UK: Jailed 'Cocaine Crew' CAN'T be guilty

Lobsterman Jamie Green gave the eulogy at his wife Nikki’s funeral ten days ago – handcuffed to a prison officer, with two more guards hovering in the background. The crematorium chapel at Newport on the Isle of Wight was packed to bursting with Green’s family, friends and local Channel fishermen, a gruff, sea-hardened bunch, not generally given to public displays of emotion.

Almost all of them were openly weeping. It wasn’t just that Nikki, a much-loved mother of three, died from cancer far too young, aged only 50. It was that everyone present was convinced that Jamie and his crewmen, convicted and jailed for between 14 and 24 years for a plot to smuggle cocaine worth £53 million, are innocent.

Almost two years ago, The Mail on Sunday disclosed grave doubts about the prosecution case at Green’s trial, which alleged that Green’s lobster boat, the Galwad-y-Mor, picked up 11 sports bags containing a total of 560lb of cocaine tossed from the deck of a passing Brazilian container ship.

Now, following months of further investigation, we can present overwhelming new evidence that the events described at the month-long hearing at Kingston Crown Court in 2011 simply never happened.

The MoS investigation has been conducted jointly with the Centre for Criminal Appeals, a new legal charity which specialises in representing victims of miscarriages of justice. It has revealed that:

    Electronic navigation records show Green’s boat was never where the prosecution claimed it was – cruising in the wake of the container ship Oriane in the Channel, to collect drugs thrown overboard

    Analysis by a marine drift expert shows that currents would have carried the drugs, packed in floating holdalls, away from Green’s boat

    A drugs investigator who spent 41 years with Customs and Excise and Soca (the Serious Organised Crime Agency, that led the investigation into the alleged smugglers) found that observation records used to incriminate Green and his co-defendants appear to have been fabricated.

    The Brazilian ship was not in the South American port on the day when the smuggling plot was allegedly hatched at a meeting of local conspirators and members of its crew.

A dossier setting out this evidence is now being examined by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which is set to rule on whether to grant a fresh appeal next year. Tragically, its decision will come too late for Nikki. Her husband was allowed one visit to her deathbed in a hospice, for which he was shackled. Heartbreakingly, a second visit that would have been their farewell was cancelled.

To the Isle of Wight community, the case always seemed baffling. Green and his co-defendants – his lifelong friend Jonathan Beere, and deckhands Danny Payne and Scott Birtwistle – had no criminal history. They were all staunch family men, with modest lifestyles.

Nikki, to whom Jamie was devoted, was already seriously ill: her cancer had spread from her breast to her liver and she was having chemotherapy. Beere – supposedly the plot’s onshore co-ordinator – was a local scaffolder, married to a teacher for children with special needs: the couple had three young children.

However, the evidence persuaded the jury, which reached a majority verdict. Green, Beere and casual labourer Zoran Dresic were sentenced to 24 years; Payne and Birtwistle were given 18 and 14 years respectively. The Soca detectives heralded the result a triumph. According to the prosecution, Green and his crew, Dresic, Payne and Birtwistle, took the 39ft Galwad-y-Mor to the middle of the Channel on the stormy night of May 29, 2010, not to collect lobster pots, but the cocaine-packed sports bags tossed from the Oriane.

The prosecution claimed that the records from the Galwad-y-Mor’s electronic navigation system showed that, for a period of about two minutes, she slowly motored back and forth in Oriane’s wake. Somehow, lashed by 20ft waves and buffeted by a Force 8 gale, the Galwad’s crew had spent this time collecting the drugs bags from the water. This, say other Wight fishermen, would have been an extraordinary feat in the calmest of seas in broad daylight.

For most of the next day, the jury was told, Green and his crew went back to looking for crabs and lobsters. Then, many hours later, they headed towards the shallower waters of Freshwater Bay on the Isle of Wight. Two Hampshire policemen had been stationed by Soca at the top of the towering cliffs overlooking the Bay. They said they saw the bags being jettisoned back into the water – presumably being left for someone to retrieve.

The officers reported this by radio, but then left their look-out post, leaving the bags unattended. The bags, tied together with rope and fixed to the sea bed with a pig-iron anchor, were found there next morning by another local fisherman.

There was no evidence that drugs were ever on board the fishing boat. Soca’s high-tech equipment could not detect a single cocaine molecule anywhere on the Galwad, although the bags leaked so that whole packets of cocaine were damp and salty by the time they were found.

The claim that the Galwad crossed the wake of the Oriane was critical. Determined to produce the most accurate chart of the two vessels’ movements, this newspaper obtained all the raw data from the Oriane’s AIS satellite tracking system from a specialist Dutch company. Recently, it has emerged that the prosecution expert had his own copy of this information before the trial – but it was not disclosed to the defence. With this data at hand, it was possible to see that a crucial ‘mark’ for the Oriane – a record of its position when it was almost at its closest to the Galwad-y-Mor – was, unaccountably, omitted from the chart the prosecution showed the jury.

Emily Bolton, Green’s solicitor from the Centre for Criminal Appeals, engaged an expert to compare the AIS records with those of the Olex tracking system on the Galwad.

The conclusions reached by the expert, Dr James Allen, technical director of Precision Marine Survey Ltd, are devastating.

Rather than crossing the Oriane’s wake, the closest the Galwad-y-Mor got to the wake was about 170ft. And at the brief instant the Galwad was in this position, the Oriane was more than a mile and a half away.

Could the bags have drifted from the ship towards Green’s boat?
Brazilian container ship the Oriane, which the cocaine-packed sports bags were allegedly tossed from

Not according to another team of experts, from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. Their report says that on the night in question, at the relevant point in the Channel, anything thrown from the Oriane would have drifted east-north-east – away from the course plotted by the Galwad-y-Mor.

The AIS data contains a further bombshell. According to the Crown, plotters based in Brazil met members of the Oriane crew and figured out how to get the drugs on board when the ship docked at the port of Navegantes.

In fact, the data shows the Oriane was not there at all on the date in question.

And there is still further fresh evidence. After the trial, doubts began to emerge about the observations made by the two Hampshire policemen posted on the hill over the bay, and their assertion that they saw the Galwad crew throwing the drugs bags overboard.  Their story had kept on changing, and an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission found it contained significant ‘discrepancies’.

The MoS approached drugs investigator Don Dewar to review all the evidence. Recently retired, Dewar won awards and commendations, during a long career in charge of some of the biggest drug cases in British history, first with Customs and Excise, then with Soca. He was in charge of the seizure of what, until last year, was the UK’s record cocaine haul: a ton found sealed inside lead ingots in 1990. He also led the UK-end of the transatlantic operation that saw the arrest of the cannabis smuggler turned writer, Howard Marks.

Dewar has analysed the case thoroughly. In a statement included in the CCRC dossier, he says that some crucial observation records were not set down in the usual, tightly controlled and monitored official Soca logs, but in a Marathon Products logbook that was not Soca issue.

Damningly, crucial observations were recorded out of sequence – suggesting they were tampered with or fabricated. For instance, according to the records, the Galwad docked at a jetty before she entered her home port at Yarmouth harbour – an obvious impossibility.

Dewar’s statement also points to crucial, unexplained gaps in the documents Soca provided to the defence – including 21 pages of the ‘Surveillance Management Record’, which should have contained a detailed account of the movements and observations of all officers deployed on the island that day.

Green and the others have already lost one appeal, in 2012. At that stage, none of the fresh evidence had come to light.

But a member of the jury wrote to Green’s trial defence lawyer, Julian Christopher QC. He said that Soca officers had discussed the case with a fellow juror at a health club, making allegations that were never aired in court, and urging the jury to convict.

Another juror knew a former police community support officer who sat in the public gallery throughout the trial, and was thus privy to legal argument which took place when the jury was absent.

Usually, evidence of this kind would persuade the Appeal Court to order a retrial, but in this case, it declined. That left the CCRC as the only recourse.

Bolton submitted a preliminary dossier in October last year. In February the commission appointed a ‘case review manager’ to oversee its inquiries. Bolton filed further evidence in March and November.

As Nikki Green’s condition deteriorated, her husband, who is being held at Erlestoke prison in Wiltshire, was granted one brief visit, which he spent cuffed to an officer. When Nikki developed an infection, doctors warned she was unlikely to survive more than days. Jamie was told he would be taken to see her again on November 8. But as he was getting ready in his cell, the trip was suddenly cancelled. Nikki died on November 30.

Bolton said: ‘Nikki died without her husband at her side because the CCRC has not been given enough funding to be able to identify miscarriages of justice promptly.

‘We have presented enough evidence to convince the Court of Appeal to reverse these convictions, but the Commission does not have the resources it needs to process this evidence swiftly.

‘Last Thursday’s service wasn’t just a funeral for Nikki, but for British justice.’

Green’s sister, Nicky, said the family felt ‘betrayed’, adding: ‘Not only did the system make a terrible mistake in charging my brother with this crime, the process of correcting it has been drawn out for so long that Jamie has been robbed of his brave, courageous wife and his right to a family life.’

