Results tagged “acquittal”

A jury acquitted tenants who illegally subdivided their Bronx apartments for subleasing which, in turn, became a fatal warren for firefighters to navigate during a 2005 fire. Six firefighters ended up jumping out of a 6th floor window, with two, Lt. Curtis Meyran and firefighter John Bellew (pictured), falling to their deaths. Caridad Coste and Rafael Costillo were facing charges including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide; the Daily News reports that Coste cried out in Spanish, "God is great! Jesus was looking out for me" when she heard the verdict. The Post says that Meryran's and Bellew's widows, as well as other firefighters, were stunned. Another jury is expected to give a verdict for the building's owner and manager. This fire also highlighted some FDNY shortcomings, like frozen hydrants and lack of escape ropes.

Mayor Bloomberg spoke out against the murder acquittal of Lillo Brancato Jr. Brancato, on trial for the death of an off-duty police officer, had claimed he was "dope sick" and didn't realize his friend Steven Armento was armed during their quest for drugs. Bloomberg said, "This business that, 'Oh, I was high on drugs' is no excuse. This business that 'I didn't know there was a gun' is no excuse... If you and somebody else choose to rob somebody and the other person pulls a gun, you're as culpable under the law and should be held to the same standards as the one that actually did the shooting... It's society that is hurt by the juries' not standing up for those that are putting their lives on the line." Armento, who shot an off-duty cop who interrupted their attempt to get drugs from a friend's house, was convicted and Brancato's lawyer had emphasized Brancato was not the shooter.

Yesterday, juries in two separate cop killing cases came back with news that left the victims' families upset: Lee Woods, on trial for killing police officer Russel Timoshenko during a traffic stop, was granted a mistrial because one juror was ill while Lillo Brancato Jr., on trial for killing off-duty police officer Daniel Enchautegui, was found not guilty of murder.

Mayor Bloomberg couldn't help but comment on the acquittal of Robert Ellis, who was on trial for the fatal shooting of police officer Russel Timoshenko (pictured). The Mayor said, "I don't want to criticize, but... inside I feel very strongly about it. There's something wrong here. A police officer [was] dedicating his life to protecting all of us. I found it very hard to understand how they could come up with the decision that they made." The Daily News' Errol Louis writes, "The jury's mind-boggling hair-splitting makes no sense." —Ellis was found guilty of weapons possession, yet not murder— "Some went overboard in venting their rage, like Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch, who referred to Ellis as a 'mongrel' after the verdict - an unfortunate display of the same dehumanizing impulse that leads criminals to fire on cops. The challenge for cops, activists, union bosses and the media is to resist the urge to let a single injustice define us."

A jury acquitted a man of aggravated murder in the killing a police officer during a June 2007 traffic stop. The jury also found Robert Ellis not guilty of attempted murder (another cop was wounded) but he was found guilty on three counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

Some funny new details emerged yesterday in the trial of the retired cop infamous for aggressively silencing noisy passengers on the Long Island Railroad. John Clifford stood accused of assaulting a woman whose hand he twice slapped in March 2007 after she tried to intervene in his scolding of cell-phone talker Nicholas Bender. And if Jerry Seinfeld is looking for material for his new TV series, he’s got all the fodder he needs in yesterday's courtroom farce:
• We already knew that in trying to shame Bender into getting off the phone, Clifford called him a “f—king faggot.” But what was so important that Bender had to prattle on despite Clifford’s admonishments? Just his cousin's kidney failure is all.
• Frequent LIRR commuter Donna DeCurtis testified against Clifford yesterday, telling the judge she’s "petrified" of him. In 2006, when DeCurtis brushed off Clifford’s instructions to pipe down, the former private eye said, “I know who you are. I know you have a daughter. I know where you live. I can make your life hell.”
• Clifford knows for certain when other passengers are being too loud because he brings a noise meter with him on the train. He says the MTA is supposed to restrict any noise above 70 decibels, but “when you’re talking across the car it goes to 80 decibels.”
• LIRR conductor David Carliovoch is well familiar with Clifford and testified that he’s “a pain in the ass.”
• In the end, the judge acquitted Clifford of all charges, dismissing most of the testimony against him because all but one of the witnesses had "an ax to grind."
• But before the ruling, the prosecutor said Clifford's behavior is like "a dog marking his territory. He is not a white knight. He is Darth Vader.”

Clifford says he’s more like Rosa Parks. Smoking a celebratory cigar outside the court, he compared himself to the civil rights trailblazer and told reporters, "I don't think I should be punished for maintaining my rights to be alone.” An LIRR rep expressed disappointment with the ruling, but the obvious solution here is for the railroad to provide Clifford with his own private soundproofed train car, where he won’t be subjected to any disruptions from the lower orders.