United african movement
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alton h. Maddox, jr. Tel.: (718) 834-9034
Chairman Fax : (718) 834-1275
16 Court Street
Suite 1901
Brooklyn, NY 11241
April 14, 2009
Sen. Malcolm A. Smith
Office of New York State Senate
909 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 11247
Re: Central Park 6
Dear Sen. Smith:
Media reports indicate that you have paved the way for Senate Democrats to finance the legal defense of state Senator Hiram Monserrate who has been indicted for knifing his girlfriend. In other words, he allegedly reconstructed her face. To be sure, everyone is presumed innocent and everyone is entitled to a competent and zealous defense.
Your priorities, however, disturb United African Movement. In 1990, five innocent young Black and Latino youth were maliciously prosecuted, wrongfully convicted and sent to state prison. The Manhattan prosecutors had to have known in 1990 that these young men were innocent. The spectre of Scottsboro Boys would raise its ugly head in Manhattan.
In 1930, the most solid support for the Scottsboro Boys came from Blacks in New York City. There were no Black elected officials in Alabama and, because of environmental racism, Blacks in Alabama had to organize the Protective National Detective Association to experience any semblance of legal representation.
Throughout the ordeal of the “Central Park Boys”, no one has heard a peep from you about this miscarriage of justice. Monserrate only enjoys the presumption of innocence. These five youth were always innocent. Yet, they had to suffer the horrors of this state’s criminal justice system.
While whites, similarly situated, have received compensation from New York, the pockets of these young men are still empty and their minds are scarred. There is a double standard of justice in both federal and state courts in New York despite the presence of Black elected officials and lawyers. In 1991, a blue-ribbon commission found that racism had infested state courts in New York.
Nearly nineteen years ago, I was wrongfully suspended from the practice of law for refusing to violate the attorney-client privilege amid a criminal trial. The disciplinary investigation concerning me arose out of a complaint from white members of the New York Legislature with no dissent from the Black legislators.
The leading complainants were the late Assemblyman Neil Kelleher and Assemblyman John Tedisco. At the same time, the New York Legislature honored Barry Slotnick for representing Bernard Goetz in a racially-inspired shooting of Black youth on a New York subway with no dissent from the Black legislators. Innocent lives were endangered.
Initially, the Brooklyn Disciplinary Committee refused to conduct an investigation against me since it would violate the attorney-client privilege. I was later urged to testify before this disciplinary committee because Steven Pagones needed my testimony to prepare for his defamation trial. Otherwise, he would have had to give his testimony, first, in a deposition. I refused to participate in my own legal demise.
New York decided to throw the law out of the window and embark on a path of lawlessness. When I was illegally suspended from the practice of law nearly nineteen years ago, I sought assistance from every political representative in New York in order to protect the right of Blacks to enjoy legal representation. This illegal suspension has had a chilling effect on legal representation.
Everyone turned a deaf ear to my plea to stop a miscarriage of justice. New York framed and railroaded me. Even a mostly white petit jury in Duchess County would later find that I did not defame Steven Pagones. This finding is a public record in the Dutchess County Courthouse. The fact that the petit jury had sided with me was of no moment to New York, however.
During the 60s’ I labored in the vineyards of the South seeking social and political rights for descendants of enslaved Africans. I personally suffered police harassment and police brutality. Except for “Negroes with Guns,” I would have been a victim of a lynch mob on the courthouse steps in Talbot County, Georgia.
When I look at your priorities, I realize that the trek to the “Promised Land” is still long and arduous. Harry and Harriette Moore, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer and Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. must be weeping. This is a promise betrayed. Blacks still have no political representation.
You should get involved in the settlement of all grievances and claims by the “Central Park Boys.” Your political influence is critical to moving the New York City Council to correct an injustice. This miscarriage of justice is a stain on the entire state. I find it interesting that we have secured the name of former Cong. Newt Gingrich to support the “Central Park 6”.
Moreover, you should move Gov. David Paterson to unseal, without redaction, all files, minutes, records, transcripts, tapes, exhibits, disks, logs, reports and all other matters concerning the Tawana Brawley investigation. Let the chips fall where they may. If Brawley was a hoax, what is New York hiding?
Very truly yours,
.
