The Police Accountability Unit was assigned to prosecute Manhattan law enforcement officers for misconduct, “including excessive use of force, unlawful stops, searches and arrests; and theft of personal property.” evidence of the case. Franco was charged with 16 counts, including perjury and official misconduct.
The charges come amid growing doubts about the work of the city’s police. In 2019, Brooklyn prosecutors sought to vacate eight guilty verdicts helped by Detective Louis Scarcella, whose investigation came under scrutiny. That year, on the advice of a judge, the police department fired Daniel Pantaleo for suffocating a black man named Eric Garner, resulting in he dies.
When Mr Franco was charged, he appeared to be part of a pattern of misconduct.
In prosecutors’ opening remarks in January. 19, they describe Mr. Franco stars as a devious detective who betrays the trust of the Narcotics Department and the city by lying about witnessing a drug deal. gentlemen. It was Franco’s job to observe the hand-to-hand combat and then report it to his department, providing possible grounds for arresting the dealer and buyer.
But a prosecutor questioned Mr. Franco’s report after reviewing video surveillance around the public housing development showed the detective was not where he said he was at all. gentlemen. Franco was accused of lying in a case that led to the arrest of five people, two of whom spent more than a year in prison after their convictions.
The cases he handled were quickly dismissed. “We cannot responsibly rely on his testimony to support these convictions,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez as his office moved to have them fired.
gentlemen. Mr Tanner told the jury at the opening ceremony. Franco’s job was to act as a “ghost” in the unit, which meant he had to witness the drug deals out of the perpetrator’s sight. Detective works in an ‘imprecise’ system that doesn’t allow him to take notes in real time, sir. Tanner said, and insisted that the worst was the case, Mr. Franco mistakes where he sees a drug sale.
He’s on trial, sir. Because he did his job, Tanner said.
A juror in the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she plans to become a lawyer and does not want the case to jeopardize her career, said she and her colleagues were fired in less than five minutes on Tuesday.