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Nation/WorldGrand jury criticizes mayor's reaction to MOVE bombingPHILADELPHIA (AP) - A grand jury declared Tuesday that Mayor W, Wilson Goode and his top aides displayed incompetence and “morally reprehensible behavior” in the 1985 MOVE bombing that killed 11 people and destroyed 61 homes, but said they did nothing to warrant criminal indictments.The panel described as “this city’s greatest tragedy” the failed eviction effort that ended in a fiery siege with the police bombing of a barricaded west Philadelphia row house occupied by members of the radical group MOVE.District Attorney Ronald Cas-tille said the special grand jury spent nearly two years and $250,000 in its investigation and voted 16-4 against filing charges.Goode, found “grossly negligent” by a special commission he formed shortly after the tragedy, said after the grand jury report’s release that he had learned much from that tragic day.“We are a stronger government, a stronger city,” Goode said, noting the event was the most fullyFile photoMayor W. Wilson Goode faces no criminal charges,investigated in Philadelphia history. “I am committed to make sure that such tragic events never occur again.”Goode declined to discuss details of the jury report or the events of the siege.“It has been my belief all alongthat I had not done anything that is criminal and I am satisfied that the district attorney concluded the same thing,” Goode said.Castille, asked whether be believed no crime was committed despite 11 deaths, told reporters, “That’s correct.”The district attorney also saidthe probe “laid to rest the MOVE commission’s finding and other allegations that police gunfire prevented MOVE members from fleeing the burning compound” at the rear of the house.“No credible evidence whatsoever was presented to establish that police fired their weapons or did anything improper in the back alley the evening of May 13th,” Castille said.The jury said it considered but discarded charges of conspiracy, murder, involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, arson, causing or risking a catastrophe, failure to prevent a catastrophe, criminal mischief and perjury.
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Salina Journal

Salina, Kansas, US

Wed, May 04, 1988

Page 24

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