So it turns out that the juvenile delinquent whose “stop-and-frisk” pistol-possession conviction was mindlessly overturned by an appeals court this week doesn’t just like to carry guns — he likes to shoot them, too.
At people. With murderous intent.
And he was free to do just that because New York’s criminal-justice system seems to have lost the nerve to deal forcefully with aspiring homicidal maniacs who have yet to reach legal age.
Justices Peter Tom, Karla Moskowitz and Nelson Roman of the state Appellate Division’s First Department this week conspired to void the 2010 gun-possession arrest of a 14-year-old Bronx youth, Darryl Craig, on the grounds that police had no valid grounds to stop and frisk him.
“This was a mere hunch at best, not a reasonable suspicion,” the judges ruled, in an opinion written by Tom.
A pretty good hunch, as it turned out.
Never mind that the frisk uncovered a loaded Colt .25 semiautomatic pistol in the youth’s pocket in a gang-plagued area that had seen numerous recent shootings.
Or that the sharp-eyed officer, Orlando Colon, had more than enough grounds to frisk Craig — having seen him put a black object into his pocket and then lie about it.
The young gunsel was sent to Family Court — where he was adjudged a juvenile delinquent and given 18 months probation.
Now, as The Post’s Larry Celona reports today, a scant three months after that arrest, Craig laid hands on another gun — and cold-bloodedly shot a Queens man.
Twice.
Then, as the wounded man lay prostrate before him, Craig leveled the pistol to fire a third — probably fatal — shot when the victim’s kids ran out of the house, scaring the shooter away.
Time to take Craig off the streets?
Don’t be silly.
Yes, he was arrested — and charged with attempted murder — but another muddle-headed judge granted him youthful-offender status and sealed the case.
So now it’s not clear where Craig even is.
What’s truly scary about this — apart from Craig himself — is the judicial wrongheadedness that saw him on the street in the first place.
The best cops and prosecutors in the world can’t do much if judges refuse to hold up their end.