We were gratified to learn that Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson has dismissed hate crime charges against a member of the Crown Heights Shmira street patrol accused of beating a young black man, the son of an NYPD officer, on his arm with a police baton in 2008.
Despite strong pressure to throw the book at the accused, Mr. Thompson allowed him to plead guilty to assault.
The hate crime charge could have drawn a 2- to 7-year sentence but with the plea bargain the Shmira member will serve only one day in jail and perform 25 days of public service. He is getting credit for time served in prison and under house arrest in Israel, where he fled after being told he likely would be indicted. (He was extradited this past April.)
The Shmira member was indicted by then-Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes for assault as a hate crime, a charge that caused much controversy because of a lack of evidence of any anti-black animus. But the charges stuck. Mr. Thompson, however, who ordered an aggressive top to bottom review of procedures in the Brooklyn DA’s office – a review that has resulted in a number of questionable convictions being thrown out – had no problem taking the next step and dismissing the hate crime charges. This even though the Shmira member fled the jurisdiction of New York and fought extradition.
In a refreshingly straightforward explanation, Mr. Thompson said: “[The] guilty plea is an appropriate disposition of this matter because the facts of the case simply did not support a hate crime and there were no serious injuries.”
This kind of fact-driven decision-making will go a long way toward rebuilding public confidence in the way the Brooklyn DA’s office approaches its responsibilities.