A case study in local news futility

A Pennsylvania TV station utterly botches an important story about police officers and transparency

The Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism recently surveyed 490 hours of local news reports in the Los Angeles area and found what most people who watch local news probably already knew: It's dreadful. The survey found that the average amount of time devoted to actual local news was less than the time given to commercials. The most covered local news topic was crime, but as local news consumers are all too aware, coverage of crime at the local level (or for that matter, at the national level) tends to be sensationalist, honing in on single-incident, high-profile crimes rather than providing any serious coverage of broader criminal justice policy.

I've been writing about the criminal justice system for several years now, and I have repeatedly seen local news reports butcher the particular topics or specific incidents in which I have some expertise (here's one example; here's another). It's downright frightening to imagine just how much bad information local newscasts probably deliver on other topics from night to night, particulalry given that local TV is the primary source of news for most Americans.

To illustrate, consider the report below from WJET, the ABC affiliate in Erie, Pennsylvania. The segment looks at the legal debate over citizens recording on-duty police officers, a topic I've covered in depth over the last few months. The report was captured by a local police watchdog group and posted to YouTube.

Here's what the report gets right: There have been some stories in the news of late about people getting arrested for recording police officers in public. Here's what the report gets wrong: almost everything else.

The impetus for this story likely came from an article by Wendy McElroy called "Are Cameras the New Guns?" which was picked up by Gizmodo a couple weeks before the WJET story ran, then went viral. But if all you knew about the debate over the legality of recording on-duty cops came from the WJET report, you'd be completely misinformed about what's actually going on.

The anchor kicks off the parade of errors in his lead-in, stating that "a new law gaining ground in about a dozen states" could make shooting video of on-duty police officers illegal.

Almost nothing in that statement is true. There is no trendy law sweeping state legislatures that makes it illegal to record police. In fact, no state legislature has expressly made recording cops illegal in more than a decade. The "dozen states" part likely comes from a line in McElroy's column noting that there are "12 states in which all parties must consent for a recording to be legal." That is true. But these laws aren't new, and they aren't "gaining ground." Most are decades-old wiretapping laws, some dating back to the 1960s. Nine of the 12 all-party consent states have a provision which says that in order for there to be a violation of the law, the offended party must have had a reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to the recorded conversation.

To date, both state and federal courts have ruled that on-duty police officers have no expectation of privacy while they are in public. That means that in those nine states with the privacy provision, it is legal to record cops in public. It's also legal to record them in the 38 states that only require one party to a conversation to consent for the conversation to be legally recorded. This doesn't mean that people aren't being arrested for recording cops, it means that many of those arrests are illegal.

The anchor then throws the story to reporter John Treanor, who begins with more misinformation:"Three states have already adopted what's called a consent law that would mean no citizen could shoot video of a police officer in public without their consent, but it's a law that's causing plenty of controversy.

Treanor again makes it sound like these laws are new. They aren't. None of the three states to which he's referring—Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland—have passed any recent law on the legality of recording police. The last significant policy change in Massachusetts came in 2001, when the state's highest court upheld the conviction of a man who was charged under the state's wiretapping statute. Massachusetts and Illinois are the only two states whose wiretapping laws are both all-party consent and contain no expectation of privacy provision.

The Illinois legislature did pass a law removing the privacy provision, and did so in response to that state's Supreme Court finding, as other courts have, that police officers in public have no expectation of privacy. In other words, the state legislature took action for the specific purpose of making it illegal to record cops in public. But one state doesn't make a trend. And that revision occurred in 1994.

The only state where there's been recent action is Maryland, and even there the action hasn't come from the legislature. Maryland has a privacy exemption, but the state's police organizations and some of its prosecutors have decided to interpret it in a rather absurd way. Under their reading of the law, when on-duty police officers interact with the public, the cops retain privacy rights with respect to those interactions. But the citizens they're interacting with—be it during a traffic stop, an arrest, or some sort of questioning—retain no such rights. This bizarre new interpretation of state law seems to be in response to a high-profile incident last February where several cell phone cameras recorded Maryland police beating a student in College Park. Those recordings contradicted accounts of the incident filed in police reports.

More here. Video at source



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Mother who refused to allow son to visit serial rapist dad is finally freed from NY jail after 19 days

Prisoners rights? A nasty judge jailed a mother for trying to keep her child away from an extremely bad influence!!



The Brooklyn mom jailed at Rikers Island for refusing to let her 9-year-old son visit his father - a serial rapist imprisoned in Arizona - was finally freed Tuesday night after 19 days of confinement.

Her first thought was of her children. "I'm going to hug and kiss them," said Sukhwant Herb, as she emerged from Brooklyn Supreme Court - still wearing black prison sneakers. "I miss them so much and I'm so happy to be out. I wouldn't wish this on anybody."

But in this bizarre case, Herb, 29, was kept prisoner for 25 hours after Brooklyn Family Court Judge Robin Sheares issued the original order for her release Monday evening, after the Daily News reported her plight Sunday.

Sheares was the judge who tossed Herb in jail in the first place, handing down a 50-day minimum sentence on June 10 after Herb defied an order to allow Seon Jr. to visit his his dad in prison.

The release paperwork was not sent to Rikers Island until yesterday morning. So Herb remained a prisoner throughout yesterday - first at Rikers, and then in a holding pen at Brooklyn Supreme Court - until Sheares called a hearing at 5:10 p.m.

Herb sat in the courtroom, stone-faced, during the brief procedure, in which she was released into her lawyer's custody and ordered to return to court July 29.

Sheares tossed Herb into jail after she violated the order - having a change of heart after originally agreeing to it - without offering bail consideration. The judge's move, and comments in court, sparked outrage in the city's legal community, especially since Herb was not charged with a crime and has no criminal record. Tuesday night, Herb's lawyer Dale Frederick said he will demand Sheares be removed for the the case.

Seon Jonas, 31, the father of Herb's son, was convicted in 2003 of raping three women in Phoenix. He obtained the visitation order last year.

Original report here. (Via POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)



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Coverup busted: Australian police thugs run riot with Tasers

It would not have been nearly as bad if they had come clean about the abuses as they happened. Instead the abuses continued unchecked

A 12-MONTH trial of police Tasers, which was used to justify arming every frontline officer in the state with the controversial weapon, was characterised by a litany of misuses and abuses that were covered up by police and the government.

The proof comes in internal police documents relating to the trial in 2008-09, which the Herald obtained after a year-long freedom-of-information battle.

The documents reveal that police and the government used the trial as window dressing to affirm a decision they had already made - to give the weapon to all general duties police - and ignored worrying results. The many abuses the Herald uncovered include:

* Stunning a handcuffed child at a juvenile detention centre.

* Stunning two suicidal people covered in fuel, which can be ignited by a Taser blast.

* The repeated stunning of a compliant man who presented no threat and was surrounded by members of the riot squad. This is being investigated by the Ombudsman and police.

The secretary of the National Council for Civil Liberties, Cameron Murphy, said: "It's outrageous that they've used the weapon this way, and it's even more outrageous that they haven't told us about it.

"They've been at best disingenuous, at worst they actively misled people about the trial."

