruled that finding an impartial New York City jury was impossible.
The Diallo family sat quietly as the verdicts were read. Kadiatou Diallo left the courtroom with her cheeks streaked with tears.
The officers - Sean Carroll, 37; Edward McMellon, 27; Kenneth Boss, 28; and Richard Murphy, 27 - hugged one another and their lawyers after the verdicts were returned.
``We're relieved, but not rejoicing,' Carroll's attorney, John Patten said outside court.
The acquittal won't end the legal battles for the officers, members of a roving plainclothes unit that allegedly stopped and frisked young black men without cause.
A civil lawsuit was expected against the officers and the city in the next few weeks.
The Justice Department's decision to pursue the Diallo matter is not a foregone conclusion.
As Attorney General Janet Reno said last year when asked about the case, ``When to shoot and when not to shoot is one of the most difficult decisions in some circumstances that anybody could make.'
Either way, Boss, Carroll, McMellon, and Murphy still face administrative charges within the police department. Charges alleging they violated department policies could still result in their firing.
The officers had maintained that Diallo's death was a tragic case of self-defense, not murder.
They testified that as they combed the Bronx neighborhood looking for a rape suspect, Diallo was acting strange and he ignored repeated warnings by Carroll and McMellon to ``Stop!' and ``Show your hands!'
The officers said the 5-foot-6, 150-pound Diallo darted into the dimly lit entrance of his building, took a ``combat stance' and drew a black object, the wallet. The officers said they feared for their lives and opened fire.
Diallo's shooting, combined with the 1997 torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima in a police station bathroom, led to criticism that police were being excessive in cracking down on crime under the administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
After Diallo was killed, protesters gathered almost daily in acts of civil disobedience outside New York police headquarters. A judge eventually dismissed charges against the 1,166 people who were arrested, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, former Mayor David Dinkins, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, and actors Ossie Davis and Susan Sarandon.
After Friday's verdict, Giuliani called the shooting ``a great tragedy' and expressed sympathy for Diallo's family. The mayor said the verdict followed ``an eminently fair trial under very, very difficult circumstances.' |
