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walkandtalkk OP t1_j6oiui2 wrote

A New York judge abruptly, and permanently, dismissed over a dozen charges against a former NYPD detective, who was accused of fabricating evidence in criminal cases, after prosecutors admitted that they had repeatedly failed to turn over evidence to the defendant's lawyer before trial.

The prosecutors, who worked for the Manhattan district attorney's Police Accountability Unit, apparently told the court that the failure to turn over evidence was the result of "gross negligence," rather than intentional misconduct. Either way, the judge dismissed the charges "with prejudice," meaning the prosecutor cannot bring those same charges again.

Because of the statute of limitations, it may not be possible to bring any more charges against the defendant.

The case's lead prosecutor was fired.

Edit to add: It appears that the lead prosecutor was removed from her role as deputy director of the Manhattan DA's Public Accountability Unit, but that she remains an employee of the DA's office. Speculating, it may require a lot of procedure to outright fire a public employee in New York, so they may still be going through the procedural requirements to do so.

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MalcolmLinair t1_j6ojmrx wrote

No way that wasn't done in order to let the dirty cop off the hook; the DA wants to be able to claim to the public that they brought charges, but not piss off the cops.

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walkandtalkk OP t1_j6ok6yj wrote

I rarely entertain conspiracy theories, especially when incompetence is a valid alternative. But given this conduct, I'm reserving judgment.

Edit: On second thought, I'm changing my view a bit. It's possible that someone in the DA's office botched this on purpose, but I think it's extremely unlikely that the senior prosecutors on the case, or in the DA's office, were involved. I've explained why in another comment, so you can downvote that one.

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PoppinKREAM t1_j6om4gw wrote

I know what you mean.

People should watch We Own This City on HBO. It's a 6 part series about Baltimore's police department's recent corruption scandal. Where an entire unit was acting like a gang selling drugs, robbing from citizens, beating up innocent people and planting evidence. It's concerning how the system was designed to cover it all up, from the rank and file to the union, top brass, and oversight department.

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torpedoguy t1_j6ovmhn wrote

Incompetence is a valid alternative on small, individual events. The lady doing your burger most likely didn't forget the pickle in it out of spite.

When there's multiple avenues of verification, control and authorization, it's a different story. Even without that specific DA, the evidence could have been turned over, things could have gone over her head or she could have been ordered to... Instead every single step after they pretended they were going to hold the cop accountable was specifically geared towards letting him walk.

The cop had two defense teams and a defense judge. There was no justice in those halls.

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walkandtalkk OP t1_j6p425k wrote

I'm not sure where you're getting that. A single prosecutor could easily be responsible for making sure documents get to opposing counsel. I doubt the DA or his deputy are regularly asking each prosecutor if they remembered to follow their basic obligation to send over evidence.

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bananafobe t1_j6ol2kz wrote

It's probably a good policy, with the caveat that a lot of people have learned to feign incompetence in an attempt to exploit that kind of reasonable position.

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Torifyme12 t1_j6pj6h8 wrote

>Some of the withheld evidence included videos from surveillance footage, memos from investigators, communications between prosecutors and cellphones from people arrested after Mr. Franco identified them as drug dealers, Mr. Tanner said in an interview. He described the evidence as “potentially exculpatory.”

​

From the actual article. You know. The one you posted.

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__babyslaughter__ t1_j6ph1vp wrote

In the case of New York cops I’d never be surprised. Remember when one cop decided to report his fellow officers numerous criminal dealings, and they had him committed to a mental hospital?

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EdisonLightbulb t1_j6p8rv0 wrote

Start by checking the re-assigned attorney's and her family's financial records.

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shogi_x t1_j6on8k8 wrote

Nonsense conspiracy theory. Her law career is fucked. Think about how much she's just lost in lifetime earnings from this very public firing. No one is paying that kind of money to get one shitty cop off the hook.

edit:

Did y'all even read the story? They intentionally withheld this evidence because it would have helped the defense.

>Some of the withheld evidence included videos from surveillance footage, memos from investigators, communications between prosecutors and cellphones from people arrested after Mr. Franco identified them as drug dealers, Mr. Tanner said in an interview. He described the evidence as “potentially exculpatory.”

