DIALLO SHOOTING TRIAL
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NEW YORK (Court TV) — With hundreds of protesters marching outside his office, the U.S. Deputy Attorney General said that the Justice Department will look at the Amadou Diallo shooting case. However, Eric Holder warned that a civil rights case against the four NYPD officers acquitted of murder and reckless endangerment charges would be difficult to prosecute.

Accompanied by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Congressmen Charles Rangel and Jose Serrano, Amadou Diallo's parents met with Holder and other Justice Department officials Thursday and asked them to prosecute officers Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy on federal civil rights charges. Last Friday, an Albany jury acquitted the officers of all charges in Diallo's shooting death. Diallo was gunned down in a hail of 41 bullets in the vestibule of his Bronx home last February. The officers said they thought the victim was armed and aiming a gun at them when they opened fire. However, Diallo was unarmed, having only a wallet, a beeper and his keys when he was struck 19 times.

At a press conference before his meeting with Kadiatou and Saikou Diallo, Holder said the Justice Department would consider a variety of factors as it decides whether to bring federal charges against the officers.

"The standard that we have to meet on the federal side is a high one," Holder said. "But we will look at the case."

The Diallos have also indicated that they plan to file a wrongful death suit against the officers and New York City. Outside the Justice Department building in Washington, D.C., hundreds of protesters and Diallo supporters staged a rally. Several Washington-bound busloads of protesters left Sharpton's National Action Network in Harlem Thursday morning to voice their outrage over the officers' acquittal and support the Diallo family.

Diallo's parents' visit to Washington came as several African-American and Latino members of the New York Senate vowed to boycott Monday's session on the state of the Legislature to protest the failure to pass bills to combat police brutality. Among the bills that the Legislature has failed to pass in recent years are those requiring New York police officers to establish the suspect's place of residence before making an arrest and those limiting the number of rounds in officers' guns.

The lawmakers are urging their colleagues to attend a rally Monday outside the Bronx building where Diallo was killed. Approximately 30 members of the New York State Legislature's Black and Puerto Caucus reportedly plan to attend.

Back in the Bronx, another group of the protesters denounced another fatal shooting of an unarmed black man that occurred just blocks away from Diallo's building. On Wednesday night, 23-year-old drug suspect Malcolm Ferguson was shot in the head during an alleged struggle with a narcotics officer in an apartment building. His shooting brought over 200 protesters still angry over the Diallo verdict into the streets of Soundview. Officers trying to control the crowd were greeted with curses, threats and an occasional thrown bottle.

Ferguson, who had a five-year history of drug arrests, was arrested Friday during a protest after the Diallo verdict. The officer in the shooting, identified as Luis Rivera, has reportedly invoked his right not to talk to investigators for 48 hours. However, police officials have said that the shooting was an accident that occurred during the alleged struggle.

— Bryan Robinson