PAC to subpoena Morris DA records

By Timothy Cwiek
PGN Writer-at-Large
© 2008 Philadelphia Gay News

In an unprecedented move, the city’s Police Advisory Commission voted unanimously last week to subpoena records from the District Attorney’s Office related to cell-phone use by police officers involved in a “courtesy ride” for a transgender woman in 2002.

Nizah Morris, 47, was found with a fatal head wound in Center City shortly after Philadelphia police gave her a ride during the early-morning hours of Dec. 22, 2002.

She died two days later due to complications of a fractured skull that caused excessive bleeding in her brain.

The officers involved in the ride were Kenneth Novak, Thomas Berry and Elizabeth DiDonato.

Last year, the PAC issued a report on the Morris death, clearing the police of any wrongdoing. But earlier this year, the PAC reopened the case after learning that officers communicated by cell phones — rather than police radios — during the Morris incident.

So far, the officers have publicly acknowledged only one discussion about the ride, which took place between DiDonato and Berry while Morris was inside DiDonato’s vehicle.

When asked publicly about additional discussions concerning the ride, the officers have either denied they occurred, or said they couldn’t recall any.

Their responses to the DA Office’s questioning about additional conversations haven’t yet been publicly revealed.

Although the PAC has subpoena power, this is the first time it has tried to subpoena records from the DA’s Office since the commission was created in 1993.

William M. Johnson, executive director of the PAC, warned the commissioners that representatives of District Attorney Lynne Abraham promised to fight the subpoena in court.

“It will be a fight, but I know it’s a fight the commission is willing to undertake,” Johnson told PGN after the meeting. “We wouldn’t be fighting this if we didn’t think we had a chance.”

Abraham couldn’t be reached for comment.

The vote came during an emotional June 11 public meeting of the PAC attended by several relatives of Morris, including her mother, Roslyn Wilkins.

“It was a big cover-up,” Wilkins told the commissioners, describing in her opinion the official explanation of the incident.

Relatives heartily cheered the commissioners after the vote.

They said they can’t understand why the officers made no mention of the courtesy ride on the paperwork they turned in to supervisors at the end of their shift that morning.

In addition, the police told a radio-room dispatcher they would drop off Morris at 15th and Walnut, but failed to inform the dispatcher about the tragic outcome of the ride.

Although hospital personnel believed Morris was a crime victim and called police for help, it was the three officers who responded to the calls, and they failed to summon a detective.

Commission members also said they would write to Mayor Nutter to ask for any assistance he might be able to provide in obtaining the cell-phone information.

The commissioners expressed frustration because the police maintain they’ve lost the entire Morris homicide file, and there doesn’t appear to be an investigation about its disappearance.

Transgender activist Kathleen R. Padilla attended the June 11 meeting and commended the PAC for voting to subpoena the cell-phone information.

Padilla, a former member of the PAC, said the phone records should be placed in a properly reconstructed homicide file to which agencies investigating the homicide would have access.

In April, the DA’s office did release some important Morris records to the PAC that police had said they lost. The PAC members said they were grateful for that assistance, but that it didn’t go far enough.

Timothy Cwiek can be reached at (215) 625-8501 ext. 208.