Call it a "professional courtesy," or a subversion of the law by those who are supposed to uphold it, the city's ticket-fixing scandal continues to influence courtrooms across town as defense attorneys are using its implications to dilute the credibly of police testimony. Defense attorneys in the DWI trial of former Bronx prosecutor Stephen Lopresti have already gotten both officers on the scene to admit to ticket-fixing for their mothers and boyfriend's cousins, and yesterday they played a recording of the Bronx trustee of the Patrolman's Benevolent Association, Joe Anthony, speaking to the officer that administered the breathalyzer to Lopresti about fixing tickets.
The Daily News reports that on the recording, Marshall is heard telling Anthony "I need some summonses taken care of," referring to a few that his relatives had racked up. In 12 days time (quicker than the DMV!) Anthony calls Marshall to report "All is good, my brother." When Marshall asks if he needs to do anything in kind, Anthony replies "No, dude, that's the end of it." HAHA or is it, brahski? Officers on the stand continue to use union-friendly language to describe the behavior: "They classify it as ticket-fixing, I classify it as professional courtesy," Marshall testified.
Given the massive scope of the ticket-fixing probe, and now the on-record endorsement of it by a prominent police officer's union, there's little reason to believe that ticket-fixing will ever abate completely, which should give defense attorneys low-hanging fruit for years to come. Now's the time to commit a crime, because as they say: the truth professional courtesy shall set you free.
