From [NYTimes] With his 1974 rape conviction recently thrown out by a judge, Wilbert Jones of Louisiana walked out of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison this week after nearly half a century behind bars.
Freed on $2,000 bail on Wednesday, Mr. Jones, 65, greeted family members in the prison’s parking lot, where he smiled and told reporters that he was ready to “enjoy life” and “praise God.”
His release was years in the making. But he could still return to prison if the state’s plan to appeal a District Court judge’s decision to vacate Mr. Jones’s conviction is successful.
In 1971, a nurse, identified in court documents as A. H., was raped in the parking lot of the hospital where she worked in Baton Rouge. Months later, she identified Mr. Jones out of a lineup as her attacker. He was 19 when he was arrested, and the victim’s testimony eventually led to a conviction and a life sentence without parole.
Mr. Jones has maintained his innocence.
In 2003, Innocence Project New Orleans, a nonprofit law office, began looking into the case and was instrumental in bringing it to the attention of the Louisiana Supreme Court, which referred it to the state’s District Court.
In October, Judge Richard D. Anderson of Louisiana District Court ruled that because important evidence had been withheld from the defense at trial — specifically, that another man who fit the description of the suspect was accused of committing similar crimes in the same area — Mr. Jones’s conviction should be vacated.
“This Court finds that the State’s case against Jones was weak, at best,” Judge Anderson wrote in his ruling. “There was no forensic or physical evidence linking Jones to the rape of A. H. The State’s case against Jones rested entirely on A. H.’s testimony and questionable identification.” He added that the victim expressed uncertainty about her identification at the time of the trial.
From [NPR] Last week in Chicago, Judge Leroy Martin threw out the convictions of 15 Black men in what defense attorneys call a landmark decision and the "first mass exoneration" in Cook County. The men, who all served prison terms, claim they were framed by former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts and officers under his command. One of the men, Leonard Gipson, spent four years in prison and says Watts would demand money and then drugs on a person and arrest them if he was not paid.
Four years ago, Watts was convicted of extorting money from a drug dealer who turned out to be an FBI informant. Prosecutors in the Cook County State's Attorney office said after reviewing the cases of the 15 men, the office didn't have confidence in the police reports and testimony. They asked the court to throw those cases out and said they are looking into several more that are tied to Watts' command.
Defense attorneys with the University of Chicago's Exoneration Project filed a petition last spring asking for the cases to be overturned. Attorney Joshua Tepfer said it's "extraordinarily powerful" to have prosecutors take that step. He added that Watts was involved in nearly 1,000 cases and nearly 500 convictions which are now suspect.
Thursday's hearing for the 15 defendants came after the release earlier this week of another man in a separate case. Chicagoan Arthur Brown had spent decades in prison for crimes he said he did not commit. The Cook County State's Attorney dropped the charges against him saying an investigation showed there were deep concerns about the fairness of Brown's conviction on murder and arson charges.
Reached by phone Wednesday, Joshua Tepfer, the lead attorney for the 15 men, praised the “unprecedented” action by Foxx’s office but said the cases were “the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to cases tainted by Watts.
“It’s a remarkable effort by the state’s attorney’s office to recognize the significance of this horrendous injustice and to do their part to start correcting it,” Tepfer said. “But there are still more than 400 convictions (by Watts’ team) that are unaccounted for … it’s no doubt the tip of the iceberg.” [MORE]
In an opinion piece written by Jay Z in the NY Times entitled, "The Criminal Justice System Stalks Black People Like Meek Mill," the rapper writes about his shattered expectations in the case of Meek Mill, a fellow rapper who recently had his probation revoked. The court’s action caused Jay Z 'to stop his show in Dallas last week to talk about Meek’ and work with Color of Change “to pressure the courts” to do ___________ about probation in the criminal justice system.