The Taser was introduced in NSW in 2001 but was used only about 50 times by two specialist units until the start of the trial when sergeants and inspectors at each of the 80 police commands were given access. Today 8000 police officers are trained to use the weapon. Since its introduction, 26 officers have been disciplined for not following police operating procedures, and the NSW Ombudsman has had 14 complaints.

Police promised stringent oversight during the trial, including the use of a video camera attached to the weapon and a review of each use by the Deputy Commissioner, Dave Owens.

Even before the trial had ended the then premier, Nathan Rees, said it had been successful and all general duties police would be trained to use the weapon. In fact, the trial highlighted problems that critics had been warning of for years.

There were cases of people being hit by a Taser as many as six times, and others where police appeared to use the weapon to make argumentative but non-threatening people comply with directions.

In one case a sergeant drew his Taser when he encountered two young men spray painting. He drew the weapon, he later said, because one of the vandals was carrying an extendable paint roller and he was "unsure what their reaction would be to his presence". He did not fire the weapon.

A mother was accidentally hit when police fired at her son in one incident and a police officer was accidentally stunned in another.

Police also pointed Tasers at groups of people, including protesters inside the Villawood Detention Centre, despite Tasers being acknowledged as an "inappropriate" weapon for use against crowds.

Police also appeared habitually to misuse the weapon in its "drive-stun" mode, in which the Taser is held against the target's body and causes pain without incapacitation. According to the Australian distributor, that mode is designed to be used only when the initial discharge fails. But the trial showed numerous examples of police using only drive-stun mode to gain compliance.

Police do not believe these incidents indicated a troubled trial. Alan Clarke, an Assistant Police Commissioner involved in it, said: "I believe the overwhelming evidence is that Taser are being used appropriately by NSW Police." The trial showed numerous examples of the weapon's usefulness.

Original report here. (Via Australian Politics)



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Australia: No punishment for violent African gang?

Members of group that bashed man to partial blindness all avoid prison. Would whites have got off so lightly? What message does this send to other violent African gangs?

A GANG of youths whose bashing of an Indian man blinded him in one eye have all avoided jail. Majang Ngor, 20, the last of the gang to face court, was yesterday given an eight-month suspended jail term for the unprovoked attack on Kanan Kharbanda.

Prosecutors had wanted him jailed for four years. But Judge Susan Cohen said this would be unjust, given the penalties imposed on gang members who were more culpable. Ngor hadn't been an instigator or a ringleader.

At least three other youths - who can't be named because of their age - were given nine-month youth supervision orders in the Children's Court. The Director of Public Prosecutions is appealing against those sentences.

Ngor pleaded guilty in the County Court to recklessly causing serious injury, intentionally causing injury, robbery, and attempted robbery over the March 2008 bashing.

Mr Kharbanda, an accounting student, had been walking a friend to Sunshine station. One of Ngor's group demanded a dollar before hitting Mr Kharbanda in the face. Others joined in, kicking and punching; his friend was also hit and kicked to the ground. Mr Kharbanda suffered a fractured eye socket and broken nose. He has lost the sight in his right eye.

Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara said it was beyond belief that the youths had been let off "scot free". "It's disgraceful. The Indian community has the right - all citizens have the right - to be up in arms about it," he said.

Ngor told police they'd been drinking at a party and one of the group had suggested they go "hustling". He admitted joining the pack, but denied striking either victim.

Judge Cohen said the Sudanese refugee had since worked hard to reform himself. To his credit he'd finished year 12, got a stable job, and had stopped binge-drinking.

She said he hadn't caused the worst injuries, but had helped those who did. Violence at railway stations was of major public concern, but the matter was "less serious" than if weapons had been used.

The judge suspended the jail term for 15 months and ordered Ngor to do 40 hours of community work, saying the greatest public benefit would come from his rehabilitation.

Shadow attorney-general Robert Clark said it was extraordinary that none would spend time behind bars and said it is weak sentencing laws that allowed the gang members to walk free. "The victim of this crime will suffer a lifetime sentence with his injuries while the offenders are being let off with just a few hours of community service," he said.

"Imposing suspended sentences does nothing to build respect for the law, yet under John Brumby's weak sentencing laws vicious crimes like this bashing will continue to qualify for suspended sentences. "In contrast, a Baillieu Government will abolish suspended sentences for all crimes so that jail will mean jail," he said.

Original report here. (Via Australian Politics)



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Canada: Possible wrongful conviction in 15-year-old sexual assault case; Ontario Court of Appeal orders new trial

The Ontario Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial for a 65-year-old man who may have been wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting a mentally disabled woman more than 20 years ago.

“I am back to square one as an innocent man. I like my chances. I still have faith in the justice system,” said Jack White, after Justice Marc Rosenberg stated that fresh evidence suggested a “miscarriage of justice” in the case.

Mr. White was convicted by a jury in Barrie in 1995 of sexually assaulting a resident six years earlier at the Huronia Regional Centre for mentally disabled adults and children, where he was a counselor.

He was accused of fondling the woman’s breasts and making inappropriate comments.

The key Crown witness was a co-worker who did not come forward to speak to the authorities until four years after the alleged incident. The jury never heard that the co-worker had a grudge against Mr. White, because of a report he helped write that was critical of the conduct of some the employees at the facility.

Mr. White received a suspended sentence and has since obtained a pardon. But he lost the job he worked at for more two decades and has fought for 15 years to clear his name.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled last fall that the Court of Appeal should take another look at the case. The Crown conceded on Wednesday that the conviction should be overturned and Mr. White deserved a new trial. One of the grounds of appeal was the incompetence of his lawyer at trial (who has since passed away).

“There was no sexual assault. I did my job professionally. The jury did not hear the whole case,” said Mr. White outside court.

The Orillia resident works as a janitor at a local mall and is a coach for a midget-aged boys baseball team, at the request of parents of the players. Even though is retired from his former profession, he wants to be re-instated to be permitted to work with disabled adults and children, for symbolic reasons.

The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted took up his case and lawyer James Lockyer said he hopes the Crown moves quickly to decide whether or not to go ahead with a second trial.

“I hope they will make the decision in weeks, rather than months. This case has ruined Jack’s life,” said Mr. Lockyer.

Mr. White began working at the Huronia Regional Centre in 1970, the same facility where he spent several years as a resident after he was apprehended by children’s aid as a boy. He was employed at the facility for 23 years, until the co-worker made the allegation involving the female resident.

While it was not part of the “fresh evidence” motion before the Court of Appeal, it is likely the Crown engaged in secret background checks of potential jurors to gain an advantage at the trial of Mr. White.

The improper jury vetting in Barrie, first disclosed last year by the National Post, dates back at least 20 years. An internal memo issued by the head Crown in Barrie in 1996, one year after the trial of Mr. White, complained that there was not enough information available about potential jurors, for police to do more thorough background checks.

Original report here



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Chicago man sues Daley, Burge for wrongful conviction

A man who spent more than two decades in prison after police allegedly used torture to extract a false confession has sued former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge, his detectives and Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Ronald Kitchen insisted on Thursday that his lawsuit is "not about the money." "It's about making those who were supervising and overseeing the city of Chicago take notice," Kitchen said, a day after his suit was filed in federal court.

Kitchen was exonerated last year after spending 21 years in prison — 13 of them on death row — for the 1988 slaying of two women and three children inside their South Side bungalow.

While he was in prison his brother and other relatives died, his son grew up without a father and his mother, his greatest champion, developed dementia and does not even understand her son is now free, Kitchen said. "She was my sole fighter," Kitchen said. "When I go down to Alabama to see my mother, she don't even know I'm there. That's another blow."

According to the lawsuit, Kitchen was arrested on a false tip from a jailhouse informant, then spent 16 hours at Area 3 police headquarters. He was deprived of food and sleep while detectives beat him with their fists, a phone book, a telephone receiver and struck him in the genitals with a nightstick. He was injured badly enough to require medical treatment, the suit states.

The lawsuit accuses Daley, both when he was Cook County state's attorney and as mayor, of participating in a conspiracy to cover up torture. The suit claims Daley had ample evidence that Burge and others were using torture to obtain confessions but did nothing to prosecute the officers and belittled reports that found abuse had occurred.

Further, it alleges that Daley approved the decision to seek the death penalty against Kitchen and others, despite widespread allegations that Burge and his so-called "Midnight Crew" acted illegally.

The city's Law Department has not reviewed the lawsuit and had no comment on specific allegations, department spokesman Jennifer Hoyle said.

"However, to the extent that there are any claims against Mayor Daley, it is important to note that Jon Burge was an employee in good standing at the Chicago Police Department under previous mayoral administrations, and was fired during Mayor Daley's tenure," Hoyle said. "We strongly dispute any allegation that the mayor was involved in a conspiracy."

On Monday, Burge was convicted by a federal jury of perjury and obstruction for lying in written statements, taken in an earlier lawsuit, in which he denied knowing about or using torture to force confessions from suspects.

Burge also is a defendant in two other pending federal lawsuits filed by James Andrews and Darrell Cannon, who both allege they were tortured while under Burge's control.

To date, the city has spent more than $10 million in legal fees defending Burge and other detectives in civil court, and has paid out more than $21 million in settlements to alleged victims of torture.

Original report here



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Payout of $23m for Jaycee Dugard after she was held captive as a sex slave for 18 years

Parole supervision everywhere seems pretty sleepy so this might ginger some parole services up a bit

CALIFORNIA lawmakers have approved a $US20 million settlement with the family of Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped as a girl and held captive in a secret backyard for 18 years by a paroled sex offender. Ms Dugard, 30, resurfaced in August 2009 with two daughters she bore with Phillip Garrido, a convicted rapist.

Ms Dugard, her mother and daughters filed claims in February saying state officials with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed to do their jobs. Parole agents began supervising Garrido in 1999, but failed to discover Ms Dugard.

The Dugard family members claimed psychological, physical and emotional damages. "I can't emphasise enough that we've got to be much more prudent in terms of how we provide oversight for released prisoners in the state of California," Assemblyman Ted Gaines said.

Lawyers for the Dugards did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

Garrido and his wife, Nancy, have pleaded not guilty to charges that they kidnapped and raped the young woman. Ms Dugard and her children were hidden at the Garrido home in the eastern San Francisco Bay area city of Antioch, authorities said.

"Jaycee and her children, now 13 and 16, are now living in seclusion and will need many years of therapy, education and health care," Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes said.

Original report here



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How lazy British police allowed a serial sex attacker to roam free for four years and attack up to 100 women

Three bungling police officers are facing the sack after allowing a sex predator to roam free, attacking dozens of women four years after he was named as a suspect. Kirk Reid, who sexually assaulted up to 100 women between 2001 and 2008, could have been caught as early as December 2002, but investigating sex attacks was not a priority for officers who were busy chasing burglary and street crime targets.

In a 'shameful chapter in the history of the Metropolitan Police Service', officers missed three opportunities to arrest the sex attacker between 2002 and 2004, the police watchdog said today.

The 45-year-old chef and children's football coach pounced on at least 30 women in the time between police quizzing him after he was spotted following a woman in December 2002 and his eventual arrest in February 2008.

Today one of his victims told of her shock after a damning report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission revealed a catalogue of blunders. Candice Marsh, now 30, was attacked by the football coach in December 2001. Then 22, she was on her way home from a Christmas party when she was suddenly grabbed from behind, shoved to the ground and molested by powerful 6ft athlete.

His DNA was recovered from underneath her fingernails after she managed to fight him off. But police failed to get a DNA sample from Reid until 2008- despite him being named as a suspect four years earlier.

Waiving her right to anonymity, Miss Marsh said: "When I heard about all the other women who were attacked I was shocked. 'I don't understand how the police missed him. 'If there really were opportunities that they could have caught him, it's shocking they didn't. 'There were so many chances. It is so sad for those women who were attacked that could have been prevented - it didn't have to happen to them.'

At the time police were convinced another man was responsible for the string of attacks on women walking home after getting off night buses in Balham and Tooting in south west London - even though his DNA did not match samples taken. When a member of the public reported Reid stalking a lone female in December 2002, police stopped him but failed to take his DNA.

In January 2004, police received a report of a man assaulting a woman in a car owned by Reid, but again no action was taken.

Weeks later Reid was seen in his car by a female PC tooting his horn at a lone woman in the same area. The PC told her superiors that Reid lived close to the scene of the attacks, he matched the witnesses' description and he had been accused of indecent assault in 1996, of which he was later acquitted.

Reid was named as a suspect in March 2004 and surveillance on his home was ordered. But due to technical problems with a camera recording his movements, only seven days of filming was carried out before surveillance was dropped due to 'holiday commitments' and Reid was dismissed as a suspect.

In 2005 a superintendent cleared a file on suspects in the case off his desk, telling a junior officer he did not want to see them.

It wasn't until a second police team was called in to review the evidence in 2008 that they solved the case - in just three days. Reid was later jailed for life last year for 27 assaults.

Three senior officers at Scotland Yard face a disciplinary hearing after failing to prioritise the case of serial sex attacker Kirk Reid in a six-year investigation. Toay IPCC Commissioner Deborah Glass said: 'The failure to take a serial sex offender off the streets of London years earlier is a shameful chapter in the history of the Metropolitan Police Service.

'When considered alongside the failings in the case of John Worboys, their overall effect on the confidence of the victims of sexual offences in the police response cannot be overstated. 'The lack of resources allocated to the investigation, pressure in relation to performance and targets, and the constant change of heads of department undoubtedly did not help. 'But in my view none of these factors provides real mitigation for the sustained failure by senior supervisory officers to give this investigation the priority it required and to get a grip on what was plainly a long-standing pattern of terrifying offences committed within a single borough.'

A superintendent and two inspectors will now face a full misconduct hearing. Another superintendent and a sergeant have been issued with verbal reprimands.

The litany of errors comes after the Met was also heavily criticised over the 'shambolic' investigation of black cab rapist John Worboys who could have been caught five years earlier.

Today Scotland Yard apologised to Reid's victims and said it had overhauled sex offences investigations. Commander Maxine de Brunner said: 'We are deeply sorry for the harm suffered by all of his victims and for failing to bring Reid to justice earlier.

'The IPCC report acknowledges the significant amount of work which has already been carried out by the MPS in the way we deal with victims of rape and sexual assault, in response to the Worboys and Reid cases.'

Original report here



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They finally get brute Burge for something

Decades after torture allegations were first leveled against former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge's "Midnight Crew," a federal jury convicted him Monday on all three counts of obstruction of justice and perjury for lying about the torture in a civil lawsuit.

