Dubious arguments against the death penalty
By Jonah Goldberg. Note that this blog was critical (on 21st.) of the Troy Davis execution. But Jonah has good points too
On Wednesday, two men were lawfully executed. Both insisted they were innocent. If you've been watching the news or following Kim Kardashian's tweets, you've likely heard of one of these men, Troy Davis.
The other death penalty "victim," Lawrence Russell Brewer, was until this week the more significant convicted murderer. Brewer was one of the racist goons who infamously tied James Byrd to the back of their truck and dragged him to death in Texas.
The case became a touchstone in the 2000 presidential race because then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush had refused to sign a "hate crimes" law. The NAACP ran a reprehensible ad during the presidential election trying to insinuate that Bush somehow shared responsibility for the act.
Regardless, Brewer claimed that he was "innocent" because one of his buddies had cut Byrd's throat before they dragged his body around. Forensic evidence directly contradicted this.
Brewer's own statements didn't help either. Such as, "As far as any regrets, no, I have no regrets. ... I'd do it all over again, to tell you the truth."
Brewer, festooned with tattoos depicting KKK symbols and burning crosses, was "not a sympathetic person" in the words of Gloria Rubac of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement.
Which is why we didn't hear much about him this week. Instead, we heard a great deal about Davis. Many people insist Davis was innocent or that there was "too much doubt" about his guilt to proceed with the execution. Many judges and public officials disagreed, including all nine members of the Supreme Court, who briefly stayed the execution Wednesday night, only to let it proceed hours later.
There are many sincere and decent people -- on both sides of the ideological spectrum -- who are opposed to the death penalty. I consider it an honorable position, even though I disagree with it. I am 100 percent in favor of lawfully executing people who deserve the death penalty and 100 percent opposed to killing people who do not deserve it.
When I say that, many death penalty opponents angrily respond that I'm missing the point. You can never be certain! Troy Davis proves that!
But he proves no such thing. At best, his case proves that you can't be certain about Davis. You most certainly can be certain about other murderers. If the horrible happens and we learn that Davis really was not guilty, that will be a heart-wrenching revelation. It will cast a negative light on the death penalty, on the Georgia criminal justice system and on America.
But you know what it won't do? It won't render Lawrence Russell Brewer one iota less guilty or less deserving of the death penalty. Opponents of capital punishment are extremely selective about the cases they make into public crusades. Strategically that's smart; you don't want to lead your argument with "unsympathetic persons." But logically it's problematic. There is no transitive property that renders one heinous murderer less deserving of punishment simply because some other person was exonerated of murder.
Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people including 19 children. He admitted it. How does doubt in Troy Davis' case make McVeigh less deserving of death?
We hear so much about the innocent people who've gotten off death row -- thank God -- because of new DNA techniques. We hear very little about the criminals who've had their guilt confirmed by the same techniques (or who've declined DNA testing because they know it will remove all doubt). Death penalty opponents are less eager to debate such cases because they want to delegitimize "the system."
And to be fair, I think this logic cuts against one of the death penalty's greatest rationalizations as well: deterrence. I do believe there's a deterrence effect from the death penalty. But I don't think that's anything more than an ancillary benefit of capital punishment. It's unjust to kill a person simply to send a message to other people who've yet to commit a crime. It is just to execute a person who deserves to be executed.
Opponents of the death penalty believe that no one deserves to be executed. Again, it's an honorable position, but a difficult one to defend politically in a country where the death penalty is popular. So they spend all of their energy cherry-picking cases, gumming-up the legal system and talking about "uncertainty."
That's fine. But until they can explain why we shouldn't have a death penalty when uncertainty isn't an issue -- i.e. why McVeigh and Brewer should live -- they'll never win the real argument.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Monday, September 26, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Two Calif. Officers Charged over Fatal Beating
Great to see a prosecution coming out of this disgusting incident -- previously covered here on August 8 and July 28. Picture of the victim below after police "attention"
Two police officers were charged Wednesday in the death of a mentally ill homeless man in Southern California who was beaten and repeatedly shocked with a stun gun during his arrest, authorities said.
Officer Manuel Ramos was charged with one count each of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of 37-year-old Kelly Thomas after a violent confrontation on July 5 with officers, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said at a news conference.
Police Cpl. Jay Cicinelli was charged with one count each of involuntary manslaughter and excessive force, he said.
Rackauckas said a review of the evidence showed Thomas was acting "in self-defense, in pain and in a state of panic." "His numerous pleas of 'I'm sorry,' 'I can't breathe,' 'Help Dad' (were) all to no avail. Screams, loud screams, didn't help," the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor said police officers have a right to use reasonable force in the performance of a lawful duty but citizens have a right to self-defense, even against the police.
Lorie Fridell, an associate professor of criminology at the University of South Florida, said it is highly unusual for a police officer to be charged with murder. "It is quite appropriate in such cases to hold officers to account," Fridell said. "Often, however prosecutors will give officers the benefit of the doubt."
Ron Thomas, Kelly Thomas' father, said he was pleased with the charges but still suffers every day as a result of his son's death. "That's exactly what I hoped for," Ron Thomas said of the charges.. "It makes me feel fantastic that this is happening, it's the justice we need."
Bill Hadden, an attorney representing Cincinelli, didn't immediately return a call for comment. A call to a home number for Ramos rang unanswered. Arraignment was scheduled later Wednesday.
Six officers were placed on paid administrative leave after the incident that occurred while police were investigating reported vehicle break-ins at a transit hub.
Thomas suffered severe head and neck injuries and was taken off life support five days later.
Thomas suffered from schizophrenia and lived on the streets even though he received support from family and friends.
Police said Thomas ran when officers tried to search his bag. A struggle followed when they tried to arrest him for investigation of possession of stolen goods.
Video from a bystander's cell phone taken from a distance showed parts of the bloody encounter in which Thomas can be heard screaming for his father.
Surveillance video aboard a bus showed agitated passengers telling the driver that officers beat and repeatedly used a stun gun during the arrest.
After the incident, the police chief went on medical leave and the embattled City Council hired a law enforcement expert to investigate Police Department practices.
Incensed community members held demonstrations and started an effort to recall the mayor and two councilmembers over the incident. Ron Thomas, the father of the dead man, filed a claim seeking damages from the city.
He has previously released his son's medical records showing Thomas suffered broken bones in his face, choked on his own blood and was repeatedly shocked with two stun guns.
News reports show Cincinelli left the Los Angeles Police Department after losing an eye in 1996 while working as a probationary officer.
Cincinelli, who was 25 at the time, was shot during an on-duty gunfight during a traffic stop less than three weeks after graduating from the Police Academy, according to news accounts.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Great to see a prosecution coming out of this disgusting incident -- previously covered here on August 8 and July 28. Picture of the victim below after police "attention"
Two police officers were charged Wednesday in the death of a mentally ill homeless man in Southern California who was beaten and repeatedly shocked with a stun gun during his arrest, authorities said.
Officer Manuel Ramos was charged with one count each of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of 37-year-old Kelly Thomas after a violent confrontation on July 5 with officers, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said at a news conference.
Police Cpl. Jay Cicinelli was charged with one count each of involuntary manslaughter and excessive force, he said.
Rackauckas said a review of the evidence showed Thomas was acting "in self-defense, in pain and in a state of panic." "His numerous pleas of 'I'm sorry,' 'I can't breathe,' 'Help Dad' (were) all to no avail. Screams, loud screams, didn't help," the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor said police officers have a right to use reasonable force in the performance of a lawful duty but citizens have a right to self-defense, even against the police.
Lorie Fridell, an associate professor of criminology at the University of South Florida, said it is highly unusual for a police officer to be charged with murder. "It is quite appropriate in such cases to hold officers to account," Fridell said. "Often, however prosecutors will give officers the benefit of the doubt."
Ron Thomas, Kelly Thomas' father, said he was pleased with the charges but still suffers every day as a result of his son's death. "That's exactly what I hoped for," Ron Thomas said of the charges.. "It makes me feel fantastic that this is happening, it's the justice we need."
Bill Hadden, an attorney representing Cincinelli, didn't immediately return a call for comment. A call to a home number for Ramos rang unanswered. Arraignment was scheduled later Wednesday.
Six officers were placed on paid administrative leave after the incident that occurred while police were investigating reported vehicle break-ins at a transit hub.
Thomas suffered severe head and neck injuries and was taken off life support five days later.
Thomas suffered from schizophrenia and lived on the streets even though he received support from family and friends.
Police said Thomas ran when officers tried to search his bag. A struggle followed when they tried to arrest him for investigation of possession of stolen goods.
Video from a bystander's cell phone taken from a distance showed parts of the bloody encounter in which Thomas can be heard screaming for his father.
Surveillance video aboard a bus showed agitated passengers telling the driver that officers beat and repeatedly used a stun gun during the arrest.
After the incident, the police chief went on medical leave and the embattled City Council hired a law enforcement expert to investigate Police Department practices.
Incensed community members held demonstrations and started an effort to recall the mayor and two councilmembers over the incident. Ron Thomas, the father of the dead man, filed a claim seeking damages from the city.
He has previously released his son's medical records showing Thomas suffered broken bones in his face, choked on his own blood and was repeatedly shocked with two stun guns.
News reports show Cincinelli left the Los Angeles Police Department after losing an eye in 1996 while working as a probationary officer.
Cincinelli, who was 25 at the time, was shot during an on-duty gunfight during a traffic stop less than three weeks after graduating from the Police Academy, according to news accounts.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Friday, September 23, 2011
Police line-ups are 'all wrong': Looking at suspects one by one on a computer would catch more criminals, says expert
Police line-ups should be stopped and witnesses should look at suspects one-by-one on a computer, a study has found.
This would make the choice more accurate and lead to the catching of more criminals, according to research published today by the American Judicature Society.
Using the sequential method would also make it less likely that witnesses will pick the innocents brought in to to fill out the lineup, it said.
Gary Wells, eyewitness ID expert at Iowa State University, said that line-ups seen in films such as The Usual Suspects, and used in many real-life police departments, were 'all wrong'. He found that witnesses should instead look at individuals one-by-one with a detective who also does not know the identity of the real suspect.
This, he said, was known as a double-blind lineup and avoided giving witnesses unintentional cues.
He also revealed that the 'identification parade' should preferably take place on a computer, with the theory being that witnesses using the sequential lineup will compare each person to the perpetrator in their memory. This is in contrast to comparing them to one another side-by-side to see which most resembles the criminal.
Mr Wells said: 'What we want the witness to do is don't decide who looks most like the perpetrator, but decide whether the perpetrator is there or not.'
He said the results confirmed many other laboratory experiments, carried out over the past 35 years, that have found sequential lineups to be more accurate.
But he said some police departments have been reluctant to change their practices.
The study used real-life witnesses who did not know they were part of a study, and was conducted at four police departments in Texas, North Carolina, San Diego and Arizona. The witnesses were shown mugshots of one suspect with five 'fillers', or known innocents.
In the traditional lineups witnesses picked a filler 18 per cent of the time, compared to only 12 per cent of the time when using the sequential method. Witnesses picked the suspect out about a quarter of the time using both methods.
Mr Wells estimated that between 20 and 25 percent of 16,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. are now using the sequential and double-blind procedures.
He said those reforms have been made in the last decade, with some key departments including Denver and Dallas coming on board recently. But he added: 'There's still a long ways to go'. And he said he hoped the study would help 'push reforms forward'.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Police line-ups should be stopped and witnesses should look at suspects one-by-one on a computer, a study has found.
This would make the choice more accurate and lead to the catching of more criminals, according to research published today by the American Judicature Society.
Using the sequential method would also make it less likely that witnesses will pick the innocents brought in to to fill out the lineup, it said.
Gary Wells, eyewitness ID expert at Iowa State University, said that line-ups seen in films such as The Usual Suspects, and used in many real-life police departments, were 'all wrong'. He found that witnesses should instead look at individuals one-by-one with a detective who also does not know the identity of the real suspect.
This, he said, was known as a double-blind lineup and avoided giving witnesses unintentional cues.
He also revealed that the 'identification parade' should preferably take place on a computer, with the theory being that witnesses using the sequential lineup will compare each person to the perpetrator in their memory. This is in contrast to comparing them to one another side-by-side to see which most resembles the criminal.
Mr Wells said: 'What we want the witness to do is don't decide who looks most like the perpetrator, but decide whether the perpetrator is there or not.'
He said the results confirmed many other laboratory experiments, carried out over the past 35 years, that have found sequential lineups to be more accurate.
But he said some police departments have been reluctant to change their practices.
The study used real-life witnesses who did not know they were part of a study, and was conducted at four police departments in Texas, North Carolina, San Diego and Arizona. The witnesses were shown mugshots of one suspect with five 'fillers', or known innocents.
In the traditional lineups witnesses picked a filler 18 per cent of the time, compared to only 12 per cent of the time when using the sequential method. Witnesses picked the suspect out about a quarter of the time using both methods.
Mr Wells estimated that between 20 and 25 percent of 16,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. are now using the sequential and double-blind procedures.
He said those reforms have been made in the last decade, with some key departments including Denver and Dallas coming on board recently. But he added: 'There's still a long ways to go'. And he said he hoped the study would help 'push reforms forward'.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Severe fallout from a hasty and wrong prosecution in Britain
The nurse cleared of poisoning patients told yesterday how she is too frightened to walk down the street alone.
Rebecca Leighton, 27, said she had been portrayed as an ‘Angel of Death’ after she spent six weeks in custody as police investigated the deaths of several patients from suspected saline drip contamination.
She said the ‘normal life’ she enjoyed before she was arrested had been destroyed.
Miss Leighton, who remains subject to another on-going investigation, told ITV’s This Morning show: ‘It’s hard to even say about having a normal life because now my life isn’t normal.
‘I’m not working. I can’t go outside my house without people taking pictures of me. ‘I can’t walk down the street on my own because I’m kind of a bit scared really, someone’s always got to be with me all the time.’
The ten-minute chat with presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield was billed as Miss Leighton’s ‘first and only interview’.
She described herself as ‘such a caring person’ and told how she ‘loved’ working as a nurse and was ‘passionate’ about looking after patients.
Her 6am arrest at her home over the poisonings at Stepping Hill Hospital, in Stockport, was ‘horrendous, absolutely horrendous’, she said. But, she added she had still thought she ‘would be home for tea-time because surely they know I’ve not done anything wrong’.
Miss Leighton, who appeared to have had a makeover for her TV appearance, said: ‘I pleaded with the police every day, all the time, just please don’t stop looking, don’t stop with me because if you do then surely the person that has done these horrific things is still going to be out there. ‘It worried me so much that the patients, the staff, everybody was still going to be affected by it.’
