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36,105 | bbcuk--2019-01-30--Middle Ages Merlin manuscript found in Bristol University library | 2019-01-30T00:00:00 | bbcuk | Middle Ages Merlin manuscript found in Bristol University library | Fragments of a manuscript from the Middle Ages which tell the story of Merlin the magician from Arthurian legend have been found in a library. Seven hand-written fragments were discovered in the University of Bristol's special collections library. Specialists analysing the pieces said they contained "subtle but significant" differences from the traditional story. "We are all very excited to discover more," said Dr Leah Tether, of the International Arthurian Society. The pieces of parchment were discovered by librarian Michael Richardson, who recognised a number of Arthurian names and contacted Dr Tether. The newly-discovered text has longer, more detailed descriptions of various characters particularly during battles. "These fragments of the story of Merlin are a wonderfully exciting find, which may have implications for the study not just of this text but also of other related and later texts that have shaped our modern understanding of the Arthurian legend," said Dr Tether. The books in which the fragments were found were all printed in Strasbourg between 1494 and 1502. A team of experts will try to find out how and when the books came to England in order to be able to trace the origin of the parchments. Dr Tether said: "Time and research will reveal what further secrets about the legends of Arthur, Merlin and the Holy Grail these fragments might hold." She added it was "all the more special" to find the fragments in the South West because of its locations made famous by the Arthurian legend. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-47062919 | 2019-01-30 18:34:52+00:00 | 1,548,891,292 | 1,567,550,282 | arts, culture, entertainment and media | culture |
58,014 | birminghammail--2019-03-13--Stunning Bournville Arts and Crafts house restored - and this is whats like inside | 2019-03-13T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Stunning Bournville Arts and Crafts house restored - and this is what's like inside | The interior of a historic Quaker house near Bournville has been fully restored - five years after a blue plaque was erected outside in honour of its first resident. The work has been a labour of love with the finest Arts and Crafts traditions in mind. But now we can reveal the first photographs of how 1020 Bristol Road looks today. The five-bedroom family home called Sunnybrae was built at the turn of the 20th century by George Cadbury from a design by William Harvey - architect of the Bournville Village Trust Estate. Its first resident was John Henry Barlow (1855-24) whose life was honoured in 2014 by The Birmingham Civic Society. The citation on its blue plaque reads: 'John Henry Barlow - Quaker statesman, peace ambassador and first Secretary of the Bournville Village Trust from 1900-1923. 'In 1914, he helped set up the Friends' Ambulance Unit. Lived here 1900-24'. Inspired by the blue plaque, the restoration work has been masterminded by the home's current owner, Gareth Fatchett, who moved in three years ago. Taking its name from the 1887 Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, the movement began in Britain around 1880, spread across American and Europe and later became the Mingei (Folk Crafts) movement in Japan. An idealist reaction to post 1840s industrialisation and a perceived fall in standards, its emphasis on the need for traditional skills turned homes into works of art and established strong new principles for living and working reflected in materials and design principles today. A unified approach among architects, painters, sculptors and designers led to the Arts and Crafts ideals reaching a wider public. One of the key members of the Birmingham set was Edward Burne-Jones, whose Morris & Co windows at Birmingham Cathedral are world renowned. While most of the Birmingham set had studied at King Edward’s School, they were joined by William Morris (1834-96) who had been born in Walthamstow. He met Burne-Jones at Oxford and by the 1880s Morris was an internationally renowned and commercially successful designer and manufacturer. Birmingham was a significant centre for the international Arts and Crafts movement tor two or three decades either side of 1900. The focus of this period was the now Grade I listed Birmingham School of Art, the first Municipal School of Art. It was completed in1885 after the death of the city’s greatest architect John Henry Chamberlain who had designed it in Ruskinian Venetian Gothic style. Its features still include original stained glass windows, mosaic floors and hand-carved bannisters. One of the school's students was William Harvey, the future Bournville Village Trust Estate architect. His grounding in the Arts and Crafts movement, combined with the ethos of the Cadbury family, is just one reason why the restoration of 1020 Bristol Road is important. + In 2015, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery held a four-month exhibition called Love Is Enough, in which Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller compared and contrasted his two greatest influences - William Morris and Andy Warhol. According to John Henry Barlow's grandson, Antony Barlow, the home is 'one of the best examples of the Arts & Craft movement'. It is also the place where John's son - Antony's own father Ralph - was born in 1910. John and later Ralph helped to lead the Bournville Village Trust, founded in 1900 to herald its transformation from building estate to complete village community where all house plans had to be approved by the principal architect, Alexander Harvey. Bournville Village Council was established in 1903 and the estate today now comprises 1,000 acres of land with some 8,000 homes. The Barlow's Quaker family history dates back to the 1660s. The family's association with the Cadburys began when Antony's grandfather married Mabel Cash, of the Coventry nametape weaving family, who was a first cousin to Dame Elizabeth Cadbury. John and Mabel were invited to Birmingham to run the Bournville Village Trust in 1900, living first at the then Cadbury home, Woodbrooke - now the Quaker Study Centre. The plaque's reference to Barlow's work as a peace ambassador reflects the role he played in helping to secure the so-called 'conscience clause' in the 1916 Military Service Act which enabled those of conscience to abstain from military service. He also helped to found the Friends Ambulance Unit which was active in both World Wars. Antony Barlow studied English and Drama at Manchester University, later becoming artistic director of the Richmond Theatre and then founding his own press and marketing consultancy for the arts, Tony Barlow Associates. A self-penned book called 'He is our cousin, Cousin: A Quaker Family's History from 1660 to the Present Day' ws published in paperback in 2015 and is available from the Quaker Bookshop here The Religious Society of Friends was founded in northern England in the middle of the 17th century by George Fox (1624 -1691). The name ‘Quaker’, originally a term of ridicule, derived from a statement of Fox’s, when he told his followers 'to tremble at the Word of the Lord'. Fox believed that everyone could have a direct relationship with God without involving a priest or minister. Quakers have played a significant role in such movements as the abolition of slavery, promoting education and equal rights for women. They have also campaigned on behalf of gay rights and for the humane treatment of prisoners, famously through the work of the 19th century philanthropist Elizabeth Fry. In 1947, the Quaker movement worldwide was awarded the Nobel Peace prize on account of the relief work they did in both World Wars particularly through the work of The Friends Ambulance Unit. Although 1020 Bristol Road is not being opened up to the public, there are several places where you can learn more about Arts and Crafts in situ. They include: | Graham Young | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/stunning-bournville-arts-crafts-house-15944462 | 2019-03-13 17:49:30+00:00 | 1,552,513,770 | 1,567,546,366 | arts, culture, entertainment and media | culture |
68,319 | birminghammail--2019-11-22--Take a look around this beautiful Liverpool place to study | 2019-11-22T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Take a look around this beautiful Liverpool place to study | Up to date facilities are crucial in enabling students to thrive as they make the most of their university experience and prepare for future career success. At Liverpool Hope University more than £40m has been invested in its Hope Park campus alone over the past six years, enhancing the site as a place to study and socialise. What makes the university special though, is how these modern features and new buildings sit alongside striking traditional architecture and outdoor spaces to create a relaxing environment. Travelling to Liverpool Hope University couldn't be easier, as direct trains take less than two hours from Birmingham New Street station to Liverpool Lime Street. As Liverpool Hope University’s main teaching campus, Hope Park’s grand buildings and glorious grounds are in keeping with the site’s leafy Childwall surroundings. Once inside the campus, students will find Hope Park is home to the university’s health and sports science facilities - including a gym with membership available for all students - as well as the learning resource filled Sheppard Worlock Library and an abundance of places to eat and drink. Brimming with character though, the campus’ exterior is sure to wow students from the moment they arrive. Over in central Liverpool, the university’s Creative Campus on Shaw Street houses state-of-the-art technology and performance spaces within Grade II-listed buildings which are certainly easy on the eye. Providing a place for the university’s School of Creative and Performing Arts subjects, this newly expanded site also mixes old and new as it’s where students will find the purpose-built Arts Centre along with the international arts focused Capstone Theatre and the Cornerstone Gallery exhibition space. Once inside the Hope Park campus you’re never far from a room with a view, as the buildings look out onto a wealth of beautiful green space. Landscaped gardens are lined with flowers, shrubs and fabulous fountains, creating the perfect environment for students to forget about the stress of university life and relax and socialise outdoors. Ornate sculptures are also scattered around the site, reflecting the university’s Liverpool location as a hub of art and culture and adding to the range of unique features which make its grounds so picturesque. Hope University’s stunning settings are not exclusive to Liverpool. The university also boasts a quaint campus surrounded by secluded woodlands within North Wales’ renowned beauty spot - the Snowdonia National Park. Plas Caerdeon Outdoor Education Centre is set in 18 acres of private land overlooking the idyllic views of Mawddach Estuary. For information about studying at Liverpool Hope University, and the facilities at its campuses, click here . | [email protected] (Holly Roberts) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/special-features/take-look-around-beautiful-liverpool-17298569 | Fri, 22 Nov 2019 16:24:34 +0000 | 1,574,457,874 | 1,574,470,372 | arts, culture, entertainment and media | culture |
125,389 | dailybeast--2019-10-31--Is the Paris Art World Dead? | 2019-10-31T00:00:00 | dailybeast | Is the Paris Art World Dead? | Paris is not the up-and-coming art city. That’s Naples, or Shanghai, or Leipzig, or Los Angeles. It’s not the art champion of the moment. That’s Berlin. It’s not really even one of the old gods anymore, big, dated, but still influential, like its classic competition of New York and London. I often find myself wondering why. Paris makes the cliché version of ourselves into a tough opponent. Even living here, no matter how many times I see the Eiffel pricking up in a rain-soaked vista, I can’t seem to stop myself from an awkward cooing. It’s a fight that, for whatever reason, I seem to take up against the part of myself that enjoys the simple pleasures of postcard histories. It’s a boring fight, but I think it’s an important one. For those trying to be artists in this city (a distinction I fortunately or unfortunately must lump myself into), fighting the cliché, fighting the way Paris romances you with its past accomplishments, is crucial. It’s too easy to lie down in the warmth of the city’s wet monuments, in the goings up and down of its sun, and in the countless -isms of art history that were born or made famous here: Cubism, Fauvism, Surrealism, Dadaism, Impressionism.. .the -isms go on. The risk inherent to making art in Paris is the easy comfort of living out a romantic image of the artist here, receiving the benefits of being a bohemian in the eyes of the outside world, and never contributing new ideas to the evolution of “Art.” I feel I have the right to criticize the cliché because I arrived here as one. Twenty-two years old, and, like all good Americans, loaded with 1920s writer-kinks and painter-fantasies. In a desire to draw equivalencies between the past and present, I went out looking for living people doing the romantic stuff I’d read about. I found some like me, foreigners in 10th arrondissement poetry-bars and 20th arrondissement cheap cafés, clichés basically, and though it was cute to role-play together something sexy as a Parisian art community, there was a sadness in the act. There was something hollow in pretending to be a collective who had contributed ideas to the world without actually contributing our own. A friend and I, with the help of other writers and artists we met, wanted to do something to crush that hollow feeling and make sure we had a chance to live our own “Paris moment.” We started a magazine, the Belleville Park Pages, as an attempt to record the work of our Paris-based peers. The magazine was designed to be cheaper than a pint of beer, and quick to read, one big sheet of paper folded like a map. We got the magazine stocked in places around the world, in the bookshops of our fantasies. We sold over 20,000 copies. But the magazine was limited. In the media, the magazine and the people in it were constantly compared to dead names of the Parisian past. Dead Joyces, dead Fitzgeralds, dead Hemingways, dead Steins; dead everyone else. The magazine benefited from what I refer to as, “the Paris bump”, the benefit of simply being considered an artist in Paris without doing anywhere near enough good work to deserve the comparisons (read, “any at all”). The magazine, at least in my opinion, was hamstrung by the romance of its overt Paris branding. Purposefully, there weren’t defined ideas and clear concepts driving its editorial direction. We wanted to give people a platform to say whatever they wanted. But in doing so, we didn’t give the magazine any identity to carry it beyond its Parisian sexiness, to make it something worth a value to the larger world beyond an image. That image could only sell so many magazines, and after three years we decided to stop due to money problems. In the aftermath of an important era of my own life, I felt lost. I was still living in Paris and so I tried to connect myself with a more local art community. One that was based less on the Anglophone cliché of the city. I found the French art community of Paris, with its own writers and artists, and though it doesn’t suffer from the same aforementioned clichés as the foreigners who try to make it here, it still suffers from its own cliché: the weight of history. The amount of times I’ve heard sentences spoken by French artists like, “I can’t talk about X because Zola’s said it,” or, “I can’t talk about Y because de Beauvoir’s said it,” feels countless. That’s not a problem for Anglophones, Americans especially, with our grandiose sense of individual liberty. But the weight of history limits ideas just the same. Because the big ideas are avoided for fear of intellectual comparison to the past, the Franco-Parisian art community seems to silo into nothing more complex than friend-groups who make art together. Disparate art defined by social connections instead of unifying themes. Friend-groups whose ideas do not intermingle, and in turn, do not really develop. Though this criticism is clearly a subjective failure, I don’t believe that art, and the beauty it produces by leveling diverse experiences on universal themes, can truly succeed when produced by small groups who don’t communicate. For different reasons, the French and foreign communities of Paris are failing the same. Failing in the responsibility of projecting our new ideas, new thoughts on society represented through art, that would give something of substance for the outside world to analyze (the art world and the world generally). That failure defines the unified, international art community of contemporary Paris. And maybe that failure explains why Paris has lost its grasp on international artistic relevance. To assess mathematically the decline of Paris as ‘Cultural Capital’ is difficult and dangerous. Difficult, because numbers struggle to capture theoretical influence. Dangerous, because numbers often take the form of financials, which limit artistic importance to the base of their monetary worth. But, if we start with the accepted assumption that France (Paris specifically) invented the “collector-driven” art market as we know it today, then here are some numbers that speak weight: As reported by Artprice, a leader in art market research, France contributed only 2 percent of global art sales in 2018 (versus 39 percent for the U.S, 28 percent for China and 23 percent for the U.K.) They are one tenth the value of their U.K., London-centered, neighbors, their competition. Those numbers are even more disparaging when viewed in the context of Contemporary Art, current creation. Just 8 percent of France’s total 2018 art sales were considered “Contemporary Art.” There were no French artists in the top 100 auctions of Contemporary Art last year, world-wide. And Contemporary French artists made up only a tiny fraction of overall sales at the world’s leading auction houses: 1.4 percent of Christie’s 2018 sales, and 0.9 percent of Sotheby’s. This stands in stark comparison to burgeoning cultural capitals like Hong Kong, whose Contemporary sales amounted to 46 percent of total sales, a trend supporting China’s rise in art market importance. To contextualize the decline differently, we could instead look toward France’s historically strong literary tradition. Between the prize’s founding in 1901 and Jean-Paul Sartre’s winning of it in 1964, France produced 12 Nobel laureates in literature. Since then, it has produced only two (though one could argue that Paris was instrumental in the lives of some of its famous inhabitants). These numbers are very neo-liberal, very modern-capitalism, in that their relation to young, “up-and-coming” artists is trickle-down at best. The support of top awards or large-scale investment isn’t seen, directly, by artists still trying to make a name for themselves. But award recognition and a strong economy, localized within an art capital, does help. It brings attention to the urban artistic environment and gives artists a clearer ladder to climb (if their goal is, as it is for most artists I know, to make a living through their art). That attention, which I’ve felt more strongly in other art cities, is crucial for artists trying to win respect for their ideas beyond direct social networks. I’ve had the chance to live for some short moments in New York and London and Los Angeles, and in all those cities I was often asked the same cutting question by artists: does anything still happen in Paris? That question, a metaphor for lacking attention, always made me sad. And, when living away from it, Paris was always a place I defended, though I’ve never had a great retort to throw back at the question. I myself have consistently moved back to Paris after having left it. Three times I have left and returned. And though my inability to quit the place is biased, I’m sure, by my internalized clichés and personal love of the city, there are more legitimate reasons for staying. The city, contrary to popular belief, is cheap. Or at least, cheaper than the other mega, Western world cities it competes with for influence. It’s cheaper than LA, with its automotive expenses. Much cheaper than New York, (with its manic urban renewal of affordable spaces). And a lot cheaper than London, with its crippling rent and public transportation costs. For a surprising and larger context, Paris is now even cheaper than my hometown, Portland (Oregon), the stereotypically cheap, small, and funky bastion of the United States. In Paris, a decent rent of €650 can be found easily, with plenty of €500 gems going around. In Portland, $1,000 rents are now normal and considered a steal by some. Beyond price, Paris is small physically. You can move through it quickly. You can shuttle between multiple events and meetings and vernissages in a single night. Transportation is relatively cheap. And, if you know where to go, drinking is more affordable too. This all allows for a spontaneity of human interaction, based on the public space, that defines and improves an art community. If the cause of an artistic hub is what I think it is, price and the ability to interact (or at least, find inspiration in your competition), Paris should be a place that still attracts artists and produces quality work. But it doesn’t. Or, it doesn’t produce like it used to, when it used to produce all of those romantic -isms. This makes me wonder, what is Paris missing? It has the price. It has the space. And it still has the Paris Bump: the lingering reverence from the outside world. And so I return to its failure. The failure of the art community to project our views on the modern world. I would be remiss not to mention the effect technology is having on art and artists generally, regardless of location. I’m not anti-Instagram, or anything like that. But the formula for success in contemporary art requires a buying-in to the cult of fame. It requires an artist to make a name for themselves online, on social media, prior to on-earth success. Often, the gatekeepers to financial stability in the art world ask for strong followings in order to access opportunity. That is the modern hustle, and we have to play. But to play requires a simplification of ideas, a reduction in complexity in order to fit within the single-word algorithms that manage contemporary attention. So if we live in Paris, where ideas struggle to grow beyond the city, and if we live in a time where ideas are being cut down to make space for visual, portrait-driven simplicity, then what can we as Paris-based artists do to reclaim some of our relevance? Rather than be angsty about it, I set out to do my part, to do the best I could to improve our situation. I decided to “write” a book. I put write in quotations, because in reality, the book was written for me, in the words of Paris’ young, living artists. I went looking for artists living in Paris. Young artists who had something interesting and definable to say about society. I sat down with them in various locations around the city, often had a drink, and then spoke with them for hours at a time. We didn’t speak so much about their art. More, we discussed their views on society. We spoke about identity, sexuality, mental health, urban life, love, loneliness, technology, and the future; all the things that everyone around the world seems to be discussing. We talked about a lot of things, and sometimes we spoke about Paris too. I put their words together and attempted to uncover a narrative of ideas that uncover the opinions which make Paris-based artists’ views on the world unique. It’s my belief that, no matter their location, artists act like a funnel for society. They ingest the effects of politics and sociology, then turn out a simplified, accessible and inspirational reflection. When that reflection is good, it attracts attention and causes people to appreciate a person much more strongly than the simple, image-driven cliché distinction of “being an artist” or “being an artist is Paris” ever could. The book, With Paris in Mind: Talking With Artists of This Generation, contains 16 interviews with 22 artists working across six art forms, all of whom have produced ideas that I love. I love their ideas, not because they inspire my own writing (though they do), but because their ideas inspire my life outside anything related to art. Their thoughts help make sense out of the confusion that comes from living through our modern moment, our confusing now. By hearing their ideas, and seeing how those ideas help me make sense, I know I will follow what these artists make in the future, to see how much more sense they have left to make. It’s a focus on this sort of reaction, real ideas and their potential, that I believe is needed in the Parisian art community. It’s the focus on ideas that will connect artists across developing thought and innovative theory rather than across friendship, clout, or cliché. And I think only then, when ideas have killed the cliché romance, will Paris possibly have the chance to regain some of its relevance in the eyes of the outside world. With Paris in Mind is a collection of interviews and photographs with writers, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, fine artists, and chefs. You can find the book online here. Or in Paris starting November at Shakespeare and Company, Galignani, Palais de Tokyo and Yvon Lambert. | Will Mountain Cox | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thedailybeast/articles/~3/a8qUgFj6x5Q/is-the-paris-art-world-dead | Thu, 31 Oct 2019 09:43:33 GMT | 1,572,529,413 | 1,572,534,496 | arts, culture, entertainment and media | culture |
161,908 | eveningstandard--2019-01-29--Best fashion exhibitions and clothing museums in London | 2019-01-29T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | Best fashion exhibitions and clothing museums in London | Fashion is all about the aesthetic — so a museum is the perfect place to pay homage to different fashion eras and designers. London is home to many museums with exhibitions covering all areas of fashion, from historic designs and contemporary trends to the future of the industry. The V&A’s 2019 Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition has sent the capital into a fashion frenzy, so now more than ever is the time to see what other venues have to offer. These are the ones to look out for if you know your Louboutin from your Lagerfeld. This Bermondsey site is best known for exploring periods of fashion and their cultural connotations. The contemporary fashion museum was founded by British designer Zandra Rhodes back in 2003. This year it has a number of delights to tickle the fancy of fashion lovers. A four-month exhibition focusing on mini skirt revolutionary Mary Quant and designer Terence Conran will run from February until June, delving into the fashion, design and art of the Swinging Sixties. The show will present clothes, textiles, furniture, lighting, homewares, ceramics — exploring both style and the socioeconomic importance of this period. Huge names in the fashion world have graced the interior of the V&A, including Vivienne Westwood and Vera Wang, who both featured in the 2014 Weddings exhibition as well as gowns from Balenciaga, Balmain and Givenchy in the 2007 The Golden Age of Couture show. A much anticipated exhibition celebrating the life and work of the fashion designer Christian Dior opened in February, and will run until July. Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams is the largest retrospective on the French designer ever shown in the UK and it showcases a number of exquisite garmets alongside photographs, accessories and personal items. This iconic London landmark is home to the British Fashion Council and regularly hosts fashion exhibitions in its 16th century neoclassical building. In February the popular venue, which hosts London Fashion Week events, will host an International Fashion Showcase presenting work from the best up-and-coming fashion talent from around the world. Likewise a fashion photography exhibition will run for slightly longer, until April, exhibiting the work of Hanna Moon and Joyce NG — two industry names to watch out for. The clue is in the name here — expect lots and lots of beautiful fabric and garments in this collection. The impressive offering boasts materials made, sold, bought and worn in London from the 16th century to the present. There’s an eclectic mix with pieces made both at home and in studios of London couturiers, covering all occasions too, from gowns worn at extravagant occasions to pieces worn every day. Open seven days a week with free admissions to all exhibitions, it’s hard to resist the Saatchi Gallery. The site focuses on presenting work from unseen young artists, or international artists who are largely unknown, rather than household names. Previous popular shows include Chanel’s Haute Couture show, titled Mademoiselle Privé, alongside with a selection of London Fashion Week events. This London College of Fashion exhibition space continues to lay on an experimental programme of shows and events. Catering for both established artists and up-and-coming creative talents, the contemporary venue holds regular fashion, design, and art exhibitions alongside tours and talks. It runs a residency programme, supporting designers working in fashion and related fields. This year the gallery is hosting a Mundo Latinx exhibition, bringing together works from visual artists who raise questions around representation and identity. This Kensington haunt specialises in contemporary design, covering all forms, from fashion and product to graphics and architecture. The venue continues to deliver a vibrant programme of exhibitions. Previous shows include one focusing on "couture's rebellious outsider" Azzedine Alaïa and the Women Fashion Power exhibition. If fashion photography is more up your alley, this space in Soho hosts regular exhibitions alongside educational activities to promote the snap happy pastime and its impact on culture and society. Previous style exhibitions have covered the portraiture and fashion photography of Edward Steichen, when he was working powerhouse fasion titles at Condé Nast. | Lizzie Thomson | https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/arts/best-museums-fashion-design-clothing-london-a4051071.html | 2019-01-29 17:14:00+00:00 | 1,548,800,040 | 1,567,550,359 | arts, culture, entertainment and media | culture |
175,251 | eveningstandard--2019-05-25--Celebrity art curator Jean-David Malat says London is one of top global locations for modern and con | 2019-05-25T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | Celebrity art curator Jean-David Malat says London is one of top global locations for modern and contemporary art | A renowned art curator celebrating the first anniversary of his Mayfair gallery has said London is one of the most important places in the world for modern and contemporary art. Jean-David Malat, a London-based art dealer and curator, said the capital is more significant in the art world than Paris thanks to its "international" and "avant-garde" approach. Mr Malat has worked for clients such as Kate Moss, Bono, Madonna and Natalie Imbruglia and represents a broad spectrum of international artists. The Paris-born curator, who has established more than a dozen formerly-known artists, has run seven successful solo exhibitions at JD Malat Gallery since it opened in June 2018. Speaking to the Standard ahead of the June 6 anniversary, Mr Malat said his gallery has gone from strength to strength and said London has been the ideal location. “London is better than Paris for the art world,” he said. “It’s more international, maybe more avant-garde. I’ve been in the city for almost 18 years and I just love it. “I would say this city is one of the most important places in the world for modern and contemporary art. “The last year has been very good, we had seven exhibitions and three sold out. We are getting more international and doing art fairs, Mexico in February and Seattle in August. “With this job you can’t stop, you always have a new exhibition or a new artist and you have to make it happen, there is a lot of demand so you need to be active and supply.” To mark the one-year anniversary of JD Malat Gallery, Los Angeles-based artist Andy Moses will make his London debut with his solo exhibition Echoes of Light from June 21 to July 20. Curated by Larry Bell, who Mr Malat regards as “one of America’s most renowned and influential artists”, the exhibition is set to feature a range of concave paintings. Mr Malat said the artist’s distinctive style is “simultaneously abstract and representational”, with one stand-out piece being Rad 1502, a curved canvas painted with acrylic. Speaking about his work, Mr Moses said: “My quest is to create the sensation of light that appears to be emanating from the surface of the painting rather than being reflected off of it. “I am honoured to be working with JD Malat Gallery for my first solo show in London.” Currently on show at the gallery is the Urban Scene exhibition, with Chinese artist Li Tianbing's politically-focused art on show. Specifically, Mr Tianbing refers to the “foul and evil-foreboding air” felt in China upon recent visits, which he said is due to the booming economy increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. “He’s really one of my favourite artists,” Mr Malat said of Mr Bing, whose work he has been collecting since 2005. “I am very excited to be working with him on this exhibition. “The series is a bit different, mostly it is about what’s going on in the world, the events in Venezuela, Paris and in other countries. His work is completely full of emotion.” The Urban Scene exhibition is running until June 15 in JD Malat Gallery, 30 Davies Street, Mayfair. Echoes of Light is running from June 21 to July 20. | Katy Clifton | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/celebrity-art-curator-jeandavid-malat-london-is-better-than-paris-for-the-art-world-a4151106.html | 2019-05-25 05:48:00+00:00 | 1,558,777,680 | 1,567,540,178 | arts, culture, entertainment and media | culture |
326 | 21stcenturywire--2019-05-10--Julian Assange The UK Sweden and the Illusion of Justice | 2019-05-10T00:00:00 | 21stcenturywire | Julian Assange: The UK, Sweden and the ‘Illusion of Justice’ | Whistleblower and political prisoner Chelsea Manning has been released from Alexandria Detention Centre in the US state of Virginia. This follows the appeal made by her lawyers that continued detention would be a violation of law as it would be to punish her and not to ‘purge her contempt’ given her principled conviction in not cooperating. She was held in contempt in March in relation to a grand jury investigation into the highly dubious, if not fabricated charges against WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. She is now facing the prospect of further detention as she has been subpoenaed to a different grand jury next week and by all accounts will continue refusing to cooperate. At the same time Assange is fighting extradition from the UK to the US where it is likely he will face degrading treatment for the politically-driven charges against him. The US and the UK, and Sweden in the case of Assange, have abused their legal systems to create a facade of both ‘rule of law’ and ‘freedom through choice’, behind which Assange and Manning are persecuted. As an army intelligence analyst, Manning leaked documents to WikiLeaks which led to the exposure of horrific war crimes by the US, including the Collateral Murder cockpit video of the slaughter of unarmed civilians in Iraq in 2007. For this Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2010, commuted to 7 in 2017. While outraged by Assange for his role in publishing leaks, the Trump government has also now gone after Manning. Manning believes this to be about revenge, and the discrediting of truth-tellers and whistleblowers who dare hold governments to account, as she expressed in a statement just prior to release: “I believe this grand jury seeks to undermine the integrity of public discourse with the aim of punishing those who expose any serious, ongoing, and systemic abuses of power by this government, as well as the rest of the international community. Therefore, participating in this fishing expedition – which potentially exposes other innocent people to the grand jury process – would constitute an unjustifiable and unethical action. Now, after sustaining serious psychological injury from my current confinement, I don’t wish to expose any other person to the trauma and exhaustion of civil contempt or other forms of prison or coercion.” The personal toll this has taken on Manning is immense: “Without committing a federal crime, and after exhaustive testimony at a trial several years ago, I am again ripped from my life by a vindictive and politically motivated investigation and prosecution.” Manning faces continued detention because she won’t surrender. Assange is probably still alive and fighting because he has not surrendered. For Assange this meant that while in the Ecuadorian embassy he could only access urgent medical help by risking arrest and extradition to the US, which could have meant the death sentence or a life prison sentence. Surrender or death. Death or death. The illusion of choice hid persecution. Manning makes this very point: The illusion Assange had a choice is also essential for the British government to carry off that he was a criminal fugitive hiding from justice: “…Assange is in the embassy of his own choice...” – Alan Duncan, Foreign Office It is now evident that this was a lie. Choice was an illusion for the public. Assange would have risked the death sentence or life in prison by leaving the embassy. This is what he could now face if extradited following his arrest on 11th April. The British government lied. What has now become apparent is that law is the government’s weapon of choice. On 12th April, the day after Assange was arrested by the British police, Labour MP Stella Creasey, with backing from over 70 MPs, wrote to the Home Secretary asking for Assange to be extradited to Sweden if its authorities re-opened the investigation into sexual allegations for which Sweden had requested Assange’s extradition in 2010. This was based on no new claim of evidence, or due process, and could easily be seen as political interference to put pressure on the Swedish authorities. The case itself has been condemned as trumped-up, a and violation of law. Meanwhile, the Swedish authorities were not even aware of the plan to arrest Assange: “This is news to us too, and we haven’t yet processed the information…We don’t know why he has been arrested.” – Sweden’s chief prosecutor, Ingrid Isgren Creasey seemed to think this was about procedural oversight: “The decision to rescind the political asylum of Mr Assange by the Ecuadorian authorities seems to have been something of which both the UK and US authorities were made aware in advance.” How remiss of the UK government to forget the sexual allegations made by two Swedish women they seemed to care about for so many years. Or perhaps the UK and US no longer needed the women: extradition to the US could now be through the UK. The sexual allegations, the initial vehicle for getting Assange to the US via Sweden, were presumably viewed as surplus to requirements on 11th April. After years of hunting Assange on the pretext he was a ‘rapist evading justice,’ the U.K. government, like that of Sweden, a liberal champion of women’s rights, is exposed as fake, exploiting sexual allegations for political agenda: in this case subservience to Washington’s attack on journalism and freedom of speech. Millions were thrown at surveillance on Assange, a bounty the Crown Prosecution Service considered priceless, shown in a 2013 email to the Swedish prosecutor: “I do not consider costs are a relevant factor in this matter.” The statement made by Women Against Rape in 2012 should help Creasey and Co. to understand why the British government did not notify the Swedes of Assange’s arrest but invested so much in these sexual allegations: “Once again women’s fury and frustration at the prevalence of rape and other violence, is being used by politicians to advance their own purposes. The authorities care so little about violence against women that they manipulate rape allegations at will, usually to increase their powers, this time to facilitate Assange’s extradition or even rendition to the US.” The illusion of ‘unavailability in the Ecuadorian embassy’ And now that Sweden has today announced it will decide next week whether to reopen the case for yet a third time, it is continuing its media circus tactics around Assange, as previously pointed out by journalist John Pilger: “For Assange, his only trial has been trial by media. On August 20, 2010, the Swedish police opened a “rape investigation” and immediately – and unlawfully – told the Stockholm tabloids that there was a warrant for Assange’s arrest for the “rape of two women”. This was the news that went round the world.” Is the Swedish government creating a launching pad for reasserting itself as champion of women? An opportunity for some face-saving for the calculated use of its prosecution services that took being dragged to the Swedish Supreme Court by Assange’s legal team before it would progress the preliminary investigation, while countless offers by both the Ecuadorian government and Assange’s lawyers for him to be interviewed were not taken up? As pointed out by former Foreign Secretary of Ecuador, Gillaume Long: “There was no need for the Swedish authorities to delay for over 1,000 days before agreeing to carry out this interview, given that the Swedish authorities regularly question people in Britain and received permission to do so on more than 40 occasions in recent years.” But should they decide to reopen the case, and have the case internationally scrutinised, an unlikely scenario according to Assange’s Swedish lawyer Per E Samuelson, it would mean all attention would then be on Sweden. This would remove it from the UK – convenient for the UK government to wash its hands of Assange and not be the betrayer of international law and of journalists and whistle blowers everywhere. Sweden could take that title. Creasey’s letter embodies the anti-human rights narrative that rejects the decision of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) that Assange has been subjected to arbitrary detention. It is this anti-human rights narrative the British government is using to continue persecuting Assange by keeping him in stark prison conditions after years of confinement, while he now fights extradition. To justify sentencing him to 12 months inside high-security Belmarsh prison for skipping bail seven years ago, the court rejected his defense of asylum, despite the risk of persecution to Assange being more obvious than ever, vindicating his asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy. We have an anti-human rights government in power and some courts are standing in line behind it giving away their independence and integrity to serve the war criminals hunting Assange. MPs used the withdrawal of his Ecuadorian citizenship and asylum rights, an act recognised as unconstitutional and in violation of international law, as an opportunity to extradite Assange to Sweden from where he would be extradited to the US. Once there he would face inhumane treatment, as warned by the UN rapporteur on torture. This was a cowardly act by the MPs. They have undermined asylum and human rights laws, Creasey herself being a campaigner for asylum rights in Britain. What’s more, they exploited the emotive progressive political and feminist outrage to ride rough shod over due process for Assange, while they stayed silent on the government’s use of sexual allegations for political gain, ‘a violation of law.’ Such are the “champions of action.” The integrity of two individuals, publisher and whistleblower, has rocked the foundations of the most powerful who thought they were untouchable. Their resilience against the uncivilised US beast and its supine servants puts to shame our liberal ‘progressive’ politicians who daren’t stray from mainstream narratives, no matter how corrupt or fake, through fear of disapproval. “Whatever one might make of my principles and decisions, I shall continue to make hard choices and sacrifices rather than relinquish my ethical positions in exchange for mere trinkets of personal gain or self-pleasure in the form of being released.” – Chelsea Manning MPs should demand an investigation into: Author Nina Cross is an independent writer and researcher, and contributor to 21WIRE. To see more of her work, visit her Nina’s archive. | Nina Cross | https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/05/10/julian-assange-the-uk-sweden-and-the-illusion-of-justice/ | 2019-05-10 15:49:25+00:00 | 1,557,517,765 | 1,567,540,823 | crime, law and justice | justice |
937 | abcnews--2019-01-09--Former Guantanamo Bay commander indicted for obstructing justice in 2015 death | 2019-01-09T00:00:00 | abcnews | Former Guantanamo Bay commander indicted for obstructing justice in 2015 death | The former commander of the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay has been indicted on federal charges of obstruction of justice related to the January, 2015 death of a base employee who had confronted the officer with allegations that he was having an affair with his wife. Christopher Tur was found drowned in the waters of Guantanamo Bay two days after confronting Captain John Nettleton about the alleged affair. Nettleton was arraigned Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Jacksonville, Florida exactly four years to the day that Tur disappeared following the confrontation and subsequent fight between the two men. At the time, Nettleton was the commander of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Nettleton’s command did not include the detention facility at the base that is overseen by a one-star flag or general officer. Tur was a civilian employee of the commissary on the base. According to the indictment, on the night of January 9, 2015 Tur confronted and yelled at Nettleton at a party at the Officers’ Club with allegations that the Naval officer had had an affair with his wife, Lara. A short time later Tur went to Nettleton’s nearby residence and the two men engaged in a physical altercation that left Tur injured. Investigators found texts from Nettleson's daughter, the only other person in the residence at the time, describing a loud commotion in the house. When she went to investigate she saw an unknown man hovering above her father, who was lying on the floor, attempting to use a cellphone. The person that Tur phoned told investigators that Tur had told him he was "at the Skipper's house" and "just knocked out the Skipper." Nettleson's daughter's texts described loud arguing and fighting that lasted for another half hour. The next day Navy personnel went looking for Tur after he had not returned home. Tur's body was found on January 11 floating in Guantanamo Bay after an intensive search at the base. An autopsy determined he had drowned but had suffered fractured ribs and a laceration on his head. From the moment the search for Nettlson began and throughout the subsequent investigation he did not mention to base personnel, investigators or his superior officer that Tur had last been seen at his home. He falsely claimed that he had last ween Tur at the Officers Club. He also did not disclose that Tur had accused him of engaging in an affair with his wife, engaged in a physical fight at his home and that Tur had been injured. Investigators later determined through DNA testing that blood stains found at Nettleson's home belonged to Tur. They also determined that Nettleson and Lara Tur had engaged in an affair in 2014. Three weeks after Tur's disappearance Nettleson was relieved of command and placed in an administrative job in Jacksonville pending the results of a joint Naval Criminal Investigative Division and Justice Department investigation. ABC News cited a U.S. official who said information had come to light during the investigation into Tur’s death that led the Navy to relieve Nettleton of command. The official said the investigation found that Nettleton had allegedly been having an affair with Tur’s wife Lara, the director of the Fleet and Family Services Center at the base. | Luis Martinez | https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/guantanamo-bay-commander-indicted-obstructing-justice-2015-death/story?id=60268299 | 2019-01-09 23:34:46+00:00 | 1,547,094,886 | 1,567,553,257 | crime, law and justice | justice |
71,919 | breitbart--2019-08-20--Warren Emphasizes LGBT Protections in Criminal Justice Reform Plan | 2019-08-20T00:00:00 | breitbart | Warren Emphasizes LGBT Protections in Criminal Justice Reform Plan | She echoed many of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) ideas, like ending cash bail, legalizing marijuana, eliminating private prisons, reducing the prisoner population, and implementing implicit bias training for officers. She also went squarely for Joe Biden’s (D) 1994 crime bill, calling for its repeal. “The 1994 crime bill exacerbated incarceration rates in this country, punishing people more severely for even minor infractions, and limiting discretion in charging and sentencing in our judicial system,” she wrote, calling the “tough on crime” approach “wrong.” “That punitive ‘tough on crime’ approach was wrong, it was a mistake, and it needs to be repealed,” she continued. “There are some sections of law, like those relating to domestic violence, that should be retained — but the bulk of the law must go.” Unlike Sanders’ plan, however, Warren placed a significant emphasis on LGBT Americans, calling for the U.S. to “tackle” the problems within our criminal justice system by looking at the roots. “That means implementing a set of bold, structural changes at all levels of government. And it starts by reimagining how we talk and think about public safety,” she wrote, using LGBTQ+ Americans as a key example: “It should mean policies that recognize the humanity of trans people and other LGBTQ+ Americans and keep them safe from violence,” she wrote, later echoing Sanders’ call to “stop criminalizing homelessness,” which she says “disproportionately impact communities of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities”: Housing provides safety and stability, but too many experience homelessness. To make matters worse, many cities have criminalized homelessness by banning behavior associated with it, like sleeping in public or living in vehicles. These laws draw people into the justice system instead of giving them access to the services they need. They disproportionately impact communities of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities, all of whom experience higher rates of homelessness. Rather than treating the homeless like criminals, we should get them with the resources they need to get back on their feet. Warren also devoted an entire section to protecting “special populations,” including LGBTQ+ individuals. “Vulnerable individuals like pregnant women, victims of domestic violence, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals often require special protections while behind bars,” she wrote. “I’ll implement a rigorous auditing program to ensure that prisons are adhering to legal requirements to protect LGBTQ+ individuals and others from sexual violence and assault while incarcerated, and prosecute prison staff who engage in misconduct,” she added. Ultimately, Warren calls for more “preventative” approaches to criminal justice reform, with a heavy emphasis on “reforming police behavior” and “demilitarizing” law enforcement in order to gain public trust: Militarizing our police contributes to mutual fear and distrust, and there is evidence to suggest it can actually make officers themselves less safe. As President, I will eliminate the transfer of military-grade weapons and lethal equipment to local police via the 1033 program, prohibit local law enforcement from buying military equipment with federal funding, and create a buy-back program for equipment already in use in our communities. “Our system is the result of choices we’ve made—choices that together stack the deck against the poor and the disadvantaged,” Warren wrote in a tweet Tuesday. “We can create real law and order and real justice in our country by making long overdue big, structural change,” she added: | Hannah Bleau | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/_i5NI_nvFsQ/ | 2019-08-20 15:16:36+00:00 | 1,566,328,596 | 1,567,533,930 | crime, law and justice | justice |
4,387 | activistpost--2019-04-04--Chill the Fk Out Good Cop Stops Fellow Cops as They Horrifically Beat 3 Innocent Men | 2019-04-04T00:00:00 | activistpost | ‘Chill the F**k Out!’: Good Cop Stops Fellow Cops as They Horrifically Beat 3 Innocent Men | Albany, NY — Utterly shocking body camera footage was released on Thursday showing what led to one officer’s arrest and felony assault charges and the suspension without pay of two others. What started over an alleged noise complaint quickly turned into a gang-style beat down of several innocent men. On March 16, police were responding to a call over a loud party. When officers showed up, however, there was no loud party and all the lights inside the home were off. This wasn’t good enough for the cops, so one of them kicked the door into the home and ripped the occupant out onto the street and began beating him as he doused him in pepper spray. For several moments, officers hold the man down as one of them kicks him repeatedly. In total, three men were were all forced out into the street where they received this gang-style attack by uniformed assailants. One of the most flagrant clips from the released footage shows officer Luke Deer shoving one of the men as he stood there with his hands in the air. Deer appears to snap and then jumps on top of the innocent man and starts savagely beating him. As the footage shows, the man is not resisting and only trying to cover his face from the repeated blows being doled out by Deer. After his fists seemingly got tired, Deer then pulled out his baton and continued pummeling this innocent man. The baton blows are so hard that the victim’s blood begins to splatter all over the concrete as he asks the raging cop why he is hitting him. As another clip shows, two other officers—whose names have not been released—attack the other men and begin beating them. The violence eventually becomes so unbearable that one cop felt it necessary to step in and stop it. As TFTP frequently points out, all too often police officers will do nothing as their fellow officers savagely beat innocent and often helpless and handcuffed individuals. It appears in the video that these officers were going to do just that and beat these folks and get away with it. However, a good cop stepped in to stop it. After Deer had his victim in handcuffs he jumps up in a fit of rage, seemingly ready to dish out more violence looking for anyone nearby that he can attack. At this point, we hear an officer yell at him to stop. “Deer! Deer! Take a f*cking second! Chill the f*ck out, Deer!” the good cop says as he prevents the officer from hurting more innocent people. Officer Deer appeared to be in a frenzy of rage ready to hurt anyone who was in front of him. Had this cop not stepped in to stop it, he may very well have beaten someone to death. After the cops were done beating the innocent men, they arrested them all and brought false charges against them, all of which were dropped on Wednesday. The first man who was seen getting pulled from the home was Lee Childs. He was charged with inciting a riot—for standing in his home with the lights out. Armando Sanchez was the man with his hands up who was attacked by Deer. He was also charged with inciting a riot and resisting arrest. Mario Gorostiza was also kidnapped and falsely charged. Had body camera footage of this incident not existed, all these bogus charges likely would have stuck as it was the word of these men against that of the uniformed officers. As for officer Deer, he has been arrested and charged with felony assault and official misconduct, a misdemeanor. He and his two fellow cronies who were also seen beating the innocent people have all been suspended without pay. “There are those in our community who believe that police always act responsibly and always tell the truth,” Alice Green of the Center for Law and Justice said Wednesday outside the courthouse, according to the Times Union. “Unfortunately, that’s not the case.” Below is one of the most egregious cases of police brutality TFTP has reported on in some time. It shows just how important filming police interactions is and serves as an example of why so many inner city people fear the cops. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project, where this article first appeared Steemit , and now on Minds. | Activist Post | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/04/chill-the-fk-out-good-cop-stops-fellow-cops-as-they-horrifically-beat-3-innocent-men.html | 2019-04-04 18:26:10+00:00 | 1,554,416,770 | 1,567,543,972 | crime, law and justice | justice |