According to a CCRC spokesman, it currently receives nearly 1,500 applications a year, which creates a huge backlog. Normally, he said, a prisoner would have to wait six months before a Commission inquiry could even begin, and for Green, this had indeed been ‘expedited’. But he added: ‘Once it starts, it takes as long as it takes, and this is a complex case.’

The best that Green and his co-defendants can hope for is that the CCRC will refer them back to the Court of Appeal next year. After that, it is likely to take many months before their case is reheard.

The guilty verdicts that have ruined their lives and those of their families may be overturned some time in 2017. By then they will have spent seven years behind bars.

Original report here


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New York City to Pay $2.75 Million in Wrongful-Conviction Settlement



New York City has agreed to pay $2.75 million to settle a wrongful-conviction lawsuit, the city’s Law Department said on Thursday, in a case that prompted philosophical questions about the meaning of a guilty plea.

The plaintiff, Michael Poventud, 45, served nine years in prison before his 1998 conviction — for the attempted murder and attempted robbery of a Bronx livery driver — was overturned on grounds that the authorities withheld evidence from his lawyers that could have helped his defense.

Rather than face a retrial, Mr. Poventud pleaded guilty in 2006 to attempted robbery in the third degree, acknowledging that he had been armed and had tried to rob another person. He received a one-year sentence and was released immediately.

But Mr. Poventud continued to maintain his innocence, his lawyers said, and pleaded guilty in order to get out of prison, where he had been subjected to abuse by other inmates and had twice tried to commit suicide.

The guilty plea, as it turned out, became a legal hurdle when Mr. Poventud sued the city and claimed his rights were violated in the 1998 trial. A judge, Deborah A. Batts of Federal District Court in Manhattan, dismissed the suit in 2012, finding that it was barred because Mr. Poventud had pleaded guilty to conduct that “necessarily required his presence at the scene of the crime.”

Success in his lawsuit “would logically imply the invalidity” of his guilty plea, Judge Batts wrote.

But in 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which typically rules in three-judge panels, overturned Judge Batts’s decision by a 2-to-1 vote, saying Mr. Poventud could sue.

The debate did not end there. In an unusual move, the full or “en banc” appellate court, with 15 judges participating, reviewed the matter, and last year, a majority of the judges agreed that Mr. Poventud could sue.

“Poventud’s claims are not the stuff of prison idleness or self-absorption,” the opinion’s author, Judge Richard C. Wesley, wrote. He “accepted an offer from the state to plead to a lesser offense; he now seeks to recover from those who violated his right to a fair trial.”

A judge who concurred in the ruling, Gerard E. Lynch, wrote in a separate opinion, “The choice of freedom in exchange for an admission would be easy for a guilty man, but even an innocent one would be hard-pressed to decline the prosecution’s offer.”

The conviction of Mr. Poventud, who once used the first name Marcos, stemmed from the 1997 shooting of Younis Duopo, a cabdriver. The settlement was noted in papers filed in court late on Wednesday.

Mr. Poventud, speaking by phone on Thursday, thanked his lawyers and said, “Nothing can give me back those years of my life I lost, but I’m happy to put this behind me.”

In a statement, the Law Department said, “This case raised a novel legal issue concerning the resolution of the plaintiff’s criminal charges and its effect on his civil claims.” The department added that in light of the appellate rulings allowing the suit to go forward, the agreement was “fair and in the best interest of the city.” The city admitted no wrongdoing.

One of Mr. Poventud’s lawyers, Julia P. Kuan, said on Thursday, “We were not challenging the validity of the guilty plea.” Another of his lawyers, Joel B. Rudin, said, “We had an innocent person who had pleaded guilty in order to escape more trauma in prison.”

“A plea bargain is a compromise that ends the criminal litigation,” Mr. Rudin added, “but it doesn’t necessarily resolve the truth in God’s eyes.”

Original report here


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VIP child abuse witness retracts murder claims: Outrage of ex-Tory MP who was implicated by 'Darren'

A former Tory MP last night demanded an independent inquiry into Scotland Yard’s VIP paedophile investigation after a key witness retracted claims that he had witnessed two murders.

Harvey Proctor reacted furiously after the man, known as Darren, admitted that a news website had tried to put pressure on him to make allegations against people including Mr Proctor.

Darren said the controversial website Exaro had shown him photographs of Mr Proctor to try to identify him. The former MP’s home was later raided by police and he was interviewed under caution.

Mr Proctor – accused of being a member of a murderous paedophile gang including ex-prime minister Edward Heath, former Tory home secretary Leon Brittan and ex-heads of the Army and security services – called for an urgent inquiry into Scotland Yard’s dealings with Exaro.

He said it should look at Exaro’s handling of vulnerable witnesses such as Darren and a man known as ‘Nick’, who has made hotly contested allegations of serial murder and child sex abuse against VIPs.

Mr Proctor, who denies the allegations, told the Daily Mail: ‘There should be a police inquiry into Exaro and their dealings with vulnerable witnesses, and that inquiry should not be handled by the Metropolitan Police.

‘The inquiry should extend to examining links between Exaro and certain detectives in Operation Midland [which is investigating Nick’s allegations].’

Darren, now in his 30s, said he had made statements to two police forces investigating historic abuse allegations about senior politicians, celebrities and ex members of the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange. He had claimed that abuse took place in London, including at the Dolphin Square apartment block near Westminster, in Suffolk and Wales.

Many of his claims have been carried by the controversial Exaro news website.

Under the headline ‘Murder at Thornham Magna: Darren relives harrowing scene’, he was quoted as saying that he saw a boy being stretched between two vehicles and that he believed he died.

‘Both vehicles then slowly reversed and I heard a scream. I think he must have passed out because he made no more sound,’ Darren told Exaro in February. He now insists he never saw the boy being killed. In another story about alleged abuse parties at Dolphin Square he was quoted as saying that a girl may have been killed. He claims now that the girl is alive.

Darren, whose real name cannot be disclosed for legal reasons, said yesterday he had felt under pressure to make allegations and disclose names during his dealings with some journalists, campaigners, politicians and police over the past two years.

On being shown pictures of Mr Proctor by Exaro, he told The Times: ‘I had to tell them that I never met Proctor – I feel rather sorry for him now.

‘I want the authorities to realise that adult survivors should be allowed to tell their stories and walk away. They shouldn’t be hounded. I’ve been through two-and-a-half years of hell because of these people.’

He said he wants no further contact with detectives over his claims and had agreed to provide a statement to Mr Proctor’s lawyers on his dealings with Exaro. He added: ‘I feel like I’ve been used. Making the allegations has destroyed my life and left me vulnerable.’

According to reports, several people have been interviewed under caution as a result of Darren’s claims but no one has been charged.

Darren also revealed he had been in contact with Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, who made explosive claims about an alleged Westminster paedophile ring in the House of Commons in 2012.

He confirmed that Mr Watson had offered to email Scotland Yard to ‘chivvy them up a bit’ in relation to one investigation.

Asked about his email contact with Mr Watson, Darren said: ‘I don’t believe Tom Watson had my best interests at heart. I think he was trying to score political points.’

Last night a spokesman for Mr Watson said: ‘Mr Watson passed all relevant information to the authorities and acted to ensure procedures were followed.’

Mark Watts, the Exaro editor, said: ‘We have always reported the evidence and witness testimony accurately. Many survivors of child sex abuse have approached Exaro with their stories in recent years and we have featured some of them. We have always treated abuse survivors fairly.’

Scotland Yard is still reeling from recent condemnation by a committee of MPs over its protracted inquiry into a false allegation of rape made against Lord Brittan, who died from cancer in January.

The Yard also now has grave doubts about claims made by the alleged victim Nick, who last year had claimed three children had been murdered by a VIP gang.

Original report here


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UK: Crime scene blunders let murderers off the hook

Damning report says officers are missing 'obvious indicators of suspicion' such as violence when investigating deaths.  They're afraid it might make work for them

Murderers are likely to be escaping justice because of police blunders when a body is discovered, a damning report revealed yesterday.

Officers are overlooking ‘obvious indicators of suspicion’ – such as signs of violence – when confronted with unexplained deaths, especially of elderly people or those who drank or used drugs, the Government study said.

It added that relying on routine post-mortem examinations for unaccounted deaths was also ‘risky and potentially unlikely to identify a complex murder’.

Last night a senior police officer acknowledged that the mistakes meant ‘the potential existed’ for homicides to be missed.

Half of a sample of cases studied by the Home Office’s Forensic Pathology Unit were found to be homicides or suspicious deaths after an expert intervened.

Incredibly, killings that did not prompt the police to call in an expert immediately included a severely-wounded body found in a remote rural location, a young man who had been stabbed and a corpse lying in a large pool of blood.

The report said: ‘It is concerning that evidence uncovered...has identified cases where apparent and obvious indicators of suspicion were overlooked by those making decisions at the scene of unexplained deaths.