After being charged with contaminating saline fluids with insulin, Miss Leighton was refused bail for her own protection.
The Crown Prosecution Service dropped the contamination charges earlier this month because of lack of sufficient evidence against her.
Yesterday Miss Leighton claimed the publication of photographs of her partying on nights out had portrayed her in a way that led the public to form the ‘wrong opinion’ of her.
Asked by Schofield to explain the circumstances surrounding the pictures, which included one of her swigging from a wine bottle, Miss Leighton said: ‘I was just being any normal girl, out with my friends having a good time. Everybody I know does that.’
Police continue to investigate the deaths of patients Tracey Arden, 44, Arnold Lancaster, 71, Derek Weaver, 83, and four more potential victims.
Yesterday Miss Leighton said she did not know if she would return to nursing. She said: ‘I’d like to think that I’m a stronger person and have learnt to appreciate life more than maybe what [sic] I did before.’
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
The nurse cleared of poisoning patients told yesterday how she is too frightened to walk down the street alone.
Rebecca Leighton, 27, said she had been portrayed as an ‘Angel of Death’ after she spent six weeks in custody as police investigated the deaths of several patients from suspected saline drip contamination.
She said the ‘normal life’ she enjoyed before she was arrested had been destroyed.
Miss Leighton, who remains subject to another on-going investigation, told ITV’s This Morning show: ‘It’s hard to even say about having a normal life because now my life isn’t normal.
‘I’m not working. I can’t go outside my house without people taking pictures of me. ‘I can’t walk down the street on my own because I’m kind of a bit scared really, someone’s always got to be with me all the time.’
The ten-minute chat with presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield was billed as Miss Leighton’s ‘first and only interview’.
She described herself as ‘such a caring person’ and told how she ‘loved’ working as a nurse and was ‘passionate’ about looking after patients.
Her 6am arrest at her home over the poisonings at Stepping Hill Hospital, in Stockport, was ‘horrendous, absolutely horrendous’, she said. But, she added she had still thought she ‘would be home for tea-time because surely they know I’ve not done anything wrong’.
Miss Leighton, who appeared to have had a makeover for her TV appearance, said: ‘I pleaded with the police every day, all the time, just please don’t stop looking, don’t stop with me because if you do then surely the person that has done these horrific things is still going to be out there. ‘It worried me so much that the patients, the staff, everybody was still going to be affected by it.’
After being charged with contaminating saline fluids with insulin, Miss Leighton was refused bail for her own protection.
The Crown Prosecution Service dropped the contamination charges earlier this month because of lack of sufficient evidence against her.
Yesterday Miss Leighton claimed the publication of photographs of her partying on nights out had portrayed her in a way that led the public to form the ‘wrong opinion’ of her.
Asked by Schofield to explain the circumstances surrounding the pictures, which included one of her swigging from a wine bottle, Miss Leighton said: ‘I was just being any normal girl, out with my friends having a good time. Everybody I know does that.’
Police continue to investigate the deaths of patients Tracey Arden, 44, Arnold Lancaster, 71, Derek Weaver, 83, and four more potential victims.
Yesterday Miss Leighton said she did not know if she would return to nursing. She said: ‘I’d like to think that I’m a stronger person and have learnt to appreciate life more than maybe what [sic] I did before.’
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
US death row inmate Troy Davis issues parting cry
This is a very disturbing case. With 6 out of 7 of the original witnesses subsequently recanting, there is no way this man can he held to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt. And the witness who has not recanted could be the one who actually fired the shots
CONVICTED US murderer Troy Davis has issued a parting cry to death penalty abolitionists urging them to continue the battle after he is executed tomorrow, Amnesty International says.
"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me," Davis said in a letter to supporters released to the public via Amnesty International USA, which posted it on Facebook and on its website.
"This struggle is for all the Troy Davis who came before me and all the ones who will come after me," he said.
"I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I've taken my last breath."
A US parole board denied clemency today to Davis, clearing the way for his execution tomorrow in a racially charged case that has become an international cause celebre for death penalty opponents.
Davis, who is black, was convicted 20 years ago of the fatal 1989 shooting of 27-year-old white police officer Mark MacPhail, a married father of a two-year-old girl and an infant boy.
MacPhail had been working nights as a security guard when he intervened in a brawl in a Burger King parking lot in Savannah, Georgia and was shot in the heart and the head at point-blank range.
There was no physical evidence tying Davis, who was 20 at the time of the murder, to the crime and several witnesses at his original trial later recanted their testimony.
During two decades of legal jousting, the campaign to spare his life drew high-profile support from former US president Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI, helping Davis escape three previous dates with death.
Some 2000 protesters gathered, at Amnesty's urging, at the Georgia state capitol today, 24 hours before Davis is due to become the 34th person executed in the United States this year.
The family of the victim have insisted the execution go ahead with MacPhail's daughter telling journalists emotionally how Davis had robbed her of a life with her father.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
This is a very disturbing case. With 6 out of 7 of the original witnesses subsequently recanting, there is no way this man can he held to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt. And the witness who has not recanted could be the one who actually fired the shots
CONVICTED US murderer Troy Davis has issued a parting cry to death penalty abolitionists urging them to continue the battle after he is executed tomorrow, Amnesty International says.
"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me," Davis said in a letter to supporters released to the public via Amnesty International USA, which posted it on Facebook and on its website.
"This struggle is for all the Troy Davis who came before me and all the ones who will come after me," he said.
"I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I've taken my last breath."
A US parole board denied clemency today to Davis, clearing the way for his execution tomorrow in a racially charged case that has become an international cause celebre for death penalty opponents.
Davis, who is black, was convicted 20 years ago of the fatal 1989 shooting of 27-year-old white police officer Mark MacPhail, a married father of a two-year-old girl and an infant boy.
MacPhail had been working nights as a security guard when he intervened in a brawl in a Burger King parking lot in Savannah, Georgia and was shot in the heart and the head at point-blank range.
There was no physical evidence tying Davis, who was 20 at the time of the murder, to the crime and several witnesses at his original trial later recanted their testimony.
During two decades of legal jousting, the campaign to spare his life drew high-profile support from former US president Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI, helping Davis escape three previous dates with death.
Some 2000 protesters gathered, at Amnesty's urging, at the Georgia state capitol today, 24 hours before Davis is due to become the 34th person executed in the United States this year.
The family of the victim have insisted the execution go ahead with MacPhail's daughter telling journalists emotionally how Davis had robbed her of a life with her father.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Another obnoxious arrest by the British police
A wealthy family man was arrested on suspicion of murder yesterday after allegedly stabbing a burglar to death with his own knife.
Businessman Vincent Cooke, 39, was relaxing when he heard a knock at the front door of his detached home.
When he answered he was confronted by two men, at least one armed with a knife, who threatened him and tried to force their way into the £350,000 house in the Cheshire stockbroker belt.
With his wife and young son due home any minute, Mr Cooke fought desperately to keep the men out. In the struggle burglar Raymond Jacob, 37, was stabbed with his own knife and fell to the ground fatally injured. The second intruder fled.
Minutes later Mr Cooke’s wife, Karen, 35, and 12-year-old son Anthony arrived and watched in horror as the raider lay dying.
The incident happened in Bramhall, which boasts millionaire footballers, soap stars and TV presenters as residents.
It is the third time in six months that intruders have been stabbed to death by homeowners. The killings come after the Government pledged to bring in legislation which clarified the law on self-defence in England.
Justice Secretary Ken Clarke promised that householders who used ‘whatever force necessary’ on intruders in their homes would not be committing a criminal offence.
Last night Mr Cooke, who runs a same day courier and logistics business, was being questioned by detectives while his stunned family were being comforted by relatives.
He and his wife drive luxury cars, a gold Maserati and a silver Range Rover both with personalised registration plates, and detectives will be investigating whether they were targeted by the raiders for their wealth.
They will also examine whether the two men were known to Mr Cooke or had done business with him.
But sources close to the case were adamant that Mr Cooke is an ‘upstanding family man who was protecting his property and fearful for his family’s safety’.
A police source said last night: ‘At this moment it looks as if Mr Cooke was confronted at the door of his home by two men, at least one of whom was believed to have been armed with a knife. Officers are examining the possibility that the dead man was stabbed with this knife.’
More HERE. (Via POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
A wealthy family man was arrested on suspicion of murder yesterday after allegedly stabbing a burglar to death with his own knife.
Businessman Vincent Cooke, 39, was relaxing when he heard a knock at the front door of his detached home.
When he answered he was confronted by two men, at least one armed with a knife, who threatened him and tried to force their way into the £350,000 house in the Cheshire stockbroker belt.
With his wife and young son due home any minute, Mr Cooke fought desperately to keep the men out. In the struggle burglar Raymond Jacob, 37, was stabbed with his own knife and fell to the ground fatally injured. The second intruder fled.
Minutes later Mr Cooke’s wife, Karen, 35, and 12-year-old son Anthony arrived and watched in horror as the raider lay dying.
The incident happened in Bramhall, which boasts millionaire footballers, soap stars and TV presenters as residents.
It is the third time in six months that intruders have been stabbed to death by homeowners. The killings come after the Government pledged to bring in legislation which clarified the law on self-defence in England.
Justice Secretary Ken Clarke promised that householders who used ‘whatever force necessary’ on intruders in their homes would not be committing a criminal offence.
Last night Mr Cooke, who runs a same day courier and logistics business, was being questioned by detectives while his stunned family were being comforted by relatives.
He and his wife drive luxury cars, a gold Maserati and a silver Range Rover both with personalised registration plates, and detectives will be investigating whether they were targeted by the raiders for their wealth.
They will also examine whether the two men were known to Mr Cooke or had done business with him.
But sources close to the case were adamant that Mr Cooke is an ‘upstanding family man who was protecting his property and fearful for his family’s safety’.
A police source said last night: ‘At this moment it looks as if Mr Cooke was confronted at the door of his home by two men, at least one of whom was believed to have been armed with a knife. Officers are examining the possibility that the dead man was stabbed with this knife.’
More HERE. (Via POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Monday, September 19, 2011
Adolf Perry
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Belvin Perry, a judge of some kind in the city of Orlando, county of Orange, state of utter and complete lunacy. Belvin not only thinks he knows more about the law than the average individual—which is almost certainly not true these days—but the Founding Fathers, who wrote the law in the first place, as well.
To all appearances, that's why he cited two fellows named Mark Schmidter and Julian Heiklen for contempt of court when they refused to bow to his illegal decree not to exercise their First Amendment rights on the public plaza outside the petty dictatorship he calls a courtroom.
Heiklen got 155 days—more than five months—for distributing literature about jury nullification to passersby, and Schmidter is expected to get about the same. What is not expected is anything resembling due process. Under these circumstances there is no jury, just a nasty piece of work on the bench who apparently hates the idea of a free people governing themselves.
You can see this pompous self-important little man—the kind who can strut sitting down—on the video linked to below. Unfortunately, he is typical of the rot that presently infects the courts of what was once the freest country in the world. If there's no kangaroo in his family crest, there should be.
Not surprisingly, Orlando is rated as the third most dangerous city in the United States. And why shouldn't it be, when the judges, bailiffs, and jailers—presumed dispensers of law and order—are busy illegally prosecuting individuals for publicly expressing their opinion?
I know that as a short, bald, fat guy with a really stupid name, Belvin has a lot to compensate for. His life was probably hell in grade school. But why, I ask, take it out on the honest and lawful proponents of a legal concept that was ancient when this country was born, and highly thought of by both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson?
Not to mention various and assorted other Tea Partiers, crackpots, anti-government radicals, and potential domestic terrorists like John Adams, Sir William Blackstone, Justice Samuel Chase, Clarence Darrow, Lord Thomas Denman, Sir Mathew Hale, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Judge Learned Hand, Justice Robert H. Jackson, John Jay, William Kunstler, John Locke, Justice Thurgood Marshall, Massachusetts Justice Theophilus Parsons, Lysander Spooner, Sir John Vaughn, and Justice Byron White.
Then there are the fly-by-night institutions: the Arizona Supreme Court, for one, the Constitution of the State of Maryland, the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, Scheflin and Van Dyke, the Indiana State Constitution, the Yale Law Journal, and the United States Supreme Court.
I'd love to give my readers this clown's publicly-available phone number and office address. Perhaps they could help explain to him why he's being considered for our coveted White Wig Award for judicial behavior consistent with that of the English judges whose insane, evil, and mentally incompetent rulings helped to spark the American Revolution. But the last time we did something like that, the United States Marshals Service, no less, another completely unlawful operation on the part of a runaway super-state (see Article I, Section VIII of the United States Constitution and show me where it authorizes a federal secret police force), threatened to shut The Libertarian Enterprise down.
Instead, please allow me to introduce you to "A Juror's Creed", something I put together about a decade ago, and ask you to spread it around, as widely as you possibly can. The more of us who are aware of a jury's ancient prerogatives, the less hold tyranny has on any one of us.
"As an American juror, I promise to exercise my 1000-year-old right and duty to arrive at a verdict, not merely on the basis of the facts of a particular case, or any instructions that I may be given, but through my ability to reason, my knowledge of the Bill of Rights, and my individual conscience; when needful, I will judge the law itself."
The law, in effect, is what a jury says it is—a very American idea. Juries didn't much like alcohol Prohibition in the 1920s and they refused to convict about 60 percent of those accused of breaking the law, until the government, in order to save face, was forced to repeal what had been an idiotic law. That's why the government, since September 11, 2001, has been careful to evade due process wherever it can, with its renditions and Guantanamo, and every other totalitarian tactic they can think of. As with any two-penny tinpot tyranny, due process gets in the way of kidnapping and torturing their perceived enemies.
The sad, stupid case of the pudgy judge in Orlando—this tubby little strutter—is only a single example in a long, long line of poor, deluded creatures, reaching back into the Stone Age, who have believed they can run your life better than you can, and are willing to kill you and cook you and eat you just to prove it. That attitude is a disease which I hope and trust the next few years will finally cure.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Belvin Perry, a judge of some kind in the city of Orlando, county of Orange, state of utter and complete lunacy. Belvin not only thinks he knows more about the law than the average individual—which is almost certainly not true these days—but the Founding Fathers, who wrote the law in the first place, as well.
To all appearances, that's why he cited two fellows named Mark Schmidter and Julian Heiklen for contempt of court when they refused to bow to his illegal decree not to exercise their First Amendment rights on the public plaza outside the petty dictatorship he calls a courtroom.
Heiklen got 155 days—more than five months—for distributing literature about jury nullification to passersby, and Schmidter is expected to get about the same. What is not expected is anything resembling due process. Under these circumstances there is no jury, just a nasty piece of work on the bench who apparently hates the idea of a free people governing themselves.
