Anti Federalist
04-30-2011, 10:27 PM
Word is getting out.
Fully informed juries FTW!!
Judge Declares Mistrial in Police Altercation Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/nyregion/judge-declares-mistrial-in-police-altercation-case.html?_r=2&src=recg
A Manhattan judge declared a mistrial Tuesday on a single count of resisting arrest against the wife of a former police officer after the jury said it was deadlocked on the charge.
Afterward, several jurors said that their vote was 11 to 1 in favor of acquitting the woman, Wilma Doré-Almonor, and that the case might have highlighted problems with the Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy.
Ms. Doré-Almonor was in an altercation with police officers at the 30th Precinct station house last year after she went to collect her son, 13 at the time, whom the police had stopped on the street and detained.
The son, Devin, was released without charge, but only after a fracas that led to the arrest of Ms. Doré-Almonor and her husband, Merault Almonor, who had spent 12 years as a police officer.
“This case is morally repugnant to me,” said Beth Flanders, a 57-year-old juror who works for the United Nations. She said she believed the police had abused their power and stopped Devin for no reason.
“I was told that happens all the time,” Ms. Flanders said of what she viewed as an improper stop-and-frisk. “If that happens all the time in that neighborhood, in America, that’s not good enough.”
During deliberations, she said, she encouraged her fellow jurors to “look at the letter and the spirit of the law.”
Last week, jurors acquitted Mr. Almonor of all three counts he faced, the most serious of which was felony assault. Prosecutors had accused him of punching a female officer during the melee in the precinct. Jurors said they quickly rejected that claim because the officer did not show signs of injury. In fact, jurors said, Mr. Almonor seemed like the most level-headed person in the station house that evening
Fully informed juries FTW!!
Judge Declares Mistrial in Police Altercation Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/nyregion/judge-declares-mistrial-in-police-altercation-case.html?_r=2&src=recg
A Manhattan judge declared a mistrial Tuesday on a single count of resisting arrest against the wife of a former police officer after the jury said it was deadlocked on the charge.
Afterward, several jurors said that their vote was 11 to 1 in favor of acquitting the woman, Wilma Doré-Almonor, and that the case might have highlighted problems with the Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy.
Ms. Doré-Almonor was in an altercation with police officers at the 30th Precinct station house last year after she went to collect her son, 13 at the time, whom the police had stopped on the street and detained.
The son, Devin, was released without charge, but only after a fracas that led to the arrest of Ms. Doré-Almonor and her husband, Merault Almonor, who had spent 12 years as a police officer.
“This case is morally repugnant to me,” said Beth Flanders, a 57-year-old juror who works for the United Nations. She said she believed the police had abused their power and stopped Devin for no reason.
“I was told that happens all the time,” Ms. Flanders said of what she viewed as an improper stop-and-frisk. “If that happens all the time in that neighborhood, in America, that’s not good enough.”
During deliberations, she said, she encouraged her fellow jurors to “look at the letter and the spirit of the law.”
Last week, jurors acquitted Mr. Almonor of all three counts he faced, the most serious of which was felony assault. Prosecutors had accused him of punching a female officer during the melee in the precinct. Jurors said they quickly rejected that claim because the officer did not show signs of injury. In fact, jurors said, Mr. Almonor seemed like the most level-headed person in the station house that evening