Burge showed no reaction as the verdict was read, but moments after jurors strode from the courtroom for the last time, he talked and laughed with his lawyers.

Under federal criminal statutes, Burge faces up to 45 years in prison, but in reality his punishment will be far less severe. His attorneys said, in fact, that they will seek probation for Burge, who is 62 and said to have prostate cancer.

For years it looked as if Burge would escape criminal charges altogether. He was fired from the Police Department in 1993 for torturing a cop killer, but a four-year investigation by special Cook County prosecutors concluded in 2006 that the statute of limitations on the claims of abuse had long passed. It wasn't until 2008 that federal prosecutors figured out a clever way to indict him — not for the tortures themselves, but lying about them.

After Monday's verdict, jurors said five ex-cons who alleged torture by Burge or detectives under him — the so-called Midnight Crew — were taken with a grain of salt because of their lengthy criminal records, but that a cop who worked for Burge was a key witness for the prosecution even though he backtracked from his grand-jury testimony. And some jurors took note of the fact that Burge had named his boat "Vigilante," a point driven home by the prosecution during its cross-examination of Burge on the witness stand. Burge claimed he picked the name off a computer-generated list because it was unique.

But jurors acknowledged the deliberations were complicated by the fact that a cop was on trial in this upside-down case. Though Burge wasn't directly charged with torture, prosecutors had to prove those allegations to substantiate the charges of obstruction of justice and perjury.

The torture scandal sent innocent men to prison, tarnished the reputations of the Police Department and the Cook County state's attorney's office and led to blanket commutations that emptied the state's death row as well as repeated lawsuits that drained millions in taxpayer dollars from the city.

"This is a really significant moment in this ongoing drama," said attorney Locke Bowman, who has represented a number of Burge's alleged victims in their efforts to gain new trials over allegations that their confessions were coerced. "We now have confirmation of what has been well-known for decades," he said.

"I hope the U.S. government will take swift action to charge the other detectives … who were implicated in so many of these cases," he said

Prosecutors have signaled that they are investigating a number of detectives who worked for Burge. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has previously warned that police detectives relying on a code of silence to protect them may be "hanging on air," and he reaffirmed Monday that prosecutors are continuing their probe.

"I'm not going to comment on any other persons in this case at this time," he said. "The investigation is moving forward."

Fitzgerald, who was in the courtroom for the verdict, said the outcome provided at least a measure of justice for Burge's victims. "It's sad that it took so long, but it would be horrible if it was never addressed," he told reporters.

In closing arguments to jurors last week, Burge's lawyers questioned how the testimony of convicted murderers, gang members and armed robbers could be believed over the word of a Chicago cop.

But the accounts of victims Anthony Holmes, Melvin Jones, Gregory Banks, Shadeed Mu'min and Andrew Wilson were bolstered by testimony from doctors, nurses, attorneys and former Area 2 detective Michael McDermott, who was forced to testify against his old boss in exchange for immunity.

Still, the testimony of the victims was shocking. One said Burge smothered him with a bag and shocked him with an electrical device in 1973. Another said that nine years later Burge shocked him in the genitals. Another said Burge played Russian roulette with a .44-caliber gun and smothered him with a plastic bag. All said they feared for their lives and confessed to murders and other crimes.

Testifying in his own defense, Burge offered denial after denial of torture. The defense alleged that the accusers had cooked up the abuse stories after meeting in jail as a way to exact revenge, help them beat their criminal cases and make money through lawsuits.

Outside the courthouse, a small crowd of activists marched in a loose circle, partly in celebration, partly to demand that Mayor Richard M. Daley — who was the state's attorney when much of the abuse occurred — be held accountable for doing nothing to stop Burge.

Original report here



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Business as usual for Las Vegas police

Sequioa Pearce was made to kneel before the Las Vegas police officers who held her at gunpoint in her bedroom Friday night, June 11, and watch them shoot her unarmed fiance in the head.

The 20-year-old, who was nine months pregnant, could see Trevon Cole reflected in the mirror from the bathroom, where he, too, was being held at gunpoint as officers told him to get on the floor. He met her gaze in the mirror. She watched him put his hands up. "All right, all right," he told the cops, according to Pearce.

Then she heard the shot. Officers rushed her out of the apartment. Trevon Cole, 21, employed as an insurance adjustor while working on a political science degree at UNLV, died minutes later.

Officers were serving a pot warrant on the apartment near Bonanza Road and Eastern Avenue. The warrant was based on Cole having made three marijuana sales to undercover police.

The shooting poses a small problem for police. Pearce, who survives, says police were upset they could find no drugs in the apartment that night, that Cole was unarmed, that he put up no resistance, that he owned no firearms.

Of course, any old bag of pot from the evidence locker can be presented at the coroner's inquest. No attorney for Cole's family will be allowed to ask any questions.

How to explain the gun going off, though? The shooter, officer Bryan Yant -- who has now been involved in three shootings, two of them fatal -- says Cole made a "furtive movement."

Ah, yes. Was it in the third or the fourth day at the police academy that they covered what to do when you've just accidentally shot an unarmed suspect in the head?

As we've seen in the deaths of Henry Rowe, John Perrin and Orlando Barlow, there's a standard prescription. First: Pray to heaven it was a homeless guy or a Negro; those cases are always found to be "justified." Second: Check to see if anyone remembered to bring the "drop bag" of drugs. But third and most of important of all: Memorize this phrase: "He made a furtive movement toward his waistband."

Now, if only they could show Trevon Cole owned a gun. No one on the coroner's jury would care where they found the gun, as long as they could show he or the girlfriend had one. After all, the coroner's jurors are led through their paces by prosecutors who don't have to worry about any pesky cross-examination, like pet rabbits dressed up by little children and walked through a tea party in the doll house.

Ten days after they killed Trevon Cole, police were at another apartment complex in historically black West Las Vegas, near Owens Avenue and H Street. A patrol officer "heard shots fired" and "saw movement at an open upstairs window" in one of the apartments there, said a Las Vegas police spokesman. Concluding that was where the shots came from, he called for backup. Officers then approached the home with a bullhorn, demanding that anyone inside come out.

The only person home was Shannon Sutton, the 18-year-old brother of ... Sequioa Pearce! This was the apartment of Sequioa Pearce's mother, where the young mother had gone to stay after Yant killed her fiance. What a coincidence!

Police said they entered the home immediately to check whether anyone inside was in danger. Officers handcuffed Sutton and sat him in the back of a police car on a charge of obstructing a police officer because he would not immediately identify himself. The rest of the family, including Ms. Pearce and her week-old daughter, returned home in time to see the incident unfold.

A Metro spokesman said officers did not need a warrant to check the home to see whether anyone inside was hurt, but they did need a warrant or written consent from a resident to search for guns or ammunition.

So, Trenia Cole -- Sequioa Pearce's mother but otherwise no relation to Trevon Cole -- said officers demanded she sign a written consent form in exchange for a promise not to transport her son to jail. Trenia Cole signed the card, asking only "that you don't tear up my house," which, of course, they did. No firerarm was found. Awww.

It doesn't matter whether this kind of police behavior is "not uncommon" -- it's illegal, and it's fair to wonder why cops expect us to respect the law when their own attitude is, "Screw the law, do whatever's most expedient."