5,035 | activistpost--2019-07-23--Cops Mistakenly Raid Innocent Familys Home 3 TIMES in Just 4 Months | 2019-07-23T00:00:00 | activistpost | Cops Mistakenly Raid Innocent Family’s Home 3 TIMES in Just 4 Months | Chicago, IL — Because of their gross negligence and incompetence, the city of Chicago is facing a slew of lawsuits for raiding the homes of innocent people — allegedly by mistake. TFTP has reported on several of these lawsuits in which cops raided a four-year-old’s birthday party and held other children at gunpoint. Now, however, we have learned that one of these families has been raided — mistakenly — three times in just the last four months. “There was no time to breathe in between,” said Krystal Archie, 38, whose home in the 6800 block of South Dorchester Ave has been repeatedly raided by incompetent and often extremely rude cops. “I’d get my house together, and they were back in my house.” Al Hofeld Jr., whose law office represents multiple families who’ve been wrongfully raided by incompetent Chicago police, held a press conference Friday to address the issue. “There is a silent epidemic of trauma being perpetrated upon the children and families of the South and West sides of our city by Chicago police barreling into the wrong homes, holding guns on children, handcuffing children … ,” Hofeld said. Hofeld has filed half a dozen lawsuits in recent months, claiming in each that children have been traumatized by gun-wielding cops bursting into homes during raids. Each time police came to Archie’s home — between February and May — they came in search of illegal drugs and someone who doesn’t live in her apartment, according to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court. A spokesman for the city’s Law Department said Friday said he he had not seen the lawsuit and so could not comment. Archie said it has cost her hundreds of dollars every time she’s had to clean up after the police have come through. She says she expects them to come again. “We have to now look over our shoulders, and who we look for to protect us … we can’t see them in that light any more,” she said. Archie explained to FOX 43 that not only were the officers who repeatedly raided her home unapologetic, but they also made fun of the family as they held Archie and her four children, aged 7-14, at gunpoint. Archie told FOX 43 that the officers burst in, pointed guns at their heads and destroyed the furniture. They also said the officers made jokes while raiding the home. Archie’s children now live in constant fear of armed terrorists barging into their home at any time. Sadly, however, they have no recourse, because these armed terrorists are police officers. According to FOX 43, when Archie asked police why they kept raiding her home, she said one officer told her they needed to figure out what was going on with her neighbors. She said he implied CPD was targeting her apartment because she had a connection to her neighbors, which she said she did not. Police now claim to be investigating these raids, but if history is any indicator, it will have little to no effect on innocent families being terrorized by Chicago’s finest. “Chicago police officers behave as if our children of color and their trauma is collateral damage in Chicago,” said Holfield. And he’s right. As TFTP reported earlier this year, when Samari Broswell, 7, was celebrating her younger brother, TJ Broswell’s 4th birthday earlier this year, she never expected to see 17 heavily armed cops come smashing through her door. However, thanks to a severe case of police incompetence, that is exactly what happened. Now, just like Archie’s family, this family is left traumatized while people who claim to ‘protect’ them instead ignore them and continue the same practice. In the Broswell’s case, police claim video from officer-worn body cameras showing the horrifying raid simply went “missing.” But that is not all. On March 15, Alberta Wilson says Chicago police woke her up, along with her four children as cops forced their way into her home. It was below freezing outside with ice on the ground and despite this fact, the entire family was forced from the home and made to stand in the freezing rain. Thinking he was a threat, the cops even handcuffed Wilson’s 8-year-old son Royal, who was also forced to stand in the freezing cold. “They are afraid to go to the washroom, they are afraid to sleep by themselves, they are very nervous and jump,” Wilson said of her children after the raid. Also, just last August, two little boys who used to look up to police were traumatized and their view of police tarnished after a SWAT team burst into their home at night and held the entire family at gunpoint, including the children. The family was innocent and just like the above cases, the raid was on the wrong home. | Activist Post | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/07/cops-mistakenly-raid-innocent-familys-home-3-times-in-just-4-months.html | 2019-07-23 17:32:12+00:00 | 1,563,917,532 | 1,567,536,016 | crime, law and justice | justice |
5,377 | activistpost--2019-08-24--Houston Cop Who Lied About Raid that Killed Innocent CoupleCharged with Murder | 2019-08-24T00:00:00 | activistpost | Houston Cop Who Lied About Raid that Killed Innocent Couple—Charged with Murder | Houston, TX — The murder of an innocent Houston couple made national headlines earlier this year as police took to smearing their names and threatening those who didn’t believe their official narrative. As the months passed, we learned that the Houston police department’s raid on the home of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas was based on lies and they were murdered for no reason. In May, the case had reached a turning point after the family hired a forensics expert to examine the home and found that there is no evidence the officers encountered gunfire. And, moments ago, the cop who lied to attain the warrant for the raid—was charged with murder in the first degree. Ex-case agent Gerald Goines on Friday was hit with two counts of felony murder and is still under investigation over claims he stole guns, drugs and money, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced at a news conference downtown. His partner, Steven Bryant, was also charged with one count of witness tampering. Both men are expected to turn themselves in by the end of the day, but prosecutors said a review of more than 14,000 cases and a broader investigation into the rest of the squad is still underway. “We have not seen a case like this in Houston,” Ogg said. “I have not seen a case like this in my 30-plus years of practicing law.” “Based on everything we’ve seen so far, that’s certainly something that should happen,” Mike Doyle, an attorney representing family members said, “but it really can’t be the ending point based on what we’ve uncovered so far.” As we reported in March, these lying cops could be responsible for putting away hundreds of innocent people. Houston District Attorney Kim Ogg previously announced that 1,400 cases tied to Officer Goines are in question. And now, her office estimates that at least 800 more cases could be tainted which are tied to Bryant. It is important to point out that the only likely reason these officers have been charged is because outside sources in the family stepped up and not only demanded answers but found them. According to the forensics experts hired by the family of the victims, the officers who suffered bullet wounds during the raid on the innocent couple’s home were shot by their fellow cops. This is a direct challenge to the official narrative which states the officers were forced to kill the couple after the couple opened fire on them. It is important to point out that even if the couple did open fire on the officers, the officers were in plainclothes when they kicked in the door to the home and fired first and killed their dog. However, this appears to never have happened. According to police, when they kicked in the door to the home they were forced to shoot the couple’s dog, at which point Tuttle grabbed his .357 Magnum revolver and opened fire on the officers. Then, according to police, Nicholas moved in to disarm one of the officers, so they shot and killed her. However, according to the forensics experts, there is no evidence of this. Furthermore, the forensics team noted that police never really investigated the crime scene and left behind mountains of evidence showing what really transpired. “It doesn’t appear that they took the basic steps to confirm and collect the physical evidence to know whether police were telling the truth,” said attorney Mike Doyle. “That’s the whole point of forensic scene documentation. That’s the basic check on people just making stuff up.” The independent forensic investigation was conducted over the course of four days by forensic expert Mike Maloney, a retired supervisory special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. His findings were nothing short of bombshell and imply that the Houston police department is engaged in a massive cover-up. As the Houston Chronicle reported, “though police said they started shooting when the dog lunged as they came through the door, Maloney’s forensics team found that the dog was shot and killed at the edge of the dining room, 15 feet from the front door. Authorities never picked up the shotgun shell when they collected evidence.” What’s more, the forensics team found no evidence that bullets were fired from the back of the house, where police claim Tuttle opened fire on them, toward the front door, where police claim they were shot. “The initial bullet trajectories appear to be somewhat contradictory,” said Louisiana-based attorney Chuck Bourque, who is also representing the Nicholas family. “We see no evidence that anybody inside the house was firing toward the door.” The bullet holes through the front of the house, that police claim came from the inside, were actually fired from outside the home at least a foot away, into the house, according to the forensics team. “You can’t see into the house from there,” Bourque said, “you’re firing into the house through a wall.” Randomly firing through a wall into a house where your fellow cops are standing is a good way to shoot your fellow cops. While the forensics team didn’t speculate, the evidence points to a story that unfolded far differently than what police are saying. And now, police are acting on the actual story. It appears that when police kicked in the door and began shooting, the officers outside the home began firing into the home, shooting both cops and the innocent couple in the process. Thinking they were under fire from the couple, the other cops then shot and killed Tuttle and Nicholas. Even more damning is the fact that the forensics team found no evidence Tuttle’s .357 was ever fired in the home and the only bullets pulled from the walls were .223 and .45 caliber—which came from police. The forensics team also noted that the amount of evidence left behind by police was overwhelming, which means there was no way they could’ve actually conducted a thorough enough investigation to determine if the officers were telling the truth. “I can’t explain why all that was left — that sounds like something only the Houston Police Department and investigators can answer,” said former Houston Police Chief Charles A. McClelland. “If that evidence is connected to that shooting scene, I’d certainly be asking questions.” Sam Walker, a criminal justice professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, called it “sloppy” and said the uncollected evidence raises other questions, according to the Chronicle. “How many people have been convicted over the years as a result of sloppy investigations which failed to collect evidence that was there that would have exonerated the suspect?” he asked. “If they do it in this kind of a homicide case, what do they do in other kinds of investigations?” Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project, where this article first appeared. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds. Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Follow us on Minds, Twitter, Steemit, and SoMee. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month. Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today. | Activist Post | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/08/houston-cop-who-lied-about-raid-that-killed-innocent-couple-charged-with-murder.html | 2019-08-24 00:30:17+00:00 | 1,566,621,017 | 1,567,533,471 | crime, law and justice | justice |
5,676 | activistpost--2019-09-23--Watch as Cops Record Themselves Making Up Fake Charges to Kidnap Innocent Man Steal His Car | 2019-09-23T00:00:00 | activistpost | Watch as Cops Record Themselves Making Up Fake Charges to Kidnap Innocent Man, Steal His Car | Jasper, GA — If you still have any doubt that police are here just for your protection, the following video should be enough to convince you otherwise. An entirely innocent man, Charles A. Spradlin had committed no crime, had harmed no one, and was on his own property when two Georgia State Troopers illegally stopped him, kidnapped him, and stole his vehicle. The gross violation of rights was captured on video as the two troopers discussed the various ways to accomplish their illegal goals. The trooper’s conduct is now the subject of a federal lawsuit. This infuriatingly corrupt incident unfolded on March 26, 2016 when Spradlin got a call from his neighbor — whose son happened to be killed by police — letting him know that officers had set up a checkpoint near his home. According to the lawsuit, Spradlin then got in his car, drove to the end of his driveway and parked on a hill to see where the checkpoint was. When he didn’t see it, he turned around and drove back to his home. Spradlin would never make it back to his house, however, because Georgia State Trooper TFC Jonathan Salcedo pulled him over, kidnapped him and stole his car. As the video shows, Salcedo admits that he pulled over Spradlin because he saw him turn around. It is not illegal to turn around. And, according to the lawsuit, Spradlin turned into an adjacent driveway, used his turn signal and obeyed all traffic laws. But this was irrelevant to this tyrant. Salcedo immediately began to berate Spradlin, accusing him of violating a law that the trooper had just made up: turning around before a checkpoint. Spradlin told the trooper why he drove to the end of his driveway — to get a view of the police checkpoint — but the trooper couldn’t have cared less. He was going to make sure he turned this man’s day into a living hell. As the video shows, Spradlin confirmed to the trooper that he had a driver’s license and asked for the basis of Officer Salcedo’s stop. According to the lawsuit, officer Salcedo became visibly agitated and told Spradlin to turn around and put his hands behind his back.” Spradlin was then handcuffed and locked in the backseat of the cruiser. The officers then proceeded to illegally search the man’s vehicle. It wasn’t the search that was most infuriating, however. It was the troopers discussing what they could charge this innocent man with. “Looks like his tires are worn, that’s our P.C. (probable cause) right there,” one trooper says. Worn tires are not probable cause for a stop and even if it was, this trooper had no way of seeing worn tires while the vehicle was in motion. The officers then call their supervisor and ask him for permission to continue to violate this man’s rights. As the video shows, they were clueless of the law and were scrambling for a reason to kidnap this man. “Let’s check his window tint,” the cop said, continuing to fish for something to find on Spradlin. The cops then illegally proceeded to search Spradlin’s vehicle, without his consent and against their supervisor’s orders. When asked by Spradlin why they were searching his vehicle, they claimed it was an “inventory” and not a “search.” As the officers continue their illegal detainment, they turn off their recording devices in what was was likely an illegal conversation to figure out how to kidnap an innocent man and steal his car. When the mics turn back on, Spradlin is told his vehicle is being impounded and he is being arrested. Police then stole Spradlin’s car and kidnapped him, falsely charging him with failure to display license, obstruction of justice, and having unsafe tires. It took two days for Spradlin to get his car back after he had to make bail and pay a $200 impound fee. Three weeks later, according to the lawsuit, during a preliminary hearing on April 14, 2016, a judge dismissed the obstruction of justice charge because there was “not in fact evidence to sustain that a reasonable person would believe that a crime was committed.” He also dismissed the unsafe tire charge because there was “never any testimony that [the tires] were below 2/32 of an inch.” The prosecution later dropped the failure to display license charge. Spradlin is now suing Salcedo for violations of his Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth Amendment rights and he will likely win as the judge has already dismissed Salcedo’s claim for immunity. | Activist Post | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/09/watch-as-cops-record-themselves-making-up-fake-charges-to-kidnap-innocent-man-steal-his-car.html | 2019-09-23 00:04:54+00:00 | 1,569,211,494 | 1,570,222,380 | crime, law and justice | justice |
5,983 | activistpost--2019-11-14--Innocent Mom Speaks Out After She Was Kidnapped, Interrogated for Speaking Spanish | 2019-11-14T00:00:00 | activistpost | Innocent Mom Speaks Out After She Was Kidnapped, Interrogated for Speaking Spanish | Havre, MT — Ana Suda and Martha “Mimi” Hernandez are both U.S.-born citizens who grew up in Texas and California respectively. But their lifelong citizenship and complete lack of criminal record would have no bearing on a US Border patrol agent hell-bent on taking ‘dangerous’ Spanish speaking women off the streets of Havre, Montana. Since that fateful day on which these women were detained for speaking Spanish, Suda says her life has become a nightmare. As TFTP reported at the time, the incident happened on May 18, 2018, as Suda and Hernandez stood in line at a local grocery store. The two ladies were having a friendly conversation—in Spanish—an entirely legal and common activity which takes place in most grocery stores everyday in this country. However, the Border Patrol Agent in line behind them, saw their conversation as nefarious. He just knew they were evil criminal scum. As the two innocent US citizens checked out at the register, this “hero” public servant demanded to know where they were born. Remember, they had done nothing wrong and were simply speaking Spanish. Still, Suda and Hernandez complied and told the officer they were born in Texas and California. But he did not believe them. The agent then demanded the two women hand over their driver’s licenses which were apparently not enough to get them immediately on their way. The two innocent US citizens were then held against their will—otherwise known as kidnapping—by US Border Patrol Agents who completely humiliated them in front of their friends and neighbors. “After Mimi and I told the officer that we were born in the U.S.,” Suda explained. “he demanded that we show identification. I didn’t feel like I could say no since he was in uniform and armed. We gave him our Montana driver’s licenses and then followed him outside into the store’s parking lot as directed. ” During their illegal detainment, Suda and Hernandez were interrogated as if they were criminals. The scene is something akin to the era of “papers please” as these entirely innocent women were temporarily kidnapped and forced to prove they weren’t “illegal” human beings who should be shipped off to some ‘camp’. Had they been “illegal,” the stop was still unconstitutional, as speaking Spanish is most assuredly not probable cause for detainment. Even if a person speaks no English at all, the state cannot detain them for it. Nevertheless, this tyrant agent had no problem telling the women why he had taken them into custody. When Suda and Hernandez asked him why they were being humiliated and interrogated, the officer responded with brutal honesty. Suda explained that, “Agent O’Neal — the name on his badge — got on his car radio and asked for backup, as if two moms holding a carton of eggs were a threat. As we stood there, I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach. I told him that I was going to start filming on my cell phone. Then I made a simple request, ‘Can you tell us in video why you asked for our ID’s please.’” “He said it was because, ‘You guys are speaking Spanish which is very unheard of up here,’” said Suda. For nearly an hour, Suda and Hernandez were held captive as other armed agents showed up in their uniforms and carrying guns—to investigate two American soccer moms—a shameful act indeed. Now, Suda is speaking out. In an interview with BBC, Suda says she and her family have faced constant harassment over the video of her rights-violating incident. She was forced to move and her family is now separated. Suda and Hernandez’ case is now the subject of an ACLU lawsuit as their detention was unlawful, unconstitutional, and entirely uncalled for. Sadly, Hernandez says that her family has also been harassed repeatedly and have received hateful messages from people across the country. Their children are even feeling the effects of this disgusting madness. “At his high school, a teacher asked Mimi’s son whether he had brought his ID to class. My 8-year-old daughter is scared to speak Spanish and has started responding to me in English when I ask her questions,” said Suda. Below is the infuriating and saddening video from last year. Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project, where this article first appeared. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds. Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month at Patreon. Follow us on SoMee, Flote, Minds, Twitter, and Steemit. Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today. | Activist Post | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/11/innocent-mom-speaks-out-after-she-was-kidnapped-interrogated-for-speaking-spanish.html | Thu, 14 Nov 2019 18:15:54 +0000 | 1,573,773,354 | 1,573,776,715 | crime, law and justice | justice |
6,253 | activistpost--2019-12-13--“Drug Recognition Experts” Arresting Innocent, Sober People for DUI at Alarming Rate All Based on a | 2019-12-13T00:00:00 | activistpost | “Drug Recognition Experts” Arresting Innocent, Sober People for DUI at Alarming Rate All Based on a Hunch | As TFTP has reported on numerous occasions, motorists in police state USA are snagging DUI charges for being stone-cold sober. Roadside extortionists with badges calling themselves “experts” are the main culprits, according to several sources. Now, it seems, mainstream news media outlets are catching up on the sanctioned extortion and bravely reporting on the phenomena. According to ABC 15 Arizona, stone-cold sober drivers in Phoenix, AZ are getting DUIs and have to spend thousands of dollars proving their innocence. It seems the source of the misunderstandings and illegitimate arrests, once again, come from Drug Recognition Experts (DRE), cops with badges and fancy titles who claim they can look at a motorist and on observation alone determine if someone is impaired. You’d have to be God to know if someone is under the influence by simply looking at them. With that being the issue, worse still is the fact the DRE’s testimony often holds up in court without so much as a failed breathalyzer or a dirty toxicology report showing alcohol and drugs in someone’s system. One Phoenix cop in particular, Officer David Morris, has made 56 DUI arrests since April 2018. In a state which annually doles out over 21,000 DUIs per year, Morris’ numbers are not all that astounding. It’s just that several of his alleged perpetrators whom he arrested for DUI were absolutely, completely, 100 percent, sober. Tasha McConnell said her DUI was traumatizing. She said she was pulled over for failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign but that Morris wanted to dig into her drug history immediately asking her what drugs she was taking, prescription or otherwise. He told her that “eye tremors” were giving her away and his supposed DRE experience made an expert at determining impairment. McConnell told the press: Mike Toth also got arrested and charged for DUI after revealing to Morris he was taking antacids for his acid reflux. The officers involved in his arrest allegedly told him even acid pills could impair his judgement. Seriously. Originally pulled over for failing to maintain his lane, Toth described what happened next. Incredulously, Phoenix PD and its leaders fail to see a problem in their officers’ actions in depriving people of their freedom, humiliating them, forcing them to lose sleep, and fight for their good name. No, the chain of command seems more content with business as usual than ensuring the public is fairly protected against unlawful arrests, searches, and seizures. Phoenix PD Detective Kemp Layden defended his DRE officers’ actions saying, in effect, even though the motorists’ blood tests were clean, there’s still doubt as to whether or not they’re impaired. Layden said: Kemp and his so-called “experts” (phony experts according to many police accountability activists) quite possibly may be the latest iteration in policing for profit. Here’s the possible scam. Get enough cops certified as “experts” at detecting drugs and the system can be flooded with many more DUI cases, fattening the wallets of DUI lawyers, filling the prosecutors’ dockets, enriching the court by way of court fees, and getting the crooked judges who go along with it to easily get reelected for being “tough on crime”. Yeah right! It’s the antithesis of being tough on crime. It’s actually condoning highway robbery! Let’s face it. Experts are developed, not rubber stamped. They’re learned, educated people who can lecture on a topic without referring to their notes. What they are not are high-school graduate cops who can sniff out drugs better than a drug dog by filling out a checklist and declaring someone to be under the influence. It’s one of the scariest scams we’re aware of, and we’ve reported on it many times before in states all across the union. Our readers may remember a Buckeye, AZ cop who was also a DRE. He believed a child with Autism was under the influence of drugs while he was stimming, fidgeting with his string. It’s what some autistic kids do to de-stress. Officer David Grossman threw the boy down to the ground, injuring him to the point of surgery, and costing the taxpayers $5 million dollars when they sued. Yeah…that kind of expert…the kind who cannot tell an autistic kid from a meth head. We interviewed a mid-30s Colorado man who got a DUI in Phoenix while as sober as the day is long. He stated he got a DUI one evening while serving as the designated driver for his friend squad. Unfortunately for David (not his real name for fear of retaliation), a Phoenix police officer pulled him over, gave him a field sobriety test, which he failed, and cited him for DUI. David says he failed the roadside tests because he has a debilitating physical condition called vertigo and he simply has difficulty balancing on his feet. David claims his ailment in no way affects his driving. He says he blew .000 on the breathalyzer, and even with a clean toxicology report, the DUI stuck. That’s right America. The cops who are sworn to protect and serve your constitutional rights are the same ones who can lie and say you’re impaired without any proof, and it will stand up in a court of law. That’s precisely why we need police activists and accountability advocates. The DRE scam is one such example of how cops are getting away with expert extortion and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about it. Jack Burns is an educator, journalist, investigative reporter, and advocate of natural medicine. This article was sourced from The Free Thought Project. Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month at Patreon. Follow us on SoMee, Flote, Minds, Twitter, and Steemit. Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today. | Activist Post | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/12/drug-recognition-experts-arresting-innocent-sober-people-for-dui-at-alarming-rate-all-based-on-a-hunch.html | Fri, 13 Dec 2019 18:11:34 +0000 | 1,576,278,694 | 1,576,282,003 | crime, law and justice | justice |
6,327 | activistpost--2019-12-20--Watch as Cops Frame Innocent Brothers for Cocaine, Try to Destroy Video — But it Survived | 2019-12-20T00:00:00 | activistpost | Watch as Cops Frame Innocent Brothers for Cocaine, Try to Destroy Video — But it Survived | New York, NY — To all those who make the bogus claim of “if you don’t do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about,” consider the following case as even more evidence of how ridiculous that assertion is. Two innocent brothers were framed by NYPD cops who were caught on video destroying video evidence of their egregious act. Luckily for the brothers, the hard drive in the video recorder survived and it caught these badged criminals in the act. Earlier this year, apparent criminals with the NYPD’s gang unit executed a search warrant on a store owned by two brothers. The entrepreneurs had committed no crime, were conducting 100% legal business, yet they were kidnapped by officers and caged for over a month on false charges. The cops accused the brothers of having a large amount of cocaine and when they were booked into jail, the DA’s office provided no documentation and asked for the two brothers to be held without bail. “It was the worst day of my life,” said one of the brothers, who asked not to be identified by name, according to NBC 4. “We never had drugs in the store,” he added. Highlighting the level of criminality associated with this raid is the fact that the cops used the notoriously faulty field test kits to test the “cocaine.” As TFTP has reported on numerous occasions, tens of thousands have been convicted and served time for crimes they didn’t commit because the cases against them relied on horribly unreliable field drug test kits. So prone to errors are the tests, courts won’t allow their submission as evidence. However, they are continued to be used by law enforcement, needlessly ruining thousands of lives. This time, however, the test kits showed that the substance tested was not drugs. Yes, you read that correctly. The cheap faulty kit actually returned a negative result for cocaine, but the cops arrested the innocent brothers anyway and had them locked up without bail. The brothers would spend over a month in jail before lab tests for cocaine came back negative. All the charges were then dropped, but their lives and business had been ruined by their absence. When the brothers finally went back to their store, they found that cops had left behind the field test kits — which all showed negative results. That wasn’t the only thing cops left behind either. As NBC New York reports: Attorney Marvyn Kornberg, a criminal attorney who represents the brothers, said, “It’s a unit gone wild, that’s what it says to me. They think they’re above the law. They’re ripping out cameras. What are they afraid of the public seeing?” Naturally, the NYPD, who claims this incident is “under investigation,” said they destroyed the cameras for “tactical” reasons. “That’s ridiculous,” said Richard Rivera, a former police officer in West New York, New Jersey, who is now a police tactics expert, according to NBC 4. “They could have covered the cameras. The way they come in doesn’t indicate that any of them is concerned about a remote feed. They’re not worried about security. It’s like a walk in the park to them,” he said, noting that there is no legitimate reason to destroy evidence in that manner. “This whole incident is a huge mess for them,” he said. “If this is an ongoing drug case, they would want to preserve the evidence, not destroy it, and that’s exactly what they did.” When asked why they would recommend no bail for the brothers, the DA’s officer pointed the finger back at the NYPD, saying they relied on their word that the claims were true. Unfortunately for the brothers, this blind trust in badged criminals would land them in a cage for over a month. To date, the brothers still have no idea why these criminals from the NYPD showed up at their store that day. As part of their lawsuit against the city, they have demanded prosecutors turn over the underlying basis for the search warrant. They have also filed a notice of claim to sue the city and the taxpayers will undoubtedly be held liable for these criminal cops. Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds. Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month at Patreon. Follow us on SoMee, Flote, Minds, Twitter, and Steemit. Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today. | Activist Post | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/12/watch-as-cops-frame-innocent-brothers-for-cocaine-try-to-destroy-video-but-it-survived.html | Fri, 20 Dec 2019 16:14:49 +0000 | 1,576,876,489 | 1,576,886,796 | crime, law and justice | justice |
54,138 | birminghammail--2019-01-13--Innocent dad has Universal Credit stopped - because civil servants think hes in Birmingham Prison | 2019-01-13T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Innocent dad has Universal Credit stopped - because civil servants think he's in Birmingham Prison | An innocent single dad had his Universal Credit stopped – because civil servants said he was in Birmingham Prison. Lee Carroll said the wrangle with bureaucrats was the worst experience of his life. The 36-year-old, who lives on Merseyside with his ten-year-old daughter, said he was left feeling "like a criminal" as his claims of innocence fell on deaf ears. He even held his phone up so the civil servants he was dealing with could hear the noise of everyday life in a bid to prove he was not in the Winson Green jail. Lee, who works in a Novotel in Liverpool, said: “I have never been in prison, on bail, or wanted by police. “I was made to feel like I had done something wrong, like I was a criminal. I even said to them how can I be ringing you now on my mobile from prison, when prisoners don’t have mobiles? “And I put the phone up so they could hear noise in the background of traffic and music, while I was walking through town.’” Lee told the Liverpool Echo he went to police for help, wrote to his MP and contacted Action Fraud. He added: “I told the DWP my employer had said she would send in a letter and told them to check my earnings. “I said I could fax them over, but they just left me with no money.” He contacted the Department for Work and Pensions after he noticed his monthly payment had been suspended. But an advisor told him he would not be receiving the money because “he was in prison in Birmingham”. It is believed the error was caused because another man with the same name and date of birth as Lee was on the system. Now the DWP has apologised and said the mistake was caused by an “administrative error”. Lee, who was due a £751 payment in January, said: “It is the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my whole life. “I knew I was going to get the payment on a certain date so you sort of budget for that date. “All my last wage in December went on Christmas and council tax. I don’t have family I can turn to for help. “I am one of those people that is going out to work to save them money and then they do this. I get up and go to work and still take my daughter to school. It is just shocking what they have done.” A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “ We have apologised to Mr Carroll for this administrative error and reinstated his benefit payments immediately.” | James Cartledge | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/innocent-dad-universal-credit-stopped-15645081 | 2019-01-13 05:30:00+00:00 | 1,547,375,400 | 1,567,552,643 | crime, law and justice | justice |
58,479 | birminghammail--2019-03-18--Disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya declares shes innocent in first video since release from jail | 2019-03-18T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya declares she's 'innocent' in first video since release from jail | Disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya has vowed to continue as a "voice of change in Parliament" in her first video to be published since she was released from prison. In the clip, posted on her social media channels the day before the start of a petition that could unseat her, she claims that she is innocent of perverting the course of justice. The Peterborough MP was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey and was sentenced to three months in prison. The 35-year-old, who was elected as a Labour MP, served just 28 days for lying about who was driving her car when it was caught speeding in July 2017. She was released on February 26. Ms Onasanya, a solicitor, still received her £77,379 salary while in jail despite missing votes in the Commons. In the video, posted on Monday, she says: "I am telling you I am innocent and will continue to pursue avenues to clear my name. "If you wish for me to continue as your independent Member of Parliament I am willing and able to do so but the choice is now in your hands. "I would like to say I have a deep gratitude to all who have offered prayers, support and love during this difficult period of time over the past few months and also say to you all, thank you. "I will continue to be your voice of change in Parliament for as long as you wish me to do so and if you do wish me to do so I can tell you I will continue to lobby Government, I will continue to fight for social justice with all of the veracity and power that I have been so far, and continue to be your voice, because you deserve nothing less." Jurors at the Old Bailey were told that she colluded with her brother Festus after her car was clocked speeding at 41mph in a 30mph zone in the village of Thorney, near Peterborough, in July 2017. She was sent a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) to fill out, but it was sent back naming the guilty driver as Aleks Antipow, an acquaintance of her brother, who was away visiting his parents in Russia. Festus Onasanya, 34, from Cambridge, was jailed for 10 months after he admitted three counts of perverting the course of justice over speeding, including the July 24 incident. Ms Onasanya claims in the video, posted on Monday, that her defence "was never put across in the media". Giving evidence at her trial, Ms Onasanya said that when she received the notice of intended prosecution (NIP) she left it at her mother's house for whoever had borrowed her car to complete, assuming she had been in London. She said that while being pursued over the NIP she suffered a relapse of multiple sclerosis and was admitted to hospital for three days, and said that when she asked her brother about the ticket he told her it was all "sorted". Ms Onasanya appealed against her conviction, but this was thrown out at the Royal Courts of Justice. A recall petition will be opened on Tuesday and voters will have six weeks to sign before it closes at 5pm on May 1. If it attracts the signatures of 10% of eligible voters, about 7,000 people, Ms Onasanya will be forced out and a by-election called. Under recall rules, Ms Onasanya will be permitted to stand for re-election. | James Rodger | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/disgraced-mp-fiona-onasanya-declares-15992458 | 2019-03-18 14:36:27+00:00 | 1,552,934,187 | 1,567,545,740 | crime, law and justice | justice |
70,734 | breaking911--2019-11-27--Cop Convicted of Excessive Force After Innocent Man Was Kicked Into Critical Condition While Being B | 2019-11-27T00:00:00 | breaking911 | Cop Convicted of Excessive Force After Innocent Man Was Kicked Into Critical Condition While Being Bit By K9 | Today, a federal jury convicted Brett Palkowitsch, 32, an officer with the St. Paul Police Department, of using excessive force against an unarmed civilian. “The behavior of the defendant will not be tolerated and the Department of Justice will seek to prosecute those who abuse their power,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division. “We commend the officers who came forward and brought about the opening of the investigation. We also thank our law enforcement partners who assisted in this case.” “Law enforcement officers receive certain powers from the government so they can protect the rights of the citizens they serve,” said FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge, Jill Sanborn. “When an individual officer’s actions violate that trust, he or she should be held accountable which the jury confirmed with today’s verdict. We thank all those who assisted on this case,” Sanborn added. The evidence presented at trial established that the Defendant and other officers responded to a 911 call alleging that an unidentified black male with dreadlocks and a white t-shirt had been involved in a street fight and was carrying a gun. Upon their arrival on scene, officers found no evidence of any street fight, but they noticed one man who matched that general description, sitting in his car talking on a cellphone. One of the responding officers, along with his police K-9, approached the man’s car and, without identifying himself as a police officer, yelled at the man to get out. The man, later identified as Frank Baker, got out of the car, as the officer yelled commands and the police K-9 barked loudly at him. Seven seconds later, the officer released the K-9, which took Mr. Baker to the ground and began mauling his leg. While Baker was on the ground, screaming in pain, the Defendant arrived and kicked Baker three times in the ribs. The defendant’s kicks broke seven of Baker’s ribs and caused both of his lungs to collapse, putting him in critical condition. Officers found no gun at the scene and no evidence that Baker, a 52-year-old grandfather who lived in the neighborhood, had been involved in any fight. Two of the officers who witnessed the defendant’s actions that night, Officers Joseph Dick and Anthony Spencer, reported the Defendant to their supervisor. Dick and Spencer both testified for the government at trial, about the defendant’s use of force and about harassment and retaliation they suffered after stepping forward to report a fellow officer. Dick, Spencer, and a third officer from the scene told the jury that they saw no legitimate reason for the defendant’s kicks. Additionally, officers testified that the defendant boasted afterward about having kicked Baker. Following more than two weeks of trial, the jury in the U.S. District Court in St. Paul, MN, deliberated for 11 hours before finding the Defendant guilty of using excessive force. The Defendant faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office. | ---- | https://breaking911.com/cop-convicted-of-excessive-force-after-man-was-kicked-into-critical-condition-while-being-bit-by-k9/ | Wed, 27 Nov 2019 03:24:05 +0000 | 1,574,843,045 | 1,574,856,056 | crime, law and justice | justice |
95,547 | chicagotribune--2019-11-21--An Illinois man spent two decades in prison for a murder he didn’t commit but ‘never gave up hope.’ | 2019-11-21T00:00:00 | chicagotribune | An Illinois man spent two decades in prison for a murder he didn’t commit but ‘never gave up hope.’ A judge just declared him innocent. | Wrongful conviction experts said while it’s not unusual for prosecutors to take no position on attempts by former defendants to get certificates of innocence, it is rare for a state’s attorney to actually advocate for one. Rowe said he made the choice after having an officer from the Kankakee Police Department take a look at the case with fresh eyes. | Stacy St. Clair, Jeff Coen | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-murder-charge-overturned-innocent-terrence-haynes-20191122-2wnnqbddazexlcbm5r44yrl53y-story.html | Thu, 21 Nov 2019 16:50:56 PST | 1,574,373,056 | 1,574,424,140 | crime, law and justice | justice |
139,806 | democracynow--2019-11-06--Is Texas About to Execute an Innocent Man? Rodney Reed's Family Demands Retrial Amid New Evidence | 2019-11-06T00:00:00 | democracynow | Is Texas About to Execute an Innocent Man? Rodney Reed's Family Demands Retrial Amid New Evidence | This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: The state of Texas is facing growing calls to halt the execution of Rodney Reed, an African-American man who spent over 20 years in prison for a rape and murder he says he did not commit. A group of 26 Texas lawmakers, including both Democrats and Republicans, penned a letter this week asking Governor Greg Abbott to stop the execution planned for November 20th. More than a 1.4 million people have signed an online petition to save Reed’s life. Supporters include celebrities Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna and Meek Mill. Rodney Reed was sentenced to die after being convicted by an all-white jury for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old white woman. The two were having an affair at the time. But substantial evidence has since emerged implicating Stites’ fiancé, a white police officer named Jimmy Fennell, who was later jailed on kidnapping and rape charges in another case. In a major development, a man who spent time in jail with Fennell signed an affidavit last month asserting that Fennell had admitted in prison he killed his fiancée because she was having an affair with a black man. Later in the show, we’ll be joined by Rodney Reed’s brother and sister-in-law. But first, let’s turn to the documentary A Plea for Justice, made by Filmmakers for Justice. AMY GOODMAN: An excerpt from A Plea for Justice about the Rodney Reed case. Last month, the popular daytime TV host Dr. Phil aired an interview he did with Rodney Reed on death row. AMY GOODMAN: Rodney Reed, speaking on the Dr. Phil show ahead of his execution scheduled for November 20th. Well, I recently sat down with Rodney Reed’s brother and sister-in-law, who we’ll hear from later in the show. They recently came to our studio along with Bryce Benjet, a senior attorney at the Innocence Project. I began by asking Bryce Benjet to lay out the story. AMY GOODMAN: Bryce Benjet, senior attorney at the Innocence Project. His client Rodney Reed is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas November 20th. When we come back, we’ll be joined by Rodney Reed’s brother and sister-in-law. Stay with us. AMY GOODMAN: “Mercy, Mercy Me” by Marvin Gaye. This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, as we continue to look at the case of Rodney Reed, the African-American man scheduled to be executed November 20th by the state of Texas for a murder and rape he says he did not commit. Growing evidence shows Reed was framed as part of a cover-up to protect a white police officer, Jimmy Fennell, who killed his own fiancée, Stacey Stites. More than 1.4 million people have signed an online petition to save Reed’s life. I recently sat down with two members of Rodney Reed’s family: his brother Rodrick Reed and his sister-in-law Uwana Akpan, as well as Rodney Reed’s attorney, Bryce Benjet of the Innocence Project. I asked Rodrick Reed how it felt to have his brother face the death penalty all these years. AMY GOODMAN: That’s Rodney Reed’s brother Rodrick Reed, Rodney’s sister-in-law Uwana Akpan and his attorney Bryce Benjet of the Innocence Project. Rodney Reed is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas November 20th for the murder of Stacey Stites in 1996. In late October, Reed’s legal team filed an application for clemency with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles after a man revealed that Stacey Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell, a white ex-police officer, had admitted to the murder while he was in prison for another crime. I want to end with the words of Rodney Reed speaking recently from death row to Dr. Phil. AMY GOODMAN: That’s Rodney Reed speaking to Dr. Phil on death row in Texas. Rodney Reed is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas November 20th. When we come back, we look at election results from around the United States with John Nichols of The Nation. Stay with us. | [email protected] (Democracy Now!) | http://www.democracynow.org/2019/11/6/rodney_reed_calls_to_stop_execution | Wed, 06 Nov 2019 08:10:38 -0500 | 1,573,045,838 | 1,573,065,118 | crime, law and justice | justice |
219,140 | freedombunker--2019-01-17--Watch a Florida Cop Botch a Drug Field Test on Video Then Arrest an Innocent Man | 2019-01-17T00:00:00 | freedombunker | Watch a Florida Cop Botch a Drug Field Test on Video, Then Arrest an Innocent Man | Body camera footage obtained by Reason appears to show a now-fired Florida sheriff's deputy blatantly lying about the results of a roadside drug test during a traffic stop last year. The video shows the April 17, 2018, traffic stop of Florida resident Steve Vann by former Jackson County Sheriff's deputy Zachary Wester. Vann was subsequently charged with possession of methamphetamines and paraphernalia as a result of the traffic stop, but state prosecutors later dropped those charges as part of a review of more than 250 cases that Wester was involved in since his hiring in 2016. State prosecutors have dropped criminal charges in more than 100 cases involving Wester after body cam footage released last September showed the officer allegedly planting drugs in a car during another traffic stop. A Florida judge also vacated the sentences of eight people whose convictions were based on evidence and testimony by Wester. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched an investigation into Wester, and several people have filed federal lawsuits against him. In the body cam footage obtained by Reason of Vann's arrest last year, Wester searches Vann's truck after pulling him over for a traffic violation and appears to find a small plastic baggie in the vehicle's center console. "Honesty is going to go a long way with me," Wester tells Vann, holding up the baggie. "Have you ever seen this before?" "No, no what is that?" Vann says. "Where'd you get that?" "The center console," Wester says as he walks back to his cruiser to perform a roadside test of the baggie for methamphetamines. "There ain't no way, man," a distraught Vann says. "Oh my god, you gotta be fucking kidding me." Wester then uses a Nark II field test for methamphetamines and MDMA. According to the manufacturer, the field test "will develop an IMMEDIATE (within 2 seconds) Dark Blue color as a positive reaction after breakage and agitation of the 3rd ampoule. If the color development is an immediate Pink slowly transforming to Lavender, you DO NOT have either Methamphetamine or MDMA." Wester shakes the field test for about 10 seconds, checking it several times, but it remains red. Looking right at the small bag of pinkish red liquid, Wester then says "blue" and returns to Vann to tell him the substance tested presumptively positive for methamphetamines. The field test occurs at roughly the 3:45 mark in the video above. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office confirmed to Reason that it uses the Nark II field test and that a positive result for methamphetamines should turn the solution blue. Wester presses Vann to admit that he knew the meth was in his car, but Vann, breaking into tears at several points, continues to deny knowing where it came from. He appears confused and devastated throughout the exchange. "I'm going to have to take your vehicle, too," Wester tells Vann. "Listen buddy, I don't think you're a bad guy." At one point, at around 11 minutes 50 seconds into the footage, Wester drops some of Vann's personal effects into the trunk of his police cruiser, at which point he picks up the field test and looks at it again. It's still clearly red. The Tallahassee Democrat first reported last September that local prosecutors were dropping dozens of cases involving Wester after body cam footage appeared to show him planting a small baggie of meth in a woman's car during a traffic stop. The Democrat later published accounts by several other people who claimed they were framed by Wester during traffic stops. Before joining the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, Wester was fired from his previous job at the Liberty County Sheriff's Office for for inappropriate relations with women, the newspaper reported. In 2016, The New York Times reported that the $2 roadside field tests that Wester and countless other police officers around the country use to establish probable cause to arrest someone for drug possession are unreliable and easy to misinterpret: There are no established error rates for the field tests, in part because their accuracy varies so widely depending on who is using them and how. Data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab system show that 21 percent of evidence that the police listed as methamphetamine after identifying it was not methamphetamine, and half of those false positives were not any kind of illegal drug at all. In one notable Florida episode, Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies produced 15 false positives for methamphetamine in the first seven months of 2014. When we examined the department's records, they showed that officers, faced with somewhat ambiguous directions on the pouches, had simply misunderstood which colors indicated a positive result. Such tests are not admissible evidence in court in most jurisdictions in the U.S. Instead, samples are sent to state forensic labs for verification. Many of Wester's victims had prior criminal records for things like drug possession. They were, in other words, easy targets. No one would believe their word against a police officer's. If Wester hadn't been wearing a body cam, and if he hadn't of been sloppy enough to film his amateur sleight-of-hand attempts and lies, all of their charges would likely stand, and he would still be patrolling the streets. | Ed Krayewski | http://freedombunker.com/2019/01/17/watch-a-florida-cop-botch-a-drug-field-test-on-video-then-arrest-an-innocent-man/ | 2019-01-17 20:30:00+00:00 | 1,547,775,000 | 1,567,551,974 | crime, law and justice | justice |
219,544 | freedombunker--2019-02-06--Alabama Cop Justified in Killing Innocent Man Says State Attorney General | 2019-02-06T00:00:00 | freedombunker | Alabama Cop ‘Justified’ in Killing Innocent Man, Says State Attorney General | The Hoover, Alabama, police officer who killed the wrong man in a mall on Thanksgiving Day won't face criminal charges for his actions. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall's office says the officer was "justified" in shooting 21-year-old Emantic "E.J." Bradford, Jr. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, police had a difficult time getting their story straight. There had been a shooting at the mall that injured 18-year-old Brian Wilson and a 12-year-old bystander, Molly Davis. Bradford was not involved in that shooting, but at some point, he took his gun out. Other shoppers may have done the same, Al.com reported in late November. Bejmanin Crump, an attorney for Bradford's family, has suggested Bradford was trying to help people in the midst of the chaos following the shooting. Bradford ended up being shot and killed by a Hoover Police officer who was on duty at the mall. Police initially claimed Bradford was the suspected shooter, and then said less than two days later that he probably wasn't. Police eventually arrested a different suspect, Erron Martez Dequan Brown, who claims he shot Brian Wilson in self-defense, according to a report Marshall's office released yesterday. That 24-page report explains why the unidentified cop who killed Bradford, referred to as "Officer 1," won't face charges. "Officer 1 reasonably exercised his official duties, powers, or functions when he shot," the report reads. "Accordingly, Alabama law declares his action 'justified and not criminal.'" The report includes testimony from multiple witnesses and police. Marshall's office also released partial surveillance footage of both shootings taken from two nearby stores. In describing the footage, the report reads: It's difficult to see the first shooting. However, the footage does show the scene turning chaotic in its aftermath. Brown appears to move away from the scene before starting to go the other way. Bradford only makes it a few steps before he drops to the ground, and a small black object appears to fall from his grasp. The footage can be seen below: "I observed two males who were not running away, but, instead, were standing near the railing in front of FootAction," Officer 1 said in a written statement. "Next, I observed an armed suspect quickly moving towards the two males standing near the railing. The suspect was advancing on the two males and had a black handgun in his right hand. I fired my duty weapon at the armed suspect to stop him." After shooting Bradford, Officer 1 said he "asked the uninjured male…if the suspect was the only shooter. I understood an affirmative response to my last question." In spoken testimony, Officer 1 said he thought Bradford "was going to murder Brian Wilson and AC," according to the report. His body camera was in standby mode until after he shot Bradford. Officer 1's partner at the time, identified as "Officer 2," backed up Officer 1's testimony. "Officer 2 stated that, at the time, he believed E.J. Bradford had shot Brian Wilson," the report reads. The report also cited three civilian witnesses. Two of those witnesses said they believed Bradford to be the shooter, though neither witnessed the original shooting. (They simply heard gunshots.) Both of those witnesses said they heard Officer 1 tell Bradford to drop his weapon three times before shooting him. But according to the report, "Officer 1 stated that he did not give any commands due to the imminent nature of the threat." The report said it's "unclear" whether he actually warned Bradford to put his gun on the ground or not. A third witness, meanwhile, simply "stated that she saw a police officer shoot E.J. Bradford three times." An official autopsy from the Jefferson County Coroner Medical Examiner's Office did indeed say Bradford was hit three times, seemingly confirming much of what an independent autopsy had previously concluded. Bradford was shot once in the back of the head, once in the neck, and once above his right buttock, the official autopsy found. The report said Officer 1 was ultimately justified in shooting Bradford because he "acted as a reasonable officer would have under the circumstances" and because he "acted in accordance with nationally-accepted standards for 'active shooter' scenarios." But Bradford's family isn't buying it. "I'm outraged," Bradford's mother, April Pipkins, told The New York Times. "In no way was justice served," she added. Another witness, Ashlyn McMillan, told the Times that Bradford was helping get shoppers to safety in the first shooting's aftermath. "It is outrageous and beyond comprehension that the Alabama Attorney General has concluded that it was reasonable for a trained law enforcement officer to fatally shoot an innocent civilian, one whose only action was an attempt to help protect the public and whose only 'crime' was being black," Crump said in a statement emailed to media outlets. Crump claims the footage released by Marshall's office does not tell the whole story, and he's calling for the "full, unedited video" to be "released immediately." At a preliminary court hearing earlier this month, Special Agent Pete Acosta of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which investigated the case, testified that Wilson had hit Brown, prompting Brown to shoot him. It's not clear if Bradford knew Brown, but they appear to have been connected by a mutual friend, Robert Poole, who also testified at the hearing, according to Al.com. Poole said he was with Brown and another friend at the mall when Bradford asked about his whereabouts over Facebook. Bradford and Wilson, who attended the same high school as Poole, then showed up at the mall prior to the shooting. Clearly, there are still may questions left unanswered about what led to that first shooting. Bradford, however, does not appear to have done anything wrong. And clearly, he was not responsible for the original shooting. According to Marshall's report, "there is no evidence that" Bradford's gun "was fired at the incident scene," though he did chamber a round prior to being shot. It's also worth noting that the attorney general's report suggests Officer 1 was partly justified because of the supposed threat Bradford posed, even though there's no evidence he had or was about to engage in any wrongdoing. The report reads: In other words, Officer 1 was justified in killing Bradford for exercising his Second Amendment right to carry a firearm. (Alabama is an open-carry state, and Bradford's father has claimed Bradford has a permit for his gun.) The report suggests that even if Officer 1 did not think Bradford was the shooter, he was right to take him down because he was carrying a weapon. The attorney general's office is operating under the assumption that citizens should not take action to protect themselves and/or others in situations like these. We saw this type of thinking play out in Chicago last November. An armed security guard returned fire on an active shooter and eventually pinned him to the ground. But the guard was shot and killed when police arrived on the scene and thought he was the bad guy. As I've previously written, neither man deserved to die, and both actually appear to have been the proverbial "good guy with a gun." The fact that police shot first and asked questions later just makes their deaths all the more tragic. | Ed Krayewski | http://freedombunker.com/2019/02/06/alabama-cop-justified-in-killing-innocent-man-says-state-attorney-general/ | 2019-02-06 18:45:00+00:00 | 1,549,496,700 | 1,567,549,393 | crime, law and justice | justice |
