The Difference A Good District Attorney Makes
Following Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s decision to prosecute an ex-Marine Daniel Penny for subduing a deranged habitual felon on the subway, who died from the chokehold, 50,000 people have donated to Penny’s legal defense fund. Michael Lee of Fox News reports that the fund has received $2.5 million since Penney was charged with second-degree manslaughter last Friday. Along with the contributions, many New Yorkers thanked Penny for taking action to prevent violence on the city’s crime-plagued subways. “My daughter rides those subways, Keep them safe,” wrote one donor. “I would have wanted you on the subway if I were there,” wrote another. Bragg’s decision came after protesters including Al Sharpton and progressive politicians ranging from the New York’s Mayor, members of the City Council, the state legislature, and members of Congress demanded that the white man who choked the black criminal, with over 40 arrests, be charged with murder. A no-brainer for the Soros-bankrolled District Attorney. On the other side of the country, in progressive San Francisco, the District Attorney was faced with a similar case.
On April 27 a security guard at a San Francisco Walgreens shot and killed shoplifter Chynna “Banko” Brown, after she became violent when he attempted to stop the theft. Last week progressives and transgender activists demanded that the security guard be charged with murder. The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution demanding that Jenkins release the store’s security video of the shooting. California Globe writer Evan Simon reports that after reviewing the video and interviewing witnesses, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced yesterday that she would not be prosecuting security guard Michael Anthony for defending himself. Did race play a role in Jenkins’ decision? She was certainly under political pressure to prosecute Anthony. San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton told reporters, “DA Jenkins’ decision to not charge gives every armed security guard in San Francisco a license to have an open season to shoot and kill Black and transgender people for alleged shoplifting.” The Board President Aaron Peskin has asked the Soros-funded California Attorney General Rob Bonta to open an investigation.
The contrast between these two district attorneys is not racial. Both Jenkins and Bragg are black. But Bragg ran as a progressive, promising to remove racial bias in law enforcement by not enforcing the law against black criminals. In Bragg’s city, a white guy who kills a black man, even in self defense, is going to be prosecuted.
Jenkins ran to replace the Soros-bankrolled progressive DA Chesa Boudin, who was recalled by 60% of San Francisco’s voters last year. She promised to enforce the law and protect the public from criminals, including violent, black, transgender thieves. She appears willing to face harsh criticism from her own political party to keep that promise.
That is what District Attorneys are supposed to do.
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So it is the position of CJLF that under New York law it is permissible to use deadly force against a person who has not taken any action or made any direct threat of harm to anyone? Have you read the NY self defense statute? Do you have a case that supports this view?
From the story linked in the OP: “According to the police report from the incident earlier this month, Neely was acting in a ‘hostile and erratic’ manner toward passengers on the train while shouting threats that he would hurt people.”
First, there is a video that you might want to watch that does not support that quote. Second, even taken at face value that quote does not conclusively justify the use of deadly force under New York law which requires both a reasonable belief that the person is about to use deadly force and includes a duty to retreat, like going to a different car on the train. Third, even if there is a colorable justification claim under New York law it is certainly not so clear that a prosecutor should refrain from letting a jury make that determination. I’d add that, despite political pressure to charge murder, I think Bragg did the right thing here, which was to charge manslaughter. Nothing in the OP comes close to establishing otherwise.