‘It therefore seems entirely reasonable to suspect that a number of homicide cases may have been missed in the past and will continue to be missed in the future.’

It added that assessments by investigators at a death scene were ‘inadequate’ and urgent action needed to be taken to ‘address the shortfalls’.

The study raised the chilling prospect of police assuming that if a person was old or had been ill their death was due to natural causes, when they had in fact been murdered – so allowing the killer to escape.

This ‘cognitive bias’ was also seen with people who had used drugs or alcohol, with one force admitting it presumed such deaths were ‘due to intoxication’.

The study looked at 32 cases where police non-forensic post-mortem examinations were started before being passed to a Home Office-registered forensic expert after concerns were highlighted.

Of these, ten turned out to be murders, while another five were suspicious and required further investigation.

These cases ‘should have been treated as suspicious from the outset’, with the decision not to have a forensic autopsy in all 32 cases ‘flawed’.

Senior officers suggested cash-strapped forces might balk at calling a forensic pathologist, who cost £2,500 a time compared to around £100 for a routine post-mortem. In all of the cases studied, justice was served.

The report said an additional 150 cases reported since January 2014 should now be examined, adding: ‘The findings ... have highlighted the potential for professionals involved in death investigation to “miss” homicides by conducting limited scene assessments and not utilising the advice and expertise of a Home Office-registered forensic pathologist early on ... The prevailing situation poses an obvious threat to the criminal justice system.’

Chief Constable David Crompton, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: ‘Whilst it is important to recognise that there is no evidence that homicides have been missed, it is equally important to acknowledge that this potential exists.

'Procedures for dealing with deaths are being reviewed in order to reduce the likelihood of this occurring.’

Original report here


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Judge acquits Chicago police commander accused of shoving gun down suspect's throat


He'd frighten me to death

A judge on Monday acquitted a Chicago police commander accused of shoving his gun down a suspect's throat, outlining what she said were flaws in the state's case and stressing that it shouldn't be conflated with other recent cases of alleged police misconduct that have come to the fore in Chicago and elsewhere.

Cook County Judge Diane Cannon found Cmdr. Glenn Evans not guilty of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and official misconduct stemming from the 2013 arrest of Rickey Williams, whom Evans believed he had seen holding a gun.

Cannon said she didn't find Williams' story believable, accusing him of changing it repeatedly and of offering to change it if it would help investigators. She also dismissed evidence thought to be among the most damning -- Williams' DNA on Evans' gun -- suggesting it was collected so sloppily that that it was of "fleeting relevance. But she opened and closed her remarks by cautioning that the case shouldn't be grouped with other recent cases of alleged police misconduct.

"My ruling does not pertain to (police) misconduct," the judge said. "This is just one case."

Evans' case received widespread attention because of his aggressive tactics -- condemned by some, praised by others -- as the city has struggled to lower its violent crime rate. Former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy and residents of crime weary neighbourhoods said Evans helped clean up a number of areas under his command, while others say he symbolized the department's failure to control its officers. Both Evans and Williams are black.

Evans showed little reaction upon hearing the verdict. He could have faced up to five years in prison.

Williams' lawyers issued a statement saying they will proceed with a lawsuit and are confident they'll meet the burden of proof needed to show that Evans violated Williams' rights.

Prosecutors alleged that Evans tackled Williams and stuck his gun in Williams' mouth while demanding to know where he had put a gun he believed he had seen Williams holding. Williams testified that he hadn't been carrying a gun and that Evans must have mistaken it for a cellphone he had been holding. He said Evans shoved his gun so far down his throat that he gagged and later spat blood.

Investigators never recovered a gun, and the charges against Williams were later dropped.

In dismissing the usefulness of the DNA found on the gun, Cannon pointed out that investigators swabbed the entire weapon instead of just the barrel. She also said Williams' saliva wasn't tested for gun residue and the inside of the barrel wasn't tested for his DNA, suggesting the DNA could have gotten on the gun during a tussle with officers.

Evans' attorneys questioned Williams' credibility and the reliability of the DNA evidence. After the verdict, though, they were most critical of the Independent Police Review Authority, the city's main police oversight agency that investigated the incident and has been harshly criticized for not recommending that enough officers be punished.

"They were inept, they were at times corrupt (and) they didn't want to see the things that made Glenn Evans ... innocent,' said Laura Morask.

Evans, who is one of the highest ranking members of the department to ever face criminal charges, was a polarizing figure in the community. Repeatedly praised by McCarthy for his aggressive tactics, Evans was also the subject of at least 45 excessive-force complaints over a 20-year period, according to a study done for the People's Law Office in Chicago. Critics pointed to that total as evidence of the department's willingness to condone or at least ignore the brutal behaviour of its officers.

After the verdict Alvarez defended her decision to charge Evans.

"This case underscores the reality that it is extremely difficult to convince judges or juries in Cook County and around the country to convict police officers of misconduct in the line of duty, despite the fact that this victim made an immediate outcry and we had DNA evidence to support our case," she said in a statement.

The verdict marks the second time this year that the office has suffered a high-profile defeat after bringing charges against a Chicago police officer. Dante Servin was charged with involuntary manslaughter and other charges in the shooting death of an unarmed black woman in 2012, but in April a judge suggested that prosecutors filed the wrong charges against the officer and acquitted him.

Original report here


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Family of knife-wielding man who shot by FIVE San Francisco cops release new video of his death as they launch lawsuit



A second graphic video showing the shocking moment a San Francisco man was shot dead by 10 police officers in the street has been released.

Mario Woods, 26, was killed last week after he was reportedly hit 20 times by the five cops, who claim he refused commands to drop an 8-inch knife he was carrying.

The new video, recorded on a cell phone, shows Woods surrounded by cops, backed up against a garage.

A second graphic video showing the shocking moment Mario Woods, 26, was shot dead by five San Francisco police officers in the street has been released

He appears to kneel down briefly, and then walks a couple of steps forward before a barrage of gun shots are fired and his body is suddenly on the ground.

'What did he do, he's literally standing there,' someone can be heard asking behind the camera. 'The kid is standing and you shot him, what did he he do?'

The camera then turns to show at least four police cars surrounding the area with their sirens on and lights flashing.

Police were responding to a stabbing report in the city's Bayview neighborhood when they encountered and surrounded Woods.

The video is the second to be released that shows Wood's death.

In the first video, a woman standing in front of the person recording can be heard shouting 'Just drop it! Just drop it, please!'

Woods is seen walking away as one officer steps in front of him, and then begins to walk backward as the officer points his gun at him.

The camera then cuts away as gunfire erupts and the screams of people can be heard in the background.

Woods' family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Friday, saying officers needlessly opened fire.

The shooting has also angered community activists, who have called for San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr's resignation and for the officers who fired their guns to be charged criminally.

Suhr said the department is investigating the shooting along with the district attorney and the city's Office of Citizens Complaints.

The chief also said the department is reviewing its 'use-of-force' policies and procedures and called on the police commission to arm the department with stun guns.

Police departments in San Francisco and Detroit are the only cities with more than 500,000 residents to not arm officers with stun guns.

The five officers who fired their guns have been placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigations.

The department released the officers' names Friday night. They are: Winson Seto, Antonio Santos, Charles August, Nicholas Cuevas and Scott Phillips. No further details on them were released.

Martin Halloran, president of the police union, said the officers acted appropriately and fired their weapons after pepper spray and the shooting of bean bags full of lead pellets failed to stop Woods.

'With innocent bystanders nearby and the erratic behavior of the subject, the threat to life was imminent,' Halloran said. 'With no other options available, the officers were forced to discharge their firearms.'

Suhr said at a news conference on Wednesday that police opened fire when it appeared Woods was raising the knife and approaching one of the officers.

Lawyer John Burris, who is representing Woods' family, disputed that account Friday and said Woods never raised his hands.

'This was all the indications of a murder,' he said, according to ABC News. 'You do not see him lunge at the officers, run at the officers with anything in his hand.'  

Burris said Suhr also came to his conclusions regarding the shooting too quickly.

'I'm sort of insulted by the chief's comments, that he would make a comment to justify and support the police officers' conduct so quickly,' he said.  

Woods' mother and two brothers attended the news conference and sobbed while the first publicly released video played on a large television screen.

Burris also displayed four photos taken of Woods at the morgue and said his body had 20 gunshot wounds, including one to the back of the head.

Woods' mother briefly spoke Friday, saying her son 'was the best of me' while crying uncontrollably.

'He was the best of me and redeemed himself,' Gwendolyn Woods said of her son, who had just been released from prison for robbery.

'He did. He redeemed himself. He was the best of me.'

Original report here



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Black guy liked his gun


The genius concerned

Police say that the man fatally shot by Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies on Saturday refused to drop his gun before he was shot.   Close-up security footage shows that 28-year-old father-of-three Nicholas Robertson held a gun in his hand as he lay dying on the ground.

