BROOKLYN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
SAYS THE RIGHT WORDS
JUSTICE
ALBERT TOMEI MADE HIS FEELINGS KNOWN
TODAY WHILE
SENTENCING THE THUG WHO SHOT
NYPD COP IN
THE HEAD
TAGS:
BROOKLYN JUSTICE ALBERT TOMEI, NYPD SGT. KEVIN BRENNAN,
ORTIZ
SENTENCING, “COPS, COURTS & CORRECTIONS”
AMERICAN
JURISPRUDENCE, CRIMINAL CODE, MAGNA CARTA,
TRIPARTITE
SYSTEM OF THE THREE C’s
(Tuesday January 7, 2014
Brooklyn Criminal Court, NYC) As the
young NYPD Officer, Sgt. Kevin Brennan sat with his wife just a few rows behind
the evil thug found guilty of shooting him in the head on January 31, 2012,
Justice Albert Tomei rendered his sentence to Luis Ortiz earlier today. In a forthright, blunt manner Justice Tomei
told the convicted murderer "You will, in light of this sentence, spend
the rest of your life in a soulless, loveless, compassionless environment”,
giving Ortiz, previously convicted of murder, a “life without parole” sentence.
The story here is not about a
life long, hard core murderous criminal being sentenced to life without parole
for shooting Sgt. Brennan but rather how important it was that Justice Tomei
added his personal remarks prior to reading the actual sentence. For far too long New Yorkers have watched
from the sidelines as liberal judges have given light sentences to men
convicted of atrocious acts of brutality and cold-heartedness. We have had to observe over the years one instance
after another when a Judge would set a very low bail virtually assuring the
offender would be bonded out and would than simply vanish. We have seen the miscarriages of justice and
have repeatedly been puzzled, left scratching and shaking our heads while
wondering “what the hell is wrong with our criminal justice system”? The fact of the matter is that there is plenty
very “wrong” with our criminal justice system and it was at least for a brief
moment refreshing to hear justice Tomei’s words; words that many of us would
have spoken – perhaps in more colorfully profane language – if we were in a
position to do so. Tomei’s words expressed the frustration that
we have all felt at one time or another over the inadequacies of the Courts to
do the bidding of law abiding citizens; a Court system that all too often
appears to afford more rights to the defendant instead of the victim.
THE
THREE “CS”: COPS, COURTS & CORRECTIONS
When we discuss the criminal
justice system we need to know precisely what it is we are evaluating. In our Democratic Republic the “System” is
comprised of three distinct entities.
The first is the Police, the men and women in Police and Sheriff’s
departments as well as all other law enforcement Agencies (LEA). The Police respond to citizens calls, are
dispatched to crimes in progress and scenes of crimes; conduct investigations
and make arrests. At this point the
Courts take over. The Courts are the
Prosecutors, the District Attorneys and Magistrates who preside over the legal
process. It is often at this level that
the system seems to go awry. In
accordance with our Constitution and well established practice of
jurisprudence, all proceedings at this level are well codified and
defined. Public Defenders are provided
for defendants unable to afford private legal representation. At this level the often sloppy, clumsy
process, a process largely driven by expediency and budgets, appears to the
uninitiated to break down. Pleas are
proffered to defendants that typically result in a plea bargain. If a defendant is found guilty or accepts the
plea offer, a sentence is imposed by the Court.
Sentences range largely in accordance to the crime. One could be sentenced to community service,
probation or a short stay in a County jail or sent to a state or federal
penitentiary. In some of our United
States the penalty of “death” is a viable option for a judge to impose and for
a Prosecutor to request. However, even
in the ever shrinking number of States that have that carry out the death
penalty, it typically takes anywhere from 10 to 20 years for the “appeals”
process to wind its way through all the layers of lower to higher Courts.
The final phase in this
process is what is euphemistically designated as “Corrections”. Each State has a Department of Corrections
(DOC) and many Counties, Parishes, and larger Cities have a Department of
Corrections of their own. DOC’s are tasked with carrying out a sentence be it
probation or long term incarceration. This
is another facet of the system that appears to be extremely flawed in many
ways. From County Jails to State Prisons
there is an epidemic of overcrowding, under-staffing, budget cuts and woefully
inadequate use of scarce resources. In
some ways our Correctional institutions have become nothing more than
warehouses for the mentally ill; albeit, mentally ill individuals who have been
found guilty of a crime. The burdens
placed on DOC’s across the country are often beyond a facility’s ability to
address. Because of the myriad stresses
and strains on DOC’s there are many disturbing cases when violent inmates were
paroled early only to commit another heinous act in short order. The costs of incarceration are staggering at
every level from County to State to Federal Penitentiaries. But, this is the system we have. This is the reality in America and to address
the ailments of any of the “Three Cs” one must also consider their relationship
to the other two. Each is inextricably linked to the other and a
holistic approach is the only way to make the system run more effectively,
efficiently and safely.
BLINDING JUSTICE
Justice is said to be blind
and that she may be. At times it appears
that she is deaf and dumb as well. The
scales she holds balanced in her hands in statues and paintings are rarely
equally balanced in reality. The scales
seem subjected to the shifting weights of expediency and politics whims. Justice, for all she represents in our Courts
today does not view us all as equals under the law.
