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Re: No Indictment in Chokehold Death
How the DA threw the case was by leaving off lesser charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and official oppression.
Somewhere back in the dim distant pages of this thread, and in others on the same topic, there was a good amount of discussion on the meaning of "homicide" and discussion about how could a death be ruled a homicide but no indictment be forthcoming. Several people, myself among them, pointed out that homicide just means to intentionally take a life with no implication as to whether there was any wrong doing.
While that's true for the dictionary definition it is not true under NY Law. NY Penal Law 125:
That means 2 things.
1. The ME made a determination that a crime was committed and that Garner's death was not a blameless accident.
2. Given that criminally negligent homicide falls under the homicide defintion in NY the DA should have presented it.
The only way Panteleo can walk without an indictment is because there's confusion as to who caused the death, not really likely given the video, or because the DA failed to charge criminally negligent homicide. There is no excuse for that, especially given the statutory definition of homicide.
In short the DA threw the case. I sorely hope the Staten Island voters make him unemployed next chance they get.
How the DA threw the case was by leaving off lesser charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and official oppression.