Either they had a suspect who deserved to go to jail, and they let him loose in order to extort the waiver of Mrs. Cole's Fourth Amendment rights, or else they threatened to haul an innocent young man to jail in order to extort her waiver of her Fourth Amendment rights. Either way, extortion under color of law.

And why? Does it really merit a search just because police believe you "have a gun in a residence"? If so, a roster of people who have been issued Clark County gun registration "blue cards" might make a nice starter list.

The only deadly shooter involved with this family recently was Yant. Has anyone handcuffed him and sat him in the patrol car and insisted his wife or mother sign a consent form for a warrantless search of his home, on threat of hauling him to jail?

After officer Bruce Gentner emptied his 14-round Glock at John Perrin, who was armed only with a basketball, the family submitted a written question to the hearing master of the coroner's inquest, asking whether Gentner had been on steroids at the time. The question was never asked. No warrantless search of the Gentner home to see if the officer was on steroids.

Who else heard this gunshot? We're supposed to believe it's a coincidence they were looking for a gun in the apartment where Sequioa Pearce retreated after cops killed her unarmed boyfriend? "It seems like it might be related to the Cole incident," says the family's attorney, Andre Lagomarsino. "Either this is just a crazy coincidence, or they're fishing."

The family buried Trevon Cole in Los Angeles on Thursday. Taxpayers will end up forking over a couple hundred grand to settle this one. Bryan Yant won't pay a penny.

Original report here



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Watching the watchmen is no crime

Traffic cameras watch your speed, security cameras watch your comings and goings, but is anyone watching the police? Police in Maryland, Michigan and elsewhere would rather you didn't -- particularly not on YouTube. Just last Saturday, Yvonne Nicole Shaw, 27, was arrested in Lexington Park, Md., for recording deputies in her apartment complex responding to a noise complaint. Sheriff's Cpl. Patrick Handy's report explained the arrest: Shaw "did admit to recording our encounter on her cell phone for the purpose of trying to show the police are harassing people." This sounds like she was more of a threat to the jobs of public safety officers than to public safety itself. One is not the same as the other.

Another recent example of contempt for the average camera-wielding citizen in Maryland: Anthony Graber's home was raided by police, after which he was arrested and jailed, charged with violating Maryland's wiretapping statute. What did he do? He posted video of a traffic stop during which a Maryland State trooper drew his firearm. For this offense, Graber faces five years in prison.

Reason magazine's Radley Balko notes that in 2000, Maryland Attorney General Joseph Curran Jr. issued an opinion on whether a plan by the Montgomery County Police Department to install recording devices on patrol officers' vehicles would violate the wiretapping law. He said that even if an officer inadvertently recorded someone without informing him first, it [was still legal]. Curran wrote that any conversation between a driver pulled over by a uniformed police officer "is difficult to characterize" as "private."

But Maryland is hardly the only state where watching the police is unwelcome. Several missionaries in Dearborn, Mich., were passing out copies of the Gospel of John from the New Testament to the Dearborn Arab International Festival when they were confronted and arrested by police within three minutes of arriving. Their offense wasn't merely exposing Muslims to Christian literature -- they were also recording police activity on a hand-held camera. When one of the policemen noticed a cameraman monitoring the encounter, he approached and told him to turn it off.

In the line of duty, officers of the law encounter many threats no doubt. But a citizen who knows his rights and owns a camera is not such a threat. As the Roman poet Juvenal asked "Who watches the watchmen?" We do, and should.

Original report here



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DNA Testing Clears NY Man of Sexual Assault Charge



Faulty eyewiness ID again. Pacyon was arrested based partly on leads generated by a widely distributed composite sketch of the attacker. He was convicted based on circumstantial evidence and the testimony of one woman who positively identified him

DNA tests have cleared the name of Douglas Pacyon, who served a prison term in the 1980's for sexual assault. Pacyon was accused of sexually assaulting two women in May of 1984. Paycon was acquitted of the charges relating to the first victim, but convicted on the charges relating to the second. He was sentenced to a prison term and was released in 1990.

In May 2008, Paycon's attorney filed a motion seeking to have forensic DNA testing done on items of evidence from the case. In January 2009, forensic tests found that Mr. Paycon was excluded as a male contributor to the genetic material present in the rape kit of the second victim.

The results let the District Attorney's Office to conduct a post-conviction investigation to determine if Mr. Paycon was wrongfully convicted.

Further DNA tests revealed that both victims in the sexual assault case against Mr. Paycon were assaulted by the same man. Although the DNA forensic analysis cannot currently identify the perpetrator, the results do show that man responsible for the assaults is not Douglas Paycon.

As a result, Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita submitted an affidavit to dismiss the indictment of Mr. Paycon. The motion is expected to be ruled on Monday afternoon.

Original report here



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Thug police send a town broke

So now they're out of a job!

Economic hard times are causing many municipalities to look for ways to reduce their payrolls, but none has taken it as far as the town of Maywood, California. On Monday night, the Maywood City Council voted unanimously to fire all 100 city employees and contract out most services, including record-keeping, street maintenance, and parks and recreation, to the neighboring town of Bell. "We will become 100% a contracted city," Maywood's interim city manager stated.

Even the Maywood police department will be disbanded. Those services will be provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, since a proposal earlier this month to merge Mayfield's police department with that of Bell was met with angry protests by Bell residents.

It was the police department that largely got Maywood into its current financial troubles. Last month, the town was informed by the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority that it would no longer be able to obtain liability insurance, largely as a result of excessive claims filed against the police.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "The [Insurance Authority's] action is yet another blow for the predominantly Latino city of 45,000 residents densely packed into about 1.2 square miles in the heavily industrial southeast part of Los Angeles County. Officials estimate about half the city's residents are illegal immigrants."

"Four years ago, the department faced a political outcry when it began running checkpoints that resulted in hundreds of cars being taken away from unlicensed illegal immigrants," the Times explains. "The checkpoint sparked a political movement that brought a new council that was more sympathetic to illegal immigrants. But Maywood was back in the headlines when it declared itself a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, making the town a target of conservative talk radio and TV news shows."

Last year, California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced that he would seek a court order to impose reforms on the Maywood Police Department, after a sixteen-month investigation had revealed "gross misconduct and widespread abuse." There have already been two police shootings since the start of 2010 that drew investigations by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The Los Angeles Times reports that town residents blame the current problems on "years of financial abuse and corruption" by the city council. Ironically, however, the city manager, attorney, and council members are the only Maywood employees who will remain on the payroll.

"You guys had the power to change it and you didn't," City Treasurer Lizeth Sandoval told the council at Monday's meeting. "You single-handedly destroyed the city.

Original report here



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'Don't Taze My Granny!'

This is beyond belief. Keep away from Oklahoma!

Police Tasered an 86-year-old disabled grandma in her bed and stepped on her oxygen hose until she couldn't breathe, after her grandson called 911 seeking medical assistance, the woman and her grandson claim in Oklahoma City Federal Court. Though the grandson said, "Don't Taze my granny!" an El Reno police officer told another cop to "Taser her!" and wrote in his police report that he did so because the old woman "took a more aggressive posture in her bed," according to the complaint.

