“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., April 16, 1963
One thing we can say about our system of law and order is that it rarely represents justice. The more cynical among us claim it doesn’t even aim to establish justice. Whether criminal or civil, the reality is that the courts work for people with money — lots of money — and against those without it.
The courts are about power. But power sometimes comes in the form of a sheer willingness to object, to fight back (with your vote), to call for justice when all indications are that ears are closed. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of many we can thank for that lesson.
The Queens DA's tactics and the judge's rulings in the following case illustrate some of the—tragic failures in the Queens system of law and order.
Gregory Lasak, a candidate for Queens DA, that's a former Queens judge/ADA and now calls himself a "progressive prosecutor," was the judge in this case.
Lasak allowed the Queens DA to use recanted eye witness testimony (repudiated prior statement) as evidence in, not one, not two, but, three murder trials of an innocent man, who faced a potential life sentence. Lasak refused to grant him bail, he was held in Rikers Island for 6 years for a crime he did not commit.
Read moreTerrel Banks, 26, was arrested months after his 20th birthday and charged for the October 2008 fatal shooting of 21-year-old Timothy Smith in Fresh Meadows, Queens. Banks lingered behind bars and faced trial three times.
The case against Banks had been weak from the start as the prosecution's star witness changed her testimony that she saw Banks shoot Smith before the first trial in 2010.
But this didn't matter to Lasak, as he refused to grant Banks bail and, instead, allowed the Queens DA to use the woman's grand jury testimony identifying Banks in the three subsequent trials—all of which ended in mistrials before three different juries.
Banks’ third and final trial ended in March 2014 with a hung jury.
After that, prosecutors made a last-ditch effort with a plea deal, agreeing to drop the murder charge if Banks copped to criminal possession of a weapon.
Banks refused to admit guilt to something he did not do, his lawyer Jorge Santos said.
“He said, ‘I’m innocent I’m not taking it, I don’t care. I’m not admitting to having a gun, I didn’t do anything,’” Santos said.
On April 29, 2015 the case was finally dismissed. Lasak, the self-proclaimed "progressive prosecutor," instead of apologizing for keeping him in Rikers for 6 years for a crime he did not commit, suggested that Banks, “thank the district attorneys for dismissing the charges.”
"The fact is that out of the 62 counties in New York State, the Queens DA’s office has the highest amount of reversals on appeal for prosecutorial misconduct," said John O’Hara, a civil rights attorney with a focus on prosecutorial misconduct.
"Prosecutorial misconduct is one of the leading causes, or contributing causes, of wrongful convictions. Prosecutorial misconduct is not chiefly the result of isolated instances of unprincipled choices or the failure of character on the part of some prosecutors. Rather, prosecutorial misconduct is largely the result of three institutional conditions: vague ethics rules that provide ambiguous guidance to prosecutors; vast discretionary authority with little or no transparency; and inadequate remedies for prosecutor misconduct. These three conditions create perverse incentives for prosecutors to engage in, rather than refrain from, prosecutorial misconduct." THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT AND WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS by Peter A. Joy.
QUEENS HISTORIC ELECTION
Queens hasn’t had a competitive election for Queens District Attorney since Richard Brown was elected in 1991. Brown was the Queens DA for 28 years. He was a relic of the tough-on-crime era that led to mass incarceration in Queens.
"Historically, the Democratic Party has had enormous influence in choosing the city’s district attorneys. The races often attract little interest, and low voter turnout allows the favorites of the political machine to win, cementing long, unchallenged tenures. Nowhere has that been more true than in Queens, where the Democratic Party (Queens Machine) has picked the county’s district attorney for decades."With a Tough-on-Crime D.A. Stepping Down, Will Queens Turn to a Reformer?
Most progressive groups have now coalesced behind Tiffany L. Cabán for Queens District Attorney. And "the machine has thrown what weight it has left behind Melinda Katz, the Queens borough president, for the open district attorney’s post...
Why does this matter? The retiring district attorney, Richard Brown, rarely pursued political corruption cases in the borough, leaving machine elected officials virtually untouched. His office could be a source of patronage. And judges Crowley helped elect would often share familial ties with assistant district attorneys in Brown’s office." Joe Crowley Is Gone, But The Queens Machine Chugs On
"Cabán’s top opponent at this point in the race is Katz, a career politician with no courtroom experience who’s run for at least six offices throughout New York. Despite her machine backing and questionable past positions on issues from the death penalty to cash bail, Katz has moved closer and closer to Cabán on a number of issues since The Intercept covered the race in March...
In addition to distancing herself from policy proposals that fall short of the progressive standard Cabán is pushing, Katz has also tried to explain away her past support for conservative criminal justice measures. Katz said she only voted for the death penalty while she was a member of the New York State Assembly on moral grounds after her mother was killed in a drunk driving accident. But during that race in 1994, where the Queens Daily News described her as a candidate 'bucking the Queens Democratic machine,' Katz said she didn’t think the death penalty was a deterrent but that she supported it because of 'the enormous cost of keeping someone behind bars for life.'" The Intercept.
BE A PART OF QUEENS HISTORY IN THREE EASY STEPS!
The winner of the June 25th primary will most likely be the next Queens DA.
1. Review the Queens District Attorney 2019 Election Guide. June 18 is the last day to request an absentee ballot and June 24 is the last day to vote absentee.
2. Click Here to Find Where to Vote. New York guarantees you the right to take off work to vote. Polls are open between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. If you don’t have at least four consecutive hours before or after work to vote, New York law requires your employer to give you at least two hours to vote without loss of pay as long as you notify them within two to 10 days. GET OUT + VOTE ON JUNE 25th!
3. You can vote with a criminal record in New York. Check here to see if you can vote in the June 25 primary for Queens district attorney. You can double-check by calling the Queens Board of Elections at (212)-VOTE-NYC. If you feel your voting rights were violated, call (866) OUR-VOTE for help.