Black Man's Case Dismissed: White DC Cop Wore Racist Shirt to Court [racist cops are Not credible witnesses or public servants]

Extrinsic Evidence of Bias is Always Relevant & Admissible. Racist Cops are Persons Who Hate Blacks & Are Therefore Not Credible Witnesses [not believable]. In a civillized society all of this racist cop's arrests & previous cases would now be subject to review. All racists are liars. The system of racism/white supremacy is carried out through deception & violence. Racism is the opposite of justice. It is an oxymoron to say "racist police." Racist cop or race soldier or mercenary security guard are more accurate terms. 

From [HERE] and [HERE] A D.C. judge dismissed a gun possession case amid questions over whether the arresting officers wore or had any role in the creation of a controversial racist T-shirt printed with the name of their police unit, an image of the Grim Reaper and a symbol that is racist.

The decision came Tuesday as the trial was set to begin for 24-year-old Carlos Johnson, a Black man, who allegedly was found carrying a 9mm handgun last December. He had previously pleaded guilty in a case of assault with a dangerous weapon, a case that involved a gun.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Maribeth Raffinan rejected a request by [white] prosecutors to delay the trial until an internal police investigation into the T-shirts has been completed. The judge dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning authorities can recharge Johnson.

The T-shirt came to light last month after an officer on the Powershift team in the 7th Police District was seen wearing it inside  D.C. Superior Court at a restaurant over his uniform. Police officials pronounced it “disturbing,” suspended that officer and opened the internal investigation.

The two officers involved in Johnson’s arrest are members of the same Powershift unit, which patrols high-crime areas for weapon recovery and drug activity - areas populated by non-white people. 

On the day before Johnson’s trial (July 30), was to begin, prosecutors sent an email to the defense saying it was “possible” that one of those officers had a role in designing the shirt. In the email, which was included in the court file, prosecutors called the information “hearsay” (that came from them after they received it from DC Police) and said they were investigating the allegation.

In court hearings that stretched over Monday and Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Rakoczy told the judge that it was unclear whether either of the officers involved in Johnson’s case had worn the T-shirt. But to make sure, she wanted to wait until police completed their inquiry. [wait while Johnson remained locked up].

“The government very much wants this matter to be thoroughly and effectively investigated so MPD can make the decisions it needs to make about what’s appropriate so that we can decide what to do with this information with our own cases,” Rakoczy said, according to a transcript of the proceedings.

Making the Johnson case more challenging, Rakoczy told the judge, was that officers in the Powershift unit have consulted attorneys who advised them not to discuss the T-shirt. She asked that the Johnson trial be rescheduled to October.

Johnson’s attorney, William Alley, of the Public Defender Service, opposed a delay. He indicated that he wanted to determine whether there was any bias against Johnson, who is African American, and sought to have the officers questioned about the meaning and origin of the shirt, according to court documents and transcripts of the proceedings.

At one point, Alley suggested that prosecutors could ask the officers “what they know about this investigation, about this T-shirt, who was involved, who designed it, who owns it, who wears it and provide all that information to us today so that we could be ready to move forward with trial.”

Raffinan considered delaying the trial for a few weeks, but prosecutors said that would not be enough time. The judge said that waiting months for the T-shirt investigation to wrap up would not be fair to Johnson, who had been jailed awaiting trial.

“I don’t think that lengthy of a continuance so that the investigation can be concluded, in exercising my judgment, is fair, equitable in these circumstances,” Raffinan said.

In an interview Friday, D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham, also a racist suspect, said the investigation “will find out what happened here. Was it was one officer, more than one officer, supervisor problems?” Police said the inquiry must be completed within 90 days.

Newsham cautioned against reading too broadly into the dismissal of the gun case, saying it does not necessarily indicate the potential for more cases to be affected. The chief called the government’s request for a delay reasonable and said the judge denied it “without any consideration for the impact on public safety.” [it is unsafe to have racist public servants [persons who hate Blacks] roaming the streets that they are sworn to protect and serve]

Newsham said the ADL had briefed the department on possible interpretations of the cross. But he said that even without the cross, he finds the T-shirt inappropriate attire for an on-duty police officer.

“Any shirt that causes a rift with the community is a problem for me,” Newsham said. “It’s poor judgment, at the least. Most of our officers on a daily basis exercise very good judgment under very difficult circumstances.”

The black T-shirt has the Grim Reaper as its centerpiece, holding what appears to be a rifle with the District of Columbia flag attached. At the top is the word “Powershift,” with a pre-Christian style of cross embedded in a circle.

There are various interpretations of that symbol. Several hate groups have appropriated the cross as part of their symbology. It also appears in the lettering of a popular computer gaming company, and some have suggested it might represent the crosshairs of a gun scope.

Law for Black Lives, a group of legal professionals affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement, filed the formal police complaint after an officer was seen wearing a shirt with the symbol. In its complaint, Law for Black Lives said the cross symbol was adopted by the Ku Klux Klan and “promotes white supremacist ideologies.”

The image on the T-shirt also includes a police badge and the phrase, “Let me see that waistband jo,” an apparent reference to “jump outs,” a long decried, and police say now defunct, practice of police jumping out of cars to round up people. The shirt's wording; “jo” is mocking a slang expression used by black youths in D.C.

Dustin Sternbeck, the chief spokesman for the D.C. police department, said nine officers are assigned to the 7th District’s Powershift, which generally works at night and patrols some of the city’s most violent areas, including Anacostia, Barry Farm, Naylor Gardens and Washington Highlands. One of the officers, the person who was the subject of the complaint, is on desk duty and barred from having interactions with the public.

A representative from the police union also declined to comment. Neither the officer who is the subject of the police complaint nor the officers involved in Johnson’s arrest could be reached for comment.