CHRONOLOGY A Crucial Case Following are major events in the New Jersey Turnpike shooting case and the debate over racial profiling that it touched off: APRIL 23, 1998 Troopers James Kenna and John Hogan fire on a van carrying four black and Hispanic men from New York on the New Jersey Turnpike in Mercer County. Three are injured. The troopers say the van was backing up to strike them. NOV. 19 An assistant prosecutor in Burlington County, James J. Gerrow Jr., announces grand jury proceedings in the case. FEB. 28, 1999 Gov. Christine Todd Whitman fires the state police superintendent, Carl A. Williams, after a newspaper interview is published in which he links minority groups to drug trafficking. APRIL 10 Officials close a section of the turnpike near Exit 7A to videotape a re-enactment of the shooting for the grand jury. APRIL 13 The Legislative Black and Latino Caucus conducts the first of three public hearings, and witnesses testify about racial profiling incidents. APRIL 19 A state grand jury indicts Troopers Kenna and Hogan, charging that they have falsified arrest documents in the past to lie about the race of drivers they stopped and searched illegally. APRIL 20 The state attorney general, Peter G. Verniero, releases a report saying racial profiling is "real, not imagined." The report acknowledges that blacks are stopped more often and are more likely to be searched. APRIL 26 Lawyers at the federal Justice Department decide that they have sufficient evidence for a civil rights lawsuit against the state police, prompting negotiations on an agreement, or consent decree, to avoid litigation. SEPT. 7 A state grand jury indicts Troopers Hogan and Kenna on charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault. SEPT. 20 Mrs. Whitman announces the appointment of Carson J. Dunbar Jr., an F.B.I. administrator and former state trooper, as superintendent of the state police. He is the first black superintendent. DEC. 22 The federal Justice Department and the new state attorney general, John J. Farmer Jr., announce that they have reached a consent decree requiring the appointment of an independent monitor to investigate compliance with an agreement to take steps ensuring there is no racial discrimination. JUNE 27, 2000 A State Superior Court judge, Andrew J. Smithson, hears arguments on a motion to dismiss the charges in the shooting. SEPT. 22 Mr. Farmer says he will make public 50,000 pages of state police records dating from 1989, all related to racial profiling. OCT. 6 A federal monitor praises early state police efforts to end profiling. OCT. 24 Prosecutors drop the attempted murder charge against Trooper Hogan, citing a lack of evidence. OCT. 30 The Black Ministers Council of New Jersey asks the federal Justice Department to assume the prosecution of Troopers Hogan and Kenna. OCT. 31 Citing overzealous prosecution, Judge Smithson drops assault charges against both troopers and the remaining attempted murder charge against Trooper Kenna.
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