By and large probation within the criminal system works the way it is intended to work insofar as white defendants are concerned. White defendants are usually released into the community under the supervision of white judges and they are ordered to follow a set conditions recommended to judges by white prosecutors. In general, throughout the entire criminal process including probation, white defendants are usually treated humanely by white judges & prosecutors. But in their relations with Black defendants, many white prosecutors and white judges function as psychopaths who apply a different set of criteria and treat Blacks like there were another species. As explained by Dr. Bobby Wright, at this point in history, "it is pathological for Blacks to keep attempting to use moral suasion on a people who have no morality where race is the variable." [MORE] and [MORE]
What is superficially different in this case is that the judge was Black. But "Black" only so long as you equate or measure “Blackness” by accent, hairstyle, attitude, dress, vocabulary and other meaningless personality traits. By all accounts it appears that Judge Genece Brinkley is a Black Clone [in photo].A Black Clone is a Black probot or professional SNAG put into service and authorized by an overruling elite who works undercover [skin color as their disguise] on behalf of the system of racism/white supremacy in a visible position of authority. A surrogate for racists, a slave in master’s clothing. Black clones are strategically placed and on display in many urban environments in positions of authority all areas of people activity. A Black clone is a necessary illusion for the refinement of the system of racism/white supremacy. A racism blocker. But for the Black clone it would be easier to see that Blacks are presently powerless, elite whites are in control of everything of material value and for those who can see without the mind, their chains would be easier to see. Similar to the black on black criminal, a Black clone’s “mind is filled with niggativity and venomous self-hatred.
‘What he perceives as his needs, desires, ideals, motives, goals, etc. are manufactured and implanted in him by Europeans for the benefit of Europeans at the price of the destruction of his humanity, body, community, and future. He “believes” his vain attempts to satisfy those introjected desires represent what it means to be free, to be a man, to have arrived at the pinnacle of human responsibilities or success not realizing they represent the grossest form of slavery.' [MORE]
In October White prosecutors in NYC had apparently seen enough after online video [above] surfaced of Meek Mill popping wheelies on a dirt bike on the set of a music video in Harlem. Although no property or persons were harmed the white prosecutors used their discretion to charge him with reckless endangerment, a felony offense. They knew he was on probation at the time and that his probation probably would be revoked by the new arrest and charges. Mill was previously convicted in 2008 conviction for selling drugs and gun possession. He was originally sentenced by Brinkley to 11 to 23 months in prison.
Despite previous probation violations Mill's attorney apparently managed to get him a misdemeanor plea agreement whereby if he plead guilty to reckless driving his sentencing would be deferred for 90 days (?) and if he completed 30 hours of community service and did not get re-arrested during said time then his guilty plea would be withdrawn - resulting in his case being dismissed without a conviction ( defendants are not "convicted" until they are sentenced - which was deferred into the future for Mill ). The prosecutor also agreed not to ask the judge to revoke Mill’s probation in his underlying case. Another plus was the probation officer was not recommending revocation. [Remember, in a criminal case, the defense and the prosecutor can make agreements and make recommendations to a judge, but in court, the judge is the King, the ultimate decider.]
Citing his guilty plea, a March arrest for simple assault [case dismissed by Government after reviewing video evidence] and history of non-compliance with minor violations, Judge Brinkley revoked Mill's probation and sentenced him to two to four years in a state prison. Perhaps angered that Mill refused to obey her [master's] authority and acting as if she was of the center of the universe the judge accused Meek Mill of "just thumbing your nose at me" [master's surrogate] with his repeated violations. [MORE] The Black Clone also 'Blacksplained' she’s 'been trying to help Mill for about a decade and that he just does whatever he wants.' [MORE]
Most likely, none of this would have happened to a white defendant. Brinkley probably would not have stepped a white man back under the same circumstances. And while it is true that Mill got a good plea offer, the case probably would have never been papered in the first place or a guilty plea would not have been required if Mill were white [prosecutors can and do offer straight diversion, no plea - just complete community service & case closed]. He also could have been charged with misdemeanors intially as well - making a Nolle or dismissal upon fulfilment of conditions an easier remedy. Clearly, the white prosecutor was ready to walk away from the case – offering a diversion plea with minimal conditions – but he didn’t and probably would have if Mill was white.
Jay Z wrote in the NY Times that Mills has “been stalked by a system that considers the slightest infraction a justification for locking him back inside. What’s happening to Meek Mill is just one example of how our criminal justice system entraps and harasses hundreds of thousands of black people every day... Instead of a second chance, probation ends up being a land mine, with a random misstep bringing consequences greater than the crime. A person on probation can end up in jail over a technical violation like missing a curfew.. .Taxpayers will have to spend tens of thousands of dollars each year to keep him locked up, and I bet none of them would tell you his imprisonment is helping to keep them safer."
According to Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, 'In his struggle against white supremacy, Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, stated "It is well known that when you do anything, unless you understand its actual circumstances, its nature and its relations to other things, you will not know the laws governing it, or know how to do it, or be able to do it well.’
The criminal justice system and all other things impacting Blacks should be analyzed in the context in which they occur; the system of racism/white supremacy.
