T
The420Guy
Guest
Lawyers for a federal drug agent who is facing manslaughter charges in Brooklyn asked a federal court to take the case away from the New York courts yesterday in an unusual move that may expose a bitter division over the case between federal and state law enforcement officials.
The Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Jude Tanella, shot an unarmed drug suspect in the back, killing him, after a wild chase and violent struggle in East Flatbush in May. The Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, took the case to a grand jury after as many as a dozen civilian witnesses described the shooting. Mr. Tanella was indicted on manslaughter charges on Oct. 29.
The case has drawn attention because of a series of twists, including assertions by the family of the victim, Egbert David Dewgard, that he worked so hard at his Brooklyn print shop that he would not have had the time to be a high-ranking member of a drug crew, as has been claimed by drug investigators. Mr. Dewgard was 31 and the father of three.
The filing yesterday relied on a rarely used federal law that allows federal officers to move state charges against them to federal court, where the court can review claims that a federal agent is immune from state charges because he acted in the performance of his duties. The filing yesterday asserted that Mr. Tanella, 39, acted in self-defense.
In an interview, Mr. Tanella's lawyer, Lawrence A. Berger, said the federal court should protect Mr. Tanella from what he described as an improper prosecution. "We want to make sure," Mr. Berger said, "that this federal law enforcement officer, who was only doing his job, gets an absolutely fair hearing in the federal system which employs him."
Mr. Hynes's spokesman, Jerry Schmetterer, said he would have no comment about the filing yesterday.
The motion will place the federal judge assigned the case, Nicholas G. Garaufis, at the center of a delicate and largely hidden struggle between federal and state law enforcement officials.
After Mr. Tanella's indictment, the D.E.A. issued a statement saying it was "confident that at the end of the proceedings Special Agent Tanella will be exonerated." That statement, which seemed to take issue with the charges, was seen as an extraordinary public acknowledgment of a split between the drug agency and the district attorney.
Mr. Tanella, a former police officer in Old Bridge, N.J., has been described by federal law enforcement officials who worked with him as a rigorous agent. Some of them have said recently that they are concerned that political pressure contributed to the charges.
Through his spokesman, Mr. Hynes said yesterday that "it's absurd on its face that any political pressure led to this indictment." Mr. Dewgard's family is from Belize. Mr. Tanella is white and the case has drawn criticism of the agent from the Rev. Al Sharpton and others.
Criminal law experts said the move by Mr. Tanella's lawyer would give the defense two advantages, as opposed to fighting the case in the state court where Mr. Hynes filed the charges. The federal court will focus intensely on the law granting federal agents immunity from state prosecutions when they act reasonably, Abraham Abramovsky, a professor at Fordham Law School, said. Professor Abramovsky said the law was intended to insulate federal agents from local pressures, such as when they enforced federal law during the civil rights movement.
In the filing yesterday, Mr. Tanella's lawyer argued that the immunity would protect a federal agent even if the agent was mistaken about the action required. He declined to discuss the specifics of the defense.
But law enforcement officials say Mr. Tanella has maintained that Mr. Dewgard, who was taller and heavier than Mr. Tanella, was confronting him in a threatening way and turned at the last minute, which is why the shot went into his back. Witnesses have said Mr. Tanella appeared to panic during the tussle, which occurred after Mr. Tanella became separated from other officers.
Lawyers said yesterday that a second advantage the defense would obtain in moving the case to federal court would be a difference in the composition of the jury. In state court, the jury would be drawn from Brooklyn alone.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York would draw jurors from the larger area including Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, and Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
Brian Figeroux, a lawyer who represents the Dewgard family, said he thought the effort to move the case to federal court was improper. "I believe they're looking for a jury pool that is more reflective of Mr. Tanella's racial background," he said. "He is white."
Pubdate: Sat, 23 Nov 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Author: William Glaberson
The Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Jude Tanella, shot an unarmed drug suspect in the back, killing him, after a wild chase and violent struggle in East Flatbush in May. The Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, took the case to a grand jury after as many as a dozen civilian witnesses described the shooting. Mr. Tanella was indicted on manslaughter charges on Oct. 29.
The case has drawn attention because of a series of twists, including assertions by the family of the victim, Egbert David Dewgard, that he worked so hard at his Brooklyn print shop that he would not have had the time to be a high-ranking member of a drug crew, as has been claimed by drug investigators. Mr. Dewgard was 31 and the father of three.
The filing yesterday relied on a rarely used federal law that allows federal officers to move state charges against them to federal court, where the court can review claims that a federal agent is immune from state charges because he acted in the performance of his duties. The filing yesterday asserted that Mr. Tanella, 39, acted in self-defense.
In an interview, Mr. Tanella's lawyer, Lawrence A. Berger, said the federal court should protect Mr. Tanella from what he described as an improper prosecution. "We want to make sure," Mr. Berger said, "that this federal law enforcement officer, who was only doing his job, gets an absolutely fair hearing in the federal system which employs him."
Mr. Hynes's spokesman, Jerry Schmetterer, said he would have no comment about the filing yesterday.
The motion will place the federal judge assigned the case, Nicholas G. Garaufis, at the center of a delicate and largely hidden struggle between federal and state law enforcement officials.
After Mr. Tanella's indictment, the D.E.A. issued a statement saying it was "confident that at the end of the proceedings Special Agent Tanella will be exonerated." That statement, which seemed to take issue with the charges, was seen as an extraordinary public acknowledgment of a split between the drug agency and the district attorney.
Mr. Tanella, a former police officer in Old Bridge, N.J., has been described by federal law enforcement officials who worked with him as a rigorous agent. Some of them have said recently that they are concerned that political pressure contributed to the charges.
Through his spokesman, Mr. Hynes said yesterday that "it's absurd on its face that any political pressure led to this indictment." Mr. Dewgard's family is from Belize. Mr. Tanella is white and the case has drawn criticism of the agent from the Rev. Al Sharpton and others.
Criminal law experts said the move by Mr. Tanella's lawyer would give the defense two advantages, as opposed to fighting the case in the state court where Mr. Hynes filed the charges. The federal court will focus intensely on the law granting federal agents immunity from state prosecutions when they act reasonably, Abraham Abramovsky, a professor at Fordham Law School, said. Professor Abramovsky said the law was intended to insulate federal agents from local pressures, such as when they enforced federal law during the civil rights movement.
In the filing yesterday, Mr. Tanella's lawyer argued that the immunity would protect a federal agent even if the agent was mistaken about the action required. He declined to discuss the specifics of the defense.
But law enforcement officials say Mr. Tanella has maintained that Mr. Dewgard, who was taller and heavier than Mr. Tanella, was confronting him in a threatening way and turned at the last minute, which is why the shot went into his back. Witnesses have said Mr. Tanella appeared to panic during the tussle, which occurred after Mr. Tanella became separated from other officers.
Lawyers said yesterday that a second advantage the defense would obtain in moving the case to federal court would be a difference in the composition of the jury. In state court, the jury would be drawn from Brooklyn alone.
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York would draw jurors from the larger area including Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, and Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
Brian Figeroux, a lawyer who represents the Dewgard family, said he thought the effort to move the case to federal court was improper. "I believe they're looking for a jury pool that is more reflective of Mr. Tanella's racial background," he said. "He is white."
Pubdate: Sat, 23 Nov 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Author: William Glaberson
