Communist Web Saturday 4th March 2000 9.30pm gmt Diallo judge biased By Tim Wheeler The stench of collusion hangs over the "not guilty" verdict which exonerated the four white police officers of all charges in the murder of Amadou Diallo, an innocent African street vendor. The judge in the trial, Justice Joseph W. Teresi, visited the defense lawyers at their bed and breakfast after the trial. For what purpose, to exchange congratulations? The collusion began with the decision by the New York Appellate Court to move the trial from the Bronx on the brazenly racist grounds that an unbiased jury could not be found in the majority Black and Latino borough where Diallo was slain. Every member of this appellate panel was a Republican appointed by Gov. George Pataki. The New York Law Journal reports that several years ago, Teresi defended one of four white police officers who shot and killed a mentally disturbed Black man "armed with a knife and fork...in a wrongful death that polarized the community." Teresi was selected for the Diallo trial "after several days of intense discussions," involving the highest ranking judges on the Albany bench, the Journal adds. Why, the Journal asks... http://www.billkath.demon.co.uk/cw/dia/dia.html
