The magical thinking of police reform.
In the tiresome debate over whether we should defund or reform the police, the pro-reform people emerge as the rational ones. Defund is presented as anarchy leading to inevitable societal collapse.
It’s also cast as a hopelessly nebulous idea with no concrete definition applicable to the real world.
Well, tell me how you “reform” a system where none of the stakeholders have incentive to change because they face no consequences for egregious abuse? How do you reform a system where the following happened? From my story in the Daily Beast:
Last week, Sheldon Thomas walked out of prison, after having served 18 years of a 25-year sentence for a crime he likely didn’t commit.
Thomas’ path to incarceration began in 2004, when NYPD Detectives Robert Reedy and Michael Martin showed a picture of a young Black man to a witness, who identified him as being in the car linked to a shooting.
The photo was of someone named Sheldon Thomas, but it was not the Sheldon Thomas who would soon lose almost two decades of his life to unjust incarceration. Later, once those same detectives realized they busted the wrong Sheldon Thomas, they proceeded to build the case against him anyway.
Prosecutors also knew about the false identification, before and during Thomas’ 2006 trial. Eventually, so did Vincent Del Giucice—the judge who sentenced Thomas to a quarter-century behind bars, but later did not vacate Thomas’ sentence or order a new trial once he learned of officers’ lies—according to the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.
No one involved has faced any real consequences (except Thomas). To his credit, Judge Del Giucice did ream out Reedy in the courtroom in 2006, after he learned about the photo lineup false identification.
“You testified before me on direct examination, and you led me to believe that No. 5 was the defendant on trial, yes or no?” Del Giudice asked. “You knew that was false, didn’t you?”
“I suggest you retain counsel, sir, for any further proceedings,” Del Giudice said.
But then Thomas spent two decades of his life in prison anyway even though Del Giudice could have vacated his sentence. Both Reedy and Martin retired with all their benefits intact. Del Giucice is still on the bench.
Outside of a few citations of Reedy, whose appearance before the court got a New York Post story, you have to dig deep (or, you know, do journalism) to find out Martin and Del Giucice’s role. I still don’t know who the prosecutor was. Is she (it’s a she based on the Gonzales report) still working for the DA? Will Gonzales review every case they and the officers (who have atrocious records in addition to their role in the Thomas nightmare) touched?
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