You can see this pompous self-important little man—the kind who can strut sitting down—on the video linked to below. Unfortunately, he is typical of the rot that presently infects the courts of what was once the freest country in the world. If there's no kangaroo in his family crest, there should be.
Not surprisingly, Orlando is rated as the third most dangerous city in the United States. And why shouldn't it be, when the judges, bailiffs, and jailers—presumed dispensers of law and order—are busy illegally prosecuting individuals for publicly expressing their opinion?
I know that as a short, bald, fat guy with a really stupid name, Belvin has a lot to compensate for. His life was probably hell in grade school. But why, I ask, take it out on the honest and lawful proponents of a legal concept that was ancient when this country was born, and highly thought of by both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson?
Not to mention various and assorted other Tea Partiers, crackpots, anti-government radicals, and potential domestic terrorists like John Adams, Sir William Blackstone, Justice Samuel Chase, Clarence Darrow, Lord Thomas Denman, Sir Mathew Hale, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Judge Learned Hand, Justice Robert H. Jackson, John Jay, William Kunstler, John Locke, Justice Thurgood Marshall, Massachusetts Justice Theophilus Parsons, Lysander Spooner, Sir John Vaughn, and Justice Byron White.
Then there are the fly-by-night institutions: the Arizona Supreme Court, for one, the Constitution of the State of Maryland, the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, Scheflin and Van Dyke, the Indiana State Constitution, the Yale Law Journal, and the United States Supreme Court.
I'd love to give my readers this clown's publicly-available phone number and office address. Perhaps they could help explain to him why he's being considered for our coveted White Wig Award for judicial behavior consistent with that of the English judges whose insane, evil, and mentally incompetent rulings helped to spark the American Revolution. But the last time we did something like that, the United States Marshals Service, no less, another completely unlawful operation on the part of a runaway super-state (see Article I, Section VIII of the United States Constitution and show me where it authorizes a federal secret police force), threatened to shut The Libertarian Enterprise down.
Instead, please allow me to introduce you to "A Juror's Creed", something I put together about a decade ago, and ask you to spread it around, as widely as you possibly can. The more of us who are aware of a jury's ancient prerogatives, the less hold tyranny has on any one of us.
"As an American juror, I promise to exercise my 1000-year-old right and duty to arrive at a verdict, not merely on the basis of the facts of a particular case, or any instructions that I may be given, but through my ability to reason, my knowledge of the Bill of Rights, and my individual conscience; when needful, I will judge the law itself."
The law, in effect, is what a jury says it is—a very American idea. Juries didn't much like alcohol Prohibition in the 1920s and they refused to convict about 60 percent of those accused of breaking the law, until the government, in order to save face, was forced to repeal what had been an idiotic law. That's why the government, since September 11, 2001, has been careful to evade due process wherever it can, with its renditions and Guantanamo, and every other totalitarian tactic they can think of. As with any two-penny tinpot tyranny, due process gets in the way of kidnapping and torturing their perceived enemies.
The sad, stupid case of the pudgy judge in Orlando—this tubby little strutter—is only a single example in a long, long line of poor, deluded creatures, reaching back into the Stone Age, who have believed they can run your life better than you can, and are willing to kill you and cook you and eat you just to prove it. That attitude is a disease which I hope and trust the next few years will finally cure.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Grandmother barred from looking after her grand-daughter by hostile Missouri officials
The mother of the girl is a druggie so is no help -- but the grandmother is perfectly competent and respectable
Janet’s most-pressing concern is the fight to keep her granddaughter, a little girl for whom she’s been the primary caregiver during most of early life, from being placed up for adoption — possibly by total strangers. In less than 10 days, a court hearing could determine whether or not she succeeds in the fight that begun in earnest 15 months ago.
Almost five years ago, Janet convinced her daughter and the biological father of her granddaughter to sign a document that, after being notarized and filed with the court, would have given her legal guardianship of her granddaughter. While the document was notarized, Janet never filed it. Why? Because she was holding out hope that her daughter would change her ways. But she didn’t.
During the early morning hours of a Thursday during the summer of 2010, police officers and paramedics responded to news of a person lying on the ground in front of an apartment building in the St. Louis suburb of University City. Upon arrival, they found a woman unresponsive and barely breathing. It was Janet’s daughter, the 26-year-old mother of a beautiful little girl. She had overdosed on heroin.
The overdose occurred on one of those rare occasions when Janet was not watching her granddaughter and the little girl was being cared for by someone else inside her mother’s home.
As soon as Janet found out about the overdose, she picked up her granddaughter and took her home, fully expecting she would soon become the girl’s full-time guardian until her daughter was able to care for her again after completing rehab.
A hearing was held two days later and, not surprisingly, Janet’s drug-addicted daughter was angry at her mom and didn’t want her child to go with Janet, the responsible parent against whom she liked to lash out, especially when she was in trouble. And she was in trouble.
Perhaps due to Janet’s daughter’s outbursts during the hearing, custody of Janet’s granddaughter went to another woman, the grandmother of Janet’s daughter’s other child by a different father — a woman acting as a foster parent who is not a blood relative of Janet’s granddaughter. This occurred despite the fact that the judge had allowed Janet to intervene early in the case and said placement of the child with her was NOT contrary to the best interest of the child.
The emergency petition to take the granddaughter into state care was falsified and not warranted, Janet said, since she had had her granddaughter for several days after her daughter’s overdose and had ensured she was safe and well-cared for.
By granting temporary custody of Janet’s granddaughter to someone other than a blood relative (i.e., Janet), Children’s Division appears to have violated Missouri law (Section 210.305, RSMo) which requires the agency to give preference and first consideration for foster care placement to grandparents of a child.
I used the word, “appears,” because there is a loophole in the law that allows Children’s Division to avoid placing a child with a grandparent if they deem such placement as being “contrary to the welfare of the child.”
Children’s Division workers who opt for the loophole must, according to the statute, document in writing why the child was not placed with grandparent. In this case, however, they did not conduct a home study or background check on Janet and, as a result, had nothing upon which to base their decision. Apparently, they simply decided that her grandparent status didn’t matter. Falsified reports by Children’s Division workers and the deputy juvenile officer assigned to the case followed to hinder Janet’s efforts to save her granddaughter.
Three months after the little girl was placed with the foster parent, the Family Court judge in charge of the case said Janet should have immediate access to her granddaughter if she passed a drug test. Interestingly, she passed the drug test as well as five other blood and hair-follicle tests during the past year. Inexplicably, the foster parent never had to take a blood test. In addition, Janet had to undergo a psychological evaluation which the foster parent did not.
Despite the judge’s directive and the fact that Janet passed the drug and psych test hurdles, access to her granddaughter continued to be blocked by the foster parent. No birthdays. No holidays. And, for the first time ever, no Christmas morning celebration. As a result, Janet’s granddaughter’s life changed dramatically.
Since being taken from Janet, the trips the gifted child enjoyed with her — to the zoo, theater and symphony — have not happened. Her other regular activities, including swimming lessons, dance, music and art classes, ended as well.
Over the summer, the little girl spent more than 12 hours a day in daycare, arriving at 6 a.m. and leaving at 6 p.m. daily. This fall, despite objections from Janet and from officials at the girl’s school, the judge allowed her to miss several weeks of school so she could travel with the foster parent to a far-away state.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
The mother of the girl is a druggie so is no help -- but the grandmother is perfectly competent and respectable
Janet’s most-pressing concern is the fight to keep her granddaughter, a little girl for whom she’s been the primary caregiver during most of early life, from being placed up for adoption — possibly by total strangers. In less than 10 days, a court hearing could determine whether or not she succeeds in the fight that begun in earnest 15 months ago.
Almost five years ago, Janet convinced her daughter and the biological father of her granddaughter to sign a document that, after being notarized and filed with the court, would have given her legal guardianship of her granddaughter. While the document was notarized, Janet never filed it. Why? Because she was holding out hope that her daughter would change her ways. But she didn’t.
During the early morning hours of a Thursday during the summer of 2010, police officers and paramedics responded to news of a person lying on the ground in front of an apartment building in the St. Louis suburb of University City. Upon arrival, they found a woman unresponsive and barely breathing. It was Janet’s daughter, the 26-year-old mother of a beautiful little girl. She had overdosed on heroin.
The overdose occurred on one of those rare occasions when Janet was not watching her granddaughter and the little girl was being cared for by someone else inside her mother’s home.
As soon as Janet found out about the overdose, she picked up her granddaughter and took her home, fully expecting she would soon become the girl’s full-time guardian until her daughter was able to care for her again after completing rehab.
A hearing was held two days later and, not surprisingly, Janet’s drug-addicted daughter was angry at her mom and didn’t want her child to go with Janet, the responsible parent against whom she liked to lash out, especially when she was in trouble. And she was in trouble.
Perhaps due to Janet’s daughter’s outbursts during the hearing, custody of Janet’s granddaughter went to another woman, the grandmother of Janet’s daughter’s other child by a different father — a woman acting as a foster parent who is not a blood relative of Janet’s granddaughter. This occurred despite the fact that the judge had allowed Janet to intervene early in the case and said placement of the child with her was NOT contrary to the best interest of the child.
The emergency petition to take the granddaughter into state care was falsified and not warranted, Janet said, since she had had her granddaughter for several days after her daughter’s overdose and had ensured she was safe and well-cared for.
By granting temporary custody of Janet’s granddaughter to someone other than a blood relative (i.e., Janet), Children’s Division appears to have violated Missouri law (Section 210.305, RSMo) which requires the agency to give preference and first consideration for foster care placement to grandparents of a child.
I used the word, “appears,” because there is a loophole in the law that allows Children’s Division to avoid placing a child with a grandparent if they deem such placement as being “contrary to the welfare of the child.”
Children’s Division workers who opt for the loophole must, according to the statute, document in writing why the child was not placed with grandparent. In this case, however, they did not conduct a home study or background check on Janet and, as a result, had nothing upon which to base their decision. Apparently, they simply decided that her grandparent status didn’t matter. Falsified reports by Children’s Division workers and the deputy juvenile officer assigned to the case followed to hinder Janet’s efforts to save her granddaughter.
Three months after the little girl was placed with the foster parent, the Family Court judge in charge of the case said Janet should have immediate access to her granddaughter if she passed a drug test. Interestingly, she passed the drug test as well as five other blood and hair-follicle tests during the past year. Inexplicably, the foster parent never had to take a blood test. In addition, Janet had to undergo a psychological evaluation which the foster parent did not.
Despite the judge’s directive and the fact that Janet passed the drug and psych test hurdles, access to her granddaughter continued to be blocked by the foster parent. No birthdays. No holidays. And, for the first time ever, no Christmas morning celebration. As a result, Janet’s granddaughter’s life changed dramatically.
Since being taken from Janet, the trips the gifted child enjoyed with her — to the zoo, theater and symphony — have not happened. Her other regular activities, including swimming lessons, dance, music and art classes, ended as well.
Over the summer, the little girl spent more than 12 hours a day in daycare, arriving at 6 a.m. and leaving at 6 p.m. daily. This fall, despite objections from Janet and from officials at the girl’s school, the judge allowed her to miss several weeks of school so she could travel with the foster parent to a far-away state.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Woman and daughter die but negligent British police get off Scot-free
Police investigating police again
No police officer will face disciplinary action over the death of Fiona Pilkington who killed herself and her disabled daughter after a decade of unchecked abuse by yobs. Yesterday four officers accused of failing to stop the misery inflicted upon the family – who made dozens of 999 calls – were cleared of misconduct.
The inspector, a sergeant and two constables were said in a report by the police watchdog to have ‘cases to answer’. But Leicestershire Police said internal hearings this week had concluded that the case against the unnamed four was ‘not proven’. It means no individual officer has faced any disciplinary sanction over the case.
A spokesman for the force blamed ‘systems and processes’ for the failure to respond to the family’s desperate pleas for help.
At the time Miss Pilkington was accused of ‘over-reacting’ to the torment inflicted upon her by a gang of youths at their home in Barwell, Leicestershire. In October 2007 she killed herself and her 18-year-old daughter Francecca, who had a mental age of four, by setting fire to their car in a layby.
The yobs, some as young as ten, threw stones and eggs at their home, urinated on their wall, invaded the garden and pushed fireworks through the letter box, leaving the family ‘under siege’. An Independent Police Complaints Commission report found that Miss Pilkington, 38, contacted the force on 33 occasions.
Yesterday the family’s solicitor, Jocelyn Cockburn, said the family felt ‘let down’ by the force and added: ‘Numerous police failings were identified at the inquest and in the IPCC report. ‘It is therefore hard for the Pilkington family to understand why no officer has been found guilty of misconduct.
‘Police very rarely discipline officers for misconduct and criminal charges are virtually never brought. I invite the investigating officer to release to the family his rationale in reaching this decision.’
The force’s deputy chief constable, David Evans, said the misconduct hearings concluded that the mistakes made in the case were ‘of an organisational nature due to the systems and processes in place at the time not enabling officers to provide the most effective service’. He added: ‘The tragic deaths of Fiona and her daughter acted as a turning point for the force in how it prioritised and dealt with anti-social behaviour, linking incidents and identifying vulnerability.’
The inquest into the deaths heavily criticised both the force and the local council. It heard that none of the 16-strong gang was ever prosecuted. At one point one yob told Miss Pilkington: ‘We can do anything we like to you and you can’t do anything about it.’
Mark Goldring, of the charity Mencap, said it was ‘extremely shocking and disappointing’ that no one has been held accountable for the failure to protect Miss Pilkington and Francecca. He said the deaths represented ‘a complete failure in the police’s ability to respond adequately to disability hate crime victims’.
And he called on the IPCC to reopen the case to assess whether sufficient changes to policies and practices have been made to prevent similar failures.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Police investigating police again
No police officer will face disciplinary action over the death of Fiona Pilkington who killed herself and her disabled daughter after a decade of unchecked abuse by yobs. Yesterday four officers accused of failing to stop the misery inflicted upon the family – who made dozens of 999 calls – were cleared of misconduct.
The inspector, a sergeant and two constables were said in a report by the police watchdog to have ‘cases to answer’. But Leicestershire Police said internal hearings this week had concluded that the case against the unnamed four was ‘not proven’. It means no individual officer has faced any disciplinary sanction over the case.
A spokesman for the force blamed ‘systems and processes’ for the failure to respond to the family’s desperate pleas for help.
At the time Miss Pilkington was accused of ‘over-reacting’ to the torment inflicted upon her by a gang of youths at their home in Barwell, Leicestershire. In October 2007 she killed herself and her 18-year-old daughter Francecca, who had a mental age of four, by setting fire to their car in a layby.
