Pubdate: Thu, 07 Dec 2000
Source: Bergen Record (NJ)
Copyright: 2000 Bergen Record Corp.
Contact:  http://www.bergen.com/cgi-bin/feedback
Website: http://www.bergen.com/
Author: Ralph Siegel, The Associated Press

COURT LETTING 4 OFFENDERS APPEAL BASED ON PROFILING

TRENTON -- A state appeals court said Wednesday that four defendants
convicted of drug offenses after traffic stops by state troopers may
use racial profiling information for new appeals or to have their
trials reopened.

Courts have previously ruled that evidence of racial profiling can be
introduced at a defendant's initial trial.

State lawyers argued that two of the defendants whose cases were ruled
upon Wednesday had waived the right to reopen their cases because they
had pleaded guilty. They also argued that defendants in two other
cases never raised concerns about discrimination during their trials
and should not be allowed to do so now.

The appellate judges said that defendants in each case have a
legitimate right to use profiling information in light of the 1999
report by the Attorney General's Office confirming that the practice
had occurred and was a problem.

As a result, lawyers for the four defendants will be allowed to seek
more documentation and perhaps get depositions from witnesses in an
effort to show the traffic stops that resulted in their clients'
arrests should not have occurred.

The judges said their decision did not free the convicts nor reverse
their convictions or sentences. The judges also said there was no
evidence the trials or the plea bargain agreements were unfair.

Attorney General John Farmer said last week that his decision to make
public thousands of pages of documents related to racial profiling
documents does not mean his office will abandon prosecutions in drug
cases.

However, he said criminal cases and civil lawsuits may be dropped or
settled if newly disclosed information is found to have a bearing on
specific cases. 
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