220,656 | freedombunker--2019-04-11--He Was Tased Arrested and Totally Innocent Now Hes Suing | 2019-04-11T00:00:00 | freedombunker | He Was Tased, Arrested and Totally Innocent. Now He’s Suing. | Nate Carter is bringing a $3 million lawsuit against the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, its police department, and the officer responsible for his tasing and wrongful arrest. According to the complaint, the April 2018 incident began when police responded to a 911 call about a man threatening the caller with a gun. The caller described the suspect as a black man with short hair, who was heavy-set and wearing green and black pants. The suspect had fled by the time police arrived. Instead, they saw Carter, who was wearing a purple t-shirt and black shorts. Officer Cody Thomas asked Carter to identify himself. Carter, who said he was checking his mail outside, responded that Thomas was not welcome to come to his house. The situation escalated with Thomas telling Carter, "How about you watch your mouth before your ass gets thrown in the back of my car." Thomas pulled out a Taser and threatened to shoot Carter's "fucking dog," which was barking in the front yard. Carter attempted to go into his house, at which point Thomas shot Carter in the back with his taser, causing him to fall on his front porch. Carter managed to make his way inside, and Thomas called for backup. Carter then re-emerged from his home with his family while several officers, including Thomas, pointed guns and tasers toward Carter, his family, and his dog. After the family was out of the way, the officers moved to arrest Carter. Thomas later claimed that Carter was standing in the street and "bolted" prior to the incident. He charged Carter with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Those charges were thrown out by a judge in November and Carter is now suing. This is not the first incident involving Officer Thomas. In February 2018, Thomas and other officers entered the home of Dale Edmonds after a neighbor told emergency services that someone was sitting in a black vehicle in Edmonds' driveway. The person in the vehicle was a Department of Child Services agent who was waiting while a second agent was meeting with Edmonds inside of the house. Though the agent explained to officers the purpose of their trip, Thomas and others entered the house through the backdoor without a warrant. The officers led Edmonds, his housemate, and the agent outside of the house at gunpoint, but not before Thomas "manhandled" Edmonds, who was recovering from a gunshot wound. Robin Flores, an attorney and former police officer who works on police brutality cases, is representing Carter. Their suit argues that the city "has long-established patterns of overlooking or providing excuses and reasons to justify the misconduct of its officers." Flores told Reason that the complaint highlights how the city fails to "discipline and supervise" officers. The complaint lists other reports of bad policing by Chattanooga police dating back to 2003, including excessive force, lingering investigations, domestic abuse, and sexual harassment. Flores told Reason that the Supreme Court has ruled that the language Carter used during his arrest is a form of protected speech. In 1974, the court ruled against a Louisiana statute that criminalized the use of obscene language while an officer is performing their duties. Justices argued that the law was too broad to fit within the legal definition of "fighting words" and had the potential to be abused in instances lacking a valid reason for an arrest. Though Thomas' body camera was rolling during the incident, he turned his cruiser's dash camera off in violation of the department's policy. At one point, Thomas' hand covers his body camera. The complaint argues that this was done either in an attempt to turn it off or conceal his interaction with Carter. Flores says that the footage available in both Carter's case and in the Edmonds case is "critical enough to bring a claim" against Thomas, the department, and the city. In other instances, footage has been enough to drop charges and reopen the cases of offending officers. He also mentions another case where he dismissed a suit after his client's version of events did not match the camera footage. This, he says, also protects police officers. | Ed Krayewski | http://freedombunker.com/2019/04/11/he-was-tased-arrested-and-totally-innocent-now-hes-suing/ | 2019-04-11 18:35:00+00:00 | 1,555,022,100 | 1,567,543,130 | crime, law and justice | justice |
220,974 | freedombunker--2019-04-30--Chicago Impounds Innocent Peoples Cars and Soaks Them in Fines Now Its Getting Sued | 2019-04-30T00:00:00 | freedombunker | Chicago Impounds Innocent People’s Cars and Soaks Them in Fines. Now It’s Getting Sued | Chicago impounds thousands of people's cars a year, including cars owned by people who have committed no crime, and forces them through an expensive, bureaucratic maze to get their car back. This process that violates residents' constitutional rights, according to a new lawsuit filed against the city Monday evening. The Institute for Justice filed a class-action lawsuit in Illinois state court alleging that Chicago's impound program violates residents' guarantee of due process, as well as protections against excessive fines and unreasonable seizures, under both the Illinois and U.S. constitutions. "Owners find themselves in a labyrinthine impound system that is plagued by serious procedural flaws," the suit says. "Even innocent owners get caught up in this system, facing hefty fines and fees when someone else used their car to commit a crime without the car owner's knowledge." A Reason investigation published last year described how Chicago's punitive impound program soaks people in fines and fees and deprives them indefinitely of their transportation, whether or not they actually committed an offense, in an effort to reduce its massive annual budget deficits. It also operates independently from the state's courts, meaning that even in cases where a defendant beats a criminal charge and/or a civil asset forfeiture case, they can still be found liable for thousands of dollars in fines and storage fees, and have their cars held until they pay or relinquish them to the city, by Chicago. That's exactly what happened to Spencer Byrd, a 51-year-old resident of Harvey, Illinois whose impound case was featured by Reason and is now a named plaintiff in the Institute for Justice lawsuit. Byrd, a part-time auto mechanic says he was giving a client a lift in his 1996 Cadillac DeVille one evening in June, 2016, when he was pulled over by Chicago police and searched. Byrd was clean, but his passenger, a man he says he'd never met before, had heroin in his pocket. The police released Byrd without charging him with a crime, but his car was seized and dually claimed by both the Cook County State Attorney's Office and the city of Chicago. He's been fighting for nearly three years to get it back. A state judge ordered Byrd's car released after he filed a financial hardship motion, but the city refused to return it, claiming he owed money under the city's municipal code. Even after a state judge declared Byrd innocent in the civil forfeiture case against his Cadillac in Illinois state court, he was still found liable for violating Chicago's municipal code in the city's administrative hearings court, which has a low standard of evidence and almost no procedural protections for defendants. In the meantime, Byrd's livelihood has suffered. His primary trade is carpentry, but his tools have been locked in his car since it was impounded. The city has refused to let him retrieve them, or his car, until he pays his accumulated fines and fees, which according to the lawsuit now stand at more than $17,000. "If you do wrong, fine, but I didn't do nothing wrong," Byrd tells Reason. "I should have had my car released to me with no fines or anything—thank you, sorry for the inconvenience, and I'm on my merry way—instead of trying to get some type of revenue from me. I was proven innocent, and they still didn't want to act right." Byrd is far from alone. A WBEZ analysis of Chicago's massive impound program found that in 2017 alone, the city impounded more than 22,000 cars for violations of its municipal code, which includes dozens of impoundable offenses ranging from drug possession to drag racing to having illegal fireworks. The fines for those violations are steep, ranging from $500 to $3,000, and that doesn't include towing and storage fees, which accumulate at $20 a day for the first five days, and $35 a a day after that. Given that these cases can take weeks, if not months, to wind through the system, the fees can often exceed the fines themselves. A Reason analysis of data from the Chicago Administrative Hearings Department showed Chicago fined motorists $17 million over a 12-month period between 2017 and 2018. About $10 million of those fines were for driving on a suspended license, and more than $3 million were for drug offenses like the one that resulted in the impoundment of Byrd's car. Chicago can hold seized cars indefinitely. There is also no statute of limitations on impound fines and fees in Chicago. The debt can follow someone for life. Chicago's impound racket is both easy to be ensnared in and hard to escape. There are only three narrow defenses for those whose cars are impounded for municipal violations in Chicago, and being an innocent owner isn't one of them. "You're talking about a lot of money for something that you may not have been responsible for," says Institute for Justice attorney Diana Simpson. "The lack of an innocent owner protection really violates two different kinds of constitutional protections: both the excessive fines and fees protection, as well as due process." The case of two of the other named plaintiffs in the Institute for Justice lawsuit, Jerome Davis and Veronica Walker-Davis, exemplify what critics say is the procedural nightmare people face when their cars are impounded in Chicago. In May of last year, the couple dropped their 2006 Lexus off at a Chicago body shop following an accident. When the repairs dragged on for longer than expected, the shop first said it was waiting for parts, but eventually the couple learned the truth: An employee of the shop had driven their car on a suspended license and was pulled over. Their Lexus was now sitting at one of Chicago's six impound lots. The city had never informed the couple that their car had been impounded, according to the lawsuit, and Veronica Walker-Davis had to travel in person to the city's administrative hearings building to request a hearing to fight the impoundment. "I'm thinking that I'm just going to go and give a statement, show proof that my car wasn't in my possession, and everything will be okay, but in fact it turned into a nightmare," she says. "I felt like I was pretty much in The Twilight Zone." The Twilight Zone is Room 110 in Chicago's administrative hearings building, a small courtroom where the city churns through its impound cases at a rate of roughly one every 10-15 minutes, five days a week. Because the hearings are civil matters, not criminal, there is no right to a lawyer, and Walker-Davis found herself standing across from a lawyer for the city of Chicago. She tried to explain to the administrative hearing judge what had happened, but it made no difference. She was found liable for violating the city code and would have to pay nearly $2,500 to get their car out of impound. "I felt like crap," she says. "I felt like a criminal." In late March of this year, The couple managed to find a pro bono lawyer and negotiate their fine down to $1,170, but when they arrived with cash in hand, they were told the registration on their car had lapsed in the more than six months it had been sitting in an impound lot, and the city would not release it without a current registration. Walker-Davis rushed the next day to get their registration renewed, which cost another $101, and got the city to agree to extend the deadline for the couple to pay their impound fines. In an email provided to Reason, a lawyer for Chicago's law department wrote to the couple: "The City will agree to extend the time for you to pay the settlement agreement to 4/12/19." But when the couple showed up to retrieve their car on April 10, it was gone. The city had already sold it off. According to WBEZ, Chicago sells many of the cars it impounds for paltry amounts under $200, and almost all of them are sold to a single towing contractor. The Institute for Justice is hoping that a recent Supreme Court case will bolster their claim that Chicago's rapacious impound program fines people so much and affords them so few avenues of escape that it violates the Constitution. The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year in Timbs v. Indiana—the case of an Indiana man whose $42,000 Land Rover was seized for a drug felony—that states are bound by the Eighth Amendment's protections against excessive fines and fees. Although the Court did not define exactly what constitutes "excessive," it opened the door for civil liberties groups to press the issue. In 2017, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Los Angeles' automatic 30-day impound law, ruling that it amounted to an unconstitutional seizure under the Fourth Amendment. While state and federal courts have repeatedly upheld Chicago's impound program in the past, the Institute for Justice hopes that it can build on the recent Supreme Court decision, as well as other cases that have addressed the government's use of fines and fees to generate revenue. "We think we've got a really great chance, and we think the courts will agree with us that the system is just too much," Simpson says. "It's bringing in an entirely huge amount of money for the city of Chicago—there's about 22,000 cars that go in through this system each year—and that's not the role of the government." | Ed Krayewski | http://freedombunker.com/2019/04/29/chicago-impounds-innocent-peoples-cars-and-soaks-them-in-fines-now-its-getting-sued/ | 2019-04-30 02:45:55+00:00 | 1,556,606,755 | 1,567,541,586 | crime, law and justice | justice |
223,246 | freedombunker--2019-11-01--Federal Court Rules there is no Taking if the Police Destroy an Innocent Person’s House During a Law | 2019-11-01T00:00:00 | freedombunker | Federal Court Rules there is no Taking if the Police Destroy an Innocent Person’s House During a Law Enforcement Operation | Earlier this week, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment does not require the government to compensate an innocent man for the destruction of his house during a police operation: The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment requires the government to pay "just compensation" to property owners any time their land or other property is "taken" by the state. That includes many situations where the government destroys or damages the property in question, rather than appropriates it for its own use. For example, in 2013, the Supreme Court unanimously held that a taking can occur as a result of the government deliberately flooding land. As far back as 1872, the Court ruled that "where real estate is actually invaded by superinduced additions of water, earth, sand, or other material . . . so as to effectually destroy or impair its usefulness, it is a taking, within the meaning of the Constitution." It seems pretty obvious that the Lech home was "effectually destroy[ed]" by the grenades and other "material" that the Greenwood Village police fired at it. Why then, did the court rule that no taking had occurred, thereby denying the Lech family any right to compensation? Because the destruction of the house occurred in the course of a law enforcement operation intended to promote "the safety of the public": [A]s the [Supreme] Court explained in Mugler, when the state acts to preserve the "safety of the public," the state "is not, and, consistent[] with the existence and safety of organized society, cannot be, burdened with the condition that the state must compensate [affected property owners] for pecuniary losses they may sustain" in the process…. [W]hen the state acts pursuant to its police power, rather than the power of eminent domain, its actions do not constitute a taking for purposes of the Takings Clause. And we further hold that this distinction remains dispositive in cases that, like this one, involve the direct physical appropriation or invasion of private property…. The court is right to point out that this distinction between the "police power" and eminent domain has been adopted in many of previous takings decisions immunizing law enforcement agents from liability. The main relatively new aspect of this case is applying the distinction to the physical invasion or destruction of property, as well as to "regulatory takings" where the government merely restricts the owner's ability to use his or her land. But the rule still makes no sense, and should be done away with. The distinction between "police power" and "eminent domain"—with only the latter leading to a taking—is a false dichotomy. In many situations, courts have ruled that a taking has occurred even if the government did not try to use eminent domain—its authority to formally condemn private property for public use. That includes numerous cases involving both regulatory takings and physical invasions. The fact that the "police power" may have been involved does not normally immunize the government from takings liability. As the Lech decision notes, the police power extends to government actions "for the protection of public health, safety, and welfare." Modern jurisprudence defines these concepts very broadly. Yet, in many contexts, courts nonetheless routinely rule that takings have occurred even though the purpose of the law at issue was to protect health or safety. For example, in the classic 1922 case of Pennsylvania Coal v. Mahon, the Supreme Court ruled that a prohibition on mining can qualify as a taking, even though its purpose was to protect the safety of people and property on the surface. Similarly, environmental regulations can sometimes qualify as takings if they destroy enough of the value of a property, even though their purpose is often to promote health or safety. Cases where the government does go through the formal process of eminent domain often also involve the protection of health or safety. For example, the condemnation of property to build a road can increase health and safety if the new road is safer than the old, and thereby reduces the rate of traffic accidents. Yet, the government could not use that fact to seize the property and build on it without paying compensation. Even if the government has a good reason to seize or destroy private property, the Takings Clause requires payment of compensation. As the Supreme Court famously stated in Armstrong v. United States (1960), "[t]he Fifth Amendment's guarantee that private property shall not be taken for a public use without just compensation was designed to bar Government from forcing some people alone to bear public burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole." The history and original meaning of the Takings Clause also supports the notion that exercises of the "police power" can be takings. Outside the context of law-enforcement operations, the fact that the government was trying to promote public safety does not create blanket immunity from having to compensate innocent owners whose property is taken or destroyed in the process. There is no good reason to exempt law-enforcement operations from takings liability of the same kind that applies to other government actions that might enhance public safety. Indeed, as the Supreme Court recognized in the 2015 Horne case, the Takings Clause was inspired in the first place in part by revulsion at both British and American forces' seizure of property during the colonial era and the Revolutionary War. Many of these British actions were, of course, undertaken for the purpose of enforcing British law against recalcitrant colonists. One possible distinction between police operations and other government actions is that the former may require quick decisions in order to ensure the capture of suspects. Thus, it might be unnecessarily burdensome to require police officers to consider potential takings liability at such moment. But the need for rapid decision-making is by no means a universal trait of police actions that damage or destroy private property. As Radley Balko shows in his important book, The Rise of the Warrior Cop, law enforcement operations using destructive military-style tactics are actually often planned in advance. Even when quick decision-making is needed, line officers do not have to weigh takings issues on the spot. Such matters could be considered in advance by their superiors in formulating general tactical guidelines for their subordinates. If the use of various destructive tactics pays large dividends for public safety, then the government can continue using them, secure in the knowledge that the compensation paid was well worth the price. And it is only proper that the costs be borne by the general public whose safety these operations protect, not by innocent owners who had the misfortune of having their property destroyed because it was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If, on the other hand, authorities find that they routinely end up paying compensation that far exceeds any plausible benefit arising from the use of such aggressive tactics, then they would be well-advised to issue stricter guidelines for the use of force by their officers. Perhaps they shouldn't seize and destroy as much property as they currently do. In this way, Takings Clause liability not only promotes fairness for innocent property owners, but also can help increase the efficiency of law enforcement. The government will have an incentive to prevent them from undertaking destructive operations that harm the public more than they protect it. The Supreme Court would do well to overrule this case and make clear that the Takings Clause protects innocent owners whose property is destroyed during the course of law enforcement operations. Unfortunately, I am far from optimistic that will actually happen. In commenting on this case, Clark Neily of the Cato Institute points out that "With an honorable and ethical gov[ernment], the constitutional question never comes up because they [would] just compensate the owner as a matter of common decency." But, as Clark also notes, when it comes to government policy, honor, ethics, and common decency are often in short supply. Thomas Jefferson put it well: "in questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution." Though Jefferson didn't always live up to this principle himself, it is valid all the same. The chains of the Takings Clause should bind law enforcement no less than other agents of the state. | Ed Krayewski | http://freedombunker.com/2019/10/31/federal-court-rules-there-is-no-taking-if-the-police-destroy-an-innocent-persons-house-during-a-law-enforcement-operation/ | Fri, 01 Nov 2019 03:22:32 +0000 | 1,572,592,952 | 1,572,611,554 | crime, law and justice | justice |
235,424 | hitandrun--2019-07-24--How Confirmation Bias Sends Innocent People to Prison | 2019-07-24T00:00:00 | hitandrun | How Confirmation Bias Sends Innocent People to Prison | Last week an Oklahoma judge freed Corey Atchison, who had spent 28 years in prison for a murder he has always said he did not commit, after concluding that he had been convicted based on the false testimony of "purported eyewitnesses" who had been "coerced" by prosecutors. The next day, an Idaho judge exonerated Christopher Tapp, who had served more than two decades for rape and murder, after DNA evidence implicated another man, who confessed to the crimes. While cases like these often feature wrongdoing by individual prosecutors and police officers, a new study suggests the problem is deeper. After analyzing 50 wrongful convictions and other investigative failures, Texas State criminologists Kim Rossmo and Joycelyn Pollock found that confirmation bias, reinforced by groupthink and strong incentives to quickly identify the perpetrators of highly publicized crimes, figures prominently in the mistakes that send innocent people to prison. Once police decide they have the right suspect, Rossmo and Pollock report in the Northeastern University Law Review, they tend to develop "tunnel vision" that obscures other possibilities. They become focused on building a case against the person they've decided is guilty, ignore or minimize countervailing evidence, and interpret ambiguous evidence in a way that supports their initial conclusions. After Angela Correa, a 15-year-old high school student in Peekskill, New York, was raped and strangled to death in 1989, for example, police quickly settled on one of her classmates, Jeffrey Deskovic, as their sole suspect. "Suffering from tunnel vision, detectives pursued a single-minded course of action designed to get Deskovic to confess," Rossmo and Pollock write. "Police did not look for other suspects despite the presence of exculpatory physical evidence. In a classic confirmation bias pattern, detectives changed their theory of the case when the DNA test results came back excluding Deskovic." Deskovic was convicted in 1990 based on a false confession he later retracted. For years the Westchester County district attorney, Jeanine Pirro, now a Fox News host who opines on justice, rejected Deskovic's requests to compare the DNA evidence against a criminal database. Deskovic was not exonerated until 2006, after he had served 16 years in prison, when a new D.A. approved testing that identified the actual perpetrator. Christopher Tapp's conviction also was based on a false confession that was contradicted by DNA evidence, the pattern in about a third of the 367 cases in which the Innocence Project has used such evidence to clear people who were wrongly convicted. "Interrogations are not a quest for information," observes the Innocence Project's Vanessa Potkin. "The purpose is to get an admission." In another case that Rossmo and Pollock examined, Bruce Lisker was wrongly convicted in 1985 of stabbing his mother to death at their home in Sherman Oaks, California. He was not released until 2009, at which point he had served 26 years, after a judge determined that he had been convicted based on false evidence, including the testimony of a jailhouse snitch police knew was unreliable. "Investigators coerced a confession (quickly recanted) from the 17-year-old teenager through the offer of a plea bargain," Rossmo and Pollock write. "A rush to judgment followed by tunnel vision led to confirmation bias. Exculpatory evidence was ignored, while the alibi of an alternative and viable suspect was never checked despite inconsistencies in his story." Confirmation bias is common and hard to root out. Rossmo and Pollock recommend training in "cognitive de-biasing," better evidence procedures, closer supervision, and a general awareness of cognitive biases and the factors that let them run riot. Rossmo and Pollock also note that the "probable cause" standard for arresting someone, which creates momentum toward a conviction, is a low bar that does not require showing the suspect is more likely than not to be guilty. "A probable cause that is not probable is inconsistent with both language and mathematics," they write. "The most certain way to prevent a wrongful conviction is to minimize wrongful arrests of innocent people." | Jacob Sullum ([email protected]) | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reason/HitandRun/~3/kPMlEX0iksk/ | 2019-07-24 04:01:15+00:00 | 1,563,955,275 | 1,567,535,954 | crime, law and justice | justice |
235,521 | hitandrun--2019-07-30--Police Faked Evidence and the Real Killers Confessed But Missouri Still Imprisoned an Innocent Man | 2019-07-30T00:00:00 | hitandrun | Police Faked Evidence and the Real Killers Confessed. But Missouri Still Imprisoned an Innocent Man for 24 Years. | The St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office will give a new trial to Lamar Johnson, who was convicted of capital murder in 1995 after the lead detective falsified witness statements and bribed a man to identify Johnson as the killer. For Johnson to have been guilty, he would have had to leave an apartment party, travel three miles, kill the victim, and return on foot to the same party within a matter of five minutes. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has now filed a 67-page motion to vacate the conviction. It and an accompanying investigative report say that Johnson was only convicted after police and prosecutors relied on "perjured testimony, suppression of exculpatory and material impeachment evidence of secret payments to the sole eyewitness, and undisclosed Brady material related to a jailhouse informant with a history of incentivized cooperation with the State." Joseph Nickerson, the lead detective at the time, was found to have fabricated parts of his investigation, including falsifying four witness statements and bribing a man $4,000 to identify Johnson as the shooter at trial. Johnson continued to sit in prison even after the actual killers confessed to their crime, and absolved Johnson of any involvement, in 1996 and 2002. The Midwest Innocence Project (MIP), which has long represented Johnson, praised Gardner in a press release for filing a motion for a new trial. "We don't expect prosecutors or law enforcement officers to be perfect—but we should expect that once overwhelming evidence of innocence and government misconduct come to light, that prosecutors fulfill their duty to administer justice by correcting those injustices," said MIP attorney Lindsay Runnels. | Zuri Davis ([email protected]) | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reason/HitandRun/~3/UhD91WU7ZcY/ | 2019-07-30 16:00:46+00:00 | 1,564,516,846 | 1,567,535,333 | crime, law and justice | justice |
236,455 | hitandrun--2019-10-06--States Are Depriving Innocent People of Their Second Amendment Rights | 2019-10-06T00:00:00 | hitandrun | States Are Depriving Innocent People of Their Second Amendment Rights | Shortly after 5 a.m. on November 5, 2018, two police officers arrived at Gary Willis' house in Glen Burnie, Maryland. They were there to take away his guns. They ended up killing him instead. According to the Anne Arundel County Police Department, the 61-year-old man, who at that hour presumably had just been awakened by the officers' knocking, answered the door with a gun in his hand. He put it down when he saw who was there. Upon learning that the two officers had come to serve him with an "extreme risk protective order" (ERPO) that barred him from possessing firearms, police said, Willis became "irate" and picked up the weapon again. As one officer tried to wrestle the gun away from Willis, it went off, whereupon the other officer shot him. Police Chief Timothy Altomare subsequently argued that the incident illustrated the need for Maryland's ERPO law, which had taken effect barely a month before. "If you look at this morning's outcome," he told the Annapolis Capital, a newspaper whose headquarters had been the site of a mass shooting the previous June, "it's tough for us to say 'Well, what did we prevent?' Because we don't know what we prevented or could've prevented. What would've happened if we didn't go there at 5 a.m.?" Well, for one thing, Gary Willis probably would still be alive. Altomare invites us to speculate that Willis might have used a gun to kill someone. Yet at the time of his death, the only evidence to support that concern seems to have been a complaint from his sister, who reportedly obtained the temporary ERPO against her brother after a family argument during which he said something that alarmed her. Willis had no opportunity to challenge that claim, and he had no idea he had been stripped of his Second Amendment rights until police arrived at his door early in the morning with the court order in hand. Anne Arundel County police did not respond to my inquiries, and the Maryland courts have declined to provide records of the case, which are confidential under state law unless a judge rules otherwise. Based on interviews with relatives, local news outlets reported that the ERPO stemmed from an argument the day before about the care of Willis' elderly mother. According to WBFF, the local Fox station, "Gary Willis struggle[d] with alcoholism" but "family say he wasn't dangerous, just strongly opinionated." Michele Willis, Gary's niece, gave a similar account in an interview with The Baltimore Sun, saying her uncle "likes to speak his mind" but "wouldn't hurt anybody." She added that his fatal encounter with the police seemed senseless. "I'm just dumbfounded now," she said. "They didn't need to do what they did." Maryland is one of 17 states with so-called red flag laws, most of which were enacted following the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. After the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton in August, President Donald Trump endorsed red flag laws as a way of preventing such crimes by disarming would-be mass murderers. But judging from the available data, the court orders authorized by such laws are usually aimed at preventing suicide rather than homicide. The evidence on whether they succeed in doing that is mixed. So far there is no solid evidence that they prevent homicides, even though the oldest red flag law was enacted two decades ago. One thing is certain: Taking away people's guns based on predictions of what they might do with them raises thorny due process concerns. That's especially true with laws like Maryland's, which authorize broad categories of people to seek ERPOs based on scant evidence and effectively put the burden on gun owners to demonstrate that they don't pose a threat to themselves or others. While the benefits of these laws are mostly speculative, they inevitably deprive law-abiding people of the constitutional right to armed self-defense, even when it is quite unlikely that they would use guns to hurt themselves or anyone else. Maryland's law, which was enacted two months after the Parkland attack and took effect in October 2018, authorizes law enforcement officers, physicians, mental health specialists, and various relatives, intimates, and cohabitants to seek ERPOs. That list includes housemates, spouses, dating partners, people who have "a child in common with the respondent," and anyone "related to the respondent by blood, marriage, or adoption." A temporary ERPO, lasting up to a week, can be issued if there are "reasonable grounds" to believe the respondent poses "an immediate and present danger" to himself or others. At that stage, as Gary Willis discovered, respondent is a misnomer: The initial ERPO is an ex parte order, meaning its target does not have a chance to respond. A judge can extend the ex parte order for up to six months if there is "good cause." A final ERPO, which lasts up to a year and can be extended for another six months, can be issued after a hearing based on "clear and convincing evidence" that the respondent "poses a danger" to himself or others. In light of that language, extreme risk protective order is also a misnomer, since any level of danger—slight, great, or middling—suffices to obtain one. But at least at this point, the respondent is allowed to rebut the claims against him, although he has no right to legal representation if he can't afford it. During the first five months after the ERPO law took effect, according to statewide data published by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, judges or commissioners (low-level judicial officers) approved 422 temporary or interim orders. Requests for those initial orders are almost never rejected in Maryland, and the same is true in Florida, which enacted a red flag law in March 2018. It is not surprising that judges are disinclined to be skeptical of an applicant who claims a gun owner poses an imminent threat, since they do not want to take the blame if something terrible happens before they can hold an adversarial hearing. But what happens at the next stage, when the threat need not be imminent but the burden of proof is heavier? In Maryland, when a hearing was actually held (in some cases the petitioners did not show up), judges granted final ERPOs 62 percent of the time. In Florida, according to data from the Office of the State Courts Administrator, 1,482 hearings had been held as of March 31 and 1,409 orders had been granted, which translates into an approval rate of 95 percent. Although the standard of proof in Florida is the same as in Maryland (clear and convincing evidence), Florida's law allows petitions only by law enforcement officers or agencies, which judges apparently find more credible than the reports of possibly aggrieved (or sincerely mistaken) spouses, dating partners, cohabitants, in-laws, or blood relatives, who accounted for most of the applications in Maryland. But that trust can be misplaced. Consider Chris Velasquez, a University of Central Florida (UCF) student who owned no firearms, had no history of violence, and had never threatened anyone, but who nevertheless was an early target of his state's red flag law because he said some stupid things on Reddit. In a thread titled "You guys are too weak to be a school shooter," Velasquez replied, "Maybe for now but not forever." Later, he posted "RIP Paddock my hero" in a thread about the autopsy of Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock and wrote "Cruz is a hero!" in reference to Nikolas Cruz, perpetrator of the Parkland massacre. Those three comments resulted in a March 2018 interview with a UCF police officer, Jeffrey Panter, during which Velasquez explained that he was just "trolling" and trying to look tough but regretted his tasteless comments. "I'm not a violent person," Velasquez told Panter. "I would never, ever act out in violence against anybody in a mass shooting or anything of the sort." He called the Parkland massacre "a senseless tragedy" and noted that a mass shooter may get his "15 minutes of fame" but will "eventually be remembered as a piece of crap." Listening to the interview, you do not get the impression that Velasquez had ever seriously contemplated committing a crime of this sort, let alone made any plans or taken any steps in that direction. Panter refused to accept Velasquez's explanation or his assurances. During the interview he pressured, cajoled, and manipulated Velasquez into agreeing with statements that, taken out of context, made it seem like he genuinely admired Paddock and Cruz, that he identified with Cruz because both of them had been bullied as kids, and that he had repeatedly fantasized about returning to his former middle school or high school in Orlando and shooting it up. A mandatory psychiatric assessment after the interview found that Velasquez did not meet Florida's criteria for involuntary treatment, which would have required clear and convincing evidence that, because of mental illness, there was a "substantial likelihood" that he would "inflict serious bodily harm" on himself or others "in the near future." Panter nevertheless referred the case to the Orlando Police Department, where Sgt. Matthew Ochiuzzo twisted Velasquez's online comments and his interview with Panter into a portrait of a deeply troubled man who was just one disappointment away from committing mass murder. On a list of 15 possible grounds for issuing a risk protection order (as it's known in Florida), Ochiuzzo checked five, including "there is evidence that the respondent is seriously mentally ill," "respondent has committed a recent act or threat of violence," and "respondent has used or threatened to use any weapons against him or herself or others." None of that was true. Ochiuzzo claimed Velasquez "disclosed that he has had thoughts and urges to commit a mass shooting since his sophomore year of high school." But Velasquez never said that. To the contrary, when Panter asked about his state of mind in high school, he said, "I didn't have any thoughts of a school shooting." Ochiuzzo also claimed "the respondent indicated that he wanted to commit the mass shootings so that he could feel the 'adrenaline rush' from the shooting." In reality, Velasquez repeatedly said he would never commit such a crime. Based on an affidavit that was highly misleading and in some respects blatantly inaccurate, Circuit Judge Bob LeBlanc issued a temporary risk protection order against Velasquez. But at a hearing about two weeks later, when Velasquez finally had a chance to defend himself, LeBlanc found the city had failed to provide clear and convincing evidence that Velasquez posed "a significant danger." Velasquez's lawyer, Kendra Parris, says LeBlanc realized the threat described by Ochiuzzo was never more than theoretical. "The judge asked, 'Did he actually make any threats, or was this all in response to hypothetical questions?'" she says. "And of course, it was all in response to hypothetical questions. Fortunately, the judge noted that this essentially amounted to thought policing and declined to issue the order." Although that decision may look like a victory for due process, Parris notes that LeBlanc could have reached a different conclusion, since Florida's law says judges "may consider any relevant evidence." The statute gives 15 examples but says the list is not exhaustive. The law also leaves crucial terms undefined. Ochiuzzo claimed Velasquez was "seriously mentally ill," for example, even though he had no diagnosis and a psychiatrist found he did not meet the criteria for commitment. Nor is it clear what "a significant danger" means in this context. Even assuming that judges apply such standards with precision, should they consider a 5 percent risk "significant"? One percent? Ten percent? "Because we can't figure out what 'significant' means, you have this high burden of proof," Parris says—but it relates to a probability that may be "extraordinarily low," based on any evidence a judge considers relevant. "The 'clear and convincing evidence' standard is meaningless, because the criteria are open-ended. The court literally can look at anything." One of Parris' clients, who lives in Broward County, Florida, posted a photo of an AR-15 rifle he had built, accompanied by the comment, "It's done. Hooray." On another occasion, he posted a comment criticizing teenaged gun control activists, who he said were trying to take away people's Second Amendment rights. Those two posts were enough to obtain a temporary gun confiscation order, although Parris ultimately persuaded the city to drop its petition for a final order. Another client, former professional football player Oliver Hoyte, did not have the benefit of a lawyer at his hearing, but he really could have used one. After an argument with his aunt and her boyfriend, he says, they told police he had threatened them with a gun. In addition to that claim, Tampa police presented several other unverified allegations against Hoyte—including some they had never questioned him about, he says. They even cited a 2013 case in which he was acquitted of aggravated assault. He says video evidence contradicted the testimony of a man who claimed Hoyte had pulled a gun on him. Parris notes that an Orange County judge last year rejected an application for a final risk protection order because it was based on events that predated the red flag law. Since the law does not say it applies retroactively, the judge said, the presumption is that it does not. That is one of the points Parris planned to raise if she managed to get a rehearing for Hoyte. She hoped to get that hearing by arguing that the government should have provided him with a public defender, although at press time she also was trying to negotiate dismissal of the case with the city. "I feel like I should have the right to representation," Hoyte says. "The judge said, 'You do have the right to representation, but the court is not going to appoint it for you.'" Police confiscated Hoyte's Taurus 9 mm pistol, and he was forbidden to buy any other firearms for a year (possibly longer, if the order is extended). As a result, Hoyte says, he does not feel safe visiting certain neighborhoods, including the one where his family lives. "I'm not on an equal footing with everyone else," he says. "I don't have the right to bear arms, and I haven't done anything wrong. I haven't been convicted of any crime. I haven't been hospitalized. I haven't harmed anyone. This law is wrong because it eliminates due process. They're treating me as if I'm a criminal." The high approval rate by judges in Florida suggests the deck is stacked against respondents like Hoyte. "All the pressure is on the other side," Parris says. "There's absolutely no downside to just going ahead and issuing the order." Parris argues that the "significant danger" standard is unconstitutionally vague and that Florida's law impermissibly delegates legislative and prosecutorial authority to the police. But while such arguments can be raised on appeal, the process typically takes longer than the risk protection order lasts. "By the time your appeal works its way through the District Court of Appeal, it's already going to be 12 months," Parris says. "There's no real recourse." Connecticut enacted the country's first red flag law in 1999, following a mass shooting at the Connecticut Lottery Corporation's headquarters the previous year. The statute allows police officers or prosecutors to seek a gun confiscation order when they have "probable cause" to believe someone poses "a risk of imminent personal injury" to himself or others. A hearing is required within 14 days of the seizure, at which point the standard becomes "clear and convincing evidence" of an imminent risk. If police meet that burden, they can keep confiscated guns for up to a year. Indiana came next, enacting a red flag law in 2005, after a man diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia used a rifle to kill one Indianapolis police officer and injure another four. That law allows a police officer to seek a gun confiscation order against someone he believes poses an imminent threat to himself or others. It also applies to someone who poses a threat that is not immediate but who "has a propensity for violent or emotionally unstable conduct" or who "has a mental illness that may be controlled by medication" but has not been diligent about taking it. Under Indiana's law, a police officer can seize guns without a court order, in which case he is supposed to file an affidavit explaining his reasons after the fact. If a judge agrees that the officer had probable cause, police can keep the confiscated weapons. A hearing is required within 14 days, at which point the state has to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the gun owner meets the law's criteria. After at least six months have passed, the gun owner can seek the return of his property. He has to prove by "a preponderance of the evidence" that he "is not dangerous." Notwithstanding the requirement that a hearing be held within two weeks, a 2015 study reported in the journal Behavioral Sciences and the Law found that gun owners waited an average of more than nine months before a court decided whether police could keep their firearms. When a hearing finally was scheduled, most of the gun owners did not show. But when they did, they usually prevailed, meaning judges decided the state had not met its burden of proving them dangerous. During the last 71 months covered by the eight-year study, gun owners won every contested case. In Connecticut, by comparison, judges ruled that guns should be kept by the government in 68 percent of cases where the outcome was known, according to a 2014 Connecticut Law Review article. But outcomes were reported in less than 30 percent of cases. Although Indiana and Connecticut both enacted red flag legislation in response to mass shootings, the laws are used mainly to protect people from their own suicidal impulses, a justification cited in 68 percent of Indiana cases from 2006 through 2013 and in 61 percent of Connecticut cases from 1999 to 2013. A study reported last year in the journal Psychiatric Services found that Indiana's law was associated with a 5 percent reduction in the overall suicide rate, while Connecticut's law was associated with a net increase in suicides. Using a different (and contested) method, a 2017 study published in Law and Contemporary Problems estimated that one suicide was prevented in Connecticut by every 10 to 20 gun seizures. A 2019 study of Indiana's law by the same researchers, reported in The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, reached a similar conclusion. Duke University medical sociologist Jeffrey Swanson, the lead author of those last two suicide studies, thinks due process needs improvement in Indiana. "The state's apparent failure to comply with the statutory guideline of holding a hearing within 14 days puts a damper on the success story of suicide prevention," he writes in an email. "This should be the focus of efforts to improve implementation of the law." Even taking the results of Swanson's studies at face value, the implication is that the vast majority of people whose guns were seized—90 to 95 percent—would not have committed suicide had they retained their firearms. Meanwhile, none of these studies reported any effect on homicides. David Kopel, a gun policy expert at the Independence Institute in Denver, says red flag laws may have an impact, even if it is too small to be detected by looking at suicide and homicide rates. "I think it would disarm some people who are suicidal," he says. "And I think you have some people who are acting dangerously enough that a person with common sense would say, 'Wow, that guy should not have a gun.' It would address folks like that." But Kopel emphasizes the importance of procedural safeguards to protect the constitutional rights of gun owners, such as requiring that petitions be submitted only by law enforcement agencies after an independent investigation, allowing ex parte orders only for good cause, limiting them to one week, limiting subsequent orders to six months, requiring clear and convincing evidence, providing counsel to respondents, giving them a right to cross-examine witnesses, and letting them sue people who file false and malicious petitions. He also recommends giving gun owners advance notice of confiscation orders unless there are special reasons not to do so, a policy that might have made a crucial difference in Gary Willis' case. Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox, an expert on mass shootings, shares Kopel's concern that suddenly seizing guns can make violence more likely. "If you have an individual who's angry, bitter, threatening other people, [and] owns a gun," Fox told Reason's Nick Gillespie in August, "the attempt to take that gun away can actually precipitate the very violent act that you're trying to prevent." No existing law meets all of Kopel's criteria. Washington state allows an even longer list of people to file petitions than Maryland does, including former spouses, former girlfriends and boyfriends, and former roommates. California's list is almost as long, and a pending bill would expand it further, adding employers, co-workers, and school personnel. Colorado is the only state that guarantees a lawyer for respondents, and no state provides a civil remedy when petitioners lie. In Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and the District of Columbia, a final order can be obtained based on a mere preponderance of the evidence: anything more than a 50 percent probability that the respondent poses a "significant" danger. Depending on what counts as significant, this formula implies that people can lose their gun rights even if it is nearly certain that they would not have hurt themselves or others. After the El Paso and Dayton massacres, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) introduced a bipartisan bill that would provide federal grants to encourage the passage and enforcement of red flag laws. "The Second Amendment is not a suicide pact," Graham told Fox News, while dismissing critics of red flag laws as "libertarians." He likened gun confiscation orders to involuntary psychiatric treatment, saying "that process would apply to gun ownership," when in fact the criteria for civil commitment are substantially stricter. Graham also promised that "nobody's going to lose their gun unless they have their day in court," which is clearly not true in light of ex parte orders that can last as long as six months. "It's a great idea on paper," says Dave Workman, senior editor at the Second Amendment Foundation in Bellevue, Washington. "The problem is the execution." In practice, he says, red flag laws mean "you're guilty until you prove yourself innocent." | Jacob Sullum ([email protected]) | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reason/HitandRun/~3/8pSIpOLKKB8/ | 2019-10-06 10:00:13+00:00 | 1,570,370,413 | 1,570,632,929 | crime, law and justice | justice |
237,058 | hitandrun--2019-11-21--With This Forfeiture Trick, Innocent Owners Lose Even When They Win | 2019-11-21T00:00:00 | hitandrun | With This Forfeiture Trick, Innocent Owners Lose Even When They Win | Critics of civil forfeiture, the system of legalized theft that allows law enforcement agencies to seize people's property by alleging it is connected to criminal activity, often focus on the burden of proof the government faces when owners try to recover their assets. While those standards are obviously important, nearly nine out of 10 federal forfeiture cases never make it to court, largely because mounting a challenge often costs more than the property is worth. And while the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA) allows owners who win in court to recover "reasonable attorney fees and other litigation costs," prosecutors can defeat that safeguard by dragging out cases and then dropping them before a judge decides whether forfeiture is legally justified. In the meantime, desperate owners may decide to let the government keep some of their property, even when they are completely innocent. From the government's perspective, there is no downside. "By gaming the system and denying property owners a 'win' in court," says Institute for Justice (I.J.) senior attorney Dan Alban, "federal prosecutors have found a way to short-circuit judicial oversight of their activities, while at the same time preserving their ability to continue to abuse Americans' property rights." I.J. is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider a case that takes aim at such sneaky tactics, arguing that an owner can "substantially prevail" in a forfeiture battle, as required by the CAFRA provision dealing with attorney fees, even if the government returns the property before it officially loses in court. "The threat of paying attorneys' fees is a critical check on government abuse," observes Justin Pearson, another I.J. senior attorney. "Otherwise, there is no disincentive to stop prosecutors from filing frivolous civil forfeitures against property belonging to innocent owners." The I.J. case involves Miladis Salgado, a Florida woman whose home was searched in 2015 based on a tip that her estranged husband was a drug dealer. Although that tip proved to be unfounded, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents found $15,000 in cash that belonged to Salgado, which they seized. Salgado hired a lawyer to challenge the forfeiture on a contingency fee basis, agreeing to pay a third of any money she recovered. The case dragged on for two years, and the government dropped it just as a federal judge was about to rule on Salgado's motion for summary judgment. Since the DEA admitted it had no evidence implicating Salgado in criminal activity, it seems likely that she would have prevailed, which explains why the government suddenly agreed to return her money. But now instead of her original $15,000, she had only $10,000, since she had to pay her lawyer. When Salgado asked the court to make the government cover that cost, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles ruled that she was not entitled to attorney fees under CAFRA, since the case had been dismissed without prejudice, meaning it theoretically could be refiled. "A dismissal without prejudice cannot trigger the statutory entitlement," he concluded, "because such a dismissal lacks the necessary 'material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties' with a corresponding 'judicial imprimatur on the change.'" Last July the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld that decision. The Institute for Justice is now asking the Supreme Court to resolve two questions: When does an owner "substantially prevail" in a forfeiture challenge, triggering an award of attorney fees, and does a judge have the discretion to dismiss forfeiture claims without prejudice when "the court has ordered the United States to return the seized money and the lawsuit will never be refiled"? The institute's petition argues that the 11th Circuit erred by reading the word substantially out of CAFRA, limiting its analysis to the question of whether Salgado was the "prevailing party." I.J. notes that the district court not only ordered the government to return Salgado's money but said the government would be on the hook for her legal fees if it decided to refile the case. "Ms. Salgado substantially prevailed," I.J. says. "She obtained the full return of her money, and she even obtained a court order inhibiting the United States from refiling the civil forfeiture lawsuit." To conclude otherwise, the petition says, would deprive innocent owners of the protection CAFRA was supposed to provide. According to the House report on the bill, Congress wanted to "give owners innocent of any wrongdoing the means to recover their property and make themselves whole after wrongful government seizures." An innocent owner who loses a third of her property to legal fees imposed on her by a wrongful forfeiture action plainly has not been "made whole." The House report on CAFRA also noted that "many civil seizures are not challenged" because of the costs owners must pay on "the arduous path one must journey" to contest them, "often without the benefit of counsel, and perhaps without any money left after the seizure with which to fight the battle." If owners are forced to pay those costs even when the government effectively concedes their innocence, the remedy provided by CAFRA has been nullified. I.J. also wants the Supreme Court to resolve a circuit split on the question of whether judges may dismiss forfeiture claims without prejudice in cases like this. Disagreement on that point among federal appeals courts, it says, has "resulted in widely divergent outcomes in district courts across the country." The position endorsed by the 11th Circuit in Salgado's case "presents a catch-22" for victims of forfeiture abuse, the petition says: "In order for an innocent owner to be awarded attorneys' fees under CAFRA, the government's case against the money or property cannot be dismissed without prejudice. But the innocent owner cannot prevent the case from being dismissed without prejudice because, in these circuits, their right to be awarded attorneys' fees has not yet vested." In this case, as in its many other challenges to forfeiture abuse, I.J. is calling attention to the way the system works in practice, showing that even well-intended safeguards can be defeated by coercive tactics that deprive innocent people of their property. "Seizing someone's property and forcing them to hire an attorney for two years to get it back has real costs," Pearson says. "The government can't take your property, keep it for years, and then suddenly give it back and pretend like nothing happened." So far, of course, the government can do exactly that. The Supreme Court can put a stop to it by taking up this case. | Jacob Sullum ([email protected]) | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reason/HitandRun/~3/Yd46Ioe6qYI/ | 2019-11-21T17:55:50Z | 1,574,376,950 | 1,574,382,045 | crime, law and justice | justice |
