Shocking moment a 66-year-old-dementia sufferer is kicked to the ground and beaten by police officer who tried to delete video from his police car camera
This is the shocking moment a police officer launches a vicious assault on a 66-year-old-dementia sufferer. Officer Derek Middendorf then tried to cover his tracks by deleting the recording from his dashcam. [Video at link]
But it has been recovered by technicians in Florida, in the US, and now the attorney for victim Albert Flowers told Florida Today that his client was prepared to sue the city of Melbourne.
'He should be fired,' attorney Paul Bross said of Officer Derek Middendorf. 'Anyone who’s being pulled over by this officer should be terrified.' 'It’s clear (Officer Middendorf) tried to destroy all the video in this case. He thought he had turned off the camera, and that’s why he acted the way he did.'
The video shows Flowers calmly walking towards the police cruiser before Officer Middendorf suddenly delivers a kick to his groin. Before Flowers is able to get up, the policeman drops to his knees and pounds his fists into Mr Flowers’ face. Mr Flowers spent a month in the hospital after the beating.
Melbourne City Attorney Paul Gougelman promised to review the video to see if the city had any responsibility to pay for Mr Flowers’ health care. 'What I urge everybody to do is stand back and let the dust settle,' Mr Gougelman said. 'There is always more to the story. It’s always important to have a good working relationship in the community.'
Charges against Flowers were dropped by the Brevard County State Attorney’s Office after they learned about his dementia.
Middendorf was initially reprimanded for tampering with the recording device, but the city chose not pursue an administrative review at the time.
'Information regarding the arrest of Albert Flowers was sufficient to indicate that an internal investigation was not warranted,' Melbourne Police Chief Steve Mimbs said in a press advisory before the video was released. 'Officer Derek Middendorf is a valued officer whose record since joining the department in 2005 reflects the fact that he has done a very good job for the city.'
Middendorf indicated in his report that he used force against Flowers after the man did not obey orders to stop moving toward him. The officer said he suspected Mr Flowers may have had a knife. 'I had to react and protect myself in fear he was going to attack me,' the report said. 'Not knowing if he was still armed or not … I struck the defendant in the face to distract him.'
Mr Flowers’ dementia has worsened since returning home from the hospital, according to his granddaughter, Donna Jackson. 'The family’s just upset by the whole thing,'Ms Jackson explained. 'We are glad they dropped the charges. We just want to move forward.'
Original report here
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
From the Right To Resist the 'Duty To Submit'
Anne Dekins was a loud-mouthed party girl – or at least, that's what the arrest warrant suggested. Whatever she may have done in the past, Miss Dekins was quietly minding her own business when Officer Samuel Bray found her on the street and began to haul her away.
Dekins wasn’t inclined to go quietly, and she put up a struggle. Her cries for help attracted the interest of several armed men led by an individual named Tooley, who confronted Bray and demanded to know what he was doing to the frantic woman. The officer produced his official credentials and insisted that he was making a lawful arrest for "disorderly conduct." When witnesses disputed that description, Bray called for backup.
Tooley and his associates ordered Bray to release the woman, and then took action to enforce that lawful order. After Bray’s partner was killed in the ensuing struggle, Tooley and his associates were arrested for murder. The trial court threw out the murder charge, ruling that the warrant was defective. Since the arrest was illegal, the court pointed out, Dekins had a right to resist – and bystanders likewise had a right, if not a positive duty, to assist her. The defendants were eventually found guilty of manslaughter, but quickly pardoned and set free.
By trying to enforce an invalid warrant, Bray "did not act as a constable, but a common oppressor," observed the trial court. Tooley and the other bystanders were properly "provoked" by the act of aggressive violence against Anne Dekins, and their forceful but measured response – first demanding that the abductor release the hostage, then exercising defensive force to free her – was entirely appropriate.
Lawless violence against the helpless "is a sufficient provocation to all people out of compassion" in any circumstance, observed the court, "much more where it is done under a colour of justice, and where the liberty of the subject is invaded…." In fact, an act of that kind carried out by a law enforcement official is nothing less than "a provocation to all the subjects of England."
Every Englishman "ought to be concerned for Magna Charta and the laws," concluded the Queen’s Bench in the 1710 case Queen v. Tooley. "And if any one against the law imprison a man, he is an offender against Magna Charta." .....
Buehler, 34, is a combat veteran of Kosovo and Iraq, West Point graduate, and middle school teacher. He was serving as a designated driver on the morning of New Year’s Day when he saw a woman being abused by police outside a 7-11. The costumed assailants, officers Pat Oborski and Robert Snider, were conducting what they called a DWI arrest of a woman later identified as Norma Pizana.
To Buehler and his friends, the spectacle looked more like a gang assault.
"We hear a loud scream, and we look over, and we see the cop violently yanking the female out of the car onto the ground," Buehler told local ABC affiliate KVUE. "She is screaming. The other cop ran up and they both sort of grabbed her arms. Her hands were behind her back straight out and they lifted her up by her arms. It looked extremely painful."
With the help of a friend, Buehler began to document this act of "street justice" with his cell phone. That prompted Oborski to confront Buehler, who was not interfering in any way.
According to Buehler, Oborski barked, "What the hell are you taking pictures for?"
"My response was, `I am allowed to. Public official in a public place.'"
As he was trained to, Oborski started to lie in an effort to devise a cover charge against Buehler. First he claimed that Buehler was somehow "interfering with the investigation," which was patently untrue. Then the cop assaulted Buhler by pushing the unresisting man – who would have been more than a match for the donut-grazer, had he chosen to fight back – up against a truck.
"Once he had me pinned up against the back of the truck he kept leaning in," Buehler continued. "He kept pushing me."
Eventually Oborski got so close that Buehler actually breathed on him – which gave him a pretext to accuse the witness of "spitting" on him. With some difficulty, and Snider’s help, Oborski wrestled Buehler (who offered only passive resistance) to the ground and handcuffed him. The cops took Beuhler to a BAT van – a patently unreliable mobile alcohol testing unit – in the hope of documenting that the witness was intoxicated, which he wasn't. The cop finally settled on charging him with "harassing a public servant" – a third-degree felony – and "resisting arrest."
As is always the case in incidents of this kind, Buehler wasn’t arrested for an actual crime; he was vindictively punished for "contempt of cop."
"You don’t f*** with cops," Oborski snarled at Buehler. "You don’t get in our f***ing way. You don’t question us, and we’re going to teach you a lesson."
Norma Pizana’s plight was strikingly similar to that of Anne Dekins, with at least one critical difference: Dekins and her rescuers were blessed to live in 18th Century England, a relatively civilized society that recognized and protected a free individual’s indispensable right to resist State-licensed criminal violence.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Anne Dekins was a loud-mouthed party girl – or at least, that's what the arrest warrant suggested. Whatever she may have done in the past, Miss Dekins was quietly minding her own business when Officer Samuel Bray found her on the street and began to haul her away.
Dekins wasn’t inclined to go quietly, and she put up a struggle. Her cries for help attracted the interest of several armed men led by an individual named Tooley, who confronted Bray and demanded to know what he was doing to the frantic woman. The officer produced his official credentials and insisted that he was making a lawful arrest for "disorderly conduct." When witnesses disputed that description, Bray called for backup.
Tooley and his associates ordered Bray to release the woman, and then took action to enforce that lawful order. After Bray’s partner was killed in the ensuing struggle, Tooley and his associates were arrested for murder. The trial court threw out the murder charge, ruling that the warrant was defective. Since the arrest was illegal, the court pointed out, Dekins had a right to resist – and bystanders likewise had a right, if not a positive duty, to assist her. The defendants were eventually found guilty of manslaughter, but quickly pardoned and set free.
By trying to enforce an invalid warrant, Bray "did not act as a constable, but a common oppressor," observed the trial court. Tooley and the other bystanders were properly "provoked" by the act of aggressive violence against Anne Dekins, and their forceful but measured response – first demanding that the abductor release the hostage, then exercising defensive force to free her – was entirely appropriate.
Lawless violence against the helpless "is a sufficient provocation to all people out of compassion" in any circumstance, observed the court, "much more where it is done under a colour of justice, and where the liberty of the subject is invaded…." In fact, an act of that kind carried out by a law enforcement official is nothing less than "a provocation to all the subjects of England."
Every Englishman "ought to be concerned for Magna Charta and the laws," concluded the Queen’s Bench in the 1710 case Queen v. Tooley. "And if any one against the law imprison a man, he is an offender against Magna Charta." .....
Buehler, 34, is a combat veteran of Kosovo and Iraq, West Point graduate, and middle school teacher. He was serving as a designated driver on the morning of New Year’s Day when he saw a woman being abused by police outside a 7-11. The costumed assailants, officers Pat Oborski and Robert Snider, were conducting what they called a DWI arrest of a woman later identified as Norma Pizana.
To Buehler and his friends, the spectacle looked more like a gang assault.
"We hear a loud scream, and we look over, and we see the cop violently yanking the female out of the car onto the ground," Buehler told local ABC affiliate KVUE. "She is screaming. The other cop ran up and they both sort of grabbed her arms. Her hands were behind her back straight out and they lifted her up by her arms. It looked extremely painful."
With the help of a friend, Buehler began to document this act of "street justice" with his cell phone. That prompted Oborski to confront Buehler, who was not interfering in any way.
According to Buehler, Oborski barked, "What the hell are you taking pictures for?"
"My response was, `I am allowed to. Public official in a public place.'"
As he was trained to, Oborski started to lie in an effort to devise a cover charge against Buehler. First he claimed that Buehler was somehow "interfering with the investigation," which was patently untrue. Then the cop assaulted Buhler by pushing the unresisting man – who would have been more than a match for the donut-grazer, had he chosen to fight back – up against a truck.
"Once he had me pinned up against the back of the truck he kept leaning in," Buehler continued. "He kept pushing me."
Eventually Oborski got so close that Buehler actually breathed on him – which gave him a pretext to accuse the witness of "spitting" on him. With some difficulty, and Snider’s help, Oborski wrestled Buehler (who offered only passive resistance) to the ground and handcuffed him. The cops took Beuhler to a BAT van – a patently unreliable mobile alcohol testing unit – in the hope of documenting that the witness was intoxicated, which he wasn't. The cop finally settled on charging him with "harassing a public servant" – a third-degree felony – and "resisting arrest."
As is always the case in incidents of this kind, Buehler wasn’t arrested for an actual crime; he was vindictively punished for "contempt of cop."
"You don’t f*** with cops," Oborski snarled at Buehler. "You don’t get in our f***ing way. You don’t question us, and we’re going to teach you a lesson."
Norma Pizana’s plight was strikingly similar to that of Anne Dekins, with at least one critical difference: Dekins and her rescuers were blessed to live in 18th Century England, a relatively civilized society that recognized and protected a free individual’s indispensable right to resist State-licensed criminal violence.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Friday, January 20, 2012
Supreme Court: Lawyers abandoned Alabama inmate
Ruling gives man on death row a chance to appeal
An Alabama death-row inmate deserves a new court hearing because his lawyers at a top-flight New York firm abandoned him, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a case one justice called "a veritable perfect storm of misfortune."
The court voted 7-2 to reverse a federal appeals-court ruling that cut off appeals for Cory Maples, who was convicted of killing two men execution-style in 1995. Maples missed a deadline to appeal when court notices to his lawyers at the Sullivan and Cromwell firm were returned unopened and a local clerk took no further action.
Deadlines usually are sacrosanct at the high court, where defendants typically are held responsible for the mistakes of their lawyers. But Maples' case is different because he is facing execution and his lawyers didn't simply err, they abandoned him, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her majority opinion.
"Through no fault of his own, Maples, an inmate on death row, was left unrepresented at a critical time," Ginsburg said in an opinion that also criticized Alabama for using inexperienced lawyers and paying them poorly to represent defendants in death-penalty cases.
But Justice Samuel Alito, who often votes against criminal defendants, said in a separate opinion that Maples' circumstances were unique: "What occurred here was not a predictable consequence of the Alabama system, but a veritable perfect storm of misfortune."
Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. Scalia said the court should have stuck with its usual practice of holding defendants responsible for their lawyers' mistakes.
Wednesday's decision means a court will hear Maples' claims that his inexperienced trial lawyers did such a bad job that their work violated the Constitution's guarantee of representation.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Ruling gives man on death row a chance to appeal
An Alabama death-row inmate deserves a new court hearing because his lawyers at a top-flight New York firm abandoned him, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a case one justice called "a veritable perfect storm of misfortune."
The court voted 7-2 to reverse a federal appeals-court ruling that cut off appeals for Cory Maples, who was convicted of killing two men execution-style in 1995. Maples missed a deadline to appeal when court notices to his lawyers at the Sullivan and Cromwell firm were returned unopened and a local clerk took no further action.
Deadlines usually are sacrosanct at the high court, where defendants typically are held responsible for the mistakes of their lawyers. But Maples' case is different because he is facing execution and his lawyers didn't simply err, they abandoned him, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her majority opinion.
"Through no fault of his own, Maples, an inmate on death row, was left unrepresented at a critical time," Ginsburg said in an opinion that also criticized Alabama for using inexperienced lawyers and paying them poorly to represent defendants in death-penalty cases.
But Justice Samuel Alito, who often votes against criminal defendants, said in a separate opinion that Maples' circumstances were unique: "What occurred here was not a predictable consequence of the Alabama system, but a veritable perfect storm of misfortune."
Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. Scalia said the court should have stuck with its usual practice of holding defendants responsible for their lawyers' mistakes.
Wednesday's decision means a court will hear Maples' claims that his inexperienced trial lawyers did such a bad job that their work violated the Constitution's guarantee of representation.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Smart cyclist refuses to let British cop exceed his powers
They are the bane of motorists' and pedestrians' lives - cyclists who jump red lights - but when one hapless policeman confronted a biker, he was comprehensively out-talked and outsmarted.
A video of the exchange captured on the cyclist's helmet gives a display of police impotence to deal with a minority of cyclists with the rules standing as they currently do.
It is understandable, then, that an officer identified only as PC Stout, appeared to become frustrated and reached out for the head camera in a row over a traffic fine.
After being stopped for allegedly jumping a red light on Edgware Road, Central London, the biker refuses to give his details, telling the policeman that he is not obliged to do so.
PC Stout then threatens the man with arrest citing IDCOPPLAN as a law when in fact it is a police guideline that helps them decide whether or not to make an arrest. However, the biker sticks to his guns, seemingly aware that this is not a law and challenges the officer's knowledge.
The cyclist says 'Before I give you my surname can you tell me what the detail of that law is?' Unable to answer the question directly, PC Stout said: 'You're obliged to give me your details for me to issue you a ticket.'
He does not give the information requested in order for a ticket to be handed to him, and the officer admits that he doesn't know the wording.
After the cyclist asks 'You are telling me you don't need to know what the law is?', the policeman asks if he wants to turn the camera off. The biker said: 'No I don't want to turn it off. It's my right to carry it with me and to film this to make sure for my own protection and for yours.'
He is then asked for his documents but, as he is not driving a car, he does not have any documents to hand over.
PC Stout repeats his threat saying 'I have got no further option but to arrest you.'
The exchange continues until the biker says 'how am I meant to know what I am doing?' but is cut off as PC Stout appears to put his hand over the camera.
Before cycling off he shouts 'Can you not touch me? You touched the camera, you tried to touch the camera, don't you dare do that.'
A Met Police spokesman said: We were first made aware of this video in June 2011 when the incident was published on YouTube and the officer concerned received advice with regards to use of the Road Traffic Act.
'The cyclist concerned was later spoken to about this matter. The officer was right to stop the cyclist and we would like to remind all cyclists of the dangers of not stopping when a red light is shown at traffic lights.'
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
They are the bane of motorists' and pedestrians' lives - cyclists who jump red lights - but when one hapless policeman confronted a biker, he was comprehensively out-talked and outsmarted.
A video of the exchange captured on the cyclist's helmet gives a display of police impotence to deal with a minority of cyclists with the rules standing as they currently do.