Two deputies fired 33 bullets at the gunman after Robertson refused to drop the gun and walked across a busy street to a gas station where a family was pumping gas, Sheriff homicide Cpt Steven Katz said.

Robertson walked down a residential street and then along a busy commercial area holding the gun and acting strangely, Katz said, adding that he went into at least one business ‘behaving erratically with a gun in hand’.

He said that witnesses reported Robertson fired six to seven shots in the air and briefly went into a car wash and a pizza parlor before the deputies arrived.

Officers said they found Robertson at a gas station beside a busy road at around 11am and repeatedly asked him to drop his weapon, and when he didn't they opened fire.

Katz told the Los Angeles Times that ‘public safety was critical here’ because there were people in the area and at the gas station Robertson was walking toward.

Cell phone footage shot from a restaurant across the street shows officers firing at the man as he falls to the floor, and then continue shooting as he attempts to crawl away.

Roberson later died at the scene, where officers recovered a loaded .45 caliber pistol.

The cell-phone video footage, which starts seconds before the officers open fire, does not appear to show the main aiming at officers, but rather shows cops following him as he walks away from them.

Lieutenant Eddie Hernandez told KABC-TV that his department is aware of the video and that it is being looked at, and appealed for anyone else with footage to come forward.

He said: 'The video is just one piece of evidence that's going to be examined as part of a comprehensive, protracted, long investigation and that'll be analyzed against the physical evidence, the witness statements and the deputies' statements.'

Katz told the LA Times that the investigation is ongoing, and that Robertson may have had a ‘domestic discord’ with his wife that could have prompted his actions.

Authorities have released three 911 calls from witnesses who saw Robertson firing gunshots in the air minutes before the man was fatally shot by Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies.

The sheriff's department released the calls on Sunday in addition to the security video showing Robertson stretched on the ground with a gun in his hand.

The calls were made several minutes before two deputies confronted Robertson near a gas station.

Within hours of the shooting protesters gathered at the scene of the shooting and began chanting 'no justice, no peace' at officers.

At one point, the crowd tore away 'caution' tape and deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department had to hold it up.

Speaking to the LA Times, one of Roberston's in-laws, Tracy Brown, 47, of Lynwood, said: 'They shot him. They shot him; as he crawled, they continued to shoot him.'

Nekeisha Robertson, described by relatives as the suspect's wife, sobbed uncontrollably as Brown, shouted to police: 'He ain't getting away with it!'

Brown said Robertson graduated from Lynwood High School and took good care of his three children, adding that the family didn't know anything about Robertson carrying a gun.

Seth Stoughton, a criminal law professor at the University of South Carolina, said there are circumstances in which officers could shoot a man walking away from them, and the fact that Robertson was armed will play in their favor.

He said: 'If the deputies reasonably believe the suspect with a firearm presents a danger by walking toward a gas station with vehicles and bystanders, they would be justified in using deadly force.

'It does not strike me as egregious like [the] Walter Scott video here in South Carolina. If the suspect wasn't armed or they didn't have a solid basis for that belief, that would more problematic.'

Original report here


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New video shows the shocking moment Hispanic cops shoot crazy Hispanic  dead while he holds his hands in the air - but they WON'T be charged

The guy was behaving in a very erratic way but that does not give the cops authority to execute him

A second video has been released that shows the controversial fatal police shooting of a Texas man who had raised his hands up just before he was shot.

Gilbert Flores, 41, was killed on August 28 by two Bexar County deputies. Investigators have maintained that they believed he was armed with a knife.

The footage was made public this week after a grand jury chose not to indict officers Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez.

Flores is first seen in the eight minute long video yelling at police, who were answering his mother's 911 call reporting domestic violence, from the entrance of his home.

'He says he lost too many people in prison,' says a woman behind the camera in the full video that was released by San Antonio Express-News.

'He's got a knife in his hand,' whispers the man, who we later find out is filming the scene.

Flores can be seen holding an object.  'He's got a knife, he's got a knife,' the man keeps repeating.

Flores is then seen walking toward the cops with two fold-up chairs and the man indicates that he used the chairs to shield himself from getting tased by the deputies.

'He wants to be shot,' says the woman. 'He's provoking,' says the man.

Flores then goes around the cars parked in front of the house and, still holding the chairs, he picks up the now useless stun gun and throws it to the side.

An inaudible conversation continues between Flores and the deputies for a few minutes and then he picks up his chairs and brings them back to the door.

Earlier in the video Flores talks to the police from his porch and the man filming claims he is holding a knife

Flores then seems to run toward the cop car, and the man behind the camera says he's still got his knife.

But then Flores walks toward the deputies with his hands out, waving them to his chest.

He then walks behind the patrol car and is obscured for a brief moment before he walks toward the deputies again and put his hands up. There does not appear to be a knife in his hand.

A second later two shots are fired and Flores falls to the ground.

'Oh f*** they shot him?' the girl exclaims. 'Why did they shoot him?'

Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood said he believed there would have been a grand jury indictment if only the second video had been seen.

'The 911 audio, when you hear that, you'll get what I mean,' he tells the paper.  'You have a man saying he wanted to die by police officer, suicide by cop, he had been violent to his wife and to a baby and his mom was crying.' 'It's not a flattering 911 tape of the deceased.'

In the 911 call, which was released on Friday, Flores' mother tells police her son has 'gone crazy' and that he's 'beating up his wife and she's bleeding'.

She also reveals that Flores' child had a 'black eye' and said was tearing up everything in the house and just 'cursing, cursing, cursing'. 'He's got a knife, he's got a knife,' she tells the dispatcher.

Flores can then be heard yelling that it's his 'time to go'.  'I'm on parole, I'm not going back to prison,' he can be heard saying in the background. 'So I'm going to die today.'

Flores also says he's armed with a knife. 'I'm going to suicide by cop,' he says. 'I'm going to die today.'

Authorities said an injured woman and baby were found inside the house after Flores was shot, according to NBC News.

Flores' family has since filed a civil lawsuit against the deputies' and sheriff's office, accusing them of 'executing' him.

Vasquez and Sanchez were placed on paid administrative leave following the shooting and will now be allowed to go back to work.

Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said there were 'no winners' in the situation. 'A man lost his life,' she said. 'And for that, we are all saddened.'

Original report here


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Justice Dept. to Investigate Chicago Police After Laquan McDonald Case

The Justice Department will begin a far-ranging investigation into the patterns and practices of the Chicago Police Department, part of the continuing fallout over a video released last month showing the police shooting of Laquan McDonald, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced Monday.

The Justice Department has long had concerns about the Chicago department. But the current scrutiny centers on a controversy that began with a two-paragraph statement a year ago from the Chicago Police Department about the death of a young black man who had been shot 16 times by the police.

“Near the intersection of 4100 S. Pulaski, uniformed officers confronted the armed offender who refused to comply with orders to drop the knife and continued to approach the officers,” said the statement, from Oct. 21, 2014. “As a result of this action, the officer discharged his weapon striking the offender.”
Continue reading the main story

On the night of the shooting, a police union spokesman, Pat Camden, went further, announcing at the scene that Mr. McDonald was “a very serious threat to the officers and he leaves them no choice at that point but to defend themselves.” Mr. Camden said, “He was coming at the officer.”

For months in 2014 and 2015, as police shootings were drawing close scrutiny around the nation, that was all most Chicagoans knew about Mr. McDonald’s death. That changed last month when a county judge ordered that a police video be made public. It showed Mr. McDonald seeming to try to jog or walk past officers, then veering at an angle away from them before being shot, again and again, even as he lay on the pavement.

The video outraged many. Along with anger over the shooting, there is an added element fueling frustration here: a lingering sense that the authorities, from the police department to City Hall, tried to keep the case out of the spotlight as long as possible.

“No person, no sane human being who’s lived in this city, no sane human being, looks at this situation and thinks there weren’t people who knew a lot and refused to divulge it,” said Mariame Kaba, a member of the Chicago-based activist group We Charge Genocide. “That, to me, is a cover-up.”

Critics have raised many questions.

Did Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s re-election fight play a role in his administration’s decision this year to pay $5 million to Mr. McDonald’s family members even before they filed a lawsuit? Why did City Hall include a provision in the settlement to keep the video private at least temporarily? And why did it take Anita Alvarez, the Cook County State’s Attorney, 13 months to charge the police officer involved in the shooting? She waited until hours before the city was forced to release the video to charge the officer, Jason Van Dyke, with first-degree murder.

“People have a lot of questions, and I don’t think this is going away any time soon,” said the Rev. Marshall E. Hatch, who leads a West Side church. “It was almost surreal to think people thought this was a life that could be thrown away and walked over for apparent political advantage.”

The authorities in Chicago insist that there was no cover-up. In a statement issued Monday, the mayor pledged cooperation with the investigation.

“Our mutual goal is to create a stronger, better Police Department that keeps the community safe while respecting the civil rights of every Chicagoan,” the statement said. “Nothing is more important to me than the safety and well-being of our residents and ensuring that the men and women of our Police Department have the tools, resources and training they need to be effective crime fighters, stay safe, and build community trust.”

