No Arrest in New York Subway Chokehold Death, and Many Want to Know Why
The rider who choked Mr. Neely was interviewed by the police and released, and a person familiar with the matter said the rider is not viewed by the authorities as a flight risk.
If he is charged by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, the man who applied the chokehold would most likely argue that the force he used against Mr. Neely was justified. Prosecutors would have to prove that he used deadly force without having believed that Mr. Neely was also using deadly force or was about to.
And in order to show those things in court, prosecutors would need to have interviewed every one of the many witnesses to the encounter, to make sure that none of them would say something that would hurt the prosecutors’ case. Prosecutors do not typically bring cases unless they believe they can win them.
Under New York law, a defendant in custody who has been charged with a felony must be released within a strict time limit unless the district attorney wins an indictment from a grand jury and alerts the court to that indictment or the defendant has consented to a delay.
A second time limit comes into effect after an indictment, guiding the amount of time prosecutors have to gather case material, share it with defense lawyers and state that they are ready for a trial to begin. If they do not meet their deadlines, or if the court finds there is missing case material, the case can be dismissed for violating a defendant’s right to a speedy trial.
Source: The New York Times