237,350 | hitandrun--2019-12-12--An Unreliable Jailhouse Informant May Have Sent an Innocent Florida Man to Death Row | 2019-12-12T00:00:00 | hitandrun | An Unreliable Jailhouse Informant May Have Sent an Innocent Florida Man to Death Row | James Dailey has long maintained that he didn't murder Shelly Boggio in 1985. No physical evidence ties him to the case, and there's good reason to think the man who originally pointed the finger at Dailey is the actual killer. A story by Pamela Colloff, published by ProPublica and The New York Times, shows how an unreliable jailhouse informant may have doomed an innocent man to the execution chamber in Florida. On May 6, 1985, Boggio's nude body was found floating in a Pinellas County waterway; she had been stabbed several times. Dailey and his roommate, Jack Pearcy, became subjects of interest in the case. Pearcy has a history of violence against women. On the last day of her life, Pearcy took Boggio to a bar near the Intracoastal Waterway after spending an afternoon drinking and smoking weed at his apartment. Though he admitted to stabbing Boggio at least once and provided intimate details of the crime, Pearcy insisted that Dailey was the actual murderer. Pearcy claimed that Dailey joined the pair before they reached the water that night. Pearcy, who is serving life in prison, has since confessed four times that he was solely responsible for Boggio's death. He also told two other inmates that Dailey was innocent. Pearcy owned a knife consistent with the stab wounds, knew where investigators could find its sheath, and was the only person who eyewitnesses saw with Boggio the night she was murdered. Yet Dailey's fate was sealed by three jailhouse informants, including one Paul Skalnik. Skalnik was one of the county's most prolific jailhouse informants, testifying in at least 37 cases. Many of those trials ended in convictions or plea deals; four ended with death sentences. Though he spent his days in protective custody, he told investigators that he managed to obtain a confession from Dailey while passing by his cell. Pearcy refused to testify against Dailey in court, so Skalnik took the stand, testifying that Dailey had confessed to the murder while asking for legal advice. Detective John Halliday vouched for Skalnik because they had worked together before. Jailhouse informants have an incentive to tell prosecutors what they want to hear, since their cooperation could help with their own cases. After the two other inmates claimed that they heard Dailey admit to the murder, a third later said that they concocted their stories in an effort to get their own sentences reduced. (They succeeded.) The third inmate also said police showed him news clippings of the crime in hopes that he would testify against Dailey. He refused. Though Skalnik assured the jury that he was receiving nothing for his testimony, he was released five days after Dailey was sentenced to death. After serving a sentence for grand theft, Skalnik was paroled in March 1985. He quickly violated his parole with various financial cons and returned to jail. Though he was identified as a flight risk, a parole violator, and was called a "danger to society" by his parole officer, a Florida Parole and Probation Commission memo said he was released due to his "cooperation with the State Attorney's Office in the first-degree murder trial." Public records show several other instances where Skalnik received benefits for his help in other trials despite assessments that he was a "con artist of the highest degree." Prosecutors once dismissed a 1982 charge for lewd and lascivious conduct involving a 12-year-old girl. Neither those charges nor their dismissals were mentioned to the jury in Dailey's case. There are other reasons to question Skalnik's honesty. When Colloff interviewed him, he claimed that he'd been shot down in Laos during the Vietnam War. After obtaining his military records, Colloff found that Skalnik was not on combat duty during Vietnam, and did not serve overseas at all. Dailey was set to die on November 7, but U.S. District Judge William Jung temporarily stayed his execution in October to give lawyers more time to present their case. Yesterday Jung rejected the new appeals. Dailey's attorney, Josh Dubin, tells Reason he is asking Gov. Ron DeSantis to grant a clemency hearing to argue the prisoner's innocence. A coalition of local supporters—including the Innocence Project of Florida, the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine, a former prosecutor, and a collection of Florida death row exonerees—is also asking the state to exonerate Dailey before it's too late. | Zuri Davis ([email protected]) | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reason/HitandRun/~3/9qvOiKgQipc/ | 2019-12-12T19:20:11Z | 1,576,196,411 | 1,576,196,392 | crime, law and justice | justice |
308,048 | mediamattersforamerica--2019-03-31--Fox News contributor Robert Jeffress expresses support for the death penalty Innocent people are ex | 2019-03-31T00:00:00 | mediamattersforamerica | Fox News contributor Robert Jeffress expresses support for the death penalty: Innocent people are executed but so "was Jesus Christ himself" | ROBERT JEFFRESS (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): Let's admit, the death penalty is sometimes inequitably and even mistakenly applied. We know that. And we ought to do everything we can to prevent that. But I remind people, the greatest example of an innocent person being executed was Jesus Christ himself. He was totally innocent, and yet in spite of that, the New Testament never calls for an end to the death penalty. Instead, Paul said in Romans 13, God has given government the power of the sword, the ability to execute in order to bring punishment against those who do evil. | Media Matters for America | https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2019/03/31/fox-news-contributor-robert-jeffress-expresses-support-death-penalty-innocent-people-are-executed-so/223292 | 2019-03-31 16:59:23+00:00 | 1,554,065,963 | 1,567,544,603 | crime, law and justice | justice |
311,537 | mercurynews--2019-03-17--Letter Innocent man was executed then the murder victim surfaced alive and well | 2019-03-17T00:00:00 | mercurynews | Letter: Innocent man was executed, then the ‘murder victim’ surfaced alive and well | In reference to an article on the front page of the San Jose Mercury News this morning, I would like to offer my opinion on the subject of the death penalty in regard to a statement made by the resident of the Association of Deputy (Los Angeles County) District Attorneys Michele Hanisee: “Those in support of abolishing the death penalty point to the possibility of an innocent person being executed… The innocent can take solace in knowing that a unanimous jury of 12 citizens must render the death verdict after an exhaustive trial where the accused murderer is represented by two highly competent attorneys and overseen by an independent judge who ensures a fair trial.” If I had a son who was executed for a murder he didn’t commit and posthumously proven innocent, I would be tempted to avenge his wrongful death (actually murder) through vigilante justice. The excuse “I’m doing my job” that people in government have been using is only legitimate when used by meter maids. Letter: Here is how the president can get $8.6 billion for his wall: Letter: Why vote if Newsom’s is the only vote that counts? Letter: How many times must police officers hide behind their guns and badges? Letter: If we remove the Lafayette crosses, we could replace them with this Right is right and wrong is wrong regardless of jury verdicts, code law, or anything else. William Jackson Marion was hanged in 1887 for “murdering” a man who later re-emerged alive and well. Submit your letter to the editor via this form Read more Letters to the Editor | Letters To The Editor | https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/03/17/letter-innocent-man-was-executedthen-victim-surfaced-alive/ | 2019-03-17 15:10:52+00:00 | 1,552,849,852 | 1,567,545,896 | crime, law and justice | justice |
332,798 | nationalreview--2019-10-14--When Cops Create Their Own Risk, Innocent People Die for Their Mistakes | 2019-10-14T00:00:00 | nationalreview | When Cops Create Their Own Risk, Innocent People Die for Their Mistakes | And when the mistake is theirs, they cannot use the ‘split second’ defense. The video is puzzling and shocking. After receiving a call to a non-emergency number requesting that police check on a neighbor’s house that had its doors open and its lights on, police approach silently. They look into an open door and into a brightly lit room, but they don’t say anything. They then creep around the house, moving from light to dark. They use a flashlight. They keep moving around the edges of the house. Suddenly, in a mere moment, one of them spots movement in a window. The officer yells for the shadowy figure to put up her hands and then immediately fires a shot. Atatiana Jefferson was dead. She was 28 years old. According to her family’s lawyer, she was playing video games with her young nephew when they heard “rustling” outside and “saw flashlights.” There was a gun in the house, but there’s no indication (yet) that she was holding it in her hand. But what if she was? Does a homeowner not have a right to investigate someone lurking on her property? Can she not arm herself at 2:30 a.m. when she hears a strange sound in the darkness? I’ve been looking closely at the police-shooting issue for many years, and I’m noticing a trend in many of the worst and most controversial shootings. The police make mistakes that heighten their own sense of danger, and then they “resolve” their own error by opening fire. The examples are easy to find. The worst and most recent is that of Dallas officer Amber Guyger, who made the dreadful mistake of entering the wrong house and then immediately dealt with the perceived “threat” by shooting the innocent man inside. But Guyger is hardly the only offender. Who can forget the terrible shooting of Philando Castile, gunned down as he tried to comply with conflicting commands from an obviously panicked officer — the officer told Castile to hand over his license and proof of insurance, but also to not reach for his gun. He shot Castile to death even as Castile was calmly telling him that he wasn’t reaching for his gun. Then there’s the extraordinarily gut-wrenching video of a cop killing Daniel Shaver as he sobbed and begged for his life. The officer’s instructions were utterly incomprehensible. He told Shaver to not put his hands down for any reason. He also told him to crawl down the hall.. No one should forget Andrew Scott. Police seeking a suspect showed up at the wrong house (without a warrant), did not turn on their lights, did not identify themselves as police, and pounded violently on the door late at night. When Scott answered his own door with a firearm in his hand, he was instantly shot dead. It wasn’t until the tragic death of Willie McCoy that the trend truly became obvious. McCoy was sleeping in his car, blocking a drive-through window, with a gun in his lap. When he began to move, cops clustered around his car started screaming at him so loudly that the transcript of the video has to explain that the shouts weren’t gunshots. Then, within three seconds, the officers riddled him with bullets. They startled him awake, and then killed him. Would Atatiana Jefferson still be alive if the cops had parked in front of her house and clearly identified themselves by shouting into the open door? Would they still be alive had they not lurked around a person’s home without permission — exactly like a person who was trespassing, perhaps with malign intent? There is absolutely no question that police have a difficult job. There is no question that even routine encounters and wellness checks can — on rare occasions — escalate to deadly violence. But there is also no question that time and again police have enhanced the risk to the public through their own mistakes. Poor tactics can yield terrible results, and police should not be able to use the “split-second decision” defense when they created the crisis. There is no greater violation of liberty than the loss of your own life in your own home at the hands of misguided, panicky, or poorly trained agents of the state. Absent compelling evidence not yet revealed to the public, it appears that the man who killed Atatiana Jefferson committed a criminal act. He deserves to face criminal justice. | David French | https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/when-cops-create-their-own-risk-innocent-people-die-for-their-mistakes/ | Mon, 14 Oct 2019 20:21:55 +0000 | 1,571,098,915 | 1,571,092,091 | crime, law and justice | justice |
363,068 | newyorker--2019-01-14--Study Most Innocent People Need to Hire Thirty-Five Lawyers at Some Point | 2019-01-14T00:00:00 | newyorker | Study: Most Innocent People Need to Hire Thirty-Five Lawyers at Some Point | WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Most people who are innocent of any crimes will still need to hire thirty-five lawyers at some point, a new study shows. According to the study, commissioned by the University of Minnesota Law School, thirty-five is the “bare minimum” number of lawyers that an innocent person should have on retainer in the event that he or she becomes the subject of an entirely unjustified criminal investigation. “We found that many innocent people are going through life without taking the basic precaution of hiring thirty-five lawyers,” Professor Davis Logsdon, who supervised the study, said. “They are flirting with disaster.” “An innocent person who has absolutely nothing to hide should do everything in his or her power to avoid answering questions from investigators,” he said. “Thirty-five lawyers can really help you do that.” Additionally, Logsdon noted, hiring nearly three dozen lawyers is invaluable because of the powerful statement it makes. “Nothing says ‘I’m innocent’ like hiring thirty-five lawyers,” he said. Although some innocent people may balk at the unwieldy number of lawyers that the study recommends, Logsdon emphasized that thirty-five lawyers provide necessary protection against unforeseen legal complications. “If, for example, one of your lawyers goes to prison, you will still have thirty-four,” he said. Logsdon acknowledged that, although every innocent person should definitely hire thirty-five lawyers, such legal help does not come cheap. “Legal bills for thirty-five lawyers can be very expensive, unless you’re a person who doesn’t pay his bills,” he said. | Andy Borowitz | https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/study-most-innocent-people-need-to-hire-thirty-five-lawyers-at-some-point | 2019-01-14 12:46:00+00:00 | 1,547,487,960 | 1,567,552,620 | crime, law and justice | justice |
424,690 | powerlineblog--2019-05-04--Kamala Harris feels awful about role in keeping apparently innocent man on death row | 2019-05-04T00:00:00 | powerlineblog | Kamala Harris feels “awful” about role in keeping apparently innocent man on death row | Advocates of abolishing the death penalty claim that innocent defendants have often been executed. I’m not sure whether these advocates have been able to show that this has ever happened in modern times, but a New York Times piece by Nicholas Kristof makes a pretty good case that Kevin Cooper, a death row inmate, is innocent of the murders he was convicted of committing. Cooper, an African-American, was convicted of murdering four people in 1983. The victims, all White, were a couple, their daughter, and a boy who was sleeping over at the couple’s house. The couple’s son, who survived the attack, told police that the assailants were White. Hairs found in the victims’ hands seemed to confirm this account. In addition, a woman told police that her White boyfriend, a convicted murderer, was probably involved in the attack. To support this statement, she gave deputies his bloody overalls. The deputies, says Kristof, threw away the overalls and arrested Cooper. He awaits execution. Kristof’s lengthy article is worth reading in full. I want to focus on the role of Sen. Kamala Harris, a candidate for her Party’s presidential nomination, in the long legal battle that followed Cooper’s conviction. Readers will recall that Harris was California’s Attorney General before she became a Senator. By the time of her involvement in the Cooper saga, DNA testing had become available for use in cases like this one. The availability of such testing is part of what gives supporters of the death penalty a high degree of confidence that the innocent won’t be executed Harris, though, refused to allow the use of DNA testing in Cooper’s case. Indeed, according to Kristof, she “showed no interest in the case.” It’s almost as if Black lives don’t matter to Kamala Harris. Harris did become interested in the case after the online version of Kristof’s article appeared. She emailed him to say “I feel awful about this.” Harris also put out a statement saying: My career as a prosecutor was marked by fierce opposition to the death penalty while still upholding the law and a commitment to fixing a broken criminal justice system. I’ve long been an advocate for measures to improve and make our system more fair and just. As a firm believer in DNA testing, I hope the governor and the state will allow for such testing in the case of Kevin Cooper. Harris did not explain why, as a firm believer in DNA testing, she refused to allow it in Cooper’s case. Nor did she explain why, if she’s a “fierce opponent” of the death penalty, she couldn’t be bothered to look into whether a man who faced that penalty was innocent. As for “fixing a broken criminal justice system,” a good start would be not electing grandstanding opportunists like Harris to positions as prosecutors. Harris should feel awful. She is a hypocrite and a disgrace. | Paul Mirengoff | https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/05/kamala-harris-feels-awful-about-role-in-keeping-apparently-innocent-man-on-death-row.php | 2019-05-04 21:15:34+00:00 | 1,557,018,934 | 1,567,541,219 | crime, law and justice | justice |
431,490 | prisonplanet--2019-07-06--Report 81 of Suspects Flagged by UK Police Facial Recognition Are Innocent | 2019-07-06T00:00:00 | prisonplanet | Report: 81% of ‘Suspects’ Flagged by UK Police Facial Recognition Are Innocent | According to a recent report, approximately four out of five people identified by the London Metropolitan Police’s facial recognition system as possible suspects are totally innocent. A recent report by Sky News has revealed that approximately four out of five people identified by the U.K.’s Metropolitan Police force’s as possible suspects are innocent. Researchers discovered that the system has an 81 percent inaccuracy rate which means that the vast majority of people flagged by the system are not on any wanted lists. The report states that this raises “significant concerns” about Scotland Yard’s use of the technology. The report concludes that it is “highly possible” that the Met’s usage of the system would be found unlawful if challenged in court due to a number of technical, operational and legal issues. The Live Facial Recognition (LFR) system has been utilized since August 2016 by the Met to monitor crowds, testing the system first at Notting Hill Carnival. Professor Pete Fussey and Dr. Daragh Murray studied the technologies accuracy rate at six of ten police trials, finding that of 42 individuals identified by the system only eight were verified to be correct. This gave the system an error rate of 81 percent. The Met has an alternative way of determining the error rate, measuring instead the number of successful and unsuccessful matches with the total number of faces processed by the system, given it an error rate of just 0.1 percent. The Met’s deputy assistant commissioner, Duncan Ball, stated: “We are extremely disappointed with the negative and unbalanced tone of this report… We have a legal basis for this pilot period and have taken legal advice throughout.” He continued, “We believe the public would absolutely expect us to try innovative methods of crime fighting in order to make London safer.” This article was posted: Saturday, July 6, 2019 at 2:09 am | admin | https://www.prisonplanet.com/report-81-of-suspects-flagged-by-uk-police-facial-recognition-are-innocent.html | 2019-07-06 07:09:01+00:00 | 1,562,411,341 | 1,567,536,698 | crime, law and justice | justice |
449,011 | realclearpolitics--2019-05-15--At Harvard Youre Guilty Until Proven Innocent | 2019-05-15T00:00:00 | realclearpolitics | At Harvard, You're Guilty Until Proven Innocent | Lawyers need not defend their clients because the guilty, in this brave new worldview, do not deserve representation. That's the logic at Harvard | <a href="/authors/daniella_davis">Daniella Davis</a>, Spectator USA | https://www.realclearpolitics.com/2019/05/14/at_harvard_youre_guilty_until_proven_innocent_474798.html | 2019-05-15 02:35:17+00:00 | 1,557,902,117 | 1,567,540,549 | crime, law and justice | justice |
467,243 | rferl--2019-01-01--Family Says Detained US Citizen Is Innocent Was In Moscow For Wedding | 2019-01-01T00:00:00 | rferl | Family Says Detained U.S. Citizen Is Innocent, Was In Moscow For Wedding | The family of a U.S. citizen being held by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) over suspected spying says he is innocent and was in Moscow to attend a wedding. Paul Whelan, a retired Marine, was last heard from on December 28, according to a statement from his family, obtained by RFE/RL on January 1. His failure to contact his family “was very much out of character for him,” the statement said. “We are deeply concerned for his safety and well-being. His innocence is undoubted and we trust that his rights will be respected,” it added. Whelan, 48, could face between 10 to 20 years in prison if found guilty. Russian officials did not disclose any details of his alleged involvement in espionage. David Whelan told RFE/RL in a direct message via Twitter that his brother "has a corporate security role" with BorgWarner, a U.S.-based supplier of automotive parts and components. BorgWarner said in a statement sent to RFE/RL on January 1 that Paul Whelan was the company's global security director. It added that he is responsible for overseeing the company's facilities in Auburn Hills, Michigan, "and at other company locations around the world." BorgWarner has 60 manufacturing sites in 18 countries, but none of them are listed as being in Russia. A spokeswoman for BorgWarner told RFE/RL that the company "does not have any facilities in Russia." Russia's state-owned conglomerate Rostec said in 2013 that its truckmaker, KamAz, had a long record of collaboration with a subsidiary of BorgWarner known as BorgWarnerTurboSystems. David Whelan told AP in a January 1 interview that his brother had been to Russia "several times" before and was helping a former U.S. Marine friend of his plan a wedding with a Russian woman. On the morning of the day he was detained, Paul Whelan had given a tour of the Kremlin museums to a group of wedding guests, his brother said. He failed to show up for the wedding on the evening of December 28. David Whelan said his absence led the family to fear he had been in a car accident or perhaps mugged, and were searching the Internet for news about "dead Americans in Moscow." The U.S. State Department has said it knows about "the detention of a U.S. citizen by Russian authorities" and had been formally notified by the Russian Foreign Ministry. The State Department said on December 31 that it had requested consular access to Paul Whelan and expected "Russian authorities to provide it." David Whelan said in the AP interview that his family was told by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow that it has been unable to speak with Paul Whelan. David Whelan said his brother had previously worked for Kelly Services, an international office-staffing company that does have offices in Moscow, and had been to Russia on business and to visit friends he had met on social-media networks. Paul Whelan reportedly had a page on the Russian social-media site VKontakte on which he writes messages in basic Russian. David Whelan said his brother was stationed in Iraq several times with the U.S. Marines and has been living in Novi, Michigan. The announcement of Whelan’s detainment came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow remains open to dialogue with Washington in a New Year’s greeting to U.S. President Donald Trump. Relations between the United States and Russia remain strained over a raft of issues including Russia’s role in wars in Syria and eastern Ukraine, its alleged meddling in elections in the United States and elsewhere, and the poisoning of a Russian double agent in Britain. At the end of November, Trump abruptly canceled a planned meeting with Putin on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Argentina, citing tensions after Russian forces opened fire on Ukrainian Navy boats before seizing them and capturing 24 Ukrainian sailors. The detention of Whelan comes weeks after Russian Maria Butina pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to acting as an agent for the Kremlin. The Kremlin has denied that Butina is a Russian agent and has organized a social-media campaign to secure her release. In the past, Russia has arrested foreigners with the aim of trading prisoners with other countries. In his annual year-end news conference on December 20, Putin said Russia would "not arrest innocent people simply to exchange them for someone else later on." | null | https://www.rferl.org/a/family-says-detained-u-s-citizen-innocent-was-in-moscow-for-wedding/29686723.html | 2019-01-01 13:07:34+00:00 | 1,546,366,054 | 1,567,554,302 | crime, law and justice | justice |
468,034 | rferl--2019-02-12--Belarusian News-Site Editor Tells Court She Is Innocent | 2019-02-12T00:00:00 | rferl | Belarusian News-Site Editor Tells Court She Is Innocent | MINSK -- The editor of Belarus's largest independent news site, who is on trial on accusations that her publication has illegally obtained information from a state-run news agency, told the court she is innocent. A court in the capital, Minsk, on February 12 began preliminary hearings in the case against Maryna Zolatava, editor in chief of the website Tut.by. Dozens of people who came to the trial greeted Zolatava with applauds and supporting chants as she entered the courtroom. All of the courtroom's 170 seats were filled. As the hearing started, Zolatava rejected all the charges. "I have not committed any of the crimes I'm charged with," Zolatava said. The case has raised concerns by right advocates, who have warned about growing press restrictions under President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government. In August, police officers searched Tut.by's Minsk offices, along with that of another outlet, BelaPan. Several reporters and employees, including Zolatava, were detained. The Belarusian Investigative Committee later alleged that computers from within the Tut.by and BelaPan offices used an account and password other than their own to access the paid subscriber section of BelTA, the state-run news agency. A third outlet, Belarusskaya Nauka, was also targeted. "The crime inflicted considerable damage" on BelTA, "leading to the illegal procurement and use of information protected from unauthorized access, as well as to the erosion of the enterprise’s business reputation," the committee charged. In all, 15 people faced charges. However, all except for Zolatava had charges dropped after paying administrative fines and damages. Zolatava, meanwhile, was hit with new charges of "official inaction," a charge comparable to negligence. She has denied the allegations. Independent Belarusian media have faced severe restrictions for years under Lukashenka's authoritarian government. In June, lawmakers passed controversial amendments to the country's media laws, which media advocates warned would likely to lead to further censorship of the press. A month later, a journalist was sentenced to four years of restricted movement and forced labor after being convicted of assaulting two police officers. The reporter, Dzmitry Halko, said the case against him was retribution for his critical stance against Lukashenka. Other Belarusian journalists and bloggers have been harassed and detained, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. | null | https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-news-editor-trial/29764982.html | 2019-02-12 04:59:22+00:00 | 1,549,965,562 | 1,567,548,825 | crime, law and justice | justice |
480,489 | shareblue--2019-05-17--GOP takes money from accused rapist because he says hes innocent | 2019-05-17T00:00:00 | shareblue | GOP takes money from accused rapist because he says he's innocent | The Republican Party is happily accepting money from an accused rapist who calls Trump his "great friend." The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee — two of the main groups that seek to get Republicans elected at the federal level — accepted $400,000 in campaign contributions from Steve Wynn, the disgraced casino magnate accused of sexual assault and rape by multiple women, Politico reported Friday. The cash came from Steve Wynn, who was forced to resign from his role as finance chair at the RNC after the allegations about sexual assault and rape came out. Wynn was also forced to step down as chairman of his casino empire. That's because the allegations against Wynn are disturbing and graphic. He's accused of forcing one employee at his Las Vegas casino to have sex — and ended up settling with the female accuser for $7.5 million, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Another employee at his Las Vegas casino, a female massage therapist, said Wynn would expose himself during massages and once forced her to masturbate him to climax — something she felt pressured to do because he was her boss and she feared being fired for not accepting his demands. The RNC faced pressure at the time the allegations were first made public to return the donations Wynn had made to the committee, but refused. Now, however, they are accepting hundreds of thousands more from Wynn. And the reasoning from RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel is about as mealy mouthed as it gets. "While we must take any allegations like these seriously, everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence and due process. Over the last year and a half, multiple investigations into the allegations against Steve Wynn have concluded. Throughout this entire process, Steve has repeatedly and unequivocally denied wrongdoing, and he has not been charged with or found guilty of any crimes," McDaniel said in a statement to Politico. "At this point, there is no reason for refusing his support." Of course, this is the same McDaniel who went on a crusade against Democrats who accepted money from Harvey Weinstein, the film mogul who was also accused of sexual assault and rape. Like Wynn, Weinstein has also not been found guilty of the crimes he's accused of committing. Republicans accepting men accused of sexual assault and rape shouldn't surprise anyone, however. Trump is, after all, the leader of the GOP, and he's been accused of sexual assault by nearly two dozen women, as well as openly admitted to grabbing women's genitals without consent. Last month, Wynn greeted Trump on the tarmac in Las Vegas when Trump flew there for a rally. It's no wonder women have fled the GOP. This is not a party that values or supports women. Published with permission of The American Independent. | Emily Singer | https://shareblue.com/gop-money-steve-wynn-accused-of-rape/ | 2019-05-17 21:55:37+00:00 | 1,558,144,537 | 1,567,540,525 | crime, law and justice | justice |
495,083 | sottnet--2019-01-17--Cop charged for stomping innocent man as K9 chewed off hunks of flesh | 2019-01-17T00:00:00 | sottnet | Cop charged for stomping innocent man as K9 chewed off 'hunks of flesh' | On the night of June 24, 2016, Frank Baker - an innocent man - 'fit the description' of a 'black man' in the area, so he was attacked by police and their K9.On Wednesday, officer Brett Palkowitsch, 31, was charged with one count of deprivation of rights for kicking the innocent man while a K9 tore him apart, literally.said a news release from the Minneapolis' FBI office, which investigated the case.At the time of the incident,Also at the scene that fateful night was officer Tony Spencer - whose dashcam recorded the violent assault on Baker - and who could not keep silent about what he saw.That night, Spencer and his partner responded to a call, which ended up being fake, about a man with dreadlocks wearing a white t-shirt and armed with a gun.When they arrived on the scene, Spencer and his partner saw Baker and realized he did not look like a suspect."There are about 50 people who would have matched that description that night," Spencer said of Baker. "He is not acting agitated. To me, he does not appear to be engaged in a fight. He did not appear to have run from a fight ... so we continue to roll through."However, just after they passed Baker, two less experienced and far more violent cops showed up, pulled out their guns, and unleashed a dog.Because police said Baker was slow to respond when showing his hands, officer Brian Ficcandenti let loose the K9, 'Falco.'"I'm thinking he (Ficcadenti) saw something we didn't see or missed and is now performing a felony-style stop," Spencer recalled. "As I turn the car and see the dog pulling out this man from the cars, I recognize it's (Baker). I can clearly see there's nothing in his hand as he comes between the cars."The dashcam then captured the following beat down - after Baker had been mauled.Baker's legs were so severely injured during the attack that he spent weeks in the hospital recovering. He also suffered several broken ribs and collapsed lungs as well.According to his attorney Robert Bennett, the dog tore "hunks of flesh" as its teeth bit "down to the bone" of Baker's legs.After watching his fellow officers do this to an innocent person, Spencer could no longer stand it and did what a good cop should do. He crossed the thin blue line and testified against the officers who nearly killed an innocent man. It is highly likely that without Spencer's testimony, Palkowitsch would not be facing any charges. After all, he was still hired back, even after Spencer blew the whistle."It was very difficult because it was something I had been programmed throughout my career to never do," Spencer, told Ruben Rosario from Twin Cities at the time."But I decided that the right thing to do was tell Mr. Baker's story," he added as he looked away momentarily, tears starting to form in his eyes, explained Rosario. "I owed it to him. How do you explain to that guy what happened to him was justified?"Spencer, who felt horrible after watching his fellow officers do this to an innocent man, visited Baker in the hospital."He had these big tears in his eyes," Spencer noticed. "He was still having trouble breathing. And then he tells me:"We are the department that brought (cop killer) Guy Harvey Baker to jail alive," Spencer said. "That's what the community expects of us. The younger cops don't understand the legacy of the department. In our darkest hour on our worst day, we brought in that guy alive. And he did not have seven broken ribs and two collapsed lungs, did he? And he killed two of our cops."Because of Spencer's testimony, which was described as the entire department against him and his partner, Baker received the largest settlement for police misconduct in the history of St. Paul, $2 million.Officer Spencer is the epitome of a good cop as he was unafraid of pointing out the crimes of his fellow cops against an innocent member of society - whom they ostensibly protect.However, that good cop is now gone, retiring shortly after this incident, and he has since been replaced, as he stated above, by "younger cops [who] don't understand the legacy of the department" who are more prone to destroy first and attempt to justify later.Below is a video showing the type of legacy the new cops intend to leave for the St. Paul police department - and it is terrifying. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/405174-Cop-charged-for-stomping-innocent-man-as-K9-chewed-off-hunks-of-flesh | 2019-01-17 20:05:39+00:00 | 1,547,773,539 | 1,567,552,130 | crime, law and justice | justice |
503,041 | sottnet--2019-07-01--Charges dropped for 119 people after cop caught on video planting drugs in innocent womans vehicle | 2019-07-01T00:00:00 | sottnet | Charges dropped for 119 people after cop caught on video planting drugs in innocent woman's vehicle | Wester is extremely nice to the woman, complimenting her, joking around, and making small talk. But in the back of his mind, he knew the entire time that he was going to plant meth on her and have her thrown in a cage-an insidious move indeed. the system began to go after A single cop framed dozens of innocent people and once a state attorney found the body camera footage from the arrests, the victims were vindicated.Dozens of innocent people who were rotting in jail have been freed and their charges erased after the corrupt cop who put them there was. Jackson County Sheriff's Deputy Zachary Wester has since been fired and a slew of lawsuits are now rolling in.Wester's fall from law enforcement grace and theare due largely in part to the diligence of a single person, assistant state attorney at the 14th Judicial Circuit, Christina Pumphrey.Pumphrey's job as assistant state attorney included reviewing evidence before moving forward with charges against individuals. When she began reviewing cases, she found something very peculiar."This is an exaggeration, but it felt like his (Wester's) name was on half the cases," Pumphrey told The Appeal. When Pumphrey began watching the body camera footage from Wester's arrests, she found something even more disturbing. Many times,. Also, his written affidavits did not match what she watched in the videos. But that wasn't the most telling aspect of all these videos.While it is no question that folks will claim that drugs found on them or in their possession "aren't their's" and "they don't know how that got there," nearly all of Wester's cases had this. The videos showed that people were utterly shocked when Wester claimed to have found drugs in their vehicles. While a single person may have been lying,Although she reviewed multiple videos, Pumphrey never saw the actual act of Wester planting drugs or otherwise hiding them. However, all that changed when Wester pulled over Teresa Odom in February of 2018.In that video, Wester pulls Odom over, claiming her tail lights aren't working. However, it would later be revealed that her tail lights were, in fact, working fine and Wester had targeted her to frame her.In the video,After threatening to have a K-9 come search her car, Wester tells Odom that she can avoid the K-9 if she just lets him search her truck himself - a huge mistake.As the body camera shows, Wester opens the door to Odom's truck and is cupping a small baggie with a white powder in it.Wester would plant the substance under a red towel in her truck and then pretend to find it later.After Pumphrey began to raise red flags in her department pointing out videos like Odom's, she saysAs The Appeal reports:Apparently, it wasn't just Wester who had an interest in locking up innocent people.Pumphrey said. "When it was ignorance it was one thing, but as soon as we know there are innocent people sitting in jail and we don't drop the charges, we're as guilty as he is."Although Wester was fired after Pumphrey exposed him,claiming they are still looking into it.Also, although these 119 people were vindicated, and a possible 30 more could be, they still face challenges from being framed."People still had consequences. It wasn't like this was just all erased," Pumphrey said. Dropped charges still remain on a person's criminal record. And "even though the charges got dropped. Or you've got people who have to spend money on supervision fees; they have to spend money paying for their own urine analysis test; they've done community service hours; they paid cost of bond - like $1,500. ... You're not getting back six months of your life. Or you're not getting back the job that you lost because you sat in jail for a week before your girlfriend could get the bond money."The next time someone tells you that obeying the law will keep you out of trouble with police, show them this article. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/415969-Charges-dropped-for-119-people-after-cop-caught-on-video-planting-drugs-in-innocent-womans-vehicle | 2019-07-01 14:19:40+00:00 | 1,562,005,180 | 1,567,537,440 | crime, law and justice | justice |
505,357 | sottnet--2019-08-28--Cops put a gun to innocent mans head over window tint stop | 2019-08-28T00:00:00 | sottnet | Cops put a gun to innocent man's head over window tint stop | If ever you think that all traffic laws are for your safety, one thing can change that view — window tint. In the land of the free, if police feel that your window tint is too dark, they will claim the right to extort money from you. If you resist this extortion, police will claim the right to kidnap or kill you. Unfortunately, in the land of the free, these instances happen so frequently that they are often caught on video too. As the following incident illustrates, fearful cops whose only tool is the escalation of violence, will not hesitate to resort to deadly force over a stop for window tint.A video was submitted to the Free Thought Project this week showingIn California, police officers who target people for extortion over window tint have the option of issuing those folks a fix-it ticket. These tickets give the owner of the vehicle a certain time frame in which to correct the supposed violation. Typically, you pay a smaller fee and then prove that you "fixed" the problem, like remove the window tint or fix a broken taillight.Ornelas' fix-it time frame had not yet expired and he was still within the law. This did not matter to these officers though, who just knew they had nabbed themselves a criminal.Police then told Ornelas that he had a missing front license plate, which Ornelas already had a fix it ticket for as well. They then told him they saw him recklessly driving. However, once again, Ornelas had his entire drive recorded on the same dash camera that was recording cops, proving he did no such thing.During the stop, multiple officers continued to press this innocent man until another officer on a power trip approached the car. At this point, Ornelas asked her if this was "Nazi Germany" as his harassment was not keeping anyone safe and akin to a "papers please" shakedown.This comment seemed to push the officer over the top. She then asked Ornelas if he had any weapons and in California, you are legally required to tell police where it is when they ask. Ornelas told officers that he had a legally registered gun in his trunk and all hell broke loose.The frightened cop then pulled out a gun and held it to Ornelas' head. Naturally, this frightened the innocent man, who likely thought he was about to be killed. Ornelas cooperated with every single one of the officers' command as he was dragged from the vehicle."This is exactly why I wanted a supervisor," Ornelas says as he's being handcuffed at gunpoint over window tint."Stop resisting," the female cop says when it is clearly evident from the video that no such resisting is happening.When Ornelas asked once more why they were detaining him, once more, the officer could not give him a straight answer and said, "when we pulled you over, you were acting nervous."Ornelas was issued several citations during this stop, all of which he fought in court. This stop happened in November of 2018, but Ornelas just went to court for it this month. And, because he filmed the entire interaction, he won. He beat all the charges, which is why he decided to release the video below.Below is a video showing how police extortion for window tint can and will lead to your life being threatened by those sworn to uphold the Constitution.The Free Thought Project reached out to the Sacramento police department for a statement on this incident and we have not yet received a response. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/419359-Cops-put-a-gun-to-innocent-mans-head-over-window-tint-stop | 2019-08-28 10:28:08+00:00 | 1,567,002,488 | 1,567,543,642 | crime, law and justice | justice |
561,665 | tass--2019-02-18--Kremlin on Baring Vostok founders arrest Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law | 2019-02-18T00:00:00 | tass | Kremlin on Baring Vostok founder’s arrest: Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law | MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. Founder of the Baring Vostok equity firm, Michael Calvey, who was detained on February 16 on suspicion of fraud, cannot be considered guilty on any charges until a court has handed down a verdict, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. "We know that law enforcement agencies have questions for Michael Calvey, and we know that the court decided to detain him. Right now, we can say that he cannot be considered guilty on any charges, because there was no legal trial and he can only be convicted by a court’s verdict," the spokesman emphasized. When asked if President Vladimir Putin discussed the case with anyone, in particular Russian businessmen, who said they were ready to vouch for Calvey, Peskov said: "No, this situation has nothing to do and should not have nothing to do with the agenda of the head of the state. This issue concerns the investigative agencies first and foremost. It may also partially concern the fiscal authorities since this is a really large investor in our economy." Peskov stayed muted on how the court’s decision regarding Calvey complies with Putin’s earlier statement that the authorities should choose alternative measures to arrest with regard to the businessmen under investigation. "I cannot comment on the court’s decision in any way," he stressed. According to him, the Kremlin did not know when the decision to detain Calvey was made, because this ruling "was made not inside the administration, but within special departments, and the president was informed about it according to the established procedure after reports in the media were published." On a similar note, Peskov stressed that it would be incorrect to compare Calvey’s case with the detention of Rauf Arashukov, a senator from Karachay- Cherkessia, who is facing charges of ordering two murders and organizing a criminal gang. The Kremlin official said that in Calvey’s case, the court is dealing with a foreign investor and a citizen of another country. ## Calvey’s arrest On February 16, Moscow’s Basmanny Court ruled to arrest the founder of Baring Vostok and co-owner of Vostochny Bank Michael Calvey for two months on suspicion of embezzling 2.5 bln rubles ($37.5 mln). That said, Calvey’s lawyers are going to challenge the ruling. Baring Vostok is one of the largest private equity firms focusing on Russia and the CIS with $3.7 bln in capital. Since 1994, the fund has poured more than $2.4 bln of investments into 70 projects in the areas of financial services, oil and gas, telecommunications and media, and into the consumer sector. Baring Vostok’s projects include CTC Media, Yandex, Avito, Ozon, ER-Telecom, 1C, and Novomet. | null | http://tass.com/economy/1045241 | 2019-02-18 14:20:06+00:00 | 1,550,517,606 | 1,567,548,126 | crime, law and justice | justice |
584,342 | theblaze--2019-07-29--Report said police in Arizona town would be pulling innocent people over for following traffic laws | 2019-07-29T00:00:00 | theblaze | Report said police in Arizona town would be pulling innocent people over for following traffic laws — and people were not happy | Report said police in Arizona town would be pulling innocent people over for following traffic laws — and people were not happy Police had to clarify after confusion about "Positive Ticketing Campaign." | Chris Pandolfo | https://www.theblaze.com/news/report-said-police-in-arizona-town-would-be-pulling-innocent-people-over-for-following-traffic-laws-and-people-were-not-happy | 2019-07-29 18:57:03+00:00 | 1,564,441,023 | 1,567,535,491 | crime, law and justice | justice |
586,060 | theblaze--2019-10-30--Police destroyed an innocent man's home pursuing a shoplifter — but the city won't pay any damages | 2019-10-30T00:00:00 | theblaze | Police destroyed an innocent man's home pursuing a shoplifter — but the city won't pay any damages | Police destroyed an innocent man's home pursuing a shoplifter — but the city won't pay any damages 'What happened to us should never happen' | Aaron Colen | https://www.theblaze.com/news/police-destroyed-a-mans-home-pursuing-a-shoplifter-but-the-city-wont-pay-any-damages | Wed, 30 Oct 2019 16:53:17 +0000 | 1,572,468,797 | 1,572,535,573 | crime, law and justice | justice |
622,008 | thedailymirror--2019-01-10--Payment giant PayPal is trying to make an innocent customer pay for the actions of online fraudsters | 2019-01-10T00:00:00 | thedailymirror | Payment giant PayPal is trying to make an innocent customer pay for the actions of online fraudsters | According to PayPal, it’s doing the decent thing by refunding a customer who was the victim of an online fraud. Trouble is, it’s doing this by trying to claw back money from another innocent victim of the same fraud. The nightmare for Rosie Pritchard began with what appeared to be a Facebook message from a family friend asking for a favour: “I sold some things online and my account is currently limited. Can you receive a payment, withdraw it and then bank transfer to me?” Rosie kindly agreed to help and £420 then appeared in her PayPal account, paid by someone called Nigel Stokes, and Rosie transferred it as requested. Unfortunately, she sent it to crooks who had compromised the friend’s Facebook page as well as the PayPal account of Nigel Stokes. When Nigel realised that the money had been stolen from his account, he complained to PayPal, who refunded him. Then the payment giant debited the money from Rosie’s account and, because her balance was zero, that left her £420 in the red. “I’m a single mum who simply doesn’t have this sort of money and I now face having to pay for the crimes of a scammer and PayPal’s insecure payment system,” said Rosie, from Leatherhead in Surrey. PayPal told Rosie, “You used those funds”, which seems to be unreasonably implying that she got some sort of benefit from this fraud. When she refused to repay the money, it emailed her: “This is an urgent matter that requires your immediate attention to ensure continued availability of your PayPal account to avoid additional collection efforts.” Sure enough, it put debt collectors Wescot Credit Services on to her. PayPal confirmed to me that it had refunded Mr Stokes “after a thorough investigation”, but blamed Rosie for “removing the money from the PayPal network” when she inadvertently forwarded it to crooks. It insisted: “We are working with Ms Pritchard to find a way of helping her manage this debt” – missing the point that Rosie does not believe it is her debt at all. I tried explaining to PayPal that she received the money in good faith and no longer has it, thanks to the actions of scammers, and is only in this position because Mr Stokes’ account had somehow been compromised. “Should she carry full, or even any, responsibility for what has happened?” I asked. PayPal responded by still blaming Rosie, saying: “We go to great lengths to protect our customers, but there are still some basic precautions we should all take to avoid scams.” I persisted, in a series of emails with PayPal, telling them: “This happened because of a compromised account. Shouldn’t PayPal take responsibility for this?” They wouldn’t budge, saying: “We have taken responsibility for that unauthorised payment by returning the funds to the sender. “While Ms Pritchard was not responsible for receiving the unauthorised payment, she is responsible for sending the money to (presumably) the fraudster’s bank account.” Strangely, Rosie has received a letter from the debt collectors saying they are no longer chasing the money, but she’s had no further word from PayPal. Last summer, the Financial Ombudsman Service said that banks too often claimed that frauds were the fault of customers. “The evolution of criminals’ methods, in particular, sophisticated use of technology and manipulative ‘social engineering’, means it’s an increasingly difficult case to make,” said Caroline Wayman, chief ombudsman. Maybe that should apply to payment facilities like PayPal as well as banks. | Andrew Penman | https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/payment-giant-paypal-trying-make-13835175 | 2019-01-10 07:13:30+00:00 | 1,547,122,410 | 1,567,553,129 | crime, law and justice | justice |
