Bronx cheer for Bronx DA

To bolster confidence that the criminal justice system can investigate and, if need be, try cops accused of wrongful killings, Gov. Cuomo last week named Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as special prosecutor in such cases. Many of the state’s 62 district attorneys are unhappy that Cuomo is diverting the cases to a higher power, perhaps none more so than Bronx DA Robert Johnson.

Speaking of Schneiderman’s team, Johnson said: “I am sure that their office has nowhere near the experience that my assistants and I have amassed.” He added: “My office has handled at least nine controversial death cases involving the NYPD and two nonfatal cases.” Actually, Johnson has nothing to brag about. Of those nine cases, Johnson failed to present several to grand juries, which most prosecutors do automatically in probes of deadly police-civilian encounters. Worse, two of Johnson’s big cases fell apart. In 2013, he indicted Officer Richard Haste for manslaughter for shooting unarmed teenager Ramarley Graham in the Graham family’s apartment. Haste said he believed Graham had a gun.

Later that year, a judge dismissed the indictment, finding flaws in Johnson’s grand jury presentation. A second grand jury failed to indict, leaving Johnson to fume that he was shocked.

In 1995, Johnson indicted Officer Francis Livoti in the chokehold death of 29-year-old Anthony Baez. Again, a judge tossed the charge, this time on the ground of an improper grand jury instruction. Johnson indicted Livoti again and lost at trial. Only because federal prosecutors then took over the case was Livoti eventually convicted.

This year, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara convicted Rikers Island Capt. Terrence Pendergrass for denying medical help to an inmate who had died after swallowing a toxic ball of soap. Bharara stepped in after Johnson declined to prosecute.

It’s an incompetent record like Johnson’s that will sap the public’s trust. He’s a one-DA explanation for why a special prosecutor makes sense.