From Police to Prosecutor

Smart people always have a primary goal, known as ‘Plan A’ along with an alternate goal, known as ‘Plan B’ in case Plan A needs to be changed for voluntary (e.g., seeking a better opportunity) or involuntary (e.g., pandemic supply chain related issues restrict products available to sell) reasons. This storyteller moved happily and successfully through Plans A, B, C, D and E. 

FAMILY BACKGROUND

SJ grew up in a city. His father was a subway train operator (the first Black person to hold that job). His mother was a homemaker. 

EDUCATION

After graduating from high school, SJ served in the Marine Corps. While working in his first adult job (involving the law / law enforcement), SJ attended night classes at a city college, earning his bachelor’s degree after 8 ½ years (!) of night school. 

He then enrolled in a law school, switching his police work to evenings so he could attend law school classes during the day. 

LAW RELATED CAREER COMMENCES – BASIC POLICEMAN (‘PATROLMAN’)

Upon his Honorable Discharge following three years of military service, SJ joined the city’s large police department at its lowest rank – Patrolman. Later asked why he chose to work within law enforcement, SJ said “After completing a very strenuous – mentally and physically – Marine Corps boot camp, then serving as a soldier, I knew I didn’t want to work primarily indoors. Marines – like all our military branches – are prepared to deal with bad people and protect good people, much like police work.”

SJ’s dedication to continuing to learn how to be a better police patrolman plus his steady presence and judgment earned respect from his fellow police officers and eventually from his police supervisors, which led to an opportunity to serve as a police detective.

LAW RELATED CAREER PATH B – POLICE DETECTIVE

As a police detective, SJ attended advanced police education programs to learn the formal requirements of his new job, which included investigating crime scenes and witnesses with the goal of arresting anyone responsible for committing a crime – regardless of who they were or any excuse or alibi, all of which had to be thoroughly checked out. 

SJ’s dedication to continuing to learn how to be a better detective plus his steady presence and judgment earned respect from his fellow detectives and eventually from his police supervisors, leading to his appointment as a police Sergeant. But by now, SJ wanted an expanded role within law enforcement – not just turn the bad guy over to the attorney / prosecutor’s office – but TO BE the prosecutor who decides whether the evidence to convict the arrested individual is credible (believable) and sufficient to convict the individual of the crime(s) as charged.  

LAW RELATED CAREER PATH C – PROSECUTOR

Editor: All prosecutors – state and Federal – must be licensed lawyers. Admission to law school is limited to college graduates, though the choice of college ‘majors’ varies widely among new law students – from traditional ‘political science’ to courses totally unrelated to the law, ranging from accounting, business, education, engineering, foreign language, history, literature, human services (e.g., psychology and social work) to mathematics, science, and writing. 

After taking 8 ½ years to earn a college degree as a night-school student, then 3 more years of daytime law school and passing the Bar Examination, SJ had earned his lawyer’s license. 

While studying as a law student, SJ often had many questions which he posed to an older attorney who, like SJ, had started his career within the law, as a fellow police Patrolman. His long-time friend patiently answered SJ’s continuing questions but as the friend later said: “Often SJ would call at 7 in the morning to ask a question about the law. I finally had to persuade him to stop because law discussions at 7 a.m. were not pleasing my wife.”

SJ continued to work as a detective within the police department until – (you’ve read something similar, 4 paragraphs above) – his dedication to continuing to learn how to be a better detective plus his steady presence and judgment earned respect from his fellow professionals in police work became known to politicians looking for smart attorneys with law enforcement experience, who would likely be successful prosecutors within the Federal Court system. 

SJ resigned from the city police department when he agreed to accept appointment as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. 

LAW RELATED CAREER PATH D – HEAD OF POLICE CIVILIAN COMPLAINT REVIEW 

After serving for several years as a Federal Prosecutor, SJ learned from his friends still within the city police department, that they were looking for someone to take charge of the ‘Police Conduct Review Board’ which was a combination of police and civilians with no police experience, to remove review of police conduct solely from the police themselves. The police management was hoping to find a community member who understood the demands and stresses of police work but would agree to exercise independent judgment while earning the respect of both the police and non-police. Did SJ have any suggestions to identify such a person? As SJ pondered his response, one of his police friends asked: “Why not you?” 

Sj thought about this possible opportunity, discussed it with his wife and decided he could have a broader impact on promoting responsible policing and related public confidence in law enforcement through serving as head of the combined police and civilian review board, than prosecuting criminals, one at the time. So, SJ accepted the appointment to head the conduct review agency. 

As a result of earning the respect of the law enforcement community and civilians within the police conduct review board plus politicians and newspapers and the general public who were interested in police / community relationships, SJ’s work came to the attention of local politicians who recommended SJ to serve as a Federal Judge the next time an opening was available on the Federal Bench. When that occurred, SJ was nominated by the then U.S. President (George H.W. Bush) to serve as a Federal Judge, subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate, which approved his appointment. 

LAW RELATED CAREER PATH E – FEDERAL JUDGE

Among SJ’s memorable Court rulings:

• Ordered the closing of Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which he deemed was an “H.I.V. prison camp for Haitian refugees
• Ruled that New York City had failed to adequately assist poor residents with AIDS
• Defended controversial drug laws; critics said the laws imposed unduly harsh prison sentences on low-level dealers – in some cases, a minimum of 20 years – but SJ said “Few, if any, drug violators were previously going to jail even after conviction and now people are going to jail and, in that respect, the law has been a success.” However, he also said that “Enforcement alone is not the answer. You need rehabilitation, education, prevention.”

Illustrative of SJ’s dedication to serving the public, at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, when court cases were being conducted remotely, the courthouse staff advised SJ to stay home out of concern for his health. Instead, he decided to leave for work early, arriving at court about 2:30 a.m. Some colleagues would realize that the judge was in full-time working mode only by glimpsing him getting breakfast in the cafeteria. 

While always serious, as a Federal Judge, SJ had the judicial discretion to manage trials in a way which was fair to all sides while sometimes involving SJ’s creative thinking. When a lagging courthouse reconstruction project reduced the number of available courtrooms to 10 for his district’s 15 judges, SJ refused to postpone a trial session for which he could not find a courtroom. Hauling two camping chairs out of his car, he ordered the lawyers and their clients to follow him to a nearby park, where he set up the chairs, designating one as his ‘Bench’ and the other for the court stenographer. Lawyers and litigants in the trial, a nonjury civil case, sat on park benches and a federal Marshall shushed chatting passers-by with “Quiet, court is in session.”

CAREER SATISFACTION

While serving as a judge, making many courageous rulings, SJ continued to be involved in law enforcement, helping to establish sentencing policies for the Federal judiciary as a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission for three years. He lectured widely in the U.S. and abroad. 

SJ was long involved with the National Black Prosecutors Association, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the Presidential Drug Advisory Council, and task forces on promoting minority representation in the judiciary and gender, racial and ethnic fairness in the courts.