Barr made call Nixed charges as prosecutors were split
Attorney General William Barr sided against civil rights prosecutors in his Washington office to spike criminal charges in the NYPD chokehold death of Eric Garner.
Legal veteran Barr, who was living in semi-retirement when Garner was killed on July 17, 2014, wound up making the final call on whether to prosecute Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the controversial case where the unarmed black man died after his takedown and arrest by the white cop.
The nation’s top prosecutor personally viewed the infamous videotape of the lethal confrontation between Garner and Officer Daniel Pantaleo and received a number of briefings on the case before coming down on the side of the cop, who faced possible federal civil rights charges.
Barr cast the deciding vote after federal prosecutors in Brooklyn recommended no charges against Pantaleo, while attorneys in the Washington civil rights division called for a criminal prosecution of the officer.
“The Department of Justice has failed us,” said Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr.
Trump administration nominee Barr, sworn in just five months ago, “thoroughly considered this case and made the decision himself,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue at a Tuesday news conference. “This decision was contemplated and considered at the very highest levels of the DOJ for several years.”
Donoghue explained that the case hinged on several specific legal issues rather than the emotion that permeated the investigation since Garner’s galvanizing death.
“In order for a charge to be brought, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer used unreasonable force, violated the law willfully, and his wrongful conduct caused bodily injury,” explained Donoghue.
Critics were quick to lambaste Barr’s decision with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) declaring “the federal justice system has failed the Garners and our city.”
State Attorney General Letitia James ripped the decision to pass on a federal prosecution after leaving the Garner family in limbo for five painful years.
“Today’s inaction reflects a DOJ that has turned its back on its fundamental mission — to seek and serve justice. In times like these, we must remember that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice … We will continue to fight for reforms to a criminal justice system that remains broken,” she said.
The New York Civil Liberties Union charged that the Justice Department had “dragged its feet” before reaching a decision on prosecution just one day before the statute of limitations in the case would expire.
“Five years after Eric Garner’s dying words ‘I can’t breathe’ were caught on video, the Justice Department has issued another tragic blow by deciding not to bring federal charges against his killer,” said the NYCLU, adding that the delay in reaching a decision only confirmed “that police officers who killed unarmed black men rarely face any measure of accountability.”