Judge Withholds Garner Jury’s Testimony

A New York judge declined to divulge the contents of a grand jury’s secret testimony in the case of Eric Garner, the unarmed black man who was choked to death by an NYPD officer last year in Staten Island. Public rage following the jury’s decision not to indict the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, had prompted the New York Civil Liberties Union to sue to make the evidence public. District Attorney Daniel Donovan said that such a disclosure would damage the credibility of prosecutors who had told grand jury members that their views would be kept from the public. The judge ruled that the motivants “failed to establish” a “compelling and particularized need” to overcome the secrecy afforded to grand juries.