The yobs, some as young as ten, threw stones and eggs at their home, urinated on their wall, invaded the garden and pushed fireworks through the letter box, leaving the family ‘under siege’. An Independent Police Complaints Commission report found that Miss Pilkington, 38, contacted the force on 33 occasions.
Yesterday the family’s solicitor, Jocelyn Cockburn, said the family felt ‘let down’ by the force and added: ‘Numerous police failings were identified at the inquest and in the IPCC report. ‘It is therefore hard for the Pilkington family to understand why no officer has been found guilty of misconduct.
‘Police very rarely discipline officers for misconduct and criminal charges are virtually never brought. I invite the investigating officer to release to the family his rationale in reaching this decision.’
The force’s deputy chief constable, David Evans, said the misconduct hearings concluded that the mistakes made in the case were ‘of an organisational nature due to the systems and processes in place at the time not enabling officers to provide the most effective service’. He added: ‘The tragic deaths of Fiona and her daughter acted as a turning point for the force in how it prioritised and dealt with anti-social behaviour, linking incidents and identifying vulnerability.’
The inquest into the deaths heavily criticised both the force and the local council. It heard that none of the 16-strong gang was ever prosecuted. At one point one yob told Miss Pilkington: ‘We can do anything we like to you and you can’t do anything about it.’
Mark Goldring, of the charity Mencap, said it was ‘extremely shocking and disappointing’ that no one has been held accountable for the failure to protect Miss Pilkington and Francecca. He said the deaths represented ‘a complete failure in the police’s ability to respond adequately to disability hate crime victims’.
And he called on the IPCC to reopen the case to assess whether sufficient changes to policies and practices have been made to prevent similar failures.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Friday, September 16, 2011
Student wrongfully arrested by dumb British coppers is awarded £20,000
A student who was arrested under the Terrorism Act and kept in custody for six days has been awarded £20,000 compensation by the police. Rizwaan Sabir, 22, who was studying for a master's at Nottingham University, was arrested after downloading a terrorist manual for his research on al Qaeda.
Police arrested him on the university campus on May 14, 2008 on suspicion of possessing extremist material. Mr Sabir was arrested after downloading an edited version of the The Al Qaeda Training Manual from a US government website for his postgraduate research, his solicitor said. He was held for six days before he was released without charge.
After the cash award was announced, Mr Sabir said he was pleased to have cleared his name after a battle lasting more than three years.
A police spokesman confirmed a sum of £20,000 had been agreed to settle Mr Sabir's civil case. 'We stand by the fact that the arrest, detention and obtaining of a warrant of further detention were all perfectly legal, proportionate and necessary in the circumstances as they were in 2008,' a statement said.
'The matter was settled without admission of liability save that the force admitted that one brief search of Mr Sabir and his vehicle carried out in February 2010 was the result of a mistaken belief on the part of the officers involved. This was admitted in November 2010 and the force apologises for this search. 'Nottinghamshire Police has also agreed to amend some records held on Mr Sabir to give them greater clarity.
'Given that all litigation carries with it a risk, this modest monetary settlement was viewed as a sensible way of keeping overall costs to a minimum.'
Following his release from custody, Mr Sabir told ITV Central News: 'It was the most terrifying experience that I have ever had. 'It absolutely broke me. It has been the lowest time in my entire life.' He said he had felt 'the bureaucracy of the state hit me in its hardest form and I feel that the police powers were used in the wrong ways'.
Mr Sabir, who is of Pakistani descent, said: 'There is no smoke without fire. There's fire and the fire is that I am Asian and I'm Muslim and I have got a beard and that's the fire so there is smoke.'
Mr Sabir, who is currently a PhD student at the University of Strathclyde researching the UK's domestic counter-terrorism policy, was arrested after the manual was discovered on a friend's computer.
It is understood Mr Sabir had sent the 1,500-page document to the friend - who was also arrested on May 14 under the Terrorism Act and later released without charge - because he had access to a printer.
A statement issued today by Bhatt Murphy Solicitors on Mr Sabir's behalf said the manual was 'well established as a document used for research in the field of counter-terrorism policy', was referred to in standard textbooks and was widely available.
The statement said Mr Sabir brought proceedings against Nottinghamshire Police for false imprisonment and breaches of the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Human Rights Act 1998.
He claimed that false information on Nottinghamshire Police records, including a clear but unfounded assertion that Mr Sabir had been convicted of a terrorist offence, had led to Mr Sabir being subject to numerous stops and searches.
Mr Sabir said the police 'have been forced to account for the wrong they did to me. 'But I am one of the lucky ones. I cannot forget all those other innocent people like me who have suffered at the hands of the police but do not have the chance or means to vindicate their names.'
Michael Oswald of Bhatt Murphy said: 'Clearly, the police have a difficult and important job to do in their counter-terrorism role, however, they must nonetheless act within the law and must be held to account when they do not.
'Through his remarkable effort and fierce determination over the last three years, Mr Sabir has been able to hold the police to account for their failings.'
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
A student who was arrested under the Terrorism Act and kept in custody for six days has been awarded £20,000 compensation by the police. Rizwaan Sabir, 22, who was studying for a master's at Nottingham University, was arrested after downloading a terrorist manual for his research on al Qaeda.
Police arrested him on the university campus on May 14, 2008 on suspicion of possessing extremist material. Mr Sabir was arrested after downloading an edited version of the The Al Qaeda Training Manual from a US government website for his postgraduate research, his solicitor said. He was held for six days before he was released without charge.
After the cash award was announced, Mr Sabir said he was pleased to have cleared his name after a battle lasting more than three years.
A police spokesman confirmed a sum of £20,000 had been agreed to settle Mr Sabir's civil case. 'We stand by the fact that the arrest, detention and obtaining of a warrant of further detention were all perfectly legal, proportionate and necessary in the circumstances as they were in 2008,' a statement said.
'The matter was settled without admission of liability save that the force admitted that one brief search of Mr Sabir and his vehicle carried out in February 2010 was the result of a mistaken belief on the part of the officers involved. This was admitted in November 2010 and the force apologises for this search. 'Nottinghamshire Police has also agreed to amend some records held on Mr Sabir to give them greater clarity.
'Given that all litigation carries with it a risk, this modest monetary settlement was viewed as a sensible way of keeping overall costs to a minimum.'
Following his release from custody, Mr Sabir told ITV Central News: 'It was the most terrifying experience that I have ever had. 'It absolutely broke me. It has been the lowest time in my entire life.' He said he had felt 'the bureaucracy of the state hit me in its hardest form and I feel that the police powers were used in the wrong ways'.
Mr Sabir, who is of Pakistani descent, said: 'There is no smoke without fire. There's fire and the fire is that I am Asian and I'm Muslim and I have got a beard and that's the fire so there is smoke.'
Mr Sabir, who is currently a PhD student at the University of Strathclyde researching the UK's domestic counter-terrorism policy, was arrested after the manual was discovered on a friend's computer.
It is understood Mr Sabir had sent the 1,500-page document to the friend - who was also arrested on May 14 under the Terrorism Act and later released without charge - because he had access to a printer.
A statement issued today by Bhatt Murphy Solicitors on Mr Sabir's behalf said the manual was 'well established as a document used for research in the field of counter-terrorism policy', was referred to in standard textbooks and was widely available.
The statement said Mr Sabir brought proceedings against Nottinghamshire Police for false imprisonment and breaches of the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Human Rights Act 1998.
He claimed that false information on Nottinghamshire Police records, including a clear but unfounded assertion that Mr Sabir had been convicted of a terrorist offence, had led to Mr Sabir being subject to numerous stops and searches.
Mr Sabir said the police 'have been forced to account for the wrong they did to me. 'But I am one of the lucky ones. I cannot forget all those other innocent people like me who have suffered at the hands of the police but do not have the chance or means to vindicate their names.'
Michael Oswald of Bhatt Murphy said: 'Clearly, the police have a difficult and important job to do in their counter-terrorism role, however, they must nonetheless act within the law and must be held to account when they do not.
'Through his remarkable effort and fierce determination over the last three years, Mr Sabir has been able to hold the police to account for their failings.'
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Amazing case: Australian single mother sues slimy cop -- and wins
She represented herself in court against a range of top legal brains and beat them all
I have in front of me a copy of the District Court judgment of today's date in the matter of Eaves v. Donnelly in which Renee Eaves was awarded the sum of $93,000 against Barry John Donnelly and the State of Queensland.
Ms Eaves is a very attractive blonde model from whom (I surmise) constable Donnelly wanted sex. He apparently was such a low character that he thought he could coerce her into it. She did not oblige him.
So he launched a campaign of harassment against her, secure in the assumption that a dumb blonde could never do anything to touch a Queensland cop.
He arrested her repeatedly on trumped up charges, all of which were thrown out when they came to court.
It was then that Renee showed her steel. She was NOT just a pretty face but a woman determined to get justice against the scum concerned.
And she stuck at it for years. She of course complained to the CMC -- where police investigate police -- and they rejected her complaint.
She then began to get media coverage of the matter, hoping that would shake some action loose. It didn't but it stressed out the cop. He went on stress leave for a year and then resigned.
But Renee still felt that the police had to be held to account -- to discourage oppression of other women by police. So she launched a damages claim in the District Court, where she showed she is not only a steely blonde but a smart one. She repeatedly cross-examined successfully.
During her long battle to get into the District Court, however, Renee ran out of money. Everything about the law is expensive and her means were slender. She in fact ran out just before the matter was due to come up so it looked as if her long battle was going to be for nought.
At that point I stepped in and paid her legal costs from that point on. I had never even met her but I have had a loathing against scum police ever since the extraordinary Barry Mannix case -- where the corrupt police got off Scot-free.
The real villain in this case, however is not the scum cop but rather the police service and the CMC who did nothing to pull him into line or attempt to make amends for his deeds. Except for the extraordinary courage of Ms Eaves, the guilt of the cop in the matter would never have been established.
And in the end it is the taxpayer who will pay -- well over $100,000 all up when legal costs are included.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
She represented herself in court against a range of top legal brains and beat them all
I have in front of me a copy of the District Court judgment of today's date in the matter of Eaves v. Donnelly in which Renee Eaves was awarded the sum of $93,000 against Barry John Donnelly and the State of Queensland.
Ms Eaves is a very attractive blonde model from whom (I surmise) constable Donnelly wanted sex. He apparently was such a low character that he thought he could coerce her into it. She did not oblige him.
So he launched a campaign of harassment against her, secure in the assumption that a dumb blonde could never do anything to touch a Queensland cop.
He arrested her repeatedly on trumped up charges, all of which were thrown out when they came to court.
It was then that Renee showed her steel. She was NOT just a pretty face but a woman determined to get justice against the scum concerned.
And she stuck at it for years. She of course complained to the CMC -- where police investigate police -- and they rejected her complaint.
She then began to get media coverage of the matter, hoping that would shake some action loose. It didn't but it stressed out the cop. He went on stress leave for a year and then resigned.
But Renee still felt that the police had to be held to account -- to discourage oppression of other women by police. So she launched a damages claim in the District Court, where she showed she is not only a steely blonde but a smart one. She repeatedly cross-examined successfully.
During her long battle to get into the District Court, however, Renee ran out of money. Everything about the law is expensive and her means were slender. She in fact ran out just before the matter was due to come up so it looked as if her long battle was going to be for nought.
At that point I stepped in and paid her legal costs from that point on. I had never even met her but I have had a loathing against scum police ever since the extraordinary Barry Mannix case -- where the corrupt police got off Scot-free.
The real villain in this case, however is not the scum cop but rather the police service and the CMC who did nothing to pull him into line or attempt to make amends for his deeds. Except for the extraordinary courage of Ms Eaves, the guilt of the cop in the matter would never have been established.
And in the end it is the taxpayer who will pay -- well over $100,000 all up when legal costs are included.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
I Was Arrested for a Law that Doesn’t Exist
By Kris Bailey
Here is the story about my arrest August 26th, and the reasons for it. I met Chris Nielsen, owner of Electric Cab of Austin, during my recent campaign for Austin City Council.
Chris has been waging a three-year-long battle with the City of Austin over his idea for a green energy business giving pedestrians rides in low-speed electric vehicles–all on a “tips only” basis. He does not charge for these services, as the mobile marketing company generates its revenue from advertising on the sides of the vehicles.
There is no law actually prohibiting him from operating this business, it is true, but, the enforcement side of the city–the police–have determined that the lack of a law regulating a business constitutes operating in violation of a law. Nielsen’s drivers have received around 200 tickets and arrests now, over a law that does not exist.
The Austin City Council has had this issue in front of them multiple times, Chris said, yet never seems to vote on it, always deciding instead to continue to “study” it, thus delaying it a few more months.Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent “studying” his very small business. The Urban Transportation Commission has recommended multiple times that the city issue him a permit to operate. Yet, our Austin City Council refuses to act, and ignores the business repeatedly and pretends that nothing is wrong.
I have been told by multiple City Council members that nothing is “preventing” this business from operating. I met with multiple council members and made several phone calls, wrote e-mails, etc…. and came to realize that Chris Nielsen was right: He is being ignored, and the City of Austin does not wish this business to exist. Why? The taxi lobby is concerned about competition, and donated $36,700 between all of the sitting members of the city council and the Mayor. I’m not making any direct accusations against anyone here, but I will say it gives the impression that we have private businesses buying harassment of their competition.
So, I drove a cart for him. I gave two rides on Friday night. The first was to a couple of women who, when dropped off, handed me a few dollars and thanked me. I did not charge them–they voluntarily handed me the money. At this point, three APD officers stopped me and wrote me a ticket for “Operating without a permit” and “No chauffeur’s license.” I tried to explain that the permit and license did not exist, but they didn’t care. I asked, multiple times, if they had read the ordinances I was accused of violating, and the officers refused to cite the law I was allegedly breaking. They told me if they saw me operating again, they would arrest me. (Read here to see that to be a chauffeured vehicle, requiring permit, as defined by Austin City code, there must be a passenger that is being charged a fee).
I decided that the Austin Police Department does not have the right or the authority to shut down a business on a whim. I picked up another person, and gave him a ride. I dropped him off where he asked to go. The police officers saw him hand me $4 (again, I did not charge him) and immediately came to me and put me in handcuffs. I was arrested without discussion or hesitation, and taken directly to jail. It was quite the experience. I got to spend the night with a lot of the late Friday evening drunks, one of them throwing up all over the floor right next to me. I stayed in jail until I was released the next morning.
Every single officer I interacted with in jail–granted, they work for a different department: county officers have no problem trashing the city police–made comments about what a waste of time my arrest was. I could hear them talking about it the entire night, and none of them supported my charges nor the fact that I was there. The officer taking my mugshot and fingerprints showed my file to everyone else working in the jail, commenting about how incredibly stupid my arrest was, and making multiple remarks about the priorities of our police chief.