634,536 | thedailymirror--2019-06-19--Woman falsely accused innocent cabbie of rape after she lost phone on night out | 2019-06-19T00:00:00 | thedailymirror | Woman 'falsely accused innocent cabbie of rape after she lost phone on night out' | A young woman falsely accused an innocent taxi driver of rape after she lost her mobile phone and became separated from her friends during a drunken night out, a court heard today. Laura Hood, 27, wrongly told police the driver had stopped his cab at the side of the road and sexually assaulted her in the back seat whilst he was giving her a lift home at the end of the evening, it was said. Detectives investigated Hood's claims during which they arrested Haroon Yousaf and also the driver of a different taxi with a similar number plate. Mr Yousaf, 29, who was detained in front of colleagues at a cab rank spent a total 20 hours in custody and had to give intimate samples before he was released without charge and exonerated of any wrongdoing. It was claimed police suspected he had been falsely accused when he gave details of a tracking device linked to the black cab which showed the vehicle had been driven straight to Hood's home in Stockport, Greater Manchester without stopping. There was also no evidence of physical contact between them. The other suspect was also cleared of any wrongdoing and Hood was subsequently charged with faking her account. Details emerged at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, as she denied perverting the course of justice. "If it were not for that tracker data Mr Yousaf may have found himself on trial for rape because the defendant made up a story about him," said Geoff Whelan prosecuting. "Perhaps only the defendant knows why she would fabricate such an allegation, but make it up she did. A false allegation is a very serious matter. "She accepts that she was in Mr Yousaf's taxi and she accepts that he drove her home. She further accepts that Mr Yousaf did not rape her - but says, somehow that she honestly believed she was raped whilst in that taxi." The incident occurred on January 7 2017 after Hood, from Stockport had been out with friends at Revolution bar at the Deansgate Locks complex in Manchester city centre. Mr Yousaf had just dropped off a fare when Hood got into his vehicle at 1.10am and asked to be taken home. Mr Whelan added: "She appeared to be drunk as she did so and said she just wanted to go home as she had lost her friends and her mobile phone. She said she had £20 and asked how much it was going to be. Mr Yousaf gave her an estimate of about £25 and she asked to be taken to a bank. "Mr Yousaf drove her to a Tesco Express where CCTV footage showed the taxi stopping there at 1.22am with the defendant getting out to use the cash machine. "By 1.23am the taxi was driving off again and Mr Yousaf followed the directions on his satnav and took her straight home and reached the destination. "The fare was around £26, and the defendant gave him £30 and said "keep the change" and paid the money through the slot in the middle of all black cab taxis. "Mr Yousaf then thanked her then turned around and drove back to town. That 26 minute journey was in all respects entirely unremarkable. "But at 1.40 when the defendant got home, it seems she was quite noisy and her mother asking if she was ok. The defendant then went upstairs to her mother and stepfather's bedroom where she was sobbing uncontrollably as she came into the room. "Her mother asked her what was wrong and she had lost her phone. She was crying, shaking and unable to breathe and then said that she had been raped. "Her stepfather phoned the police and the defendant said she had lost her phone in Revolution and had started to panic and asked a taxi driver take her to Stockport. "She said that they were going down the road and thought it was strange because he turned left when they live on the right. "She said that he stopped and the driver got in the back of the cab, grabbed her and pulled her knickers down. "Her mother asked her why she didn't fight back and the defendant said that she was scared and that she thought that it would get worse if she tried to fight back. "She said that he dropped her off at the end of the road and that he wouldn't drop her off outside the house. The defendant was hysterical as she was speaking to her mother." During her account, Hood claimed her assailant was an Asian male, aged about 58 with a thin face, no beard and no facial hair and claimed she was attacked about five minutes after stopping at the cash point. She said that she was convinced the taxi driver was wearing a condom and said he charged her £30 for the fare. A specially trained officer attended the family home where Hood was found to be "extremely distraught" and hiding under her bedding, the court heard. She was said to be "crying loudly and was reluctant to engage." In a statement to police Hood said: "I was out with my friends in Manchester, I lost my phone, I saw people getting out of a taxi I went over to it asked how much to Stockport. "He indicated left and I knew he was going the wrong way. He pulled up, got in the back of the taxi and I was scared - he put on a condom and pulled my knickers down to my knees kissing me all over. His hands were all over me - he then tried to have sex with me it was hurting. I didn't say anything, I was so scared, I couldn't fight him off, I just wanted it to end. "When he finished he just got off me and drove me back to the top of my road. He was pulling me towards him as he was having sex with me." Police tracked down Mr Yousaf and arrested him at a cab rank at Piccadilly railway station after checking the CCTV at the Tesco Express cashpoint. Mr Whelan added: "He was interviewed and was able to give a full account of his actions. He said he didn't take any detours, he didn't stop off on any side streets and he dropped her where she asked him to on her road. He denied any sexual contact with the defendant. "He then disclosed something that would turn out to be both very important in the course of the investigation and extremely fortunate for Mr Yousaf. His taxi was fitted with a tracker device that very precisely records the movements of the vehicle. "The investigating officer spoke to the Tracker company which holds all the data for the tracker and they confirmed that the data cannot be changed by the user, and they provided the same data. "They were able to add that if the taxi had turned off at any 90 degree angle it would have recorded it on the tracker." "Mr Yousaf was released from custody at 5:32pm on 09/01/17 having spent nearly 20 hours in detention. His taxi had been forensically recovered, he was given bail to return two days later and was given a condition not to drive any taxi. "Intimate samples were also taken from him and he suffered the indignity of being arrested in a public place in front of his colleagues. Fortunately the tracker data meant the police took no further action against Mr Yousaf." Detectives subsequently tried to interview Hood but at home she initially stayed in her bedroom and did not come downstairs. When she eventually agreed to speak to officers there was said to be 'little or no eye contact' and she appeared 'withdrawn.' When confronted with the evidence of the tracker and the fact Mr Yousaf did not match the description of the suspect, she maintained she had been raped. However, she accepts she wasn't raped by Yousaf. | [email protected] (Neil Murphy) | https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-falsely-accused-innocent-cabbie-16543817 | 2019-06-19 21:01:36+00:00 | 1,560,992,496 | 1,567,538,748 | crime, law and justice | justice |
635,548 | thedailymirror--2019-06-30--Evidence which proves labourer hanged for murder 81 years ago was innocent | 2019-06-30T00:00:00 | thedailymirror | Evidence which 'proves' labourer hanged for murder 81 years ago was innocent | It was 54 years ago that the death penalty was abolished in Britain, after public opinion turned against the ultimate form of punishment, fearing that innocent people were being sent to the gallows. Among the cases which swung feelings was that of Derek Bentley, who was hanged for the murder of a policeman - but won a posthumous pardon in 1998, 45 years after he was hanged in 1953. But there could now be another case to be added to the list of Brits who were executed for crimes they didn't commit. On May 26, 1938, Robert Hoolhouse was hanged on the scaffold in Durham after being found guilty of the rape and murder of a farmer’s wife. The labourer, who had just turned 21, died protesting his innocence right up until his last breath. Now, however, historians who have reexamined his case have concluded that Robert’s conviction was just as dubious as others who faced the hangman’s noose and were later declared innocent. And many now believe his death was yet another miscarriage of justice which proves that the death penalty should never be allowed to return in the UK. It was on January 18, 1938 that the village of Wolviston, Stockton-on-Tees, was shocked by the discovery of the body of Margaret Dobson, on a cart track leading to her home at High Grange Farm. The 67-year-old wife of farmer Henry had been raped and then “severely battered” before being stabbed twice - once in the chest and once in the neck. The murder gripped the community, with women so scared of the vicious murdered they would not leave their homes alone and children were kept indoors. Mr Dobson had last seen her wife and mother of their three children earlier that day when they had shared a tea of beef sandwiches at around 3pm. She then left the house to visit her sister in Hartlepool, walking along the cart track through field to the main road to catch her bus. She was known to wear old boots on the muddy track and then change into a smarter pair of shoes before boarding. But on this day Mrs Dobson never made it to the main road. When she hadn’t returned that evening, Mr Dobson waited at the bus stop until the final bus had passed by at 11pm, then walked home and had a sleepless night. The next morning he found his wife’s body dumped in one of his fields. The North Eastern Gazette reported: "In the morning the animals had to be fed and work had to be done," reported the North Eastern Gazette. "He started his work at about 5am. Somewhere between 7am and 8am men arrived to thrash his corn. "At about 10am, after completing his work, he set out to make inquiries. "He took a short cut to Wolviston through some fields. Something prompted him to look back. "He saw something on the ground he could not understand and found the body of his wife lying on her back with head towards the farm and her feet toward the main road." An autopsy found that the mum-of-three died within an hour and a half of eating her tea. As police swarmed into Wolviston and the brutal murder made newspaper front pages, Durham County Constabulary released a statement saying they wanted to speak to a man aged around 30 with the appearance of a farm worker and had been seen on a bike in the area. The next day 20-year-old Robert William Hoolhouse was arrested and charged with Mrs Dobson’s murder. The police had based their belief that he was the murderer on an incident that had happened three years earlier, when the Hoolhouse family had been working on the Dobsons’ farm and lived in a cottage on the land. But following an argument Mr Dobson sacked them and thew them off the land, warning them never to return. At the time of his arrest, police also noted marks on Robert’s face which he blamed on “a spill he had with his bicycle”, while he blamed blood on the cuffs of his shirt on a shaving cut. His trial later heard that the scratches could have be caused as Mrs Dobson tried to defend herself. Police also claimed the timings of Robert’s alibis on the day the farmer’s wife died didn’t tally with the statements given by people he said he had been with. However, other evidence and the statements of other witnesses which later emerged throw more than a little doubt on his guilt. One, Margaret Barker, said she had travelled on the same bus as Robert had taken to go to the pictures at 6pm on January 18, which would have been after Mrs Dobson had been murdered. But she said she hadn’t noticed any scratches to his face. Perhaps even more importantly, when Margaret had been found she was still wearing heavy wooden gloves. The police had experimented with these gloves, trying to cause similar scratches on a volunteer's face. A secretary with long nails was unable to inflict the slightest wound. The other witness was Doris Teale, who lived next to the Hoolhouses, and said she had seen Robert standing outside his house at the time he was supposed to be murdering Mrs Dobson. Even more conclusive was the footprint evidence. Henry Dobson had stepped around the body and his prints were clearly seen. Other prints, presumably from the killer, were underneath Henry's. Plaster casts of those prints had been made, but they did not match any of Robert’s footwear. And the description of a man seen at the farm at around 5pm on the night of the murder was also at odds with the young labourer’s appearance and the clothes he had been wearing that day. Finally, there was the fact that no semen stains were found on Robert’s clothing, despite extensive stains being found on Margaret’s. Despite the cast contradictory evidence, though, police were convinced they had the right man. At his trial at Leeds Assizes Court, prosecutor Mr Paley-Scott KC described the brutality of the crime. He said: "You will hear that whoever it was who had attacked her had battered with his fists into insensibility or, at any rate, into a state in which she, a woman 67 years of age, was no longer able to resist and had then ravished her and, one would suppose, had then decided to kill the only witness of his deed." Robert was found guilty by a jury after four hours and sentenced to death. Following the conviction an appeal was launched back with a petition of 14,000 signatures, but the last-ditch attempt to save him was rejected. Protesting his innocent to the end, Robert was hanged at Durham by famous executioner Thomas Pierrepoint. Years later, his father reportedly made a deathbed confession that it was he who was responsible for Mrs Dobson’s murder. But he was not seen around the murder scene and it was thought he was making an attempt to posthumously clear his son. | [email protected] (Matt Roper) | https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/evidence-proves-labourer-hanged-murder-16461838 | 2019-06-30 09:00:00+00:00 | 1,561,899,600 | 1,567,537,496 | crime, law and justice | justice |
643,333 | thedailyrecord--2019-01-24--Alex Salmond says he is innocent of any criminality after appearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court | 2019-01-24T00:00:00 | thedailyrecord | Alex Salmond says he is 'innocent of any criminality' after appearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court | Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has said he is "innocent of any criminality" and that he will "defend himself to the utmost in court" after appearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. He was appearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today after being arrested. No further details of the charge against the 64-year-old have yet been released. He arrived at Edinburgh Sheriff Court just before 2pm and made a short statement after the brief hearing. In it, he said: "Now that these proceedings are live it is even more important to respect the court and therefore the only thing I can say is I refute absolutely these allegations of criminality and I will defend myself to the utmost in court." Salmond was arrested on Wednesday after attending a police station in central Scotland. A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that a 64-year-old man has been arrested and charged, and a report will be sent to the procurator fiscal. "Proceedings are now live under the contempt of court act." Salmond, from Linlithgow, West Lothian, was Scotland's first minister from 2007 to 2014. He resigned his membership of the SNP in August 2018. | Hilary Duncanson | https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/alex-salmond-says-innocent-any-13901968 | 2019-01-24 14:55:19+00:00 | 1,548,359,719 | 1,567,551,056 | crime, law and justice | justice |
651,144 | thedailyrecord--2019-07-30--Innocent Glasgow man ordered to drop boxers and lift testicles as blunder cops raid wrong house | 2019-07-30T00:00:00 | thedailyrecord | Innocent Glasgow man ordered to 'drop boxers and lift testicles' as blunder cops raid wrong house | A family say police raided their home with a drugs warrant and even ordered their son to strip to his underwear - before they realised they were on the wrong street. The Gracey family were all staying at grandfather Joe's home after a party the day before to celebrate his granddaughter Ellie's 11th birthday. But they were left baffled when 10 cops barged into the home, looking for people suspected of drug offences , they said. Son Anthony, 23, was in bed when he claims officers told him to take off his boxers as part of the raid - before the entire family of six were gathered in the living room of their Glasgow home. Joe, 60, said he told police to check paperwork "six times" and it was only when they called his ex wife Jacqueline, 56, by the wrong name, they realised their mistake, he said. He said they were at the correct house number - but on the wrong street. Grandfather-of-one Joe, lodged an official complaint with Police Scotland following the mix up, and the force said it is investigating. Distraught retail worker, Anthony, said: "I was fast asleep and they woke me up. "They came upstairs and into my room. One of them said 'drop your boxers'. "I said 'are you being serious' but they made me do it. I felt guilty but I hadn't done anything wrong. "They made me lift up my testicles. I didn't know what to think. I've never done anything wrong in my life. "I said I was innocent but they said they'd arrest me if I didn't shut up. "It was really embarrassing." Police officers burst into Joe's home, in Easterhouse, Glasgow, at around 8.15am on July 15. His granddaughter Ellie, 11, his sons, Anthony and Andrew, 32, and a friend, were all asleep, having celebrated the schoolgirl and ex-wife Jacqueline's birthday the day before. Jacqueline came downstairs and noticed lots of police outside, so she opened the door and around 10 officers barged past her to get inside, he said. "Ellie was fast asleep on the sofa and Anthony and Andrew were asleep upstairs," said Joe, who has a heart condition and has had two strokes. "They said 'we have a drugs warrant' and wanted to search the house. "Some of them went upstairs into the bedrooms everyone was woken up. "Anthony was asked to take off his boxer shorts. "I told them it must have been a mistake six or seven times but they didn't listen to me. I have never had anything to do with the police. "But they just said 'we don't make mistakes'." Father-of-three Joe said police threatened to arrest Anthony while he argued he was innocent. He said he has never had any dealings with police and pleaded with officers himself too. Joe claims the whole family were made to gather in the living room, and after 15 minutes of "sheer panic" the penny dropped when one of the officers called Jacqueline by the wrong name. He found a letter with his name and address on, and police realised their "stupid" mistake. Joe said: "I proved they had the wrong place with the letter. "One of them said 'right, let's go', and they left, just like that, without an apology or anything. "They all walked out and went to the right address. "My granddaughter was terrified. She was inconsolable and doesn't want to come back to this house now." Joe said a neighbour saw police enter the same house number as him on a nearby street, moments later. A spokesperson for the force says officers were tasked with searching a property in relation to suspected drug offences. A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Police Scotland has received a complaint after officers attended the wrong address whilst executing a search warrant in the Easterhouse area of Glasgow. "Enquiries are ongoing and we are unable to comment further." | [email protected] (Jack Longstaff) | https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/innocent-glasgow-man-ordered-drop-18801028 | 2019-07-30 16:20:38+00:00 | 1,564,518,038 | 1,567,535,355 | crime, law and justice | justice |
656,109 | thedcclothesline--2019-02-22--Prosecutors Reviewing 1400 Cases Tied to Houston Cop Whose Lies Got Innocent Couple Murdered | 2019-02-22T00:00:00 | thedcclothesline | Prosecutors Reviewing 1,400 Cases Tied to Houston Cop Whose Lies Got Innocent Couple Murdered | Houston, TX — Despite their best intentions of sweeping the deaths of Dennis and Rhogena Tuttle under the rug, the Houston police department is currently under the microscope of the nation. Now, in yet another major move, the FBI is stepping in as well as Houston-area prosecutors, who will examine 1,400 other cases which are linked to the cop who fabricated evidence to spark the raid on this innocent couple—in which they were murdered in their own home by police. One thing is nearly certain, and if this cop was willing to fabricate information to raid the home of an innocent couple who have lived in the same home for decades and were adored by all their neighbors—he’s likely done this before. So, prosecutors are stepping in and have their work cut out as HPD narcotics Officer Gerald Goines has been involved in more than 1,400 cases throughout his decades-long career of kicking in doors to find illegal substances. NBC News reports that the FBI also said it has opened an independent civil rights investigation into Jan. 28 raid that left a man and a woman who lived at the home dead and several police officers shot and injured. The agency’s Houston office said the investigation is “into allegations that a search warrant obtained by Houston police officers was based on false, fabricated information.” As TFTP reported over the weekend, after controversy and rumors have swarmed the case, the Houston police department has admitted that the entire raid was most likely based on the lies of one of their own. “That’s totally unacceptable. I’ve told my police department that if you lie, you die,” Acevedo said Friday. “When you lie on an affidavit, that’s not sloppy police work, that’s a crime.” When speaking of these crimes on Monday, Acevedo noted that the officer responsible for lying about this raid will likely be charged. As to what those charges are, however, we are still unclear. Despite the fact that the officer has yet to be charged, the city’s proactive response to his deadly lies has been surprisingly swift. “Our duty is to see that justice is done in every case,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. “Although the criminal investigation of Officer Goines is ongoing, we have an immediate ethical obligation to notify defendants and their lawyers in Goines’ other cases to give them an opportunity to independently review any potential defenses.” What’s more, as TFTP reported Wednesday, the Houston police department is claiming they are taking steps to prevent future scenarios like this from happening—by ceasing the use of no-knock raids. “The no-knock warrants are going to go away like leaded gasoline in this city,” Chief Art Acevedo said during a heated town hall meeting. “I’m 99.9 percent sure we won’t be using them,” he continued. “If for some reason there would be a specific case, that would come from my office.” With news of the 1,400 cases now being reviewed, others who say they have been unjustly charged are coming forward. The family of a man arrested in one of the more than two dozen active cases currently tied to Goines is speaking out and has released a video of his arrest. Exclusive video obtained by ABC13 Eyewitness News shows Goines’ arrest of Andrew Hebert last July. ABC13 reports that Cheryl watched as her brother was arrested in front of the family home on Panay. Houston police said he led them on a chase, which he disputes. He followed their commands and surrendered. Cheryl then watched as Goines’ narcotics unit searched her brother’s car. “They didn’t find anything inside his car,” she added. Despite Cheryl noting that police didn’t find anything, Hebert was charged with two counts of possessing 200-400 grams of cocaine. In light of the recent revelations, Hebert was just granted bail after being denied bond. Another family came forward with even more damning information, claiming that Goines had a fit of road rage and killed a man. Reginald Dorsey was fatally wounded in September 1997. What was first reported as a drug bust that turned violent, ended up being a case of road rage on the Southwest Freeway, according to ABC13. Goines claimed Dorsey cut him off on the freeway and opened fire, leaving the officer no other option but to fire back. This was a claim the victim’s family denies and said Dorsey just defended himself from a plainclothes man who attacked him. “We knew from the beginning it was a lie,” the victim’s sister, Rhonda Dorsey Williams said. “He murdered my brother. He murdered my brother.” “You need to pay,” Williams said. “He needs to pay.” “The concern, of course, is if it’s true, how much smoke is there and how much fire is there in his other cases? Is this just a one-off incident if he, in fact, lied or has been doing this in other cases, and that’s a grave concern to us as defense attorneys and our clients,” said Neal Davis, the vice president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. Eroding away the notion of this being a one-off incident is the fact that the officer had heroin in his car that fateful day. Was he using this to frame people? Was it for personal consumption? Hopefully, as the investigation continues, the answers to these questions and others will come out. Below is the video from ABC 13 of this former arrest: | Matt Agorist | https://www.dcclothesline.com/2019/02/22/prosecutors-reviewing-1400-cases-tied-to-houston-cop-whose-lies-got-innocent-couple-murdered/ | 2019-02-22 14:23:12+00:00 | 1,550,863,392 | 1,567,547,725 | crime, law and justice | justice |
657,322 | thedcclothesline--2019-08-18--New Jersey Innocent Father and Daughter Held at Gunpoint on Knees as Cops Shot Their Dogs Lawsuit | 2019-08-18T00:00:00 | thedcclothesline | New Jersey: Innocent Father and Daughter Held at Gunpoint on Knees as Cops Shot Their Dogs — Lawsuit! | Tinton Falls, NJ — Roberton Fullerton and his daughter Bobbi Rene Fullerton had committed no crime, had harmed no one, and were in their own home when police officers came to the door, ordered them to their knees at gunpoint and shot their two dogs. While apologists continue to claim “if you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about,” this case — like so many others before it — proves them entirely wrong. Now the taxpayers of Tinton Falls will be held liable for the officers’ actions in the form of a lawsuit. The Fullertons are now suing the Borough of Tinton Falls, Police Officer Adrian Reyes, several officers referred to only as “John Does,” and Police Chief John Scrivanic in federal court for an amount “yet to be determined.” for the disturbing abuse doled out by the officers. On Tuesday, the lawsuit was scheduled for pretrial. “They were victims of excessive force. They were held at gunpoint by this officer (Reyes). They were scared out of their minds. The whole thing was very traumatic,” the Fullerton’s attorney Thomas J. Mallon told the Asbury Park Press. According to the lawsuit, the incident unfolded on Oct. 8, 2017. Robert and Bobbi were having a verbal argument at their home that night when someone overheard them and called 911. Police were then dispatched to the residence. There was no physical assault, and before any officers arrived, Robert Fullerton received a phone call from “longtime friend,” Tinton Falls Police Officer Lt. Kyle Pearson, the lawsuit states. Pearson confirmed everything was okay and that Robert had simply been arguing with his daughter. Officer Pearson, according to the lawsuit, then attempted to notify the responding officers that “no assault had occurred.” However, he was too late. As the Asbury Park Press reports, notwithstanding, the police went to Fullerton’s home and knocked on the door. Robert Fullerton opened the door and stepped outside. Sadie, one of the plaintiffs’ German shepherds, brushed passed Fullerton, walked onto the driveway “and was immediately shot three times,” by Reyes, or one of the John Doe officers, the lawsuit said. Reyes then “ordered Fullerton at gunpoint, with the gun pointed at his face, to get on the ground,” according to the lawsuit. While on his knees, Robert watched as police then ordered his daughter to her knees as their dog Hannah followed her outside. Police then opened fire on Hannah, shooting the German Shepherd twice. According to the report, Sadie died from the gunshots while Hannah was taken to a veterinary hospital. The Fullertons claim they incurred over $7,000 in veterinary expenses. After watching the officers shoot their dogs all the while having guns pointed at their heads, neither of the Fullertons were charged with any crime and the officers left. Imagine for a moment that non-police officers had gone to the Fullerton’s home, held them at gunpoint on their knees and shot their dogs. This story would be on the front page of newspapers across the country and may even be the subject of a feature film. However, because the assailants were police officers, there will be very little media coverage and they will face zero accountability. And, as the video below illustrates, this is all done by design. Luckily for the Fullertons, when the police officers shot their dogs, neither of them were shot in the process. Others cannot say the same. As TFTP reported earlier this month, in Texas, police were conducting a welfare check on a sleeping woman who was reportedly napping in a grassy area near Canton Drive and North Collins Street in Arlington. Instead of receiving help, however, this sleeping woman received a fatal bullet. According to police, as the officer approached the sleeping woman lying in the grass, he saw a stray dog. The officer claims to have called out to the woman when all of the sudden, the dog started charging him, so he fired his weapon several times. The officer missed the dog, but hit the woman instead. She did not survive. | Matt Agorist | https://www.dcclothesline.com/2019/08/18/new-jersey-innocent-father-and-daughter-held-at-gunpoint-on-knees-as-cops-shot-their-dogs-lawsuit/ | 2019-08-18 16:10:07+00:00 | 1,566,159,007 | 1,567,534,072 | crime, law and justice | justice |
657,928 | thedcclothesline--2019-11-01--Colorado: SWAT Team Blows Up Innocent Man’s Home in Search of Clothing Shoplifter—Deal With It, Says | 2019-11-01T00:00:00 | thedcclothesline | Colorado: SWAT Team Blows Up Innocent Man’s Home in Search of Clothing Shoplifter—Deal With It, Says Court | Greenwood Village, CO – A Federal Appeals court has granted police new powers for which they will not be held accountable. They can now completely destroy your home and they will not have to pay for it. That’s what happened to Leo Lech’s home in 2015 after a shoplifter — accused of stealing a shirt — illegally entered his home, forcing Greenwood Village SWAT to go room by room ransacking the place with explosives. The 19-hour standoff ended with the suspect being taken into custody, but not before the home, as TFTP previously reported, was destroyed. The place looked like it was hit with a bulldozer. None of the windows were intact, and the doors were blown off their hinges. The Lech family’s possessions were completely destroyed, left in tatters after the SWAT team showed no concern for the home nor its belongings. According to the DailyMail: Initially, the Lech family was offered $5,000 in housing assistance and insurance deductible compensation, a far cry from what it would take to simply raze the home, let alone rebuild it. Leo Lech sued the city, but the court ruled what happened to the home did not amount to eminent domain and was simply a result of a police matter. Therefore, the city was under no obligation to condemn the home nor rebuild it. In other words, apart from the $5000, Lech was getting nothing else. Lech commented in 2015: In 2017, after being offered the $5,000, Lech had this to say. Lech appealed the decision to a higher court but on Wednesday was denied, yet again. He says he’s now going to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States and he has a lot more to say about how police upended his life and the lives of his other family members. Leo Lech was renting the destroyed home to his son John, his girlfriend, and their son. Far from being a tenant in a rental home, when police destroyed all of John’s possessions along with his dwelling, he says he was forced to live with his parents, find another job, and force his son to attend another school. The chaos which ensued from the SWAT melee which included an estimated 50 officers, truly caused the family an enormous amount of discomfort the family says. And, rightfully so, they are upset, to say the least. On Tuesday, Lech told the Washington Post: It’s true America. We don’t know whether to categorize it as the effects of a Police State or Judicial Tyranny, but one man’s quest to get his home rebuilt by the very police department which completely destroyed it with grenades, explosives, gas canisters, battering rams, and an armored personnel carrier (typically used by the military), ended in defeat. In the land of the free, the cops can now destroy your home completely and you’ll be left to pick up the pieces. Hopefully, Lech and his lawyers will appeal to the SCOTUS and the dangerous precedent will be overturned. • Michigan: Mother and Children Left Homeless After Police Destroy House Looking for Non-Existent Suspect | Jack Burns | https://www.dcclothesline.com/2019/11/01/colorado-swat-team-blows-up-innocent-mans-home-in-search-of-clothing-shoplifter-deal-with-it-says-court/ | Fri, 01 Nov 2019 15:54:28 +0000 | 1,572,638,068 | 1,572,646,411 | crime, law and justice | justice |
658,089 | thedcclothesline--2019-11-18--The rule of law has collapsed in America, a nation where the guilty go free while the innocent are p | 2019-11-18T00:00:00 | thedcclothesline | The rule of law has collapsed in America, a nation where the guilty go free while the innocent are persecuted and silenced | (Natural News) As of November 15, 2019, the rule of law no longer exists in the United States of America. This has become abundantly apparent with the rigged jury decision to incarcerate Roger Stone for the “process crime” of misstating memories during interrogations with federal agents. In an era where Hillary Clinton is openly allowed by the director of the FBI (treasonous criminal James Comey) to destroy evidence, obstruct justice and get away with high-level crimes because “she didn’t mean to” violate the law, Roger Stone is about to be sentenced to what will essentially be life in prison (he’s 67 years old). In an era when former president Barack Obama illegally laundered billions of dollars through international banks in order to fly actual pallets of cash to Iran to fund their nuclear weapons program, Julian Assange rots in custody, denied his freedom, his health and his sanity for over a decade, all as punishment for daring to expose the dark secrets of the military industrial complex. The jury against Roger Stone was rigged with over 90% of the people in the jury pool found to be supporters of Hillary Clinton. The malicious fake news media smeared Stone for years, installing intense hatred in the minds of the jurists and cementing the outcome of the “trial,” if it can even be called that. take our poll - story continues below Meanwhile, Adam Schiff (Loonbag-CA) holds secret trials with secret transcripts in secret dungeons, coaching witnesses to say what he wants them to say while editing secret transcripts to make those witnesses appear to say things they never said. The treasonous media runs with every lie Schiff hands them, having long abandoned any last shred of journalistic integrity or basic human decency. The rule of law has collapsed in America, and no one is safe from the hate-filled left-wing mob that now openly seeks to criminalize all political opposition. If you oppose the Democrat mob, you will be targeted and destroyed If you oppose the Democrats, you will eventually be targeted by the IRS (Lois Lerner, anyone?), arrested by the Feds in a midnight raid that’s coordinated with CNN (a la Roger Stone), de-platformed from all the major tech platforms, smeared on Wikipedia with an onslaught of fabricated lies, demonized by the fake news media with coordinated hit pieces (as the NYT just did with John Solomon) and harassed in public by violent, drooling left-wing mobs that are triggered into rage by the very sight of the American flag or a MAGA hat. The juries in left-wing cities will never find a violent Leftist guilty, nor a conservative patriot innocent. A jury in San Francisco, for example, set an illegal alien free after he shot and killed an American woman in an obvious case of manslaughter, if not homicide. But he was set free because San Francisco is a “sanctuary” city, which means the people who run that collapsing sh#thole of feces and filth have decided to ignore the laws they don’t like. And this is how things are now progressing — if you can call it that — all across the country, where the rule of law is abandoned at will, replaced by a raging, anti-American, anti-Trump, anti-freedom tyranny of the left-wing majority mob. The left-wing dedication to authoritarianism and tyranny is now so complete that all the tech giants recently conspired to memory hole the name of the deep state spy “whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella. Even uttering that name will get you banned on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Indeed, stating a name now gets you banned from the public square for the simple reason that the deep state has ordered the tech giants to eliminate that name from public discourse. Similarly, the tech giants have now banned a Republican candidate for congress simply for being a Republican. Under the tyrannical thumb of Jack Dorsey, an un-indicted criminal guilty of treason against America for rigging elections, Twitter is now banning people for merely tweeting, “I hired Donald Trump to fire people like Yovanovitch,” referring to the lying former ambassador of Ukraine, who is whining about being fired after wasting taxpayer money by doing a lousy job as ambassador. The effort to criminalize Trump’s foreign policy, you see, is really just a symptom of a much larger effort being pursued by the lawless, deranged, lunatic Left: The complete criminalization of “disobedience” to the left-wing agenda. The real goal is the criminalization of conservatism Try standing up at your local city council meeting and declaring, “There are only two genders,” and you’ll get a taste of the level of outright lunacy, violence and authoritarianism that has now infected the minds of the American people (including those who call themselves “conservatives” but have surrendered to the insanity of the Left in order to try to sue for peace). The real goal of the authoritarian Left is to criminalize conservativism, Christianity and disobedience against every left-wing agenda, including their desire to pump your children full of chemical castration drugs in the name of “transgenderism” justice — just the latest mental illness to sweep through the ranks of deranged Leftists whose cognitive function now resembles that of zombies. The attacks on Trump, Roger Stone, Alex Jones, John Solomon, Sean Hannity and other prominent independent analysts were never about the real rule of law… it has always been about criminalizing opposition and using the twisted “injustice” system to incarcerate anyone who stands in the way of the lawless left-wing mob and its criminal mafia mob bosses like Hillary Clinton. Now, because of the collapse of the rule of law in America, here’s where we find ourselves: • There is now no point in surrendering to any federal agent in any circumstance, since there is zero possibility of experiencing a fair trial. Everything will be rigged against you: The evidence, the judge, the witnesses, the jury and the media. You will be gagged, denied your right to defend yourself and denied the right to say “you didn’t mean to” like Hillary Clinton got away with. • Federal law enforcement is hopelessly corrupt, with the FBI now running political smear operations and staging nearly all the domestic terrorism plots in America. The FBI, under people like Mueller and Comey, has not only been involved in covering up the truths about 9/11, Oklahoma City, the assassination of Dr. MLK, Jr., the Waco raids and the 1993 attempted bombing of the Twin Towers; it actually turns out the FBI ran those operations. (See FBIcorruption.news.) • Federal judges have zero loyalty to the rule of law and absolute loyalty to the deep state. They have abandoned any last shred of even the pretense of following the Constitution and now exploit their positions of power to shore up the power of the deep state while destroying all those who threaten it. • There is no expectation of safety for a law-abiding citizen, since any person can be targeted by the left-wing mob (a la Adam Schiff, the left-wing media, the tech giants, deep state agents, etc.) and then silenced, assassinated, indicted, audited or otherwise destroyed by any combination of establishment weapons against dissent. • Elections are now hopelessly rigged, with Democrats controlling nearly every election outcome through a combination of illegals voting (14 states give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens now), ballot harvesting and vote stuffing by using cyber warfare techniques to make sure all the people who previously left a particular state magically vote for Democrats. This is how Kentucky’s recent election was rigged. • Democrats are now openly calling for acts of violence and street warfare against not just conservative candidates but their financial supporters. Recently, a Democrat in Texas doxxed Trump donors, releasing their names and home addresses to the public in order to encourage left-wing Antifa brownshirts to harass and intimidate Trump donors. • There is no free speech in America, as the tech giants have now brazenly conspired to silence all pro-Trump voices in their highly illegal conspiracy to rig all future elections. Yet somehow, they seem to face zero push back from regulators, the FTC, the DOJ or Republican lawmakers (with a few exceptions such as MO Sen. Hawley, who is leading the charge against Big Tech’s illegal censorship). • Second Amendment rights are being rapidly dismantled by left-wing cities and states as they seek to completely disarm the citizenry so that no resistance can be mounted against the corruption, treason and tyranny of left-wing government run by extreme criminals known as “Democrats.” • The “mainstream media” has now devolved into nothing but a coordinated smear engine to de-legitimize and de-humanize the political opponents of the radical Left. NBC News, in particular, is engaged in such malicious smears that one of their hate pieces targeting my own publishing company resulted in hundreds of deranged, violent left-wing lunatics calling and threatening the employee of a hosting company that hosts some of our websites. The child of one employee was even threatened in public school by other students who were children of radical left-wing Antifa parents. As All News Pipeline reports, “With the MSM also releasing ‘hit pieces‘ upon outlets such as The Federalist and the Western Journal, we keep coming back to just how deeply the CIA had infiltrated the mainstream media going all the way back to the early 1950’s and ‘Operation Mockingbird‘, the large-scale propaganda program designed to manipulate the news media and, in so doing, manipulate the minds of every man, woman and child across America.” • Driven to psychological extremism by the hate-filled fake news media, Leftists are now openly celebrating the abandonment of due process and the politically targeted extermination of free speech, claiming that these basic civil rights of speech and law have no place in a “tolerant” society. Yes, that’s their actual argument. They claim free speech is “violence.” • As a result, Twitter has now collapsed into a cesspool of radical left-wing extremism and “groupthink,” where all voices of opposition are silenced, effectively creating a feedback loop of left-wing insanity that now drives Democrat candidates to positions so extreme and insane that even Barack Obama now claims the Left has gone way too far. (When Obama tells you that you’ve gone too far to the Left, you’re beyond all hope…) • Mass mental illness is now parading around as “progressivism,” even when the signs of mental illness are irrefutable, such as parents trying to physically chop off the reproductive organs of their baby boys in order to convert them into transgenders. Under the tyrannical rule of lawless, mentally ill Democrats, the government is now run like an organized crime syndicate. John W. Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute sums it all up perfectly in a recent column: All of us are in danger. In an age of prosecutions for thought crimes, pre-crime deterrence programs, and government agencies that operate like organized crime syndicates, there is a new kind of tyranny being imposed on those who dare to expose the crimes of the Deep State, whose reach has gone global. The Deep State has embarked on a ruthless, take-no-prisoners, all-out assault on truth-tellers. Activists, journalists and whistleblowers alike are being terrorized, traumatized, tortured and subjected to the fear-inducing, mind-altering, soul-destroying, smash-your-face-in tactics employed by the superpowers-that-be. Following the current downward trajectory, it won’t be long before anyone who believes in holding the government accountable is labeled an “extremist,” is relegated to an underclass that doesn’t fit in, must be watched all the time, and is rounded up when the government deems it necessary. Eventually, we will all be potential suspects, terrorists and lawbreakers in the eyes of the government. Now the collapse will accelerate, and America will become Venezuela Now that the rule of law has collapsed in America, and the media has become a psychological terrorism hub run by the CIA, and the courts have abandoned all justice, and the elections are all rigged by treasonous Democrats, we are going to witness a rapid collapse into despotism, lawlessness and desperation. The model for this collapse is already on display for the world to see: Venezuela. A doctor who still survives the collapse of civil society in Venezuela, Maybell Nieves, has written about how this collapse accelerates year after year, stripping away every right and last shred of human decency from the citizens as the corrupt, treasonous government becomes powerful and treacherous to everyone: That’s probably why those first few years didn’t really feel like something was taken away from us… Later came the control of the prices of basic products, which caused the disappearance of those items and initiated a black market that is also very much in force to this day. The decay was soon seen in many aspects. There was no longer maintenance on public roads, and public services failed often until reaching the point of constant failures of electric service, even for days. The public health situation is also getting worse and worse. As a health professional, I have seen this deterioration for the last 10 years. The state will rip you off, but it doesn’t happen all of a sudden. There are a lot of logistics; it takes a long time to develop the kind of policy that makes citizens totally dependent on the state. You start by losing something unimportant, like some kind of monetary bonus now given to you as government-run grocery store credits, and you end up losing your freedom and all kinds of rights, including freedom of speech and protest, but these issues are so extensive that they require an article of their own to explain them properly. The state has taken charge, with great success I must say, and you are now living in fear of the so-called public authorities, meaning police and military police, since they serve as pro-government forces of repression. In any public protest, savage repression is a constant. That violence is what we Venezuelans have become used to.When there is no public or social security, when the devaluation of the currency is occurring on a daily basis, and when you don’t know if the bakery on the corner is going to be broken into tomorrow, at that moment, the debacle has already occurred. So the mismanagement of incompetent and corrupt civil servants results in the deep separation of three social classes: extreme poverty, which represents more than 80% of the population and is totally dependent on the government; the working middle class, which manages to subsist through one or two basic incomes plus the economic help of family members abroad; and those who do business with the government and can live in a very comfortable, ideal world that has nothing to do with reality. There comes a point at which the only thing in your mind is to know if you will return home alive. Everything else is secondary. At that point, the state has already massacred you internally. You can never be the same again. I’m sure I am not. This is the future for America if We the People do not take this country back from the lawless, treasonous, eternally corrupt deep state puppetmasters What you read above is what you will be living soon in America as the collapse continues: • The streets of left-wing cities will be running with feces and filth. In many cities, they already are. • The collapse of the rule of law will lead to exploding crime rates everywhere. • Corporations like Google will decide all future elections, and if your speech does not agree with the ideas of unelected Google engineers, you will be silenced and demonized. • The deep state will make sure that all voices of opposition to the corrupt establishment — including independent journalists — will be criminalized, arrested, indicted and likely “Jeffrey Epsteined.” • As the rule of law collapses, business transactions will become increasingly difficult to complete. Eventually, food supplies will collapse and deliveries will cease, leading to mass food riots in the nation’s most populated cities. • After Trump is removed from power by treasonous criminals in the deep state (Brennan, Comey, Mueller, McCabe, etc.), the federal government will declare war on the American people and go door to door, seizing guns, executing Christians, setting fire to the homes of conservatives, looting household valuables and kidnapping wives and daughters for human trafficking operations run in conjunction with UN troops which will also occupy U.S. soil. • America will be turned into a war zone, with the government waging war against the Constitution, the People and human rights. • The economic collapse will accelerate, leading to widespread impoverishment, starvation, desperation, crime and corruption. • The violence of the lunatic Left will rapidly increase to the point where Leftists openly engage in executions, rapings, kidnappings, lootings and anything else they can get away with, always targeting conservatives and “white people,” thanks to the hatred pushed by the NYT, WashPost, CNN, MSNBC and late night comedy shows like Jimmy Kimmel. The rule of LAW now collapses to the rule of FORCE You can probably imagine what else will occur. Basically it’s the collapse of human society. During all this, of course, armed American patriots will be taking it to the criminal traitors in all sorts of various ways, all across America. It will probably be open season on corruption, everywhere across America. Sadly, with the rule of law now dead in America, any reasonable person must wonder incentive remains for anyone to abide by any law whatsoever? The only thing that matters to the corrupt Democrats now is force. The radical Left will use force to destroy you if you don’t comply. They will have you arrested at gunpoint or attacked on the streets at the hands of violent Antifa mobs. They will even force you to vaccinate your children at gunpoint… or they will medically kidnap your children at gunpoint if you refuse to comply. Force is now the only rule remaining in deep state-controlled America. Everything else has collapsed. There is no free speech, no fair trial, no system of justice, no reasonable expectation of human rights anywhere, no fair elections, no honest news, no honest Wall Street operations, no real public education, no clean food, no certainty of safety with products purchased on Amazon.com, no faith in the broken banking system, no faith that any elected official will keep any promises, no trust in the FBI or federal law enforcement and no reasonable expectation that anything will get better. Just as I promised they would, the Democrats are destroying everything of value as they seek to demolish human decency, human rights and human society. This is their goal. Do not be deluded into thinking anything else. It won’t be long before this website is blockaded by all internet tech companies, by the way. All voices of dissent will be erased and memory holed. You will soon be on your own. Prepare to take steps to defend your survival, for that is what all this has come to. If you aren’t willing to defend your nation, your Constitution, your life and the rule of law, then the DEMONrats have already won and humanity will be extinguished in no time at all. The Second Amendment tipping point now appears imminent. | Mike Adams | https://www.dcclothesline.com/2019/11/18/the-rule-of-law-has-collapsed-in-america-a-nation-where-the-guilty-go-free-while-the-innocent-are-persecuted-and-silenced/ | Mon, 18 Nov 2019 16:07:11 +0000 | 1,574,111,231 | 1,574,104,293 | crime, law and justice | justice |
665,002 | thedenverpost--2019-11-04--Guest Commentary: Lying jailhouse informants shouldn’t put innocent Coloradans behind bars | 2019-11-04T00:00:00 | thedenverpost | Guest Commentary: Lying jailhouse informants shouldn’t put innocent Coloradans behind bars | Imagine being convicted of a brutal crime you did not commit as a teenager. The recent Netflix series “When They See Us” told the story of the Central Park Five, a group of teenagers who were wrongly convicted of raping a jogger in New York City. Korey Wise was one of those young men, and he is the namesake of the innocence project that I direct at Colorado Law. Similar injustices have happened in our state. This week marks 18 years since Lawrence Montoya was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 2000 murder of a teacher in Denver. At the age of 15 he was sent to prison because of lies told by a jailhouse informant. The prosecution’s case largely relied on a jailhouse informant who claimed that Lawrence confessed to him when they shared a room together in juvenile detention as Lawrence awaited trial. The jailhouse informant gave details that appeared to be corroborated by a crime scene expert, and the jailhouse informant’s mother said that he told her about the alleged confession shortly after it happened. To a jury, it looked like the jailhouse informant was telling the truth. In reality, he never shared a room with Lawrence. His testimony was inconsistent with both the physical evidence and earlier statements he gave to law enforcement. The prosecution also denied that the jailhouse informant got a deal. However, his probation sentence for burglary was terminated shortly after he agreed to testify. The prosecution failed to meet its constitutional obligation to disclose this information to the defense. As a result, Lawrence’s lawyers could not adequately expose the jailhouse informant’s motivations and credibility to the jury. On November 3, 2000, Lawrence was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. It would take over a decade for DNA testing to undermine the conviction and for Lawrence to finally be released from prison. It was too easy for lies told by a jailhouse informant to wrongfully convict Lawrence Montoya. The unchecked system of offering leniency for testimony also harms crime victims and public safety. When a jailhouse informant receives a reduced sentence or gets his charges dismissed, what kind of message does that send to the victims of his own crimes? Plus, when the questionable testimony of an informant leads to the conviction of an innocent person, the actual perpetrators may go on to harm others. As more cases like Lawrence’s have come to light, there has been a growing national movement to increase transparency and scrutiny around jailhouse witnesses. This year, Connecticut passed a new law that will create the nation’s first statewide system to track the use of and benefits provided for their testimony. The measure will give prosecutors more complete information to vet potential jailhouse witnesses before putting them on the stand. Additionally, Connecticut and Illinois require judges to hold pre-trial hearings to screen out unreliable testimony before it is heard by jurors. Recently, Nebraska and Texas passed laws specifying when and what types of evidence the prosecution must disclose to the defense if it plans to use a jailhouse witness. Nebraska’s law also requires that victims of a jailhouse informant’s crimes be notified if charges are dismissed or reduced in exchange for cooperation. A number of states including Oklahoma and Utah give special jury instructions about the specific factors that should be considered when evaluating jailhouse informant testimony. What happened to Lawrence Montoya shouldn’t happen to any other innocent person. Colorado should adopt the safeguards that have been implemented in other states when the legislature meets this session. Anne-Marie Moyes is the program director of the Korey Wise Innocence Project at Colorado Law. which investigates claims of wrongful convictions and advocates for policies that address and prevent wrongful convictions. To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail. | Anne-Marie Moyes | https://www.denverpost.com/2019/11/04/guest-commentary-lying-jailhouse-informants-shouldnt-put-innocent-coloradans-behind-bars/ | Mon, 04 Nov 2019 23:06:45 +0000 | 1,572,926,805 | 1,572,909,765 | crime, law and justice | justice |