The Courts are at the pinnacle
of our tripartite legal system. The men and women, the Justices and Judges that
preside over them have historically held above repute, as honest, impartial
arbiters of the laws of our land. Our
entire criminal justice system is rooted in the Old English document the Magna
Carta written in 1215 AD which came to codify criminal and civil law for most
of the Western World. The Magna Carta in
a way provides a job description for Judges and all “High Officers” of the
Court. But increasingly over the last
forty years we have been left to feel disappointed at best, outraged at worst
by failures of our Courts to mete out what the majority considers to be
commensurate with the crime. We have
seen verdicts that defy simple logic as well as our inherent sense of fairness.
There have been numerous cases
in which “activist Judges”, those who feel the “Law” is open to their
interpretation rather than the strict boundaries of our Constitution, criminal
and civil codes. There have been Judges
who felt compelled to correct what they perceived as being some distant legacy
of injustice. Yes, this works both ways;
some Courts have been very lenient and others very harsh. If the scales of justice were truly balanced
the instances of this type would not be as common as they continue to be.
That was why Justice Tomei’s
words were so powerfully refreshing. He
spoke his mind and heart to an already convicted and sentenced murder and sent
him off to an upstate penitentiary with a fairly accurate description of what
that scumbag’s life will be like. We
have seen liberal Judges in New York City conduct business as if the victims
are not worthy of having all the equal protections under the law afforded to
them while some young ACLU attorney represents the offender just to gain enough
courtroom experience to move on after a few short years in the Public Defender’s
Office.
From the early 1970’s until
his retirement, a Judge in the Bronx County Courthouse named Bruce Wright
presided over many an arraignment, worked “night court” and served as a trial
Judge. Judge Wright became known as “Let
‘em Loose Bruce” for his infamous reputation to treat truly dangerous, hardened
criminals very easily. In the winter of
1972 there was a young NYPD Officer patrolling with his partner a sector in the
41st Precinct in the Bronx.
As they slowed cruised up and down the cold, dark, cracked and potholed
asphalt streets, narrow corridors lined with tenements, burned out shells of
buildings and vacant lots they rolled past a tavern. As was their custom they stopped their patrol
car outside until the bartender made eye contact with whoever was driving and
gave either a thumbs up or thumbs down signal.
Obviously, if PO Dowd and his partner did not get a distinct thumb up
they could assume that something was amiss and would enter the tavern to see
what was what.
On that fateful night near 2 o’clock
in the morning they made eye contact with the bartender and received no signal
whatsoever. They “smelled” trouble and
proceeded to enter the tavern.
Immediately as Dowd entered the tiny barroom he was shot with a sawed
off shotgun at point blank range in the abdomen. This assailant fled, the call from Central
Dispatch was transmitted across the Bronx and the actual perpetrator was
apprehended within hours.
The alleged perpetrator was
brought before Judge Bruce Wright who set bail so low that the suspect was able
to post bond – make bail – and was released back onto the streets within hours
of shooting a uniformed NYPD Officer during the commission of a robbery. Well, that was the last time that particular
suspect was ever seen again. Let ‘em
Loose Bruce had struck again it was the shooting of Denny Dowd that came to be
the template to measure the efficacies of the NYC Courts. (Denny Dowd did recovery after several surgical
procedures a long convalescence and rehabilitation. He never returned to NYPD because his
injuries had rendered him medically unqualified).
Detective
Sgt. Kevin Brennan (second from right) and his wife Janet (wiping tear)
in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Tuesday for Luis
Ortiz sentencing.
Aaron Showalter/New York Daily News
NYPD Officer Kevin Brennan was
conducting “vertical patrol” in one of the apartment buildings that comprise
the Bushwick Houses project in Brooklyn. AS walked down the stairs from the
roof he interdicted several young men virtually all of whom quickly vanished
when they saw the uniformed Officer approaching. Luis Ortiz who had murdered a man just a
month earlier crossed paths with Brennan and in that fateful moment Ortiz shot Brennan
in the head. Brennan began chasing Ortiz
but his wound and blood loss were bringing closer to his own death. Miraculously he survived and has since been
promoted to Sergeant and is assigned to a position at One Police Plaza.
He lived to tell and testify
in Court the circumstances of their encounter, how he was shot and that Ortiz
said, “Fuck you, die” after he shot Brennan.
This story outraged a City
but, as we have endured before, there was no expectation that the wheels of
justice would move swiftly in this case.
Thanks to Justice Tomei who runs a “tight ship” in his Courtroom, has a
stellar reputation for his no nonsense presiding style and wealth of judicial
experience, in this case the system worked about as swiftly as it ever can.
We hope “Baby” Ortiz does, as
Justice Tomei advised, “spend the rest of your life in a soulless, loveless,
compassionless environment." We
need more Judges and Justices of Tomei’s integrity, professionalism in our
Courtrooms all across our Five Boroughs.
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Brooding Cynyx 2014 © All Rights Reserved
