Mar 14, 2006 9:04 pm US/Eastern
Former ADA: Littlejohn Will Likely Be Indicted
If so, Bouncer Will Probably Face 1st Degree Murder Charge
by Ti-Hua Chang
BROOKLYN (CBS) ―
If indicted by a grand jury, the bouncer ex-con called the prime suspect in the rape and murder of graduate student Imette St. Guillen could face charges that carry a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Law enforcement officials consider that a foregone conclusion.
This week, a Brooklyn grand jury will hear the evidence against suspect Darryl Littlejohn in the rape and murder of St. Guillen. Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes will reportedly seek first-degree murder charges against Littlejohn, the bouncer at The Falls bar, because of the multiple charges of rape, murder and torture.
Sam Talkin, a former assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, presented hundreds of cases before Brooklyn grand juries. He says a grand jury is the prosecutor's show with no defense offered so 99.9 percent of cases end in indictments especially if, as police say, Littlejohn's DNA was found on wire binding St. Guillen's arms.
"First they will show circumstantial evidence like the carpet fibers and those who saw the deceased last," Talkin said. "Then at the end they give the DNA evidence, direct evidence." Because, Talkin added, juries remember the last evidence presented the best.
The circumstances of this case have brought back the idea of using off-duty uniformed police officers as security at bars on a rotating basis. Brooklyn City Councilman David Yassky says uniformed police are needed for crowd control, because there have been too many shootings and stabbings at bars and clubs.
While the police union supports the idea, the police department reportedly opposes it.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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