It is understandable, then, that an officer identified only as PC Stout, appeared to become frustrated and reached out for the head camera in a row over a traffic fine.
After being stopped for allegedly jumping a red light on Edgware Road, Central London, the biker refuses to give his details, telling the policeman that he is not obliged to do so.
PC Stout then threatens the man with arrest citing IDCOPPLAN as a law when in fact it is a police guideline that helps them decide whether or not to make an arrest. However, the biker sticks to his guns, seemingly aware that this is not a law and challenges the officer's knowledge.
The cyclist says 'Before I give you my surname can you tell me what the detail of that law is?' Unable to answer the question directly, PC Stout said: 'You're obliged to give me your details for me to issue you a ticket.'
He does not give the information requested in order for a ticket to be handed to him, and the officer admits that he doesn't know the wording.
After the cyclist asks 'You are telling me you don't need to know what the law is?', the policeman asks if he wants to turn the camera off. The biker said: 'No I don't want to turn it off. It's my right to carry it with me and to film this to make sure for my own protection and for yours.'
He is then asked for his documents but, as he is not driving a car, he does not have any documents to hand over.
PC Stout repeats his threat saying 'I have got no further option but to arrest you.'
The exchange continues until the biker says 'how am I meant to know what I am doing?' but is cut off as PC Stout appears to put his hand over the camera.
Before cycling off he shouts 'Can you not touch me? You touched the camera, you tried to touch the camera, don't you dare do that.'
A Met Police spokesman said: We were first made aware of this video in June 2011 when the incident was published on YouTube and the officer concerned received advice with regards to use of the Road Traffic Act.
'The cyclist concerned was later spoken to about this matter. The officer was right to stop the cyclist and we would like to remind all cyclists of the dangers of not stopping when a red light is shown at traffic lights.'
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Eight British cops resign over illegal searches of dozens of people using police files
Eight police staff have lost their jobs after illegally accessing the confidential records of dozens of people on the Police National Computer. Of the eight, one police officer and one community support officer (PCSO) are facing criminal charges after an investigation by Essex Police found them guilty of gross misconduct. Another PCSO has been cautioned.
All eight are alleged to have accessed the personal records of members of the public and passed on the information to people outside the force.
The force launched an inquiry after a whistle-blower told senior officers about ‘routine abuses’ of the computer system, which contains personal information on millions of people.
Essex Police have confirmed the officer and two PCSOs were arrested in December on suspicion of accessing confidential files in breach of the Data Protection Act. The force refused to comment on what information they were accessing.
A source close to the investigation told The Mail on Sunday that those involved had also routinely attempted to access the private details of celebrities – although this has been denied by the force.
An internal investigation was launched by the force in November to analyse the search history of all 5,500 members of staff from the beginning of October.
Last year, three officers in Essex resigned and several other members of staff were disciplined for similar abuses of the computer system.
Chief Superintendent Dave Folkard, of Essex Police, said: ‘Five staff and three officers have resigned under investigation for breaches of the Data Protection Act. We are committed to maintaining the highest professional standards.’
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Eight police staff have lost their jobs after illegally accessing the confidential records of dozens of people on the Police National Computer. Of the eight, one police officer and one community support officer (PCSO) are facing criminal charges after an investigation by Essex Police found them guilty of gross misconduct. Another PCSO has been cautioned.
All eight are alleged to have accessed the personal records of members of the public and passed on the information to people outside the force.
The force launched an inquiry after a whistle-blower told senior officers about ‘routine abuses’ of the computer system, which contains personal information on millions of people.
Essex Police have confirmed the officer and two PCSOs were arrested in December on suspicion of accessing confidential files in breach of the Data Protection Act. The force refused to comment on what information they were accessing.
A source close to the investigation told The Mail on Sunday that those involved had also routinely attempted to access the private details of celebrities – although this has been denied by the force.
An internal investigation was launched by the force in November to analyse the search history of all 5,500 members of staff from the beginning of October.
Last year, three officers in Essex resigned and several other members of staff were disciplined for similar abuses of the computer system.
Chief Superintendent Dave Folkard, of Essex Police, said: ‘Five staff and three officers have resigned under investigation for breaches of the Data Protection Act. We are committed to maintaining the highest professional standards.’
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
British cops plied boy, 17, with cider before he admitted crimes he could not have committed (AND they keep their jobs!)
A teenage boy was given strong cider by police before being questioned over a series of burglaries, a disciplinary hearing was told. Sean Wall, 17, was taken to a police station and given alcohol before being quizzed over 11 burglaries - which he admitted while under the influence.
But the plan backfired when it emerged Sean was already behind bars at the time of five of the break-ins.
During the interview Sean managed to make a phone call to his solicitor saying he had been plied with alcohol by police. His solicitor demanded the custody sergeant breathalyse the youngster and he tested positive for alcohol.
The officers were suspended and the Independent Police Complaints Commission was called in to carry out a full investigation.
But the two Cardiff-based detectives have kept their jobs after a gross misconduct hearing held by South Wales Police behind closed doors.
Detective Constable Neville Bradbury, who bought the Strongbow cider, was given a final written warning for gross misconduct.
Detective Constable Geraint Jones escaped with a written warning after the panel found he failed to challenge the provision of alcohol to the under-age suspect - or report it. Both officers were found guilty of misconduct for being obstructive when Sean asked for a solicitor.
The two detectives arrested Sean in February 2010 while he was in a young offenders' institution. The hearing, held in private, was told alcohol was given to a ‘vulnerable male’ who was an under-age drinker at the time.
The police officers were cleared of giving the teenager a KFC meal, cigarettes and a trip to see his mother as inducements to get him to confess to the crimes he did not commit.
The allegations unfolded after Sean, now 19, was collected from Parc Young Offender Institution in Bridgend, South Wales - where he was being held after admitting two thefts.
He was allegedly taken on a trip around the Cardiff suburbs of Rumney and St Mellons where the officers pointed out locations where burglaries had been carried out. They then took Sean to Cardiff Bay Police Station and allegedly asked him to confess to the raids telling him admitting the crimes would not increase his sentence when he appears before a crown court judge.
South Wales Police could boost its detection rate by showing it had solved the crimes - and claim to be providing a better service.
But during interviews the youngster telephoned his solicitor, Nadeem Majjid, and said the officers had given him cider. Mr Majid demanded the custody sergeant breathalyse Sean and tests showed he was over the drink drive limit.
Mr Majid said today ‘Getting my client to admit things he hadn't done in the hope it will improve crime figures takes policing back 25 years. ‘It's likely in his condition he'd have agreed to anything.
‘Sean and his family are pleased that the IPCC upheld their complaint and the matter can be put to a close. ‘This goes as a warning that such behaviour will not be tolerated.’
His mother Angela Rosier, 42, yesterday slammed the decision of South Wales Police to allow the two officers to remain in their jobs. Mrs Rosier said: ‘I think it is disgusting, how can they keep their jobs, they're definitely in the wrong career.
‘Sean cannot believe how they are allowed to stay. ‘I'm not leaving it like this, I am going to take this as far I can and am currently talking to my solicitor about further action.’
Sean's brother Luke, 22, added: ‘This is not on is it? They really stitched Sean up and they should have got more than a slap on the wrist.’
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
A teenage boy was given strong cider by police before being questioned over a series of burglaries, a disciplinary hearing was told. Sean Wall, 17, was taken to a police station and given alcohol before being quizzed over 11 burglaries - which he admitted while under the influence.
But the plan backfired when it emerged Sean was already behind bars at the time of five of the break-ins.
During the interview Sean managed to make a phone call to his solicitor saying he had been plied with alcohol by police. His solicitor demanded the custody sergeant breathalyse the youngster and he tested positive for alcohol.
The officers were suspended and the Independent Police Complaints Commission was called in to carry out a full investigation.
But the two Cardiff-based detectives have kept their jobs after a gross misconduct hearing held by South Wales Police behind closed doors.
Detective Constable Neville Bradbury, who bought the Strongbow cider, was given a final written warning for gross misconduct.
Detective Constable Geraint Jones escaped with a written warning after the panel found he failed to challenge the provision of alcohol to the under-age suspect - or report it. Both officers were found guilty of misconduct for being obstructive when Sean asked for a solicitor.
The two detectives arrested Sean in February 2010 while he was in a young offenders' institution. The hearing, held in private, was told alcohol was given to a ‘vulnerable male’ who was an under-age drinker at the time.
The police officers were cleared of giving the teenager a KFC meal, cigarettes and a trip to see his mother as inducements to get him to confess to the crimes he did not commit.
The allegations unfolded after Sean, now 19, was collected from Parc Young Offender Institution in Bridgend, South Wales - where he was being held after admitting two thefts.
He was allegedly taken on a trip around the Cardiff suburbs of Rumney and St Mellons where the officers pointed out locations where burglaries had been carried out. They then took Sean to Cardiff Bay Police Station and allegedly asked him to confess to the raids telling him admitting the crimes would not increase his sentence when he appears before a crown court judge.
South Wales Police could boost its detection rate by showing it had solved the crimes - and claim to be providing a better service.
But during interviews the youngster telephoned his solicitor, Nadeem Majjid, and said the officers had given him cider. Mr Majid demanded the custody sergeant breathalyse Sean and tests showed he was over the drink drive limit.
Mr Majid said today ‘Getting my client to admit things he hadn't done in the hope it will improve crime figures takes policing back 25 years. ‘It's likely in his condition he'd have agreed to anything.
‘Sean and his family are pleased that the IPCC upheld their complaint and the matter can be put to a close. ‘This goes as a warning that such behaviour will not be tolerated.’
His mother Angela Rosier, 42, yesterday slammed the decision of South Wales Police to allow the two officers to remain in their jobs. Mrs Rosier said: ‘I think it is disgusting, how can they keep their jobs, they're definitely in the wrong career.
‘Sean cannot believe how they are allowed to stay. ‘I'm not leaving it like this, I am going to take this as far I can and am currently talking to my solicitor about further action.’
Sean's brother Luke, 22, added: ‘This is not on is it? They really stitched Sean up and they should have got more than a slap on the wrist.’
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Monday, January 16, 2012
How Arkansas police 'forced innocent boy, 12, to confess to strangling his sister, 11'
A 12-year-old boy found guilty of murdering his 11-year-old sister said he was forced to confess to the murder after hours of 'terrifying' police interrogation - although he had nothing to do with it.
Police suspected Thomas Cogdell, now 18, had strangled his sister at their Camden, Arkansas home after his shock at her death stunned him into silence. Hours later, he admitted he was to blame.
Although found guilty, Cogdell insists he had no part in her murder and was coerced into a confession. After two years in jail, he was released when a judge found he was unfairly questioned.
During questioning following the 2006 crime, the boy - an intelligent bookworm - told police 36 times he had had no part in the killing. But when he asked for food, officers switched off the tape recorder. Three-and-a-half hours later they switched it on again - and Cogdell confessed to the murder.
They had allegedly used tactics such as threatening him with the death penalty. He was unaware a child cannot be sentenced to such a penalty.
He eventually told police he had snapped because his sister was bossy and he put the bags over her head to teach her a lesson, The Commerical Appeal reported. But in reality, he had made up the confession, believing that DNA evidence would clear him.
Police had told him they found a fingerprint on the plastic bags. He can be heard at the end of the recording whispering to his mother: 'I didn't do it. It's OK, Mom. They won't find my fingerprints.'
As it turned out, police were unable to read a clear print and the boy was found guilty of murdering his young sister as she slept.
'I was terrified,' Cogdell, now 18, said in a recent interview. 'They wouldn't believe me and they said they would give me the death penalty.'
The case is just the latest example fuelling the debate about whether police interrogations should be recorded.
In August 2006, Cogdell was awoken by his mother, Melody Jones. Together they found 11-year-old Kaylee sprawled on her bed.
Her head was covered with two Walmart bags, and she had been tied up with the family dog's lead and a measuring tape, The Commerical Appeal reported.
When his mother became too hysterical, he calmly called 911 and gave directions to their family home. Police dragged him in for questioning, turning their attentions away from his mother, who Cogdell and his grandparents insist is guilty of the murder.
Melody Jones admitted to police she had repeatedly smacked her daughter the night before her death when she refused to come home as she had been told. They ignored her confession that she was on Social Security disability due to mental illness, including bipolar disorder, and that she sometimes failed to take her medicine.
A video of the questioning show investigators repeatedly telling the boy: 'You or your mother did it.'
Although an unknown male's DNA was found on Kaylee, investigators ruled out the possibility of an intruder as there were no signs of a break in.
Cogdell said when the recorder was off, he was told he could go home if he told investigators he was to blame and he'd go to jail if he didn't, according to The Commerical Appeal.
But in at least 36 recorded denials, he is heard pleading with police. 'I wouldn't kill my sister. I didn't do it, OK?,' he said. 'I didn't. I didn't kill my sister. Is there any way I can prove that to you?'
Crying, he offered to swear on a Bible or take a polygraph test. One of the detectives asked: 'What are you crying for?' He responded: 'Because you are accusing me of something I didn't do -- of killing my sister.' When police left, Thomas let out shrill cries and said to himself: 'Why? ... I didn't do it, but they won't believe me. Help. I'm scared.'
He was eventually convicted of second-degree murder by a Ouachita County judge in March 2008.
The high court threw out the confession in 2010 - but on technical grounds as he had told police he didn't understand what it meant to waive his rights to remain silent and have an attorney with him. He served two years in jail but has not been cleared.
'I lost my faith in the justice system,' Cogdell said. 'I don't believe in any of it anymore.'
Memphis defense attorney Gray Bartlett told The Commerical Appeal that police are often trained in the type of military tactics used in questioning suspected terrorists. 'It's so contrary to common sense,' he said of false confessions. 'But what happens in these interrogation rooms is that they break down people's will.'
Steve Drizin, a lawyer with the Center on Wrongful Conviction of Youth, said: 'The interrogation is one of the most riveting examples of psychological torture I have ever seen.'
But prosecuting attorney Robin Carroll to the Appeal: 'No evidence or court holding has been forthcoming to cause my office to doubt anything done in the case, or its basis.'
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
A 12-year-old boy found guilty of murdering his 11-year-old sister said he was forced to confess to the murder after hours of 'terrifying' police interrogation - although he had nothing to do with it.
Police suspected Thomas Cogdell, now 18, had strangled his sister at their Camden, Arkansas home after his shock at her death stunned him into silence. Hours later, he admitted he was to blame.
Although found guilty, Cogdell insists he had no part in her murder and was coerced into a confession. After two years in jail, he was released when a judge found he was unfairly questioned.
During questioning following the 2006 crime, the boy - an intelligent bookworm - told police 36 times he had had no part in the killing. But when he asked for food, officers switched off the tape recorder. Three-and-a-half hours later they switched it on again - and Cogdell confessed to the murder.
They had allegedly used tactics such as threatening him with the death penalty. He was unaware a child cannot be sentenced to such a penalty.
He eventually told police he had snapped because his sister was bossy and he put the bags over her head to teach her a lesson, The Commerical Appeal reported. But in reality, he had made up the confession, believing that DNA evidence would clear him.
Police had told him they found a fingerprint on the plastic bags. He can be heard at the end of the recording whispering to his mother: 'I didn't do it. It's OK, Mom. They won't find my fingerprints.'
As it turned out, police were unable to read a clear print and the boy was found guilty of murdering his young sister as she slept.
'I was terrified,' Cogdell, now 18, said in a recent interview. 'They wouldn't believe me and they said they would give me the death penalty.'
The case is just the latest example fuelling the debate about whether police interrogations should be recorded.
In August 2006, Cogdell was awoken by his mother, Melody Jones. Together they found 11-year-old Kaylee sprawled on her bed.
Her head was covered with two Walmart bags, and she had been tied up with the family dog's lead and a measuring tape, The Commerical Appeal reported.
When his mother became too hysterical, he calmly called 911 and gave directions to their family home. Police dragged him in for questioning, turning their attentions away from his mother, who Cogdell and his grandparents insist is guilty of the murder.