My arrest was for a law that did not exist, I have done nothing wrong, and our City Council refuses to even discuss that there could be a problem. In the meantime, a small business is being quietly bankrupted by the city with impound fees and arrests of its employees. Another driver, a 19-year-old girl, was arrested just last week for the same non-existent charge that I was.
I am appealing to anyone who cares about green energy, anyone who cares about small businesses, anyone who cares about police accountability, anyone who cares about wasted resources, anyone who thinks incidents like these should not happen: Please, please, write to the Austin City Council members and tell them what an injustice they are committing. It does not matter where you live, the issue of governments shutting down businesses concerns everyone across this country. Please show your support for us. We are helping keep drunk drivers off the streets, don’t charge for our services, and desperately desire to contribute to this community that we love so much.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
By Kris Bailey
Here is the story about my arrest August 26th, and the reasons for it. I met Chris Nielsen, owner of Electric Cab of Austin, during my recent campaign for Austin City Council.
Chris has been waging a three-year-long battle with the City of Austin over his idea for a green energy business giving pedestrians rides in low-speed electric vehicles–all on a “tips only” basis. He does not charge for these services, as the mobile marketing company generates its revenue from advertising on the sides of the vehicles.
There is no law actually prohibiting him from operating this business, it is true, but, the enforcement side of the city–the police–have determined that the lack of a law regulating a business constitutes operating in violation of a law. Nielsen’s drivers have received around 200 tickets and arrests now, over a law that does not exist.
The Austin City Council has had this issue in front of them multiple times, Chris said, yet never seems to vote on it, always deciding instead to continue to “study” it, thus delaying it a few more months.Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent “studying” his very small business. The Urban Transportation Commission has recommended multiple times that the city issue him a permit to operate. Yet, our Austin City Council refuses to act, and ignores the business repeatedly and pretends that nothing is wrong.
I have been told by multiple City Council members that nothing is “preventing” this business from operating. I met with multiple council members and made several phone calls, wrote e-mails, etc…. and came to realize that Chris Nielsen was right: He is being ignored, and the City of Austin does not wish this business to exist. Why? The taxi lobby is concerned about competition, and donated $36,700 between all of the sitting members of the city council and the Mayor. I’m not making any direct accusations against anyone here, but I will say it gives the impression that we have private businesses buying harassment of their competition.
So, I drove a cart for him. I gave two rides on Friday night. The first was to a couple of women who, when dropped off, handed me a few dollars and thanked me. I did not charge them–they voluntarily handed me the money. At this point, three APD officers stopped me and wrote me a ticket for “Operating without a permit” and “No chauffeur’s license.” I tried to explain that the permit and license did not exist, but they didn’t care. I asked, multiple times, if they had read the ordinances I was accused of violating, and the officers refused to cite the law I was allegedly breaking. They told me if they saw me operating again, they would arrest me. (Read here to see that to be a chauffeured vehicle, requiring permit, as defined by Austin City code, there must be a passenger that is being charged a fee).
I decided that the Austin Police Department does not have the right or the authority to shut down a business on a whim. I picked up another person, and gave him a ride. I dropped him off where he asked to go. The police officers saw him hand me $4 (again, I did not charge him) and immediately came to me and put me in handcuffs. I was arrested without discussion or hesitation, and taken directly to jail. It was quite the experience. I got to spend the night with a lot of the late Friday evening drunks, one of them throwing up all over the floor right next to me. I stayed in jail until I was released the next morning.
Every single officer I interacted with in jail–granted, they work for a different department: county officers have no problem trashing the city police–made comments about what a waste of time my arrest was. I could hear them talking about it the entire night, and none of them supported my charges nor the fact that I was there. The officer taking my mugshot and fingerprints showed my file to everyone else working in the jail, commenting about how incredibly stupid my arrest was, and making multiple remarks about the priorities of our police chief.
My arrest was for a law that did not exist, I have done nothing wrong, and our City Council refuses to even discuss that there could be a problem. In the meantime, a small business is being quietly bankrupted by the city with impound fees and arrests of its employees. Another driver, a 19-year-old girl, was arrested just last week for the same non-existent charge that I was.
I am appealing to anyone who cares about green energy, anyone who cares about small businesses, anyone who cares about police accountability, anyone who cares about wasted resources, anyone who thinks incidents like these should not happen: Please, please, write to the Austin City Council members and tell them what an injustice they are committing. It does not matter where you live, the issue of governments shutting down businesses concerns everyone across this country. Please show your support for us. We are helping keep drunk drivers off the streets, don’t charge for our services, and desperately desire to contribute to this community that we love so much.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
A victory for civil liberties
Official photography phobia again
THE FIRST Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits in Boston, struck an important blow for civil liberties late last month when it ruled that a man arrested for taping Boston police on the Common in 2007 could go forward with his lawsuit against the city. The standard for suing police is rightfully high. A plaintiff can sue only for violations of “clearly established rights.’’ But that is exactly what happened when police arrested Simon Glik for taping them.
Glik was walking on the Common when he saw a group of officers arresting a man with what seemed like excessive force. Glik pulled out his cellphone and started recording video and audio from about 10 feet away. The police responded by arresting Glik, charging him with wiretapping, and confiscating his phone. Although Glik was soon freed and the charges dropped, he sued the city over his unlawful arrest. The Police Department defended itself, not by claiming that the arrest was legal, but by claiming that the right to tape police is not “clearly established’’ by the First Amendment.
The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit wisely disagreed. It declared that the “filming of government officials engaged in their duties in a public place’’ came within the core protections of the First Amendment, with voices included. The court found this to be clearly established and deeply rooted in precedent.
Nonetheless, there are still Americans arrested every year for recording the police in states spanning the country from Texas to Maryland. The increased use of smartphones means that police are far more likely to be recorded in the line of duty than in the past. This may be understandably unnerving, but officers need to learn to accept the scrutiny rather than lash out with unlawful arrests.
The right to hold public officials to account, from the president down to the local beat cop, is fundamental to a free and open society. It may now be exercised with new technology, but the principle is as old as our nation itself.
Original report here. (Via POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Official photography phobia again
THE FIRST Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits in Boston, struck an important blow for civil liberties late last month when it ruled that a man arrested for taping Boston police on the Common in 2007 could go forward with his lawsuit against the city. The standard for suing police is rightfully high. A plaintiff can sue only for violations of “clearly established rights.’’ But that is exactly what happened when police arrested Simon Glik for taping them.
Glik was walking on the Common when he saw a group of officers arresting a man with what seemed like excessive force. Glik pulled out his cellphone and started recording video and audio from about 10 feet away. The police responded by arresting Glik, charging him with wiretapping, and confiscating his phone. Although Glik was soon freed and the charges dropped, he sued the city over his unlawful arrest. The Police Department defended itself, not by claiming that the arrest was legal, but by claiming that the right to tape police is not “clearly established’’ by the First Amendment.
The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit wisely disagreed. It declared that the “filming of government officials engaged in their duties in a public place’’ came within the core protections of the First Amendment, with voices included. The court found this to be clearly established and deeply rooted in precedent.
Nonetheless, there are still Americans arrested every year for recording the police in states spanning the country from Texas to Maryland. The increased use of smartphones means that police are far more likely to be recorded in the line of duty than in the past. This may be understandably unnerving, but officers need to learn to accept the scrutiny rather than lash out with unlawful arrests.
The right to hold public officials to account, from the president down to the local beat cop, is fundamental to a free and open society. It may now be exercised with new technology, but the principle is as old as our nation itself.
Original report here. (Via POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Monday, September 12, 2011
Nasty California cops
They hate self-help. You must be dependent on them, useless though they may be
We’ve all heard the saying: no good deed goes unpunished . . . and that’s exactly what happened to a South Pasadena resident who was issued a ticket by police for his charitable act.
When a major traffic light in the area went out Thursday morning, Alan Ehrlich took matters into his own hands, directing traffic at Fair Oaks and Huntington avenues.
“I grabbed a bright orange shirt that I have and a couple of orange safety flags. I took it upon myself to help get motorists through that intersection faster,” said Ehrlich.
Before Ehrlich stepped in, traffic was backed up for more than a mile and it took more than 30 minutes to get through the busy intersection.
Ehrlich said the Sept. 8 incident wasn’t the first and that the light goes out regularly. “It was just kind of chaos of cars . . . there were stop signs up. But people were challenging each other to get through the intersection,” said Richard Gerrish who works at an office located at the intersection.
Gerrish said Ehrlich cleared up the mess in 10 minutes. After 15 minutes, South Pasadena police say they finally received a call about their newest traffic officer.
Police responded to the scene and told Ehrlich to stop and issued him a ticket, but never stepped into direct traffic themselves.
“I don’t know if this ticket is $50 or $400 dollars. It’s a small price to pay for the greater good,” Ehrlich said.
South Pasadena Police Chief Joe Payne said he did not have the man power needed to staff officers at Fair Oaks and Huntington Thursday and that is safer to allow traffic to back up. “We have limited resources . . . we need to prioritize them. One of the major intersections out at rush hour in our city should be a priority,” Ehrlich added.
He already has plans to address the matter at an upcoming city council meeting. Police and the city of South Pasadena say they currently have no plans to change any procedures.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
They hate self-help. You must be dependent on them, useless though they may be
We’ve all heard the saying: no good deed goes unpunished . . . and that’s exactly what happened to a South Pasadena resident who was issued a ticket by police for his charitable act.
When a major traffic light in the area went out Thursday morning, Alan Ehrlich took matters into his own hands, directing traffic at Fair Oaks and Huntington avenues.
“I grabbed a bright orange shirt that I have and a couple of orange safety flags. I took it upon myself to help get motorists through that intersection faster,” said Ehrlich.
Before Ehrlich stepped in, traffic was backed up for more than a mile and it took more than 30 minutes to get through the busy intersection.
Ehrlich said the Sept. 8 incident wasn’t the first and that the light goes out regularly. “It was just kind of chaos of cars . . . there were stop signs up. But people were challenging each other to get through the intersection,” said Richard Gerrish who works at an office located at the intersection.
Gerrish said Ehrlich cleared up the mess in 10 minutes. After 15 minutes, South Pasadena police say they finally received a call about their newest traffic officer.
Police responded to the scene and told Ehrlich to stop and issued him a ticket, but never stepped into direct traffic themselves.
“I don’t know if this ticket is $50 or $400 dollars. It’s a small price to pay for the greater good,” Ehrlich said.
South Pasadena Police Chief Joe Payne said he did not have the man power needed to staff officers at Fair Oaks and Huntington Thursday and that is safer to allow traffic to back up. “We have limited resources . . . we need to prioritize them. One of the major intersections out at rush hour in our city should be a priority,” Ehrlich added.
He already has plans to address the matter at an upcoming city council meeting. Police and the city of South Pasadena say they currently have no plans to change any procedures.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Man died after being restrained by Australian police in urban park
POLICE used a neck restraint on a man during a scuffle in a Brisbane park before he became unconscious and later died, an inquest heard today.
Carl Antony Grillo, 42, died in the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital after the altercation with officers at Spring Hill on September 14, 2009.
Grillo was wanted by police for failing to appear in court in Caboolture Magistrates Court. He had been charged with drugs and weapons offences as well as breach of bail after being released from prison the previous month.
The Brisbane Coroners Court today heard one of the officers involved in Grillo's apprehension had used a neck restraint - a technique taught by the Queensland Police Service.
During their internal investigation of the incident, police said one of the officers had been in a scuffle with Grillo before he ended up on the ground. Another man helped that officer restrain Grillo before he was rolled into the recovery position.
Investigators said a second officer arrived and was talking to Grillo, but then the 42-year-old's breathing became shallower and an ambulance was called.
Witness Leith Phillips said she worked in an office block nearby and watched the drama unfold with her workmates. "We could hear some commotion outside. Because it kept going, we went out and had a look," she said.
Ms Phillips described two men pushing another "scruffy" looking man to the ground, who was tattooed and dressed in black. Once on the ground, she said the two men kneeled on his shoulder and lower back to restrain him. "The guy on the ground was sort of thrashing his head from side to side on the concrete," Ms Phillips said.
She said a third man arrived with a set of handcuffs, but the other two didn't get off him even after he was cuffed. She said one of the men looked around before giving the man on the ground a few quick hits to his head. "To me, it looked unnecessary," Ms Phillips said. "There were two guys on him, he was handcuffed, he wasn't going anywhere."
Ms Phillips agreed the hits were more like jabs but that they happened twice, and she discussed it with her colleagues. "We didn't believe there was a reason they needed to do that," she said.
Ms Phillips said she saw the men flip the tattooed man over and start talking to him, and she could see he was still breathing when they put him on his front.
But about five minutes later, she said they turned him over a second time and checked his vital signs. "When they got on the phone, we knew what they were doing. We assumed they were phoning the ambulance," she said.
Original report here. (Via Australian police news)
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
POLICE used a neck restraint on a man during a scuffle in a Brisbane park before he became unconscious and later died, an inquest heard today.
Carl Antony Grillo, 42, died in the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital after the altercation with officers at Spring Hill on September 14, 2009.
Grillo was wanted by police for failing to appear in court in Caboolture Magistrates Court. He had been charged with drugs and weapons offences as well as breach of bail after being released from prison the previous month.
The Brisbane Coroners Court today heard one of the officers involved in Grillo's apprehension had used a neck restraint - a technique taught by the Queensland Police Service.
During their internal investigation of the incident, police said one of the officers had been in a scuffle with Grillo before he ended up on the ground. Another man helped that officer restrain Grillo before he was rolled into the recovery position.
Investigators said a second officer arrived and was talking to Grillo, but then the 42-year-old's breathing became shallower and an ambulance was called.
Witness Leith Phillips said she worked in an office block nearby and watched the drama unfold with her workmates. "We could hear some commotion outside. Because it kept going, we went out and had a look," she said.
Ms Phillips described two men pushing another "scruffy" looking man to the ground, who was tattooed and dressed in black. Once on the ground, she said the two men kneeled on his shoulder and lower back to restrain him. "The guy on the ground was sort of thrashing his head from side to side on the concrete," Ms Phillips said.
She said a third man arrived with a set of handcuffs, but the other two didn't get off him even after he was cuffed. She said one of the men looked around before giving the man on the ground a few quick hits to his head. "To me, it looked unnecessary," Ms Phillips said. "There were two guys on him, he was handcuffed, he wasn't going anywhere."
Ms Phillips agreed the hits were more like jabs but that they happened twice, and she discussed it with her colleagues. "We didn't believe there was a reason they needed to do that," she said.
Ms Phillips said she saw the men flip the tattooed man over and start talking to him, and she could see he was still breathing when they put him on his front.
