Before becoming mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Ras Baraka called for leniency in a case related to the leader of a violent street gang.
Baraka, a Democrat running for governor of New Jersey, made national headlines after attempting to enter an illegal-alien detention facility last week with New Jersey Democrat Reps. Robert Menendez Jr., LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
The third-term mayor was arrested for trespassing at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and appeared in federal court Thursday. Baraka’s case will proceed to trial, according to his campaign office, with a trial date expected for mid-July.
It’s not immediately clear how the case will affect his gubernatorial candidacy. He is one of six Democrats and five Republicans running for the seat being vacated by term-limited Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy, with the party primaries set for June 10.
The mayor says the trespassing charge against him is “unwarranted” and has written on social media that he was “invited into” the gates of the detention facility. If found guilty, he could face up to 30 days in jail. He declined to take a plea deal.
Baraka has spent years in public service, serving both on the Newark City Council and the deputy mayor of Newark. In 2010, while serving on the City Council, Baraka wrote a letter in support of a motion to reduce bail for Al-Tariq Gumbs, a leader of the Bloods street gang who was indicted on murder conspiracy charges, according to records obtained by The Star-Ledger.
In 2012, Baraka wrote another letter calling for a reduction to Gumbs’ sentence after Gumbs pleaded guilty to some of the charges he faced.
In July 2012, the Department of Justice announced that Gumbs had been sentenced to 14 years in prison “for conspiring to distribute narcotics and bribe a member of the gang to keep her from cooperating with a law enforcement investigation as part of a racketeering conspiracy.”
When the New Jersey paper reported the story in 2013, it said Baraka claimed he did not know “the letters would be used in a petition for leniency on behalf of alleged Brick City Brims founder.”
Thomas Ambrosio, Gumbs’ attorney, told The Star-Ledger at the time that the second letter was a request for leniency.
“It was a general, ‘Hey, please be lenient on him, and I think he’s turned his life around’ kind of letter,” Ambrosio said.
The mayor’s office did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment. Baraka’s gubernatorial campaign directed The Daily Signal to a statement on the mayor’s Thursday trial.
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