Melody Jones admitted to police she had repeatedly smacked her daughter the night before her death when she refused to come home as she had been told. They ignored her confession that she was on Social Security disability due to mental illness, including bipolar disorder, and that she sometimes failed to take her medicine.
A video of the questioning show investigators repeatedly telling the boy: 'You or your mother did it.'
Although an unknown male's DNA was found on Kaylee, investigators ruled out the possibility of an intruder as there were no signs of a break in.
Cogdell said when the recorder was off, he was told he could go home if he told investigators he was to blame and he'd go to jail if he didn't, according to The Commerical Appeal.
But in at least 36 recorded denials, he is heard pleading with police. 'I wouldn't kill my sister. I didn't do it, OK?,' he said. 'I didn't. I didn't kill my sister. Is there any way I can prove that to you?'
Crying, he offered to swear on a Bible or take a polygraph test. One of the detectives asked: 'What are you crying for?' He responded: 'Because you are accusing me of something I didn't do -- of killing my sister.' When police left, Thomas let out shrill cries and said to himself: 'Why? ... I didn't do it, but they won't believe me. Help. I'm scared.'
He was eventually convicted of second-degree murder by a Ouachita County judge in March 2008.
The high court threw out the confession in 2010 - but on technical grounds as he had told police he didn't understand what it meant to waive his rights to remain silent and have an attorney with him. He served two years in jail but has not been cleared.
'I lost my faith in the justice system,' Cogdell said. 'I don't believe in any of it anymore.'
Memphis defense attorney Gray Bartlett told The Commerical Appeal that police are often trained in the type of military tactics used in questioning suspected terrorists. 'It's so contrary to common sense,' he said of false confessions. 'But what happens in these interrogation rooms is that they break down people's will.'
Steve Drizin, a lawyer with the Center on Wrongful Conviction of Youth, said: 'The interrogation is one of the most riveting examples of psychological torture I have ever seen.'
But prosecuting attorney Robin Carroll to the Appeal: 'No evidence or court holding has been forthcoming to cause my office to doubt anything done in the case, or its basis.'
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Sunday, January 15, 2012
I fought the law and I won: Clash roadie wins damages over racist beating by 19 British cops in 23-hour ordeal
He would have got millions in the USA
Don Lorenzo has been awarded damages for the physical and racial abuse he suffered at the hands of police. A former roadie for The Clash who was called a ‘f****** n***er’ as he was viciously assaulted by a group of policemen has won more than a year’s wages in damages.
The judge said he made the award to Don Lorenzo, a Rastafarian, to show ‘the courts and society’s disapproval of the racial slurs’.
Mr Lorenzo , 58, suffered cuts and bruises to his entire body in a 23-hour ordeal that happened outside his home and even in a police station after he was arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.
The incident in 2007, in which up to 19 officers were involved, left him with carpel tunnel syndrome in his wrists which ended his career as an African drummer.
Now in his case against West Midlands police a jury found in his favour following a six-day trial at Birmingham County Court.
The judge, Recorder Adrian Jack, awarded the former freelance drummer - a roadie for rock legends The Clash, who sang the hit I Fought The Law And The Law Won - damages totalling £17,000 - including £5,000 in aggravated damage.
He also awarded Mr Lorenzo 100 per cent of his costs estimated in the region of £50,000 against the Chief Constable of the West Midlands.
Mr Jack also pointed out that Mr Lorenzo’s ‘extreme distress’ was ‘excacerbated by the racial abuse received on arrest’.
After the award his solicitor Nick Turner said: ‘I’ve dealt with some cases of assault by police in my time, but this is tinged with terrible racism and leaves an awful taste in the mouth.
‘An innocent father was dealt with in a deplorable way and that was partly to do with the colour of his skin. ‘The case against the police was black and white and the jury rightly found in Mr Lorenzo’s favour.’
On November 20, 2007, Mr Lorenzo’s teenage daughter called the police falsely alleging he’d hit her when he arrived home in Edgbaston, Birmingham, accompanied by the caretaker for his block of flats. His daughter Kaya, now 20, had no marks on her and Don thought the police would tell her off for wasting their time.
But instead began a 23-hour ordeal with him being racially abused and assaulted numerous times by police officers, the court was told.
He was punched in the mouth several times, kicked and dragged down five flights of stairs from his fifth storey home and then when taken to Bournville Lane Police Station - where he was assaulted again, the court heard.
After his victory in court Don said: ‘All along I realised what was going on and that my action was against all the odds. ‘I am a realist and I knew that there was just me saying that 19 police officers were wrong.
‘I was acquitted in the criminal courts and this case was no different. The police officers have been shown to be racist. ‘They were shown to have called me a f***ing n***er when I was on the floor outside my home.
‘They continually racially abused me as they dragged me down the stairs. But justice has now been done with the jury finding in my favour and the judge awarding substantial damages.’
Mr Turner added: ‘The costs for bringing this claim are expected to be in the region of £50,000 on each side - that’s a bill of £100,000 for the British taxpayer.
‘There should be no place in society for racists, to find them in the police force is absolutely sickening. ‘Whilst the Metropolitan Police appear to be learning the lessons of the Macpherson Report they are clearly very hard of hearing in the West Midlands. ‘This was a very highly violent, racist assault by officers of the West Midlands force on a UK citizen with Afro-Caribbean heritage and it was compounded by his false imprisonment for more than 23 hours.
‘It is astonishing that the police have never once apologised for their actions - particularly with the damages being fixed so close to the conviction of Gary Dobson and David Norris for the murder of Stephen Lawrence when abhorrent racism is so prominent on our agenda as a society.’
West Midlands Police requested leave to appeal. The force could not be reached for comment.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
He would have got millions in the USA
Don Lorenzo has been awarded damages for the physical and racial abuse he suffered at the hands of police. A former roadie for The Clash who was called a ‘f****** n***er’ as he was viciously assaulted by a group of policemen has won more than a year’s wages in damages.
The judge said he made the award to Don Lorenzo, a Rastafarian, to show ‘the courts and society’s disapproval of the racial slurs’.
Mr Lorenzo , 58, suffered cuts and bruises to his entire body in a 23-hour ordeal that happened outside his home and even in a police station after he was arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.
The incident in 2007, in which up to 19 officers were involved, left him with carpel tunnel syndrome in his wrists which ended his career as an African drummer.
Now in his case against West Midlands police a jury found in his favour following a six-day trial at Birmingham County Court.
The judge, Recorder Adrian Jack, awarded the former freelance drummer - a roadie for rock legends The Clash, who sang the hit I Fought The Law And The Law Won - damages totalling £17,000 - including £5,000 in aggravated damage.
He also awarded Mr Lorenzo 100 per cent of his costs estimated in the region of £50,000 against the Chief Constable of the West Midlands.
Mr Jack also pointed out that Mr Lorenzo’s ‘extreme distress’ was ‘excacerbated by the racial abuse received on arrest’.
After the award his solicitor Nick Turner said: ‘I’ve dealt with some cases of assault by police in my time, but this is tinged with terrible racism and leaves an awful taste in the mouth.
‘An innocent father was dealt with in a deplorable way and that was partly to do with the colour of his skin. ‘The case against the police was black and white and the jury rightly found in Mr Lorenzo’s favour.’
On November 20, 2007, Mr Lorenzo’s teenage daughter called the police falsely alleging he’d hit her when he arrived home in Edgbaston, Birmingham, accompanied by the caretaker for his block of flats. His daughter Kaya, now 20, had no marks on her and Don thought the police would tell her off for wasting their time.
But instead began a 23-hour ordeal with him being racially abused and assaulted numerous times by police officers, the court was told.
He was punched in the mouth several times, kicked and dragged down five flights of stairs from his fifth storey home and then when taken to Bournville Lane Police Station - where he was assaulted again, the court heard.
After his victory in court Don said: ‘All along I realised what was going on and that my action was against all the odds. ‘I am a realist and I knew that there was just me saying that 19 police officers were wrong.
‘I was acquitted in the criminal courts and this case was no different. The police officers have been shown to be racist. ‘They were shown to have called me a f***ing n***er when I was on the floor outside my home.
‘They continually racially abused me as they dragged me down the stairs. But justice has now been done with the jury finding in my favour and the judge awarding substantial damages.’
Mr Turner added: ‘The costs for bringing this claim are expected to be in the region of £50,000 on each side - that’s a bill of £100,000 for the British taxpayer.
‘There should be no place in society for racists, to find them in the police force is absolutely sickening. ‘Whilst the Metropolitan Police appear to be learning the lessons of the Macpherson Report they are clearly very hard of hearing in the West Midlands. ‘This was a very highly violent, racist assault by officers of the West Midlands force on a UK citizen with Afro-Caribbean heritage and it was compounded by his false imprisonment for more than 23 hours.
‘It is astonishing that the police have never once apologised for their actions - particularly with the damages being fixed so close to the conviction of Gary Dobson and David Norris for the murder of Stephen Lawrence when abhorrent racism is so prominent on our agenda as a society.’
West Midlands Police requested leave to appeal. The force could not be reached for comment.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Iraq war veteran captures police brutality on mobile phone
An Iraq war veteran has captured dramatic footage of a police officer punching a homeless woman in the face on a city bus back home in Los Angeles.
Police are investigating the assault after Jeremiah Green shot the video on his mobile phone and smuggled the memory card past the officers when they demanded it.
Mr Green was able to pass the card into his mouth while smoking and then to his fiancée with a kiss.
“It turned my stomach,” he said. “You just don’t just swing and sock someone in the face. I think that’s real uncalled for.”
The attack happened after the homeless woman – believed to be mentally ill - called the deputy sheriff a "big shot".
Original report here. A somewhat longer account here. The cops are toughing it out so far.
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
An Iraq war veteran has captured dramatic footage of a police officer punching a homeless woman in the face on a city bus back home in Los Angeles.
Police are investigating the assault after Jeremiah Green shot the video on his mobile phone and smuggled the memory card past the officers when they demanded it.
Mr Green was able to pass the card into his mouth while smoking and then to his fiancée with a kiss.
“It turned my stomach,” he said. “You just don’t just swing and sock someone in the face. I think that’s real uncalled for.”
The attack happened after the homeless woman – believed to be mentally ill - called the deputy sheriff a "big shot".
Original report here. A somewhat longer account here. The cops are toughing it out so far.
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Friday, January 13, 2012
NJ: Man beaten by Passaic cop got $350,000 settlement
Ronnie Holloway, the schizophrenic man beaten by Passaic Police Officer Joseph Rios III during an arrest two years ago, accepted a $350,000 settlement earlier this year in which he agreed not to sue the city, documents show.
The settlement, obtained by The Record and Herald News on Friday, precludes Holloway or any of his heirs from collecting further damages from the city, the Passaic Police Department, Rios, or his partner during the arrest, Erica Rivera.
Rios was acquitted last week of police brutality charges in state court, and the settlement prohibits Holloway from any further legal action, such as filing a civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court. The settlement also releases the city from responsibility for future medical costs associated with the beating.
Taxpayers are still not off the hook, however. Rios was suspended for two years without pay while awaiting trial. Now that he's been acquitted, Rios is seeking reinstatement — and that will likely cost the city nearly $200,000 in back pay, based on his salary of $97,294.
"Our position is that Officer Rios should be reinstated as soon as we work out the details," said his attorney, Anthony Iacullo. "We plan to meet with Mayor Blanco, the City Council and Chief Diaz sometime next week."
The city is not expected to oppose Rios' reinstatement, although the timing of his return to the department could not be worse. The city is stuck in a budget crisis and planning the layoff of 45 employees beginning Aug. 14.
Rios, a seven-year veteran of the Passaic Police Department and an Iraq war veteran, was accused of beating Holloway, a diagnosed schizophrenic, after spotting the man standing on the corner of Main Avenue and Sumner Street around 11 a.m. on May 29, 2009. Rios was riding with Rivera, who spotted the man with no shirt on underneath his hooded sweat shirt and ordered him to "zip up."
When Holloway didn't immediately comply and words were exchanged, Rios got out of his squad car and repeatedly beat Holloway with his nightstick, then threw him across the hood of the car. Holloway was arrested, spent the night in jail, but was never charged.
The altercation was captured on a surveillance video camera located outside a tavern on the corner. The incident made national headlines when the video went viral, and the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office began an investigation, which led to his indictment on charges of aggravated assault and official misconduct.
After a nine-day bench trial, Judge Donald J. Volkert Jr. cleared Rios of both charges. In his verdict, Volkert acknowledged that the video shows Rios using a lot of force, but said it was a "textbook" case of police using their power to subdue an unruly man.
Many Passaic residents disagree and are threatening to protest at City Hall when Iacullo meets with city officials next week.
"That's going to open up a whole can of worms," said Kasim Washington, a community activist and onetime City Council candidate. Washington says it would be dangerous for Rios to be put back on patrol.
"We don't want him coming back wearing a Superman's 'S' on his chest," Washington said. "Think about the first time he has to make an arrest. Our position is that he should be transferred out of the city. We don't want him in the city no more."
Holloway, who lived with his mother on Burgess Place off Main Avenue, has since moved. The settlement agreement precludes him, his friends or any family member from talking about the case to the media.
Keith Furlong, a spokesman for the city, said the city had no legal grounds to oppose Rios' reinstatement. But as of late Friday he hadn't heard of any meeting between Rios and city officials.
Original report here
Another account of what happened:
New Jersey cops appear to specialize in unprovoked assaults on harmless people who suffer from mental illness.
On May 29, 2009, Ronnie Holloway was standing on a street corner near a restaurant when Officers Joseph Rios III and Erica Rivera pulled up in a cop car and berated the 49-year-old man for having his jacket unzipped. As is usually the case in such encounters, things went dramatically downhill in a hurry.
Rios, an Iraq combat veteran, appeared to be on "contact patrol" – that is, prowling the neighborhood looking for an excuse to throw somebody to the ground. Holloway, an unassuming man on medication for schizophrenia, presented a perfect target of opportunity.
A video recording of the event shows Holloway meekly zipping up his jacket. As he did so, Rivera exits the vehicle and distracts Holloway while Rios blind-sides him, slamming him to the ground and beating him repeatedly with his fists and baton. After a brief pause, Holloway – who is clearly terrified, but not putting up any physical resistance – is able to rise to his feet before being slammed onto the hood of the police car.
"I didn't know if I was going to see tomorrow at that point," Holloway later said of the assault, which left him battered and bloody and with a serious injury to one of his eyes. The beating continued until backup – in the form of two additional police cars – arrived to help drag Holloway off to jail.
Despite the fact that he had behaved like a properly docile Mundane, absorbing an unprovoked beating without making any effort to flee or fight back, Holloway was charged with resisting arrest and "wandering," supposedly in search of narcotics.
In filing their official report of the incident, Rios and his partner did what police in such circumstances always do: They committed perjury in the form of "creative writing." Rios claimed that when he and Rivera told Holloway to leave the corner, Holloway "verbally challenged" them. "Step on the sidewalk, you'll see," Holloway supposedly said to Rios, assuming a "fighting stance" as he did so.
Rios had no right or authority to demand that Holloway – who had done nothing to anybody – leave the street corner. It's also clear from the video that the beating began before Holloway would have had an opportunity to fling a verbal "challenge" at Rios. Some measure of Rios's reliability as a witness is found in the fact that his Use of Force Report claims that Holloway wasn't injured in the attack.
After the May 29 assault was publicized, the Passaic Police Department "pulled a Mubarak," as it were: They defied public outrage for as long as possible, keeping Rios on active duty, and then suspending both Rios and Rivera (the latter for failing a fraudulent claim of a job-related injury during the incident) when the outrage failed to dissipate.
Owing entirely to public pressure put on the Passaic municipal government, Rios has been charged with aggravated assault and official misconduct. He has entered a plea of "not guilty by virtue of a government-provided wardrobe." "I did what was proper," lied Rios in a June 2009 press conference. "I did what I was trained to do under circumstances that existed at that time. I stand by my actions."
