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Saturday Morning News

Legal Challenges Continue for Acquitted Officers in Diallo Shooting

Aired February 26, 2000 - 8:00 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Topping our news this morning, we begin with Albany, New York and a verdict in the police shooting of Amadou Diallo. Four officers in a New York City street crimes unit were acquitted. But their legal challenge is not over. They still face a civil case and possible federal civil rights charges.

CNN's Marina Kolbe has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED JURY FOREPERSON: Not guilty.

UNIDENTIFIED COURT CLERK: Is your verdict unanimous?

UNIDENTIFIED JURY FOREPERSON: Yes.

MARINA KOLBE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just one of the 24 times the jury returned a not guilty verdict for the four officers charged in the shooting of Amadou Diallo, a verdict that brought relief to the defendants.

STEVEN WORTH, DEFENSE LAWYER: We are obviously very gratified with the verdict here today. This is, there is no victories in this case.

KOLBE: But restrained anger and calls for peace from the victim's family.

KADIATOU DIALLO, MOTHER: It's in the name of Amadou and his spirit that I ask for your calm and prayers. As we go on for the quest of justice, life, equality I thank you all. This justice means not for Amadou only, but justice means for all the people. The killing of Amadou was wrong.

KOLBE: And the prosecutor.

ROBERT T. JOHNSON, BRONX DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Although we disagree with the jury's verdict, we are satisfied that the people of Albany who sat on this jury gave it their full and fair attention.

KOLBE: The verdict comes a little more than a year after the shooting that sparked protests and concern that New York police in their zeal to fight crime had gone too far. The officers claimed they were only following police procedure, saying they stopped Amadou Diallo because he was acting suspiciously. It was a routine search by the New York Police Department's Street Crimes Unit, a team credited with lowering crime rates.

The officers said they saw Diallo reach for something. It turned out to be his wallet. They also thought one officer had been shot. Shortly after the verdict, the Justice Department's civil rights division and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said they would review all evidence to determine whether there were any violations of the federal criminal civil rights laws.

Marina Kolbe, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as you just saw there, the verdict sparked an angry protest in the Bronx where the shooting occurred and new concerns about police tactics, including so-called racial profiling. But New York's mayor says there is also a bias against police.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Amadou! Amadou! Amadou!

FEYERICK: Chanting Amadou Diallo's name, about 200 demonstrators mobilized to take their outrage to the streets. They were met by dozens of police in riot gear, forced to confine their protest to the street on which Diallo was killed.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORK RESIDENT: I thank God that I have daughters and not sons and my heart goes out to every woman that has a son of color in this city.

FEYERICK: Earlier, a small group marched to a nearby police precinct station house demanding the resignation of the Bronx district attorney. Robert Johnson's office prosecuted the four officers. All were acquitted, found not guilty in the death of the West African immigrant.

HOWARD SAFIR, NYPD COMMISSIONER: There are no winners in this case. The fact is that this was a terrible tragedy. It was a mistake because of a series of circumstances. But I also believe that this was an extremely fair trial.

FEYERICK: But in the minority community, there was a sense the verdict would have been different if the trial had been held not in Albany, but in the Bronx. There was also a sense this kind of shooting could happen again.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORK RESIDENT: I'm a graduate of St. John's University and I, too, have to be afraid of how I will be viewed because I'm dressed a certain way and because of the complexion of my skin. UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORK RESIDENT: I think it's crazy. I think you set a precedent. Anyone can be killed now and the cops will be justified in their killing.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORK RESIDENT: You leaches. You parasites.

FEYERICK: New York City's mayor defended his police department and the four officers, calling for an end to prejudice against police.

MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI, NEW YORK: We also have a vicious form of anti-police bias, which leads to entertaining every doubt possible against the police and, you know, police officers are human beings also.

FEYERICK: But several other New York politicians felt the verdict had undermined the community's confidence in the criminal justice system.

