Dozens of lawyers join protests over police slayings
Dozens of lawyers in New York City and elsewhere joined protests Wednesday over recent police slayings of unarmed individuals and the way they have been handled by the criminal justice system.
Public defenders marched with other lawyers at Brooklyn courthouses and at least one prosecutor’s office and also participated in a “die-in” outside a city jail, the Associated Press reports.
“We wanted to lend or voices to protest what’s been going on for decades, not only in this courthouse but in courthouses across the five boroughs and across the United States in terms of a really unequal criminal justice system,” Deborah Wright later said. She is president of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys.
In Philadelphia, lawyers were among those participating in a Criminal Justice Center die-in. A shorter version of the same Associated Press article includes a photo of attorneys lying on the floor in their business suits.
Although police treatment of others is also at issue, a major focus of the protests has been the fact that there were no indictments against officers in the slayings of Eric Garner in New York City and of Michael Brown</a, in Ferguson, Missouri.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com’: “Law prof, attorneys and students protest in rain at Los Angeles courthouse”
KTTV: “Hundreds Of Lawyers Stage ‘Die-In’ To Protest Police Brutality”
CBS News: “”Enough is enough”: Tens of thousands march to protest police violence”
CNN: “Ferguson fallout: Protesters interrupt Holder’s speech”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “AG nominee will lead federal probe into Eric Garner’s chokehold death”
ABAJournal.com: “Could one justice’s vote have saved Eric Garner? SCOTUS declined to enjoin chokeholds in 1983”
New York Daily News: “Controller Scott Stringer eyes settlement to lawsuit against city in chokehold death of Eric Garner”
New York Times (reg. req.): “New York City Comptroller Seeks to Settle Claim by Eric Garner’s Family”