His attorney, Anthony J. Iacullo, defended the assault as a pre-emptive strike against some unspecified threat posed by an uppity Mundane: "Based upon what Officer Rios feared might happen, and based upon his not submitting to arrest, the actions were taken."
Holloway's "resistance" consisted of cringing and covering up in confusion and terror as Rios rained down punches and baton strikes. In New Jersey – as is the case elsewhere in the Soyuz – even such minimal and reflexive attempts to protect one's self from State-sanctified violence is treated as a criminal offense.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Ronnie Holloway, the schizophrenic man beaten by Passaic Police Officer Joseph Rios III during an arrest two years ago, accepted a $350,000 settlement earlier this year in which he agreed not to sue the city, documents show.
The settlement, obtained by The Record and Herald News on Friday, precludes Holloway or any of his heirs from collecting further damages from the city, the Passaic Police Department, Rios, or his partner during the arrest, Erica Rivera.
Rios was acquitted last week of police brutality charges in state court, and the settlement prohibits Holloway from any further legal action, such as filing a civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court. The settlement also releases the city from responsibility for future medical costs associated with the beating.
Taxpayers are still not off the hook, however. Rios was suspended for two years without pay while awaiting trial. Now that he's been acquitted, Rios is seeking reinstatement — and that will likely cost the city nearly $200,000 in back pay, based on his salary of $97,294.
"Our position is that Officer Rios should be reinstated as soon as we work out the details," said his attorney, Anthony Iacullo. "We plan to meet with Mayor Blanco, the City Council and Chief Diaz sometime next week."
The city is not expected to oppose Rios' reinstatement, although the timing of his return to the department could not be worse. The city is stuck in a budget crisis and planning the layoff of 45 employees beginning Aug. 14.
Rios, a seven-year veteran of the Passaic Police Department and an Iraq war veteran, was accused of beating Holloway, a diagnosed schizophrenic, after spotting the man standing on the corner of Main Avenue and Sumner Street around 11 a.m. on May 29, 2009. Rios was riding with Rivera, who spotted the man with no shirt on underneath his hooded sweat shirt and ordered him to "zip up."
When Holloway didn't immediately comply and words were exchanged, Rios got out of his squad car and repeatedly beat Holloway with his nightstick, then threw him across the hood of the car. Holloway was arrested, spent the night in jail, but was never charged.
The altercation was captured on a surveillance video camera located outside a tavern on the corner. The incident made national headlines when the video went viral, and the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office began an investigation, which led to his indictment on charges of aggravated assault and official misconduct.
After a nine-day bench trial, Judge Donald J. Volkert Jr. cleared Rios of both charges. In his verdict, Volkert acknowledged that the video shows Rios using a lot of force, but said it was a "textbook" case of police using their power to subdue an unruly man.
Many Passaic residents disagree and are threatening to protest at City Hall when Iacullo meets with city officials next week.
"That's going to open up a whole can of worms," said Kasim Washington, a community activist and onetime City Council candidate. Washington says it would be dangerous for Rios to be put back on patrol.
"We don't want him coming back wearing a Superman's 'S' on his chest," Washington said. "Think about the first time he has to make an arrest. Our position is that he should be transferred out of the city. We don't want him in the city no more."
Holloway, who lived with his mother on Burgess Place off Main Avenue, has since moved. The settlement agreement precludes him, his friends or any family member from talking about the case to the media.
Keith Furlong, a spokesman for the city, said the city had no legal grounds to oppose Rios' reinstatement. But as of late Friday he hadn't heard of any meeting between Rios and city officials.
Original report here
Another account of what happened:
New Jersey cops appear to specialize in unprovoked assaults on harmless people who suffer from mental illness.
On May 29, 2009, Ronnie Holloway was standing on a street corner near a restaurant when Officers Joseph Rios III and Erica Rivera pulled up in a cop car and berated the 49-year-old man for having his jacket unzipped. As is usually the case in such encounters, things went dramatically downhill in a hurry.
Rios, an Iraq combat veteran, appeared to be on "contact patrol" – that is, prowling the neighborhood looking for an excuse to throw somebody to the ground. Holloway, an unassuming man on medication for schizophrenia, presented a perfect target of opportunity.
A video recording of the event shows Holloway meekly zipping up his jacket. As he did so, Rivera exits the vehicle and distracts Holloway while Rios blind-sides him, slamming him to the ground and beating him repeatedly with his fists and baton. After a brief pause, Holloway – who is clearly terrified, but not putting up any physical resistance – is able to rise to his feet before being slammed onto the hood of the police car.
"I didn't know if I was going to see tomorrow at that point," Holloway later said of the assault, which left him battered and bloody and with a serious injury to one of his eyes. The beating continued until backup – in the form of two additional police cars – arrived to help drag Holloway off to jail.
Despite the fact that he had behaved like a properly docile Mundane, absorbing an unprovoked beating without making any effort to flee or fight back, Holloway was charged with resisting arrest and "wandering," supposedly in search of narcotics.
In filing their official report of the incident, Rios and his partner did what police in such circumstances always do: They committed perjury in the form of "creative writing." Rios claimed that when he and Rivera told Holloway to leave the corner, Holloway "verbally challenged" them. "Step on the sidewalk, you'll see," Holloway supposedly said to Rios, assuming a "fighting stance" as he did so.
Rios had no right or authority to demand that Holloway – who had done nothing to anybody – leave the street corner. It's also clear from the video that the beating began before Holloway would have had an opportunity to fling a verbal "challenge" at Rios. Some measure of Rios's reliability as a witness is found in the fact that his Use of Force Report claims that Holloway wasn't injured in the attack.
After the May 29 assault was publicized, the Passaic Police Department "pulled a Mubarak," as it were: They defied public outrage for as long as possible, keeping Rios on active duty, and then suspending both Rios and Rivera (the latter for failing a fraudulent claim of a job-related injury during the incident) when the outrage failed to dissipate.
Owing entirely to public pressure put on the Passaic municipal government, Rios has been charged with aggravated assault and official misconduct. He has entered a plea of "not guilty by virtue of a government-provided wardrobe." "I did what was proper," lied Rios in a June 2009 press conference. "I did what I was trained to do under circumstances that existed at that time. I stand by my actions."
His attorney, Anthony J. Iacullo, defended the assault as a pre-emptive strike against some unspecified threat posed by an uppity Mundane: "Based upon what Officer Rios feared might happen, and based upon his not submitting to arrest, the actions were taken."
Holloway's "resistance" consisted of cringing and covering up in confusion and terror as Rios rained down punches and baton strikes. In New Jersey – as is the case elsewhere in the Soyuz – even such minimal and reflexive attempts to protect one's self from State-sanctified violence is treated as a criminal offense.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Thursday, January 12, 2012
NY: Testimony continues in wrongful conviction suit
Coerced confession
A man wrongfully convicted of trying to kill his wife was back in court. Daniel Gristwood is suing the state for his time in prison. Back in 1995, he was conviction of attempted murder, which was overturned after another man confessed. Our Iris St. Meran was in court and tells us what Gristwood has to say about how this experience impacted his life.
Daniel Gristwood became a free man in 2005, after being wrongfully convicted of attempting to kill his wife with a claw hammer in 1996 in the Town of Clay.
Another man, Mastho Davis, confessed to the crime. Now Gristwood is seeking damages from the state for that wrongful conviction.
During day two of his damages trial, Gristwood testified post-prison life has been difficult.
Gristwood said, "Instead of having road rage, I think I get store rage. I get so claustrophobic. I don't like being around people. I don't even like leaving the house. That's why my garage is there because I feel comfortable in my own little domain."
He was also questioned about his relationship with his five children. He says he missed some important milestones in their lives. He also testified about not being able to find steady work after being released.
Gristwood told the court he was broke and had to turn in his 401K in 2005 and had limited income last year. "Maybe $10,000 or $15,000,” Gristwood said. “I had a very low income."
After his testimony, an economist, Professor Daniel McGowan, took the stand. He had estimates of Gristwood's monetary loss of earnings while in prison, calling the estimate conservative.
"The total nominal amount, it is not present value. The total nominal dollars for each of the future years lost is summed together was $1,536,626," said McGowan.
What Gristwood will actually get is up to the court and that decision could take months.
The trial continues Wednesday. Others expected to take the stand are Gristwood's son, brother and a social worker.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Coerced confession
A man wrongfully convicted of trying to kill his wife was back in court. Daniel Gristwood is suing the state for his time in prison. Back in 1995, he was conviction of attempted murder, which was overturned after another man confessed. Our Iris St. Meran was in court and tells us what Gristwood has to say about how this experience impacted his life.
Daniel Gristwood became a free man in 2005, after being wrongfully convicted of attempting to kill his wife with a claw hammer in 1996 in the Town of Clay.
Another man, Mastho Davis, confessed to the crime. Now Gristwood is seeking damages from the state for that wrongful conviction.
During day two of his damages trial, Gristwood testified post-prison life has been difficult.
Gristwood said, "Instead of having road rage, I think I get store rage. I get so claustrophobic. I don't like being around people. I don't even like leaving the house. That's why my garage is there because I feel comfortable in my own little domain."
He was also questioned about his relationship with his five children. He says he missed some important milestones in their lives. He also testified about not being able to find steady work after being released.
Gristwood told the court he was broke and had to turn in his 401K in 2005 and had limited income last year. "Maybe $10,000 or $15,000,” Gristwood said. “I had a very low income."
After his testimony, an economist, Professor Daniel McGowan, took the stand. He had estimates of Gristwood's monetary loss of earnings while in prison, calling the estimate conservative.
"The total nominal amount, it is not present value. The total nominal dollars for each of the future years lost is summed together was $1,536,626," said McGowan.
What Gristwood will actually get is up to the court and that decision could take months.
The trial continues Wednesday. Others expected to take the stand are Gristwood's son, brother and a social worker.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
British cop forced to say sorry for church leader’s wrongful arrest from pulpit during service
A policeman was forced to apologise from a church pulpit after a woman was wrongfully arrested for assault. Detective Sergeant Nick Westwood publicly said sorry to church leader Alison Richardson after a court made the Metropolitan Police pay her compensation.
Mrs Richardson, 43, was arrested at her home in Croydon, South London, in February 2008 after calling the police to stop bailiffs clamping the family car in a dispute over a fine.
But she was arrested after an officer claimed to have been punched in the face. She was convicted and given a community service order.
However, she was exonerated on appeal by a judge who queried the police’s evidence.
Mrs Richardson sued the Met, highlighting how she had to step down from her church role after losing her criminal records bureau accreditation.
On Saturday, the Met sent Mr Westwood to apologise at Greenwich Seventh Day Adventist Church in London. He said: ‘I hope that this apology goes some way to putting to rest formally and finally the upset and distress that the Richardsons as a family have had.’
In February 2008, Mrs Richardson called police to her Croydon home as bailiffs tried to clamp a car belonging to her husband Clive. They were trying to recoup a traffic penalty linked to a church minibus that was briefly registered to him.
Up to eight police officers arrived and Mrs Richardson was arrested after a woman officer claimed she had been punched in the face. The churchgoer was held in custody for eight hours before being charged with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. She was convicted after a crown court trial and a judge ordered her to work for free in the community.
But she appealed and was exonerated by another judge who questioned the police evidence and found officers had unlawfully entered her home.
Mrs Richardson then sued the Met highlighting how the case forced her to step down from her church role as she lost her criminal records bureau accreditation.
Standing in the pulpit, Mr Westwood said it is ‘only right and proper’ to apologise when mistakes are made. ‘It is not surprising when on a day to day basis there are so many police officers and so many people they come into contact with that we get things wrong occasionally,' he said. ‘It is only right and proper that when we make mistakes and errors we are willing to apologise and put those mistakes right.’
His four-minute speech was punctuated with shouts of ‘Amen’ and murmurs of approval before ending with an embrace from the Richardsons.
Speaking afterwards, Mrs Richardson, who has three daughters, said: ‘I felt that the apology was humble and genuine. ‘The apology was necessary because of the humiliation, disgrace and embarrassment that I experienced when I was arrested, charged, tried and convicted of assaulting a police officer, a false allegation of a crime that I had clearly not committed.
‘The public apology helps to heal the wounds and also to close this traumatic chapter, so that I can move forward with my family and get on with my life.’
Last night, Mrs Richardson’s solicitor Terence Channer said: ‘Central to this case was Mrs Richardson’s exemplary character in contrast to the unlawful actions of the officers.’
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
A policeman was forced to apologise from a church pulpit after a woman was wrongfully arrested for assault. Detective Sergeant Nick Westwood publicly said sorry to church leader Alison Richardson after a court made the Metropolitan Police pay her compensation.
Mrs Richardson, 43, was arrested at her home in Croydon, South London, in February 2008 after calling the police to stop bailiffs clamping the family car in a dispute over a fine.
But she was arrested after an officer claimed to have been punched in the face. She was convicted and given a community service order.
However, she was exonerated on appeal by a judge who queried the police’s evidence.
Mrs Richardson sued the Met, highlighting how she had to step down from her church role after losing her criminal records bureau accreditation.
On Saturday, the Met sent Mr Westwood to apologise at Greenwich Seventh Day Adventist Church in London. He said: ‘I hope that this apology goes some way to putting to rest formally and finally the upset and distress that the Richardsons as a family have had.’
In February 2008, Mrs Richardson called police to her Croydon home as bailiffs tried to clamp a car belonging to her husband Clive. They were trying to recoup a traffic penalty linked to a church minibus that was briefly registered to him.
Up to eight police officers arrived and Mrs Richardson was arrested after a woman officer claimed she had been punched in the face. The churchgoer was held in custody for eight hours before being charged with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. She was convicted after a crown court trial and a judge ordered her to work for free in the community.
But she appealed and was exonerated by another judge who questioned the police evidence and found officers had unlawfully entered her home.
Mrs Richardson then sued the Met highlighting how the case forced her to step down from her church role as she lost her criminal records bureau accreditation.
Standing in the pulpit, Mr Westwood said it is ‘only right and proper’ to apologise when mistakes are made. ‘It is not surprising when on a day to day basis there are so many police officers and so many people they come into contact with that we get things wrong occasionally,' he said. ‘It is only right and proper that when we make mistakes and errors we are willing to apologise and put those mistakes right.’
His four-minute speech was punctuated with shouts of ‘Amen’ and murmurs of approval before ending with an embrace from the Richardsons.
Speaking afterwards, Mrs Richardson, who has three daughters, said: ‘I felt that the apology was humble and genuine. ‘The apology was necessary because of the humiliation, disgrace and embarrassment that I experienced when I was arrested, charged, tried and convicted of assaulting a police officer, a false allegation of a crime that I had clearly not committed.
‘The public apology helps to heal the wounds and also to close this traumatic chapter, so that I can move forward with my family and get on with my life.’
Last night, Mrs Richardson’s solicitor Terence Channer said: ‘Central to this case was Mrs Richardson’s exemplary character in contrast to the unlawful actions of the officers.’
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Piracy in Virginia
The Washington Post recently ran an editorial denouncing the treatment of Victor Ramos Guzman and the process by which Mr Guzman and the parishioners of his church, Nuevo Renacer, were relieved of their money by the Virginia State Police. We recommend the editorial but would like to add some commentary and a few clarifying details based on the accounts relayed to us.
On November 1st, Victor Ramos Guzman and Jose Jeronimo Sorto were driving a rental vehicle on Interstate 95. Their church had raised money to buy a trailer and a parcel of land. Guzman and Sorto were transporting $28,500 in church donations to make the purchases on behalf of Nuevo Renacer.
They were pulled over on I-95 by a Virginia State Trooper, CL Murphy, after the officer ran parallel to them. The trooper did not issue any tickets or warnings to Guzman or Sorto. However, the trooper asked if they had anything in the car. They informed him of the church donations. Trooper Murphy checked their papers, legal status, rental information, et cetera. Having found no violations, the trooper also called the FBI and ICE. The FBI declined involvement. The officer confiscated the cash and issued a receipt for it.
