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Aug. 18, 1999
Statement
by PBA First Vice President John Puglissi
in response to statements by Lt. Eric Adams
The PBA has
a moral, legal and contractual obligation to Charles Schwarz,
as it has to all its members, to provide legal counsel and
defense through all the stages of the criminal justice system,
including the appeal process. (It is only in cases where the
incident occurred off-duty that the contractual
obligation ends after arraignment.)
Any suggestion that the PBA
would fail to provide similar support to an African-American
or Latino police officer is totally false and an insult not
only to this dedicated union but also to the intelligence
of the public and PBA members of any color.
Our obligation to provide this
support becomes especially acute in Chuck Schwarz’s case,
where our reading of the evidence is that a grave miscarriage
of justice has been perpetrated and an innocent man is in
prison.
The PBA leadership has correctly
decided that we should defend his case with all the resources
at our disposal, and we intend to do just that.
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