CARL MCCALL, NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER: This has been described as a tragic mistake. Usually when a mistake is made, there's a penalty. There was no penalty.

FEYERICK: Fifteen demonstrators were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

(on camera): This morning outside of the Bronx apartment there are flowers and candles, also several signs, one of them saying "Amadou, we will not forget you." There are demonstrations planned later today, one at noon here in front of the Bronx apartment, a second in midtown Manhattan.

Reporting live, Deborah Feyerick, CNN, the Bronx.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: As Deborah just reported, the verdict in the Diallo case triggered calls for the resignation of Robert T. Johnson, the Bronx district attorney. Johnson's office prosecuted the case. He joins us now from outside the Albany courthouse where the trial was held.

Mr. Johnson, thanks for being with us.

ROBERT JOHNSON, BRONX DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: The calls for your resignation, perhaps somewhat predictable. Nevertheless, do you defend the way you prosecuted this case?

JOHNSON: Well, yes, I think we prosecuted the case expertly. You know, it was a difficult case from the very beginning. It's not often that someone innocent, unarmed dies in such a tragic and violent way and we had to make some very, very difficult choices about how to handle the case. That's why a case is prosecuted by people with a great deal of experience. I myself have been in the business over 25 years, two of the lawyers also, and we made decisions that were based on our sound legal judgment. Some of them may have been unpopular but I think and I know that they put us in the best position we could be in when we got to the summations and if you heard the summation of Eric Water (ph), you know and understand that we got the arguments before the jury. They chose not to accept them.

O'BRIEN: With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, are there any decisions that you made specifically that you now regret?

JOHNSON: No, the only thing that I regret is that the appellate division chose to ignore the legal briefs. They chose to ignore the information in a defense poll that indicated the people of the Bronx could be fair and impartial. I know the people of the Bronx. We would have found 12 fair and impartial jurors. That was a mistake, to send the case here to Albany. I'm not saying the case would have turned out different, we'll never know, but that was the major mistake in the handling of this trial.

O'BRIEN: So the pivotal moment, from your perspective, was the change of venue from New York to Albany?

JOHNSON: No, the pivotal moment was when the police officers made misjudgments about Amadou Diallo. I don't know that the case would have turned out any differently had it been tried in the Bronx. But I think it adds to the element on the appearance of unfairness. It adds to the people of the Bronx distrusting the system by removing the case unnecessarily.

O'BRIEN: Your office typically is put in the position of having to more or less having to ally itself with the tactics of police officers. As you look forward, do you see a vindication of some tactics which nevertheless make you now feel uncomfortable?

JOHNSON: I don't understand, a vindication of whose tactics?

O'BRIEN: The police tactics that were used in the case of Diallo. Have some tactics that you're uncomfortable with been validated?

JOHNSON: Some people take it as a vindication. I don't take it as a vindication of their tactics. A trial of this nature is an examination of whether 12 people find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. I don't think it's an affirmation of what the officers did here. I think if you listen to even their expert, you'll find that there were mistakes made, that they could have backed down, that it escalated too fast, it got out of control.

So yes, there are concerns. I understand the concerns. In fact, I've lived in the Bronx since I was 16. I'm now 52. And the first nine years I lived in the Bronx was just blocks from where Amadou Diallo died. I know that every community in the Bronx wants good, sound policing but we have to take this opportunity to use the graphic nature of Amadou Diallo's death to show police officers that you have to keep your mind open to innocent interpretations of people's conduct, also. Your lives are in jeopardy but so are the lives of some innocent citizens of Bronx County. It's a very, very serious responsibility. O'BRIEN: Mr. Johnson, time is expiring on us, but just quickly, do you have a sense as to whether this is going to end up being some sort of federal civil rights case? What does your gut tell you?

JOHNSON: Well, I know that they're going to give it a fair look. I'm not as conversant in federal law. The U.S. attorney will make that determination and I have great trust in her.

O'BRIEN: Robert T. Johnson is the Bronx district attorney. Thanks very much for being with us on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

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