Guzman and Sorto were told by Trooper Murphy that the seizure was being executed “on order of ICE” but that no ICE agents were available because they were in a meeting. Guzman asked that they contact the church to verify their account of the currency trooper Murphy declined to do so and, apparently, told them to shut up. They were also told that they would be contacted by ICE Norfolk.
Having not been contacted by ICE or the Virginia State Patrol, the church contacted attorney Claudia Flower on November 4th. Flower contacted the state police and ICE. ICE, at that point, declined involvement. Later that day, Flower was able to talk to CL Murphy. Flower inquired of the probable cause for the seizure and was told
This wouldn’t seem to be such a problem as they also told officer Murphy that they were members of the church (Guzman being the Secretary of the church), transporting the money for the church, and possessed and showed a 501(c)(3) IRS letter of recognition for the church.
Which wouldn’t seem to be much of a problem as many people regularly commute between Baltimore and Virginia.
That might be. Ramos was, apparently, told to shut up when explaining their story and had $28,500 of his church’s money lifted from him by an officer of the law. Confusion seems like one of many understandable emotions. Anger and frustration would seem understandable as well.
Guzman and Sorto were driving south bound towards Fayettville, and then to Atlanta, GA as they had told the officer. They knew where they were going and why.
Murphy then stated to Flower, ”People lie to me all the time why do I need to listen to you? The money was seized on behalf of ICE, J.T. Slayton of ICE Norfolk, maybe the chain of command does not know because he has not had time to file a report.”
Murphy then yelled at Flower and hung up.
Flower contacted us at Americans for Forfeiture Reform seeking recommendations on a forfeiture attorney in Virginia. We contacted David B. Smith. Smith offered to represent Mr Guzman, Mr Sorto, and Nuevo Renacer for free.
Most people are effectively precluded from fighting these seizures. Mr Guzman, Mr Sorto, and Nuevo Renacer have received pro bono counsel from Claudia Flower and David B. Smith. Smith is one of the top forfeiture attorneys in the country, a leading expert on forfeiture rules and practices, the former supervisor for forfeiture litigation in the US Attorneys Office, and the Chairman of the Forfeiture Committee in the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Flower is a committed advocate and a former DHS prosecutor. Our friends at the Institute for Justice have also joined the fight. Few victims of civil forfeiture have such attorneys at their disposal. Far fewer have such attorneys donate their services.
We raise their credentials not so much to praise (although that can and should be done) but to question: What shot does a normal person have without an accomplished pro bono legal team and an easily verifiable story? How bad have civil forfeiture practices become that the government isn’t sufficiently shamed (and scared) to return church donations seized without cause, when it can easily verify that the seized funds are church donations?
Too often, victi are left with the choice of either hiring prohibitively expensive counsel (after their funds have been seized… frequently starving them of access to effective counsel) or attempting to navigate the complex, uncertain forfeiture laws on their own. Uncertain because current practice is to share custody of forfeiture cases, vacillating between state and federal custody for convenience and gain. These custody vacillations make it easier for law enforcement to seize property, more difficult for you to defend your property, and make it more profitable for law enforcement to commit seizures (sometimes by explicitly circumventing state law).
Mr Guzman has an obvious and traceable path for the money, complete with collaborating parishioner testimony. Mr Guzman has signed an affidavit attesting to the source of the currency seized. The Nuevo Renacer church confirms the story. The parishioners confirm the story. They even have the donation envelopes to confirm the story. The currency seized hasn’t been accused of any crime. Yet, the government retains the money. If being able to verify the legitimate source of currency isn’t enough to accomplish the return of seized property, what is? How many people are having their possessions taken that can’t afford to fight the government, or are scared to do so, or estimate the fight as a pointless and unwinnable endeavor? The story of the seized church money is a modern low. Formerly, we existed in an environment where property was regularly seized on mere accusation and/or mere suspicion. In this case, there is no accusation and the suspicion has been refuted. Yet, the government retains the money. Is the idea of private property a retired notion? The government’s retention of the church money implies that we are merely holding on to our possessions until, or if, a government agency wants to claim it.
According to the Washington Post editorial, the police are now claiming that Guzman and Sorto were travelling 86 mph in a 70 mph zone. If that were the case, the officer would have, presumably, written a ticket. There is no evidence to corroborate the accusation of speeding. Indeed, there is evidence against the accusation. Guzman’s affidavit claims that they were pulled over after the trooper ran parallel. The absence of so much as a warning implies-given the excessive speed now claimed and the tesstimony that the trooper ran parallel first- that no such speeding took place. Even if there were evidence of speeding, it should not provide sufficient cause to seize the parishioner’s funds.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
The Washington Post recently ran an editorial denouncing the treatment of Victor Ramos Guzman and the process by which Mr Guzman and the parishioners of his church, Nuevo Renacer, were relieved of their money by the Virginia State Police. We recommend the editorial but would like to add some commentary and a few clarifying details based on the accounts relayed to us.
On November 1st, Victor Ramos Guzman and Jose Jeronimo Sorto were driving a rental vehicle on Interstate 95. Their church had raised money to buy a trailer and a parcel of land. Guzman and Sorto were transporting $28,500 in church donations to make the purchases on behalf of Nuevo Renacer.
They were pulled over on I-95 by a Virginia State Trooper, CL Murphy, after the officer ran parallel to them. The trooper did not issue any tickets or warnings to Guzman or Sorto. However, the trooper asked if they had anything in the car. They informed him of the church donations. Trooper Murphy checked their papers, legal status, rental information, et cetera. Having found no violations, the trooper also called the FBI and ICE. The FBI declined involvement. The officer confiscated the cash and issued a receipt for it.
Guzman and Sorto were told by Trooper Murphy that the seizure was being executed “on order of ICE” but that no ICE agents were available because they were in a meeting. Guzman asked that they contact the church to verify their account of the currency trooper Murphy declined to do so and, apparently, told them to shut up. They were also told that they would be contacted by ICE Norfolk.
Having not been contacted by ICE or the Virginia State Patrol, the church contacted attorney Claudia Flower on November 4th. Flower contacted the state police and ICE. ICE, at that point, declined involvement. Later that day, Flower was able to talk to CL Murphy. Flower inquired of the probable cause for the seizure and was told
1) The members stated that the cash was not theirs but belonged to the church.
This wouldn’t seem to be such a problem as they also told officer Murphy that they were members of the church (Guzman being the Secretary of the church), transporting the money for the church, and possessed and showed a 501(c)(3) IRS letter of recognition for the church.
2) The church was located in Baltimore MD, while the address of the individuals was in Virginia.
Which wouldn’t seem to be much of a problem as many people regularly commute between Baltimore and Virginia.
3) Guzman and Sorto appeared confused.
That might be. Ramos was, apparently, told to shut up when explaining their story and had $28,500 of his church’s money lifted from him by an officer of the law. Confusion seems like one of many understandable emotions. Anger and frustration would seem understandable as well.
4) Guzman and Sorto did not know where they were going.
Guzman and Sorto were driving south bound towards Fayettville, and then to Atlanta, GA as they had told the officer. They knew where they were going and why.
Murphy then stated to Flower, ”People lie to me all the time why do I need to listen to you? The money was seized on behalf of ICE, J.T. Slayton of ICE Norfolk, maybe the chain of command does not know because he has not had time to file a report.”
Murphy then yelled at Flower and hung up.
Flower contacted us at Americans for Forfeiture Reform seeking recommendations on a forfeiture attorney in Virginia. We contacted David B. Smith. Smith offered to represent Mr Guzman, Mr Sorto, and Nuevo Renacer for free.
Most people are effectively precluded from fighting these seizures. Mr Guzman, Mr Sorto, and Nuevo Renacer have received pro bono counsel from Claudia Flower and David B. Smith. Smith is one of the top forfeiture attorneys in the country, a leading expert on forfeiture rules and practices, the former supervisor for forfeiture litigation in the US Attorneys Office, and the Chairman of the Forfeiture Committee in the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Flower is a committed advocate and a former DHS prosecutor. Our friends at the Institute for Justice have also joined the fight. Few victims of civil forfeiture have such attorneys at their disposal. Far fewer have such attorneys donate their services.
We raise their credentials not so much to praise (although that can and should be done) but to question: What shot does a normal person have without an accomplished pro bono legal team and an easily verifiable story? How bad have civil forfeiture practices become that the government isn’t sufficiently shamed (and scared) to return church donations seized without cause, when it can easily verify that the seized funds are church donations?
Too often, victi are left with the choice of either hiring prohibitively expensive counsel (after their funds have been seized… frequently starving them of access to effective counsel) or attempting to navigate the complex, uncertain forfeiture laws on their own. Uncertain because current practice is to share custody of forfeiture cases, vacillating between state and federal custody for convenience and gain. These custody vacillations make it easier for law enforcement to seize property, more difficult for you to defend your property, and make it more profitable for law enforcement to commit seizures (sometimes by explicitly circumventing state law).
Mr Guzman has an obvious and traceable path for the money, complete with collaborating parishioner testimony. Mr Guzman has signed an affidavit attesting to the source of the currency seized. The Nuevo Renacer church confirms the story. The parishioners confirm the story. They even have the donation envelopes to confirm the story. The currency seized hasn’t been accused of any crime. Yet, the government retains the money. If being able to verify the legitimate source of currency isn’t enough to accomplish the return of seized property, what is? How many people are having their possessions taken that can’t afford to fight the government, or are scared to do so, or estimate the fight as a pointless and unwinnable endeavor? The story of the seized church money is a modern low. Formerly, we existed in an environment where property was regularly seized on mere accusation and/or mere suspicion. In this case, there is no accusation and the suspicion has been refuted. Yet, the government retains the money. Is the idea of private property a retired notion? The government’s retention of the church money implies that we are merely holding on to our possessions until, or if, a government agency wants to claim it.
According to the Washington Post editorial, the police are now claiming that Guzman and Sorto were travelling 86 mph in a 70 mph zone. If that were the case, the officer would have, presumably, written a ticket. There is no evidence to corroborate the accusation of speeding. Indeed, there is evidence against the accusation. Guzman’s affidavit claims that they were pulled over after the trooper ran parallel. The absence of so much as a warning implies-given the excessive speed now claimed and the tesstimony that the trooper ran parallel first- that no such speeding took place. Even if there were evidence of speeding, it should not provide sufficient cause to seize the parishioner’s funds.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Monday, January 09, 2012
Australia: Man to be released after decade without trial
His imprisonment may have been reasonable but doing so without a trial to test the allegations is most certainly not. He has always denied the allegations
A mentally impaired West Australian man who spent 10 years behind bars without ever standing trial will be released from prison shortly.
Marlon Noble has spent the past decade in a WA prison on child sex assault charges despite having never faced trial because he was deemed intellectually disabled.
It is alleged he sexually assaulted two children in the state's Gascoyne region in 2001.
Last November the Mental Health Review Board recommended he be released under strict conditions and the State Government has agreed.
Greens spokeswoman for Disabilities Alison Xamon says those conditions are too harsh. "[The conditions] really stop his ability to be able to walk around Geraldton, which is his home town," she said.
Ms Xamon says advocates for Mr Noble will continue to pressure the Government to reduce or abolish the restrictions imposed on him. "I think people need to be aware that the struggle to free Marlon Nobel is far from over," she said. "We're really relieved that he is finally going to be out of prison, but the next step is to be to ensure that the conditions attached to his release are lessened and finally removed."
Original report here. (Via Australian Politics)
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
His imprisonment may have been reasonable but doing so without a trial to test the allegations is most certainly not. He has always denied the allegations
A mentally impaired West Australian man who spent 10 years behind bars without ever standing trial will be released from prison shortly.
Marlon Noble has spent the past decade in a WA prison on child sex assault charges despite having never faced trial because he was deemed intellectually disabled.
It is alleged he sexually assaulted two children in the state's Gascoyne region in 2001.
Last November the Mental Health Review Board recommended he be released under strict conditions and the State Government has agreed.
Greens spokeswoman for Disabilities Alison Xamon says those conditions are too harsh. "[The conditions] really stop his ability to be able to walk around Geraldton, which is his home town," she said.
Ms Xamon says advocates for Mr Noble will continue to pressure the Government to reduce or abolish the restrictions imposed on him. "I think people need to be aware that the struggle to free Marlon Nobel is far from over," she said. "We're really relieved that he is finally going to be out of prison, but the next step is to be to ensure that the conditions attached to his release are lessened and finally removed."
Original report here. (Via Australian Politics)
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Crooked British cops withhold exculpatory evidence
Police retained a secret diary that could have cleared a man jailed for life for killing his wife, it was revealed yesterday.
Eddie Gilfoyle protested his innocence for nearly two decades after being convicted in 1993 of murdering his pregnant wife, Paula, and making it look like suicide. But it has emerged that a padlocked box existed containing two volumes of a diary covering ten years. The journal reveals her troubled past and how she had previously tried to take her life.
These facts were not disclosed to Mr Gilfoyle's lawyers or told to the jury. In fact, the diary contradicts the image presented to the murder trial of Mrs Gilfoyle as a happy woman with everything to live for.
Police refused to say where the box had been over the years – because the case is being reviewed by the commission that investigates miscarriages of justice.
Mr Gilfoyle, 59, who was released in December 2010 after two unsuccessful appeals, said yesterday: 'I am completely devastated that the police had these diaries and failed to hand them over to my defence.
'I am disgusted, appalled, words just fail me. They should have been disclosed prior to my two appeals but they were kept hidden. 'I have told the truth all the way through. The police have lied all the way through.'
His solicitor Matt Foot, said: 'Mr Gilfoyle has protested his innocence for 19 years. Meanwhile the police have held on to a locked box containing material that directly contradicts their case. How has this happened?'
Mrs Gilfoyle, 32, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant, was found hanged in the garage of the couple's home in Upton, Wirral, in 1992.
A suicide note was discovered in her handwriting but prosecutors said Gilfoyle dictated it to her, telling her he needed it for a course in his job as an auxiliary nurse.
Relatives and friends told the jury she was a happy, bubbly woman but the diaries and other personal papers which she kept in the marital home reveal she took an overdose of pills when she was 15.
They also show that as a teenager she was engaged to a boy who was convicted of killing a girl. She bought him a wedding ring while he was in prison.
It was when that boyfriend, Mark Roberts, threatened to leave her that she took an overdose, writing in her diary: 'Mark went mad but I done it to him.'
The new evidence also revealed that two of Mrs Gilfoyle's former boyfriends threatened suicide and among her possessions was a note from one – using similar words to the note found where she died.
Mr Gilfoyle's lawyers have asked the Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal to be overturned.
Merseyside police confirmed they handed papers to Mr Foot last year but refused to comment further.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Police retained a secret diary that could have cleared a man jailed for life for killing his wife, it was revealed yesterday.
Eddie Gilfoyle protested his innocence for nearly two decades after being convicted in 1993 of murdering his pregnant wife, Paula, and making it look like suicide. But it has emerged that a padlocked box existed containing two volumes of a diary covering ten years. The journal reveals her troubled past and how she had previously tried to take her life.
These facts were not disclosed to Mr Gilfoyle's lawyers or told to the jury. In fact, the diary contradicts the image presented to the murder trial of Mrs Gilfoyle as a happy woman with everything to live for.
Police refused to say where the box had been over the years – because the case is being reviewed by the commission that investigates miscarriages of justice.
Mr Gilfoyle, 59, who was released in December 2010 after two unsuccessful appeals, said yesterday: 'I am completely devastated that the police had these diaries and failed to hand them over to my defence.
'I am disgusted, appalled, words just fail me. They should have been disclosed prior to my two appeals but they were kept hidden. 'I have told the truth all the way through. The police have lied all the way through.'
His solicitor Matt Foot, said: 'Mr Gilfoyle has protested his innocence for 19 years. Meanwhile the police have held on to a locked box containing material that directly contradicts their case. How has this happened?'
Mrs Gilfoyle, 32, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant, was found hanged in the garage of the couple's home in Upton, Wirral, in 1992.