Lonnie Tinsley claims that he called 911 after he went to check on his grandmother, whom he found in her bed, "connected to a portable oxygen concentrator with a long hose." She is "in marginal health, [and] takes several prescribed medications daily," and "was unable to tell him exactly when she had taken her meds," so, Tinsley says, he called 911 "to ask for an emergency medical technician to come to her apartment to evaluate her."

In response, "as many as ten El Reno police" officers "pushed their way through the door," according to the complaint. The grandma, Lona Varner, "told them to get out of her apartment."

The remarkable complaint continues: "Instead, the apparent leader of the police [defendant Thomas Duran] instructed another policeman to 'Taser her!' He stated in his report that the 86 year-old plaintiff 'took a more aggressive posture in her bed,' and that he was fearful for his safety and the safety of others.

"Lonnie Tinsley told them, 'Don't taze my Granny!' to which they responded that they would Taser him; instead, they pulled him out of her apartment, took him down to the floor, handcuffed him and placed him in the back of a police car.

"The police then proceeded to approach Ms. Varner in her bed and stepped on her oxygen hose until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation.

"The police then fired a Taser at her and only one wire struck her, in the left arm; the police then fired a second Taser, striking her to the right and left of the midline of her upper chest and applied high voltage, causing burns to her chest, extreme pain and to pass out.

"The police then grabbed Ms. Varner by her forearms and jerked hands together, causing her soft flesh to tear and bleed on her bed; they then handcuffed her.

"The police freed Lonnie Tinsley from his incarceration in the back of the police car and permitted him to accompany the ambulance with his grandmother."

Tinsley says the cops capped it all off by having his grandmother "placed in the psychiatric ward at the direction of the El Reno police; she was held there for six days and released."

"As a result of the wrongful arrest and detention, the plaintiff Lona M. Varner suffered the unlawful restraint of her freedom, bodily injury, assault, battery, the trashing of her apartment, humiliation, loss of personal dignity, infliction of emotional distress and medical bills."

They seek punitive damages for constitutional violations, from the City of El Reno, Duran, Officers Frank Tinga and Joseph Sandberg, and 10 Officers Does.

Original report here



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Ohio cop gets 10 years for shooting motorcyclist

One dangerous goon down, many more to go. Never turn your back on a cop. They hate it and are very likely to attack

A judge has sentenced an Ohio police officer to 10 years in prison for shooting a motorcyclist in the back during a 2009 traffic stop.

The Lucas County Common Pleas judge sentenced Ottawa Hills police officer Thomas White on Monday on his felonious assault conviction in the shooting of Michael McCloskey Jr. McCloskey was paralyzed from the waist down when the bullet struck his spine.

Prosecutors say White used excessive force. Video taken from the police car dashboard showed McCloskey turning away from the officer to look at the patrol car.

White testified that he believed McCloskey was reaching for a weapon and that his life was in danger when he fired the single shot.

Original report here



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Police Misconduct and Public Accountability

What are they trying to hide?

Why is it difficult to prosecute police officers for criminal misconduct even when the abuse is severe and unequivocal? A February news item from WSVN-TV in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale points to one reason.

A homeless man’s attorney said surveillance video shows deputies used excessive force in his arrest. Gerald McGovern, 58 [said he] did not attack them, as charged. Instead, they attacked him. The public defender’s office said the surveillance video clears McGovern and implicates BSO [Broward Sheriff’s Office]…. A witness, Roberto Aguilara, backed up McGovern’s claim.

Note the omission. The news report names the alleged victim, the witness and (elsewhere) the lawyer but not the accused deputies. Nor do their names appear in subsequent stories about an official investigation into allegations that the deputies used excessive force.

Few people outside law enforcement are familiar with Police Disclosure Laws (PDLs), which in most states, including Florida, block the release of information about an officer’s alleged misconduct until internal investigations are completed. Even then, the laws are often broadly interpreted to block such release. Some states do not make information public unless criminal charges are filed or the officer is dismissed. Other states leave the issue entirely to the police department’s discretion. (See chart for comparison of state PDLs.)

The declared purpose of restrictive PDLs is to protect accused officers. With sympathetic courts ruling in favor of PDLs, police unions staunchly defend the practice of granting officers more privacy than others who are criminally accused. A news story from the New Orleans Times-Picayune offers a glimpse into the vigor of their defense:

Police unions trying to block news organizations’ access to internal police investigations of New Orleans officers also are waging a campaign in the civil and criminal courts to keep such records out of the hands of the city’s public defenders office. Steve Singer, general counsel of the Orleans Public Defenders, said his office has filed public records requests for the New Orleans Police Department’s Public Integrity Bureau files of arresting officers in the cases of more than 50 defendants. The office also has sought subpoenas through Criminal District Court to obtain some of these records.

Critics argue that PDLs obstruct justice. The laws allow police officers to violate rights because they can avoid both transparency and accountability. The laws deny victims information that may be necessary to sue or otherwise press a legal case against officers. And by shielding important aspects of accusations — for example, whether the unnamed officer has been similarly accused in the past — the laws discourage the reporting of police abuse, especially by the media, for whom a significant delay in information makes a story grow cold. In turn, the lack of coverage encourages the public to believe misconduct is rare; thus those abused by police are doubly victimized by having their accounts dismissed out of hand.

Setting the Wider Context

On what legal basis do police departments refuse public access to information on misconduct by their officers?

Almost every state uses the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as a model for its own statutes on the public disclosure of government records. FOIA was intended to give the public a general right of access to information held by government agencies. Nevertheless, the nondisclosure about police misconduct is generally justified by reference to two common exemptions: the “investigative record” and “privacy right” exemptions. The investigative record exemption can be invoked even after an investigation is completed.

Strong arguments can be made against both exemptions.

The Investigative Records Exemption. The police units that investigate accusations of misconduct are called “internal affairs” or something similar. But are such accusations an internal, private matter rather than one of compelling public interest? The question becomes more urgent when the alleged misconduct is criminal or involves the violation of constitutional protections such as the right to due process.

When anyone is given a gun and broad authority to use it in public, that same public needs to know if the gun and the authority are being misused. The public also needs to know the particulars of how abuse accusations are being investigated. For example, has a particular police department established such a high burden of proof that virtually no accusation against an officer can be sustained?

This compelling public interest is usually overridden by the argument that releasing information would have a “chilling effect” on law enforcement. In the essay “The Public’s Right of Access to Police Misconduct Files,” attorney Lynne Wilson comments, “A number of federal courts have seriously questioned the empirical basis for a finding that public disclosure of internal disciplinary files causes a ‘chilling effect’ on law enforcement. One judge said that ‘if the fear of disclosure … does have some real effect on officers’ candor, the stronger working hypothesis is that fear of disclosure is more likely to increase candor than to chill it.’”

The Privacy Right Exemption. The police are tax-supported public servants with the authority to violate your privacy rights. As such, officers should expect to receive a public review of their performance while on duty. The intent of the privacy exemption in FOIA is the preservation of “personal” privacy, such as sexual preference, that is not of legitimate concern to the public. But in its application by police departments, the privacy exemption closes off examination of the professional behavior of public servants.

