HARTFORD – Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane today released a report about Hartford Judicial District State’s Attorney Gail Hardy’s docket of unresolved cases of killings by police.
During Kane’s tenure as Chief State’s Attorney, a role that oversees prosecutors’ investigations into and decisions about police uses of force, Hardy has left open five cases of deadly shootings by police – one assigned to her in April by Kane himself, and four that were automatically under her jurisdiction according to previous state law. Upon request from the Criminal Justice Commission, Kane wrote a report regarding Hardy’s docket of unresolved cases of killings by police.
David McGuire, executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut, had the following reaction to Kane’s memo:
“This report is a farce. Prosecutors should be using their roles to hold police accountable when they hurt or kill people, yet State’s Attorney Hardy has let cases of deadly police violence languish for years, and Chief State’s Attorney Kane has let her. Instead of seeking answers and justice, this report provides no acceptable excuses for the State’s Attorney’s behavior, no explanation for the Chief State’s Attorney’s lack of oversight, and has the gall to request even less accountability by seeking a closed-door session for any disciplinary proceedings. Today’s report is the latest example of why prosecutors cannot be left to hold themselves accountable, and it shows the need for Connecticut’s next Chief State’s Attorney to be someone who will vocally, actively pursue policies, procedures, and state laws that hold police and prosecutors accountable to the people whom they are supposed to serve.”
The open cases on Hardy’s docket are the police killings of: Anthony Jose “Chulo” Vega Cruz in April 2019, Joseph Bak in 2008, Taurean Wilson in 2009, Edmanuel Reyes in 2011, and Ernesto Morales in 2012. A Hartford Courant review also found that Hardy took, on average, longer than other state’s attorneys to close cases of killings by police.