Last week, a spokeswoman for Mr. Emanuel, Kelley Quinn, said, “Any suggestion that politics played a role in this investigation is patently false.” Faced with growing criticism and demands for his resignation, Mr. Emanuel wrote an op-ed column in Chicago’s newspapers over the weekend, calling for broad changes at the police department but also laying out a defense of his own role. “What I strongly reject is the suggestion that the videotape of the McDonald shooting was withheld from the public because of the election,” Mr. Emanuel said.

Already, outcry over the case appears to be forcing a change. Under scrutiny over another case — a police shooting that occurred only days before Mr. McDonald’s death — Mr. Emanuel says that the city will now reverse course from its longstanding practice and release police video from that case sometime this week. The video will show the fatal shooting of Ronald Johnson, 25, on Oct. 12, 2014. Chicago police say Mr. Johnson pointed a gun at officers, but a lawyer for his family said that the video will show that he was running away.

The confrontation with Mr. McDonald, who was 17, began after 9 p.m. on Oct. 20, 2014 when he was stopped by the police after a report of someone breaking into vehicles on the Southwest Side. Officers said Mr. McDonald had a three-inch folding knife and ignored calls to drop it. Instead, they said, he walked and jogged away and at one point slashed the tire of a police car.

A growing number of officers followed him for several blocks. A police dashboard camera video, made public on Nov. 24, shows Officer Van Dyke’s police vehicle pulling up just before the shooting began. He fired 16 shots at Mr. McDonald from about 10 feet away, prosecutors have said. No other officer at the scene fired his gun, although at least five corroborated Officer Van Dyke’s version of events — that Mr. McDonald appeared to be coming at them in a threatening way.

After the shooting, the Independent Police Review Authority, a group assigned to review police shootings in Chicago, began investigating. Within two weeks, the city’s information was handed over to prosecutors to conduct their own criminal inquiries.

As lawyers for Mr. McDonald’s mother began looking at the case in late 2014, they say they found puzzling contradictions. Some witnesses disagreed with the police account that Mr. McDonald was coming at Officer Van Dyke. Workers at a nearby Burger King said the police arrived almost immediately after the shooting and began intensely studying a computer that handles the restaurant’s surveillance system.

Later, the Burger King’s surveillance recordings of more than 80 minutes — covering the time of the shooting itself — seemed to have vanished. Ms. Alvarez has said that there is no evidence of tampering and that the camera would not have captured the shooting anyway. Still, a federal investigation, which is continuing, is believed to be looking at questions, including the missing Burger King video, what other officers said at the scene that night, and why police dashboard cameras collected little audio.

By February 2015, the lawyers for Mr. McDonald’s mother had obtained the dashboard camera video itself. Michael Robbins, one of the family’s lawyers, said the lawyers had subpoenaed the video as part of a separate probate case. On Feb. 27 they contacted the city, seeking $16 million before they filed any lawsuit.

As it happened, three days earlier, Mr. Emanuel had learned that he was about to face an intense, six-week test of his leadership. He had failed to get the 50 percent plus 1 vote that he needed to win re-election to a second term outright, and was forced into an April 7 runoff with Jesus G. Garcia. Mr. Emanuel’s campaign was especially vulnerable among some black and Latino voters who had been upset by his administration’s closing of nearly 50 public schools as well as policing and crime.

“If that video would have surfaced around that time, he would have lost the whole support of the black, African-American community in Chicago,” said William Calloway, an activist here.

Mr. Robbins said he believed that the issue unfolded when it did simply because he and his co-counsel were able to assemble their evidence at that point. “How much did politics play in on the city’s end?” Mr. Robbins said. “I don’t know. From our standpoint it was happenstance.”

After a meeting in mid-March, lawyers for the family and the city reached an agreement to pay the family $5 million. City Council approval was needed, though, and that body’s next meeting was on April 15, eight days after Mr. Emanuel won re-election.

Chicago law department officials said settlements before lawsuits have even been filed are not unprecedented. The speed with which negotiations proceeded, the officials said, reflected the wishes of the lawyers for the other side and the nature of the case.

The city included in their settlement with the McDonald family a provision barring release of the video until criminal investigations were complete. Law department officials said that has been standard practice in Chicago for decades so as not to hinder such investigations. In this case, they said, no one expected the investigations to take much longer. City officials also said the family itself was not eager for the police video to be made public.

Mr. Emanuel himself was aware of the case and the video at the point at which a city settlement was being weighed, city officials said. His office did not respond to questions about when the mayor first learned of the case and the video. He has said he did not watch the video until it was released to the public.

On April 15, Chicago’s City Council approved the settlement. Stephen R. Patton, Chicago’s Corporation Counsel, had already told members of the council’s finance committee at a public meeting: “The shooting officer contends, as I understand it, that Mr. McDonald was moving toward him. He was in fear of his life.” He also told them: “The plaintiffs contend very vehemently that Mr. McDonald had been walking away from the police and was continuing to walk away from the police, and they contend that the videotape supports their version of events.”

Requests from the media for the video came, one after the next. At least one Chicago news radio station asked for the video as early as December 2014, a police spokesman said. All the requests were denied. The city argued that the video was exempt from the state’s public records law because it was part of a continuing investigation. A freelance journalist, Brandon Smith, filed suit to see the video — an effort the city’s lawyers continued to fight until the Cook County judge ruled against them on Nov. 19.

After that, Mayor Emanuel changed course. He said the city would no longer fight the release, and urged prosecutors to conclude their investigations. He has since said a task force needs to decide whether to change a policy of keeping evidence private while investigations are going on.

Asked last week whether he would have won re-election in April if the public had seen the McDonald video at the time, Mr. Emanuel grew testy.

“That’s a hypothetical,” he told a crowd gathered to watch him interviewed on stage with Politico at the Willis Tower. “And that said, I faced the election, faced the voters. They made a decision.”

Original report here

Forfeiture laws in Buckeye State

“I had no idea something like this could happen in America.” That’s what Antoinette Lattimore, a resident of North College Hill near Cincinnati, said about the seizure of the $19,660 in cash she was carrying on a road trip in 2013 to Tucson, Arizona, where she hoped to purchase African art.

The cash was seized by a Dayton police officer on the mere suspicion that it was connected to the drug trade. Lattimore wasn’t arrested, nor was she charged with a crime. “I’ve never been arrested before in my life,” she said. “I even could prove that it was my money, but that didn’t matter.”

Lattimore was a victim of a little-known tool called civil asset forfeiture, a process by which the government can seize money and forfeit it based on a very low standard of evidence. The presumption of innocence, a bedrock principle of the American legal system, and due process protections in the Ohio and U.S. constitutions, are thrown out the window. Cash or property subject to forfeiture is guilty until proven innocent by the property owner.

In Lattimore’s case, the seizing local law enforcement agency sought forfeiture of the cash in federal court, where, if successful, it would receive up to 80 percent of the proceeds from the Department of Justice’s Equitable Sharing Fund. State and local law enforcement in the Buckeye State has reaped a windfall from this program, taking in “more than $80 million from 2000 to 2008,” according to a 2010 report from the Institute for Justice.

Facing a lengthy process and mounting attorney’s fees, Lattimore settled. She received $11,000 of the cash back but pocketed only $8,000 after legal expenses.

Civil asset forfeiture has an interesting history in American law. In the early days of the republic, it was used in admiralty law to prevent smuggling and enforce tariff laws, from which the United States received a substantial portion of its revenues. Use of forfeiture was expanded in the early 20th century to enforce alcohol prohibition. In 1984, the Comprehensive Crime Control Act created the Department of Justice’s Assets Forfeiture Fund, and use of civil asset forfeiture subsequently exploded.

Ohio’s civil asset forfeiture laws aren’t much better. Like federal forfeiture laws, cash or property can be subject to forfeiture based on a very low standard of evidence and the burden of proof falls on the property owner. Law enforcement has an incentive to seize property because it can keep up to 100 percent of the proceeds.

Legislation has been introduced to fix forfeiture in Ohio. House Bill 347, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Robert McColley, would restore due process in the state’s civil asset forfeiture laws, requiring a criminal conviction – that is, proof beyond a reasonable doubt – before seized cash or property can be subject to forfeiture. The bill also addresses circumvention of protections for innocent property owners in state law by prohibiting forfeiture of seized cash or property through federal forfeiture law unless the value exceeds $50,000.

Original report here


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New police video prompts rebuke by Chicago mayor

There is no doubt that Chicago cops are a rough lot --  those they deal with are mainly a rough lot too -- but all cops should be given some latitude when dealing with the mentally ill, who can be both unpredictable and violent. Psychiatrists do many years of training to enter their profession.  Cops cannot be expected to live up to that level of understanding.   And in general an  uncompliant person may need heavy treatment to enforce compliance. Regrettably, many blacks are uncompliant.

