Lenient legal system left violent career criminal on city streets
The career criminal accused of randomly stabbing to death a Staten Island grandma in broad daylight on Monday has spent the past four years in and out of jail and was out on probation — thanks to a “revolving-door” legal system and a lenient judge, law-enforcement sources said.
Dantey Moore, 27, had previously been arrested 34 times, according to the sources, including for punching a 7-year-old and shoving a 3-year-old. And he has restraining orders against him from no fewer than six people, court records show.
“This man was well-known. Why was he out of jail?” fumed retired NYPD Lt. John Doherty, a neighbor of victim Geetha Howie, 63.
Howie, described by neighbors as a soft-spoken retired postal worker, had been minding her own business walking on the street at 2:15 p.m. Monday when Moore allegedly attacked her.
He was cradling her bloody body when cops found him.
“He has anger issues,” his 20-year-old sister told The Post. “My mom told him, ‘Your anger is too much.’ But he’s 27. What can we do about it?”
A review of 12 criminal cases against Moore since 2014 shows that he was given light sentences despite routinely defying restraining orders.
Moore pleaded guilty or was convicted of misdemeanor criminal contempt — which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison — five times, but never spent more than 90 days in jail.
Judge Ray Rodriguez repeatedly gave Moore just 45 days in the pen in three recent cases.
Moore was charged in 2016 with misdemeanor criminal contempt for harassing former gal pal Joann Pagan and her mom, Ana Velez, in defiance of court-issued restraining orders, law-enforcement sources said.
A source in the Staten Island DA’s Office said prosecutors asked Rodriguez to give Moore nine months in jail. Instead, he gave him 45 days and three years’ probation, records show.
“It’s just unfortunate this is what you see with these misdemeanor recidivists. It’s a revolving door,” a source said.
Rodriguez also gave Moore 45 days in 2015 after he shoved a 3-year-old, who sources said was his nephew, so hard that the tot went sliding across a floor.
And, again, Rodriguez gave him 45 days for defying a restraining order in 2016.
Moore has 15 sealed cases, including another for assault with intent to cause injury, according to law-enforcement sources.
He has at least twice been busted with the drug PCP — once in August 2015 and later in December 2016, according to police sources. His punishment was a fine and time served in the December case, court records show.
As Moore was lead out of the 120th Precinct station house on Tuesday, he mumbled, “I didn’t do anything.”
Judge Raja Rajeswari ordered him remanded to jail. He is due back in court on Dec. 8.
Judge Rodriguez could not be reached for comment.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Shari Logan
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment