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    Vol.62/No.27           July 13, 1998 
 
 
N.Y. Cop Convicted In Death Of Anthony Baez  
BRONX, New York - The New York cop accused of choking Anthony Baez to death in the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 1994, was convicted in Federal court of violating Baez's civil rights. Free on bond and facing up to 10 years in jail, Francis Livoti is to be sentenced September 24.

Livoti's previous acquittal on charges of criminally negligent homicide in a state trial in the Bronx in 1996 had outraged working people in New York and triggered many demonstrations demanding justice. Baez, 29, and his brother David, now 21, were playing in front of their house when a football hit Livoti's police car. David Baez was arrested during the confrontation after Livoti ordered the brothers to stop the game.

Opening a "town hall" meeting against police brutality June 29, Iris Baez, Anthony's mother and a leader of the struggle against police brutality in the city, explained when she and her family were told at their home in Florida that Anthony had died of asthma, "we knew the police were lying." The Baez's sold their house and moved back to New York where they joined others fighting cop violence. "We had to get out the truth and get justice," she said.

"I said when we began that victory would come, and it did. You have to keep struggling because you know what you are doing is right." She then introduced others from the audience whose sons had died at the hands of the police.

Livoti, a representative of the cop's Patrolman Benevolent Association at his precinct, was dismissed from the police department last year after an internal investigation found he had used a prohibited choke hold on Baez.

At the federal civil rights trial the 12-person jury didn't take long to reach consensus. They were allowed to hear testimony on the previous recorded and extensive police brutality complaints accumulated by Livoti, including use of a choke hold in another case. This had not been allowed by the judge at the non-jury criminal trial.

Three police officers who testified in Livoti's defense met several times in the aftermath of the killing. Commenting on the three witnesses Livoti's defense presented at the Bronx trial, a juror told the press, "All three lied. It wasn't just that they were trying to cover up for Livoti, but for themselves, because if they were witness to a crime, they were conspirators in the act."

Carol Sandoval, Anthony's aunt, stated, "Now we're going after the cops that perjured themselves."

The Baez family and their supporters will be marching as a contingent against police brutality at the upcoming Puerto Rican Day parade on August 2 in the Bronx. For more information call 718-364-2879.  
 
 
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