Officer Struck by Federal Judge Dies

[Rose Siding]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- A police officer died Saturday, four days after being struck by a sport utility vehicle driven by a federal judge, the mayor said.

Officer Dan Picagli, a 17-year veteran of the force, was hit while directing traffic in the rain Tuesday night. He had been wearing a black raincoat and a reflective vest.

The SUV was driven by John M. Walker Jr., a senior judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, who maintains court chambers in New Haven. He was leaving work when the accident happened, police said.
...
Walker, 65, voluntarily stepped down this month as chief judge of the court. He was appointed to the court in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush, who is a cousin of the judge.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Judge-Officer-Crash.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Big family.

No blood tests were done on the judge.

[Erika]

1. Laura Bush also killed a driver

and no charges are ever filed?

[Megahurtz]

33. Really? n/t

[hippiechick]

2. Knowing or being related to them is a death knell !!

Cursed much ? :scared:

[mod mom]

3. the family of death.

[Haole Girl]

4. No blood tests were done on the judge.

No blood tests were done on the judge? :wtf:

Nice...:sarcasm:

[Kagemusha]

8. I posted on the original DU thread on it. The cops said...

the officers at the scene (on their own...) came to the conclusion that no test for alcohol or any other drugs was necessary.

Now my lizard brain is thinking you'd automatically do one just in case in a situation like that to rule things out but...... I wasn't there...

[JI7]

5. wonder why media whores don't refer to him as "Bush Cousin"

as they did that that Skakel murderer and calling him "Kennedy Cousin".

[fooj]

7. Isn't it George Herbert Walker Bush?

Isn't it George W. (Walker) Bush?

[Demeter]

24. Poppy Appointed Him

[Demit]

9. Check out how the NYT phrased the connection, in this story—

Remember the 2004 story of the judge who had to apologize for (factual) remarks he made at a lawyers convention?

"A federal appeals court judge apologized "profusely" yesterday for remarks he made last weekend at a lawyers convention comparing President Bush's election in 2000 to the rise of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. In a letter to the court, Guido Calabresi, a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, acknowledged that he had given the impression he was taking a partisan position, opposing President Bush's re-election. The letter was addressed to John M. Walker Jr., the chief judge of the appeals court, who released it to the press. ...

In a cover letter also released yesterday, Judge Walker said, "I am pleased that Judge Calabresi has promptly recognized that his remarks could too easily be taken as partisan and hence were inappropriate." Partisan political comments by judges are a violation of the code of judicial ethics.

Judge Walker, who by coincidence is President Bush's cousin, did not suggest there would be any further action against Judge Calabresi.

Judge Calabresi said that in his off-the-cuff remarks he was trying to make "a rather complicated academic argument," but he understood that they had been taken as an attack on President Bush. In a letter that contained no less than four apologies, he said he was "truly sorry" for "any embarrassment" he might have caused the appeals court. He did not, however, renounce the views he expressed. ..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/25/nyregion/25judge.html?ex=1403582400&en=cbc7ac73fa26bc3d&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND


All Bush power connections are always coincidental, right?

[saigon68]

10. The Bush Criminals are evil ass-clowns

[CTyankee]

21. Guido Calabresi was dean of Yale Law School

and highly respected by his peers. Of course, he DID testify in favor of Clarence Thomas's appointment to the Supreme Court, so I don't let him off easy.

[Katzenjammer]

13. Maybe because one killing was murder and the other an accident or,

at most, negligent homicide?

[zanne]

16. How do you know that?

Show me some proof that hitting a cop with a vehicle was "at most, negligent homicide".

[Katzenjammer]

22. "Show me some proof"

Don't be silly.

[mod mom]

20. Are you referring to Laura Bush's former boyfriend accident or would that

Be the "accidental" death of Marvin Bush's nanny?

[Katzenjammer]

23. As far as I know, the topic is the cop hit by the judge. Isn't it?

For whatever the reason might be--probably clinical judgement--the cops on the scene decided not to sobriety-test the judge. Ergo, it was an accident under law.

[LiberalFighter]

32. So they weren't influenced by the fact he is a judge?

[buddysmellgood]

6. Wow...he stepped down? Guilt must be on the Wallker side of the family.

[Tuttle]

14. He stepped down "preemptively"...

Walker had stepped down October 1st.

Tut-tut

[w4rma]

11. Being a Republican judge is a get out of jail free card, I guess.

Although, they have to "step down" from their position if their crime is well known enough.

…
No charges have been filed.

Police Chief Francisco Ortiz said the accident remained under investigation, but officers did not feel it was necessary to test Walker for drugs or alcohol.

Walker, 65, voluntarily stepped down this month as chief judge of the court. He was appointed to the court in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush, who is a cousin of the judge.
…

[BlueEyedSon]

12. How could the deceased's family not file charges?

[kestrel91316]

26. Families can't "file charges". Only prosecutors can

file criminal charges.

The family is free to file a claim for damages, or a lawsuit. That's not "charges".

[BlueEyedSon]

28. Right, i mean "sue"

But seriously, can they not petition the State AG or something, thats just BS

[cornermouse]

15. If any of us had done it,

tests would have been done automatically and charges would have already been filed regardless of test results.

[Little Star]

17. Cop killers are ok as long as they are

republicon judges and related to Bush. Thats the loud and clear message here.

[FormerOstrich]

19. Yes, don't test the VP or

Federal Judge......

I hope the family sues all those cops that decided that tests weren't necessary.

[lonestarnot]

18. Walker is another walker and he walks.

[Javaman]

25. "Bury the body and give the widow a corsaige"...nt

[phoebe]

27. more on John M. Walker, Jr.

http://www.law.yale.edu/faculty/JMWalker.htm - does he look "familiar"??

He was involved with the Abner Louima case in New York (brutal sexual torture with use of a broomstick - think we all remember that one) and with the Ramsey Yousef trial.. let's see what else we can find...


http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/113912

snip

Ban on 'partial birth' abortion struck down by 2 appellate courts
WIRE REPORTS
NEW YORK — Two federal appeals courts on opposite sides of the country declared the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional Tuesday, saying the measure lacks an exception for cases in which a woman's health is at stake.
The first ruling came from a unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Hours later, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued a similar decision in a 2-1 ruling.
The New York decision affirmed a 2004 ruling by a judge who upheld the right to perform the procedure even as he described it as "gruesome, brutal, barbaric and uncivilized."
Chief Judge John M. Walker said the court was "compelled by a precedent to invalidate a statute that bans a morally repugnant practice, not because it poses a significant health risk, but because its application might deny some unproven number of women a marginal health benefit."
He called on the Supreme Court to require a law's challenger to prove how women will be harmed by the law.
The rulings help set the stage for what may become the first abortion case before the Supreme Court since the swearing-in of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.

Against Rule 32.1 - Unpublished non-citation non-publication opinions

in other words a * through and through..

[Auntie Bush]

29. So Bush appointed his own cousin as Judge. NICE!

But,typical bush appointee!

[msmcghee]

30. I always thought that when a fatality occurs . .

. . that a drug / alcohol test on the driver was required. Is that not required in CT?

[Anakin Skywalker]

31. Appointed by a Cousin? How Is This Not Nepotism?