A suicide note was discovered in her handwriting but prosecutors said Gilfoyle dictated it to her, telling her he needed it for a course in his job as an auxiliary nurse.
Relatives and friends told the jury she was a happy, bubbly woman but the diaries and other personal papers which she kept in the marital home reveal she took an overdose of pills when she was 15.
They also show that as a teenager she was engaged to a boy who was convicted of killing a girl. She bought him a wedding ring while he was in prison.
It was when that boyfriend, Mark Roberts, threatened to leave her that she took an overdose, writing in her diary: 'Mark went mad but I done it to him.'
The new evidence also revealed that two of Mrs Gilfoyle's former boyfriends threatened suicide and among her possessions was a note from one – using similar words to the note found where she died.
Mr Gilfoyle's lawyers have asked the Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal to be overturned.
Merseyside police confirmed they handed papers to Mr Foot last year but refused to comment further.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Saturday, January 07, 2012
Corrupt British cops paid off
Yard chiefs who quit over phone hacking 'are given £500,000 in secret cash pay outs'
Two of Britain’s most senior police officers pocketed substantial pay-offs after resigning over the phone-hacking scandal, the Daily Mail can reveal. Former Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and his colleague John Yates are thought to have received up to £500,000 between them.
The cash was handed out after the pair signed gagging orders which bar them from suing the Metropolitan Police or speaking about their treatment.
The exact size of the payments, at a time of savage cuts to police budgets, was a closely guarded secret. But speculation was mounting that the total cost to the taxpayer, including fees racked up during weeks of legal wrangling, could be as much as half a million pounds.
The pay-offs underline how the scandal plunged the Met leadership into chaos amid a flurry of revelations about their close links to News International.
The force is now braced for further criticism after the Audit Commission, a public spending watchdog, ordered a review of how the pay-offs were agreed. Critics highlighted how both officers appeared to have been handsomely rewarded despite choosing to leave as a result of their own failings.
But supporters said the payments reflected the shambolic way in which they were treated as the force’s political leaders panicked. They laid the blame at the door of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), London Mayor Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May.
Jenny Jones, a member of the MPA, said the payments were ‘completely wrong’. She added: ‘When people resign they should just go, there is no question of a severance package or settlement deal. ‘They went because of their mistakes and should accept that. ‘It is wrong for any public organisation to be so secretive about something that is in the public interest and involves public money.’
The payments were agreed by lawyers at the soon-to-be-abolished MPA, which is a separate organisation from the Met. At first officials there insisted that as both officers made a ‘personal decision’ to resign they were entitled only to their pensions. But after being confronted with evidence of ‘termination payments’ by the Mail, they were forced to admit money had been paid.
The MPA refused to reveal how much the deals were worth but said the amount will be published in its annual accounts later this year.
Sir Paul, who earned £276,000 a year, resigned after admitting taking a £12,000 five-week freebie at a luxury health spa while he recovered from a cancer scare. Difficult questions were raised after it emerged that the spa was promoted by former News of the World executive and hacking suspect Neil Wallis. Mr Wallis was also hired as a consultant by the Met’s communications director, who remains on ‘extended leave’ over the £24,000 contract.
Mr Yates resigned from his post as Britain’s top anti-terrorism officer, with a £200,000 salary, several weeks later. He admitted being a close friend of Mr Wallis amid claims he improperly helped to secure a civilian job for the journalist’s 27-year-old daughter at Scotland Yard. Both officers were later cleared of any misconduct after an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
Mr Yates is now preparing to move to Bahrain where he will advise the Government on police reform.
A Metropolitan Police Authority spokesman said: ‘Both Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates signed compromise agreements at the request of the Authority to prevent any future disputes. ‘Payments made and recorded in those compromise agreements were based on their contractual entitlements.’
A Met spokesman said: ‘This is entirely a matter for the Police Authority.’
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Yard chiefs who quit over phone hacking 'are given £500,000 in secret cash pay outs'
Two of Britain’s most senior police officers pocketed substantial pay-offs after resigning over the phone-hacking scandal, the Daily Mail can reveal. Former Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and his colleague John Yates are thought to have received up to £500,000 between them.
The cash was handed out after the pair signed gagging orders which bar them from suing the Metropolitan Police or speaking about their treatment.
The exact size of the payments, at a time of savage cuts to police budgets, was a closely guarded secret. But speculation was mounting that the total cost to the taxpayer, including fees racked up during weeks of legal wrangling, could be as much as half a million pounds.
The pay-offs underline how the scandal plunged the Met leadership into chaos amid a flurry of revelations about their close links to News International.
The force is now braced for further criticism after the Audit Commission, a public spending watchdog, ordered a review of how the pay-offs were agreed. Critics highlighted how both officers appeared to have been handsomely rewarded despite choosing to leave as a result of their own failings.
But supporters said the payments reflected the shambolic way in which they were treated as the force’s political leaders panicked. They laid the blame at the door of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), London Mayor Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May.
Jenny Jones, a member of the MPA, said the payments were ‘completely wrong’. She added: ‘When people resign they should just go, there is no question of a severance package or settlement deal. ‘They went because of their mistakes and should accept that. ‘It is wrong for any public organisation to be so secretive about something that is in the public interest and involves public money.’
The payments were agreed by lawyers at the soon-to-be-abolished MPA, which is a separate organisation from the Met. At first officials there insisted that as both officers made a ‘personal decision’ to resign they were entitled only to their pensions. But after being confronted with evidence of ‘termination payments’ by the Mail, they were forced to admit money had been paid.
The MPA refused to reveal how much the deals were worth but said the amount will be published in its annual accounts later this year.
Sir Paul, who earned £276,000 a year, resigned after admitting taking a £12,000 five-week freebie at a luxury health spa while he recovered from a cancer scare. Difficult questions were raised after it emerged that the spa was promoted by former News of the World executive and hacking suspect Neil Wallis. Mr Wallis was also hired as a consultant by the Met’s communications director, who remains on ‘extended leave’ over the £24,000 contract.
Mr Yates resigned from his post as Britain’s top anti-terrorism officer, with a £200,000 salary, several weeks later. He admitted being a close friend of Mr Wallis amid claims he improperly helped to secure a civilian job for the journalist’s 27-year-old daughter at Scotland Yard. Both officers were later cleared of any misconduct after an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
Mr Yates is now preparing to move to Bahrain where he will advise the Government on police reform.
A Metropolitan Police Authority spokesman said: ‘Both Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates signed compromise agreements at the request of the Authority to prevent any future disputes. ‘Payments made and recorded in those compromise agreements were based on their contractual entitlements.’
A Met spokesman said: ‘This is entirely a matter for the Police Authority.’
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Friday, January 06, 2012
Rapist gets 32 years for framing victim
NEW YORK: A private detective who raped his former girlfriend and then framed her for a series of fictional crimes has been sentenced to 32 years in prison, bringing to a close one of the most bizarre cases to come before a court.
Using knowledge he gleaned partly from watching crime dramas like CSI, the private detective, Jerry Ramrattan, orchestrated what prosecutors called one of the most elaborate framing schemes in recent history.
Ramrattan's former girlfriend, Seemona Sumasar, had accused him of raping her. After she refused to drop the rape charges, he concocted a scheme that landed her in jail for seven months, making it seem as though Ms Sumasar was the likely perpetrator of a series of armed robberies, for which she was accused of impersonating a police officer.
At his trial in State Supreme Court in Queens, prosecutors produced evidence that Ramrattan cajoled and extorted witnesses to testify falsely that she had robbed them. He even staged crime scenes, prosecutors said, in which he planted evidence, handcuffing one of Ms Sumasar's supposed victims to a pole and planting bullets at the scene of one of the imaginary crimes.
Before Ramrattan was sentenced, Ms Sumasar delivered a stinging victim impact statement, noting his lack of remorse as he stared ahead, stone-faced, while she spoke. "I don't have words for you," she said. "You are evil. You are a sociopath. The only thing that helps me sleep at night is that what happened to me was for a reason: someone needs to put a stop to your madness."
During her seven months in jail, awaiting a robbery trial, Ms Sumasar, a former Morgan Stanley analyst, was separated from her young daughter. She lost her business, and her house went into foreclosure. Her bail was set at $US1 million, which she could not afford. Ramrattan was free until an informer came forward late in 2010 and exposed his ruse.
He was convicted in November of a series of charges, including rape, conspiracy and perjury.
The trial offered two opposing plot lines that were seemingly irreconcilable. Prosecutors characterised Ms Sumasar as a single mother charmed by a conman who ruined her life; the defence portrayed her as a scorned woman who falsely accused her former boyfriend of rape after the relationship soured.
Members of the jury said the guilty verdict hinged on the jury's belief that Ramrattan had raped Ms Sumasar, giving him a motive to set his plot in motion.
In his plea for leniency, Ramrattan insisted that he was innocent, saying that he had spent years helping the police solve cases as an informer.
But Justice Richard Buchter said he deserved no mercy, calling him a "diabolical conniver who shamelessly exploited the criminal justice system".
The Queens District Attorney's Office and the Nassau County District Attorney's Office had insisted on Ms Sumasar's guilt until she was freed weeks before her robbery trial was to begin.
Legal experts said the case was a cautionary tale that illustrated the ease with which the justice system could be manipulated by someone who understood police procedure and was adept at telling lies.
Judge Buchter said: "The police were duped by liars by whom they had a right to be suspicious, and as a result a rape victim was framed by her rapist. She was victimised by the rapist and then again by the criminal justice system." He also said: "The defendant is the architect of his own ruin. He deserves no mercy from me, and he won't get any."
Last month Ms Sumasar filed a civil suit against the New York Police Department and the Nassau County Police Department. In the lawsuit, she says New York police officers protected Ramrattan because he was working as an informer.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
NEW YORK: A private detective who raped his former girlfriend and then framed her for a series of fictional crimes has been sentenced to 32 years in prison, bringing to a close one of the most bizarre cases to come before a court.
Using knowledge he gleaned partly from watching crime dramas like CSI, the private detective, Jerry Ramrattan, orchestrated what prosecutors called one of the most elaborate framing schemes in recent history.
Ramrattan's former girlfriend, Seemona Sumasar, had accused him of raping her. After she refused to drop the rape charges, he concocted a scheme that landed her in jail for seven months, making it seem as though Ms Sumasar was the likely perpetrator of a series of armed robberies, for which she was accused of impersonating a police officer.
At his trial in State Supreme Court in Queens, prosecutors produced evidence that Ramrattan cajoled and extorted witnesses to testify falsely that she had robbed them. He even staged crime scenes, prosecutors said, in which he planted evidence, handcuffing one of Ms Sumasar's supposed victims to a pole and planting bullets at the scene of one of the imaginary crimes.
Before Ramrattan was sentenced, Ms Sumasar delivered a stinging victim impact statement, noting his lack of remorse as he stared ahead, stone-faced, while she spoke. "I don't have words for you," she said. "You are evil. You are a sociopath. The only thing that helps me sleep at night is that what happened to me was for a reason: someone needs to put a stop to your madness."
During her seven months in jail, awaiting a robbery trial, Ms Sumasar, a former Morgan Stanley analyst, was separated from her young daughter. She lost her business, and her house went into foreclosure. Her bail was set at $US1 million, which she could not afford. Ramrattan was free until an informer came forward late in 2010 and exposed his ruse.
He was convicted in November of a series of charges, including rape, conspiracy and perjury.
The trial offered two opposing plot lines that were seemingly irreconcilable. Prosecutors characterised Ms Sumasar as a single mother charmed by a conman who ruined her life; the defence portrayed her as a scorned woman who falsely accused her former boyfriend of rape after the relationship soured.
Members of the jury said the guilty verdict hinged on the jury's belief that Ramrattan had raped Ms Sumasar, giving him a motive to set his plot in motion.
In his plea for leniency, Ramrattan insisted that he was innocent, saying that he had spent years helping the police solve cases as an informer.
But Justice Richard Buchter said he deserved no mercy, calling him a "diabolical conniver who shamelessly exploited the criminal justice system".
The Queens District Attorney's Office and the Nassau County District Attorney's Office had insisted on Ms Sumasar's guilt until she was freed weeks before her robbery trial was to begin.
Legal experts said the case was a cautionary tale that illustrated the ease with which the justice system could be manipulated by someone who understood police procedure and was adept at telling lies.
Judge Buchter said: "The police were duped by liars by whom they had a right to be suspicious, and as a result a rape victim was framed by her rapist. She was victimised by the rapist and then again by the criminal justice system." He also said: "The defendant is the architect of his own ruin. He deserves no mercy from me, and he won't get any."
Last month Ms Sumasar filed a civil suit against the New York Police Department and the Nassau County Police Department. In the lawsuit, she says New York police officers protected Ramrattan because he was working as an informer.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Australian man Jailed for Christmas on 'no evidence'
A FATHER who spent Christmas in jail accused of running down an officer has been released because prosecutors are not sure he was behind the wheel.
Christopher Lucas has been in Yatala Labor Prison since December 9, when he was refused bail on charges including causing serious harm by dangerous driving. At the time, police said Lucas - the sole carer for his ill, elderly mother - seriously injured a police officer while avoiding an alcohol breath-testing station at Cavan.
Yesterday the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions asked the case be called back into Port Adelaide Magistrates Court so Lucas's release could be arranged.
Lucas's lawyer, Damon Ind, said that after discussing the charges with prosecutors, he expected them to be withdrawn. "It seems that now police have finally done some work on this matter, they have realised this once flimsy case is actually non-existent," he said.
"They now have doubts my client was the driver of the vehicle, and there is no evidence to support him being at the scene of the alleged incident. "Indeed, it would seem they have now found evidence to the contrary."
Prosecutors did not dispute Mr Ind's submission and declined to comment to The Advertiser last night.
Lucas, 47, of Salisbury East, has yet to plead to offences including causing serious harm by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and breaching bail. He faces a maximum 15-year jail term.
Court documents allege that on December 8 he drove a VN Commodore with Queensland registration plates on Churchill Rd North, Cavan.
Lucas allegedly knocked down a police officer - who was wearing a reflective vest and carrying a torch - at an alcohol breath-testing station, then fled. The officer required surgery for serious leg fractures. The car was found dumped at nearby Swan Court, Mawson Lakes.
Last month police prosecutor Sergeant Alex Ross told the court inquiries were ongoing. "The car is registered in someone else's name and there are two sets of keys," he said.
"Lucas, when spoken to by police, had one set ... he claimed he had been given those keys by someone else in the afternoon before the incident. "Although the incident was captured by a camera fitted to a police vehicle, I understand that does not identify this defendant."
He said Lucas could interfere with investigations if released. "There are further inquiries being made with persons who were in possession of the car prior to the incident, and they are Lucas's family members," he said. "We are opposed to any form of bail."
Mr Ind said Lucas's mother and teenage daughter, who has an intellectual disability, relied on him for care and support. "The mother has chronic pain in her hip and knees and mobility problems, and my client receives an income for caring for her," he said.
"Having read the police file so far, there appears at this stage to be not enough evidence to make out the case."
At the time, Magistrate David Whittle refused to release Lucas on bail. He also declined to consider granting him home detention bail.
Yesterday Mr Ind told the court that the case had been called back at the DPP's request, not his. "This is an unusual application for bail as it's the DPP's application," he said. "There has been a change of circumstances, and a change in the prosecution's attitude toward this matter.
"This man has spent Christmas in custody, New Year's in custody, away from his family and mother, who relies on him for care."
Magistrate Alfio Grasso released Lucas on bail, with the sole condition that he reside at his home address. Mr Grasso ordered Lucas return to court next month.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
A FATHER who spent Christmas in jail accused of running down an officer has been released because prosecutors are not sure he was behind the wheel.
Christopher Lucas has been in Yatala Labor Prison since December 9, when he was refused bail on charges including causing serious harm by dangerous driving. At the time, police said Lucas - the sole carer for his ill, elderly mother - seriously injured a police officer while avoiding an alcohol breath-testing station at Cavan.
Yesterday the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions asked the case be called back into Port Adelaide Magistrates Court so Lucas's release could be arranged.
