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American Morning
Community Enraged Officer Free Without Bond After Mowing Down Family
Aired August 08, 2001 - 10:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now another case that is shocking people in New York especially. It has outraged an entire community. A New York police officer is free without bond, that after being charged in connection with a deadly drunk driving accident.
Joining us now from New York to talk more about the case, our Jason Carroll -- Jason, good morning.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.
KAGAN: In this situation, why was there no bail for the police officer?
CARROLL: You know, Daryn, a lot of people are wondering about that. I actually checked with legal experts at Fordham University and at the University of Southern California. Basically, everyone tells me when it comes to a situation like this, Daryn, it's really up to the judge's discretion. And a judge will basically use three criteria. Take a look at what we found here.
The first criteria would be risk of flight and in this case...
KAGAN: Hey, Jason, I'm going to interrupt you a second here. Jason, I'm going to interrupt you a second here.
CARROLL: All right.
KAGAN: I want to backtrack a second because I don't think we got into the story properly. For people not familiar with this story, first backtrack and tell how this impacted especially one family and how four members of a single family were killed in this traffic accident.
CARROLL: Well, let's go back a little bit.
KAGAN: OK.
CARROLL: This entire accident happened on Saturday, Saturday evening. Officer Joseph Gray was on his way to work about two hours before his shift when he ran into a family that was crossing the street, an intersection. Maria Herrera, her sister Delcia, her 4- year-old son were all crossing the street when they were struck by Officer Gray. This obviously had upset... KAGAN: Now, we know that much happened? That's not just even alleged? We know that he was involved in the accident?
CARROLL: Yes.
KAGAN: And that there was a blood alcohol test taken as well?
CARROLL: Blood alcohol test taken. His alcohol level was tested at being twice what is the legal limit. So as you can imagine, a lot of people were shocked when this accident happened. It outraged a lot of people in the community. Family very upset. And then after this whole thing happened, what happens is the officer then goes in for his court proceeding and the judge decides not to set bail, even though the district attorney had asked for a half a million dollars. And so when that happened a lot of people were wondering, well, what's going on here?
So we decided to ask a number of legal experts to find out what was going on in terms of why a judge would, in this situation, decide not to set bail.
KAGAN: OK. And now we can put that graphic up explaining why the judge, indeed, decided not to set bail.
CARROLL: Good idea.
KAGAN: OK. Now...
CARROLL: All right, let's put the graphic back up.
KAGAN: OK.
CARROLL: Let's put the graphic back up. Now, here's what happened. After talking to a number of legal experts, they tell us that, you know, when it comes to deciding bail in manslaughter cases, or in any case, for that matter, it's really up to the judge's discretion. And a judge will look at three basic criteria, the first being risk of flight. And because Officer Joseph Gray is a police officer, he has roots in the community, the judge decided that he was not a risk of flight.
The second would be, as you see there, seriousness of the crime. He's charged with three counts of manslaughter along with numerous other charges. The third being, as you see there, danger to the community. Now, Officer Joseph Gray has no history of any disciplinary action and so the judge felt as though he did not present a risk to the community. Even though, as I said a little earlier, the district attorney in this case had asked for half a million dollars bail, the judge in this case decided not to set bail.
Now, Mayor Rudy Giuliani came out earlier this week and had said that he felt as though the judge had made a mistake -- Daryn.
KAGAN: What's the other fallout from this case?
CARROLL: Well, as we said a little earlier, as you can imagine, the family is extremely upset. In fact, earlier this week on Monday they held a rally in front of the police precinct to protest this judge's decision. Nearly 1,000 people showed up for this rally, everyone out there basically saying they want justice and at this point they don't feel as though they've gotten the justice they deserve.
KAGAN: All right, Jason Carroll in New York, thank you very much. More on that case a little later.
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