New York Must Re-Define "The Fix Is In"

Jury blasts tix-fix cops
The New York Post by Vinita Singla, Kirstan Conley and Bill Sanderson  -  June 3, 2011
The NYPD ticket-fix scandal is wreaking havoc on the Bronx DA's Office.

A Bronx jury found a former prosecutor not guilty of felony DWI yesterday -- saying that cops who voided summonses had no credibility when they testified in the case.  Steven LoPresti's acquittal was Bronx prosecutors' second defeat in a case featuring testimony from ticket-fixing officers. It follows a similar outcome for a man charged with attempted murder.  "They have no integrity. They really don't deserve a badge. They should retire, pick another profession," said juror Isaac Johnson, 20. "It played a big role in my decision," Johnson said of the ticket-fixing allegations.  Postal worker Hector Cora, 41, agreed with his fellow juror, saying, "Ticket fixing played a big role. You don't lie under oath. You tell the truth."  The officers' involvement in fixing tickets "shows how crooked they are," said juror Guadalupe Torres, 58. "They've probably done that so many times, but they say they did it once or twice. We reached a verdict immediately because it was a clean-cut case."  Defense lawyer Steven Epstein said the verdict shows the police need to stop fixing traffic tickets.  "The NYPD and the district attorneys in New York City need to seriously consider the conduct of police officers and how they go about acting as public servants," Epstein said.  Neither the Police Department nor the Bronx DA's Office would comment yesterday on the startling setback.  The verdict lets LoPresti keep his law license. He has been convicted three times of DWI.  "One thing I'm going to do is, I'm going to go to church and thank my lawyers," LoPresti said outside the courthouse.  The jury heard testimony from two cops, Julissa Goris and Harrington Marshall, who admitted they had fixed traffic tickets. Goris had arrested LoPresti, and Marshall administered his Breathalyzer test.  Goris admitted fixing a ticket for her mother, and Marshall admitted he persuaded an unidentified cop to drop a traffic ticket against a police sergeant's nephew. bill.sanderson@nypost.com


CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORY, "Lawyer-Former-Prosecutor Beats DWI Because of Corrupt Cops"