689,644 | theguardianuk--2019-02-11--Spare innocent men anguish India ruling aims to end false rape claims | 2019-02-11T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | 'Spare innocent men anguish': India ruling aims to end false rape claims | Their romance began at work. She asked him out for coffee with her friends. He took her out for lunch. Dinners and walks in New Delhi’s Lodhi Gardens followed. Then, for 18 months, they were in a sexual relationship. But last year, when Pavan Gupta* turned 24, his parents began pressuring him to marry. When they introduced him to a girl he liked, Gupta ended his relationship with his girlfriend, Geeta Jain, telling her he could not disappoint his parents. “I liked her but I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with her. I always told her I was an only child and would have to go along with my parents’ choice,” says Gupta. In March, as Gupta was preparing for his wedding, Jain went to the Delhi police and accused him of rape. She said she had slept with him only on promise of marriage and, since he had not married her, consent was procured on a false pretext, making the sex rape. “Even if I had misled her and told her I’d marry her, it still wouldn’t make the sex rape. How can consensual sex for over a year be rape?” asks Gupta. Last month, the supreme court ruled that rape cannot be invoked in cases of consensual sex after a relationship ends and the man declines to marry the woman, for whatever reason. The judges said a clear distinction had to be drawn between the two. But the ruling is of no help to Gupta. His life has already been shattered. His mother had a heart attack a week after she learned of the accusation against him. She died a few days later. His fiancee called off the wedding. He lost his job. His peace of mind was destroyed. The trial is dragging on because Jain frequently does not attend hearings. Something strange is going on in India. Women are becoming more educated and confident. Pre-marital sex is on the rise – a hotel chain called StayUncle offers rooms for an hour or two to couples seeking somewhere to have sex. But at the same time, so are the number of women alleging rape on false promise of marriage. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, a total of 38,947 rape cases were reported in India in 2016. In 10,068 cases – about a quarter – the women claimed it was rape on false promise of marriage. In Andhra Pradesh state, 45% of all rape cases filed in the past two years fell into the false marriage category. “When a relationship ends, women who have had consensual sex make false accusations of rape under promise of marriage out of vengefulness, to hurt the man. Or they do it to extort money out of him, promising to withdraw the charge if he gives them what they want,” says lawyer Vinay Sharma. Sitting in his tiny chambers in Dwarka, Sharma, who is handling 90 such cases, gestures discreetly to two families waiting for him on the other side of the glass partition. “The girl’s family has agreed to withdraw the charge in return for 500,000 rupees (£5,400),” he says. “Tell me, would any parent settle for money rather than justice if she’s really been raped?” In many cases, false rape accusations are simply the result of parents covering up the “shame” of an unmarried daughter having sex. Research carried out in 2015 by journalist Rukmini Shrinivasan, who worked for the Hindu newspaper at the time, revealed that when parents discover their unmarried daughters are in a sexual relationship, their horror at potential “dishonour” to the family name leads many to make spurious allegations of rape, having first bullied their children into submission. By their logic, saying a daughter has been raped is preferable to people thinking she is sexually active. Shrinivasan stumbled upon this finding after discerning a pattern in the charge sheets she examined in Mumbai. Time and again, it was the same story: the victim had been picked up in a moving car, given a drink laced with sedatives to render her unconscious, and raped. The recurrence of the sedative-laced drink seemed striking. Then the penny dropped. “This allegation is important because it is necessary to show that consent was not given, to protect the girl’s reputation,” says Shrinivasan. Sharma supports her findings. He says the same story can be found in 50 of his 90 cases. “Only the names, dates and locations are different, otherwise they all narrate the story of sedatives and drinks when in fact the girls were in a relationship and willingly having sex,” he says. Shrinivasan’s research into the 460 rape cases that came to trial in New Delhi in 2013 revealed that “more than one third turned out to be cases of couples having consensual sex outside marriage but, when the parents found out, they went to the police to end the relationship”. Men’s rights groups and some lawyers believe these false allegations of rape by women who have been in consensual relationships trivialise the seriousness of rape. They raise plenty of questions, too. Even if a man promised to marry a woman, can he not change his mind? How can judges determine a man’s sincerity or falsity in talking of marriage? Even more troubling is that the notion of sex constituting rape if a man “reneges” on a promise of marriage is not in the penal code. It has evolved on a case-by-case basis as a result of judges choosing to interpret the notion of “consent” in this fashion. As a consequence, men can be charged with rape if they falsely obtain consent for sex by promising to marry a woman and then changing their mind. The only solace for men who have been falsely accused is that many of these cases are thrown out of court. The supreme court ruling last month, for example, related to a nurse at a government hospital in Maharashtra. She was a widow who fell in love with a doctor and moved in with him. After living together for some years, he left her and married someone else. The judges said that having lived with the man for some years, the nurse could not allege rape. They pointed out that it was possible the doctor, on account of circumstances he could not have foreseen or could not control, was not able or willing to marry her. Whatever the reason, it was not rape. The doctor was acquitted. But between the arrest and the acquittal lies much distress. Jeevan Kishore is married with two children and works as a “halwai” or sweet maker in New Delhi. He started a sexual relationship with a much older woman who was separated from her husband and had two children. “She was financially in bad shape. I used to lend her money, pay for her rent sometimes, and for medical costs if her relatives back in the village fell ill,” says Kishore. When her young son fell ill, Kishore paid the hospital bills. When he died, he paid for the funeral. Then, he says, she began demanding larger and larger sums of money. “She told me if I didn’t give her the money, she would accuse me of rape. I was dumbstruck,” he says. Eighteen months ago, that’s exactly what she did. Last month, he was acquitted. “My wife was angry with me over my unfaithfulness but she knew I was incapable of rape. I thank God the judge realised it was a false case. But for 18 months, I burned with shame every time I went out or met anyone,” says Kishore. Vivek Deveshwar, a software engineer in Bangalore who runs a men’s rights group, has come across far too many shattered men. “Their trust in human relationships is destroyed. They withdraw into a shell, not knowing who they can trust and they are very frightened of embarking on another relationship,” he says. He believes that parents who make false allegations of rape are encouraged by the fact that rape victims’ identities are not revealed. Consequently, there is no social embarrassment. “I believe a man’s identity should also be kept secret until the trial is over and a verdict has been reached. It would spare innocent men a lot of anguish,” he says. Seema Misra, a lawyer in New Delhi, says that false cases under breach of promise to marry are a “huge” issue, one that she finds upsetting. “There is a limit to how far women can portray themselves as victims. At some point we have to take responsibility for our actions – 90% of the cases I have seen are false,” she says. For feminist lawyers like Misra, the subject is fraught with problems. They realise that such cases reflect the premium put on a woman’s chastity by a very patriarchal society – no unmarried woman can be seen to be sexually active outside marriage – but oppose the abuse of rape laws. Many observers feel that false claims brought by women who argue they were duped into losing their virginity serve only to undermine efforts to promote gender equality. “These cases should not be treated as rape. If we are talking of women’s agency, then we can’t have it both ways,” says lawyer and activist Vrinda Grover. Grover believes that last month’s supreme court ruling will help in setting a precedent for the lower courts to follow. Ultimately, though, she believes the legal system must find another way to give women justice if they have suffered harm at the hands of a man. “The system needs to offer some form of relief – either damages or in some other way – because desperate women are resorting to the rape charge, which is wrong, but that’s because they have no other remedy. The law needs to develop a different perspective,” says Grover. In the meantime, she worries that false charges of rape over consensual sexual relationships serve only to dilute genuine cases and distort the debate about rape in India. On this, Deveshwar concurs: “The tragedy is that with so many false cases, genuine victims of rape may find it harder to get justice.” * Names of the accused men have been changed to protect their identities | Amrit Dhillon in New Delhi | https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/feb/11/spare-innocent-men-anguish-india-ruling-aims-to-end-false-claims | 2019-02-11 05:00:08+00:00 | 1,549,879,208 | 1,567,548,936 | crime, law and justice | justice |
699,896 | theguardianuk--2019-05-07--Pamela Anderson visits innocent man Julian Assange in prison | 2019-05-07T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Pamela Anderson visits 'innocent man' Julian Assange in prison | Pamela Anderson has described Julian Assange as “the world’s most innocent man” and said a fight was on to “save his life”, after the actor and model visited the WikiLeaks founder at Belmarsh prison. She was accompanied by the website’s editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, for what WikiLeaks described as Assange’s first social visit since he was arrested by police after Ecuador revoked the political asylum granted to him at the country’s London embassy. A struggle over a US request for Assange’s extradition is under way after he was jailed for just under a year for breaching bail conditions to avoid being extradited to Sweden. Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition over sexual assault allegations, which he denies. “He does not deserve to be in a supermax prison. He has never committed a violent act. He is an innocent person,” Anderson said outside the prison in south-east London, which is a maximum-security jail but holds a range of prisoners. Anderson said he was “really cut off from everybody” and had not been able to access the internet, use a library or speak to his children. “He is a good man, he is an incredible person. I love him, I can’t imagine what he has been going through,” said Anderson, who was wearing what appeared to be a cape covered with text that made references to prison, tyranny and Oliver Cromwell. She tweeted a link to a Wikipedia page for John Lilburne, an English Leveller who was a friend of Cromwell but whose opposition to the policies of his regime led to his trial for sedition in 1649. She also tweeted a photograph of a handwritten letter that appeared to have been signed by her and another celebrity supporter of Assange, the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. “We need to save his life. That is how serious it is,” Anderson said. Hrafnsson, who last week criticised “austerity and cutbacks” in the prison system and said Assange usually spends 23 hours a day in his cell, added: “He has lost weight but his spirit is strong and that is the most important thing.” During a court appearance last Thursday, Assange declined a chance to consent to his extradition to the US in a hearing at Westminster magistrates court, where lawyers for Washington began pressing the case to take him across the Atlantic. Ben Brandon, the counsel for the US government, said the charges related to one of the largest compromises of information in US history. Swedish prosecutors have said they are considering reopening the investigation into rape and sexual assault allegations against Assange. | Ben Quinn | https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/07/pamela-anderson-visits-innocent-man-julian-assange-in-prison | 2019-05-07 13:28:49+00:00 | 1,557,250,129 | 1,567,540,983 | crime, law and justice | justice |
712,530 | theguardianuk--2019-10-16--'It breaks down innocent people': the interrogation method at center of Ava DuVernay lawsuit | 2019-10-16T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | 'It breaks down innocent people': the interrogation method at center of Ava DuVernay lawsuit | The director Ava DuVernay and Netflix are facing a lawsuit from the police consulting firm behind a widely criticized interrogation technique referenced in the miniseries When They See Us. John E Reid and Associates, a US company that trains law enforcement on interrogations, filed a defamation suit on Monday, challenging DuVernay’s critically acclaimed Netflix drama based on the case known as the Central Park Five. When They See Us is a four-part dramatization of the true story of five black and brown teenage boys from Harlem who were wrongfully convicted of the rape of a white woman in Central Park in the spring of 1989. The case is now known as one of the most notorious examples of police coercing people into giving false confessions, and the show powerfully depicts the harrowing interrogations the young boys faced and the racist prosecution that followed. The five teens went to prison and were eventually exonerated by DNA evidence. Since the 1970s, John E Reid and Associates has taught an interrogation method known as “the Reid technique”, which was directly discussed in DuVernay’s series. The complaint cited a quote from a prosecutor character in the series who questions a police detective’s interrogations of the boys, saying: “You squeezed statements out of them after 42 hours of questioning and coercing … The Reid technique has been universally rejected.” The detective responds: “I don’t even know what the fucking Reid Technique is.” The firm’s lawsuit accuses Netflix of making false and defamatory statements, seeks damages and demands an injunction blocking Netflix from streaming the series, unless they “delete the defamatory references”. The suit alleges that the show misrepresents the nature of the Reid technique by suggesting that “coercing” statements from juveniles after “long hours of questioning without food, bathroom breaks or parental supervision” is “synonymous” with this method. It’s unclear exactly how defamation laws might cover this fictionalized dialogue. The complaint is, however, bringing renewed attention to the Reid technique, the company’s trainings, and related interrogation techniques and controversies. The technique, which was devised by a former police officer and polygraph expert, has increasingly been the subject of scrutiny by scholars and lawyers, who say that research and ongoing exonerations have shown it leads to false confessions. Critics charge that the method and similar practices involve interrogators pressuring and intimidating suspects, making it seem as if the police have proof of guilt, “minimizing” the seriousness of crime and potential consequences and presenting confession as the easiest way out of the situation. In 2017, Wicklander-Zulawski and Associates, a large consulting group that has worked with the majority of police departments across the US, announced it would stop using the Reid technique, specifically due to concerns about false confessions. Alan Hirsch, the chair of the justice and law studies program at Williams College, has testified in roughly 30 cases about the Reid technique. “It’s an interrogation method designed to create anxiety, stress and eventually desperation,” he told the Guardian. “The suspect concludes that confessing is the best or even the only way out … It breaks down innocent people as well as guilty people. It’s too effective.” The “overwhelming majority of PhD social scientists who research and write about the Reid method of interrogation believe that it can be and sometimes is psychologically coercive” and increases the risk of false confessions, added Richard Leo, a law and psychology professor at the University of San Francisco and leading expert on the subject. Keren Goldenberg, a criminal defense lawyer in Massachusetts, said the depictions of interrogations in When They See Us rang true to her. “The Reid technique really capitalizes on the fear and the weaknesses of the person who is sitting in front of the interrogator,” she said. John E Reid and Associates was “grasping at straws and fiercely protecting their brand”, added Hayley Cleary, an associate professor of criminal justice at Virginia Commonwealth University and an expert on police interrogations. She noted that other countries had largely moved away from the practice. Cleary said she was grateful to When They See Us for potentially helping future jurors understand that people can be pressured to confess to crimes they did not commit: “Normalizing the idea that false confessions can happen is really, really important.” Representatives for DuVernay and Netflix did not respond to requests for comment. John E Reid and Associates and their attorneys in the case, Jack Carriglio and Corey Hickman, also did not respond to interview requests. The company’s lawsuit includes the defense it has repeatedly offered – that false confessions don’t come from the application of the Reid technique, “but rather they are usually caused by interrogators engaging in improper behavior that is outside of the parameters … behaviors which the courts have found to be coercive – threats, promises, denial of rights”. The technique does not involve assaulting suspects, denying them rights, conducting excessively long interrogations and some of the other particularly brutal tactics depicted in the series, the lawsuit also said. Goldenberg predicted the company’s suit would only escalate scrutiny of its methods and make its PR problem even worse: “The more attention drawn to the technique, the less police departments are going to want to use it, because there’s this negative association.” | Sam Levin in Los Angeles | https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/15/when-they-see-us-ava-duvernay-netflix-lawsuit-reid | Wed, 16 Oct 2019 05:00:08 GMT | 1,571,216,408 | 1,571,230,267 | crime, law and justice | justice |
726,817 | thehuffingtonpost--2019-05-04--Wells Fargo Botched A Fraud Inquiry An Innocent Man Landed In Court | 2019-05-04T00:00:00 | thehuffingtonpost | Wells Fargo Botched A Fraud Inquiry. An Innocent Man Landed In Court. | Over the past two and a half years, Wells Fargo has admitted to mistakenly foreclosing on hundreds of families, illegally repossessing more than 27,000 cars and fraudulently opening over 3 million accounts for people who never asked for them. The bank has undertaken at least four separate marketing campaigns aimed at improving its dreadful corporate image, issuing official apology after official apology for its litany of abuses. It has rolled out a new logo and a new brand tagline, and replaced its CEO twice since the fake account scandal started to make headlines. For Edwards, the madness began in April 2018, when the New Jersey Turnpike Authority noticed a problem with several checks the agency had written. Somehow the checks were being deposited not once but twice, with different dollar amounts each time. The immediate suspicion was check forgery ― someone, it seemed, had copied a stack of legitimate checks from the agency, scanned in a new name and new dollar amounts, and deposited the forgeries at a Wells Fargo branch in Parsippany. The police decided not to charge Mathis, concluding she was a victim of the scheme, rather than a culprit. It’s common, in fact, for scammers to talk people into depositing checks on their behalf. Banks make money available to their customers immediately after a check is deposited, and it can take a few days for the transaction to be flagged as fraudulent. When that happens, whoever received the bogus funds has to pay everything back in full ― even if they’ve already handed over some of the money over to someone else, like the mysterious Cousin Swing. None of this should have been a problem for Edwards. He’d never met Mathis or Cousin Swing. But he had deposited four checks of his own on April 16, at the same Wells Fargo branch where Cousin Swing deposited the forgeries. And Wells Fargo seems to have screwed up the surveillance evidence it provided to the police, handing them images from the bank’s ATM of Edwards depositing his checks. Edwards didn’t fit the description Mathis had given police of Cousin Swing ― but police trusted the bank to have its records straight. Neither Wells Fargo nor the New Jersey State Police would comment for this story, citing ongoing litigation. Edwards had been going to the same bank branch for nearly three decades, remaining a customer as new corporate owners took over his account via a series of mergers. The bank became a Wells Fargo in 2008, when Wells took over the remains of Wachovia, which failed during the financial crisis. The church even kept its official accounts there. So Edwards knew there were bank records that would show that his deposits on April 16 were ordinary, legal transactions. He reached out to the police, sending Detective William Condron his bank statement and copies of the legitimate checks he’d deposited, explaining there had been a mistake. Condron was skeptical, but he went back to Wells Fargo and asked the bank to make sure Edwards was the right guy. This should have been a red flag for both the bank and the police. Check fraud isn’t a super-sophisticated crime, but usually the perpetrators are smart enough to avoid using their own local bank. If the bank catches you engaging in fraud on camera, there’s a decent chance they’ll recognize you whenever you come back in. It was extremely unlikely that the person running the fraud scheme was a long-term customer who just happened to start sprinkling bogus checks in with his regular banking activity. Edwards didn’t hear back from the police for a while. A little over a week after he first reached out to them, he called Condron again to follow up. Edwards says Condron told him he was getting bounced “from department to department” by the bank. He was dealing with people deep in the Wells Fargo bureaucracy ― the subpoena compliance team and someone from a “research unit,” at least one of whom, the detective said, was in Arizona. So Edwards went down to his local branch, hoping to put everything to rest with the bank itself. The branch manager had never heard of his case, but promised to bring it up with her bosses. When he checked back a few days later, Edwards was told it was now in the hands of the bank’s “resolutions” team ― at least the third internal department at Wells Fargo to touch the debacle. Edwards didn’t learn about the other photograph and the other forged check until months later, when his case went to trial. On Sept. 4, the police called Edwards and asked him to come down to their headquarters ― more than an hour’s drive from where he lived ― to clear everything up. When Edwards arrived the next day, he was taken to an interrogation room and berated. Police showed him the ATM photos with the forged check numbers scrawled across them, saying these images proved he was guilty of a crime. He’d better confess if he knew what was good for him. | null | https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wells-fargo-customer-fraud_n_5ccb2153e4b0d123955021ce | 2019-05-04 12:00:19+00:00 | 1,556,985,619 | 1,567,541,205 | crime, law and justice | justice |
744,392 | theindependent--2019-01-31--Innocent people caught up in serious police investigations due to data-handling errors watchdog fin | 2019-01-31T00:00:00 | theindependent | Innocent people caught up in serious police investigations due to data-handling errors, watchdog finds | Innocent people were wrongly caught up in serious police investigations such as child pornography and paedophile grooming because of data-handling errors, a watchdog found. The failures led to homes being searched, equipment seized, and people being arrested for crimes they had nothing to do with. In its first annual report, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO) said it carried out 33 “serious error investigations” in 2017 – 24 of which were deemed to be serious errors. In many cases they were caused by the submission of an incorrect phone number or IP address – sometimes by just one digit. They resulted in 11 cases, affecting 19 individuals, where innocent people were interviewed or arrested by police. In seven cases, affecting 10 people, police visited the home or work address of an individual with “no sustainable link” with an investigation. Fifteen of the investigations related to unspecified “public authorities” and the rest to internet or communications service providers. “Errors in this context can have grave consequences for the victims of the mistake, together with his or her family and friends,” the report said. "This is particularly evident when home or offices are searched and the nature of the investigation is revealed to members of the individual’s family, and his or her neighbours or employer. “Children are at risk of being taken into care and individuals in notifiable, and other, occupations may be suspended or dismissed. Strict bail conditions can result in a suspect having to leave his or her home.” Overall, the IPCO, which has taken over the work of three predecessor bodies, found that while the number of serious cases was broadly the same as the previous year, the total number of errors reported was down from 1,200 to 926. It said that it was unable to say with “absolute confidence” that the fall was significant, and that it was “in all probability a positive development”. The Investigatory Powers Commissioner Lord Justice Sir Adrian Fulford expressed concern that the IPCO’s inspectorate and “numerically small” legal and policy team may have been “insufficiently resourced” to carry out the functions assigned to it. | Chiara Giordano | http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-errors-watchdog-data-wrongful-arrest-child-pornography-paedophile-grooming-a8757346.html | 2019-01-31 20:26:03+00:00 | 1,548,984,363 | 1,567,550,095 | crime, law and justice | justice |
765,122 | theindependent--2019-07-03--Police urged to axe facial recognition after research finds four of five apossuspectsapos are in | 2019-07-03T00:00:00 | theindependent | Police urged to axe facial recognition after research finds four of five 'suspects' are innocent | Scotland Yard has been urged to stop using facial recognition technology after independent research found that four out of five people identified as possible suspects were innocent. Researchers at the University of Essex found that the Metropolitan Police’s live facial recognition (LFR) system was inaccurate in the huge majority of cases: the technology made only eight out of 42 matches correctly across six trials evaluated. The report, commissioned by the Met, raised “significant concerns” that use of the controversial technology breaks human rights laws. It also warned it is “highly possible” the use of facial recognition would be held unlawful if challenged in court. The report’s authors, Professor Peter Fussey and Dr Daragh Murray, called for all Scotland Yard’s live trials of LFR to be ceased until the concerns are addressed. Duncan Ball, the Met’s deputy assistant commissioner, said the force was “extremely disappointed with the negative and unbalanced tone” of the report – insisting the pilot had been successful. The Neoface system uses special cameras to scan the structure of faces in a crowd of people to create a digital image, comparing the result against a watch list made up of pictures of people who have been taken into police custody. If a match is found, officers at the scene where cameras are set up are alerted. According to the Met’s website, the force has used the technology several times since 2016, including at Notting Hill Carnival that year and the following year. Use of the facial recognition is currently under judicial review in Wales following the technology’s first ever legal challenge, brought against South Wales Police by Liberty. Hannah Couchman, policy and campaigns officer for the civil rights group, renewed their calls for a ban on the technology after the research was published. “This damning assessment of the Met’s trial of facial recognition technology only strengthens Liberty's call for an immediate end to all police use of this deeply invasive tech in public spaces,” she said. “It would display an astonishing and deeply troubling disregard for our rights if the Met now ignored this independent report and continued to deploy this dangerous and discriminatory technology. We will continue to fight against police use of facial recognition which has no place on our streets.” The report’s authors were granted access to the final six of 10 trials run by the Metropolitan Police, running from June last year to February 2019. The research also highlighted concerns over criteria for the watch list as information was often not current, which saw police stopping people whose case had already been addressed. It also found numerous operational failures and raised a number of concerns regarding “consent, public legitimacy and trust”. Dr Murray said: “This report raises significant concerns regarding the human rights law compliance of the trials. The legal basis for the trials was unclear and is unlikely to satisfy the ‘in accordance with the law’ test established by human rights law. “It does not appear that an effective effort was made to identify human rights harms or to establish the necessity of LFR. Ultimately, the impression is that human rights compliance was not built into the Metropolitan Police’s systems from the outset, and was not an integral part of the process.” Deputy Commissioner Ball responded to the report: “This is new technology, and we’re testing it within a policing context. “The Met’s approach has developed throughout the pilot period, and the deployments have been successful in identifying wanted offenders. “We believe the public would absolutely expect us to try innovative methods of crime fighting in order to make London safer.” | Adam Forrest | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-facial-recognition-technology-met-suspects-inaccurate-essex-university-a8987356.html | 2019-07-03 21:24:00+00:00 | 1,562,203,440 | 1,567,537,033 | crime, law and justice | justice |
769,541 | theindependent--2019-08-25--Innocent man jailed for 82 days and loses jobs for bringing three jars of honey back to US | 2019-08-25T00:00:00 | theindependent | Innocent man jailed for 82 days and loses jobs for bringing three jars of honey back to US | Which is why during his Christmas visit to relatives in Jamaica, he made his regular stop and bought three bottles from a favourite roadside stand before heading home to Maryland. It was a routine purchase for him until he landed at the airport in Baltimore. US customs officers detained Mr Haughton and police arrested him, accusing him of smuggling in not honey, but liquid methamphetamine. Mr Haughton spent nearly three months in jail before all charges were dropped and two rounds of law enforcement lab tests showed no controlled substances in the bottles. By then, Mr Haughton, who according to his lawyer had no criminal record, had lost both of his jobs as a cleaner and a construction worker. “They messed up my life,” Mr Haughton said. “I want the world to know that the system is not right. If I didn’t have strong people around me, they would probably leave me in jail. You’re lost in the system.” Months after his release, he is only now fully rebuilding his life after the setback devastated him and his family of six children. Mr Haughton’s status as a legal permanent resident with a green card complicated his case. Because he was arrested at an airport for alleged drug felonies, his case triggered a federal detention order that extended his time in jail, court testimony shows. Twenty days after his arrest, a state police lab test looking for drugs in the bottles came up negative. Yet the 45-year-old father sat behind bars for two more months before the last of the charges were dropped after a second all-clear in a federal lab test. “Someone dropped the ball somewhere,” Mr Haughton’s lawyer Terry Morris said. “An innocent man spent 82 days in jail for bringing honey into the United States.” After landing at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on 29 December at around 10pm, US Customs and Border Protection detained Mr Haughton for more than two hours before Maryland Transportation Authority Police put him in handcuffs, according to charging documents. The bottles with gold-coloured screw tops labelled “honey” in his bag, they told him, had tested positive in a drug field test for methamphetamine. Mr Haughton fainted. Police took him to a hospital. Then they took him to jail. Every year for the nearly 10 years since Mr Haughton has been living in Prince George’s County, the native of Jamaica travels to the island in December to visit his mother. The green card holder never had any problem returning to Maryland until last year, when a police dog unit started sniffing around his bag. Mr Haughton thought the dog was interested in his leftover chicken. But Mr Haughton said he quickly noticed agents and officers whispering to one another before disappearing behind a screen. When they returned, a man took Mr Haughton away. His bag didn’t come with him. Police in charging documents said a dog named Beny conducted a “random scan” and alerted to possible drugs. “Inside the bag were three large plastic bottles labelled as ‘honey’ of suspected liquid methamphetamine,” charging documents said. Mr Haughton and Mr Morris contend he was stereotyped because of his race. Authorities, Mr Haughton’s lawyer said, questioned him about “a big Jamaican gang and drug-dealing conspiracy”. “I’m 100 per cent sure I don’t have drugs,” Mr Haughton recalled telling the agents. “I only have honey.” Mr Haughton had given up sugar years ago but drinks honey with his tea. He prefers honey from a particular bee farm in Jamaica because it is cheaper and “more pure” and always asks friends visiting the island to bring him back some. Carey Phillips, Mr Haughton’s girlfriend, said that when he didn’t come home from his Jamaica trip, she assumed he had extended his stay as he had done in the past and couldn’t get in touch with her. But days later she got a letter from the Anne Arundel County detention centre from Mr Haughton. “I was shocked,” Ms Phillips said. “It seems unreal to me. If someone does a crime, you understand, but if there’s nothing, that time is wasted.” Mr Haughton – facing at least 25 years in jail – appeared in court for a bail review two days after his arrest. A public defender at the hearing said Mr Haughton had no prior convictions and had lived in the area for the past nine years. A judge agreed to let him go on work release, court files and recordings of the hearing show. But more than three weeks later, Mr Haughton was still behind bars. The drug charges triggered detention orders from customs officials, Mr Haughton’s lawyer said. Although the Maryland State Police lab returned test results on the bottles that indicated “No CDS detected” on 17 January, and although prosecutors had dropped the three felony drug counts on 23 January, Mr Haughton was still facing a misdemeanour charge for possession of a controlled dangerous substance, or CDS. Mr Haughton asked to be released on 24 January at his second bail review, but Anne Arundel County District Court judge Laura Robinson worried he would not appear for trial. “The problem is I can’t let him go to ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] because he would be deported potentially,” the judge said, according to a recording of the hearing. “Even if I released you, you still wouldn’t necessarily be released. You would go into federal detention.” Mr Haughton was sent back to jail, appearing in court for a third bail review on 5 February. Mr Morris, Mr Haughton’s lawyer, told the judge that Mr Haughton should be released because the immigration detainer was triggered by the felony charges, which had been dropped. The federal government was in the middle of last winter’s shutdown, and Mr Morris said he couldn’t reach anyone at immigration and customs enforcement to lift the detainer. “The thing that’s going to end up happening, and they’re going to realise it is, it’s just honey,” Mr Morris said during the bail review. “He’s been in jail for 30 days for honey.” The judge said she would consider releasing Mr Haughton on his own recognisance but only if the federal government pulled the detention order. “The ICE detainer is really prohibitive,” the judge said. “I’m kind of up against it on the ICE detainer.” Had Mr Haughton been stopped at any other location, according to multiple immigration lawyers, federal authorities probably would not have issued a detainer for him. But because Mr Haughton was stopped at a port of entry at an airport, the felony charges probably triggered “inadmissibility proceedings”, which require only that law enforcement officials have “reason to believe” someone is a drug trafficker to trigger possible deportation proceedings, according to the immigration lawyers. The standard, however, is “murky”, said Adina Appelbaum, programme director of the Immigration Impact Lab at the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (Cair) Coalition. As a basis for removing someone from the country, it is “concerning” because “of how broadly it can be interpreted and applied”, Ms Appelbaum said. “More broadly, this case demonstrates the disproportionate consequences that criminal offences and allegations can have in the immigration realm, including for people who have lawful status for a green card.” Emma Winger, a staff attorney for the American Immigration Council, said Mr Haughton’s case is unusual in that he was detained over honey, but not surprising in other respects. “It’s not unusual that people who are held in criminal custody with ICE detainers have their detentions prolonged and then the charges are dismissed,” Ms Winger said. Ms Winger, like Mr Morris, said the detainer for Mr Haughton probably should have been dropped when the felony drug trafficking charges disappeared. “Once it was down to possession and not drug dealing, that seems like a good reason to drop the detainer,” Ms Winger said. But, she added, “it’s a little bit fuzzier because in theory, all [ICE] needs to charge under this ground of inadmissibility is that they had probable cause” to believe Mr Haughton was a drug trafficker who should be barred entry. Mr Morris said he attempted to reach ICE multiple times to get the detention order lifted but couldn’t make contact. Both Ms Appelbaum and Ms Winger said they are not surprised. It is generally difficult to reach someone at ICE to lift detainers for what may be considered low-priority cases, and during the shutdown, Ms Appelbaum said, “there was a lot of chaos and no responses”. When asked about the case, customs officials directed The Washington Post to Maryland Transportation Authority Police, which directed a reporter to prosecutors in the Anne Arundel County state’s attorney’s office. Prosecutors answered some questions about their case but directed reporters to the Department of Homeland Security over questions on Mr Haughton’s detainer. ICE then directed reporters back to customs, where Steve Sapp, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said privacy laws prohibit the agency “from discussing specifics of any individual traveller’s arrivals inspection”. Mr Haughton recalls the emotions, the stress and the pain in his children’s voices when they spoke on the phone while he was incarcerated. “It broke me right down,” Mr Haughton said. “Every time, they asked, ‘When are you coming home?’” In explaining the need for two rounds of lab tests, Anne Arundel County state’s attorney Anne Colt Leitess said in an interview that the Maryland State Police crime lab is not equipped to analyse honey or liquid, so its results wouldn’t have cleared Mr Haughton. Because the first test came up negative, she said, the state dropped the three felony drug charges but maintained the misdemeanour charge based on the police dog's findings and the positive field test while law enforcement sent the bottles to a Homeland Security lab in Georgia for more testing. “The ICE detainer is really what is holding him,” Ms Leitess said. “He was not being held on anything with us.” For weeks, Mr Morris emailed prosecutors asking for the status of the lab test out of Georgia. Then, at a court hearing on 21 March – a month and a half after Mr Haughton’s third bail review and nearly three months after his initial arrest – prosecutors dropped the final charge. Ms Leitess said her office had no control over how quickly the second test results arrived but that it dropped the last charge against Mr Haughton immediately after learning them. Mr Haughton said he’s been trying to get his life back in order. He has a job driving a bread truck after losing his previous jobs while in jail. And his children are trying to improve their grades after the trauma of his disappearance affected their schoolwork. Mr Haughton says he is constantly trying to reassure his children – one of whom burst into tears when Mr Haughton came home because she didn’t recognise her father – that he isn’t going to vanish again. But some scars, Mr Haughton said, won’t go away. “I’m scared to even travel right now,” he said. “You’re innocent, and you can end up in jail.” | Lynh Bui | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/man-jailed-honey-jars-us-liquid-methamphetamine-a9078221.html | 2019-08-25 19:54:37+00:00 | 1,566,777,277 | 1,567,533,427 | crime, law and justice | justice |
775,238 | theindependent--2019-11-11--Rodney Reed: Rihanna, Beyonce and Meek Mill sign petition to stop execution of 'innocent' | 2019-11-11T00:00:00 | theindependent | Rodney Reed: Rihanna, Beyonce and Meek Mill sign petition to stop execution of 'innocent' man | Rihanna, Cass McCombs, Pusha T, Questlove, Beyonce and Meek Mill are among the high-profile stars who have signed a viral petition calling to halt Texas inmate Rodney Reed‘s execution. The 51-year-old is currently scheduled for execution on 20 November for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Texas. However, new information has arisen that could potentially exonerate Reed, who was convicted by an all-white jury in 1998 (Mr Reed is black). The petition is to rescind his death warrant and ensure he is granted a new trial. In a statement posted on her website, Beyonce urged Texas governor Greg Abbott to take a “hard look” at the evidence that points to Reed’s innocence. “Be honest,” she wrote. “Be fair. Give him back his life.” Rihanna shared the petition and called on her followers to sign as well, tweeting: “One click! SIGN this petition if you don’t believe the government should kill an innocent man!” In an article published by The New York Times, it was revealed that at least three people have come forward with new testimony regarding Ms Stites’ fiance, Jimmy Fennell – a former police officer who was released from prison in 2018. A decade earlier, he pleaded guilty to kidnapping a woman he encountered while on duty. The woman claimed he also raped her. A sworn affidavit by a man who served a sentence in the same prison as Mr Fennell said he heard him confess to the murder of Ms Stites, and alleged that Mr Fennell bragged about killing her because she had cheated on him with a black man. Mr Fennell’s lawyer said he denies killing Ms Stites. Mr Reed’s lawyers say witnesses have since corroborated the existence of an affair between him and Ms Stites. His lawyers are pleading with Governor Abbott to delay the execution by 30 days, and to order the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to investigate the possibility of commuting his sentence. | Roisin O'Connor | https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/rodney-reed-death-row-execution-petition-beyonce-rihanna-meek-mill-texas-a9198031.html | Mon, 11 Nov 2019 10:24:00 GMT | 1,573,485,840 | 1,573,475,472 | crime, law and justice | justice |
775,588 | theindependent--2019-11-13--Rodney Reed: Urgent appeals to save 'innocent' death row inmate with week until execution, | 2019-11-13T00:00:00 | theindependent | Rodney Reed: Urgent appeals to save 'innocent' death row inmate with week until execution, as Republicans join campaign | A death row inmate has appealed to supporters to continue pushing for a retrial just a week before his scheduled for execution. Rodney Reed, who lawyers contend was wrongly convicted of raping and strangling 19-year-old Stacy Stites in 1996 by an all-white jury, has just seven days left to live if his appeal is not granted by Texas governor Greg Abbott. A petition supporting his claim has been endorsed by celebrities like Beyonce, Susan Sarandon and Kim Kardashian-West and politicians on both sides of the political divide. “One thing that I really missed was really being a father to my kids – and having an opportunity to be grandfather to my grandchildren," he told the Wrongful Conviction podcast. “I just look forward to being out there with my family. With my friends, with my loved ones with my supporters". He added: “On November 20 the state of Texas is trying to take my life, trying to execute me – strap me to a table and inject my body with poisons. Don’t stay back and let this happen just, stay up and stay involved”. Reed has long contended that Stites was killed by her fiancé, former police officer Jimmy Fennell – who he claims was angry after discovering his white partner was having an affair with a black man. Mr Reed's attorneys have presented testimonies that support his claim, including one from a former prison inmate who claims Mr Fennell bragged about killing Ms Stites. Reed's brother, Rodrick Reed, told the podcast: “I have great faith and hope and confidence that he is going to come home alive and well – I believe that. I have to believe that. I can’t put anything negative into my mind. I can’t use my energy in that way”. The decision will come down to Governor Abbott, an ardent Republican and supporter of the death penalty who has previously referred to the punishment as “Texas justice”. He has only spared a man’s life once while overseeing the execution of almost 50 prisoners. But alongside celebrities and a petition signed by almost 3 million people, pressure to grant clemency is also coming from his political allies. In a letter to Mr Abbott this week, more than a dozen Republicans said that getting it wrong with Reed could "erode public trust — not only in capital punishment, but in Texas justice itself." Republican State Representative James White, who has served in the legislature for nearly a decade said: "We have a lot of executions, right? We're Texas. This probably is the first one I've directly reached out to the attorney general's office and the governor's office on. "Not on the prospect that I believe that Mr Reed is innocent. But I do believe there is a lot of information and evidence that does deserve to be vetted." | Vincent Wood | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/rodney-reed-texas-death-row-execution-texas-petition-sign-retrial-case-a9201711.html | Wed, 13 Nov 2019 17:19:00 GMT | 1,573,683,540 | 1,573,691,854 | crime, law and justice | justice |
776,096 | theindependent--2019-11-18--Sedley Alley: Man executed 13 years ago may be proven innocent by DNA | 2019-11-18T00:00:00 | theindependent | Sedley Alley: Man executed 13 years ago may be proven innocent by DNA | Sedley Alley was strapped to a gurney and put to death in 2006, convicted of killing a 19-year-old Marine two decades earlier. Alley had confessed to the slaying of lance corporal Suzanne Collins, but later said his confession was coerced. Now, a nonprofit legal group dedicated to clearing the wrongly convicted hopes DNA evidence may be used to exonerate the man 13 years after his execution. Since the early 1990s, 22 death row inmates around the US have been absolved of crimes through DNA evidence. If the Innocence Project succeeds with Alley, it will be the first time anyone has used such evidence to exonerate a person who has already been executed. Collins was stationed at the former Memphis Naval Air Station in Millington when she went jogging in a nearby park in July 1985. Her body was discovered early the next day. She had been beaten, raped and mutilated. Shortly before Alley was led to the execution chamber and given a lethal injection June 2006, Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck helped argue for DNA evidence testing. But at the time, the request was denied and Alley, who had spent two decades on Tennessee's death row, was put to death at the age of 50. That might have been the end of the story if Mr Scheck had not received a call earlier this year from investigators in St. Louis. He said they wanted to discuss a possible connection between Collins and Thomas Bruce, who is jailed in Missouri and charged with sexually assaulting two women and killing a third at a Catholic Supply store there about a year ago. Mr Scheck said investigators had told him Bruce attended the same avionics course as Collins in Millington, Tennessee. Mr Scheck reached out to Alley's daughter, April Alley, who agreed to petition for DNA evidence testing on behalf of her father's estate. Along with her brother, April Alley witnessed her father's execution. They had their hands up against the glass as he spoke his last words, telling them he loved them and to “stay strong”. April Alley has been reluctant to talk about her effort to get DNA testing, but when she filed the petition in May, she spoke to reporters briefly. “Watching my father die was so painful,” she said. “I'm hoping I can get the answer, one way or another, that I want.” Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan heard arguments in the case last month and promised to rule on the petition Monday. Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said in an email after the petition was filed that Sedley Alley's case and conviction were repeatedly scrutinised by the courts over 21 years, and his guilt was established with “absolute certainty”. At the hearing last month, Assistant District Attorney Steve Jones argued the state's DNA analysis law allows only the person convicted of the crime to request testing. He also argued that even if DNA from a third party were found on some of the evidence, it would not prove Alley was innocent. Alley was convicted based on “a combination of factors that corroborated his confession,” Jones said. Mr Scheck has said Alley's confession did not match the crime scene evidence. For example, Alley said he hit Collins with his car, but Collins hadn't been run over. In court last month, Scheck argued that it was a matter of justice to test the DNA evidence, noting the court has the power to order the testing. Evidence they want tested includes a pair of men's underwear recovered at the scene. “April Alley wants to know the truth. She has the courage to seek the truth,” Mr Scheck said at the hearing. “DNA testing can ... provide that truth.” | Associated Press reporters | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/sedley-alley-death-row-innocent-execution-murder-dna-evidence-a9207686.html | Mon, 18 Nov 2019 15:12:50 GMT | 1,574,107,970 | 1,574,105,950 | crime, law and justice | justice |
777,257 | theindependent--2019-11-26--Three innocent men released after 36 years in prison for crime they did not commit | 2019-11-26T00:00:00 | theindependent | Three innocent men released after 36 years in prison for crime they did not commit | Three men who spent 36 years behind bars for a murder they did not commit have been released, after they managed to unearth new evidence from prison. Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins and Andrew Stewart were teenagers when they were arrested in November 1983 over the murder of 14-year-old DeWitt Duckett in Baltimore, Maryland. The pupil was shot in the neck and killed for his Georgetown University basketball jacket while walking to a lesson at Harlem Park Junior High School. Mr Chestnut and Mr Watkins, who were 16 at the time, and Mr Stewart, who was 17, were playing truant from another school to visit former friends and teachers at Harlem Park on the day of the killing, according to CNN. A security guard testified that he kicked the trio out and watched them walk up the street before locking the school doors at about 12.45pm – half an hour before the shooting, the news channel reports. The three friends were convicted of the killing based on witness testimonies and a Georgetown University jacket found in Mr Chestnut’s bedroom. The jacket, however, reportedly had no traces of blood or gunshot residue, and Mr Chestnut’s mother had produced a receipt showing she had bought it recently. They trio always maintained their innocence and were denied early release from prison because they refused to confess to the shooting. The case was eventually reopened earlier this year after Mr Chestnut, who never gave up fighting for a review, filed a public records request and uncovered evidence withheld from the defence team and jury during their trial, CNN reports. Mr Chestnut sent a letter including the new evidence to Baltimore City State attorney Marilyn Mosby’s Conviction Integrity Unit. Prosecutors now say police reports show multiple witnesses told police that a different suspect, who was 18 at the time of the crime, was the shooter. One student reported seeing him flee the scene and dump a gun as police arrived at the school, but authorities at the time focused their investigation on the trio. The new suspect, who was shot dead in 2002, was also allegedly seen wearing Mr Duckett’s jacket and confessing to the murder after the shooting, another witness said. An assistant prosecutor working on the case told the court in 1984 that the state did not have any reports that would have raised doubts about the three defendants’ guilt, even though police records had statements involving the 18-year-old and also showed trial witnesses had failed to identify the teenagers in photo line-ups. A judge sealed those documents, but they were among the information Mr Chestnut obtained last year. Mr Chestnut, Mr Watkins and Mr Stewart were released from custody hours after a judge cleared their convictions and prosecutors dropped the charges on Monday. Circuit Court Judge Charles Peters told the men: “On behalf of the criminal justice system, and I’m sure this means very little to you gentlemen, I’m going to apologise”, the Baltimore Sun reported. Ms Mosby said the result was a “tragedy”, not a “victory”. Shawn Armbrust, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, which represents Mr Watkins, said: “Everyone involved in this case – school officials, police, prosecutors, jurors, the media, and the community – rushed to judgment and allowed their tunnel vision to obscure obvious problems with the evidence. “This case should be a lesson to everyone that the search for quick answers can lead to tragic results.” | Chiara Giordano | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/maryland-wrongful-conviction-murder-alfred-chestnut-ransom-watkins-andrew-stewart-a9218071.html | Tue, 26 Nov 2019 11:41:57 GMT | 1,574,786,517 | 1,574,771,458 | crime, law and justice | justice |
781,842 | theintercept--2019-03-13--There Are Innocent People on Death Row Citing Wrongful Convictions California Governor Halts Ex | 2019-03-13T00:00:00 | theintercept | “There Are Innocent People on Death Row” — Citing Wrongful Convictions, California Governor Halts Executions | signed Wednesday morning, California Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions and ordered the death chamber at San Quentin Prison — unused following a $853,000 renovation a decade ago — closed. “We are, as I speak — as I speak — shutting down, removing the equipment in the death chamber at San Quentin,” Newsom said at a press conference at the state capitol in Sacramento. In remarks that emphasized racial disparities and the risk of executing innocent people, Newsom described his decision as the culmination of “a 40-year journey” that began when he was just a child. His grandfather introduced him to Pete Pianezzi, who came close to receiving the death penalty in 1940 after being set up by the mob. Pianezzi was eventually pardoned in 1981, at the age of 79. But wrongful convictions remain a profound danger. “You had someone just last year that was released from death row after serving 26 years in San Quentin,” he said, referring to the case of Vicente Benavides, exonerated in April 2018. Newsom’s order leaves intact the sentences of all 737 condemned people in the state, the largest death row in the country. It also does nothing to stop prosecutors from seeking new death sentences, something California district attorneys have proven eager to do. In this sense, Newsom’s announcement merely formalizes the status quo in a state whose death penalty system has come to be defined by disarray — and where no executions have been carried out in more than 13 years. Nevertheless, the governor’s language against the death penalty was passionate and unambiguous, suggesting that he could take more decisive action in the future. He explained that he felt no choice but to act now upon being confronted with the question of whether he would continue the efforts of the previous administration to adopt a viable lethal injection protocol. “I would be lying if I said I could support that,” he said. In addition, he said, there are 25 people on death row who have exhausted their appeals, raising the possibility that he would have to oversee their executions, something he would be unwilling to do. Newsom’s move comes just a few years after California actually voted to hasten executions in the state. Voters in the 2016 election were faced with confusing, dueling ballot initiatives: Proposition 66, which sought to revamp the system in order to speed up executions (a measure strongly supported by law enforcement), and Proposition 62, which sought to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life without parole. Then-Gov. Jerry Brown stayed mum on the issue as did Kamala Harris, then the state’s attorney general and now a U.S. senator and Democratic candidate for president. But Newsom, at that time the state’s lieutenant governor, came out forcefully in favor of abolition, writing that the death penalty was “fundamentally immoral.” When the votes were counted, Prop 62 had failed and Prop 66 had passed by the narrowest of margins. As predicted at the time, legal challenges have blocked the implementation of Prop 66. Today, California is one of several death penalty states where executions remain stalled with no sign of restarting. In Pennsylvania, which has not used its death chamber since 1999, Gov. Tom Wolf declared a moratorium on executions in 2015, calling the death penalty “ineffective, unjust, and expensive.” Moratoriums have also remained in place in Oregon and Colorado, two states on the cusp of abolishing executions altogether. Even the most active death penalty states have been continually mired in controversy and litigation over execution protocols. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine recently announced a pause on executions while the state weighs alternatives to its lethal injection protocol. The decision came soon after he granted a reprieve to Warren Keith Henness in January, citing concerns by a federal judge that the execution would be akin to torture. In many ways, California’s death penalty system is emblematic of the state of capital punishment nationwide. As in much of the country, people on death row in the state are more likely to die from illness, suicide, or old age than they are to be executed. California’s last execution took place in January 2006, when it put to death 76-year-old Clarence Ray Allen, the oldest person ever executed by the state. Allen, who was diabetic and legally blind, was brought to the death chamber in a wheelchair. Soon after Allen’s execution, a challenge to the state’s lethal injection protocol brought the system to a halt. Yet California prosecutors continued to seek death sentences — 180 people were sent to death row between 2006 and 2015, the last year for which the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has posted data. Since California reauthorized the death penalty in 1978, death sentences have rarely led to executions. According to data compiled by The Intercept, at least 72 people on death row have had their sentences reduced to life with or without parole and at least 11 have been released from prison, including six who were ultimately exonerated. And the row continues to gray: Fifty-three percent are 50 or older; 79 people have died awaiting execution. Twenty-six have killed themselves. Nevertheless, prosecutors continue to insist that the death penalty is effective and necessary. The Association of Deputy District Attorneys lambasted Newsom’s order as “hasty and ill-considered,” saying that it violates the will of the people. “The voters of the State of California support the death penalty,” ADDA President Michele Hanisee said, saying that this was “powerfully demonstrated by their approval of Proposition 66 in 2016.” In an interview with The Intercept that year, Hanisee said that hastening executions was about delivering justice to victims, not about clearing the growing backlog of people awaiting execution. “I don’t think the goal is to clear death row,” she said at the time. “That would be perverse.” News of the governor’s moratorium came as a pleasant surprise to Donald Heller, the veteran California attorney who wrote the 1978 ballot initiative that created California’s current death penalty law. Heller told The Intercept in 2016 that he was dismayed at the way the law was applied, particularly in the case of Tommy Thompson, a man executed in 1998 — and who Heller firmly believed was innocent. Heller was in Boston and had not yet heard the news about Newsom’s planned announcement when The Intercept reached him on Tuesday night. “I applaud what he’s doing,” he said. “It shows courage and a belief that capital punishment should eventually be abolished.” Heller was an outspoken supporter of Prop 34, the predecessor to the abolitionist initiative defeated in 2016. At that time, he recalled, “it was estimated we had spent $4 billion executing 13 people, which is truly insane.” Today, the estimate has climbed to $5 billion. Heller calls the ballot initiative he authored in the late 1970s “a colossal failure, because it didn’t function as intended.” Rather than make the death penalty apply to only the most egregious crimes, “it filled death row — and so many cases have been overturned for reasons that dealt with ineffective assistance of counsel. It’s just not effective — and I’m convinced it’s not a deterrent.” Darryl Stallworth, a former prosecutor turned defense attorney in Oakland who campaigned for Prop 62, was “absolutely delighted” at Newsom’s decision. Stallworth came to oppose the death penalty after prosecuting a young black man in a capital case that ultimately ended with a sentence of life without parole. After 27 years working in the justice system, he has returned time and again to “the fundamental understanding that the death penalty does not deter crime, it does not save lives, it does not provide closure, it subjects people to an awful lot of disproportionate treatment based on color, class, gender,” he said. “It is a system that does not have the proper mechanisms to make sure that they get it right, and even if they do, oftentimes it’s still not constitutional.” Stallworth called capital punishment a “scar” on the nation’s laws. “I’m happy that the governor has recognized the scar, the taint, the damage that it has left on the criminal justice system.” As Newsom made clear at the Wednesday press conference, the enduring unfairness inherent in the death penalty was what forced him to act. More than 60 percent of California’s death row population are people of color; overall, 61 percent of Californians are white. “Our death penalty system has been — by any measure — a failure,” Newsom said. “It has discriminated against defendants who are mentally ill, black and brown, or can’t afford expensive legal representation.” It does not act as a deterrent and has wasted billions, he said. “But most of all, the death penalty is absolute. Irreversible and irreparable in the event of human error.” And there are lingering questions about the impact of human error — and of bias and corruption — in a number of California cases, including that of Kevin Cooper, who has been on death row since he was convicted in 1985 of a grisly quadruple murder in Chino Hills. There are serious reasons to question Cooper’s guilt — and to believe that he was framed by law enforcement — and he has long sought DNA testing in an effort to clear his name. But Kamala Harris refused to allow the testing during her time as attorney general — and then Jerry Brown dragged his heels until the last days of his administration, when he finally issued an executive order providing limited testing and consideration of disputed evidence. In February, Newsom widened the scope of the testing. | Jordan Smith | https://theintercept.com/2019/03/13/california-death-penalty-moratorium/ | 2019-03-13 20:03:18+00:00 | 1,552,521,798 | 1,567,546,489 | crime, law and justice | justice |
