Pubdate: Wed, 25 Oct 2000
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company
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Author: David Kocieniewski
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n980/a03.html

CHARGE OF ATTEMPTED MURDER AGAINST TROOPER IS DROPPED

TRENTON, Oct. 24 - Prosecutors dropped the attempted murder charge today 
against one of the two state troopers involved in the 1998 New Jersey 
Turnpike shooting that wounded three unarmed minority men and made racial 
profiling on the state's highways a national issue.

James J. Gerrow Jr., a special prosecutor, said two new witnesses had made 
statements in April that supported some of Trooper John Hogan's claims of 
self-defense. That new evidence caused him to ask the judge to dismiss the 
most serious charge against Mr. Hogan. The trooper still faces charges of 
aggravated assault for his role in the shooting, and his partner, John 
Kenna, is still charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault.

The decision was criticized today by many civil rights leaders and black 
elected officials, who said a jury should have been allowed to decide the 
merits of the charge.

A grand jury indicted both troopers after hearing evidence that they fired 
11 shots into a van on April 23, 1998, after stopping the vehicle near 
turnpike Exit 7A, in Mercer County.

The officers have contended that they stopped the vehicle for speeding and 
opened fire only after it backed toward them, knocking Trooper Hogan to the 
ground. But civil rights advocates said the officers stopped the van 
because its four occupants were black and Hispanic and the state police had 
a policy of singling out minority drivers in their effort to intercept drug 
couriers.

Prosecutors pressed for an attempted murder charge because, they said, 
forensic evidence cast doubt on the troopers' version of the incident and 
suggested that the troopers fired at the van as it rolled away from them, 
not toward them. One of the passengers, Danny Reyes, was wounded in the back.

Mr. Gerrow said the new witnesses, two drivers for United Parcel Service, 
indicated that neither officer fired once the van began moving away from 
them. "It was not only the act of shooting Mr. Reyes, but more importantly, 
the timing of same that was crucial to the charge of attempted murder," Mr. 
Gerrow wrote.

Mr. Hogan's lawyer, Robert Galantucci, said he was heartened by the 
prosecutor's decision. "But it's only the first step," he said. "Until both 
troopers are vindicated on all charges, we'll continue to work as hard as 
we can."

Both officers have also been charged with falsifying documents to conceal 
the race of drivers they stopped in other cases.

The Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, executive director of the Black Ministers 
Council of New Jersey, said today that he was stunned because the 
prosecutors' decision means that the two new witnesses' credibility will 
not be weighed by a jury.

"The whole fallacy of this is, why couldn't these new witnesses - who did 
not come forward on their own, but only came forward because they were 
stopped for some violation - why couldn't they be called as witnesses 
during the trial and properly cross-examined?" Mr. Jackson said.

Assemblyman LeRoy J. Jones Jr. questioned whether the decision to drop the 
attempted murder charge was an attempt to limit the public relations damage 
the case has caused the state. He said recent talks to negotiate a plea 
agreement with the troopers had the same purpose.

"The prosecutor's job is to administer justice, not to make deals, and this 
is an absolute failure to live up to that responsibility." said Mr. Jones, 
an Essex County Democrat.

Mr. Gerrow, the special prosecutor, was out of town and did not return 
calls requesting comment. But the state attorney general, John J. Farmer 
Jr., who took office in May 1999, issued a brief statement supporting the 
decision. "This action was taken in the interest of justice, which is our 
obligation," he wrote. "It was not part of any negotiation or plea bargain 
discussion."

A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 31 on the defense lawyers' request that 
Judge Andrew Smithson dismiss all charges because of what they called 
"prosecutorial misconduct." Lawyers for the troopers have argued that 
prosecutors announced that the troopers had been indicted on charges of 
falsifying records to conceal their racial profiling while a separate grand 
jury was still weighing evidence in the shooting case.

Trooper Kenna, who Mr. Reyes said shot him four times even though his hands 
were raised as he sat inside the van, has also filed suit against the 
state. In court papers, Mr. Kenna said he had been involved in an on-duty 
shooting a month before the turnpike incident but was pressured to return 
to patrol duties after receiving little counseling for trauma.

The turnpike shooting brought intense scrutiny to law enforcement practices 
in New Jersey, where minority drivers have complained for years that they 
are pulled over solely because of their skin color.

State police officials denied that the problem existed, even as they 
collected detailed statistical evidence of profiling and withheld it from 
the public and federal investigators, according to internal memos.

Gov. Christine Todd Whitman has said she had believed the claims of state 
police commanders that there was no evidence of racial profiling until 
early 1999, when she ordered her own investigation into the department. She 
later became the first state official to acknowledge the problem publicly, 
and agreed to let a federal monitor oversee the state's effort to overhaul 
the force.

Lawyers for the victims of the turnpike shooting reacted calmly today to 
news that charges against Trooper Hogan had been reduced.

"This doesn't affect our civil suit at all," said Johnnie Cochran Jr. 
"Clearly, any time you have four men shot during a racial profiling stop, 
they are still victims."
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