The Chicago Police Department, facing almost daily protests and a newly announced Justice Department investigation, released footage Monday night showing a 38-year-old black man being shocked by a Taser and dragged down a hallway by officers in 2012.

The man, Philip Coleman, later died at a hospital. A county medical examiner noted trauma on Coleman’s body, but said his death had been caused by an allergic reaction to a medication given at the hospital. A lawyer for the Coleman family said he believed the repeated shocks contributed to Coleman’s death.

The officers’ treatment of Coleman, a college graduate whose family said he was having mental health problems, received a withering rebuke from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose handling of other police use-of-force cases has prompted calls for his resignation, and who has announced a series of policy changes and personnel moves in recent days as pressure mounted.

“I do not see how the manner in which Mr. Coleman was physically treated could possibly be acceptable,” Emanuel said in a statement released Monday night, along with the video. He added, “Something is wrong here — either the actions of the officers who dragged Coleman, or the policies of the department.”

Emanuel said he had not received a “sufficient answer” about how the officers treated Coleman, “and as a result I do not consider this case to be closed or the investigation into what happened that night to be over.”

The footage of Coleman joins a grim, growing collection of Chicago police videos released in recent weeks. The fallout from the videos has led to the departure of the police superintendent, the creation of a task force to study police accountability, the replacement of the head of the city’s Independent Police Review Authority, a federal investigation into Chicago police practices, and a series of protests that continued Monday evening.

Hours before the Coleman video was made public, prosecutors released footage of a Chicago officer fatally shooting Ronald Johnson, who was 25 and black, in the back in 2014. The police and prosecutors said Johnson was armed with a handgun, a claim disputed by family members. The officer who shot Johnson was not charged with a crime.

Also, on Nov. 24, on a judge’s order, city officials released video from a dashboard camera from 2014 that showed Officer Jason Van Dyke firing 16 shots at Laquan McDonald, who was 17 and black. Most of the shots were fired after the teenager, who was carrying a knife but veering away from officers, had fallen to the ground. Van Dyke told investigators he feared for his safety, but prosecutors charged him last month with first-degree murder.

Although the video releases in the Johnson and McDonald shootings had been widely anticipated here, Coleman’s case had played out with less media attention. But the manner in which the Coleman footage was released — at the end of a busy news day, and with detailed statements from Emanuel and John J. Escalante, the interim police superintendent — suggested that city leaders recognized the potential for intense scrutiny at a time when many protesters have accused the Chicago police of systemic mistreatment of black people.

Coleman was arrested on Dec. 12, 2012, after the police responded to a report that he had assaulted his mother. Coleman was held in a Chicago police lockup on the city’s Far South Side, where he is shown on surveillance video resting in a small cell with spartan furnishings.

At one point, six uniformed officers enter the cell, and Coleman sits up. He appears to speak for a minute or so with the police before the encounter becomes more tense. Several officers are shown physically restraining Coleman, and a Taser is deployed. An officer then drags Coleman out of the cell.

Coleman’s father, Percy, a longtime Illinois law enforcement official, said he believed that the officers involved in his son’s detention should be charged with crimes, and that the case was emblematic of broader racial disparities in Chicago policing.

“Somebody in this city needs to be responsible for killing my son, and the Chicago police are at the head of this table,” the elder Coleman said. “They broke every rule in the book.”

Police documents released with the video contend that Philip Coleman was combative in the cell and that he also fought with officers after being taken to a hospital, where an officer shocked him again with a Taser. The officer was in “fear of sustaining serious injury,” the documents said.

Original report here


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No charges for Chicago officer in 2014 shooting of black man

A Chicago police officer will face no state charges in the shooting death of a 25-year-old black man in 2014, a prosecutor said Monday, ending a case that had drawn new attention in the days since a murder charge was filed against the officer involved in another shooting.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said Officer George Hernandez would not be charged in the killing of Ronald Johnson.

The announcement followed several weeks of uproar over the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, whose 2014 death was captured on a police dashboard camera. Officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder in that shooting last month

Anger over delays in releasing the McDonald video has led to mounting pressure on the city of Chicago to reveal other police videos from other shootings, including the death of Johnson, who was shot and killed by the police in an unrelated episode eight days before the death of McDonald in 2014.

Facing mounting pressure over the matter, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced last week he would make the new video public, reversing the city’s earlier position, in which it fought the release in court filings.

The police say they were answering a report of gunshots fired on the city’s South Side when they came upon Johnson on Oct. 12, 2014. The police have said he ran when they approached him, and then pointed a gun in the direction of the officers who were pursuing him before they shot him.

But a lawyer for Johnson’s family, Michael Oppenheimer, says Johnson was running away from the officers and never pointed a gun at anyone before being shot; Oppenheimer says he believes that a gun recovered at the scene was planted by police.

Of the video’s expected release, Oppenheimer said last week that he was relieved that it would soon be made public, but he wondered aloud, “Who knows how many more of these there are out there?”

The city has said its long-standing policy has been to keep police dashboard-camera videos private as long as investigations into such shootings are ongoing. But a county judge last month ordered the city to release the McDonald video, and Emanuel has been under intense pressure to explain why the city waited 13 months after the shooting to reveal that video and what it will now do in other cases.

An autopsy showed that Johnson was hit by two bullets — one that entered the back section of his shoulder, then severed his jugular vein; the other struck the back of his leg.

Johnson’s family filed a suit in federal court last year alleging wrongful death and excessive force in the case. As part of that discovery for that suit, lawyers for Johnson’s family were provided a copy of the dashboard video but under a protective order that bars them from disseminating it.

In an effort to let the public view the video, Johnson’s family filed a public-records complaint against the Police Department, seeking to force it to be made public.

Original report here



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Unarmed man who lost quarter of his skull after being shot in the head by cop while he was out for a walk sues LAPD

An unarmed man who lost a quarter of his skull after being shot by a Los Angeles police officer notified the city and police department on Wednesday that he plans to sue, claiming the shooting was part of a broad, disturbing pattern in the police force of the nation's second-largest city.

Attorneys for Walter DeLeon, 49, filed the notice of claim in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The notice, a precursor to a lawsuit, accuses police Officer Cairo Palacios of shooting an unarmed DeLeon without warning on June 19 as he was on his regular evening walk to a popular park.

Palacios' attorney, Gary Fullerton, said the shooting was within departmental policy because Palacios was convinced that a towel wrapped around DeLeon's hand was hiding a gun and that he and his partner were in imminent danger. 'He basically forced their hand to deal with him,' Fullerton said.

'In the matter of a couple seconds they have to make a choice, and the choice is, 'Do I let him shoot me first and then fire?' or 'Do I shoot first and defend myself?''

Soon after DeLeon was shot, a police spokesman said Palacios and another officer were driving in stop-and-go traffic when they saw DeLeon walk aggressively toward them on a sidewalk.

Police Cmdr Andrew Smith, a department spokesman, said DeLeon's hands were clasped together and wrapped in a gray cloth, and that the officers believed he had a gun. Smith said DeLeon was shot after ignoring orders to drop the gun.

DeLeon's attorney, Ben Meiselas, said DeLeon had a towel wrapped around his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow on a hot summer day, and that DeLeon had been flagging down the officers for help, though he said his client can't remember why.  'The next thing he was shot, and the next thing he remembers is he was in the hospital,' Meiselas said.

'This is the most catastrophic of catastrophic injuries and it affects every aspect of life - physical, economic, family. It's a total destruction of self and self-worth, and the only way to rebuild is through this process we're initiating.'

DeLeon lost a quarter of his skull, almost all his eyesight and the ability to walk. He still has his memory and most cognitive functions but has trouble speaking.

He spent five months in the hospital, underwent 10 surgeries and is completely dependent on his family's care.  'My whole life was turned upside-down,' DeLeon told The Associated Press through tears.

His sister and primary caregiver, Yovanna DeLeon, said her brother has lost everything most people take for granted.  'We get up, we get ourselves dressed and ready to eat, we go about our day ... My brother will never be able to do that again,' she said.

'If this had been a normal citizen that had done this to Walter, that person would have never seen the light of day.'

The DeLeons are seeking unspecified damages.

They also want Palacios to face criminal charges and for the department to make changes to ensure no similar shootings ever happen again.

Palacios' attorney said he was still working at the department but is off the streets pending an internal investigation.

Original report here


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D.C. to pay Tennessee man $16.65 million over wrongful conviction



A man who spent 27 years behind bars for crimes he did not commit will receive $16.65 million from the District of Columbia as compensation for his wrongful imprisonment.

That’s about $617,000 for every year he spent in prison.

Donald Eugene Gates, now 64, was convicted in 1982 of the rape and first-degree murder of 21-year-old Georgetown University student Catherine Schilling.

Mr. Gates was exonerated in 2009 after DNA evidence revealed he was not connected to the crime, and a temporary janitor at the building where Schilling worked was behind the murder. The janitor died a year before he was identified.

In 2010, Gates’s lawyers filed a civil lawsuit against the city and police alleging police misconduct.

