Cops-D.A. ties questioned
Close ties between the Philadelphia Police Department and the District Attorney's Office, which presided over a grand jury investigation into a police beating caught on tape, have led some to question the jury's findings.
Close ties between the Philadelphia Police Department and the District Attorney's Office, which presided over a grand jury investigation into a police beating caught on tape, have led some to question the jury's findings.
The D.A.'s office announced yesterday that a grand jury found that a group of police officers did not commit a crime while trying to subdue three shooting suspects last year.
Now, some, including attorney Paul Messing, who specializes in civil rights litigation including cases related to police misconduct, are asking whether the grand jury was unduly influenced by the D.A.
"A diligent prosecutor's office, which is interested in holding police accountable for using such brutal force and that has such unassailable video evidence, should have little trouble in convincing a grand jury to return indictments," said Messing, of the law firm of Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg.
Messing also questioned the D.A.'s use of a grand jury, noting that grand juries are typically used to uncover evidence - something Messing felt wasn't lacking.
Others recognized the tightrope the D.A. had to delicately tread in this case.
"Given what I've heard, I do have some concerns," said Thomas Fitzpatrick, a former assistant D.A. now in private practice.
"It's important to avoid even the appearance of impropriety in matters like these. And I do think that there needs to be a strong effort to ensure that there wasn't any."
Fitzpatrick said he couldn't say whether a potential conflict of interest affected the grand jury, but did say that the case could have been handled differently.
"I think that a prosecutor separate from the D.A.'s office should have handled it," he said.
Sara Jacobson, an associate professor at Temple University's Beasely School of Law and the school's director of trial advocacy, said:
"I would hope that it wouldn't be [influenced], but the real concern is how the public views it."
"If the public doesn't see it as fair, it makes the police's job much tougher," Jacobson said.
The D.A's office could not be reached for comment last night.
