Eric Garner with his children, via National Action Network

The FBI team handling the civil rights investigation into the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man killed by a white NYPD officer, has plenty of experience with long-term probes and public corruption cases. 

CNN reports that the New York-based agents are taking a “free look” into the July death of Garner, who was killed while being placed in an illegal chokehold.

A grand jury’s decision not to indict the officer led to protests nationwide.

One of the agents specializes in long-term investigation in the white-collar crime division.

The FBI will be reviewing the actions of the officers to determine whether the civil rights of Garner were violated.

By Steve Neavling

A man convicted in the 1990 shooting death of an FBI special agent has been ordered released from death row in Nevada, KLAS-TV reports. 

U.S. District Judge Miranda Du said Jose Echavarria must be released within 60 days barring the prosecutors willingness to retry the case.

Du said then-Clark County District Judge Jack Lehman never disclosed his bias, thereby violating the constitutional rights of the defendant.

Echavarria is accused of shooting Special Agent John Bailey in a bank in Las Vegas while the two wrestled for a gun.

Turns out, Judge Lehman had been investigated by Bailey earlier and never disclosed the relationship.

“The evidence submitted by Echavarria shows, beyond any dispute, that Agent Bailey had been centrally involved in conducting the investigation of the trial judge, and that the alleged fraud and the FBI investigation were of such significance that they would have had serious implications for the trial judge,” Du wrote.

By Steve Neavling

A controversial tactic by federal investigators from the DEA to create a bogus Facebook page using real information from a suspect has turned into a $134,000 settlement for the woman targeted on the social media page, the Associated Press reports.

In the settlement with Sondra Arquiett, the DEA still did not admit wrongdoing.

The case has prompted the Justice Department to review how it handled the case and whether it was appropriate to set up a fake account.

“This settlement demonstrates that the government is mindful of its obligation to ensure the rights of third parties are not infringed upon in the course of its efforts to bring those who commit federal crimes to justice,” Richard Hartunian, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, said in a statement.

“It also takes into account emerging personal privacy concerns in the age of social media, and represents a fair resolution of plaintiff’s claims,” he added.