Gates, who now lives in Tennessee, has already received more than $1 million from the federal government for its role in his conviction. The settlement with the city brings his total compensation to $18 million, the Associated Press reports.

On Wednesday, a federal jury found that two D.C. homicide detectives fabricated at least part of a confession from an informant and withheld evidence that led to Gates’s wrongful conviction for the 1981 rape and murder, according to The Washington Post,.

As he left the courtroom, Gates told reporters: “It feels like the God of the King James Bible is real, and he answered my prayers. Justice is on the way to being fulfilled ... It’s one of the happiest days of my life.”

In the United States, laws governing compensation for wrongfully convicted people vary from state to state.

Only about one-third of the wrongfully convicted are compensated, according to estimates by the Innocence Project, a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals and reforming the criminal justice system.

While some states pay a fixed amount per year of imprisonment, at least 20 provide nothing.

 As The Christian Science Monitor previously reported,

    Presently 20 states in the US have no compensation law, which means exonerees receive no money or services. The 30 states that do have one offer reparations that vary from a flat maximum of $20,000 total in New Hampshire to $80,000 per year spent wrongfully imprisoned in Texas. In Illinois, the wrongfully convicted need to apply for a certificate of innocence and re-prove their case to get financially compensated and expunge their records.

    The Innocence Project reports that 72 percent of wrongful convictions involve eyewitness misidentification. Other notable contributors to wrongful convictions include improper forensics, false confessions, and informants who provide false information.

In 2013, the National Registry of Exonerations recorded a highest number of exonerations in the United States. The Registry recorded 87 known exonerations, a third of which were in cases which no crime in fact occurred.

Original report here


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Two corrupt British cops who stole at least £10,000 in cash during a raid on a suspected drug dealer are jailed for a total of four years





Two police officers were jailed for stealing bundles of banknotes worth at least £10,000 during a raid on a suspected drug dealer.

Former Detective Sergeant Stephen Phillips, 47, and Detective Constable Michael Stokes, 35, stole cash from the home - and more later during a formal cash count at their police station.

A court heard the student target of the raid was ordered to reveal the code to a safe hidden underneath his mother's bed holding the cash.  The officers then took a second safe to a locksmiths to pocket more of the money inside totalling £78,000.

The investigation into suspected drug dealer Jayden Luben, 32, was eventually called off - and he was given a cheque by Stokes which was meant to reflect the total amount of cash seized during the raid.  But Mr Luben said the cheque was £30,000 short of the £78,000 taken from the two safes.

A corruption investigation was launched into the South Wales Police officers involved in the raid.

Prosecutor Peter Griffiths QC said: 'There are a few bad apples in every organisation and this police force is sadly no exception.  'This a case of police corruption.'

Phillips, of Swansea, was jailed for two years for three counts of theft, while colleague Stokes, of nearby Glynneath, was also sentenced to two years for two counts of theft.

Judge Eleri Rees QC said both men had 'accumulated significant debts and had a gambling habit' when they staged the raid.  She said: 'The true purpose was to take money for yourself.  'You believed that this money was linked to drug dealing and that is was unlikely any complaint would be made or believed. You thought you could get away with it.

'You demonstrated a contempt for the laws you were meant to withhold.  'These offences represent a gross abuse of the trust placed in you as police officers.

'Such corrupt behaviour does untold damage to the public confidence in the police and tarnishes the reputation of the vast majority of officers who carry out their duties honestly and conscientiously.'

The thefts happened in 2011 after a tip-off led to police carrying out a search warrant on a home in Penderry Road, Swansea.

During the four-week trial at Cardiff Crown Court, Mr Luben denied it was drugs money.

The Swansea University law student told the court the cash was a combination of life savings, casino winnings and money from a sold car, but said he hadn't kept any receipts or records which could back his claims.  He was also unable to explain why a forensic test found extremely high traces of cocaine on the money.

Stokes had bragged to a colleague he'd taken £12,000 although he later claimed it was 'a practical joke.'

The jury also heard Phillips had been sacked in 2014 after stealing £250 from a fake crime scene set up by his force as an 'integrity test.'

It took the jury three days to reach guilty verdicts for both Phillips and Stokes.

Mr Luben claimed the officers had taken £30,000 but the judge agreed to accept it was £10,000 which was accepted by the prosecution.

A third man Detective Constable Phillip Christopher Evans, 38, from Llangennech, was cleared of two counts of theft.

After the case Gemma Vincent, Senior Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service Wales Complex Casework Unit, said: 'Michael Stokes and Stephen Phillips have been found guilty of serious offences, clearly breaching the trust placed in them as police officers serving the public.

'Both men failed in their duty to act diligently and professionally to protect the public and uphold the law.

'Today's convictions demonstrate that those who abuse their position as public servants and commit criminal offences will be prosecuted.'

Jon Stratford, Assistant Chief Constable of South Wales, said the convictions were the result of a thorough investigation. He went on to say that the police officers betrayed trust with their actions.

Original report here


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Bungling Britain again

The case against a man has been dropped after police lost vital video tapes showing him admitting assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

The man initially admitted the attack during a police interview and recordings of the conversation were due to be presented in court after he pleaded not guilty.

But the case was dropped after police admitted they had lost the video of the interview.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told the family it had 'no alternative' to drop the case because there was not 'a realistic prospect of conviction' without the tapes.

Nottinghamshire Police have now launched an investigation and promised to take 'robust' action.

The family of the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, yesterday spoke of their disgust at the mistake.

A spokesman for the family said: 'She is the child, she is the vulnerable one, the police should be looking after her.

'It is so unjust for the evidence to disappear.

'The police need to be accountable, even more so because this offence is against a young child.'

In the letter from the CPS, the family were told that the man, from Clifton, Nottingham, admitted in a police interview that he had assaulted the girl.

It added that the CPS had requested the video from Nottinghamshire Police, which would form part of the evidence for a trial due to take place this month.

The letter stated: 'Unfortunately, we have been told by the police that the master tape and the working copy of the tape are missing and that they are not able to locate them. 'Without this evidence, we are not able to prosecute the case.'

A CPS spokesman said: 'We can confirm we required tapes from the defendant's police interview to prove the case but were told by the officer in the case that they were not available. 'Without this material, there was insufficient evidence to proceed, so the case was stopped.'

A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said the decision to stop the case would form part of an investigation by the force's professional standards directorate.

He added: 'Our officers and staff are held to the highest standards of professionalism and if the investigation shows that we have fallen short of these standards, robust, appropriate action will be taken.

'We have apologised to the family for the distress this incident has caused and we would like to reassure the public that every precaution will be taken to ensure there is no repeat in the future.'

The force converted to a digital system just two months ago, which officers said would 'remove the reliance on physical media such as tapes and DVDs'. The move will also ensure all interviews are 'recorded in digital format and securely, centrally stored'.

Original report here


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At least TEN San Francisco cops use a volley of shots to kill lone black man armed with a knife

Ignoring police who are pointing a gun at you is so incredibly dumb that it is difficult to have sympathy with the guy.  Obviously very low IQ or as high as a kite

A black man was gunned down in the street by police after he was surrounded by officers in a San Francisco street.

Police Chief Gregory Suhr confirmed the man, who was holding a knife, was killed after the shooting in Bayview at around 5pm on Wednesday.

His description is said to have matched that of a suspected wanted for stabbing someone in a nearby street.

Now a graphic video, which has not yet been verified by police, has emerged on social media which shows a man as he is surrounded by around eight armed police officers.

Standing on the sidewalk with his back up against a wall, he suddenly appears to double over.

But the man, who appears to be dazed, stands up again and begins to shuffle away - while the cops have the guns raised and trained on him.

The camera then cuts away as a barrage of bullets are heard while people are heard screaming in the background.

Police blocked off the intersection of Third Street and Gilman Avenue in San Francisco and Muni trains were halted as they responded to the incident.

San Francisco Police Department Chief Suhr said officers fired beanbags at the man and used attempted other non-lethal force before they opened fire.

'It looks like an execution,' a local resident who told the San Francisco Police Commission, reported The Daily Beast. 'This is why we need the cameras and the video.'

Department of Public Health workers, who are typically sent out to assist families after a violent death, were at the scene in Bayview.

Original report here



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More brilliant British police work

Farmer spends £15,000 and 12 months trying to prove he actually owns four sheep after being arrested and accused of stealing them on national television

A farmer has spent £15,000 on legal costs in a year-long case to prove four sheep he was accused of stealing actually belong to him.

The case against Ross Hutchinson, who runs Bayles Farm in Egglestone, County Durham, was thrown out of Durham Crown Court last week after his defence team produced DNA evidence which confirmed the sheep were his own.

He was arrested in front of TV cameras filming BBC programme Countryside 999 last year, with his arrest aired on national television earlier this year.

Mr Hutchinson said: 'I have spent £15,000 on legal costs that I won't get back. 'It has been more than a year of my life.

'A lot of people won't speak to me now because they think I have stolen these sheep.

