Posted on 02/07/2024 7:40:05 PM PST by lightman
A New York state Supreme Court Justice called out Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for coming down harder against two residents who bought fake COVID-19 vaccine cards than he does for those charged with much more serious crimes.
In a recent ruling, state Supreme Court Justice Brendan T. Lantry dismissed Bragg’s felony charges against the two, identified by their initials in the case, who tried to flout NYC’s vaccine mandate.
J.O., a nursing student, and R.V., an employee with the city Department of Environmental Protection, were among hundreds accused of buying fake vaccination cards from a New Jersey stripper, Jasmine Clifford.
The two were among just 16 people Bragg’s office “cherry-picked” to prosecute and charge with felony criminal possession of a forged instrument, the judge said.
Fourteen pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, but J.O. and R.V. moved to dismiss the charges, prompting the DA’s office to contest the effort — and sparking outrage from the jurist. (New York Post)
"Clearly, Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree (Penal Law § 170.25) is not among the most serious crimes in the New York Penal Law, nor are the factual allegations against Defendants R.V. and J.O. particularly serious in nature," the judge wrote in the opinion.
"Moreover, the factual allegations — that the Defendants purchased fake COVID-19 vaccination cards so that they could provide same to their employer (R.V.) and school (J.O.) — do not rise to the level of the majority of the crimes adjudicated in Supreme Court, New York County, namely homicide, sexual assault, drug sale, robbery, burglary, and other violent and non-violent serious felony offenses," he continued.
Lantry said the Court was “astonished” to see how Bragg’s office “routinely — nearly daily — move[s] to dismiss significantly more serious counts or entire indictments in the interests of justice simply to negate the consequences of New York's predicate felon sentencing statutes or to avoid immigration consequences.”
City Council Minority Leader Joseph Borelli praised Lantry for the decision.
“This is what Alvin Bragg is — a clown,” Borelli told the New York Post. “Imagine prosecuting a scared woman for this, even though she didn’t even use the fake card, while at the same time letting violent perps go," he added, referring to how one of the defendants got the fake card for her enrollment in nursing school, even though she ended up getting the shot anyway.
"I’m glad the judge called him out for the world to see," Borelli added.
/s
Sounds like a problem for the vice squad. Do they even do that in NYC any more?
Just cannot make this stuff up.
How about the Biden administration going after amazon selling books that questioned covid
Well if the vaccine is fake, does a fake vaccine card cancel that out? Or maybe you can’t have a fake vaccine card when the vaccine was also fake! Kind of like charged with counterfeiting a $3.00 bill…….
The good judge is a Republican. God bless him.
it’s actually really great this judge did this. It’s on the permanent record now, Alvin!
+$3
We need a list of places you can’t go without a stupid vaccine card, to save wasted trips.
The printing of State official documents so that citizens can [directly] participate in interstate commerce is the equivalent of the State printing their own money.
N.Y. Gov. Is a complete a-hole for not firing this bragg pos.
The sad part is, they didn’t need to buy one. There were templates online and enough idiots were posting pictures of their cards online that it was easy to forge batch numbers, locations and initials. Laminate the card and you’re done.
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