"The failure to indict the officer responsible for the death of Eric Garner has left many wondering if black lives even matter. Sadly, today's decision will only leave many asking that same question again."—New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman, after New York Supreme Court Justice William E. Garnett ruled to maintain the secrecy of the grand jury testimony in the case of Eric Garner, the black man from Staten Island who was killed by New York City police officers after being detained and put in a chokehold.
A petition from the the New York Civil Liberties Union and others had called for the release of the grand jury transcripts, including testimony by Daniel Pantaleo, the New York police officer involved in the incident. It was brought by NYCLU; the Legal Aid Society; Letitia James, the city's public advocate; the New York Post; and the NAACP.Accountability schmaccountability.
...Garnett said in the ruling that he did not believe the civil rights lawyers had established a compelling enough reason for warrant a disclosure of the grand jury minutes.
"What would they use the minutes for? The only answer which the court heard was the possibility of effecting legislative change," he wrote. "That proffered need is purely speculative and does not satisfy the requirements of the law."
...The civil liberties attorneys argued that disclosure was in the public interest and would help restore public trust in the criminal justice system, which the secrecy around the case had eroded.
The primary argument in favor of secrecy is protecting "the anonymity prosecutors promise jurors and witnesses who take part in the grand jury processes."
But if black lives are really to matter, protecting privacy in cases of deadly police aggression simply cannot trump protecting the lives of black people.
(And, as a side note, redactions can always be made, and would have been, to protect the privacy of those who were not being investigated. It is the height of mendacity to pretend that protecting anonymity is an all-or-nothing proposition.)
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