TRENTON – The mother of a Trenton teenager shot by police a month ago will be joined by the United Mercer Interfaith Organization and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey in calling for an investigation into the leaking of her son’s prior juvenile justice history.
Reports have appeared in the media detailing encounters by law enforcement with Radazz Hearns, 14, who survived seven gunshots to his legs and back. An Aug. 27 Trentonian article attributed information it published about the teenager's record to police reports released “under state sunshine laws.”
State law precludes the release of juvenile justice history, saying those records “shall be strictly safeguarded from public inspections.”
In letters (PDF) to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, New Jersey Acting Attorney General John Hoffman, and Mercer County Acting Prosecutor Angelo Onofri, Ms. Jackson and the groups asked for investigations into the leak. “Because the information provided to the Trentonian is exclusively under the control of law enforcement agencies, we request that you conduct an investigation into New Jersey law enforcement agencies to determine who provided the information to the press,” their letter to Fishman said.
Four other letters (PDF) were sent to the heads of the law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction – New Jersey State Police Superintendent Colonel Rick Fuentes, Mercer County Sheriff John Kemler, Hopewell Township Police Chief Lance Maloney, and Trenton Police Director Ernest Parrey – asking for internal investigations of their departments, and demanding accountability for making protected records public.
“My son has been the target of a smear campaign using private information about encounters with authorities that could have only come from police in order to discredit him and justify the actions of the officers who shot him,” said Slimes Jackson, Radazz Hearns’ mother.
Hearns was unarmed when police approached him the night of Aug. 7, according to his lawyer, Samuel Anyan, Jr. But a release from the Office of the Attorney General said Hearns pointed a handgun at police before turning to flee as an explanation for why officers opened fire. A gun was recovered at the scene 12 hours after the incident. Police reports said an emergency vehicle parked on top of the weapon, which delayed recovery. Hearns, who was hospitalized for 10 days, has been charged with aggravated assault.
“The community has been kept in the dark all along about this investigation and the officers who were involved in the shooting. It is critical that the police are transparent and impartial in their actions – not secretly supplying reporters with prejudicial details of police interactions with juveniles to create a negative narrative,” said Rev. Lukata Mjumbe, United Mercer Interfaith Organization.
The officers involved in the shooting, reportedly from the New Jersey State Police and the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, have not been named.
Meanwhile, media reports citing sources who asked not to be identified have provided detailed accounts of Hearns’ juvenile record, including information about the school he attends.
“The media enjoy First Amendment protections in the reporting of information, but there is no doubt releasing the prior juvenile justice history of a teenage suspect by law enforcement is not just inappropriate but unlawful,” said Alexander Shalom, ACLU-NJ Senior Staff Attorney.
