District Attorney Jewel C. Scott A Fighter For Justice

Barbara M. Simpson

“I am up for re-election in July 2008 and I am hoping that I will run unopposed because so far no one has qualified and the deadline for candidate(s) is May 2, 2008.” That statement was made by the District Attorney of Clayton County in Georgia, Mrs. Jewel C. Scott.

Scott is soft-spoken, articulate and a people-person. Those God-given attributes belie what she really is, a no-nonsense District Attorney who wants to make a difference in Clayton County. Scott was born in Mandeville, Jamaica as Jewel C. Hanson, one of five daughters and two sons to the Reverend Seymour and Lurline Hanson. The family was an itinerant one as Reverend Hanson was a Missionary Minister. Scott first attended Bethel All-Age Primary School in Hopewell, Hanover when the family lived in Hopewell and her father was the pastor of Zion Missionary Church. He was also the Overseer of the Circuit of Missionary Churches in the entire area of Hopewell. Before entering the ministry, Reverend Hanson was a member of the British Air Force (BAF) and fought in World War II.

The family moved from Hanover and Scott attended Montego Bay High School for Girls until the fifth form when they again moved and returned to Mandeville. She completed high school at Manchester High School. After she graduated from Manchester High she went to the University of the West Indies, Faculty of Law where she studied for one year before going onto Barbados for three years additional law studies. At the end of three years, Scott received the Bachelors of Law Degree (LLB), returned to Jamaica and entered the Norman Manley Law School and studied there for two years.

Scott graduated in 1984 and worked with a private law firm in the Turks and Caicos Island for one year. In 1985 she married Headley Scott and they emigrated to New York. In 1988 she sat the bar examination in New York and was admitted to the New York Bar. Scott practiced with the New York Office of Legal Affairs for three years after which she went into private practice for approximately four years. By now the Scotts had two sons, Headley and Christopher and in 1992 the family relocated to Georgia.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE IN GEORGIA?

“I wanted to find a quieter place in which to raise Headley and Christopher.” Settled in Georgia, Scott went to Law School and received the Juris Doctor (JD) Degree. Until she decided to run for public office Scott worked with Atlanta’s Legal Aid.

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO RUN FOR PUBLIC OFFICE?

“I believed I could implement a criminal system that would be fair and just to all our residents. We had gone from 40% minority in 1988 to about 70% in 2004 and I saw the disparate treatment and wanted to begin the process of ending that system replacing it with a system that was fair.” “I introduced the first Deferred Prosecution Programme (DPP) in Clayton County in 2005. The DPP says we are tough on crime but we do recognize that there are alternatives to prosecution when it is merited.”
In 2004 Scott ran against the incumbent who was an unopposed District Attorney for twenty-seven years. Jewel C. Scott won by 60% of the votes. The Reverend Hanson never got to see his daughter reach that acme in her legal life as he passed in 2003.

THE TASK AHEAD:

As District Attorney, Scott’s responsibilities include prosecuting all felonies and serious crimes which are committed in Clayton County as well as the Hartsfield Jackson Airport which is the busiest airport in the world and through which 220,000 people pass each day. She must also be au courant on murders, thefts, robberies, child abuse, juvenile care, prosecution of interstate child support recovery. Scott is in-charge-of more than seventy persons which include investigators, legal assistants, Assistant District Attorney and victims’ witnesses. The victims’ witnesses are the ones who interact with the community-at-large, providing assistance to victims of crime. District Attorney Jewel C. Scott maintains jurisdiction Over 275,000 residents in Clayton County.

THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY SPEAKS:

“I love my job very much but I truly hate the politics because I am always trying to fight to get additional resources to make my work more effective to reduce crime.” “I love my job because it enables me to be the decision-maker as to what cases need to be prosecuted. I am tough on crime but I do not believe I have to prosecute every case. Some of the people who come before me should be put behind bars, but there are others who have made bad choices, bad decisions and those are the ones with whom we work to give them a second chance.” It makes me happy to see that some of them turn their lives around.”

“I take a proactive approach to fight crime by being involved in the school system with children at an early age to prevent them from being caught up in the criminal justice system.” “It enables me to be out in the community impacting the lives of young people, showing them the right direction. I feel a burden for all the African-American young men who are going to prison for long-term every week and it makes me wonder how we can change our present criminal justice system in order to save them from long-term imprisonment.” “Although I am very tough on crime, as a community we have to be concerned about our young people because I believe it takes a community to raise a child.”

