Fake cop in drug raid convicted

graduate from the Bronx, took a moment to reflect on the coming changes.

“I just think there needs to be more transparency in the interest of justice, in the interest of fairness,” she said. “Otherwise how are we making sure the prosecutors are doing what they said they will do?”

Puente-Soto said she got into the law in part because of things she saw during her upbringing.

“I always saw growing up how the law was applied differently depending on your skin color, and I always thought it was unfair,” she said. “I had friends who were minorities who were treated differently just based on the color of their skin. That’s just an awful feeling. I just really have a passion for trying to help people.”

Classmate Spencer Smith, 31, a Missouri native, said he’s curious how the city’s five district attorneys will handle the changes in their boroughs.

“I’m still skeptical. I’m curious as to how much onus these reforms are forcing more alignment across the boroughs, and if they are, that’s fantastic,” Smith said. “Different boroughs and different DAs might interpret it differently and feel more of an onus, and others might wiggle out of that.”

Smith moved to New York seven years ago and worked for social service providers before going to law school.

“I just realized how much the criminal justice system puts people behind for decades afterward, so I went to law school and so many experiences showed me I wanted to be working on the front end of it,” he said.

Legal Aid gets 300 to 400 applications for its 48 slots each year, Luongo said, calling the process “very competitive.” The training covers a broad range of topics, but the 2020 changes are a high priority this year.

“Before long you’re going to tire of hearing about 2020,” one instructor joked.

A sadistic robber who bound a pregnant woman with duct tape while ransacking a Brooklyn drug dealer’s apartment could spend the rest of his life in jail for his conviction Tuesday in federal court.

Devone Jefferys, 27, and an accomplice posed as cops and stormed into the Williamsburg apartment of a heroin dealer, then held him and his family at gunpoint as he ransacked the place, looking for drugs and cash. He and his accomplice pointed guns at a pregnant woman and the dealer’s sister, ordered them to lay on the floor and bound them with duct tape.

They forced the pregnant woman to lay on her stomach as they pointed a gun at her head, prosecutors said.

When the dealer’s sister tossed a bag of heroin out a widow, Jefferys (photo) forced her into an alley outside and assaulted her, federal prosecutors said. He then went on the run, living in his car to avoid capture.

Jefferys’ accomplice, Ronnell Peterkin, testified against him during his sixday trial in Brooklyn federal court, and on Tuesday, a jury convicted him of federal robbery, attempted robbery and weapon charges.

Jefferys faces five years to life behind bars when he’s sentenced.