797,937 | themanchestereveningnews--2019-03-29--Property developer tried to blame innocent employee for dishonestly claiming almost 50000 in tax | 2019-03-29T00:00:00 | themanchestereveningnews | Property developer tried to blame innocent employee for dishonestly claiming almost £50,000 in tax | A property developer who dishonestly claimed almost £50,000 in VAT tried to pin the blame on an innocent employee before admitting it was him. Mark Fishwick, 49, from Northenden , failed to admit that he'd submitted fraudulent tax returns and dishonestly claimed VAT repayments. But HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) found Fishwick deliberately stole the money to improve the cash flow of his business. Fishwick was the company director of Ecobuild (M/C) Ltd - a commercial and residential property builder and developer. The company was based on King Street West, in Stockport , but was liquidated in December last year. On the Ecobuild website, the firm claim to have over '30 years of experience' with 'trusted builders'. It emerged that between October 2016 and August 2017, Fishwick stole £49,000 in total from the taxpayer. Fishwick, of Shawdene Road, Northenden, admitted VAT fraud and was sentenced to 18 months in jail, suspended for two years at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday. He was disqualified as a company director for four years and ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work. Following the case, Tim Atkins, an assistant director at the Fraud Investigation Service of HMRC, said: “Fishwick used taxpayers’ money to try and keep his own business afloat. He even attempted to shift the blame to an innocent employee before accepting that it was all his doing. “VAT fraud steals money from vital public services. This money is equivalent to the starting salary of two paramedics for a year. "We ask anyone with information about suspected tax fraud to contact our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.” | Ashlie Blakey | https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/vat-tax-fraud-mark-fishwick-16048759 | 2019-03-29 15:47:34+00:00 | 1,553,888,854 | 1,567,544,785 | crime, law and justice | justice |
937,959 | thesun--2019-02-14--Pregnant teen and husband burglars killed in A40 police chase were INNOCENT and due to have thei | 2019-02-14T00:00:00 | thesun | Pregnant teen and husband ‘burglars’ killed in A40 police chase ‘were INNOCENT’ and due to have their baby on Valentine’s Day | A PREGNANT teen and her husband who were accused of being “burglars” after being killed in a police chase were INNOCENT and were due to have their baby TODAY. Patrick McDonagh, 19, and his 18-year-old wife Shauna, died on the A40 near East Acton in West London at about 9pm on Sunday. The car they were in was on the wrong side of the road when they were killed in a head-on collision with a coach. A second man who was travelling in the car was taken to hospital. Around 20 minutes earlier police had been called to reports of an aggravated burglary in Harrow and began a road chase. But cops have now revealed the newlyweds were not present at the time of the burglary they were later linked to. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has said it is understood that officers were pursuing the car, a Renault Scenic, for about 10 minutes but terminated the pursuit prior to the crash. An IOPC statement said: "It has now been confirmed, as part of a separate police investigation, that the occupants of the Renault were not present at the time of an aggravated burglary reported to have taken place in Harrow." The IOPC said its investigation would look at "the information the police had and the rationale for the pursuit". A family statement said: "Patrick and Shauna were a young couple who had recently got married and were very much in love. "Patrick was a devoted husband to Shauna and they were very much looking forward to the birth of their daughter Sienna Marie who was due to be born on Valentine's Day." A National Police Air Service helicopter was tracking the Renault when it crashed. Accounts from officers, along with footage from the helicopter, police cars, body-worn video, CCTV and in-car data are among the evidence being gathered by investigators. The Metropolitan Police made a mandatory referral to the IOPC later on Sunday. IOPC regional director Jonathan Green said: "My thoughts are with the families and friends of Patrick and Shauna, those injured and all those affected by this incident. "It is important that we now establish all of the circumstances surrounding this collision. "We have therefore launched an independent investigation into the events leading to the collision and immediately deployed our investigators to attend the scene and the post-incident procedure." We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. | Alex Matthews | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8431463/valentines-day-pregnant-teen-husband-killed-a40-police-chase/ | 2019-02-14 21:51:49+00:00 | 1,550,199,109 | 1,567,548,544 | crime, law and justice | justice |
940,633 | thesun--2019-02-24--Innocent man 71 who WRONGLY spent 40 YEARS in jail for murdering his ex-girlfriend and her son win | 2019-02-24T00:00:00 | thesun | Innocent man, 71, who WRONGLY spent 40 YEARS in jail for murdering his ex-girlfriend and her son wins £16million payout | AN innocent man who spent nearly forty years in prison for the murder of his ex- girlfriend and her son has been awarded £16 million compensation. Craig Coley was jailed in 1978 for killing Rhonda Wicht, and her 4-year-old son, Donald, at their apartment near Los Angeles. The 71-year-old always maintained his innocence, and was pardoned in 2017 by California’s then-governor, Jerry Brown, based on DNA evidence found by investigators. Officials in the city of Simi Valley officials the compensation would spare Coley lengthy legal action. "While no amount of money can make up for what happened to Mr. Coley, settling this case is the right thing to do for Mr. Coley and our community," said City Manager Eric Levitt. California authorities awarded Coley £1.5 million last year - or just under £110 for each day he spent in prison – which he spent buying a home. With the money from the final settlement he will also be able visit places on his bucket list and continue to help the wrongfully convicted, his friend Mike Bender said. “He’s looking forward to being able to live his life. No one would want to trade places with him,” said Mr Bender, a former Simi Valley police detective. The city's police chief and Ventura County's district attorney asked Brown to pardon him because tests showed Coley's DNA was not on the victim's bedsheet. The sheet contained DNA from an unknown man and Coley had an alibi for the time of the murders. Investigators later disproved testimony from an eyewitness who placed him at the scene. His parents died while he was in prison after mortgaging their home to pay his legal bills. Coley’s lawyer Ron Kaye said the settlement offers some closure and vindication for his client, though no amount of money can compensate him for the life he missed while imprisoned. "He now can live the rest of his life, which we hope will be really well into the future, with the security he deserves," Kaye said. Simi Valley police have not arrested anyone else in the killings. Since his release, Coley has spoken to law enforcement officials about evidence collection, and has met with parents of prisoners who maintain their innocence. More than 350 U.S. inmates have been exonerated by DNA testing since 1989, according to New York-based the Innocence Project, which helps people who were wrongfully convicted. On average, convicts who were freed had served 14 years in prison when exonerated. We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.' | Tariq TAHIR | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8500650/innocent-man-71-who-wrongly-spent-40-years-in-jail-for-murdering-his-ex-girlfriend-and-her-son-wins-16million-payout/ | 2019-02-24 22:23:03+00:00 | 1,551,064,983 | 1,567,547,493 | crime, law and justice | justice |
952,874 | thesun--2019-04-08--How this loving family photo cleared innocent rape suspect accused by his evil fantasist ex-girlfrie | 2019-04-08T00:00:00 | thesun | How this loving family photo cleared innocent rape suspect accused by his evil fantasist ex-girlfriend after it proved a rock-solid alibi during four-month jail hell | THIS loving family photograph finally cleared a man who was jailed after his evil ex-partner wrongly accused him of raping her. The picture of Dan Jones with his newborn nephew proved to be a solid alibi when Sarah Jane Parkinson claimed her partner had attacked and sexually assaulted her. But the former prison guard endured four hellish months in a maximum security jail before the picture emerged. Dan, of New South Wales, Australia, met Parkinson in 2011 and they got engaged after just a few months of dating. Determined to live with his future wife, Dan bought a house and the couple moved in together. But Parkinson, a police clerical assistant, began to concoct lies that he was violent towards her in a bid to claim their home, 9news.com.au reports. It's alleged she told her work colleagues that her fiance was abusing her, leaving her with brusies. But she failed to mention that she suffered a heart condition that made her dizzy, which contributed to a series of household accidents and injuries. Dan was then called in for a "chat" with Parkinson's boss, Inspector Anthony Hill - and subsequently told that an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) was being taken against him for abusing Parkinson. Dan told 60 Minutes that Parkinson had been having an affair with a police officer she worked with. He was targeted in a series of false allegations when Parkinson claimed she was struck by him with a lump of wood and a tyre lever. Dan described Parkinson as being like a "complete stranger". He was arrested and charged with 32 counts of domestic violence on Christmas Eve 2013. While Dan was served with a court order, Parkinson and her new lover were living in the home he had bought. He said: "When I first got charged, I found out [Parkinson] had been keeping a diary of things that never happened. "She’d written entries going back more than six months with a view to using it as a historical document in court." On March 21, 2014, Mr Jones was arrested at his parents' house for an alleged rape. Parkinson said Mr Jones rammed her head into a wall, jumped on her, kicked her, forced her to open a condom wrapper, then raped her. But he image proved that, at the time Parkinson claimed Dan had attacked her, he was actually with his brother Andrew and his partner Amy, who had visited him with their son, Hunter. They had a photograph taken at around 1pm, with Mr Jones in his pyjamas holding baby Hunter on his knees. The case was eventually passed to Detective Sergeant Leesa Alexander. Parkinson accused her ex's parents of stealing her iPad before a tracking device on her car helped investigators prove she had driven up to their property and dumped the tablet on their lawn herself. Det Alexander told 60 Minutes: "It was clear... that Sarah had lied." An emergency bail hearing was called by the Department of Public Prosecutions after a series of investigations. Dan was released from jail on bail conditions. Early this year, Parkinson finally pleaded guilty to her crimes at court. She was jailed for three years and one month in prison and at least two of those years will be spent behind bars. We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. | Nicola STOW | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8818467/family-photo-cleared-innocent-rape-suspect-girlfriend/ | 2019-04-08 17:18:06+00:00 | 1,554,758,286 | 1,567,543,584 | crime, law and justice | justice |
973,719 | thesun--2019-07-23--Innocent Brit spent a year in Spanish jail after 5m of drugs found at Airbnb villa he rented | 2019-07-23T00:00:00 | thesun | Innocent Brit spent a year in Spanish jail after £5m of drugs found at Airbnb villa he rented | A BRIT businessman spent a year in jail in Spain after cops found £5million of cannabis at a villa he rented. Robert Mansfield-Hewitt, 51, was seized last year in a raid on the Airbnb-listed property near Gibraltar. Armed police found 1.5 tonnes of hashish in an adjoining garage. Robert, on a business trip, had been in the property for just 48 hours. He was charged with a “crime against public health” and faced four-and-a-half years in jail and a £7million fine. Robert, of Chichester, West Sussex, was locked up in Botafuegos prison in Algeciras. He was eventually freed earlier this month after a judge dropped the charges. However he was still fined £1,400 for renting an unlicensed house. Although the villa was listed with Airbnb, Robert, an MoD electrical engineer, did not book through the company. He said: “The whole thing was a farce. They deemed me a flight risk, denied me bail and took my passport.” Speaking of last May’s raid, the avid churchgoer, who walks with a cane due to a liver condition, said: “It was terrifying. I have never been in trouble with the law. I’m a very gentle soul, I would never get involved with drugs.” It is understood the property’s owner, a Moroccan-born man in his 60s, has not been quizzed despite having a previous drug conviction. Robert is due to fly back to Gatwick on Thursday. He said: “Mummy’s very pleased. We’re relieved this nightmare is over.” | Vicky Lytaki | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9570057/innocent-brit-spent-a-year-in-spanish-jail-after-5m-of-drugs-found-at-airbnb-villa-he-rented/ | 2019-07-23 23:51:20+00:00 | 1,563,940,280 | 1,567,536,064 | crime, law and justice | justice |
1,000,326 | thetelegraph--2019-02-24--Innocent California man who served 39 years in jail for murder awarded 21 million compensation | 2019-02-24T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | Innocent California man who served 39 years in jail for murder awarded $21 million compensation | A California man who spent 39 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murder is to receive $21million (£16 million) compensation. Craig Coley was jailed for the murder of Rhonda Wicht, 24, and her son Donald, aged four, in 1978. Mr Coley, who is now 71, was freed and pardoned by California's governor, Jerry Brown, after he was cleared by DNA evidence during a lengthy reinvestigation of the case. A Vietnam veteran and night manager at a local restaurant, Mr Coley had been involved in a relationship with Ms Wicht which had broken down. She was strangled with a rope and her son had been smothered in his bed. His conviction was partly due to the testimony of Ms Wicht's next door neighbour who told the jury she heard banging. She also said she saw Mr Coley's truck parked outside the building and that somebody apparently matching his description drove it away. | David Millward | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/02/24/innocent-california-man-served-39-years-jail-murder-awarded/ | 2019-02-24 20:35:19+00:00 | 1,551,058,519 | 1,567,547,487 | crime, law and justice | justice |
1,038,106 | thewashingtonstandard--2019-09-19--New Jersey Cops Who Fired At Innocent Man Ultimately Leading To Him Being Set On Fire Savagely B | 2019-09-19T00:00:00 | thewashingtonstandard | New Jersey: Cops Who Fired At Innocent Man Ultimately Leading To Him Being Set On Fire & Savagely Beat Him Get No Jail | New Jersey: Cops Who Fired At Innocent Man Ultimately Leading To Him Being Set On Fire & Savagely Beat Him Get No Jail Jersey City, NJ — As TFTP reported in 2017, a high-speed chase in Jersey City ended when the car police were chasing crashed and turned another man’s car into a ball of flames. But it’s the chaotic insanity which followed the crash and the fire that resulted in the indictment of several Jersey City police officers and a massive lawsuit against the city and the department. This week, however, all of the officers involved took plea deals and although they were fired, not a single one of them will go to jail for what they did. The taxpayers will now be held liable as the innocent victim of gross police negligence and brutality, Miguel Feliz, has filed a $25 million claim against Jersey city and its police department for excessive force used on him in the June 4th incident. Feliz has been unable to return to work since police caused his car to be set on fire, in turn, setting Feliz on fire, and then brutally attacking him. As TFTP reported, the group of New Jersey police officers involved were indicted, including two for attempted murder, after they were caught on camera kicking Feliz as he crawled from the burning wreckage of a crash involving the pursuit of Leo Pinkston. The officers all faced a slew of charges each: However, none of these charges stuck and they will escape almost all accountability. According to NorthJersey.com, officers Eric Kosinski and Francisco Rodriguez each pleaded guilty to endangering another person. Kosinski, Rodriguez and Khan each fired their weapons during the pursuit. All four former officers are barred from future law enforcement employment. “This agreement is substantive in that it provides accountability for the actions of the police officers while at the same time taking into account the input of the victim,” Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said in a statement. “It is the most fair and just resolution in a difficult case.” Ask Feliz — whose body is covered in third-degree burns and whose face was kicked in by police boots as fire engulfed his body — if he thinks this is “the most fair and just resolution.” As we reported at the time, Jersey City police were pursuing Pinkston, 48, on the night of June 4, 2017, and had attempted to kill him by firing rounds into his vehicle. He fled, but crashed into another car which was pushed into a telephone pole. The car Pinkston crashed into then caught on fire. The innocent man inside the car—Feliz—was able to escape the flames, but not without injury. His clothes and skin were burning. As Feliz scrambles to take off his burning clothes as he gets out of the fire, a bystander named Erik Roberto was filming the scene. Roberto screamed to the police, “Oh no…no…Help him out! Help him out!” But they did the exact opposite. “They didn’t help him. They just started kicking him and dragging him…I don’t think they treated him in the right way and that’s not how you treat any human being in this world,” Roberto lamented to reporters. After police rapidly approached the man, with guns drawn, they began kicking him in the ribs and head, apparently mistaking him for Pinkston. It was only after kicking and beating him that they then decided to drag him away from the flames of the burning vehicle. The actions of the officers are considered abhorrent by Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop who told reporters at the time, “I don’t think there’s any explanation that would justify their actions…The entire pursuit that was previous to that fiery crash had questionable judgment calls by the officers, from the shootings to continuing to pursue the car…” Laughably and predictably, the Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association (JCPOBA) president Carmine Disbrow issued a statement defending the actions of its officers that day. We at The Free Thought Project beg to differ. The video clearly shows officers, who would have to have been blind not to see a burning man, go up and kick him like a junkyard dog and drag his body like a dead corpse across the pavement. Feliz now lives in West NY. His father said he suffered severe burns and spent many days in the burn unit in the hospital. He also sustained fractured ribs and has been left permanently disfigured. His father called the actions of the officers an attempted “massacre” and said he’d just left home to go to work when the accident and beating took place. The entire incident serves to illustrate how police officers treat individuals they suspect as having committed crimes. No longer are suspects innocent until proven guilty. All too often, as TFTP has tirelessly reported, cops comport themselves as judge, jury, and executioners. | Matt Agorist | https://thewashingtonstandard.com/new-jersey-cops-who-fired-at-innocent-man-ultimately-leading-to-him-being-set-on-fire-savagely-beat-him-get-no-jail/ | 2019-09-19 15:01:07+00:00 | 1,568,919,667 | 1,569,329,857 | crime, law and justice | justice |
1,038,181 | thewashingtonstandard--2019-09-29--Mississippi Cops Go To Wrong Home Execute Innocent Man Claim It Was OK Because He Had No Const | 2019-09-29T00:00:00 | thewashingtonstandard | Mississippi: Cops Go To Wrong Home – Execute Innocent Man – Claim It Was OK Because He Had No Constitutional Rights | Mississippi: Cops Go To Wrong Home – Execute Innocent Man – Claim It Was OK Because He Had No Constitutional Rights Southaven, MS — Two years ago, police responding to a call of domestic violence went to the wrong home and killed an innocent husband. A year later, the tragedy grew deeper when TFTP learned that the officers involved in the killing would not be charged. Now, two years later, we are finding that the government is trying to dismiss the family’s lawsuit, claiming that Ismael Lopez had no Constitutional rights, therefore, his murder did not matter. In July of 2018, the officers who killed Lopez were brought to a grand jury by District Attorney John Champion who attempted to get them indicted on charges of homicide. However, the grand jury irresponsibly failed to return an indictment. “The grand jury was given all of the evidence and they decided not to indict,” Champion said. “From my perspective, the case is closed at this point.” Now, according to a document filed by the City of Southaven Tuesday, the city is attempting to justify the murder and dismiss the lawsuit by claiming Lopez has no rights because he was an undocumented immigrant. Lopez’s family attorneys Murray Wells and Aaron Neglia responded to the filing, calling the policy “ludicrous,” according to WMC5. Wells explained to the news outlet that he’s never seen anything like this before, and neither have we. “The city announced their policy is that undocumented residents have no constitutional protection,” Wells said. “This is an attempt to chip away at our constitution.” Wells correctly stated that any person on US soil is subject to the constitution and the Supreme Court has well established this. Otherwise, Wells said using their justification, “Stormtroopers can kill you without any […] repercussions.” Indeed, that is the case. If the state can simply claim, post-murder, that the person they killed had no rights, what exactly is there a legal system for in the first place? What’s more, Lopez was actually married to a legal citizen and had lived in the neighborhood for 16 years. “Everything about this is wrong. I am outraged. Shame, shame on the police department, shame on the DA. Mr. Champion, shame on you. You need to retire,” Pastor Rolando Rostro, Lopez family advocate, said last year. As TFTP reported at the time, in July of 2017, Ismael Lopez and his wife were the only ones home when Ismael heard his dogs barking, so he took a look outside to see what was going on. Seconds later, he would be shot and killed by people who claim to protect society. Police had no right to be there and had gone to the wrong address. The Southaven Police Department admitted officers went to the wrong house that fateful night. According to police, they were trying to serve a warrant for domestic assault to Samuel Pearman—who lives 36 feet away from Lopez’s home. Police claim that when Lopez came to the door, he pointed a gun at them. However, multiple bullets were fired through the closed door and Champion admitted that the autopsy showed Lopez died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head. According to WMC 5, three officers were at the scene, but only one of them opened fire. That officer fired six total shots—two at a dog that ran out of Lopez’s house toward the officers and four into the house. The bullets went through Lopez’s front door; one hit him in the back of the head. Lopez’s dog was grazed by a bullet. “I do not believe [the officers] identified themselves at the door,” Champion said. Champion said Lopez was pulling the gun away from the direction of the officers when the officers opened fire. He said he did not want to speculate about how it happened, but he thought Lopez could have been shot in the back of the head while he turned away from the officers, reports WMC 5. The autopsy would later prove this to be true. None of the officers were wearing a body camera nor was any of the incident recorded on dash camera. The federal lawsuit filed by the family is seeking $20 million. City officials said they are ready to “vigorously defend our officers and city in a court of law.” …because officers who shoot innocent people in the back of the head after going to the wrong home, need defending. All the officers involved have since returned to full duty, including the one who killed Lopez. As the Free Thought Project has reported numerous times, entirely innocent people are often shot or killed by police at the wrong home. The innocent home owner comes to the door with a gun to see who the intruders are and bang, they are met with a hail of gunfire from cops who failed to check their GPS before assaulting completely innocent people. Sadly, as it seems, none of the officers involved in this case will be charged as TFTP reported last year, cops can go to the wrong house, kill the innocent homeowner and face no charges. A disturbing precedent was set in March of 2017 in a federal appeals court which ruled in favor of police who knocked on the wrong door at 1:30 am, failed to identify themselves, and then repeatedly shot the innocent homeowner until he died. The homeowner, 26-year-old Andrew Scott had committed no crime when officers came to his home that night on July 15, 2012. “Government officials insist that there is nothing unlawful, unreasonable or threatening about the prospect of armed police dressed in SWAT gear knocking on doors in the middle of night and ‘asking’ homeowners to engage in warrantless ‘knock-and-talk’ sessions,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “However, as Andrew Scott learned, there’s always a price to pay for saying no to such heavy-handed requests by police. If the courts continue to sanction such aggressive, excessive, coercive ‘knock-and-shoot’ tactics, it will give police further incentive to terrorize and kill American citizens without fear of repercussion.” In the land of the free, those who claim they have sworn to protect you, can come to your house and kill you, and face no consequences by claiming you have no rights. This is why police in America kill more citizens than anywhere in the rest of the world. This is why people protest. This is why people are angry. | Matt Agorist | https://thewashingtonstandard.com/mississippi-cops-go-to-wrong-home-execute-innocent-man-claim-it-was-ok-because-he-had-no-constitutional-rights/ | 2019-09-29 13:23:49+00:00 | 1,569,777,829 | 1,570,221,967 | crime, law and justice | justice |
1,038,364 | thewashingtonstandard--2019-11-01--Colorado: Innocent Man’s Home Destroyed After SWAT Shows Up In Search Of Clothing Shoplifter – Court | 2019-11-01T00:00:00 | thewashingtonstandard | Colorado: Innocent Man’s Home Destroyed After SWAT Shows Up In Search Of Clothing Shoplifter – Court Says He’s Owed No Compensation | Colorado: Innocent Man’s Home Destroyed After SWAT Shows Up In Search Of Clothing Shoplifter – Court Says He’s Owed No Compensation A federal appeals court ruled this week that an innocent Colorado man is owed no compensation after a SWAT team literally blew up and tore out sections of his house following the illegal entrance into his home of a suspected clothing shoplifter. Leo Lech sued Greenwood police after they fired gas munition and 40-millimeter rounds through the windows of his home in the June 2015 during a 19-hour standoff with the shoplifter who illegally entered his home and barricaded himself inside. The damages and replacement costs total nearly $400,000, according to Lech. First, take a look at the damage. If using all those explosive and rounds weren’t enough, the police actually drove an armored vehicle through the doors and tossed in several flashbang grenades and detonated explosives. Seriously, this is in a neighborhood and over a clothing shoplifter! Who is training these guys? Or should I say, who is indoctrinating them to think they are in a war zone? According to the Washington Post, after the suspect was apprehended, it left Leo Lech’s son, John, without a home. John lived there with his girlfriend and her 9-year-old son. However, seeing the damage, you would think the police and the city would have taken responsibility, but they didn’t. They insulted the Lech’s by refusing to compensate them and then insulting them by offering them $5,000 in temporary rental assistance and for the insurance deductible. Now, after the Leches sued, a federal appeals court has decided what else the city owes the Lech family for destroying their house more than four years ago: nothing. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit unanimously ruled that the city is not required to compensate the Lech family for their lost home because it was destroyed by police while they were trying to enforce the law, rather than taken by eminent domain. The Lechs had sued under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, which guarantees citizens compensation if their property is seized by the government for public use. But the court said that Greenwood Village was acting within its “police power” when it damaged the house, which the court said doesn’t qualify as a “taking” under the Fifth Amendment. The court acknowledged that this may seem “unfair,” but when police have to protect the public, they can’t be “burdened with the condition” that they compensate whomever is damaged by their actions along the way. “It just goes to show that they can blow up your house, throw you out on the streets and say, ‘See you later. Deal with it,’ ” Leo Lech said in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday. “What happened to us should never happen in this country, ever.” Now, Lech is contemplating taking his case to the supreme Court of the united States. Greenwood Village spokeswoman Melissa Gallegos applauded the 10th Circuit’s ruling saying, “The house was being used as a barricade, and the damage done to it was to remove the barricade and get the gunman out without any loss of life. That is not a use of another’s property under eminent domain, but a use of another’s property during a police emergency.” A police emergency? The took a tank in there! They were setting off explosives! Robert Jonathan Seacat, had stolen a shirt and a couple of belts from a Walmart. He was attempting to steal the Lech’s car when police arrived at the house when officers claimed in an affidavit that he fired at them with a handgun. And for 19 hours, he was held up inside the home. “They proceed to destroy the house — room by room, by room, by room,” Lech said. “This is one guy with a handgun. This guy was sleeping. This guy was eating. This guy was just hanging out in this house. I mean, they proceeded to blow up the entire house.” “There was one gunman with a handgun and they chose to turn this house into something that resembles Osama Bin Laden’s compound,” he said. “They methodically fired explosives into every room in this house in order to extract one person” Lech continued. “Granted, he had a handgun, but against 100 officers?” “You know, the proper thing to do would be to evacuate these homes around here, ensure the safety of the homeowners around here, fire some tear gas through the windows,” he added. “If that didn’t work, you have 50 SWAT officers with body armor break down the door.” That does seem a lot more logical and quite a bit safer, but what Mr. Lech doesn’t understand is these guys have all these new weapons of war, as certain gun grabbers say that shouldn’t be on our streets, that they need to play with. Notice who the state protects when those are used in such a manner? That’s right, their agents. They could care less for the homeowner. Speaking of his home, Lech said, “It survived two World Wars, OK, but it didn’t survive the American police paramilitary operation,” Of course, the police merely issued words and not real sympathy over the matter. “My mission is to get that individual out unharmed and make sure my team and everyone else around including the community goes home unharmed,” Greenwood Village Police Commander Dustin Varney said in 2015, KUSA reported. “Sometimes that means property gets damaged, and I am sorry for that.” Wow! Honestly, this is just pure tyranny and incompetence. Varney’s mission is to keep the peace, not disturb it in such a fashion, and with no remorse for what they did to the Lech’s home, the devastation the family endured and I would imagine the high premiums they were forced to pay following Varney and his team’s weekend warriors party. Article posted with permission from Sons Of Liberty Media | Tim Brown | https://thewashingtonstandard.com/colorado-innocent-mans-home-destroyed-after-swat-shows-up-in-search-of-clothing-shoplifter-court-says-hes-owed-no-compensation/ | Fri, 01 Nov 2019 21:31:02 +0000 | 1,572,658,262 | 1,572,645,613 | crime, law and justice | justice |
1,038,366 | thewashingtonstandard--2019-11-01--Kansas: Taypayers To Be Held Liable After SWAT Raids Innocent Family Over Growing Tomato Plants | 2019-11-01T00:00:00 | thewashingtonstandard | Kansas: Taypayers To Be Held Liable After SWAT Raids Innocent Family Over Growing Tomato Plants | Leawood, KS — Adlynn and Robert Harte and their two children had harmed no one and broken no laws when heavily armed militarized SWAT deputies with the Johnson County sheriff’s department stormed their home like it was an ISIS compound. The “hero” deputies were searching for evidence of marijuana production and use but they found none because the Harte’s don’t use or produce marijuana. They do grow vegetables, however, and they also drink tea. The Hartes and their two children were held at gunpoint and nearly killed for purchasing supplies for their vegetable garden and drinking tea. After they were seen buying gardening supplies, cops rummaged through their trash and mistook tea leaves for weed, sparking ‘probable cause’ for the raid. Since the raid in 2012, the Harte family has been attempting to seek justice but to no avail. This month, however, they finally got a break. According to Reason, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled that Adlynn and Robert Harte, who lost their case after a jury trial in 2017, were wrongly denied the opportunity to pursue several of their claims against the Johnson County sheriff’s deputies who stormed into their home as part of a comically inept publicity stunt. In the realm of unlawful police raids, this one may take the cake. It began with a Missouri State Highway Patrolman staking out a garden store every day in Kansas City in hopes of catching some pot growers. Robert Harte visited the store with his two children to buy supplies for an educational vegetable garden project in his basement. The sergeant shared Harte’s information with a counterpart in the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO), which was planning to raid several suspected cannabis growers on 4/20…such originality. JCSO went through the Harte’s trash on three occasions, eventually finding what officers believed was cannabis clippings soaked in THC extract. Because everyone throws away their weed, right? But the “marijuana” was actually discarded tea leaves. Despite a lab technician saying the tea leaves looked nothing like cannabis leaves or stems, deputies Edward Blake and Mark Burns used notoriously faulty field drug test kits which showed the presence of THC. These supposed field drug tests were the basis for planning the raid, but the deputies never photographed or documented the tests — leading Judge Carlos Lucero to note that these circumstances gave the deputies strong motive to lie. “The deputies did not photograph any of the substances, nor did they send them to a crime lab for testing,” Judge Joel Carson notes in this month’s 10th Circuit decision. “If the deputies would have sent the wet vegetation to a crime lab for testing, they would have discovered that the wet vegetation was not marijuana but instead was Addie’s loose-leaf tea. Rather than conducting further investigation, the deputies prepared a search warrant affidavit relying solely on the loose-leaf tea found in the garbage and Bob’s shopping trip to a garden store eight months earlier.” They had to find something on the Hartes, because the JCSO had already scheduled the raid on the Harte’s home. Several routine investigatory steps were ignored, making their search warrant “based on nothing more than gardening supplies and a bag and wet tea leaves in the garbage.” The list of sheer incompetence goes on. In his written decision in 2017, Lucero used extraordinary language to characterize just how reckless these drug warriors were. During the two and a half hour raid – where heavily armed SWAT team broke in during early morning hours while the children were home – officers frantically searched for anything to justify their debacle, but found only tomato plants and gardening supplies. Knowing the history of no-knock SWAT raids, someone could have easily gotten killed. The cops had picked the wrong target this time, as both Mr. and Mrs. Harte are former CIA employees and knew a thing or two about research. After the traumatic experience, the Hartes set out to find out why this happened to them. Spending thousands of dollars in legal costs, they were able to procure a probable-cause affidavit. It was easy to see that the “probable cause” was full of holes, and thankfully the 10th Circuit court actually studied the facts. The reinstated lawsuit includes unlawful search-and-seizure claims against 10 deputies, the sheriff who started the fiasco and the Johnson County Board of Commissioners. The Hartes can also move forward with trying to prove that the cops lied about the field tests, and other claims under state law including trespass, assault and false imprisonment. According to Reason, in its new decision, the 10th Circuit says the district court erred in limiting the Hartes to that one federal claim two years ago. The court has again remanded the case, saying the Hartes should be allowed to pursue three other claims: “(1) whether Defendants properly executed the warrant; (2) whether the deputies exceeded the scope of the warrant by searching for evidence of general criminal activity; and (3) whether the deputies prolonged Plaintiffs’ detention, thus subjecting them to an illegal arrest.” “There was no probable cause at any step of the investigation,” wrote Lucero in 2017. “Not at the garden shop, not at the gathering of the tea leaves, and certainly not at the analytical stage when the officers willfully ignored directions to submit any presumed results to a laboratory for analysis.” | Matt Agorist | https://thewashingtonstandard.com/kansas-taypayers-to-be-held-liable-after-swat-raids-innocent-family-over-growing-tomato-plants/ | Fri, 01 Nov 2019 16:14:25 +0000 | 1,572,639,265 | 1,572,645,615 | crime, law and justice | justice |
1,038,759 | thewashingtonstandard--2019-12-15--Texas: Cop Found Guilty After Video Caught Him Beating Innocent Man In A Hospital & Lying About It | 2019-12-15T00:00:00 | thewashingtonstandard | Texas: Cop Found Guilty After Video Caught Him Beating Innocent Man In A Hospital & Lying About It | Fort Worth, TX — The body camera video showing a Fort Worth police officer viciously attack and then falsely arrest an innocent man was so terrible that it actually led to this cop getting charged. However, it left many asking why it took more than a year to indict this cop knowing that investigators had video evidence of the attack the entire time. Now, however, this abusive cop has been found guilty and will be held accountable for his crimes. “He lied about the facts and circumstances. He lied in his police report. He said that he had been told multiple times to leave. He said in his police report that he told him he was under arrest before he struck him,” said Prosecutor Terri Moore. The victim in this incident was then-20-year-old Henry Newson who’d just been released from the hospital. As he was waiting for his mom to come pick him up, officer Jon Preston Romer, 38, who was working as security at the hospital, walked up to Newson and began to attack him for no reason. The subsequent attack led to a lawsuit by Newson and a criminal investigation into Romer. In spite of the incident happening in 2016, the body camera footage was only just released last year after Romer was indicted. Infuriatingly enough, up until Wednesday, Romer was still collecting a paycheck as a police officer. He was only fired after he was found guilty. In March, he was indicted on charges of official oppression, aggravated perjury and making a false report to a police officer in connection with the incident. This week, he was only found guilty on the aggravated perjury charge and the other charges are still pending. Sentencing for this charge has not been announced. Romer faces up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for this third-degree felony. As the Star-Telegram reported at the time: Newson, who according to his lawsuit had just spent two days in the hospital for an illness and was waiting for a ride home, was charged with resisting arrest and criminal trespass, but those were dismissed in March 2017 at prosecutorial discretion. The video shows Romer putting Newson in a headlock and taking him to the ground. Then Romer and two other men named in the lawsuit as hospital security guards Jeremy Flores and Jonathan Walterbach appear to pile on top of Newson and punch, kick and handcuff him. Surveillance video obtained by Newson’s attorney shows Newson borrowing someone’s phone to call his mother when hospital security approaches him. “I’m just trying to figure out what you’re doing,” a security guard said. “They’re picking me up from here,” Newson explained at one point. “I have nowhere to go.” At no time does Newson ever pose a threat to anyone around him. However, as the conversation escalates, Romer comes in for the kill. Newson refers to Romer as “bro” and the officer then punches him the jaw and takes him down. Remarkably enough, Newson never fought back and instead tried to get help from the officers, but they did not help. “The officers knew why he was there, he complied with everything they asked him to do, and they still beat him up,” his attorney, Matthew Bobo said. “This was a young African American kid with no criminal history, no criminal record,” said Bobo. “He’d been in the hospital for two days and he was waiting for his mom to come pick him up.” Newson’s arrest and beating sparked protest among anti-police brutality activists in the community. Michael Bell, pastor of Greater St. Stephen First Church and spokesman for the Tarrant County Local Organizing Committee, asked during a news conference last year why Romer — who Bell noted fatally shot a black man during a traffic stop in front of three of his children in 2011 — was not fired, according to the Telegram. “Why was a police officer who has used deathly force been allowed to remain on the streets until the day of his indictment?” Bell said. “Who made the decision to not hold Romer accountable for his actions once they were uncovered?” Had they held him accountable, Newson would have never been assaulted. According to the Telegram, the victim in the 2011 shooting death was 32-year-old handicapped father Charal “Ra Ra” Thomas. Thomas did not follow police orders to exit his vehicle and drove off with Romer’s arm trapped in a window. Thomas continued to drive, dragging Romer along until Romer pulled himself onto a running board and fatally shot him in front of three of Thomas’ children. That death became a source of friction between police and the black community. Because his department never held him accountable for the shooting death of an unarmed handicapped father, this problem cop was allowed to go on brutalizing innocent people. Finally, he was caught. | Matt Agorist | https://thewashingtonstandard.com/texas-cop-found-guilty-after-video-caught-him-beating-innocent-man-in-a-hospital-lying-about-it/ | Sun, 15 Dec 2019 13:02:26 +0000 | 1,576,432,946 | 1,576,454,457 | crime, law and justice | justice |
1,038,818 | thewashingtonstandard--2019-12-22--New York: Cops Frame Innocent Brothers For Cocaine – Tried To Destroy Video Evidence – It Survived | 2019-12-22T00:00:00 | thewashingtonstandard | New York: Cops Frame Innocent Brothers For Cocaine – Tried To Destroy Video Evidence – It Survived (Video) | New York, NY — To all those who make the bogus claim of “if you don’t do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about,” consider the following case as even more evidence of how ridiculous that assertion is. Two innocent brothers were framed by NYPD cops who were caught on video destroying video evidence of their egregious act. Luckily for the brothers, the hard drive in the video recorder survived and it caught these badged criminals in the act. Earlier this year, apparent criminals with the NYPD’s gang unit executed a search warrant on a store owned by two brothers. The entrepreneurs had committed no crime, were conducting 100% legal business, yet they were kidnapped by officers and caged for over a month on false charges. The cops accused the brothers of having a large amount of cocaine and when they were booked into jail, the DA’s office provided no documentation and asked for the two brothers to be held without bail. “It was the worst day of my life,” said one of the brothers, who asked not to be identified by name, according to NBC 4. “We never had drugs in the store,” he added. Highlighting the level of criminality associated with this raid is the fact that the cops used the notoriously faulty field test kits to test the “cocaine.” As TFTP has reported on numerous occasions, tens of thousands have been convicted and served time for crimes they didn’t commit because the cases against them relied on horribly unreliable field drug test kits. So prone to errors are the tests, courts won’t allow their submission as evidence. However, they are continued to be used by law enforcement, needlessly ruining thousands of lives. This time, however, the test kits showed that the substance tested was not drugs. Yes, you read that correctly. The cheap faulty kit actually returned a negative result for cocaine, but the cops arrested the innocent brothers anyway and had them locked up without bail. The brothers would spend over a month in jail before lab tests for cocaine came back negative. All the charges were then dropped, but their lives and business had been ruined by their absence. When the brothers finally went back to their store, they found that cops had left behind the field test kits — which all showed negative results. That wasn’t the only thing cops left behind either. As NBC New York reports: Attorney Marvyn Kornberg, a criminal attorney who represents the brothers, said, “It’s a unit gone wild, that’s what it says to me. They think they’re above the law. They’re ripping out cameras. What are they afraid of the public seeing?” Naturally, the NYPD, who claims this incident is “under investigation,” said they destroyed the cameras for “tactical” reasons. “That’s ridiculous,” said Richard Rivera, a former police officer in West New York, New Jersey, who is now a police tactics expert, according to NBC 4. “They could have covered the cameras. The way they come in doesn’t indicate that any of them is concerned about a remote feed. They’re not worried about security. It’s like a walk in the park to them,” he said, noting that there is no legitimate reason to destroy evidence in that manner. “This whole incident is a huge mess for them,” he said. “If this is an ongoing drug case, they would want to preserve the evidence, not destroy it, and that’s exactly what they did.” When asked why they would recommend no bail for the brothers, the DA’s officer pointed the finger back at the NYPD, saying they relied on their word that the claims were true. Unfortunately for the brothers, this blind trust in badged criminals would land them in a cage for over a month. To date, the brothers still have no idea why these criminals from the NYPD showed up at their store that day. As part of their lawsuit against the city, they have demanded prosecutors turn over the underlying basis for the search warrant. They have also filed a notice of claim to sue the city and the taxpayers will undoubtedly be held liable for these criminal cops. | Matt Agorist | https://thewashingtonstandard.com/new-york-cops-frame-innocent-brothers-for-cocaine-tried-to-destroy-video-evidence-it-survived-video/ | Sun, 22 Dec 2019 13:39:48 +0000 | 1,577,039,988 | 1,577,059,261 | crime, law and justice | justice |
1,045,683 | trueactivist--2019-02-12--Florida Cop Purposely Botches Roadside Drug Test And Arrests An Innocent Man But Is Caught On Video | 2019-02-12T00:00:00 | trueactivist | Florida Cop Purposely Botches Roadside Drug Test And Arrests An Innocent Man, But Is Caught On Video | Police body camera footage shows a Florida sheriff purposely botching the results of a roadside drug test during a traffic stop, and then arresting an innocent man. The video which was obtained by Reason and filmed last April 17, 2018, shows Florida resident Steve Vann being stopped on the road during a routine traffic stop by former Jackson County Sheriff’s deputy Zachary Wester. The police searched the vehicle and Wester pulls out a small plastic from the center console to test it for methamphetamines using the Nark II field test. As per the manufacturer of the field test, the results “will develop an immediate (within 2 seconds) Dark Blue color as a positive reaction after breakage and agitation of the 3rd ampoule. If the color development is an immediate Pink slowly transforming to Lavender, you do not have either Methamphetamine or MDMA.” Although the results of this small plastic bag clearly turned red, as seen in the footage, Wester claimed it was ‘blue’ and pressured Vann to admit that he had knowledge of the methamphetamine found inside his car. Vann continued to deny this and was even brought to tears at several points. As a result of this routine traffic stop, Vann was charged with possession of drugs and paraphernalia. Wester has had a history of bad policing, since he was hired in 2016. State prosecutors have dropped more than 100 cases where this infamous sheriff was involved in, after another camera footage was released last September 2018, which showed the officer allegedly planting drugs in yet another car. Included in the 100 dropped cases was Vann’s charge. Wester was fired immediately after this incident. More than a dozen of Wester’s victims have filed federal lawsuits against him. Many of his chosen victims had prior criminal records due to drug possession, which made them easy targets. No one wold believe their world against a Sheriff’s word. All charges would likely stand if Wester had not been seen in the camera footages and he would still be patrolling the streets of Florida. What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news! | True Activist | http://www.trueactivist.com/florida-cop-purposely-botches-roadside-drug-test-and-arrests-an-innocent-man-but-is-caught-on-video-t1/ | 2019-02-12 00:45:38+00:00 | 1,549,950,338 | 1,567,548,757 | crime, law and justice | justice |
235,329 | hitandrun--2019-07-18--Corey Atchison Freed After Serving 28 Years for a Murder He Didnt Commit | 2019-07-18T00:00:00 | hitandrun | Corey Atchison Freed After Serving 28 Years for a Murder He Didn't Commit | After 28 years in prison, Corey Atchison is finally a free man. Convicted of murder in 1991, the Oklahoma native spent nearly three decades behind bars before a private investigator, Eric Cullen, took up his case. Cullen's work had previously helped to free Atchison's younger brother, Malcolm Scott, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1994. In Scott's case, another man who had testified against Scott eventually confessed to the murder before being executed for another crime. In Atchison's, evidence emerged that the authorities had bullied witnesses into offering false testimony. District Judge Sharon Holmes found that his case was marred by a "fundamental miscarriage of justice," according to people who were in the courtroom and local reports…. "Corey was arrested three months before his daughter was born; this is the first time he's been able to have some real contact with her and the same with his 10-year-old grandson," his lawyer Joseph Norwood told The Washington Post. "I'm very proud to have vindicated them and reunited them." One might have expected Atchison to express bitterness. (If I had been wrongly imprisoned for nearly 30 years of my life, I would be plotting some kind of elaborate revenge, Count of Monte Cristo–style.) But Atchison told the press that he felt "blessed" and held no grudges. "Life's too short," he said. Indeed, life is too short. And Atchison's life is 30 years shorter, because overzealous authorities stole that time from him. I can't help but think about this travesty of justice in the context of the current national freakout many on the right are having with respect to "Big Tech," globalization, automation, and the supposed sins of the free market. To grapple with these issues, these conservatives are racing to embrace nationalism and "declare independence from neoliberalism, from libertarianism, from what they call classical liberalism…from the set of ideas that sees the atomic individual, the free and equal individual, as the only thing that matters in politics." That's how author Yoram Hazony explained it during his remarks at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, D.C., this week. (See my colleague Stephanie Slade's excellent writeup of the event.) Other speakers at the conference explicitly singled out private companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook as bigger threats to individual liberty than big government. Libertarians, the new nationalists say, are fools for caring more about the latter threat than the former. For the likes of Steven Crowder and Dennis Prager, perhaps the threat of YouTube censorship really is the most serious tyranny they face. Many other Americans have different problems. Neither Google nor Amazon nor any social media company even existed when the government sent Atchison to prison for for 28 years. Who knows if one day Twitter would have shadowbanned Eric Garner, killed by the cops because he was selling loose cigarettes? On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced that none of the officers responsible would face charges. The only person who went to prison in the Garner case was Ramsey Orta—a friend of Garner's who managed to record his final moments. Giving more power to the government is probably not an appealing agenda for the family of Daniel Shaver, whose killer—Officer Philip Mitchell Brailsford—will receive $2,500 a month because he allegedly got PTSD for shooting the unarmed man in a hotel hallway. Nor would it please the Lowthers, who spent $300,000 trying to stop Child Protective Services from abducting their children based on a mendacious lie. Our critics—be they nationalist conservatives or progressive liberals—say we libertarians are monomaniacally focused on reducing the size of government. But that's because we recognize that government has more power than any other institution to kill people, deport their relatives, kidnap their children, and destroy their livelihoods. If you're not at serious risk of suffering one of those calamities, you possess a level of privilege many of your fellow Americans do not. That doesn't mean you are forbidden from complaining about bias or mistreatment at the hands of private organizations such as tech companies and the mainstream media. I'm frequently critical of both myself. But you should be really, really wary of supporting robust federal intervention into these problems, when the likely result will be to give government authorities more resources for oppressing everyone. The next time someone says that there's no bigger threat to Americans' liberties than Big Tech, remember Corey Atchison. | Robby Soave ([email protected]) | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reason/HitandRun/~3/1ZfAIQ5aK80/ | 2019-07-18 15:35:02+00:00 | 1,563,478,502 | 1,567,536,467 | crime, law and justice | justice |