“[I]t would be difficult to imagine a subject-matter of more legitimate concern to the public than how its police departments are managed,” Wilson writes. “At least one state court has held that police officers have no privacy rights in misconduct records because the records, by definition, ‘involve events which occurred in the course of public service … matters with which the public has a right to concern itself.’”

In short, on-duty police conduct is not an internal or private matter but one of overriding public concern.

Everyone is vulnerable to police misconduct. Drivers can be arbitrarily pulled over; anyone can be stopped on the street and questioned. If you encounter the police, being “within the law” will not protect you against an overzealous or hostile officer who does not like your attitude. Making officers accountable for their actions is your greatest protection. Police Disclosure Laws are part of what appears to be a continuing attempt by police to avoid accountability.

Original report here



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Dumb and dangerous Canadian cop

How come he was let loose without effective marksmanship training?

A London police officer who fired 19 bullets at a fleeing robbery suspect — hitting homes, sheds and decks but no people — won’t face criminal charges. It’s unclear, however, whether the officer will face any Police Act, or internal discipline, charges.

The Free Press has learned that a post-shooting report — compiled by internal investigators, reviewed by use-of-force experts and an outside Crown attorney — concludes the suspect took a firing position several times and the unidentified officer fired in return.

Other details of the shooting on Tweedsmuir Ave. in east London last Aug. 12 are to be released Monday at a news conference at police headquarters.

Police Chief Murray Faulkner declined comment about the information, obtained from a police source. “As I promised, the information will be released to all the media at the same time — the details, the circumstances, the follow-up investigation and the review,” said Faulkner.

Const. Rick Robson, president of the London Police Association, could not be reached for comment Sunday.

On Friday, Robson said the officer, whose name police haven’t released, is “looking forward to a resolution.” He said the officer, on administrative duty since the shooting, is anxious to return to the street.

The shooting followed a five-hour robbery spree that began just before midnight Aug. 11 when a man, who claimed to be armed, tried to hold up a Subway store on Hamilton Rd., a gas bar on Highbury Ave. and a variety store on Commissioners Rd.

The suspect, Paul O’Connell, 37, was arrested by police on a deck in a backyard after the shooting. He pleaded guilty to two robberies, attempted theft, failing to stop for police and possession of a stolen vehicle and was sentenced to four years in prison.

After the robberies, a police officer spotted the suspect in a stolen SUV on Highbury Ave. and a brief chase through the Fairmont subdivision ended when the SUV crashed into a street light on Tweedsmuir Ave. O’Connell was fleeing with a cash box under his arm and raised his arm as if preparing to fire a gun, court was told during the trial.

The police officer fired 19 shots as O’Connell was chased through several rear yards before other officers arrived and arrested him on the deck of a home on Queenston Cres.

The bullets hit buildings but no people. One man who heard the commotion had just stepped away from a window in his home when a bullet ripped through its frame and landed in a closet wall.

The shooting sparked a public outcry, with many Londoners questioning why the officer, a five-year veteran, fired so many shots.

In a jailhouse interview a couple of days after the shooting, O’Connell denied taking a firing position, as police reported, and claims he told the officer he was unarmed.

Original report here



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Lying cop in Mehserle trial

Blatant attempt at a coverup

Former BART Police Officer Marysol Domenici, whose role in the events leading up to the shooting of unarmed BART passenger Oscar Grant by former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle has sparked controversy, took the witness stand Thursday in Mehserle’s second-degree murder trial.

Domenici was one of the first officers to respond to the Fruitvale BART station in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2009, working with fellow former BART Police Officer Anthony Pirone to detain Grant and his friends on the platform after reports of an altercation on the train.

Both Domenici and Pirone were terminated from BART Police earlier this year after a third-party review of the incident recommended their firings. Both are appealing the decisions.

On the witness stand Thursday morning, Domenici appeared to have problems giving answers to questions posed by Deputy District Attorney David Stein, who grilled the former police officer about testimony she gave to an Alameda County judge about how volatile the situation at Fruitvale BART was moments before the Grant shooting.

“Did you ever exaggerate the behavior of the people on that platform so as to make it appear officers were in more danger than they were to justify the shooting of Grant by Johannes Mehserle?” Stein asked the former officer. “No, sir,” she replied.

During preliminary hearings held in Oakland to determine whether Mehserle should be tried, Domenici testified that Grant and his friends ignored orders she gave to sit down on the platform. She told the judge that the shooting could have been prevented if Grant had followed orders from officers.

The prosecution jumped on another statement the former officer gave about Grant grabbing her left arm and holding on to her after she attempted to detain another individual on the platform, Grant’s longtime friend Jackie Bryson.

Domenici testified that her lawyer told her amateur video footage recorded by BART passenger Daniel Liu proved that Grant touched her before he was shot by Mehserle. When the video in question was played by Stein, it appeared to show Grant’s arm crossing with Domenici’s. But Stein then played footage from another video — shot from a different angle by Karina Vargas — that shows Grant touching Bryson’s arm, not the former officer’s.

After watching the videos, Domenici appeared frazzled on the witness stand. She later reneged on the claim that Grant had touched her. “I don’t remember his hand at all [...] I don’t remember him grabbing my arm,” she told the jury. She later admitted that the young men on the platform “never struggled with me.” She also said that when she and Pirone drew their Tasers, the young men “calmed down.”

Mehserle’s defense strategy relies in part on the argument that Grant “actively resisted” officers, including Domenici, on the Fruitvale station platform.

Stein also criticized Domenici’s characterization of what she saw when she arrived at the platform. “You said during the preliminary hearing that about 40 to 50 people came off the BART train and that you felt threatened,” he said. “Do you remember giving that testimony?” “I saw people,” she responded vaguely.

When Stein played security camera footage of the platform, Domenici can be seen running down an empty platform without anyone walking off the train. When questioned where the 40 to 50 people were, Domenici first said they could not be seen in the video. She said they were on board the Dublin/Pleasanton-bound BART train. “When I said the platform, to me the train is an extension of the platform,” she said.

The former officer’s testimony became strained and rambling at times during questioning by Stein, causing Judge Robert Perry to intervene and ask Domenici to respond more carefully. “Listen to the question and try to understand it before you answer it,” said Perry, adding he noticed a “disconnect between the questions asked and the answers” Domenici was giving.

Her responses caused a stir in the courtroom gallery when members in the audience were heard murmuring comments about Domenici. “She’s dumb,” an audience member remarked.

The comment prompted a stern lecture to the courtroom from Judge Perry, who reprimanded the audience for making “audible comments” during her testimony. He threatened to ban from the courtroom anyone who continued to make audible responses.

Outside the courtroom, Grant’s family reacted strongly to Domenici’s testimony, saying that her statements weren’t backed by video evidence. “She did the same thing at the preliminary hearing,” Grant’s uncle Daryl Johnson said. “She has trouble remembering things that have happened unless her lawyer told her that they did. Her verbal accounts don’t match what she sees on video.”

Pirone, who partnered Domenici that night, is expected to take the stand Friday after Domenici is cross examined by the defense. Every witness who has taken the stand so far who was present at Fruitvale BART that night has described Pirone’s behavior as aggressive and offensive.

Domenici’s testimony came after a surprise in the morning session, when an expert witness for the prosecution, ex-Berkeley Police Officer Sean McCann, told the court under cross examination that he had once drawn his gun on a suspect without realizing it. McCann testified that he was attempting to detain a violent robbery suspect in Berkeley when he suddenly discovered he had drawn his weapon on the man. The former Berkeley cop said he did not remember pulling the firearm out of its holster.

