Ex-Rep. McMahon Wins NY Prosecutor Race After Chokehold Case

Former U.S. Rep. Michael McMahon was elected Tuesday to succeed the district attorney involved in investigating the police chokehold death of Eric Garner, a case that focused attention on how prosecutors handle police brutality allegations.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, the Democrat was ahead of Republican Joan Illuzzi, a veteran assistant prosecutor, 55 percent to 45 percent in the election for Staten Island DA.

The contest came a year after former District Attorney Daniel Donovan empaneled a grand jury that declined to indict a white police officer in the death of Garner, an unarmed black man. Donovan, a Republican, later won a congressional race.

The grand jury's decision propelled debate about police treatment of black men and spurred calls to change the long-secret grand jury process and to refer police brutality allegations to special prosecutors rather than local district attorneys.

"We've had a real strain between the people in law enforcement and the people they seek to protect," McMahon said in a recent interview. He said he wanted to "rebuild the bridges" between the justice system and residents, partly by more proactively discussing reasons for grand jury secrecy and appointing a corps of staffers to attend community meetings.

He opposes, however, civil liberties advocates' ongoing efforts to get the Garner case grand jury transcripts released and says police killing cases should still be entrusted to district attorneys, not special prosecutors. But he added that he'll comply with a July order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo allowing Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to serve as special prosecutor for police killings statewide.

McMahon has declined to comment on the specifics of the Garner grand jury investigation.

McMahon served in the City Council before Congress, and he has practiced civil and criminal law. But he has never been a prosecutor.

Illuzzi — who handled major cases during 27 years as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan but had never run for office — highlighted McMahon's lack of prosecution experience.

He argued that his background in elected office would matter more, including by helping him fight for more city funding for the DA's office.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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