Lucas's lawyer, Damon Ind, said that after discussing the charges with prosecutors, he expected them to be withdrawn. "It seems that now police have finally done some work on this matter, they have realised this once flimsy case is actually non-existent," he said.
"They now have doubts my client was the driver of the vehicle, and there is no evidence to support him being at the scene of the alleged incident. "Indeed, it would seem they have now found evidence to the contrary."
Prosecutors did not dispute Mr Ind's submission and declined to comment to The Advertiser last night.
Lucas, 47, of Salisbury East, has yet to plead to offences including causing serious harm by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and breaching bail. He faces a maximum 15-year jail term.
Court documents allege that on December 8 he drove a VN Commodore with Queensland registration plates on Churchill Rd North, Cavan.
Lucas allegedly knocked down a police officer - who was wearing a reflective vest and carrying a torch - at an alcohol breath-testing station, then fled. The officer required surgery for serious leg fractures. The car was found dumped at nearby Swan Court, Mawson Lakes.
Last month police prosecutor Sergeant Alex Ross told the court inquiries were ongoing. "The car is registered in someone else's name and there are two sets of keys," he said.
"Lucas, when spoken to by police, had one set ... he claimed he had been given those keys by someone else in the afternoon before the incident. "Although the incident was captured by a camera fitted to a police vehicle, I understand that does not identify this defendant."
He said Lucas could interfere with investigations if released. "There are further inquiries being made with persons who were in possession of the car prior to the incident, and they are Lucas's family members," he said. "We are opposed to any form of bail."
Mr Ind said Lucas's mother and teenage daughter, who has an intellectual disability, relied on him for care and support. "The mother has chronic pain in her hip and knees and mobility problems, and my client receives an income for caring for her," he said.
"Having read the police file so far, there appears at this stage to be not enough evidence to make out the case."
At the time, Magistrate David Whittle refused to release Lucas on bail. He also declined to consider granting him home detention bail.
Yesterday Mr Ind told the court that the case had been called back at the DPP's request, not his. "This is an unusual application for bail as it's the DPP's application," he said. "There has been a change of circumstances, and a change in the prosecution's attitude toward this matter.
"This man has spent Christmas in custody, New Year's in custody, away from his family and mother, who relies on him for care."
Magistrate Alfio Grasso released Lucas on bail, with the sole condition that he reside at his home address. Mr Grasso ordered Lucas return to court next month.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Obie Anthony: Life after 17 years in prison
Corrupt witness testimony
Inside prison, Obie Anthony dreamed of what he was missing as he served out a life sentence for a murder he insists he did not commit. He thought of the green grass, of washing dishes, of biting into the juicy pineapple Teriyaki burger he saw on television ads for Carl’s Jr.
He also thought about how he would change his ways if he ever got out. There would be school and jobs. But first, he would get rid of the tattoos that were a permanent reminder of his old life.
Today, Anthony, 37, is living out that prison dream of freedom from his new home in Apple Valley.
His murder conviction for a 1994 killing outside a South LA brothel was overturned in September 2011 after the prosecution's key witness, a pimp, admitted he lied to the jury.
Anthony was released from prison after serving 17 years, with the help of the Northern California Innocence Project and Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent.
It’s been hard for him to get back to society.
Kate Germond, director of Centurion Ministries, a non-profit organization, has been handling wrongful conviction cases for 25 years. She regards the innocent people in prison as heroes for the dignity and fortitude they show in persevering through their wrongful convictions.
Within the prison culture, most people are cynical about any claims of innocence. According to Germond, inmates who say they’re innocent are abused by guards or fellow inmates when they first make these declarations. As time goes by, they get a grudging respect from the guards and fellow inmates, but it’s hard won.
“When they get out, they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders,” Germond said. Effects of wrongful convictions include drinking, drug issues and violent thoughts. “Their freedom is not the end of their torture,” she said.
Recently Anthony got his California identification, social security card and a bank account. He took his driver’s license test, but needs to re-take it and get two more questions right to pass it.
Anthony was raised in South Central Los Angeles by a single mother. His parents were separated when he was too young to remember. His mother was once addicted to drugs—cocaine, heroin and pills. She passed away at 42 when Anthony was 19 and before he went to prison.
His problems with the law began when he was a teenager. Anthony was involved in gangs and got expelled several times for scuffles at high schools. “At that time I was too weak as a child to make a choice to say I can do what I want to do instead of following behind somebody,” he said.
In 1995 the prosecution’s key witness testified against Anthony in exchange for a lighter sentence in another case. Anthony lied during the trial and testified that he didn’t know his co-defendant Reggie Cole. He regrets the lie, but says he was a scared kid who thought that saying he didn’t know his co-defendant would somehow put him in a better position.
The jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was 19.
The hardest time for Anthony came two years into his prison sentence. “I was really alone at that point. I didn’t have much contact with anybody,” he said.
He sent out letters to family and didn’t get responses. His phone calls were blocked by friends. The only support he had was from his grandmother in St. Louis who regularly talked to him over the phone and encouraged him never to give up and come home.
“The one thing that kept giving me hope while I was in prison was I knew I was innocent,” he said.
Anthony hated the food in prison -- Eggs, potatoes, and sausage links for breakfast; and tasteless veal, chicken, burgers, hot dogs and Chili Macs.
During the last few years in prison, he never went to the chow hall thanks to his fiancée, Denise Merchant, who bought him cereal, rice, beans, chocolate, meat, lotion and all kinds of stuff.
They had known each other when they were teenagers. “He was always riding a little scooter, and I noticed he was always staring at me,” said Merchant, who is four years older than Anthony. They reconnected when Merchant got a call from her brother saying he was in the same prison as Anthony. She asked her brother to give Anthony her number and when Anthony called her from prison, “all the feelings I had for him when I was 16 all came back,” she said.
They started dating after her first prison visit, and got engaged a year and a half ago.
In prison, Anthony learned upholstery, how to put office cubicles together, landscaping, and clerical work. Apart from the set schedules of two meals a day, inmate count time, yard time, and shower time, he spent most of his time in the law library, studying his own case. “I didn’t know the law,” he said. “I tried to learn it. Man, it was difficult.”
Despite the difficulties, he pursued his freedom as vigorously as he could. He filed motions to different courts but all got denied.
“Even though I couldn’t get nobody else to hear me, I knew the Creator heard me. I knew that he knew I wasn’t guilty of anything. I find solace in that,” he said.
Anthony went to the Hebrew church in prison every Saturday for 15 years.
He kept trying to figure out who or how he could reach out to find some help. “You got to be strong and continue to look for something in the books you got in front you, and think one day it’s going to happen,” he said.
His efforts paid off in 2008 when he got a response to his letter to the Northern California Innocence Project. The Northern California Innocence Project--with the help of Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent--took on the case and helped convince a judge that the prosecution’s key witness lied to the jury.
“The evidence that we were able to turn up showed that there is absolutely nothing that connects him to the crime,” said Paige Kaneb, one of Anthony’s attorneys and a supervising attorney at the Northern California Innocence Project.
The witness admitted he never saw clearly the gunmen at the crime scene, and he based his identification of Anthony and his co-defendant from descriptions of others at the scene, according to Kaneb.
Anthony was “denied due process of law and was denied a fair trial” in 1994, says the writ habeas corpus. His conviction was overturned on September 30, 2011.
Seventeen years in prison changed his life. “It’s made me into a more straightforward, honest and truthful person,” he said.
He now tries not to leave things unsaid in a conversation. “Before I wasn’t that way, I would beat around the bush with certain things. I kind of was mindful about not wanting to hurt your feelings with the truth. I realize now keeping the truth from an individual hurts more than it does anything,” he said.
Anthony doesn’t harbor any anger toward what he maintains was a wrongful conviction. “Anger is weight that can hold you down and prevent you from being prosperous and progress in life,” said Anthony.
Anthony chooses to recognize the things that make him angry, acknowledge it and move forward. He no longer has to follow any set schedules of when to get up, when to eat and when to take a shower.
However, the transition from prison life to a free life has not been easy. Anthony is trying to find a job. He doesn’t want to rush too much and get frustrated. So far he has sent out two job applications and is waiting for a reply.
Kaneb said it would be hard for Anthony to get a job as he missed out on years of growing and learning, and having a resume that includes 17 years of work. “He is charismatic. He is really a good person. I think people will see that, but you just have to give him a chance,” said Kaneb.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Corrupt witness testimony
Inside prison, Obie Anthony dreamed of what he was missing as he served out a life sentence for a murder he insists he did not commit. He thought of the green grass, of washing dishes, of biting into the juicy pineapple Teriyaki burger he saw on television ads for Carl’s Jr.
He also thought about how he would change his ways if he ever got out. There would be school and jobs. But first, he would get rid of the tattoos that were a permanent reminder of his old life.
Today, Anthony, 37, is living out that prison dream of freedom from his new home in Apple Valley.
His murder conviction for a 1994 killing outside a South LA brothel was overturned in September 2011 after the prosecution's key witness, a pimp, admitted he lied to the jury.
Anthony was released from prison after serving 17 years, with the help of the Northern California Innocence Project and Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent.
It’s been hard for him to get back to society.
Kate Germond, director of Centurion Ministries, a non-profit organization, has been handling wrongful conviction cases for 25 years. She regards the innocent people in prison as heroes for the dignity and fortitude they show in persevering through their wrongful convictions.
Within the prison culture, most people are cynical about any claims of innocence. According to Germond, inmates who say they’re innocent are abused by guards or fellow inmates when they first make these declarations. As time goes by, they get a grudging respect from the guards and fellow inmates, but it’s hard won.
“When they get out, they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders,” Germond said. Effects of wrongful convictions include drinking, drug issues and violent thoughts. “Their freedom is not the end of their torture,” she said.
Recently Anthony got his California identification, social security card and a bank account. He took his driver’s license test, but needs to re-take it and get two more questions right to pass it.
Anthony was raised in South Central Los Angeles by a single mother. His parents were separated when he was too young to remember. His mother was once addicted to drugs—cocaine, heroin and pills. She passed away at 42 when Anthony was 19 and before he went to prison.
His problems with the law began when he was a teenager. Anthony was involved in gangs and got expelled several times for scuffles at high schools. “At that time I was too weak as a child to make a choice to say I can do what I want to do instead of following behind somebody,” he said.
In 1995 the prosecution’s key witness testified against Anthony in exchange for a lighter sentence in another case. Anthony lied during the trial and testified that he didn’t know his co-defendant Reggie Cole. He regrets the lie, but says he was a scared kid who thought that saying he didn’t know his co-defendant would somehow put him in a better position.
The jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was 19.
The hardest time for Anthony came two years into his prison sentence. “I was really alone at that point. I didn’t have much contact with anybody,” he said.
He sent out letters to family and didn’t get responses. His phone calls were blocked by friends. The only support he had was from his grandmother in St. Louis who regularly talked to him over the phone and encouraged him never to give up and come home.
“The one thing that kept giving me hope while I was in prison was I knew I was innocent,” he said.
Anthony hated the food in prison -- Eggs, potatoes, and sausage links for breakfast; and tasteless veal, chicken, burgers, hot dogs and Chili Macs.
During the last few years in prison, he never went to the chow hall thanks to his fiancée, Denise Merchant, who bought him cereal, rice, beans, chocolate, meat, lotion and all kinds of stuff.
They had known each other when they were teenagers. “He was always riding a little scooter, and I noticed he was always staring at me,” said Merchant, who is four years older than Anthony. They reconnected when Merchant got a call from her brother saying he was in the same prison as Anthony. She asked her brother to give Anthony her number and when Anthony called her from prison, “all the feelings I had for him when I was 16 all came back,” she said.
They started dating after her first prison visit, and got engaged a year and a half ago.
In prison, Anthony learned upholstery, how to put office cubicles together, landscaping, and clerical work. Apart from the set schedules of two meals a day, inmate count time, yard time, and shower time, he spent most of his time in the law library, studying his own case. “I didn’t know the law,” he said. “I tried to learn it. Man, it was difficult.”
Despite the difficulties, he pursued his freedom as vigorously as he could. He filed motions to different courts but all got denied.
“Even though I couldn’t get nobody else to hear me, I knew the Creator heard me. I knew that he knew I wasn’t guilty of anything. I find solace in that,” he said.
Anthony went to the Hebrew church in prison every Saturday for 15 years.
He kept trying to figure out who or how he could reach out to find some help. “You got to be strong and continue to look for something in the books you got in front you, and think one day it’s going to happen,” he said.
His efforts paid off in 2008 when he got a response to his letter to the Northern California Innocence Project. The Northern California Innocence Project--with the help of Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent--took on the case and helped convince a judge that the prosecution’s key witness lied to the jury.
“The evidence that we were able to turn up showed that there is absolutely nothing that connects him to the crime,” said Paige Kaneb, one of Anthony’s attorneys and a supervising attorney at the Northern California Innocence Project.
The witness admitted he never saw clearly the gunmen at the crime scene, and he based his identification of Anthony and his co-defendant from descriptions of others at the scene, according to Kaneb.
Anthony was “denied due process of law and was denied a fair trial” in 1994, says the writ habeas corpus. His conviction was overturned on September 30, 2011.
Seventeen years in prison changed his life. “It’s made me into a more straightforward, honest and truthful person,” he said.
He now tries not to leave things unsaid in a conversation. “Before I wasn’t that way, I would beat around the bush with certain things. I kind of was mindful about not wanting to hurt your feelings with the truth. I realize now keeping the truth from an individual hurts more than it does anything,” he said.
Anthony doesn’t harbor any anger toward what he maintains was a wrongful conviction. “Anger is weight that can hold you down and prevent you from being prosperous and progress in life,” said Anthony.
Anthony chooses to recognize the things that make him angry, acknowledge it and move forward. He no longer has to follow any set schedules of when to get up, when to eat and when to take a shower.
However, the transition from prison life to a free life has not been easy. Anthony is trying to find a job. He doesn’t want to rush too much and get frustrated. So far he has sent out two job applications and is waiting for a reply.
Kaneb said it would be hard for Anthony to get a job as he missed out on years of growing and learning, and having a resume that includes 17 years of work. “He is charismatic. He is really a good person. I think people will see that, but you just have to give him a chance,” said Kaneb.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Nearly 1,000 serving British police officers and PCSOs have a criminal record
More than 900 serving police officers and community support officers have a criminal record, official figures show.
Forces across England and Wales employ policemen and women with convictions including burglary, causing death by careless driving, robbery, supplying drugs, domestic violence, forgery and perverting the course of justice.
Those with criminal records include senior officers, among them two detective chief inspectors and one chief inspector working for the Metropolitan Police.
At least 944 currently serving officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) have a conviction, according to figures released by 33 of the 43 forces in England and Wales in response to Freedom of Information requests.
Many forces could not provide details of criminal records dating from before their staff joined the police, meaning the true figure will be significantly higher.
The Metropolitan Police, Britain's largest force, came top with 356 officers and 41 PCSOs with convictions.
It was followed by Kent Police (49), Devon and Cornwall Police (44), Essex Police (42), South Yorkshire Police (35), Hampshire Police (31) and West Midlands Police (27), although not all the figures are directly comparable.
The criminal records include:
Devon and Cornwall Police - a Pc convicted of burglary as a teenager.
Essex Police - one inspector convicted of dangerous driving; another inspector convicted of possessing and supplying cannabis; a detective constable convicted of robbery; a Pc convicted of data protection breaches for viewing intelligence records relating to friends, relatives or other people living in the local area, and a special constable convicted of stealing a set of car number plates, putting them on another vehicle and obtaining petrol without paying.
Hertfordshire Police - a sergeant convicted of dangerous driving.
Kent Police - a Pc convicted of perverting the course of justice in 1998.
Merseyside Police - five officers convicted of assault and one convicted of causing death by careless driving.
Norfolk Police - a Pc convicted of causing death by careless driving.
North Wales Police - an officer convicted of forgery.
Staffordshire Police - an inspector convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm and a Pc convicted of keeping a dangerous dog.
