Judge Who Will Sentence Ex-Officer Has
'Steady Hand'
Andrew Keshner, New York Law Journal
April 13, 2016
| 0 Comments
Acting Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun New York Daily News
Judges, defense lawyers and former colleagues say Acting Justice Danny Chun—the state court
system's first Korean-American judge—is fair, has a sharp knowledge of the law and keeps an
even keel on the bench.
But the 54-year-old judge will be scrutinized as never before when he pronounces sentence on
Peter Liang, a former New York City police officer who was convicted of manslaughter in the
fatal shooting of an innocent black man during the patrol of a Brooklyn public housing
development.
His chambers now hold more than 40,000 letters, mostly form letters, urging leniency for Liang.
Some members of the black community and other backers of police accountability have
castigated Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson for recommending that Liang receive
no prison time for firing a single bullet from atop a darkened stairway that richoceted into Akai
Gurley's heart.
And then there are members of the Chinese-American community who say prosecutors turned
Liang, who is Chinese American, into a scapegoat. Meanwhile, some police union leaders say
Liang should not have been indicted at all.
Chun is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on a defense bid to set aside the verdict.
Sentencing is now scheduled for Thursday.
Justice Matthew D'Emic, the administrative judge for criminal matters in Brooklyn Supreme
Court, said Chun, who is deputy administrative judge, is approaching Liang's sentencing "like
any sentencing of any defendant in any case he has: Without regard for who likes or does not like
it, or who's watching or not watching. He's a very steady hand."
"Every case I hear, I take it very seriously," Chun said during an interview with the Law Journal
on Tuesday.
Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit described Chun—his
friend of nearly 30 years—as "a good person, low key. Not flashy. … I think he's someone who
is considered tough but fair, which is, I think, the ideal a judge should be."
Chun declined to discuss any particular cases but said he loved being a judge. For the past few
years, he said he has spent his summer vacations teaching an introduction to American law
course to undergraduates and law students at Yonsei University in Seoul.
He said his students ask him what he considers to be the best thing about American law, and he
replies, "I think more so than anywhere, the law seems to apply equally to all people, whether
rich or poor, no matter what color, what job you have. … I try to apply the law equally."
Whether it's in front of students or a packed courtroom, Chun said he doesn't get stage fright. He
said he started studying piano as a kindergartner in South Korea, and was part of a professional
choir. "Performance is something that comes natural," he said.
The Liang case ran for more than two weeks in the Brooklyn Supreme Court's ceremonial
courtroom; the court was consistently filled with media, as well Liang's supporters who sat just
seats away from Gurley's supporters.
Chun is assigned all rackets bureau major investigations, as well as all civil rights bureau
matters, which include cases against police. He also handles all sex trafficking cases. His docket
also includes assault cases against two on-duty police officers, and claims of prosecutorial
misconduct in John Giuca's 2005 murder conviction in the death of a Fairfield University student
after a night of drinking (NYLJ, Nov. 24, 2015).
Testimony sometimes became emotional in the Liang case, such as when Gurley's girlfriend and
Liang recalled the November 2014 incident in the pitch-black public housing stairwell (NYLJ,
Feb. 9).
Scott Rynecki, of Rubenstein & Rynecki in Brooklyn, sat through the entire trial and said Chun
"kept control of the court and certainly moved things along."
Rynecki, who represents Gurley's domestic partner in a civil suit against Liang, New York City
and other parties, said Chun had "a good grasp of the issues and, I thought, was very professional
in his treatment of the attorneys."
'This Is What I Wanted to Do'
Chun was born in Seoul and immigrated to New York with his family as a sixth grader in 1973.
He spoke no English at the time.
Growing up in Queens, Chun attended the city school system's elite Stuyvesant High School
before going to Johns Hopkins University for his undergraduate degree.
"My parents would have preferred to see me pre-med, but I was pre-law," he said, noting that
with his background, he wanted to practice law by performing in front of juries who were "like a
captive audience."
Chun got his law degree from Fordham University School of Law. During his second year, he
interned at the Southern District U.S. Attorney's Office, then led by Rudolph Giuliani.
"I watched the prosecutors work and it really opened my eyes. This is what I wanted to do," he
said.
Because the Southern District didn't hire directly out of law school, Chun applied to the
Manhattan District Attorney's Office. His duties included prosecuting homicides as well as major
crimes connected to Asian organized crime, as part of the Asian Gang Unit.
"I was having so much fun. I loved the work so much, 12 years went by like a breeze," he said.
Vincent Nagler, now a partner at Koster, Brady & Nagler, was a Manhattan prosecutor with
Chun and said Chun was "always nose to grindstone, always willing to help out. … When you're
a young assistant, you see people with good judgment looking do the right thing and you see
people doing things to advance their career. He was always the guy looking to do the right
thing."
In 1999, Giuliani, as mayor, tapped Chun as a Criminal Court judge. He was designated an
acting Supreme Court justice in 2004 and became Brooklyn Supreme Court's deputy
administrative judge for criminal matters in 2014.
Michael Farkas, president of the Kings County Criminal Bar Association, said Chun "has a
reputation as being fair, contemplative, thorough and no-nonsense. That's the book on him. …
We know we will get a fair shake on the law with this judge."
The criminal bar organization is honoring Chun later this week.
Two other attorneys who have appeared in front of Chun, Joyce David of Brooklyn and Michael
Cibella of Manhattan, said he lets defense lawyers put on their case.
Sometimes, David said, judges "are more interested in control than having a good trial." Chun
"gives a fair trial, lets people do their job and is knowledgable."
Cibella, who represents Liang's ex-partner in the civil litigation, said Chun takes the time to
learn the issues and noted his fairness. "You win some, you lose some with him," he said.
An undercurrent in the Liang case has been a question of whether Chun, as a Korean American,
would be influenced in how he presided over the case of another Asian American.
When Liang was arraigned in February 2016, Chun permitted his release on his own
recognizance. As the proceedings were ending, the Daily News quoted Gurley's aunt
complaining, "Why is [Liang] out? … If he was a black man, he'd be shackled."
The added dimension of Liang's background "weighs even more" on Chun, said Kyun Yi, the
immediate past president of the Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York
who knows Chun, a longtime member of the group.
Still, Yi said he remembered Chun once telling him "he just has to be the judge," impartially
adjudicating cases based on the current state of the law.
Andrew Keshner can be reached via email or on Twitter @AndrewKeshner.
Read more: http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202754788819/Judge-Who-Will-SentenceExOfficer-Has-Steady-Hand#ixzz4AXUpZPte