Special unit in NYS to investigate deaths of unarmed civilians | WBNG

NEW YORK >> With Eric Garner’s mother looking on, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order Wednesday directing the state attorney general’s office to review cases in which unarmed civilians are killed by police. Installing a permanent special prosecutor would require passing a law in Albany – something New York’s legislature declined to do during its last session.

Police reform groups, including the Justice Committee, lauded relatives for leading the push for a special prosecutor. In late June when he announced he would issue the executive order the governor said it was not his first choice. Flanagan said because the Governor’s executive order appointing the Attorney General as special prosecutor only lasts a year, everyone will be able to take a second look.

Senate GOP Leader John Flanagan says philosophically, the Republicans don’t want to change long standing traditions in the justice system.

Constance Malcolm, mother of Ramarley Graham, holds hands with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo during a news conference in New York, Wednesday, July 8, 2015. No gun was found.

Johnson pointed to a number of cases that he said ran “the gamut from deciding not to put cases before the Grand Jury…to indicting officers”. The officer was charged with manslaughter, but the case was later thrown out on a technicality.

They see potential for a conflict of interest on the part of district attorneys, who would have to present evidence against police officers to a grand jury while maintaining a close working relationship with law enforcement.

A special prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will review and potentially prosecute law enforcement killings of unarmed civilians or when there’s a question about whether the slain civilian was armed and risky.

Mr. Schneiderman emphasized that all of the attorneys in the unit have experience in local DA offices, and stressed that his appointment as special prosecutor for such cases-which have previously fallen under the purview of district attorneys-is not a mark of disrespect toward the work such offices do. “How can you say to me that I have a conflict after such a record?'” Cuomo said.

Developers Sulajman Koci and Witold Matejkowski, owners of Stonehenge Restoration, failed to pay 21 laborers between January 2014 and March 2015, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said.

Mollen, who was in Saratoga Springs for the District Attorneys Association’s summer conference, did not return a phone call or email Thursday.

Lynch said the union is concerned “that there will be pressure on a special prosecutor to indict an officer for the sake of public perception and that does not serve the ends of justice”. In addition to paying restitution, Stonehenge must designate an internal monitor and submit compliance reports to the Attorney General’s Office.

During LaVallee’s time with the district attorneys’ offices in Erie and Orleans counties, she has handled more than two dozen homicide cases.