Bronx DA Robert Johnson is reviewing options for an appeal now that a judge has tossed convictions in the infamous Black Sunday blaze that killed two firefighters in 2005.
Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy on Tuesday overturned Cesar Rios’ conviction for criminally negligent homicide in the deaths of Lt. Curtis Meyran and Firefighter John Bellew. Rios, the building’s former owner, had been found guilty of letting tenants build illegal partitions in their apartment, leading to the firefighters’ deaths.
OK, Johnson bungled much of the case from the start: He failed to gain convictions of the tenants who installed the partitions — not surprising, given the historical aversion of Bronx juries to justice.
Still, Clancy somehow found that the DA failed to prove that Rios must’ve known of the partitions — even though he owned the building for 20 years.
Huh? If the prosecution’s failure to prove its case was so plain, how come it took Clancy more than a year to overturn the jury verdict?
This is the same judge who sent 18-year-old Cheyenne Cherry to prison for two years for allowing her young cousin to stuff a kitten in the oven.
Great message to send, judge: Let someone roast a cat, and go to jail; stand by and let tenants illegally and dangerously retrofit your building, thus causing the deaths of two of New York’s Bravest — and walk.
Appeal this decision now, DA Johnson.