April 20, 2015
My fellow New Yorkers,
I've been proud to lead the fight to bring transparency to our justice system.
My office filed a petition in court to release minutes in the Eric Garner Grand Jury case because the public has the right to know what happened behind closed doors. We all deserve to know why what we saw on those two videotapes did not match up with the failure to return an indictment.
Last month, a judge denied our petition to unseal the minutes. We were disappointed, but remained undaunted in our quest for justice.
We immediately filed an appeal, and a motion to expedite that appeal.
This matters because without expedition, it would likely take over a year for our appeal to be heard. That is simply too long.
And today, a panel of appellate division judges overseeing our motion
to expedite that appeal ruled in our favor.
We will not stop fighting to restore transparency in faith in our justice system.
Sincerely,
Letitia James
New York City Public Advocate