But about five minutes later, she said they turned him over a second time and checked his vital signs. "When they got on the phone, we knew what they were doing. We assumed they were phoning the ambulance," she said.
Original report here. (Via Australian police news)
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Saturday, September 10, 2011
MO: Forced confession backfires: Jury acquits
Evidence of police thuggery undermined their case
Thomas Evans Jr. cracked a smile as Circuit Court Judge Benjamin F. Lewis read the jury's verdict Thursday night.
The Bellwood, Ill., native had been in custody for 14 months after being charged in the June 2010 shooting of 44-year-old Matthew "Woody" Ervin in Cape Girardeau. A 12-person jury found Evans not guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
"He finally gets to go back home," said his father, Thomas Evans. "It's been a tough year."
The verdict came after more than two hours of deliberation.
Evans' attorney, Daniel Moore, said the case came down to three key witnesses -- Evans and Cape Girardeau Major Case Squad members Donald Perry and Jeremy Weadon. Perry and Weadon interviewed Evans three times a few days after the shooting, and footage and testimonies about those interviews proved Evans' innocence, Moore said.
"All the other witnesses really didn't matter in this case," Moore said. "It's what they did in those interviews that mattered."
Perry and Weadon interviewed Evans for more than eight hours and heard three different stories from the suspect.
In the first interview, footage showed Evans denying any involvement in the shooting, which took place near the intersection of Park Drive and North Fountain Street. The footage's audio cut in and out throughout the interview, leaving jurors and investigators with roughly 45 minutes of audio.
The two other interviews lacked audio.
During the second interview, Perry and Weadon told Evans DNA evidence and fingerprints in Ervin's car placed him at the crime scene. Weadon testified that in the interview Evans said a fourth party came out of the shadows and shot Ervin. Both Perry and Weadon testified that Evans had denied shooting Ervin at least 40 times.
An affidavit filed by authorities in the case alleges that in a third interview with police, Evans said Ervin made threats and appeared to be retrieving a gun from his vehicle, so he fired two shots at him out of self-defense. The shooting allegedly occurred after Evans and a Charleston, Mo., teen, Armster "Bud" Robinson III, met Ervin at a south-side convenience store in Cape Girardeau.
Moore argued that the confession was coerced because Evans was led to believe that he would be set free if he admitted shooting Ervin in self-defense. During his testimony, Weadon said he and Perry had offered scenarios for Evans to confess to, and the self-defense story was among them.
Evans testified that during the third interview, which lasted more than four hours, he had grown tired and was refused a phone call. The officers said that he could only use the phone if he confessed, he testified.
Once he admitted to shooting Ervin in self-defense, Evans wrote an apology letter to Ervin's family because Perry and Weadon suggested it would help his case, Evans testified.
Moore questioned the Perry and Weadon's interviewing methods and provided two still shots from the interview that show Evans in a corner and the two officers speaking to him and Perry poking Evans' head with his finger. Moore said the tactics persuaded Evans to fabricate the story because he was tired and scared.
"These tactics aren't waterboarding, but they are still damaging psychologically," Moore said.
In addition to questioning the interview tactics and the confession, Moore wanted to have Brandon King and Ollie Welch testify. King, who is in prison for assaulting a police officer, submitted a written statement to police July 1, 2010, alleging Welch shot and killed Ervin that night. Welch was subpoenaed but did not appear in court.
Judge Lewis did not allow King to testify in front of a jury because of Chambers v. Mississippi, a Supreme Court Case that prohibits hearsay evidence alleging someone else committed a crime to be submitted.
"He told me he was a murderer," King testified with no jury present.
Evans plans to go home to Illinois and be with his 1-year-old son, Moore said. "This is something he'll remember forever," Moore said. "I hope he learns and grows from it."
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Evidence of police thuggery undermined their case
Thomas Evans Jr. cracked a smile as Circuit Court Judge Benjamin F. Lewis read the jury's verdict Thursday night.
The Bellwood, Ill., native had been in custody for 14 months after being charged in the June 2010 shooting of 44-year-old Matthew "Woody" Ervin in Cape Girardeau. A 12-person jury found Evans not guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
"He finally gets to go back home," said his father, Thomas Evans. "It's been a tough year."
The verdict came after more than two hours of deliberation.
Evans' attorney, Daniel Moore, said the case came down to three key witnesses -- Evans and Cape Girardeau Major Case Squad members Donald Perry and Jeremy Weadon. Perry and Weadon interviewed Evans three times a few days after the shooting, and footage and testimonies about those interviews proved Evans' innocence, Moore said.
"All the other witnesses really didn't matter in this case," Moore said. "It's what they did in those interviews that mattered."
Perry and Weadon interviewed Evans for more than eight hours and heard three different stories from the suspect.
In the first interview, footage showed Evans denying any involvement in the shooting, which took place near the intersection of Park Drive and North Fountain Street. The footage's audio cut in and out throughout the interview, leaving jurors and investigators with roughly 45 minutes of audio.
The two other interviews lacked audio.
During the second interview, Perry and Weadon told Evans DNA evidence and fingerprints in Ervin's car placed him at the crime scene. Weadon testified that in the interview Evans said a fourth party came out of the shadows and shot Ervin. Both Perry and Weadon testified that Evans had denied shooting Ervin at least 40 times.
An affidavit filed by authorities in the case alleges that in a third interview with police, Evans said Ervin made threats and appeared to be retrieving a gun from his vehicle, so he fired two shots at him out of self-defense. The shooting allegedly occurred after Evans and a Charleston, Mo., teen, Armster "Bud" Robinson III, met Ervin at a south-side convenience store in Cape Girardeau.
Moore argued that the confession was coerced because Evans was led to believe that he would be set free if he admitted shooting Ervin in self-defense. During his testimony, Weadon said he and Perry had offered scenarios for Evans to confess to, and the self-defense story was among them.
Evans testified that during the third interview, which lasted more than four hours, he had grown tired and was refused a phone call. The officers said that he could only use the phone if he confessed, he testified.
Once he admitted to shooting Ervin in self-defense, Evans wrote an apology letter to Ervin's family because Perry and Weadon suggested it would help his case, Evans testified.
Moore questioned the Perry and Weadon's interviewing methods and provided two still shots from the interview that show Evans in a corner and the two officers speaking to him and Perry poking Evans' head with his finger. Moore said the tactics persuaded Evans to fabricate the story because he was tired and scared.
"These tactics aren't waterboarding, but they are still damaging psychologically," Moore said.
In addition to questioning the interview tactics and the confession, Moore wanted to have Brandon King and Ollie Welch testify. King, who is in prison for assaulting a police officer, submitted a written statement to police July 1, 2010, alleging Welch shot and killed Ervin that night. Welch was subpoenaed but did not appear in court.
Judge Lewis did not allow King to testify in front of a jury because of Chambers v. Mississippi, a Supreme Court Case that prohibits hearsay evidence alleging someone else committed a crime to be submitted.
"He told me he was a murderer," King testified with no jury present.
Evans plans to go home to Illinois and be with his 1-year-old son, Moore said. "This is something he'll remember forever," Moore said. "I hope he learns and grows from it."
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Friday, September 09, 2011
Freedom by jury
We should be celebrating September 5 with at least as much exuberance and respect as we celebrate July 4 or Thanksgiving. It’s Jury Rights Day.
Little is made of the date. Most people are completely unaware of its historic significance and have never heard that jurors have rights. Yet it was on that date in 1670 when a group of jurors in London used their right and power to invalidate an unjust law.
We can draw a direct link between several of our First Amendment guarantees to jurors who decided that some laws are so bad that they would refuse to convict defendants prosecuted under those laws, even when directed to do so by a presiding judge.
It’s jury nullification. Some jurors risked their own freedom to exercise that right.
In 1670, William Penn was arrested for preaching the Quaker faith to “an unlawful assembly.” The facts of the case were clear. He did violate the law as written, but four of the twelve jurors voted to acquit. The judge threw them in jail and tried to starve them into changing their vote. Within four days, three of the jurors caved in, but juror William Bushell held out, eventually getting his case to the Court of Common Pleas. The chief justice ruled in favor of Bushell, saying jurors could not be punished for their votes.
The concept of nullification crossed the Atlantic with the English and was used by American colonists in the case against John Peter Zenger. In 1735, Zenger was accused of seditious libel for his editorials attacking the royal governor of New York. The law was clear. It was illegal to publish anything critical of a government official, even if the criticisms were true, and Zenger did publish critical remarks. The jury acquitted Zenger in spite of the judge’s charge that truth was no defense and that they were to decide only whether the material had been indeed been published.
Nullification was used later to weaken the Fugitive Slave Laws. In 1852 Lysander Spooner, a Massachusetts lawyer wrote, “[The law] was so obnoxious to a large portion of the people, as to render a conviction under it hopeless....”
It’s also been argued that women’s suffrage could have come about as soon as 1873 had the judge in the Susan B. Anthony case informed the jurors of their rights or allowed Anthony’s lawyer to introduce the concept. Anthony was on trial for registering to vote in federal election, illegal for women at the time. As it was, the judge directed a guilty verdict and the jury obeyed. There’s no guarantee jurors would have voted to acquit Anthony had they known of their right to disregard the instructions, but maybe women would not have had to wait almost 50 years more before they were allowed to vote legally had the jury known.
While the Supreme Court ruled in the 1890s that judges were not required to advise jurors of their right to acquit despite the facts, the right still exists. Consider this from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. v. Moylan, 1969:
In 1920, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes — in Horning v. District of Columbia — was even more direct, observing that “the jury has the power to bring a verdict in the teeth of both law and fact.” (Ollie, you really nailed that one.)
Jurors are, or least should be, a fourth branch of government, the branch comprising ordinary citizens, who have the ability to keep in line the other three branches.
Several states include provisions in their constitutions saying jurors have the right to judge the law as well as the facts, yet people are being thrown in jail for simply handing out leaflets telling people about nullification.
Nullification gives the ordinary person a means of keeping the government lawful by protecting people from unjust laws.
It also gives feedback to legislators — if they would listen — about what the average person deems proper or improper when it comes to criminal legislation. It’s more honest and unbiased than any telephone survey could ever be. There are no leading questions, no ambiguity, no possibility for anyone to pretend the jurors really meant to convict when they voted to acquit.
Jury nullification is no panacea for society’s ills. Murderers have been acquitted of their crimes because of the politics of racism. But it’s better for a few guilty people to go free than to imprison even one person for breaking an unjust law.
Nullification is freedom by jury. It makes the phrase “liberty and justice for all” actually meaningful.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
We should be celebrating September 5 with at least as much exuberance and respect as we celebrate July 4 or Thanksgiving. It’s Jury Rights Day.
Little is made of the date. Most people are completely unaware of its historic significance and have never heard that jurors have rights. Yet it was on that date in 1670 when a group of jurors in London used their right and power to invalidate an unjust law.
We can draw a direct link between several of our First Amendment guarantees to jurors who decided that some laws are so bad that they would refuse to convict defendants prosecuted under those laws, even when directed to do so by a presiding judge.
It’s jury nullification. Some jurors risked their own freedom to exercise that right.
In 1670, William Penn was arrested for preaching the Quaker faith to “an unlawful assembly.” The facts of the case were clear. He did violate the law as written, but four of the twelve jurors voted to acquit. The judge threw them in jail and tried to starve them into changing their vote. Within four days, three of the jurors caved in, but juror William Bushell held out, eventually getting his case to the Court of Common Pleas. The chief justice ruled in favor of Bushell, saying jurors could not be punished for their votes.
The concept of nullification crossed the Atlantic with the English and was used by American colonists in the case against John Peter Zenger. In 1735, Zenger was accused of seditious libel for his editorials attacking the royal governor of New York. The law was clear. It was illegal to publish anything critical of a government official, even if the criticisms were true, and Zenger did publish critical remarks. The jury acquitted Zenger in spite of the judge’s charge that truth was no defense and that they were to decide only whether the material had been indeed been published.
Nullification was used later to weaken the Fugitive Slave Laws. In 1852 Lysander Spooner, a Massachusetts lawyer wrote, “[The law] was so obnoxious to a large portion of the people, as to render a conviction under it hopeless....”
It’s also been argued that women’s suffrage could have come about as soon as 1873 had the judge in the Susan B. Anthony case informed the jurors of their rights or allowed Anthony’s lawyer to introduce the concept. Anthony was on trial for registering to vote in federal election, illegal for women at the time. As it was, the judge directed a guilty verdict and the jury obeyed. There’s no guarantee jurors would have voted to acquit Anthony had they known of their right to disregard the instructions, but maybe women would not have had to wait almost 50 years more before they were allowed to vote legally had the jury known.
While the Supreme Court ruled in the 1890s that judges were not required to advise jurors of their right to acquit despite the facts, the right still exists. Consider this from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. v. Moylan, 1969:
If the jury feels the law is unjust, we recognize the undisputed power of the jury to acquit, even if its verdict is contrary to the law as given by a judge, and contrary to the evidence.... If the jury feels that the law under which the defendant is accused is unjust, or that exigent circumstances justified the actions of the accused, or for any reason which appeals to their logic or passion, the jury has the power to acquit, and the courts must abide by that decision.
In 1920, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes — in Horning v. District of Columbia — was even more direct, observing that “the jury has the power to bring a verdict in the teeth of both law and fact.” (Ollie, you really nailed that one.)
Jurors are, or least should be, a fourth branch of government, the branch comprising ordinary citizens, who have the ability to keep in line the other three branches.
Several states include provisions in their constitutions saying jurors have the right to judge the law as well as the facts, yet people are being thrown in jail for simply handing out leaflets telling people about nullification.
Nullification gives the ordinary person a means of keeping the government lawful by protecting people from unjust laws.
It also gives feedback to legislators — if they would listen — about what the average person deems proper or improper when it comes to criminal legislation. It’s more honest and unbiased than any telephone survey could ever be. There are no leading questions, no ambiguity, no possibility for anyone to pretend the jurors really meant to convict when they voted to acquit.
Jury nullification is no panacea for society’s ills. Murderers have been acquitted of their crimes because of the politics of racism. But it’s better for a few guilty people to go free than to imprison even one person for breaking an unjust law.
Nullification is freedom by jury. It makes the phrase “liberty and justice for all” actually meaningful.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Thursday, September 08, 2011
British cops raid man who then "stabs himself" to death
Big coverup apparent. Best guess is that the guy produced a knife when he felt threatened and that instead of restraining him, the cops stabbed him with it. He was only a black, after all
Police who carried out the raid on the home of Smiley Culture, in which the reggae star allegedly stabbed himself to death, are unlikely to face any charges.
Police claim Smiley Culture, real name David Emmanuel, stabbed himself in the heart while officers were searching his home for evidence of drugs trafficking.
