Aug 16, 2007 3:33 pm US/Eastern
Judge To Review Carranza's Past Bail Proceedings
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ―
A retired judge will review how bail on previous charges was set for an illegal immigrant now charged in the murders of three college students, the New Jersey Supreme Court chief justice announced Thursday.
Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said retired Judge Arthur N. D'Italia will conduct an independent review of Jose Carranza's prior criminal cases and the procedures used to set his bail in those cases.
Carranza, along with two juveniles, has been charged in the Aug. 4 shootings of three college students murdered in a schoolyard, a case that has focused national attention on crime in New Jersey's largest city.
Carranza, 28, is an illegal immigrant from Peru, but authorities said they never checked his immigration status after he was arrested in October following a bar fight and in January on aggravated sexual assault charges.
Carranza, a laborer, posted $2,000 to get out on bail on the bar fight charges, and had a bail bondsman post $150,000 to get out on the sexual assault charges, after a judge lowered his bail from $300,000.
"In the aftermath of this tragedy, concerns have been raised about the setting of bail in this matter," Rabner said. "It is important that we address these questions openly, swiftly and fairly for the sake of all involved."
He said the results of the review will be released publicly.
D'Italia was a Hudson County Superior Court judge from 1989 to 2004.
"His credentials are impeccable and his depth of knowledge of bail statutes, criminal court rules, constitutional issues and day-to-day court processes make him the right person to assess how these issues were resolved," Rabner said.
Attorney General Anne Milgram is also looking into how Carranza's case was handled. She expects to complete her review in a month. Rabner didn't say when he expected D'Italia to finish his work.
Gov. Jon S. Corzine and Milgram were to join Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker Thursday to announce measures to monitor the flow of illegally purchased weapons into Newark and cut down on gun violence.
Sixty people have been killed in Newark this year, and the total number of killings in the city has risen more than 50 percent since 2002.
Terrance Aeriel, 18; Iofemi Hightower, 20, and Dashon Harvey, 20, were killed on Aug. 4.
A manhunt extending into Virginia and other states to the south is under way for two more suspects, 24-year-old Newark resident Rodolfo Godinez and his brother, a 16-year-old, authorities said.
On Wednesday, Corzine outlined an agreement that will allow police in New Jersey to directly access a database maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to track the origin of all guns used in a crime in New Jersey.
New Jersey will become the first state to trace all guns recovered in crimes, according to an ATF spokesman.
Booker has often expressed frustration that authorities in Newark have not been able to track guns used in crimes in the city.
"It is outrageous to me that my police don't have access to trace data on weapons to know exactly where they're coming from," he said earlier in the week.
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