AHM:sr
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alton h. Maddox, jr. Tel.: (718) 834-9034
Chairman Fax : (718) 834-1275
16 Court Street
Suite 1901
Brooklyn, NY 11241
April 14, 2009
Sen. Malcolm A. Smith
Office of New York State Senate
909 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 11247
Re: Central Park 6
Dear Sen. Smith:
Media reports indicate that you have paved the way for Senate Democrats to finance the legal defense of state Senator Hiram Monserrate who has been indicted for knifing his girlfriend. In other words, he allegedly reconstructed her face. To be sure, everyone is presumed innocent and everyone is entitled to a competent and zealous defense.
Your priorities, however, disturb United African Movement. In 1990, five innocent young Black and Latino youth were maliciously prosecuted, wrongfully convicted and sent to state prison. The Manhattan prosecutors had to have known in 1990 that these young men were innocent. The spectre of Scottsboro Boys would raise its ugly head in Manhattan.
In 1930, the most solid support for the Scottsboro Boys came from Blacks in New York City. There were no Black elected officials in Alabama and, because of environmental racism, Blacks in Alabama had to organize the Protective National Detective Association to experience any semblance of legal representation.
Throughout the ordeal of the “Central Park Boys”, no one has heard a peep from you about this miscarriage of justice. Monserrate only enjoys the presumption of innocence. These five youth were always innocent. Yet, they had to suffer the horrors of this state’s criminal justice system.
While whites, similarly situated, have received compensation from New York, the pockets of these young men are still empty and their minds are scarred. There is a double standard of justice in both federal and state courts in New York despite the presence of Black elected officials and lawyers. In 1991, a blue-ribbon commission found that racism had infested state courts in New York.
Nearly nineteen years ago, I was wrongfully suspended from the practice of law for refusing to violate the attorney-client privilege amid a criminal trial. The disciplinary investigation concerning me arose out of a complaint from white members of the New York Legislature with no dissent from the Black legislators.
The leading complainants were the late Assemblyman Neil Kelleher and Assemblyman John Tedisco. At the same time, the New York Legislature honored Barry Slotnick for representing Bernard Goetz in a racially-inspired shooting of Black youth on a New York subway with no dissent from the Black legislators. Innocent lives were endangered.
Initially, the Brooklyn Disciplinary Committee refused to conduct an investigation against me since it would violate the attorney-client privilege. I was later urged to testify before this disciplinary committee because Steven Pagones needed my testimony to prepare for his defamation trial. Otherwise, he would have had to give his testimony, first, in a deposition. I refused to participate in my own legal demise.
New York decided to throw the law out of the window and embark on a path of lawlessness. When I was illegally suspended from the practice of law nearly nineteen years ago, I sought assistance from every political representative in New York in order to protect the right of Blacks to enjoy legal representation. This illegal suspension has had a chilling effect on legal representation.
Everyone turned a deaf ear to my plea to stop a miscarriage of justice. New York framed and railroaded me. Even a mostly white petit jury in Duchess County would later find that I did not defame Steven Pagones. This finding is a public record in the Dutchess County Courthouse. The fact that the petit jury had sided with me was of no moment to New York, however.
During the 60s’ I labored in the vineyards of the South seeking social and political rights for descendants of enslaved Africans. I personally suffered police harassment and police brutality. Except for “Negroes with Guns,” I would have been a victim of a lynch mob on the courthouse steps in Talbot County, Georgia.
When I look at your priorities, I realize that the trek to the “Promised Land” is still long and arduous. Harry and Harriette Moore, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer and Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. must be weeping. This is a promise betrayed. Blacks still have no political representation.
You should get involved in the settlement of all grievances and claims by the “Central Park Boys.” Your political influence is critical to moving the New York City Council to correct an injustice. This miscarriage of justice is a stain on the entire state. I find it interesting that we have secured the name of former Cong. Newt Gingrich to support the “Central Park 6”.
Moreover, you should move Gov. David Paterson to unseal, without redaction, all files, minutes, records, transcripts, tapes, exhibits, disks, logs, reports and all other matters concerning the Tawana Brawley investigation. Let the chips fall where they may. If Brawley was a hoax, what is New York hiding?
Very truly yours,
.
AHM:sr
posted by Attorney Alton Maddox at 1:13 PM
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