When a New York appellate court decided to move the Diallo shooting trial from the Bronx to Albany, many of the slain West African immigrant's supporters protested that officers Sean carroll Kenneth Boss, Edward McMellon and Richard Murphy should be tried in the borough they committed the killing. They argued that Bronx jurors could fairly decide the case, despite the pretrial publicity.
But the officers' supporters said that the defendants could not get a fair trial in Bronx because they had already been convicted in the court of public opinion and the media — an argument rejected by original trial judge Bronx Supreme Court Justice Patricia Williams but affirmed by the appellate court. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, there are many differences between Albany and the Bronx. Besides the differences in racial make-up (the most startling of which may be Albany's 8 percent African-American population to the Bronx's 38 percent) and population, the following numbers illustrate apparent, clashes in education, wealth and income.:
- The average Albany resident is 37 years old; most Bronx residents are 34.
- 37 percent of Albany residents are college graduates; only 17 percent graduate from college in the Bronx.
- In the Bronx, 28 percent of the population lives in poverty compared to 9 percent in Albany.
- 23 percent of the Bronx population lives on welfare while 5.2 percent in Albany is on public assistance.
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