Nice try.
Gov. Cuomo vetoed a bill Monday to prevent “DA shopping” by the union representing jail officers on Rikers’ Island.
The measure – which breezed through the state Legislature in June — would have transferred prosecution of alleged crimes committed in Rikers Island jails from Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson to Queens DA Richard Brown.
Correction Officers’ Benovolent Association president Norman Seabrook complained that Johnson is tougher on his officers than on the criminals. He said Brown would be better.
Cuomo wasn’t buying it.
“There is no reason or basis for this proposed change,” said Cuomo, adding the attempt to transfer prosecution of crimes from one county to another was “unprecedented and unconstitutional.”
“Rikers Island is located in Bronx County and the citizens of Bronx County have elected a district attorney to prosecute crimes that occur there,” the governor said.
Johnson and Brown wrote a joint letter to Cuomo urging him to cast a veto.
Rikers, technically part of The Bronx, sits in the East River between the two boroughs and is reached via a Queens bridge. Inmates allegedly commiting crimes are often sent first to the Queens station house.