>Mr. Tanner said that prosecutors in court blamed their failure to turn over evidence on “gross negligence,” but said that he did not trust that their actions had not been willful.

They did it to win the case, not lose. And when they got caught, they said "oops, it was an accident".

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walkandtalkk OP t1_j6opjjb wrote

No reputable law firm is going to take on someone who was publicly fired after being named by the New York Times as grossly botching a crucial case and letting a serious (alleged) criminal off scot-free.

Plus, she may well have major problems with the bar.

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PEVEI t1_j6ot6jx wrote

This sub takes healthy skepticism about law enforcement and feeds it through a fever dream, this is actually pretty mild by contrast. As you say though, this is the end of more than one career, done in a way that was always going to become public. If you were going to tank a case, this is not the way a sane person would do it.

But good luck trying to tell that to people here.

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DeaddyRuxpin t1_j6pgggi wrote

There is some serious irony in a corrupt cop case being screwed up because the prosecutor was corrupt.

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open_door_policy t1_j6opmyr wrote

> No one is paying that kind of money to get one shitty cop off the hook.

How many shitty cops would threaten murder if she didn't fuck the case up though?

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shogi_x t1_j6oqzc9 wrote

How many people would threaten to kill her for letting him walk?

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rikki-tikki-deadly t1_j6otcbs wrote

A threat from this guy or one of his criminal associates (by which I mean "fellow cops") is a lot more credible than the words of a few angry redditors.

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shogi_x t1_j6oznqt wrote

Who said anything about angry redditors? At least 320 people were convicted on cases he was involved in. That's a long list of people with motive.

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PEVEI t1_j6otvh4 wrote

So now your conspiracy theory is that cops threatened an ADA and forced her to end her career, and instead of reporting those threats and making her career, she submitted. Now everyone involved is sworn to eternal silence, despite public pressure.

It's so simple, how could no one else have thought of this!

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Asleep-Somewhere-404 t1_j6ox8qy wrote

The money or a body bag. It’s not that fine a line.

I’d say there is more to this than “I just forgot to send it”.

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Metraxis t1_j6phbw3 wrote

This is New York, not Juarez. "Plata o plomo" is a little far-fetched.

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PyramidClub t1_j6p6kt2 wrote

She followed orders.

Her boss was the same guy who tanked the case against Trump.

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rikki-tikki-deadly t1_j6ol6r8 wrote

Probably salivating at the prospect of having to disband the "Police Accountability Unit", too.

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MonkeyDaddy4 t1_j6ok8f1 wrote

Disbar them all! Then charge them as accessories after the fact!

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toebandit t1_j6p0al3 wrote

We wish this is how our justice system worked. But it ain’t and this is how they will continue to win (not lose, in this situation).

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noncongruent t1_j6ot9r1 wrote

Not to mention that all the people convicted with the cop's fake evidence now have no way to pursue exoneration and expungement.

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sum1won t1_j6ovv0j wrote

This is false. Expungement does not require that the detective be convicted.

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UltralisKingD t1_j6ojzz1 wrote

That really sucks, if he was actually guilty...

Thats a very dangerous situation, not only does he get off scott free, the people that were possibly framed get no justice, and any future issues could cause more people to lose their freedom.

Prosecuter should be fired, probably end up being a shitty public defender, defending framed people... bad, bad, bad....

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themeatbridge t1_j6ot7k8 wrote

He was definitely guilty. Still, he deserves a fair trial, and he didn't get one.

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alphabeticdisorder t1_j6omdx1 wrote

>The case's lead prosecutor was fired.

Fired from the case, but the story doesn't necessarily indicate she was fired from the DA's office.

>The agency immediately removed the prosecutor handling the case, Stephanie Minogue, from her position as the deputy chief of its Police Accountability Unit, which reports directly to the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg.

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mymar101 t1_j6oveg6 wrote

Did I wander into a Night Court disguised as real life?

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wabashcanonball t1_j6pcmfr wrote

Someone in the prosecutor’s office was threatened or paid to throw the case, maybe both.

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