McCann is currently a defensive tactics instructor for law enforcement organizations and was brought on by the prosecution to testify about use of force by police officers.

Defense attorney Michael Rains seized on the admission, immediately asking McCann about the incident. Stein, who appeared to be caught off-guard by the officer’s recollection, attempted to differentiate McCann’s incident from the Grant shooting, a move Grant’s family agreed with.

Johnson said that while the witness appeared to help the defense, the situations cannot be compared. “The difference between what happened with that officer and Mehserle are night and day. That officer was fighting for his life. Mehserle was not,” he said.

Earlier, BART Police training instructor Sergeant Eugene Wong finished testimony begun Tuesday. Court was not in session on Wednesday due to a state-mandated furlough. Rains asked Wong, who has worked directly with Mehserle, about the amount of time he spent teaching the Koga Method of search and arrest techniques to incoming officers. Wong said they spent seven hours teaching nine techniques. He called it an ambitious agenda and said that officers were not required to demonstrate proficiency.

Rains used his line of questioning to try to establish that Mehserle was undertrained. The defense contends that poor training contributed to Mehserle accidentally firing his gun when he meant to use his Taser. BART no longer uses the Koga Method for police training.

Stein then brought on David Chlebowski, a BART Police officer in Internal Affairs. Questioned about Mehserle’s training, Chlebowski confirmed the former officer passed multiple assessments administered by the agency on using his Sig Sauer handgun, tests which were given during both day and night.

Stein had Chlebowski recite each date Mehserle received training, in an apparent effort to show that Mehserle was indeed sufficiently trained. The prosecution argues Mehserle meant to reach for his gun, after allowing emotions to impede restraint during the chaotic atmosphere on the platform.

Testimony in the trial continues Friday in Los Angeles, where the case has been moved due to concerns over whether Mehserle could receive a fair trial in the Bay Area.

Original report here



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Julian's Jailhouse Journal: Police State USA

Seventy-eight year old veteran libertarian, Fully Informed Jury Association activist and indefatigable freedom campaigner Julian Heicklen released his jailhouse journal to his fellow Tyranny Fighters on Tuesday.

Heicklen was arrested on May 25 for committing the crime of standing on public property in front of the US District Courthouse in Manhattan while peacefully giving jury rights information to individuals, sent to jail for 18 Days in New York City's notorious Riker's Island, and then released "in the interest of justice."

Following are just a few outtakes from his journal. Anyone who finds these entries disturbing, disgusting, outrageous and inexcusable should read his entire journal.

"The handcuffs were removed. A number of capillaries had been broken in my wrists. My hands turned blue."

"I was physically and verbally abused during these drags. My upper arms were crushed in their hands, and blood vessels broken. This was painful. My upper arms turned blue. My sneakers had no shoelaces, so my toes kept smashing into the front of the sneakers breaking blood vessels in my toes. This was unpleasant to say the least. My toes turned blue, and did not return to normal for two weeks."

"The nurses and doctors pounded on my chest and pinched my fingers, which was quite painful, but I would not utter a sound. Then they sodomized me by shoving a needle up my rectum. Presumably they were looking for drugs (or bombs)."

"I objected vociferously, but the attendants pinned me to the floor while the doctor gave me an injection in my buttocks. Presumably this was a thorazine shot. I passed out."

"The toilet had overflowed, so there was urine and feces on the floor. I got very little sleep in these pens, because I did not have room to lie down and my old body would ache in the sitting position." "The toilet did not flush, so feces and urine accumulated in the toilet."

"However the NY City police officer who had to drag me up and down stairs in the courthouse was more articulate. Every few minutes, he would say: 'You worthless piece of sh*t," apparently directed at me.

Original report here



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Innocent British man jailed for 3 years over false rape claim - despite police knowing 'victim' was a fantasist

A man jailed when a woman falsely cried rape told of his fury yesterday after learning that police knew the woman was 'unreliable'. Warren Blackwell, 40, spent three years in jail as a convicted sex attacker until his 'victim' was unmasked as a fantasist who had accused other blameless men.

The woman - named under Parliamentary privilege as Shannon Taylor - said he indecently assaulted her outside a social club in the early hours of January 1, 1999, after a New Year's Eve party.

A report revealed yesterday that officers were told Taylor was 'unreliable', ' unstable' and craved attention - but they failed to disclose it at his trial.

The mistake led to an appalling miscarriage of justice which saw father-of-two Mr Blackwell jailed in October 1999 for three years, which was later increased to five, despite no forensic evidence to back up the claims.

His conviction was quashed in September 2006 when it became clear that not only did Mr Blackwell not commit the crime, it never took place.

In 2006, Lord Campbell-Savours used Parliamentary privilege to name the woman.

Taylor, who is said to have made seven other false sex attack allegations, including one against her father, would otherwise have kept her identity secret for life. But she was not prosecuted for perjury, because prosecutors decided she was too ill.

Taylor kept changing her name and moving, so police forces did not realise they were dealing with the same woman.

But the Independent Police Complaints Commission revealed an officer from another force expressed concerns about her reliability to the detective investigating Mr Blackwell's case, saying she seemed to 'enjoy police attention'. The detective's notes referred to her as 'unreliable' and 'unstable', but this was never disclosed to prosecutors or the defence team.

Last night Mr Blackwell attacked a 'mealy-mouthed' apology from Northamptonshire Police. He said: 'It does not even begin to address the suffering I have been through and my family have been through. It is disgusting.'

Mr Blackwell is taking legal advice about bringing a damages claim against Northamptonshire Police. He said: 'It took a long time, it was a massive investigation that was, in my view, hindered by Northamptonshire Police. 'To say they dragged their heels is an understatement.'

Mr Blackwell was jailed on the word of Taylor, who claimed he seized her at knifepoint outside a village club early on New Year's Day 1999, marched her down an alleyway and indecently assaulted her. She picked him out of an identity parade and a jury found him guilty.

But an investigation by the Criminal Cases Review Commission later discovered that his accuser had invented the story.

The Court of Appeal cleared him in 2006 when it emerged that evidence suggested her injuries were self-inflicted.

Mr Blackwell was later awarded £252,500 in compensation - but minus the estimated £12,500 cost of his food and accommodation while behind bars.

Yesterday the IPCC criticised Northamptonshire Police for taking more than a year to finalise an apology and resolve disciplinary matters with officers involved.

The IPCC probe, launched in 2007, found failings by three officers who had a case to answer on misconduct grounds. But one has since retired and two others - a detective chief inspector and a detective sergeant - will only receive words of advice.

Yesterday IPCC Commissioner Amerdeep Somal said: 'As the Court of Appeal has ruled, Warren Blackwell was subject to a terrible miscarriage of justice. 'Nothing can bring back the three years four months he wrongly spent in prison. 'I am dismayed that Northamptonshire Police has taken so long to issue an apology to Mr Blackwell that he has patently deserved.

A Northamptonshire Police spokesman said the force 'regrets that some aspects of the investigation and handling of information, which emerged after Mr Blackwell's conviction in 1999, fell well below the required standard'. [Arrogant pricks!]

Original report here



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