Metro

New NYPD stop-and-frisk judge ripped policy before

A Manhattan federal judge recently named to the bench by President Obama was tapped on Friday to oversee the controversial cases alleging the NYPD’s use of stop and frisk is unconstitutional.

Analisa Torres – who is no stranger to making harsh comments about stop-and-frisk tactics by cops — was assigned to the cases a day after an appeals panel booted Judge Shira Scheindlin off them after questioning Scheindlin’s impartiality and determining she “ran afoul” of judicial ethics while overseeing a non-jury trial over the NYPD’s use of the tactic.

The 53-year-old, third-generation judge from Harlem was nominated by Obama for the Manhattan federal court judgeship last November, and the Senate confirmed the appointment in April.

“Her breath of knowledge, fair-mindedness and deep commitment to public service make [her] ideal to serve on the federal bench,” said US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who recommended Torres to Obama, following the appointment confirmation.

Torres comes from a long line of legal eagles. Her father, Frank Torres, was a longtime Bronx Supreme Court judge; and her late grandfather, Felipe, was a longtime Family Court justice and South Bronx Democratic assemblyman.

She has previously been critical of the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policing tactics – particularly at the city’s public housing projects.

In a 2010 legal opinion, Torres ripped the NYPD for allegedly circumventing New York City Housing Authority rules to wrongfully perform hundreds of stop and frisks.

She barred the admission of 29 ziplock bags of cocaine that the police seized from Jose Ventura in the lobby of the Baruch Houses on the Lower East Side after determining the method used by cops to stop Ventura exploited NYCHA rules barring people from being in city housing projects unless they live there or are visiting a resident.

“If a person is merely standing in the lobby of a housing project building and there is no evidence of prior criminality at that location, are the police permitted to approach and question that individual for the purpose of determining whether he or she lives there?,” she wrote. “I hold that they are not.”

Torres earned her way up the judicial ranks, graduating magna cum laude from Harvard and then Columbia Law School.

Shira Scheindlin leaving her home this morning.

 

After clerking for the late Supreme Court Judge Elliot Wilk from 1992 to 1999, Torres became a Manhattan criminal court judge in 2000.  She was appointed an acting Manhattan Supreme Court judge in 2004 before being elected to the court in 2010, overseeing criminal cases there until this year.

The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday found Scheindlin violated the Code of Conduct for United States judges by failing to “avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities” and by failing to disqualify herself “in a proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”

The panel also granted the city a stay to delay the implementation of Scheindlin’s August ruling — which found stop and frisk to be unconstitutional and called for a federal monitor overseeing the NYPD and for cops to wear body cameras on patrol as part of a pilot program.

The city is currently appealing the ruling, so it’s unclear what role Torres will play in the case until the panel decides on the appeal early next year.

Torres, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment, was randomly selected to take the cases – but she wasn’t the first to draw the short straw.

Manhattan federal Judge John Koeltl was initially selected to replace Scheindlin but declined.

When asked why, both he and a court spokeswoman declined comment.