'Someone said to me in the pub they had seen me being arrested on the television.'

Mr Hutchinson's solicitor Simon Catterall, of Jacksons in Middlesbrough, said it was believed police were 'seriously distracted' by the filming for the television show at the time.

He said he believed police should have carried out the DNA tests before charging Mr Hutchinson.

Mr Catterall said: 'Certainly, if as much attention was given to the evidence as to the cameras the case would have folded a long time ago.

'The DNA testing proves that these sheep were Mr Hutchinson's all along. The case should never have reached court.'

The sheep had Mr Hutchinson's woolmarks on them, but he believes the ear tags had been swapped before he was accused of theft.

Mr Hutchinson said he is considering taking legal action against the police.

He has also lodged a formal complaint against Durham Police for the way they arrested his elderly father, pulling his car over in front of cameras in Barnard Castle, County Durham, before handcuffing him and taking him to Darlington police station, where he spent five hours.

He said: 'My father was driving back from shopping with my mother and just near Glaxo in Barnard Castle he was pulled over by two police vans, and four police officers, arrested and handcuffed in front of television crews.  'He spent five hours at the police station without his medication. He has a heart condition. 'It was disgraceful, over the top, and heavy handed.'

Mr Hutchinson's father was released after he explained his son ran the farm, which has been farmed by their family for more than 100 years.

He said: 'I think the police were more concerned about their TV career than their police work.

'They said someone had made an allegation against us. It wasn't until we got the DNA evidence, which proved I owned the stolen sheep, that it was over.'

At Durham Crown Court last week a formal not guilty verdict was recorded by the judge after the prosecution said they could offer no evidence, after defence solicitors produced the DNA data.

A spokeswoman for Durham Police could not comment on the sheep case yesterday, but said in relation to the complaint received about the treatment of Mr Hutchinson's father: 'We did receive a related complaint in September 2014 in relation to a sheep theft investigation.

'The complaint was resolved with words of advice given to the relevant members of staff.'

Original report here


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Deleted CCTV footage in Laquan McDonald case -- would you believe?

How crass can the Chicago cops get?

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has ousted the city's police chief after a public outcry over the handling of the case of Laquan McDonald who was shot 16 times by a white police officer.

Emanuel announced at a news conference Tuesday morning that he has dismissed Superintendent Garry McCarthy, who only days ago insisted to reporters that the mayor had his ‘back.’

Protesters have been calling for McCarthy's dismissal for days. He has been at the helm of the Chicago PD since May 2011.

The news comes less than 24 hours after never-before-seen screengrabs from inside a Chicago Burger King emerged showing what appears to be police officers at a computer terminal on the night of October 20, 2014, when McDonald was gunned down.

The manager of the fast-food restaurant on Pulaski Road has repeatedly claimed that Chicago police deleted 86 minutes of footage recorded by the Burger King's outside surveillance cameras in the aftermath of the teen's deadly shooting at the hands of white officer Jason Van Dyke.

Van Dyke, 37, was released from jail on Monday after posting bond on $1.5million bail.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has denied a cover-up, stating during a press conference last week that forensic testing showed the eatery's computer files had not been tampered with.

In grainy images obtained exclusively by NBC 5, at least one officer is seen at a computer in the back office of the Burger King on Pulaski Road.

The now-outgoing Police Superintendent McCarthy said there appeared to have been technical difficulties with the surveillance video, but there was no evidence of tampering.

Jay Darshane, a district manager at the Pulaski Road fast-foot restaurant, has described how several detectives burst into the eatery minutes after McDonald's shooting and demanded the password to access the surveillance footage.

While the restaurant's cameras would not have captured the shooting, two cameras pointed toward the parking lot and drive-through lane may have captured McDonald's movements in the critical moments before Van Dyke opened fire, according to lawyers for the McDonald's family.

Darshane said that on the night of the shooting police officers and a member of the department's technical support team handled the footage.

About three hours later, 86 minutes of footage recorded from 9:13 to 10:39 p.m. had been wiped from their computer, NBC 5 reported.

The shooting unfolded on October 20 at around 9:50 p.m. fewer than 100 yards from the Burger King located at 40th street and Pulaski road.

Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times - most of the shooting occurred when the teenager was lying on the ground.

Darshane first made the allegations about the police tampering with evidence while testifying before a grand jury in May of this year. He decided not to go public immediately.

Darshane told NBC 5 that both the cameras and video recorder were working properly on the night of the shooting. One of the detectives, he believes, deleted the files.

'We had no idea they were going to sit there and delete files,' Darshane said. 'I mean we were just trying to help the police officers.'

However, his claims have been dismissed by Superintendent McCarthy and state attorney Alvarez.

They both assert that there is no evidence to suggest that the missing footage was a result of tampering as there may have been technical difficulties.

'We have looked at those videos and ... it doesn't appear that it's been tampered with,' Alvarez told reporters.

At a news conference at Police Headquarters hours later McCarthy called the allegations that officers had deleted the video 'absolutely untrue.'

'In no way, shape or form is there any evidence that anything was tampered with,' he added on Tuesday.

In the wake of the release of police dashcam footage showing the teenager's death at the hands of Van Dyke who unloaded a magazine into his body, a series of protests gripped Chicago.

In a demonstration on Monday, the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Cornell William Brooks, was one of several protesters arrested, the organization said.

Original report here


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Amid unrest, US will investigate Minn. killing

MINNEAPOLIS — Justice Department attorneys opened an investigation Sunday into the killing of a black man that has prompted protests and calls for the two Minneapolis police officers involved in the shooting to be prosecuted.

A key issue during their visit will be whether authorities should release to the public videos of the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark a week ago.

Federal and state authorities have resisted releasing the footage — from an ambulance, mobile police camera, public housing cameras, and people’s cellphones — because they said it doesn’t show the full incident and making the recordings public would compromise their investigations.

The head of the Minneapolis police union has said Clark was shot after reaching for an officer’s gun. Protesters have said they don’t believe that version of events.

Governor Mark Dayton said Saturday that he had asked Clark’s family and representatives of the Black Lives Matter group protesting his death to meet with the federal government lawyers.

“I will urge that the tapes be provided to the family and released to the public, as soon as doing so will not jeopardize the Department of Justice’s investigation,” Dayton said after meeting with the family and leaders of the protesters.

Clark’s funeral will be held Wednesday at Shiloh Temple International Ministries in north Minneapolis, said his cousin, Kenya McKnight. A visitation will be held at the church before the funeral, and both will be open to the public, McKnight said.

    ‘I will urge that the tapes be provided to the family and released to the public, as soon as doing so will not jeopardize the . . . investigation.’

McKnight added that Clark’s family hopes there are no rallies on the day of the funeral. She said the family “does not want it to be political.”

Dozens of demonstrators huddled around bonfires early Sunday in frigid temperatures at an encampment outside a Minneapolis police station and said they will not disband until their demands are met.

Minneapolis civil rights activist Mel Reeves said the primary goal of the protests is to see the officers involved in the death of Clark prosecuted based on statements of people who say they saw the shooting. He said the officers should face charges and “go through the same procedures that we do. We think they’re guilty, but let the court decide.”

Both officers involved in the shooting, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, have been placed on standard administrative leave.

Police have said the officers were responding to an assault call and found the 24-year-old Clark interfering with paramedics. Authorities say there was a struggle.

Some witnesses say they saw him handcuffed at the time of the shooting, a claim police have disputed.

In Cleveland on Sunday, family members of a 12-year-old black boy who was carrying a pellet gun when he was shot and killed by a white police officer gathered for a vigil a year after his death.

People prayed and observed a moment of silence at the Cudell Recreation Center area where Tamir Rice was shot a year ago. Some 60 people, including his mother and sister, took part in a commemoration there Saturday.

A grand jury is hearing testimony about the shooting. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty says he hasn’t reached any conclusions about charges.

Representative Marcia Fudge says the community awaits answers. The Cleveland Democrat issued a statement Sunday saying the case has taken “far too long.”

In a separate development, police in Chicago are under court order to release by Wednesday a police video of the fatal shooting of a black 17-year-old by a white police officer there.

According to a few people who have viewed it, the video shows Laquan McDonald being struck by 16 bullets, some of them hitting him even after his body had fallen to the ground along a street on this city’s southwest side in October 2014. Some of the bullets, an autopsy shows, entered the back of his body.

A lawyer for McDonald’s family said the video showed him moving away from Officer Jason Van Dyke, the police officer who fired all of the shots, while at least five other officers never fired their weapons.

Dan Herbert, a lawyer for Van Dyke, said his client believed the shooting was justified because he feared for the safety of himself and his colleagues.

McDonald had a knife, the authorities say, and earlier punctured a squad car’s tire with it and refused to drop it.

The officers were approaching him, officials said, after the police got a report that a man with a knife was trying to break into vehicles in a trucking yard.

Van Dyke is on administrative duty pending an inquiry by a team that includes the FBI, the US attorney’s office in Chicago, and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Original report here


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