White Plains wrongful death trial of Marine veteran Kenneth Chamberlain to have nearly all-white jury
BY GRAHAM RAYMAN and REUVEN BLAU
A jury with only one black member was selected Monday to hear a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a mentally-ill African-American man fatally shot by a white cop in Westchester in 2011.
The eight-member panel - including two alternates - is made up of four white women, two Hispanic women, one white man and one black man.
They will decide the outcome of a $21 million federal suit brought by family of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., 68, who was killed by White Plains police officer Anthony Carelli, 34, on Nov. 19, 2011.
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Before opening arguments, lawyers for the Chamberlain family and the White Plains Police Department fought as the jury was whittled down from a pool of 45 candidates. Of that initial group, just three - or 6.6% - were black.
That breakdown of the jury is below the racial makeup of the six suburban counties from which the panelists were drawn. The counties are 68% white, 11% black and 17% Hispanic, according to the latest U.S. Census data. The jury was selected from Westchester, Sullivan, Putnam, Orange, Rockland, and Dutchess counties.
Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. was shot in his home in White Plains.
(Courtesy of Chamberlain Family)Experts say there’s no requirement that juries mirror the racial makeup of the communities where trials are held.
White Plains cops say that Chamberlain was having an early morning psychotic episode when he lunged at them with a knife after they shot him with beanbag rounds and a Taser gun to subdue him.
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They were called to the former correction officer and retired Marine’s apartment when his medical-alert pendant went off and he did not respond to medical authorities reaching out.
As cops arrived, they heard him yelling from his first-floor apartment.
But Chamberlain, who suffered from a heart condition, refused to open the door.
Kenneth Chamberlain Jr. (r.) with lawyer Randolph M. McLaughlin.
(Howard Simmons/New York Daily News)He became increasingly agitated as they spent roughly 90 minutes trying to get inside to make sure everything was ok. During the standoff, one of the officers in front of the door used a racial epithet, according to former Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore.
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Kenneth Chamberlain Jr.’s lawyers, from the firm of Newman Ferrara, believe he was terrified of the police and was lying on the floor when he was shot.
“When the jury hears Officer Carelli’s account, I think they will conclude Mr. Chamberlain would have had to be superhuman to do what he says he did,” said family lawyer Debra Cohen.
The officers outside taunted Chamberlain and one cop claimed he needed to use the bathroom inside, records show.
The phone connected to the alert system inside Chamberlain’s apartment picked up most of the audio during the standoff. The officers’ Taser guns also had video recorders.
Kenneth Chamberlain Sr.
(Enid Alvarez/New York Daily News)Carelli, who is white, and the other officers at the scene, say they acted in self-defense. Carelli fired the fatal shot. A Westchester grand jury in May 2012 declined to indict Carelli in the shooting.
“Anthony Carelli was confronted with the most difficult decision a police officer can confront,” his lawyer, Andrew Quinn, told jurors during his opening remarks. “He was forced to decide whether to use lethal force. He made the right decision. In fact, he made the only decision he could.”
Before the case started, jurors were asked about their knowledge of the case and their media and television preferences.
One selected juror, Melissa Estrada, seemed to have elements of her life that appealed to both sides.
The husband of a correction officer, she recalled that her bipolar father had an encounter with police when she was 14 in Orange County.
Deborah Danner was shot and killed by NYPD police.
(Facebook)“It’s not going to affect me at all,” she insisted.
One issue likely to come up at the trial is the knife.
Forensic tests on the knife show that Chamberlain's blood was on the blade. But it is extremely unlikely the DNA found on the handle belonged to him, the family's lawyers contend.
Chamberlain’s son, Kenneth Jr., believes his father was murdered. He is confident that the jury - despite only having one black member - will rule in the family’s favor.
Meanwhile, a jury of 11 white people and one black man is hearing arguments in the criminal trial of a Michel Slager, a white former cop in North Charleston, S.C. He’s charged with murder after shooting Walter Scott, a black man, in the back on April 4, 2015.
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