In a confidential letter leaked to the Guardian, IPCC commissioner Mike Franklin told the singer's family no evidence was found to imply any police misconduct.
He said: 'The [IPCC] investigation has identified aspects of the operation which were not satisfactory, and criticisms have been made of some of the officer's actions.
'However, these do not meet the threshold for misconduct under the police misconduct system.'
Mr Emmanuel's family have bitterly criticised the Met Police officers involved in the incident, none of whom have been suspended.
They are also angry over the IPCC's decision to treat the officers as witnesses rather than suspects, meaning they cannot be forced to answer questions in a formal interview.
Mr Emmanuel's family was told that he stabbed himself while making a cup of tea, despite the presence of officers in his home.
They question why the four officers involved in the raid handcuffed Mr Emmanuel after his fatal injury and want to know why the officer in the kitchen at the time refused a direct request by the IPCC's lead investigator to give a formal interview.
Shanice McConnachie, Mr Emmanuel's 17-year-old daughter, told the Guardian: 'Their story just doesn't add up and until it does, I can't believe that my dad killed himself.'
The only action the officers can now face is if the Met initiates an 'unsatisfactory performance procedure', which can result in dismissal, but which the IPCC cannot direct.
The teenage daughter of reggae star Smiley Culture has told of her disbelief at the outcome of the IPCC investigation into the death of her father. Shanice McConnachie said her father was a 'calm and spiritual person' who would never have the kind of outburst police say led to his alleged suicide.
In an article written for the Guardian newspaper, the 17-year-old told how her father was excited about his life and always working towards the future. 'I can't imagine him decideing to throw his future away, whatever was happening to him at any one moment,' she said. 'Added to all that, he was scared of needles – he hated them – so the idea he would kill himself with a sharp knife seems insane.'
Ms McConnachie said her father's death has changed her deeply and left her with sleepless nights. 'Until I get to the bottom of it, I won't know what peace is,' she said.
Mr Emmanuel, who was 48, found fame as Smiley Culture with the Eighties hits Cockney Translation and Police Officer. His autobiographical 1984 hit Police Officer tells how he was caught in possession of cannabis but let off when the officer recognised him as a reggae artist.
Merlin Emmanuel, Smiley Culture's nephew, to whom the IPCC sent the letter outlining the outcome of its investigation, told the MailOnline he was disappointed but not surprised by the decision.
'If we look historically speaking about the other families [who have lost relatives in police custody] we didn't hold out much hope,' he said. 'We did think that in the particular unique circumstances in which Smiley died at least some officers would be found to have questions to answer.'
He was particularly stinging in his criticism of the IPCC, saying the police watchdog 'have no real authority to procure justice for the ordinary citizen.'
Since 1990 there have been a total of 940 deaths in police custody, according to the charity Inquest.
'At the end of the day, we would have expected some kind of justice because if they didn't go to his home that morning Smiley would still be here,' the younger Emmanuel said. He added: 'In cases like ours it seems that we just feel like we are up against a great Goliath and we are not equipped to handle them.'
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Big coverup apparent. Best guess is that the guy produced a knife when he felt threatened and that instead of restraining him, the cops stabbed him with it. He was only a black, after all
Police who carried out the raid on the home of Smiley Culture, in which the reggae star allegedly stabbed himself to death, are unlikely to face any charges.
Police claim Smiley Culture, real name David Emmanuel, stabbed himself in the heart while officers were searching his home for evidence of drugs trafficking.
In a confidential letter leaked to the Guardian, IPCC commissioner Mike Franklin told the singer's family no evidence was found to imply any police misconduct.
He said: 'The [IPCC] investigation has identified aspects of the operation which were not satisfactory, and criticisms have been made of some of the officer's actions.
'However, these do not meet the threshold for misconduct under the police misconduct system.'
Mr Emmanuel's family have bitterly criticised the Met Police officers involved in the incident, none of whom have been suspended.
They are also angry over the IPCC's decision to treat the officers as witnesses rather than suspects, meaning they cannot be forced to answer questions in a formal interview.
Mr Emmanuel's family was told that he stabbed himself while making a cup of tea, despite the presence of officers in his home.
They question why the four officers involved in the raid handcuffed Mr Emmanuel after his fatal injury and want to know why the officer in the kitchen at the time refused a direct request by the IPCC's lead investigator to give a formal interview.
Shanice McConnachie, Mr Emmanuel's 17-year-old daughter, told the Guardian: 'Their story just doesn't add up and until it does, I can't believe that my dad killed himself.'
The only action the officers can now face is if the Met initiates an 'unsatisfactory performance procedure', which can result in dismissal, but which the IPCC cannot direct.
The teenage daughter of reggae star Smiley Culture has told of her disbelief at the outcome of the IPCC investigation into the death of her father. Shanice McConnachie said her father was a 'calm and spiritual person' who would never have the kind of outburst police say led to his alleged suicide.
In an article written for the Guardian newspaper, the 17-year-old told how her father was excited about his life and always working towards the future. 'I can't imagine him decideing to throw his future away, whatever was happening to him at any one moment,' she said. 'Added to all that, he was scared of needles – he hated them – so the idea he would kill himself with a sharp knife seems insane.'
Ms McConnachie said her father's death has changed her deeply and left her with sleepless nights. 'Until I get to the bottom of it, I won't know what peace is,' she said.
Mr Emmanuel, who was 48, found fame as Smiley Culture with the Eighties hits Cockney Translation and Police Officer. His autobiographical 1984 hit Police Officer tells how he was caught in possession of cannabis but let off when the officer recognised him as a reggae artist.
Merlin Emmanuel, Smiley Culture's nephew, to whom the IPCC sent the letter outlining the outcome of its investigation, told the MailOnline he was disappointed but not surprised by the decision.
'If we look historically speaking about the other families [who have lost relatives in police custody] we didn't hold out much hope,' he said. 'We did think that in the particular unique circumstances in which Smiley died at least some officers would be found to have questions to answer.'
He was particularly stinging in his criticism of the IPCC, saying the police watchdog 'have no real authority to procure justice for the ordinary citizen.'
Since 1990 there have been a total of 940 deaths in police custody, according to the charity Inquest.
'At the end of the day, we would have expected some kind of justice because if they didn't go to his home that morning Smiley would still be here,' the younger Emmanuel said. He added: 'In cases like ours it seems that we just feel like we are up against a great Goliath and we are not equipped to handle them.'
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Man Faces Life In Jail For Recording Police
Every other case involving people arrested for filming cops has been thrown out of court, but media promulgates hoax that recording police is illegal
41-year old Illinois mechanic Michael Allison faces life in jail for recording police officers after authorities hit him with eavesdropping charges based on the hoax that it is illegal to film cops, a misnomer that has been disproved by every other case against people filming police officers being thrown out of court.
The state of Illinois is trying to charge Allison with five counts of wiretapping, each punishable by four to 15 years in prison.
Allison refused a plea deal which would have seen him serve no jail time but would reinforce the hoax that it is illegal to film police officers, as well as acting as a chilling effect to prevent other Americans from filming cases of police brutality.
Allison has chosen to reject the plea bargain and fight to clear his name via a jury trial, arguing, “If we don’t fight for our freedoms here at home we’re all going to lose them.” A judge is expected to rule on when the case will go to trial over the next two weeks.
As another report concerning the Allison case documents, in every other example where people have been arrested for recording police officers, the charges have been dropped and the case thrown out of court. Despite this fact, the state is so desperate to make an example out of Allison that an assistant from the Attorney General’s Office was recently sent to speak against him during a hearing.
The notion that it is illegal to film police officers is a mass hoax that is being promulgated by authorities, the media, and police officers themselves.
In the latest example, charges were dismissed against a woman who filmed cops in her own back yard in Rochester, New York.
In Illinois itself, eavesdropping charges against Tiawanda Moore for recording patrol officers were dropped, after a “Criminal Court jury quickly repudiated the prosecution’s case, taking less than an hour to acquit Moore on both eavesdropping counts.”
Despite the fact that recording police officers (public servants) is perfectly legal, Americans are still being arrested for doing so, and the establishment media is enthusiastically perpetuating the hoax that such conduct is unlawful, even though in doing so they are completely eroding protections that guarantee press freedom.
There is no expectation of privacy in public, the police are fully aware of this, which is why they have dash cams on their cars to record incidents, wear microphones and utilize other recording equipment as part of their job.
Cases like Allison’s have been thrown out all over the country and yet police continue to arrest people for filming them as a form of intimidation.
The fact that the state is knowingly ignoring its own laws in order to engage in acts of official repression highlights the rampant criminality that has infested every level of American government. This behavior is reflective of a predatory system that seeks to criminalize all first amendment activities.
It also highlights how petrified the system is about the public being able to document and record acts of police brutality.
Prosecutors in Allison’s case are deliberately attempting jail an innocent man for life for an activity that they know full well is not illegal. If anything, they should be the ones being charged with illegal conduct and official oppression.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Every other case involving people arrested for filming cops has been thrown out of court, but media promulgates hoax that recording police is illegal
41-year old Illinois mechanic Michael Allison faces life in jail for recording police officers after authorities hit him with eavesdropping charges based on the hoax that it is illegal to film cops, a misnomer that has been disproved by every other case against people filming police officers being thrown out of court.
The state of Illinois is trying to charge Allison with five counts of wiretapping, each punishable by four to 15 years in prison.
Allison refused a plea deal which would have seen him serve no jail time but would reinforce the hoax that it is illegal to film police officers, as well as acting as a chilling effect to prevent other Americans from filming cases of police brutality.
Allison has chosen to reject the plea bargain and fight to clear his name via a jury trial, arguing, “If we don’t fight for our freedoms here at home we’re all going to lose them.” A judge is expected to rule on when the case will go to trial over the next two weeks.
As another report concerning the Allison case documents, in every other example where people have been arrested for recording police officers, the charges have been dropped and the case thrown out of court. Despite this fact, the state is so desperate to make an example out of Allison that an assistant from the Attorney General’s Office was recently sent to speak against him during a hearing.
The notion that it is illegal to film police officers is a mass hoax that is being promulgated by authorities, the media, and police officers themselves.
In the latest example, charges were dismissed against a woman who filmed cops in her own back yard in Rochester, New York.
In Illinois itself, eavesdropping charges against Tiawanda Moore for recording patrol officers were dropped, after a “Criminal Court jury quickly repudiated the prosecution’s case, taking less than an hour to acquit Moore on both eavesdropping counts.”
Despite the fact that recording police officers (public servants) is perfectly legal, Americans are still being arrested for doing so, and the establishment media is enthusiastically perpetuating the hoax that such conduct is unlawful, even though in doing so they are completely eroding protections that guarantee press freedom.
There is no expectation of privacy in public, the police are fully aware of this, which is why they have dash cams on their cars to record incidents, wear microphones and utilize other recording equipment as part of their job.
Cases like Allison’s have been thrown out all over the country and yet police continue to arrest people for filming them as a form of intimidation.
The fact that the state is knowingly ignoring its own laws in order to engage in acts of official repression highlights the rampant criminality that has infested every level of American government. This behavior is reflective of a predatory system that seeks to criminalize all first amendment activities.
It also highlights how petrified the system is about the public being able to document and record acts of police brutality.
Prosecutors in Allison’s case are deliberately attempting jail an innocent man for life for an activity that they know full well is not illegal. If anything, they should be the ones being charged with illegal conduct and official oppression.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
More on the improperly-charged British nurse
She was the victim of a "get someone" mentality and was refused bail despite the evidence being insubstantial. The Crown Prosecution Service has a lot to answer for. Its head, Keir Starmer, is a controversial figure. Let's hope this sinks him
A British nurse who spent more than six weeks in custody was made a "scapegoat" when police "jumped the gun" as she was charged with contaminating saline, her lawyer has said.
Proceedings against Rebecca Leighton, 27, were discontinued on Friday as the probe into the tampering of medical products at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester, continues with detectives investigating the deaths of seven patients.
She said her life was "turned upside down" and became a "living hell" when she was arrested at her flat in Heaviley, Stockport, on July 20 on suspicion of murder, and then formally accused of causing criminal damage with intent to endanger life two days later.
The alarm had been raised earlier that month when a higher than normal number of patients were reported to have "unexplained" low blood sugar levels amid fears saline solution had been contaminated with insulin.
Her solicitor Carl Richmond said: "I got the feeling there had to be a scapegoat because there was absolute chaos at the hospital and it could not function because of all the speculation. I was imploring the police to bail her while they continued their inquiries but the decision was made to charge. They jumped the gun, though, and tried to build the case against her from there rather than the usual method of bailing her pending further inquiries."
He said he had heard rumours that prosecutors involved in the case were not comfortable with charges being laid against her but ultimately the Crown Prosecution Service decided it thought there was enough evidence against his client.
Mr Richmond said no decision had been made yet to sue police for wrongful arrest but Ms Leighton, her family and her legal team would meet as soon as possible to discuss the matter.
During a bail application last month, it emerged the evidence at that stage against the nurse amounted to her fingerprint being on a saline bag which was damaged by a needle. Her thumb print was also discovered on the bottom of a bottle of antibiotic fluid which contained insulin.
A judge at Manchester Crown Court was told, though, that "many people" had access to both the bag and the fluid, and Ms Leighton had reason to touch them in her role as acting sister.
Mr Richmond said the case later began to unravel when the bag in question - used in saline drips for patients - was later ruled not to have been tampered with. "The police examined the bag properly and concluded it had in fact not been damaged," he said. "We then had fingerprints of other individuals on other contaminated items but my client's fingerprints were not on them. The prosecution became untenable then."
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
She was the victim of a "get someone" mentality and was refused bail despite the evidence being insubstantial. The Crown Prosecution Service has a lot to answer for. Its head, Keir Starmer, is a controversial figure. Let's hope this sinks him
A British nurse who spent more than six weeks in custody was made a "scapegoat" when police "jumped the gun" as she was charged with contaminating saline, her lawyer has said.
Proceedings against Rebecca Leighton, 27, were discontinued on Friday as the probe into the tampering of medical products at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester, continues with detectives investigating the deaths of seven patients.
She said her life was "turned upside down" and became a "living hell" when she was arrested at her flat in Heaviley, Stockport, on July 20 on suspicion of murder, and then formally accused of causing criminal damage with intent to endanger life two days later.
The alarm had been raised earlier that month when a higher than normal number of patients were reported to have "unexplained" low blood sugar levels amid fears saline solution had been contaminated with insulin.
Her solicitor Carl Richmond said: "I got the feeling there had to be a scapegoat because there was absolute chaos at the hospital and it could not function because of all the speculation. I was imploring the police to bail her while they continued their inquiries but the decision was made to charge. They jumped the gun, though, and tried to build the case against her from there rather than the usual method of bailing her pending further inquiries."
