New York’s highest court on Monday shot down efforts to unseal the minutes of the Staten Island grand jury that cleared an NYPD cop of criminal charges in the controversial chokehold death of Eric Garner.
The Appellate Division in Albany denied motions by city Public Advocate Letitia James and others to challenge an appeals-court ruling keeping the records secret.
The three-sentence ruling didn’t detail any reasons, but noted without explanation that outgoing Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman “took no part.”
In a statement, James called the decision “disappointing,” saying, “We took on this case to pursue transparency, accountability and to restore the public’s faith in justice, including through legislation and other public-policy making.”
James also said she was “eagerly” awaiting the results of a federal probe into Garner’s July 2014 death, which the city Medical Examiner’s Office blamed in part on a caught-on-camera chokehold by cop Daniel Pantaleo.
Garner’s death, along with the August 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., prompted weeks of protests in New York and other cities.
A spokesman for the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office, which successfully fought to keep the grand-jury minutes sealed, didn’t return a request for comment.