ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP - Modified) — Newly released transcripts show that a grand jury investigating the police suffocation death of Daniel Prude last year in Rochester, New York, voted 15-5 to clear the three officers involved in his restraint of a criminally negligent homicide charge sought by prosecutors.
That was the only charge prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office asked the grand jury to consider after nine days of testimony from witnesses including Prude’s brother, other police officers and experts. The names of witnesses and jurors were blacked out of the transcripts.
They were released Friday, weeks after State Attorney General Letitia James secured a judge’s OK to make the usually secret material public.
“This nation has a long and painful history of injustice, and every day, we are working to create a fairer and more equal system,” said Attorney General James. “Our efforts to balance the scales of justice and ensure accountability can only go so far in the absence of transparency. We took the unprecedented action of seeking to release the grand jury transcripts because the public deserves to know what happened in these proceedings. As I have throughout my career, I will continue to use every tool at my disposal to shine a light in the corners of our system that have been hidden for too long.”
You can view the transcripts here.
