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Friday, New York Attorney General Letitia James released the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings in her office’s investigation into the March 2020 death of Daniel Prude by the hands of Rochester Police.
The transcripts of the proceedings were released after a judge granted Attorney General James’ motion to unseal and publicly release them. This is the first time in New York history that grand jury proceedings in a case of a police-involved death have been made public.
“This nation has a long and painful history of injustice, and every day, we are working to create a fairer and more equal system,” said Attorney General James. “Our efforts to balance the scales of justice and ensure accountability can only go so far in the absence of transparency. We took the unprecedented action of seeking to release the grand jury transcripts because the public deserves to know what happened in these proceedings. As I have throughout my career, I will continue to use every tool at my disposal to shine a light in the corners of our system that have been hidden for too long.”
After impanelment, the grand jury convened on nine separate occasions between October 2020 and February 2021 for more than 45 hours in total. As ordered by the court, the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings have minimal redactions to protect the identities of the jurors and witnesses who testified.
Session One – October 28, 2020
Session Two – November 4, 2020
Session Three – November 18, 2020
Session Four – December 9, 2020
Session Five – December 16, 2020
Session Six – December 17, 2020
Session Seven – December 21, 2020
Session Eight – January 13, 2021
Session Nine – February 23, 2021
Attorney General James has a long history of pushing to change grand jury secrecy laws. Following the death of Eric Garner, then-Public Advocate Letitia James filed a lawsuit to release the minutes of the grand jury proceeding to ensure full transparency.
