Green Files For Giuliani Probe

Public Advocate Mark Green Tuesday morning called for a judicial inquiry into Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's release of the sealed juvenile records of Patrick Dorismond, the unarmed man killed during a confrontation with police.

In papers prepared for filing in state Supreme Court, Green asked the court to investigate how Giuliani and Police Commissioner Howard Safir obtained the sealed records and whether the disclosure violated the law.

Giuliani contends that releasing the information was legal because Dorismond's death ended his right to privacy. But Green, the city's No. 2 official and a Democrat, cites legal precedents in which judges have refused to release sealed Family Court records of deceased individuals. Giuliani is a Republican.

The records that the mayor released showed that Dorismond was arrested at age 13 for robbery and assault. But the charges were ultimately dropped.

Dorismond, 26, a security guard and son of a renowned Haitian singer, was fatally shot during a confrontation with undercover cops in a failed drug sting in Manhattan on March 16.

Giuliani also publicized two other cases in which Dorismond was charged as an adult for assault and gun possession; he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in both cases. Giuliani has contended that the criminal records show Dorismond had a propensity for violent behavior.

But the mayor's unsympathetic response to the shooting of Dorismond could change the course of the U.S. Senate race.

A Zogby International poll taken after the slaying shows that Giuliani's 7-point lead over first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has vanished and that Clinton now holds a slim 45 percent to 42 percent advantage. Her lead is within the poll's four percentage points margin of error.

The poll, released Sunday, also shows that the Republican mayor would receive just 28 percent of the vote in the city he leads, down from 44 percent three weeks ago. Giuliani has also tumbled in several key demographic areas, including among upstate voters, Jews and Latinos.

Eighty percent of people said the mayor should have expressed sympathy to Dorismond's family, and one in four said the issue would be a factor in whether he or she votes for Giuliani.

Other polls have shown that Giuliani has as little as five percent support among blacks. Observers believe the mayor's hard-edged response to the shooting could spark a large turnout of Democrats in a state in which registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 5 to 3.

"He's handing her the race," pollster John Zogby said. "It's not that she's doing better, it's that he's doing worse. We've seen the tide turn."

Giuliani brushed aside the poll results Monday at a press conference in Albany: "I'm not concerned about it at all. I think that if you've been through tough elections, as I have, you expect to be up in the polls, you expect to be down in the polls, and you expect to be statistically tied in the polls."

Giuliani has rfused to offer Dorismond's family condolences or meet with black community leaders.

The Rev. Michel Faulkner, a longtime Giuliani backer, on Monday condemned the mayor's handling of the case and urged him to resign.

"There is an outcry for justice in our city that has gone unanswered by our mayor," the black Baptist pastor said.

Following Dorismond's funeral Saturday in Brooklyn, police clashed with bottle-throwing protesters. Twenty-three officers were injured, and 27 civilians were arrested.

Dorismond's death follows three other fatal police shootings of unarmed black men: Malcolm Ferguson on March 1 while he was fleeing police in the Bronx; Richard Watson, killed by an officer in September 1999 after allegedly cheating a cab driver out of his fare; and Amadou Diallo, who was shot at by undercover officers 41 times in February 1999.

Despite Giuliani's assertions that the police department is among the most restrained in the nation when it comes to firing weapons, a Daily News-New York 1 poll found that 72 percent of respondents believed "the use of deadly force has gotten out of hand."

Further, 60 percent said federal monitoring of the department is necessary, an idea that Giuliani strongly opposes.

Republican political consultant Jay Severin said Monday that he doubts that the 15 percent of undecided voters in the race will base their votes on the Dorismond shooting.

"The worst thing that's going to come out of this is that Rudy's going to appear to be tough on crime and Hillary's going to appear to be too weak on crime," he said. "I don't think the undecideds are going to vote for someone they perceive as being weak on crime."