Posted on 02/05/2020 5:24:10 PM PST by karpov
In October 2018, Wilmer Maldonado Rodriguez stepped in to protect two boys who were being threatened by members of the MS-13 gang on Long Island, officials said. In return, the gang members stabbed Mr. Rodriguez repeatedly and hit him in the head with a bat.
Despite the vicious assault, Mr. Rodriguez agreed to testify against the gang members, who were charged with assault and witness intimidation as a result of the attack, officials said.
On Sunday, Mr. Rodriguez was found beaten to death, and by Wednesday, his killing became a flash point for opponents of a series of criminal justice changes enacted by the New York State Legislature in 2019 at the urging of progressive lawmakers.
Since the start of the year, when the changes took effect, police officials and prosecutors in New York State have mostly focused their criticism on an overhaul of the bail laws, which they said was allowing criminals to go free.
But the killing of Mr. Rodriguez, 36, turned attention to a change in the state’s so-called discovery law, which governs when prosecutors must turn over information about their investigative findings.
The murder came several weeks after a judge ordered prosecutors to disclose Mr. Rodriguez’s identity to lawyers who represented his alleged attackers, as called for by revisions to the discovery process generally requiring that such information be shared within 15 days of a first court appearance. New York previously let prosecutors wait until the eve of trial to turn over the material.
Madeline Singas, the Nassau County district attorney, said that being forced to identify Mr. Rodriguez well before trial had hampered the authorities’ ability to protect him — ultimately costing him his life.
“This courageous man was prepared to testify against alleged assailants at an upcoming trial
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The Italian mob used to bribe cops to look the other way.
What is the Mexican mob using to buy influence?
Whatever it is, they gotta lot of it.
They own Albany.
Baseball bats ?
“Lead or gold”.
Not the 1st time they’ve killed a witness
Corrupt democrat bosses want more voters at any price to America.
New York politicians would rather Americans die than enforce US immigration laws.
Not just Democrats...
Most of the time, the Italian mobsters didn’t kill their victims back in the day. They persuaded them to see things differently.
Corrupt democrat bosses want more voters at any price to America.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately there are plenty of Bush League Republicans that want to help them get that permanent majority with amnesty.
Graham, Rubio, Hoeven and Murkowsky have already done it.
Graham has done it THREE times.
The mob kills snitches. Even decades later people are afraid to say things even in passing.
The prosecutor could have requested and the judge ordered that the witness’s name be shielded, or released only to defense attorneys and not the accused (which is open to many a slip.)
This should be standard in gang cases.
It’s quite possible they already knew who they had beaten up.
The Homeland Security acting secretary Chad Wolf was just on Tucker. Tucker asked about New York issuing driver’s licenses to everyone. The Secretary said that was of concern, but of more concern are restrictions preventing ICE and Customs and Border Protection from accessing the NY DMV data base to get photographs and other records. Because of that the Secretary said DHS sent a letter today to the New York saying they were discontinuing applications and renewal for NY residents using the “Global Entry) trusted traveler programs like TSA PreCheck, Clear, etc.
Stan by for major uproar!!
Couldn’t see that one coming, could we?
no... no, not at all
First, they stabbed him several times and beat him with a bat - but were not charged with attempted murder? Only “assault”?
Second, knowing their violent tendencies they didn’t provide the witness any protection?
Murdering witnesses is the kind of the thing the Mob used to do. And allowing witnesses to go unprotected is only going to make it harder for prosecutors to get witnesses in future cases.
This was a fustercluck every which way you look at it.
They need guards for the Gulags they want to put us in.
NY State has made major changes to the justice system and now even judges cannot get someone kept in jail, prevented from learning the identity of the witnesses, etc. The whole point of the article is that there is now no protection, and this was the first death directly traceable to this new policy.
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