Surrey Police - a detective constable convicted of obstructing police officers; a Pc convicted of wounding; a Pc convicted of drink driving in 1988 and resisting arrest a decade later, and a Pc convicted of animal suffering in 2006.
Most of the convictions are for traffic offences such as speeding and drink-driving, but the records also include a South Yorkshire Police officer convicted of fishing without a licence.
Home Office guidelines issued in 2003 say police officers should have "proven integrity" because they are vulnerable to pressure from criminals to reveal information.
The guidance says forces should reject potential recruits with convictions for serious offences - including causing actual bodily harm, burglary, dangerous driving and supplying drugs - unless there are "exceptionally compelling circumstances".
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
More than 900 serving police officers and community support officers have a criminal record, official figures show.
Forces across England and Wales employ policemen and women with convictions including burglary, causing death by careless driving, robbery, supplying drugs, domestic violence, forgery and perverting the course of justice.
Those with criminal records include senior officers, among them two detective chief inspectors and one chief inspector working for the Metropolitan Police.
At least 944 currently serving officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) have a conviction, according to figures released by 33 of the 43 forces in England and Wales in response to Freedom of Information requests.
Many forces could not provide details of criminal records dating from before their staff joined the police, meaning the true figure will be significantly higher.
The Metropolitan Police, Britain's largest force, came top with 356 officers and 41 PCSOs with convictions.
It was followed by Kent Police (49), Devon and Cornwall Police (44), Essex Police (42), South Yorkshire Police (35), Hampshire Police (31) and West Midlands Police (27), although not all the figures are directly comparable.
The criminal records include:
Devon and Cornwall Police - a Pc convicted of burglary as a teenager.
Essex Police - one inspector convicted of dangerous driving; another inspector convicted of possessing and supplying cannabis; a detective constable convicted of robbery; a Pc convicted of data protection breaches for viewing intelligence records relating to friends, relatives or other people living in the local area, and a special constable convicted of stealing a set of car number plates, putting them on another vehicle and obtaining petrol without paying.
Hertfordshire Police - a sergeant convicted of dangerous driving.
Kent Police - a Pc convicted of perverting the course of justice in 1998.
Merseyside Police - five officers convicted of assault and one convicted of causing death by careless driving.
Norfolk Police - a Pc convicted of causing death by careless driving.
North Wales Police - an officer convicted of forgery.
Staffordshire Police - an inspector convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm and a Pc convicted of keeping a dangerous dog.
Surrey Police - a detective constable convicted of obstructing police officers; a Pc convicted of wounding; a Pc convicted of drink driving in 1988 and resisting arrest a decade later, and a Pc convicted of animal suffering in 2006.
Most of the convictions are for traffic offences such as speeding and drink-driving, but the records also include a South Yorkshire Police officer convicted of fishing without a licence.
Home Office guidelines issued in 2003 say police officers should have "proven integrity" because they are vulnerable to pressure from criminals to reveal information.
The guidance says forces should reject potential recruits with convictions for serious offences - including causing actual bodily harm, burglary, dangerous driving and supplying drugs - unless there are "exceptionally compelling circumstances".
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Monday, January 02, 2012
FL business struggling after owner's arrest, exoneration
Arrogant deputy does a lot of harm
It only took about seven minutes late September for the reputation of a local business owner to be shattered. Now, the previously publicized criminal charges against him have been dropped, but he and his wife are still fighting to restore their name.
Four cameras at the store, which recorded the events and were viewed by the State Attorney's Office, captured the event. If not for the cameras, Dan Ferrena, co-owner of Palm Coast Fine Jewelry & Coins, might still be charged with aggravated assault with a firearm.
At 11:53 a.m. Sept. 30, 28-year-old Josh Newby and his child entered the store looking for a watch. Two other customers, Dan and his wife Edith were already in the store. A minute later, a train of four other small children came in, accompanied by Newby's wife Dariane and a friend, Rosemary Garcia.
Some of the children were grappling onto the store's glass counters, which hold gold, jewelry and coins.
Edith Ferrena said in a News-Journal interview in December that she was worried that the glass would break and hurt the kids. She told the group that a jewelry store isn't for children. This upset the Newbys, who left the store and told the Ferrenas they would take their business elsewhere, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office case report.
The phone number provided by the Newbys to law enforcement officials at the time of arrest was disconnected when a reporter tried to reach them for comment. Garcia did not return a call seeking comment.
At 11:56 a.m., Josh Newby reentered the store and told the Ferrenas he'd let all of his colleagues at a local hospital know how awful the store was. An argument ensued, and Newby called Edith two derogatory curse words. That set Dan off. "I said 'Look, you piece of crap. You have some nerve saying that to my wife,' " Dan Ferrena said of Newby's cursing. Dan Ferrena angrily pointed his finger at Newby.
The police reports and video show both men yelling at each other as Newby stood outside of the store's courtyard and Ferrena stood in the store's doorway before taking a few feet into the courtyard.
At 11:57 a.m., Ferrena walked back toward the store's door.
The best camera angle, filmed from the courtyard, is distorted, but an angle from inside the store shows Ferrena quickly turning around as he opens the store's door. He pulled a Walther PPS handgun from his right side.
Newby said in the police reports that Ferrena pointed the gun at him, but it's difficult to see in the video. Ferrena said he never pointed the gun at Newby and kept it at his side after he heard Newby charging toward him.
"Don't you remember what he said?" Edith Ferrena said to Dan during a News-Journal interview. "He said 'I'll kill you, (expletive).' "
Dan Ferrena added: "I turned around and he was charging me" from about 15 feet away. "By this time I've made the determination that he's not normal, so I pulled my gun out so he can see. I had no intention of shooting him." "So as soon as he saw the gun, he stopped. I came in. I started calming the customers down and the next thing I know the cops are here."
Deputies arrived at about noon that day. They interviewed one of the customers inside the store, but not the other.
Dan Ferrena told them he had video of the exchange and that it was self-defense, but the video wasn't viewable right away. It needed to be downloaded. But the deputy didn't call someone in to look at the tape and instead arrested Dan Ferrena.
Florence Devany, a 74-year-old retiree from Palm Coast, was the customer who deputies didn't interview. She didn't find out Ferrena was arrested until she read about it in the newspaper. "I was shocked," she said. "I was in total shock."
Devany went back to the store in late December and said she couldn't believe Dan Ferrena's appearance. It looked like he lost about 20 pounds, she said. "It certainly had a terrible effect on their business," Devany said.
It's that terrible effect that the Ferrenas have been fighting against since the charge was made against Ferrena.
An aggravated assault with a firearm charge supposes that a person unlawfully used a weapon to instill a well-founded fear that violence is imminent in another person. But, self-defense negates that charge.
On Nov. 15, Assistant State Attorney Joshua Davis sent Josh Newby a letter stating that he had reviewed the video from all angles and spoke with three independent witnesses. He told Newby that "this case does not support the charge of aggravated assault with a firearm." Two weeks later, Davis dropped the charge against Ferrena.
But, damage has been done to the Ferrenas. The News-Journal wrote a story from a Sheriff's Office press release, that included a mugshot, at the time of Ferrena's arrest. So did Flagler County newspapers. TV news stations plastered Ferrena's mugshot on newscasts, as well.
"It's been having an effect since the day it happened," Dan Ferrena said.
The store has seen fewer customers at times, but has been supported by a lot of regular customers who have frequented the store since it opened in 2008. "But there's always people out there who are going to be scared to get involved with us because they don't know what to think. They think, arrested? He's guilty," he said.
Flagler County sheriff's spokeswoman Debra Johnson wrote a press release after Ferrena's arrest. A former longtime newspaper journalist, Johnson said four themes typically lead to a press release being issued for an arrest -- if it's in the public interest, informative, unusual and serves as a public service announcement. "Obviously any time firearms are used or people are threatened, that is going to trigger a press release," she said.
When people call her to say a charge has been dismissed, she refers them to the state attorney's office or to reporters.
Johnson said that keen reporters would likely have found the story even if she didn't put the story out. Each arrest's incident report is compiled into a daily report and reporters can pick them up each morning.
Three months after the incident, Ferrena is trying to restore the reputation of he and his wife's store by using the same medium that caused their store to lose business.
A sign says only four people are allowed inside at a time. The couple has also installed a buzzer on the door to the store. They plan on hitting the emergency buzzer anytime a customer gets loud to alert police to a potential problem.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Arrogant deputy does a lot of harm
It only took about seven minutes late September for the reputation of a local business owner to be shattered. Now, the previously publicized criminal charges against him have been dropped, but he and his wife are still fighting to restore their name.
Four cameras at the store, which recorded the events and were viewed by the State Attorney's Office, captured the event. If not for the cameras, Dan Ferrena, co-owner of Palm Coast Fine Jewelry & Coins, might still be charged with aggravated assault with a firearm.
At 11:53 a.m. Sept. 30, 28-year-old Josh Newby and his child entered the store looking for a watch. Two other customers, Dan and his wife Edith were already in the store. A minute later, a train of four other small children came in, accompanied by Newby's wife Dariane and a friend, Rosemary Garcia.
Some of the children were grappling onto the store's glass counters, which hold gold, jewelry and coins.
Edith Ferrena said in a News-Journal interview in December that she was worried that the glass would break and hurt the kids. She told the group that a jewelry store isn't for children. This upset the Newbys, who left the store and told the Ferrenas they would take their business elsewhere, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office case report.
The phone number provided by the Newbys to law enforcement officials at the time of arrest was disconnected when a reporter tried to reach them for comment. Garcia did not return a call seeking comment.
At 11:56 a.m., Josh Newby reentered the store and told the Ferrenas he'd let all of his colleagues at a local hospital know how awful the store was. An argument ensued, and Newby called Edith two derogatory curse words. That set Dan off. "I said 'Look, you piece of crap. You have some nerve saying that to my wife,' " Dan Ferrena said of Newby's cursing. Dan Ferrena angrily pointed his finger at Newby.
The police reports and video show both men yelling at each other as Newby stood outside of the store's courtyard and Ferrena stood in the store's doorway before taking a few feet into the courtyard.
At 11:57 a.m., Ferrena walked back toward the store's door.
The best camera angle, filmed from the courtyard, is distorted, but an angle from inside the store shows Ferrena quickly turning around as he opens the store's door. He pulled a Walther PPS handgun from his right side.
Newby said in the police reports that Ferrena pointed the gun at him, but it's difficult to see in the video. Ferrena said he never pointed the gun at Newby and kept it at his side after he heard Newby charging toward him.
"Don't you remember what he said?" Edith Ferrena said to Dan during a News-Journal interview. "He said 'I'll kill you, (expletive).' "
Dan Ferrena added: "I turned around and he was charging me" from about 15 feet away. "By this time I've made the determination that he's not normal, so I pulled my gun out so he can see. I had no intention of shooting him." "So as soon as he saw the gun, he stopped. I came in. I started calming the customers down and the next thing I know the cops are here."
Deputies arrived at about noon that day. They interviewed one of the customers inside the store, but not the other.
Dan Ferrena told them he had video of the exchange and that it was self-defense, but the video wasn't viewable right away. It needed to be downloaded. But the deputy didn't call someone in to look at the tape and instead arrested Dan Ferrena.
Florence Devany, a 74-year-old retiree from Palm Coast, was the customer who deputies didn't interview. She didn't find out Ferrena was arrested until she read about it in the newspaper. "I was shocked," she said. "I was in total shock."
Devany went back to the store in late December and said she couldn't believe Dan Ferrena's appearance. It looked like he lost about 20 pounds, she said. "It certainly had a terrible effect on their business," Devany said.
It's that terrible effect that the Ferrenas have been fighting against since the charge was made against Ferrena.
An aggravated assault with a firearm charge supposes that a person unlawfully used a weapon to instill a well-founded fear that violence is imminent in another person. But, self-defense negates that charge.
On Nov. 15, Assistant State Attorney Joshua Davis sent Josh Newby a letter stating that he had reviewed the video from all angles and spoke with three independent witnesses. He told Newby that "this case does not support the charge of aggravated assault with a firearm." Two weeks later, Davis dropped the charge against Ferrena.
But, damage has been done to the Ferrenas. The News-Journal wrote a story from a Sheriff's Office press release, that included a mugshot, at the time of Ferrena's arrest. So did Flagler County newspapers. TV news stations plastered Ferrena's mugshot on newscasts, as well.
"It's been having an effect since the day it happened," Dan Ferrena said.
The store has seen fewer customers at times, but has been supported by a lot of regular customers who have frequented the store since it opened in 2008. "But there's always people out there who are going to be scared to get involved with us because they don't know what to think. They think, arrested? He's guilty," he said.
Flagler County sheriff's spokeswoman Debra Johnson wrote a press release after Ferrena's arrest. A former longtime newspaper journalist, Johnson said four themes typically lead to a press release being issued for an arrest -- if it's in the public interest, informative, unusual and serves as a public service announcement. "Obviously any time firearms are used or people are threatened, that is going to trigger a press release," she said.
When people call her to say a charge has been dismissed, she refers them to the state attorney's office or to reporters.
Johnson said that keen reporters would likely have found the story even if she didn't put the story out. Each arrest's incident report is compiled into a daily report and reporters can pick them up each morning.
Three months after the incident, Ferrena is trying to restore the reputation of he and his wife's store by using the same medium that caused their store to lose business.
A sign says only four people are allowed inside at a time. The couple has also installed a buzzer on the door to the store. They plan on hitting the emergency buzzer anytime a customer gets loud to alert police to a potential problem.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Astounding Canadian case
How lucky do you have to be to have the real culprits come forward voluntarily? I know of only two previous such cases here and here.
Bad eyewitness ID again
The Ontario government is paying out $392,500, plus legal costs, to a Bayham man who spent 594 days in custody for crimes he didn't commit.
The Ontario Court of Appeal set aside Joseph Webber's conviction on 13 charges – including armed robbery, forcible confinement and extortion - after it found fresh evidence that demonstrated Webber did not commit the crimes.
This week the province announced a payout to Webber, 30. “I'd like to offer my sincere apologies to Mr. Webber for the miscarriage of justice that occurred,” Attorney General John Gerretsen said in a release.
On Feb. 8, 2008, Webber was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail after he was convicted on 13 charges stemming from a violent gunpoint home invasion southwest of Tillsonburg.
According to testimony provided during the trial, two men who were armed and wearing disguises entered an Eden Line home on Nov. 3, 2006. The suspects held the occupants at gunpoint inside the home and demanded money. One of the suspects took the homeowner to a bank and retrieved money.
At the trial, the homeowner identified Webber as one of the suspects.
But two men later came forward and admitted they were responsible for the crimes.
“It is my hope that Mr. Webber and his family will now be able to move forward and put these events behind them,” Gerretsen said.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
How lucky do you have to be to have the real culprits come forward voluntarily? I know of only two previous such cases here and here.
Bad eyewitness ID again
The Ontario government is paying out $392,500, plus legal costs, to a Bayham man who spent 594 days in custody for crimes he didn't commit.
The Ontario Court of Appeal set aside Joseph Webber's conviction on 13 charges – including armed robbery, forcible confinement and extortion - after it found fresh evidence that demonstrated Webber did not commit the crimes.
This week the province announced a payout to Webber, 30. “I'd like to offer my sincere apologies to Mr. Webber for the miscarriage of justice that occurred,” Attorney General John Gerretsen said in a release.
On Feb. 8, 2008, Webber was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail after he was convicted on 13 charges stemming from a violent gunpoint home invasion southwest of Tillsonburg.
According to testimony provided during the trial, two men who were armed and wearing disguises entered an Eden Line home on Nov. 3, 2006. The suspects held the occupants at gunpoint inside the home and demanded money. One of the suspects took the homeowner to a bank and retrieved money.
At the trial, the homeowner identified Webber as one of the suspects.
But two men later came forward and admitted they were responsible for the crimes.
“It is my hope that Mr. Webber and his family will now be able to move forward and put these events behind them,” Gerretsen said.
Original report here
(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here
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