Public Attorneys

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance this week dropped the manslaughter charge against the ex-con son of a well-connected NYPD family who was caught on video driving onto a sidewalk while texting before striking and killing an outspoken civil rights activist, then fleeing the scene on foot and evading police for more than two months, all while he was on parole after serving a three-year prison stint on drug charges.

Another award-winning law enforcement officer was stripped of his badge Tuesday after accepting a plea deal to avoid going to trial for perjury.
Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy Stuart Sussman – the department’s 2014 Deputy of the Year – was probably shellshocked the perjury charges were brought against him in the first place considering how often it happens in law enforcement.

 
A New Orleans police officer was sentenced last week to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Michael Thomassie, 41, who in August was convicted of raping a 7-year-old girl more than 10 years ago, was sentenced by the New Orleans Parish criminal courts Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier. He was found guilty of aggravated rape earlier this year on Aug. 20.
During jury selection of his trial, Thomassie sent a selfie and raunchy texts to his girlfriend in Florida.
Now, another inmate wants to make Thomassie his boyfriend.

After 16 hours of deliberation, a jury acquitted a Delaware cop on Tuesday for kicking a suspect full force in the head, causing his jaw to shatter.
Dover police officer Thomas Webster IV was acquitted of felony assault and misdemeanor assault charges after deliberations spanned three days.

The New York Times usually gets it right, but the Newspaper of Record published an op-ed piece titled “How to Prosecute Abusive Prosecutors” containing a glaring factual error.
While we support the ACLU’s efforts and mission at PINAC News, we wish they would have returned our calls and emails this past week as we did our research.

A free speech chilling memo by the general counsel for a Florida police department advises cops that they can choose when to arrest citizens who record them in public, if those officers happen to be working undercover.

A St. Louis prosecutor covered-up for a St. Louis Metropolitan cop who brutally beat a handcuffed suspect and shoved a gun down his throat, chipping a tooth, resulting in the prosecutor’s conviction.
It’s a rare federal criminal conviction of a prosecuting attorney; a charge of misrprision of felony, which requires active steps to cover up a felony.
Bliss Barber Worrell, who admitted to the crime in July 2014, pleaded guilty Monday.