Pubdate: Wed, 01 Nov 2000
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax: (212) 556-3622
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Author: The Associated Press

CHRONOLOGY
A Crucial Case

Following are major events in the New Jersey Turnpike shooting case and the
debate over racial profiling that it touched off:

APRIL 23, 1998  Troopers James Kenna and John Hogan fire on a van carrying
four black and Hispanic men from New York on the New Jersey Turnpike in
Mercer County. Three are injured. The troopers say the van was backing up to
strike them.

NOV. 19  An assistant prosecutor in Burlington County, James J. Gerrow Jr.,
announces grand jury proceedings in the case.

FEB. 28, 1999  Gov. Christine Todd Whitman fires the state police
superintendent, Carl A. Williams, after a newspaper interview is published
in which he links minority groups to drug trafficking.

APRIL 10  Officials close a section of the turnpike near Exit 7A to
videotape a re-enactment of the shooting for the grand jury.

APRIL 13  The Legislative Black and Latino Caucus conducts the first of
three public hearings, and witnesses testify about racial profiling
incidents.

APRIL 19  A state grand jury indicts Troopers Kenna and Hogan, charging that
they have falsified arrest documents in the past to lie about the race of
drivers they stopped and searched illegally.

APRIL 20  The state attorney general, Peter G. Verniero, releases a report
saying racial profiling is "real, not imagined." The report acknowledges
that blacks are stopped more often and are more likely to be searched.

APRIL 26  Lawyers at the federal Justice Department decide that they have
sufficient evidence for a civil rights lawsuit against the state police,
prompting negotiations on an agreement, or consent decree, to avoid
litigation.

SEPT. 7  A state grand jury indicts Troopers Hogan and Kenna on charges of
attempted murder and aggravated assault.

SEPT. 20  Mrs. Whitman announces the appointment of Carson J. Dunbar Jr., an
F.B.I. administrator and former state trooper, as superintendent of the
state police. He is the first black superintendent.

DEC. 22  The federal Justice Department and the new state attorney general,
John J. Farmer Jr., announce that they have reached a consent decree
requiring the appointment of an independent monitor to investigate
compliance with an agreement to take steps ensuring there is no racial
discrimination.

JUNE 27, 2000  A State Superior Court judge, Andrew J. Smithson, hears
arguments on a motion to dismiss the charges in the shooting.

SEPT. 22  Mr. Farmer says he will make public 50,000 pages of state police
records dating from 1989, all related to racial profiling.

OCT. 6  A federal monitor praises early state police efforts to end
profiling.

OCT. 24  Prosecutors drop the attempted murder charge against Trooper Hogan,
citing a lack of evidence.

OCT. 30  The Black Ministers Council of New Jersey asks the federal Justice
Department to assume the prosecution of Troopers Hogan and Kenna.

OCT. 31  Citing overzealous prosecution, Judge Smithson drops assault
charges against both troopers and the remaining attempted murder charge
against Trooper Kenna.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Andrew