Biography
Jerome Singleton was a thirty-year-old Black student, married father of two and honorably discharged veteran when New York police arrested him in April 1979 and accused him of slashing an undercover decoy officer. Judge Bruce Wright released him on his own recognizance on April 11 after prosecutors failed to obtain an indictment within seventy-two hours. The release prompted public attacks on Wright from Mayor Ed Koch and police organizations. Singleton voluntarily returned the following day when another warrant was issued. A jury later convicted him of second-degree assault in December 1980 while acquitting him of attempted murder and first-degree assault; the sentence and any later custody have not been located.
