Cop’s Slaying Brings Calls For Execution District Attorney Pressured To Change His Stance Against Death Penalty

When the state brought back the death penalty, Robert Johnson - who once convicted an innocent man of murder - was the only district attorney to call a news conference and say he’d never seek it.

On Monday, as a fine policeman was buried and a ruthless ex-convict faced murder charges, the Bronx prosecutor faced an ultimatum from the political establishment: Change your mind about capital punishment or get off the case.

Officer Kevin Gillespie died Thursday night in a wild, running gunfight between police and three parolees who allegedly stole a BMW and robbed several people.

After police stopped the trio on the borough’s main boulevard, more than 40 shots were fired. The one that killed Gillespie, police say, was fired by Angel Diaz.

At Gillespie’s funeral, with Johnson in attendance, the slain officer’s partner said the 33-year-old father of two “did the right thing, not only Thursday night, but every day. I would like the Bronx district attorney to do the right thing, too.” Most mourners rose in applause.

Johnson was joined in the pews by Gov. George Pataki, who has talked of replacing him with a special prosecutor in the case, and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has complained about Johnson’s “personal ideology.”

Over the weekend, Gillespie’s brother said his relatives “expect the Bronx district attorney to push aside his personal beliefs. We expect him to pursue the maximum punishment allowable by law.”

Johnson’s stand became even lonelier when Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, a fellow Democrat who has long opposed capital punishment, advocated it in the Gillespie case: “There comes a time in this society when the line must be drawn. That time is now.”

Johnson has said the death penalty won’t deter crime and will tie up an already overburdened court system. He was overwhelmingly re-elected last year after a campaign in which his position on capital punishment was discussed at length.

Johnson’s office said Monday that he hasn’t ruled out the death penalty in all cases - “he never said never,” according to spokesman Steven Reed - and has not decided how to charge Diaz or his alleged accomplices.

New York became the 38th state with the death penalty on Sept. 1, 1995, when a bill signed by Pataki, a Republican, took effect. The law allows execution of anyone convicted of killing a police officer, judge, prison guard or crime witness, as well as those who kill for money or while committing a violent crime.

The decision on whether to seek the death penalty rests with local prosecutors. Most said they would use it, or said nothing.

But Johnson told reporters at the time that “it is my present intention not to utilize the death penalty provisions of the statute,” and to instead seek life in prison without parole for the worst crimes.

Twelve years earlier, he explained, he had successfully prosecuted a man for murder, discrediting the man’s alibi and presenting three witnesses who identified him as the killer.

But after the man was convicted, his brother came forward and convinced prosecutors he was the culprit, and ready to do 12-1/2 to 25 years in prison.

“I don’t think he would have done that if death had been on the table,” Johnson said then. The man was released and the brother served the sentence.