316,146 | mercurynews--2019-11-13--SoCal man freed after 11 years for robberies he didn’t commit | 2019-11-13T00:00:00 | mercurynews | SoCal man freed after 11 years for robberies he didn’t commit | In 2008 Ruben Martinez Jr. was sentenced to 47 years and eight months in prison for a series of armed robberies, even though he was at work when two of the crimes were committed. Eleven years later, he finally proved his innocence. The 49-year-old was freed this month after serving 11 years of that sentence. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William Ryan vacated Martinez’s conviction, permanently released him from prison, dismissed his case with prejudice and found him factually innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted. “I did not do this time by myself,” Martinez said at a news conference. “My family did time. My wife did time with me, did the 11 years with me. I couldn’t do it on my own, by my own strength. It was God’s strength that got me through this.” Martinez and his wife Maria always insisted that he was not the armed robber who hit the same Los Angeles auto body shop five times between 2005 and 2007. “All my husband wanted was for the truth to be revealed. Well, the truth has been revealed, and he’s a free man,” Maria Martinez told reporters. He was convicted without physical evidence Martinez worked for a temporary employment agency at the time of the crimes and said he was working when two of the robberies occurred, according to court documents. But a witness identified him as the perpetrator and he was convicted in 2008 on nine counts of second-degree robbery. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crimes. Martinez was tried a second time on the charges after his first trial ended in a mistrial. Two witnesses who testified that he was not the robber were not called in the second trial, according to the District Attorney’s office. Martinez said he turned down a plea deal that would have included a 2 1/2 year sentence. He filed several unsuccessful appeals before bringing his case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit. District Attorney Jackie Lacey told reporters that her investigators were able to track down new information that confirmed Martinez’s alibi. She said the alibis were not fully presented at trial. “They painstakingly tracked down witnesses and uncovered employment records and pay stubs that confirmed that Mr. Martinez could not have committed two of the crimes that were clearly the work of the same serial robber,” she said at a news conference. Lacey said that the robberies were all committed by the same person, who has not been caught, so Martinez had to be innocent of those crimes as well. She ordered him to be released November 1 and he was freed four days later. “I am sorry for this injustice and I am so happy that you did not give up on us and allowed us to share this moment,” Lacey told the Martinez family. She said that during Martinez’s years in prison, the couple was “unstoppable in their pursuit of his freedom.” “Throughout this terrible ordeal, The two were never deterred by setbacks and instead demonstrated remarkable strength and dignity through what I imagine must have been a dark time,” Lacey said. His wife worked on his appeal Maria Martinez had worked as a secretary in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and was very close with retired homicide detective Catherine Wills — so close that Wills’ husband gave Maria away when she married Ruben. “She is such a beautiful person and I knew that Maria would never have anything to do with a person who committed crimes, she’s so straight,” Wills said. Wills said that she and Maria Martinez spent six months going through every document in Ruben Martinez’s case and presented a thick binder of evidence to the district attorney’s office. “I told them, ‘Look, I’m 82 years old now, and I’m not going to die until Ruben Martinez is out of prison,'” Wills said. “I just pinch myself every morning,” Wills told CNN affiliate KABC. “I knew it should happen, but that doesn’t mean it does happen.” Martinez is the third person to have their sentence vacated since Lacey formed the unit in 2015 and the first to do it without an attorney, according to the district attorney’s office. There are currently 45 cases under review. • Trump says he is a ‘big fan’ of Turkish leader Erdogan • DA: ‘It’s a disgrace:’ East Bay counties to crack down on illegal dumping • Impeachment: Trump reaching the limit of his powers “Although the vast majority of convictions are correctly upheld, I knew that, at times, the pursuit of justice, which depends on human beings, is not perfect,” Lacey said. “And Mr. Martinez’s case serves as a stark reminder to all of us: Despite our best efforts, we don’t always get it right.” Martinez gave Lacey a friendly side hug during the news conference and said he was grateful to her, the prosecutors who helped free him and the thousands of people who prayed for him and his wife. “The Lord Jesus Christ is a part of my life, and there’s no grudges. People are human people do make mistakes.” Martinez said. “But what touches me is when the DA got behind me and stamped me … and proved me innocent — so what grudge?” he said. Martinez said he was studying to get his driver’s license and is looking forward to getting a job so he can be a taxpayer again and pay his bills. | CNN.com Wire Service | https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/11/13/socal-man-freed-after-11-years-for-robberies-he-didnt-commit/ | Wed, 13 Nov 2019 23:02:55 +0000 | 1,573,704,175 | 1,573,691,210 | crime, law and justice | justice |
477,081 | rt--2019-11-26--‘I’ve dreamt about this day’: Three US friends freed after spending 36 YEARS in prison for murder TH | 2019-11-26T00:00:00 | rt | ‘I’ve dreamt about this day’: Three US friends freed after spending 36 YEARS in prison for murder THEY DIDN'T COMMIT | Three teenagers from Baltimore, wrongfully convicted of killing a school student in cold blood, have been exonerated after spending more than three decades of their lives in jail. Childhood friends Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart were arrested in 1983, when they were 16, and subsequently convicted of gunning down a 14-year-old student at Harlem Park Junior High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Authorities said at the time that the boy was shot in the neck with a 22-caliber handgun in an attempt to steal a fancy jacket he was wearing. The men have always insisted they were innocent. Nevertheless, they spent 36 years behind bars… until they were exonerated in court on Monday. Their release became possible after Chestnut successfully filed a request to gain access to sealed court records last year, and the state prosecutor’s office launched a review of the case. The prosecutors discovered that during the original investigation several witnesses told the court that the murder was actually committed by a different student, a man who would eventually die in 2002. Moreover, four juvenile witnesses, who identified Chestnut, Watkins, and Stewart as the killers, failed multiple times to identify them in photo arrays before the trial. It was also found that their testimonies may have been made under pressure from police and had been recanted. The witnesses said police officers questioned them without their parents being present. “You, you and you, should never have seen the inside of a jail cell. So, on behalf of this system I apologize to you and your family,” state’s attorney for Baltimore City Marilyn Mosby told the men, now in their 50s, in court. The three friends, who have finally regained their freedom, thanked their loved ones and everyone who had helped them to fight for justice. “I’ve been always dreaming of this day,” Chestnut told reporters. “I sat on my bunk when I got the information and I cried,” said Stewart. “My journey is just beginning because I have to learn how to live right now.” Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! | RT | https://www.rt.com/usa/474324-three-baltimore-men-exonerated/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS | Tue, 26 Nov 2019 08:14:48 +0000 | 1,574,774,088 | 1,574,769,703 | crime, law and justice | justice |
508,856 | sottnet--2019-11-26--'I've dreamt about this day': Three US friends freed after spending 36 years in prison for murder th | 2019-11-26T00:00:00 | sottnet | 'I've dreamt about this day': Three US friends freed after spending 36 years in prison for murder they didn't commit | Three teenagers from Baltimore, wrongfully convicted of killing a school student in cold blood, have been exonerated after spending more than three decades of their lives in jail.Childhood friends Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart were arrested in 1983, when they were 16, and subsequently convicted of gunning down a 14-year-old student at Harlem Park Junior High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Authorities said at the time that the boy was shot in the neck with a 22-caliber handgun in an attempt to steal a fancy jacket he was wearing.The men have always insisted they were innocent. Nevertheless, they spent 36 years behind bars... until they were exonerated in court on Monday. Their release became possible after Chestnut successfully filed a request to gain access to sealed court records last year, and the state prosecutor's office launched a review of the case."You, you and you, should never have seen the inside of a jail cell. So, on behalf of this system I apologize to you and your family," state's attorney for Baltimore City Marilyn Mosby told the men, now in their 50s, in court.The three friends, who have finally regained their freedom, thanked their loved ones and everyone who had helped them to fight for justice."I've been always dreaming of this day," Chestnut told reporters."I sat on my bunk when I got the information and I cried," said Stewart. "My journey is just beginning because I have to learn how to live right now." | null | https://www.sott.net/article/424677-I-ve-dreamt-about-this-day-Three-US-friends-freed-after-spending-36-years-in-prison-for-murder-they-didnt-commit | Tue, 26 Nov 2019 15:22:41 +0000 | 1,574,799,761 | 1,574,815,043 | crime, law and justice | justice |
721,185 | thehill--2019-03-29--Two black men wrongfully convicted of murder freed after 43 years | 2019-03-29T00:00:00 | thehill | Two black men wrongfully convicted of murder freed after 43 years | Two black men who were wrongfully convicted of murder in Florida were freed earlier this week after serving more than 40 years behind bars. Clifford Williams Jr. was 34 years old and his nephew, Hubert Nathan Myers, was just 18 when they were arrested in May 1976 after the shooting of two women, CNN reports. The two were reportedly at a party in Jacksonville when the two women were shot, one fatally, in an apartment nearby. But they were quickly arrested, wrongfully convicted and subsequently handed life sentences after just a two-day trial at the time. It wasn’t until Thursday that Williams, who is now 76, and Myers, 61, had their convictions vacated. "I'm nervous because I feel like I'm still locked up," Williams told CNN Thursday. "Once I get with my family and know I can look back ... and the reality hits in, I think I'll be all right." The news comes after a review of the men’s case under the Conviction Integrity Review (CIR) division of the State’s Attorney’s Office in Florida found that the state “no longer has confidence in the integrity of the convictions or guilt of the accused,” a report on the state's investigation seen by ABC News read. The two men reportedly filed multiple motions for "postconviction relief” that would eventually fail before they began to see a change of luck after petitioning the CIR unit in 2017. Among the findings from their work with the unit, officials also reportedly discovered another man, Nathaniel Lawson, had confessed to the 1976 shooting years after Williams and Myers were convicted for it. The comprehensive review of the case would later lead to the state throwing out Williams's and Myers’s convictions and setting them free. According to The Florida Times-Union, Myers will be eligible for compensation from the state for his wrongful imprisonment but Williams will not due to his past criminal record prior to the wrongful conviction. | Aris Folley | https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/436493-two-black-men-wrongfully-convicted-of-murder-freed-after-43 | 2019-03-29 19:04:19+00:00 | 1,553,900,659 | 1,567,544,831 | crime, law and justice | justice |
749,211 | theindependent--2019-02-25--California man freed after wrongly imprisoned for 40 years wins 21m settlement | 2019-02-25T00:00:00 | theindependent | California man freed after wrongly imprisoned for 40 years wins $21m settlement | A man wrongly convicted and imprisoned for nearly 40 years in the killing of his girlfriend and her four-year-old son reached a $21m (£16m) settlement with the city of Simi Valley, California over the weekend. Craig Coley, 71, was released from prison in 2017 after DNA evidence and another investigation proved the man’s innocence. Then-Governor Jerry Brown pardoned Mr Coley. The large-sum settlement agreement will also cover the arduous, costly and unneeded legal proceedings, Simi Valley officials told the Los Angeles Times. “While no amount of money can make up for what happened to Mr Coley, settling this case is the right thing to do for Mr. Coley and our community,” city manager Eric Levitt said in a statement. Simi Valley will be paying $4.9m (£3.75m) whereas the rest of the settlement will be paid out by insurance and other revenue sources. Last year, the state approved a separate $2m payment for Mr Coley. The 71-year-old spent 39 years in prison after he was wrongly convicted of killing Rhonda Wicht, 24, and her toddler son in 1978. Simi Valley’s police chief and Ventura County’s district attorney requested the then-governor Mr Brown to pardon Mr Coley following results from forensic tests proving that his DNA was not on the victim’s bed sheet. The contained DNA came from an unknown man. Mr Coley had an alibi for the time of the killing. Investigators disproved eyewitness testimonies that placed him at the scene of the slayings. His parents died while he was still behind bars. They mortgaged their home to pay for his legal bills. Ron Kaye, Mr Coley’s attorney, said the settlement offers only a little bit of closure and vindication for his client. He added that no amount of money could pay back the time and life he missed while being falsely imprisoned. “He now can live the rest of his life, which we hope will be really well into the future, with the security he deserves,” Mr Kaye told the Associated Press. After Mr Coley was pardoned, the judge declared him “factually innocent.” There has been no other arrests made in the killings. We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads. | Sarah Harvard | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/california-man-wrongly-imprisoned-for-40-years-wins-21m-settlement-a8796296.html | 2019-02-25 16:31:00+00:00 | 1,551,130,260 | 1,567,547,382 | crime, law and justice | justice |
764,577 | theindependent--2019-07-01--Man freed after 17 years in prison when newly examined fingerprints prove his innocence | 2019-07-01T00:00:00 | theindependent | Man freed after 17 years in prison when newly examined fingerprints prove his innocence | A man who spent 17 years behind bars for an armed robbery he did not commit has finally been freed after new fingerprint evidence proved his innocence. Royal Clark Jr walked out of a Louisiana jail last week the day after his 41st birthday. He was convicted of the crime on his 25th birthday, back in 2002. "I don't know what to say," a tearful Mr Clark told reporters and crowds of well-wishers. There were times he had abandoned any hope he might be released from his 49-year sentence, he admitted. “I'm not going to sit here and lie and tell you I didn't," he said, when asked if he given up. “[But] I can't let anger direct me. I can't let my past be my future." Mr Clark was arrested after an armed robbery at a Burger King in 2001. The only evidence against him was an employee of the restaurant, who incorrectly identified Mr Clark as the robber. But a team of lawyers at the Innocence Project New Orleans pressed the courts to re-examine fingerprints found at the scene, which when run through a state database proved to belong to another man, Jessie Perry, who had already been convicted of other robberies. "As district attorney, my obligation to seek justice does not end upon conviction," the local district attorney Paul Connick said in a statement. "When the evidence reveals an individual was wrongfully convicted, my office will take action to correct that injustice." Outside the jail Mr Clark’s son, also called Royal, spoke about the absence of his father from his life. Royal Clark III was only a baby when his father was locked up. “My mama couldn't always be there for me. She had to work," he said, his father's arm draped over his shoulder. Tears streamed down his father's face. "He was supposed to be there to teach me." Kia Hall Hayes, from the Innocence Project, said the miscarriage of justice showed how unreliable eyewitness testimony could be. “His case serves as another example of the unreliability of eyewitness identification evidence, the importance of judges allowing juries all the tools they need to assess the evidence accurately, and the danger of relying exclusively on such evidence to take away someone’s liberty,” she said. Mr Clark is the second person to be exonerated in Louisiana based on fingerprint evidence this year. In March, Archie Williams was freed after serving 36 years for a rape once the authorities had finally agreed to run fingerprint evidence through an updated state database. The Innocence Project said the state should now create a legal right for prisoners to access such databases where it could clear their names. But in Mr Clark’s case, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said they were only able to re-test the fingerprint evidence from the Burger King holdup because of new techniques, which were not available back in 2002. | Tim Wyatt | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/royal-clark-jr-freed-innocent-jail-exonerated-armed-robbery-louisiana-fingerprints-a8982246.html | 2019-07-01 10:04:00+00:00 | 1,561,989,840 | 1,567,537,343 | crime, law and justice | justice |
373,347 | newyorkpost--2019-03-31--Wrongfully convicted men finally free after 43 years in prison | 2019-03-31T00:00:00 | newyorkpost | Wrongfully convicted men finally free after 43 years in prison | Two wrongfully convicted men were released from prison Saturday after spending 43 years behind bars in Florida for a murder they didn’t commit. Years ago another suspect confessed to the slayings, but only now have Clifford Williams, 76, and Nathan Myers, 61, been cleared in the 1976 killing of Jeanette Williams. “I lost almost 43 years of my life that I can never get back, but I am looking ahead and will focus on enjoying my freedom with my family,” said Myers in a statement. The uncle and nephew were sprung after a conviction integrity unit of the state’s attorney general reviewed the case. It marks the first time the unit’s work led to a jailed prisoner being released. The original case against the men heavily relied on the testimony of Nina Marshall, who was shot alongside Jeanette Williams, but survived. Her story changed over the years. The overturn decision followed a 77-page report detailing witness accounts of another man, Nathaniel Lawson, now deceased, who admitted to the murder. | Marisa Dellatto | https://nypost.com/2019/03/30/wrongfully-convicted-men-finally-free-after-43-years-in-prison/ | 2019-03-31 00:30:47+00:00 | 1,554,006,647 | 1,567,544,599 | crime, law and justice | justice |
383,597 | npr--2019-01-30--Wrongfully Convicted And Jailed 38 Years Fred Clay Gets 1 Million Payout | 2019-01-30T00:00:00 | npr | Wrongfully Convicted And Jailed 38 Years, Fred Clay Gets $1 Million Payout | Fred Clay, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent almost 38 years in Massachusetts prisons, will receive a $1 million settlement from the state, the highest amount allowed under a new state law. The settlement with the Massachusetts Attorney General was finalized Tuesday in Suffolk Superior Court, the same courthouse where Clay's conviction was vacated in 2017 and his freedom granted at age 53. "It is a great day for justice and it is a great day for Mr. Clay," said Jeffrey Harris, one of Clay's attorneys who sued the state in June for compensation. "The Commonwealth was willing to pay the full million dollars that's available under the law and it does appear that in this case, the law worked the way it was supposed to." Clay was arrested in 1979 just weeks after turning 16 and charged as an adult for the murder of a cab driver in Roslindale, Mass. He was convicted of first-degree murder based partly on testimony from a witness named Richard Dwyer, who identified Clay only after he had been put under hypnosis by a police detective. Clay's release from prison in August 2017 came after years of investigations by the state's Innocence Program convinced the Suffolk district attorney's Conviction Integrity Program to reassess Clay's murder conviction. WGBH News chronicled Clay's first year of freedom in a radio series that aired last September. After his release, Clay received no assistance from the state during his first 17 months outside prison and has struggled to find a good-paying job and decent housing. One state legislator is pointing to his case as a reason to retool the way the state assists wrongfully convicted people released from prison, to provide more immediate assistance once they are freed. State Sen. Patricia Jehlen said the media focus on Clay helped convince her to write a bill she filed less than two weeks ago, calling for getting quicker cash assistance and help with housing and job training to wrongfully convicted people. "Immediately upon release, the person could receive $5,000 and immediate help with things like finding a job or finding a home, getting health insurance — all of those are things that would be a part of their transition out of prison," said Jehlen. Jehlen said she has discussed the bill with Attorney General Maura Healey, who told WGBH News last year that she also favors changing the law to make it easier for people like Clay to get compensation. Clay's lawyers waited until June to file a lawsuit for compensation because the state law was rewritten just last year to raise the payment limit from $500,000 to $1 million. Of the 69 people who have sued for compensation under the state law, fewer than half have gotten any money from the state. The average payout, before Clay's settlement, was $364,000. Under the state's formula, people like Fred Clay who served long sentences receive a much lower per-year payout. Clay's settlement equals about $26,000 for each year he was wrongfully incarcerated. "Would anyone take $26,000 to be in prison for a year?" asked Clay's attorney Jeffrey Harris. "Probably not." | Chris Burrell | https://www.npr.org/2019/01/30/690016359/wrongfully-convicted-and-jailed-38-years-fred-clay-gets-1-million-payout?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-01-30 23:36:07+00:00 | 1,548,909,367 | 1,567,550,284 | crime, law and justice | justice |
1,045,655 | trueactivist--2019-01-22--Man Wrongfully Convicted Gets Parole Thanks To Podcast | 2019-01-22T00:00:00 | trueactivist | Man Wrongfully Convicted Gets Parole Thanks To Podcast | In 1998, Edward Ates was wrongfully convicted for the murder of Elnora Griffin. After being in prison for the last two decades, he was finally released on parole thanks to the Truth & Justice podcast and it’s loyal listeners. These listeners who believed his cry for help raised over $30,000 which Ates’ lawyers used for DNA tests to fully exonerate him. On the eve of July 22, 1993, Griffin had been brutally murdered inside her trailer which was located near Ates’ home. Although none of Ates’ DNA was found at the crime scene, their common neighbor, Cubia Jackson, contacted the police putting Ates at the scene on the night of the murder. When the police investigated his whereabouts, his alibi didn’t check out. The most important piece of evidence was the human feces of the victim found in the crime scene, which they tied up to the ‘supposed’ fecal material the detectives scraped off Ates’ shoe during an interview. Although tests failed to prove that the substance scraped off from Ates’ shoe was faces, this false evidence was used during the 1998 trial, when prosecutors wrongfully told the jury that it was feces; which put the final seal in the coffin and aided his conviction. Between 1994 – 1998, when Ates was being tried for the murder, he met his future wife, Kim, and had two children. He has spent the first part of his children’s lives in prison. In March 2018, when Ates became eligible for parole, the Truth & Justice listeners sent numerous letters to the Board of Padrons and Paroles to release him. This proved to be a success as Ates was eventually released from the Hunstville State Prison on September 5, 2018. Alison Clayton from the Innocence Project of Texas has been assigned to Ates’ case and is now working hard to fully exonerate him and help him adjust back to re-entering society. | True Activist | http://www.trueactivist.com/man-wrongfully-convicted-gets-parole-thanks-to-podcast-t1/ | 2019-01-22 01:29:54+00:00 | 1,548,138,594 | 1,567,551,324 | crime, law and justice | justice |
222,433 | freedombunker--2019-08-21--Texas Is Executing a Man Tonight for a Murder and Rape Experts Say He Didnt Commit | 2019-08-21T00:00:00 | freedombunker | Texas Is Executing a Man Tonight for a Murder and Rape Experts Say He Didn’t Commit | A little after 6 p.m., the state of Texas will execute Larry Swearingen for a crime experts believe he was unable to commit. Journalist Andrew Purcell detailed the events leading to Swearingen's impending death in a thorough investigation. A 19-year-old college student named Melissa Trotter disappeared from her Montgomery College campus, north of Houston, in December 1998. Police set their sights on Swearingen, an electrician who was witnessed having a conversation with Trotter in the college library. Montgomery County law enforcement also found a scrap of paper with the name "Larry" and his phone number in one of Trotter's books. After a few days went by, officers tailed Swearingen in an unmarked car and eventually arrested him at his mother's house over unpaid speeding and parking tickets. His bail was set high. Though Swearingen was questioned about Trotter's whereabouts, he maintained that he saw her last on campus. Three weeks later in January 1999, while Swearingen was sitting behind bars, Trotter's body was discovered in Sam Houston National Forest. Trotter had seemingly been strangled to death by one leg of pantyhose. With the discovery of the body, Swearingen was charged with murder. A number of errors in Swearingen's trial doomed him to death row. At least two involving DNA sealed his fate. The Washington Post reports that the second leg of pantyhose was discovered in Swearingen's trailer by a landlord, even though it was searched twice before by law enforcement. A Texas Department of Public Safety lab technician testified in court that it was "a unique physical match" to the pantyhose leg found on Trotter's body. Since that time, the legs have been retested. Two experts have reported that the pantyhose don't match. A third expert has refuted the original technician's testimony. The second major piece of convicting evidence was the timeline offered by medical examiner Joye Carter. When Carter performed Trotter's autopsy, she was able to cut samples of Trotter's internal organs. Carter later told the court that she estimated Trotter's death to be on the day she disappeared, about 25 days before her body was discovered. However, medical experts note that if Carter's assumption were true, a number of the organs she was able to cut would have already been liquified by the time the body was discovered. Pictures of the crime scene also show Trotter's body intact, not heavily decomposed. Since Carter gave her testimony, seven different forensic pathologists have offered a new timeline. Trotter was missing for several weeks, and likely died within two weeks of her body being found—not the same day she disappeared. The new timeline gives Swearingen a flawless alibi: he was behind bars at the time of death. Determined to pin the case on him, the prosecution accused Swearingen of raping Trotter before she died, despite the absence of semen, defensive wounds, or any other indication that she was involved in a physical struggle. Lacking in the forensic evidence to tie Swearingen to the murder, the prosecution painted his odd behavior as the result of his obvious guilt. The prosecution was not the only party at fault. The Innocence Project, which has spent years trying to save Swearingen from facing capital punishment, has spent years pushing for DNA testing that should have been performed by investigators. As The Intercept reported in 2017, the state didn't perform DNA testing on Trotter's clothes, swabs from her rape kit, cigarette butts found near her body, or even the pantyhose identified as the murder weapon. Rather than grant Swearingen and the Innocence Project the DNA tests that could shed additional light on the case, Texas responded by scheduling his execution. "They are going to execute someone that the legitimate forensic science has proven innocent," James Rytting, Swearingen's attorney, told The Texas Tribune on Tuesday. "And the execution is going through on the basis of other forensic science that is borderline quackery—in fact it is quackery." Kristin Houle, executive director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, tells Reason "It is a sad day for justice in Texas. If his execution proceeds, Larry Swearingen will join several other individuals who were put to death by the state despite credible evidence of innocence." | Ed Krayewski | http://freedombunker.com/2019/08/21/texas-is-executing-a-man-tonight-for-a-murder-and-rape-experts-say-he-didnt-commit/ | 2019-08-21 22:30:24+00:00 | 1,566,441,024 | 1,567,533,796 | crime, law and justice | justice |
235,746 | hitandrun--2019-08-15--After Spending 23 Years in Prison for a Murder He Didnt Commit Ricky Kidd Is Going Home | 2019-08-15T00:00:00 | hitandrun | After Spending 23 Years in Prison for a Murder He Didn't Commit, Ricky Kidd Is Going Home | Ricky Kidd was charged in 1996 for a double murder that he did not commit. Eyewitness testimony and other evidence pointed to a different killer, but the murders were pinned on Kidd regardless and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. On Wednesday, Judge Daren L. Adkins of Missouri's 43rd Judicial Circuit granted Kidd habeas corpus relief. After 23 years behind bars, Kidd will finally get to go home a free man, unless state prosecutors opt to retry him within 30 days of the Adkins' ruling. "Our obligation here, as with every case, is to seek the truth," Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a statement to the Associated Press. But how much does the truth matter if prosecutors and police ignored it for more than two decades? Police in Kansas City, Missouri, received a call in 1996 after neighbors believed they heard gunshots. Upon investigation, the lifeless bodies of George Bryant and Oscar Bridges were discovered at Bryant's property. An anonymous tip, which was likely called in by those connected to the crime, named Kidd as a suspect. That tip—and a number of Brady violations committed by the prosecutor—sealed Kidd's fate. Multiple witnesses attested that around the time of the shooting, Kidd was driving to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office at Lake Jacomo, Missouri, to apply for a gun permit in order to purchase a .357 revolver. Kidd filled out the paperwork at the sheriff's office. Not only did Kidd have a solid alibi, but his actions seemed weirdly timed for someone said to have recently committed a double homicide. Kidd's alibi was not enough to save him from a sloppy police investigation. Nor did it convince the Jackson County lead prosecutor, who relied on out-of-context DNA evidence and a misleading witness identification to paint Kidd as a killer. In fact, the prosecutor, Amy McGowan, acknowledged in a 2017 deposition that "there is no physical evidence tying [Kidd] to the crime scene that I recall." Kidd's defense team also previously revealed to Reason that McGowan did not disclose the depositions of Gary Goodspeed Sr. and Gary Goodspeed Jr., both of whom are now considered "viable alternative suspects" in the murders of Bryant and Bridges, according to Adkins' ruling. Kidd's lawyers have spent years arguing that this was a Brady violation that ultimately helped doom Kidd. With the system stacked against him, Kidd was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Though Kidd was sentenced to die alone in a cell, he had the Midwest Innocence Project (MIP) in his corner. Thanks to that group's years-long effort, Kidd received a Rule 91 hearing in April, which allowed him one final shot at habeas corpus relief. As Sean O'Brien, Kidd's lawyer and law professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, told Reason in April, this was Kidd's "best last bite at the apple." On Wednesday, Adkins ordered the state of Missouri to release Kidd from prison. "Based on a careful consideration of the record and these proceedings, this Court finds that the evidence is clear and convincing that Kidd is innocent of the murders of George Bryant and Oscar Bridges," Adkins wrote in his 107-page decision. Adkins also concluded that the prosecution committed a Brady violation by not disclosing "exculpatory evidence" about the Godspeeds' depositions. It's certainly good news that Kidd has finally been exonerated. But it's also bittersweet. "If anything, Ricky's case shows just how hard it is to correct an injustice," Tricia Bushnell, executive director or the MIP and a member of Kidd's legal team, told the AP. "It shouldn't take 20 years to bring a man home. Ricky's case is solved. We know who committed this crime," she added. Kidd's case exposed a number of serious problems within the Missouri criminal justice system, which Reason detailed earlier this year. A combination of factors, including an inadequate public defense system, alleged prosecutorial misconduct, and a court system where innocence isn't always enough, has contributed to what Kidd has described to Reason as a "horrible nightmare." And even if he does get to come home, which seems likely, there's no getting back the 23 years Kidd lost while incarcerated. "Those are a lot of years," he said earlier this year of his long incarceration. "And I don't get a chance to get those back." "There's no money that can replace 22 years of what he's lost," Monica Gray, Kidd's ex-girlfriend and a key part of his alibi, told Reason in an interview earlier this year. Kay Lincoln, whose father, Rodney, spent 36 years wrongly incarcerated before his release last year, expressed similar sentiments. "Unfortunately, there is no making up for the lost time," she told Reason in an interview. "There's nothing we can do to make up for that. However, when you do get out, you can refuse to be bitter. You can embrace life and embrace your family." Kidd's ordeal, which you can read more about here, was summed up well by Monica Gray: "People work so hard to put people behind bars that are criminals. They need to work just as hard to free the innocent." | Joe Setyon ([email protected]) | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reason/HitandRun/~3/EtH-TxuUfZg/ | 2019-08-15 13:55:03+00:00 | 1,565,891,703 | 1,567,534,139 | crime, law and justice | justice |
637,871 | thedailymirror--2019-08-30--Woman who spent 35 years in prison for murders she didnt commit awarded 25m | 2019-08-30T00:00:00 | thedailymirror | Woman who spent 35 years in prison for murders she didn't commit awarded £2.5m | A woman who spent 35 years in prison for two murders she didn't commit has been awarded $3million in damages. Cathy Woods, 68, claims detectives coerced her into admitting she killed a student in 1976. DNA at the scene of the murder proved she was not the killer, and another man has since been convicted. She was in a mental health hospital in Louisiana when the fabricated confession happened, her lawyer said. Rodney Halbower was convicted of the two killings in the Bay Area, and Woods was released from prison in 2015. She is the longest-ever wrongly imprisoned woman in US history, the National Registry of Exonerations says. Lawyer Elizabeth Wang said Woods was "extremely psychotic" and should not have been questioned about the murder of student Michelle Mitchell. She was also wrongly found guilty of killing Paula Baxter, 17. This week the Washoe County Commission voted to award $3million in compensation to settle a portion of a lawsuit brought by Woods. A further claim is still ongoing. According to the Daily Mail , Ms Wang stated: "Although no amount of money will compensate Ms. Woods for what she endured, this will go at least some way toward providing care for her." Woods' conviction has long been controversial. She was found guilty in 1980, but this was overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court. However she was re-convicted in 1984, and in 1988 this was upheld. It wasn't until 2014 that Halbower's guilt was confirmed thanks to DNA evidence. Authorities believe he raped and killed four women and girls, but has only been convicted of two. In a statement the county said: "The conviction and subsequent incarceration of Woods for murder is a tragic situation that Washoe County hopes is never repeated. "While money can rarely compensate an individual for loss of freedom, Washoe County sincerely hopes that this monetary settlement will be utilized for the best possible care of Woods." | [email protected] (Dave Burke) | https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/woman-who-spent-35-years-19101686 | 2019-08-30 17:02:47+00:00 | 1,567,198,967 | 1,569,416,964 | crime, law and justice | justice |
1,110,495 | wnd--2019-12-10--On death row for a murder he did not commit | 2019-12-10T00:00:00 | wnd | On death row for a murder he did not commit | We often hear about inmates on death row who are exonerated after years behind bars, usually because the prosecution made procedural errors, or there wasn't any DNA evidence to convincingly prove the person committed the crime. But what if it was made clear at the trial that someone else committed the murder, not the guy sentenced to death row? Patrick Bearup has been sitting behind bars for almost 17 years, sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. He fell in with some bad people in his 20s. They told him to accompany them to the house of Mark Mathes, who his roommate Jessica Nelson said had stolen $200 from her. Nelson set up the visit. They told the owners of the house, the brother and sister-in-law of Mathes, that they were going to confront him. The brother asked them to get his ring back, which Mathes was wearing. Jeremy Johnson carried a baseball bat over there. Sean Gaines carried a shotgun. Bearup, the son of a police officer in Arizona, was terrified; he thought they were going to kill him. He only had his folding knife on him, which he regularly carried. Instead, Johnson beat Mathes to death with his baseball bat. After Mathes was murdered, Nelson tried to cut the ring off his finger. She was having difficulty, so Bearup helped her and used wire cutters to cut the ring to get it off. They never reported the murder, and Mathes's body was not discovered until a year later. After they were caught, the prosecution offered plea bargains to Johnson, Nelson and Gaines. Johnson, the killer, accepted a deal of 14 years in prison. He is now out. Nelson accepted the same deal and is also now out. Gaines took a plea deal of 25 years; it was longer since he had a criminal history. He is still serving that term. The prosecution did not offer Bearup a plea bargain. They claimed that Bearup had cut Mathes's finger off, not the ring – but the body had decomposed after a year so they produced no evidence of this. However, both Johnson and Nelson testified that Bearup did not kill Mathes. They also said he wasn't one of them; they didn't like him because he was a cop's kid. Bearup was convicted of felony-murder by a jury and given the death penalty. Why wasn't Bearup given a plea bargain like the others? The Bearups think it is because his father, Tom Bearup, ran against the county sheriff for office. They think the sheriff and county attorney retaliated against them. Judge Warren Granville, a former prosecutor, was so horrified he wrote in his opinion that justice was not served in this case. He said Bearup's behavior did not rise to the level of a capital punishment crime. He said even if Bearup had cut Mathes's finger off, he still didn't kill Mathes. Mathes's brother tellingly had the ring repaired. Bearup had 2-week-old twins when he was arrested. They have grown up without him. Meanwhile, he has been an exemplary prisoner. He has not gotten into trouble. He has obtained advanced degrees in prison and is currently working on his Ph.D. (which he paid for himself, not the taxpayers). When he was told by a woman on the staff to stop holding Bible studies, he sued and won the right to have them. He makes stuffed animals from prison T-shirts and sells them to raise funds. Some of them are decked out as Trump supporters. The staff tells his family that he is a wonderful guy, not the type you'd find on death row. Bearup is still going through the appeals process. It takes on average of 20 years for inmates on death row to go through the process and get exonerated. He is also trying to get a pardon. Since it's a state crime, President Trump probably can't pardon him. But the governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, can commute his sentence. Bearup has also asked for clemency from the state clemency board. Nancy Barto, a respected Republican state legislator, provided a letter to the board on Bearup's behalf. Unfortunately, members of the board did not grant it. His father asks, "Why do they want to kill someone who didn't kill someone? While they let the real murderer out on the street? I'm as pro-death penalty as they come. If he had murdered someone I would not be defending him." Bearup is now 42. His father says all he wants is for his son to come home before he dies. I am very skeptical of inmates on death row who are "exonerated," because usually it's not because they were actually innocent. This isn't one of those cases. It's black and white that Bearup did not commit the murder. Hopefully, he will receive justice through the appeal or Gov. Ducey will commute his sentence. | Rachel Alexander | https://www.wnd.com/2019/12/death-row-murder-not-commit/ | Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:04:10 +0000 | 1,575,954,250 | 1,575,939,236 | crime, law and justice | justice |
232,196 | globalresearch--2019-12-10--U.S. Efforts to Force Iran Out of European Energy Markets Has Failed | 2019-12-10T00:00:00 | globalresearch | U.S. Efforts to Force Iran Out of European Energy Markets Has Failed | Despite the European Union attempts to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which saw Iran reduce its low-enriched uranium by 98% and eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium in return for economic relief, JCPOA is hanging by a thread because of Washington’s withdrawal from the deal in October 2017. The European Statistical Office revealed that from January to September trade between the EU and Iran was at €3.86 billion, a massive 74.92% drop compared to the same period in 2018. The report revealed that Germany (€1.23 billion), Italy (€734.78 million) and the Netherlands (€376.73 million) were Iran’s top three trading partners in EU while trade with Greece (€32.08 million), Luxembourg (€506,316), Spain (€207.36 million), France (€296.5 million) and Austria (€102.11 million) had plunged by 97.13%, 91.38%, 91.17%, 86.79% and 82.38% respectively. Although Iran’s trade with Cyprus at €6.25 million and Bulgaria at €64.97 million increased by 85.12% and 29.24% respectively year-on-year— the highest among EU states — it still does not offset the massive decline in trade with Greece, Luxembourg, Spain, France and Austria. The major decline in trade is attributed due to European companies’ unwillingness to risk losing business with the U.S. for the sake of the much smaller Iranian market. Effectively, U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic war with Iran is to diminish Iranian-EU trade so that for the U.S. may reap benefits from boosting its own oil and other commodities. However, this is set to change. With this dramatic downturn in trade with the EU, Iran is now pushing to diversify its economy even further to overcome a reliance on oil and take a number of measures in an attempt to counter U.S. economic aggression, including increasing taxes, cutting energy subsidies and to borrow money from friendly states. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani explained on Sunday in parliament that oil revenues are expected to drop by at least 70% and that Iran’s budget next year “is designed to resist against sanctions and to announce to the world that we run this country despite sanctions.” The Iranian president explained that the new budget will reach $115.3 billion because of the reduction of oil exportation from 2.8 million barrels of oil a day before Trump’s May sanctions to 500,000 barrels a day. In addition, Iran will sell more bonds in the domestic market and plans to increase revenues from taxes by 13%, but these changes come as the International Monetary Fund has already forecasted that the Islamic Republic will have a reduction of its economy of about 9.5% this year. This “budget of resistance,” as described by Rouhani, is “contrary to what the Americans thought. With the pressure of sanctions, our country’s economy would encounter problems, thank God we have chosen the correct path… and we are moving forward.” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi announced on Monday that the European signatories to the JCPOA will not activate the “trigger mechanism” for the time being that could see the return of sanctions against the Islamic Republic. It is unlikely that the EU or Iran will withdraw from what remains of JCPOA as they attempt to bypass U.S. sanctions which can see the besieged country improve its economy through increased trade with Europe. Not only has the EU pledged to maintain its nuclear deal commitments, in a joint statement late last month, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden said they will attain shares in Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), that was launched by Britain, France and Germany in January to allow European companies to trade with Iran without using U.S. dollars so they could be protected from U.S. sanctions. In their joint statement, they said: This is also a part of a wider move to counter strong U.S. efforts to muscle in on the European oil market as U.S. sanctions have scared buyers from acquiring Iranian and Venezuelan crude. The so-called hydro-fracking and shale revolution that began a few years ago has seen the U.S. aggressively seek to export its oil to new markets. It is now unsurprising that earlier this year U.S. crude shipments to Europe reached new records, behind Russia but still more than Nigeria and Libya who are important OPEC members. Therefore, a major reason for the false allegations by Trump that Iran was violating the JCPOA was to force Iran out of the European market to push on the U.S. entrance. It appears that Trump’s plan has failed. Not only has Iran formulated its “budget of resistance,” but with Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden becoming shareholders INSTEX, they are prepared to continue their economic relations with Iran while being protected from U.S. repercussions. Effectively, although the U.S. has achieved a short-term reduction in European-Iranian trade, it will not only recover, but also be strengthened as new mechanisms are being made to bypass U.S. banks and dollars. Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. This article was originally published on InfoBrics. Paul Antonopoulos is a Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies. | Paul Antonopoulos | https://www.globalresearch.ca/u-s-efforts-force-iran-out-european-energy-markets-failed/5697319 | Tue, 10 Dec 2019 16:02:17 +0000 | 1,576,011,737 | 1,576,022,660 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
478,192 | russiainsider--2019-04-12--US Fantasizes About Kicking Russia Out of European Energy Market but Berlin Needs Russian Natural G | 2019-04-12T00:00:00 | russiainsider | US Fantasizes About Kicking Russia Out of European Energy Market, but Berlin Needs Russian Natural Gas | Even when it comes to liquified natural gas alone, Europe still buys more from Russia Checkpoint Asia is an excellent new site which scours the media for the best Asia news with a geopolitical focus, plus 1st-class original journalism ranging from Russia to China to the Middle East. Smart, incisive, and free of globalist baloney. Reader-supported, please donate! They have a great Facebook page, with very good memes. Dreams are nice to have, but there just is no scenario in the world where it makes much sense for Europe to source its gas all the way from America — sabogating Russian pipelines to EU is completely pointless Russia shipped more LNG (liquefied natural gas) to European and Asian markets than the United States last year, the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers, GIIGNL, said in its annual report. According to the document, the 15 European countries including Spain, France, and the Netherlands, received a total of 4.43 million tons of LNG from Russia – over 60 percent more than from the US. America’s total shipments to the European market amounted to 2.7 million tons. In Europe, net LNG imports were up 6.4 percent reaching 48.9 million tons compared to previous year’s purchases. Qatar, Algeria, and Nigeria topped the list of the largest LNG exporters to the region, with Doha having shipped more than 16 million tons. Washington has been trying to compete with Moscow for the European energy market, by warning its EU allies of their growing dependency on Russian energy, mainly natural gas, while pushing its own LNG sales to the region. The US has been vocally criticizing the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. Berlin has repeatedly defended the project, arguing that it wants to carry out an independent energy policy and ensure energy security. Moreover, Russia left the US behind in deliveries to the leading LNG importing region, Asia, as China and South Korea continue to drive global demand. The LNG shipments from Russia amounted to 12.86 million tons last year, while American imports stood at 10.73 million tons. Australia secured the leading position on the Asian market, with more than 66 million tons delivered last year. Qatar followed in second place with over 56 million tons of LNG shipped. However, the US overtook Russia in overall LNG exports last year, having supplied around 2.3 million more to its customers, led by South Korea, Mexico, and Japan. In 2018, global LNG imports reached 313.8 million tons, an increase of 8.3 percent compared with the previous year, the third largest annual surge behind 2010 and 2017, according to GIIGNL calculations. New LNG supply volumes were mostly driven by new production from Australia – which became the largest LNG exporter – the US, and Russia, which recently fully launched the Yamal LNG project in the Arctic. | Checkpoint Asia | https://russia-insider.com/en/us-fantasizes-about-kicking-russia-out-european-energy-market-berlin-needs-russian-natural-gas | 2019-04-12 13:04:31+00:00 | 1,555,088,671 | 1,567,543,042 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
533,933 | sputnik--2019-05-14--Russia Ready to Diversify Costa Rican Energy Market Monopolised by US - Diplomat | 2019-05-14T00:00:00 | sputnik | Russia Ready to Diversify Costa Rican Energy Market Monopolised by US - Diplomat | "The vast majority of the petroleum products — gasoline, fuel oil and diesel — Costa Rica brings in from the United States, or some 95 percent. They would like to diversify this market. They have interest to talk with Russian companies". Kudachkin pointed out Russian companies may show interest in diversifying Costa Rica’s petroleum products market rather than solely being interested in petroleum products. "The Costa Ricans know that we have big experience in building gas and oil pipelines. Maybe they will try to agree and explore our experience in this area", he said. Contact Group Believes Russia Should Be Part of Dialogue on Venezuela - Swedish Diplomat Kudachkin noted that Costa Rica does not produce oil because the country has issued a moratorium on research and development of mineral resources. "There is no production at all. They bring oil products from abroad, and in sufficiently large number. The volume of imported products is about 4-5 billion dollars annually. This is one of the reserves", Kudachkin said. May 8 marked the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Costa Rica. An bilateral agreement on mutual abolition of visas comes in force on 25 May. | null | https://sputniknews.com/latam/201905141075008302-russia-costa-rica-petroleum/ | 2019-05-14 18:44:35+00:00 | 1,557,873,875 | 1,567,540,746 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
548,820 | sputnik--2019-11-09--Russia Hopes US Understands Iranian Deal Collapse Will Hit Financial, Energy Markets Hard | 2019-11-09T00:00:00 | sputnik | Russia Hopes US Understands Iranian Deal Collapse Will Hit Financial, Energy Markets Hard | The collapse of the Iranian deal will affect commodity and financial markets, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Saturday at a non-proliferation conference in Moscow. According to Ryabkov, a hypothetical dismantling of the JCPOA could lead to a new major crisis in the Middle East and Iran understands that. The official added that any attempts to deprive Iran of the chance to develop a peaceful nuclear programme are nothing but utopian dreams. He also said that it would be hard to restore the viability of the nuclear agreement and it's unclear what future is in store for the deal in the short term. Ryabkov stated that Iran will hopefully not obtain nuclear weapons as all the necessary control mechanisms remain in place. Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said at the press conference that Tehran is rolling back its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal to preserve the accord rather than destroy it, with the relevant right stipulated in the document itself. Araghchi added that the nuclear deal could collapse before the US 2020 election unless a solution is found in the near future. According to the official, the US push to drive Iran's oil sales to zero is actually a "blessing" for the Islamic republic, which should seize it as an opportunity to get rid of dependence on natural resources and diversify the economy. Paragraph 36 stipulates that a signatory to the deal can cease its commitments "in whole or in part" if an issue that it deems to be constituting "significant non-performance" still remains unresolved as a result of procedures outlined in the accord. Tehran began gradually reducing its nuclear obligations on the first anniversary of the US unilateral pullout from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on 8 May. Earlier in the week, Iran embarked on the fourth stage of curtailing its commitments. According to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the country plans to enrich uranium to 4.5 percent at the Fordow nuclear facility. Iran has repeatedly stressed its readiness to reverse these steps if European signatories to the deal ensure the country’s interests, primarily economic, amid Washington’s reinstated sanctions. | null | https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201911091077266594-russia-hopes-us-understands-iranian-deal-collapse-will-hit-financial-energy-markets-hard/ | Sat, 09 Nov 2019 17:54:17 +0300 | 1,573,340,057 | 1,573,347,159 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
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