Scott said her biggest influence in her life was her mom and dad, but especially her father. He always helped people in whatever community they lived; the down trodden, the underserved and the very poor. “My mother was a stickler for good education and proper English.” On March 7, 2008 Scott addressed the Jamaica Women’s’ Political Caucus in Kingston and as she said, “I managed to spend some quality time with my mother.”

The District Attorney’s hobbies are reading, traveling and going to plays. She has adopted one of Socrates’ philosophies as her motto; AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING. She added that “As a Christian I believe in doing to others as I would want them do unto me.”

 

Grand Jury Charges Seven Current And Former NYC Correction Officers With
Accepting Bribes To Smuggle Drugs And Other Contraband 

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced that indictments were unsealed charging seven current and former New York City Correction Officers with accepting bribes to smuggle drugs, cigarettes and cash to inmates being held at various Department of Correction facilities on Rikers Island.

Mr. Johnson said the defendants were charged in separate indictments following a 16-month joint investigation with the New York City Department of Investigation’s Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Correction. The defendants are accused of accepting as little as $200 for a one time delivery of simulated heroin, an undisclosed sum of U.S. currency, and cigarettes, to as much as $2,700 for allegedly smuggling one ounce of simulated cocaine, three bundles of simulated heroin and five ounces of marijuana to an inmate on two separate occasions.

Two of the seven defendants are facing maximum sentences of up to 10 years imprisonment if convicted of the most serious charge in the indictments, Attempted Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the 2nd degree, a Class A-II felony offense. They are identified as Daniel Marin, 27, of the Bronx and Tamar Peebles, 26, of Queens.

Marin and Peebles have also been charged with Bribe Receiving in the 3rd degree, and Promoting Prison Contraband in the 1st degree, both Class D felony offenses, punishable by a term of up to 7 years imprisonment, and Criminal Sale of Marijuana in the 3rd degree, a Class E felony offense, punishable by a term of up to 4 years imprisonment. Five other defendants who are also facing up to 7 years imprisonment on similar charges are identified as Daniel Bethel, 43, of Brooklyn, Joseph Constantino, 50, of Mineola, New York, Andre Plaskett, 28, of Queens, Anthony Narcisse 24, of Manhattan, and William Delgado, 42, of Warwick, New York.

It is alleged that the defendants met with undercover detectives on twelve different occasions at fast food restaurants and other locations in the Bronx, Queens and Upper Manhattan between October 25, 2007 and April 2, 2008. At each of these meetings the defendants allegedly accepted cash payments for their services and were given varying quantities of cigarettes, cash and marijuana, as well as simulated heroin and cocaine to smuggle to inmates on Rikers Island. The largest single incident of smuggling involved an ounce of simulated cocaine and three ounces of marijuana. All of the contraband was marked and the transactions with the undercover detectives were recorded on audio and videotape. One of the defendants, Tamar Peebles showed up for a meeting in full uniform and allegedly offered to smuggle razor blades onto Rikers Island in addition to the illegal drugs.

The defendants were arraigned before State Supreme Court Justice John Byrne who set bail in the following amounts: Tamar Peebles ($50,000); Daniel Marin ($35,000); Joseph Constantino ($20,000); Andre Plaskett ($20,000); Anthony Narcisse ($20,000); William Delgado ($20,000); and Daniel Bethel ($15,000).

District Attorney Johnson thanked Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn, Department of Correction Inspector General Meera Cattafesta, Deputy Inspector General Daniel Alejandro, Captain Vincent Valerio, and DO.I.

Investigators Jerome Corrica, Laurence McGuggins, Albert Jones, Rhonda Young, Tomas Diaz and James Christo, for all of their hard work that resulted in these indictments.

Mr. Johnson also expressed his appreciation to Assistant District Attorney Stephen Bookin, Chief of the Investigations Divsion and Assistant District Attorney Thomas Leahy, Chief of the Rackets Bureau.

Senior Trial Assistant District Attorney Larry Hartstein, and Rackets Bureau Supervisor, Assistant District Attorney James Goward are prosecuting these cases.