He said he had heard rumours that prosecutors involved in the case were not comfortable with charges being laid against her but ultimately the Crown Prosecution Service decided it thought there was enough evidence against his client.
Mr Richmond said no decision had been made yet to sue police for wrongful arrest but Ms Leighton, her family and her legal team would meet as soon as possible to discuss the matter.
During a bail application last month, it emerged the evidence at that stage against the nurse amounted to her fingerprint being on a saline bag which was damaged by a needle. Her thumb print was also discovered on the bottom of a bottle of antibiotic fluid which contained insulin.
A judge at Manchester Crown Court was told, though, that "many people" had access to both the bag and the fluid, and Ms Leighton had reason to touch them in her role as acting sister.
Mr Richmond said the case later began to unravel when the bag in question - used in saline drips for patients - was later ruled not to have been tampered with. "The police examined the bag properly and concluded it had in fact not been damaged," he said. "We then had fingerprints of other individuals on other contaminated items but my client's fingerprints were not on them. The prosecution became untenable then."
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Monday, September 05, 2011
Shocking arrest and imprisonment without trial of innocent British nurse
All on mere supposition -- with no evidence. What price her reputation now?
A nurse who was accused of contaminating saline in a hospital and who was branded a killer by fellow prisoners now plans to sue police.
Charges against Rebecca Leighton, 27, were dropped on Friday and she was immediately released from prison where she was being kept on remand.
It is believed she now plans to sue police for a six-figure sum, claiming wrongful arrest, and trying to gain compensation worth up to £1million.
Meanwhile police have said they will leave 'not stone unturned in their investigation into the deaths of seven hospital patients and there are plans to interview at least another 500 potential witnesses.
Detectives investigating the poisoning of the patients at Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport, now believe that two killers may have been working at the premises.
Miss Leighton walked free from custody on Friday after the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case against her. She said: ‘I have been living in hell and was locked up in prison for something I had not done.’
A solicitor acting for Miss Leighton told the Sunday Mirror that he had visited her twice a week while she was at Styal women's prison in Cheshire. He said: 'I don't know how Rebecca kept it together. She spent the entire 42 days in a special 'first night' centre designed for new prisoners.
'Rebecca was forced to stay on her own. Other inmates shouted through their cell doors that she was a murderer. One even spread a rumour on of the patients who died was her granddad and Rebecca would be attacked if she showed herself.' The lawyer said she cried every night and added the only way she managed to keep sane was through regular visits from her family.
Now, according to police sources, the investigation is focusing on evidence suggesting that two individuals are responsible for poisoning saline solutions.
Officers found evidence of two different sets of fingerprints on tampered stock. The police investigation was hampered over the past two months by the difficulty of establishing who had access to medical supplies at the hospital and because of lack of security over where they were stored.
Police believe they are close to apprehending one of the two people they believe sabotaged the saline solutions. The suspect is male, works within the hospital and has access to the medical supplies.
A police source told The Mail on Sunday last night: ‘The entire investigation has been fraught with difficulties but it is believed that there may be at least two individuals responsible. One of them, a man, has already been spoken to by detectives and his fingerprints are on one of the pivotal damaged sets of saline solution.
‘There is also a different set of fingerprints on the other damaged solution, pointing to the fact that there are two people responsible. ‘It is unclear at the moment whether the man acted alone but police are pursuing the idea that he may be a copycat “killer”. ‘It is too early to say at this point but the net is definitely closing in.’
The source added: ‘One of the huge hurdles the investigation has faced so far is that there was virtually no security or checks for access to the medicine stores. Almost anyone could gain access, including nurses, patients and even visitors.
‘Some were taking medicines for personal use or for use at home with their families while others were even selling it on.
‘At one point, the chief constable wanted to shut the hospital down completely but this avenue was not available to him. He was so angry at what was going on inside there and how it was impeding the investigation.’
Ms Leighton was freed after the CPS dropped the case against her, saying it was ‘no longer appropriate’ for them to pursue a prosecution.
Speaking through her lawyer, Ms Leighton said: ‘First and foremost I would wish to thank with all my heart all of those people who have supported me and have not given up on me and never doubted my innocence during this living nightmare. ‘If it was not for the unerring love and support of my family, I do not know how I would have coped. It was so frustrating for me knowing that the person who has actually carried out these terrible acts is still out there.’
Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney of Greater Manchester Police said the investigation – one of the most complex since the 1996 bombing of the Arndale shopping centre by the IRA – may continue for months. He said: ‘We have to work within a crime scene which is a very busy hospital where staff, visitors and patients have some degree of access to products within the hospital.’
Officers have interviewed 200 out of 700 people they want to speak to. Their list includes hospital staff, patients and visitors.
A spokeswoman for Stepping Hill Hospital said heightened security measures remain in place and will continue for the foreseeable future.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Sunday, September 04, 2011
IA: Racist goon
You've probably heard that every story has two sides, this one has at least three. The off-duty Sheriff's Deputy, the car full of men, and the bystander who just happened to be there when the confrontation went down.
The men say they were on their way to work when they were attacked by a gun-wielding deputy. Their story is a lot different from the deputy's. He says he is the victim.
Much of this was a case of he said, he said. Until now. We found a witness who doesn't know the deputy or the three workers, but claims he saw exactly what happened.
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Ernesto Rojas says he and two co-workers were heading to a construction job Saturday afternoon on I-235 when they became the victims of road rage.
Rojas says he put his turning signal on to merge and the officer didn’t let him over. When he slowed down, the off-duty officer slowed down. When he tried to pass the officer, he sped up.
Rojas says he got off on University, when the driver of the car told him to pull over. That driver, off duty Polk County Deputy Sheriff Shawn Vanhoozer then got out of his car. That's where the stories differ. Rojas says Deputy Vanhoozer attacked him.
Rojas says Vanhoozer ran to his door and when Rojas tried to get out of the car, he says Vanhoozer started to hit him.
Rojas says his friend, Luis Loza, got out of the truck to help, and that's when he says Vanhoozer pulled out a pistol and struck Loza with it. Loza can't remember what happened after that.
“I heard he said, ‘I have a gun’” Says Loza. “But then, after that, I cannot remember that much. I guess I froze and he came to me and hit me.”
It took five staples to close the wound.
We went to Vanhoozer's house to get his side of the story. His patrol car was in the driveway but no one answered the door. He tells police, he was the victim, that the truck almost hit his car with his wife and 18-month old daughter inside. He says he pulled over, grabbed his gun and confronted the men--but they threw the first punch.
Police are looking for witnesses. We found one. We are not revealing his identity, he's afraid police will retaliate. But he tells us he saw the whole thing from the parking lot of a Taco Johns restaurant.
He says, "There was a red truck, and I believe a white or silver car setting there and there was a white gentleman leaning into the driver’s side of the truck just wailing on somebody. I mean beating them hard."
The witness told us Vanhoozer then turned his rage on a passenger in the truck. “The white gentleman turned around and hit him once and almost knocked him out,” he says. "To me it looked like the white gentleman was being the aggressor just beating whoever was close."
That's not a surprise to the folks at Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. Back in 2005, they filed a complaint against Vanhoozer for racial profiling, claiming he was targeting Latino's, often pulling them over for no reason. He was disciplined, but folks at CCI say that obviously wasn't enough
Ruth Schultz at CCI says, “Definitely, what he did appears to be racist. Appears to be an act based on race. You could call it a racial hate crime even. Assaulting three guys in a truck and it seems like it was because they were Latino and he's had a history of racial profiling
Schultz says, if these accusations turn out to be true, she will call for Vanhoozer's job.
Des moines police say the incident is under investigation. We are told they interviewed two workers at the Taco Johns who witnessed the fight. Investigators are not releasing the 911 tapes from the incident.
A spokesman for the department says they have no reason to doubt Vanhoozer's side of the story, and the deputy remains on the job.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
You've probably heard that every story has two sides, this one has at least three. The off-duty Sheriff's Deputy, the car full of men, and the bystander who just happened to be there when the confrontation went down.
The men say they were on their way to work when they were attacked by a gun-wielding deputy. Their story is a lot different from the deputy's. He says he is the victim.
Much of this was a case of he said, he said. Until now. We found a witness who doesn't know the deputy or the three workers, but claims he saw exactly what happened.
Join us on Facebook!
Ernesto Rojas says he and two co-workers were heading to a construction job Saturday afternoon on I-235 when they became the victims of road rage.
Rojas says he put his turning signal on to merge and the officer didn’t let him over. When he slowed down, the off-duty officer slowed down. When he tried to pass the officer, he sped up.
Rojas says he got off on University, when the driver of the car told him to pull over. That driver, off duty Polk County Deputy Sheriff Shawn Vanhoozer then got out of his car. That's where the stories differ. Rojas says Deputy Vanhoozer attacked him.
Rojas says Vanhoozer ran to his door and when Rojas tried to get out of the car, he says Vanhoozer started to hit him.
Rojas says his friend, Luis Loza, got out of the truck to help, and that's when he says Vanhoozer pulled out a pistol and struck Loza with it. Loza can't remember what happened after that.
“I heard he said, ‘I have a gun’” Says Loza. “But then, after that, I cannot remember that much. I guess I froze and he came to me and hit me.”
It took five staples to close the wound.
We went to Vanhoozer's house to get his side of the story. His patrol car was in the driveway but no one answered the door. He tells police, he was the victim, that the truck almost hit his car with his wife and 18-month old daughter inside. He says he pulled over, grabbed his gun and confronted the men--but they threw the first punch.
Police are looking for witnesses. We found one. We are not revealing his identity, he's afraid police will retaliate. But he tells us he saw the whole thing from the parking lot of a Taco Johns restaurant.
He says, "There was a red truck, and I believe a white or silver car setting there and there was a white gentleman leaning into the driver’s side of the truck just wailing on somebody. I mean beating them hard."
The witness told us Vanhoozer then turned his rage on a passenger in the truck. “The white gentleman turned around and hit him once and almost knocked him out,” he says. "To me it looked like the white gentleman was being the aggressor just beating whoever was close."
That's not a surprise to the folks at Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. Back in 2005, they filed a complaint against Vanhoozer for racial profiling, claiming he was targeting Latino's, often pulling them over for no reason. He was disciplined, but folks at CCI say that obviously wasn't enough
Ruth Schultz at CCI says, “Definitely, what he did appears to be racist. Appears to be an act based on race. You could call it a racial hate crime even. Assaulting three guys in a truck and it seems like it was because they were Latino and he's had a history of racial profiling
Schultz says, if these accusations turn out to be true, she will call for Vanhoozer's job.
Des moines police say the incident is under investigation. We are told they interviewed two workers at the Taco Johns who witnessed the fight. Investigators are not releasing the 911 tapes from the incident.
A spokesman for the department says they have no reason to doubt Vanhoozer's side of the story, and the deputy remains on the job.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Serve and protect
The dangers of our increasingly militarized police
The front page of last Tuesday's Richmond Times-Dispatch carried a startling photo: Richmond police officers taking a suspect into custody. What was startling was the display of force. The officers, accompanied by a robot and decked out in full riot gear with shield and combat helmets, could have been mistaken for American soldiers on patrol in Iraq. Yet they were going up against a single man—and they were not even sure was armed.
Regrettably, this is not a new development. In recent years police forces across the country have become increasingly militarized.
To a small degree, that trend represents a rational response in an arms race against the criminal element's escalating firepower. But more of it has to do with the lavishing of federal Homeland Security funds on local law-enforcement agencies. Local departments have used the money to buy themselves all kinds of fancy toys—from the Segways bought for the bomb squad in Santa Clara, Calif. several years ago to the Lenco BearCat G3 bought last year by the sheriff's department in Warren County, Va.
The BearCat G3 is an 8-ton armored personnel carrier. Its half-inch steel plating and 2.5-inch window glass can stop a .50-caliber round. Its sensors can detect chemical, biological, and radiological threats. "It's big enough to go through a house if it had to," says the department's Roger Vorous. Warren County bought the quarter-million-dollar vehicle with a Homeland Security grant.
"We're in a very dangerous business," Sheriff Daniel McEathron told the Northern Virginia Daily last year. "We're not interested in leveling the playing field. We're interested in having the high ground."
He's got a point: Police officers should not have to bring a knife to a gunfight. On the other hand, Warren County, which boasts that its "small-town charm" makes it "an excellent place to raise a family," has a population of fewer than 40,000. It averages about one homicide every three years. Insurgents have not detonated a roadside bomb in Warren County since—well, never. The need for an armored assault vehicle would seem scant.
But Warren County is not alone. McEathron says it is only one of several Virginia localities that have BearCats or similar vehicles now. Others include Roanoke and Stafford—whose sheriff, Charles Jett, said that if he had had his druthers, the money would have been used for patrol cars. "The priorities under Homeland Security are different," he said last March.
Still, it would be a mistake to lay blame for the militarization of the police entirely at the feet of the federal government's homeland-security endeavors. In "Overkill," a 2006 paper for the Cato Institute, Radley Balko traces the rise of paramilitary policing to the 1980s and the war on drugs. One of the earliest developments was the Military Cooperation With Law Enforcement Act, whose purpose was to let the military lend a hand in drug interdiction.
In the three decades since, the trend has only spread. In 1994, Congress authorized the re-use of military equipment by local law-enforcement agencies. In the following three years alone, the Pentagon provided local constabularies with 3,800 M-16s, 2,184 M-14s, and (yes) 73 grenade launchers.
Police officers might respond that they are simply trying to keep up with the bad guys. Maybe—although criminals in the U.S. are not known for driving tanks. That argument also does not explain the increase in no-knock raids, complete with battering rams and flash-bang grenades—or the stories about innocent people gunned down in such raids when informants give cops the wrong address. Three thousand no-knock raids took place in 1981. In 2005, police departments across the country carried out more than 50,000.
At this point a reasonable person might ask: What, exactly, is wrong with the paramilitary approach? After all: The police are on the side of law and order; they serve and protect law-abiding citizens. If you aren't breaking the law, then you have nothing to fear.
Yes, but: The paramilitary approach to law enforcement flies in the face of the idea that the police and the citizens are on the same side. Officer Friendly, strolling the block in a blue uniform and playing a paradiddle with his baton on a white picket fence, looks like he is ready to help carry groceries for the little old lady who lives on the corner. A cop in combat gear with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder looks like he is ready to go to war. In war, there is no presumption of innocence—and the opposing side is not a fellow citizen with constitutional rights. He is the enemy.
In prepared statements, police departments may speak of dedicated professionals who desire only to serve and protect. But in their riot gear and armored vehicles they look more like an occupying force, intending to conquer and command. That might be good tactics. It is not good government.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
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