Racism White Supremacy- psychopathic degeneracy. 2) "The local and global power system and dynamic, structured and maintained by persons who classify themselves as white, whether consciously or subconsciously determined, which consists of patterns of perception, logic, symbol formation, thought, speech, action and emotional response, as conducted simultaneously in all areas of people activity (economics, education, entertainment, labour, law, politics, religion, sex and war); for the ultimate purpose of white genetic survival and to prevent white genetic annihilation on planet earth—a planet upon which the vast majority of people are classified as non-white (Black, Brown, Red and Yellow) by white skinned people, and all of the nonwhite people are genetically dominant (in terms of skin coloration) compared to the genetic recessive white skin people." -Dr. Francis Cress Welsing. [MORE]
Jay Z misunderstands the “stalking” he talks about. Racists, that is racist white people, examine everything Black people do with a rigid hyper-alert sensitivity. Why? To confirm their expectations and projections they have made about Black people and themselves. They go on searching for criminality so they can justify treating Blacks like criminals; an ongoing attempt to justify their original crime from a long time ago. Dr. Amos Wilson explains,
This rigidity of attention, stereotypical viewing of the world; this chronic condition of hyper-alertness, hypersensitivity; this need to create the world according to one's own deluded images, to subject others to one's paranoid views, to exploitatively have them serve that need, bespeaks the greater need to gain ego satisfaction and enhancement, self-definition and material gain through manipulating the behavior and consciousness over others. Paradoxically, this greater need bespeaks a fundamental dependency on a world and others and simultaneously, of a protest against and denial of that dependency. It expresses an ego vulnerability which must remain defensively hidden, an ego weakness which must appear to itself and others as strength, an extremely tense, unstable ego whose tenuous equilibrium can only be maintained by projecting that tension and vulnerability into the world and others. Thus the keeper of law comes to need the outlaw. And needing him, creates him. The keeper of the disturbs the peace by projecting hallucinated hostile threats where they do not exist.
That the White American must see virtually every Black male as criminal or as a potential criminal regardless of facts to the contrary, bespeaks an intense psychic need of White America to perceive him as such.
You Will Never Make a Mirror Out of a Brick ['meet & greet the other species']. From [FOX] By and large in their relations with one another whites treat each other humanely. But in their relations with non-whites most whites function as psychopaths. The psychopath is an individual who is constantly in conflict with other persons or groups. He is unable to experience guilt, is completely selfish and callous, and has a total disregard for the rights of others. This premise is supported by overwhelming scientific evidence. It is pathological for Blacks to keep attempting to use moral suasion on a people who have no morality where race is the variable.' [MORE]
White propaganda - a game two can play - which consists simply in repeating, "I am better than you and "you are utterly unlike (opposite to) me" over and over again; despite the historical record to the contrary. Dr. Bylnd in FUNKTIONARY.
If Someone Otherizes You, You Are Their Enemy. Osho Rajineesh explained, "The mind always divides: the other and I. And the moment you divide I and the other, the other becomes the enemy, the other cannot be a friend. This is one of the basic things to be deeply understood, you need a penetration into it. The other cannot be the friend, the other is the enemy. In his very being the other, he is your enemy." [MORE]
The alleged sister who organized the event should hook up with the white folks at The Center for Documentary Studies who explain the invention of race and how the only purpose of race is to practice racism. "People who classify themselves as White, who wish to be taken seriously, and who are righteous and responsible, will only talk about ending White Supremacy (Racism) and replacing it with Justice."[MORE]
double consciousness- the sense of looking at one's Self through the eye's (axiology) and distorted mirrors of others. 2) the psycho-mismanagement of one's neurosis. 3) intimately involved in what you hate, and torn apart from who you (think you) are. You cannot learn to use that which you refuse to acknowledge, i.e., one's heritage, roots or asili. (See: Matah, Inauthentic, "Willie Chip," Power, Anxiety, Anguish, LEARN & Asili)
As defined by Dr. Blynd PhF explained in FUNKTIONARY (copyright Chocolate City Press).
Un-representing You. Coin Operated Black Ho-Reps., Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) have received large financial contributions from payday loan companies who prey on broke Black people with usurious loans. Both are Black proxymoronic probots. According to Funktionary, a probot is a propagandizing programmed robot who disseminates lies, distortions and convenient mass truths composed by a superior overruling elite. [MORE]
High Anxiety is the Fuel that Motivates Blacks in Racist System. In late July, racist suspect Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), a former venture capital executive representing Virginia introduced the ingeniously titled “Protecting Consumers' Access to Credit Act of 2017.” The legislation would allow payday lenders to ignore state interest rate caps on consumer loans as long as they partnered with a national bank. In a rare bipartisan effort in July, he introduced it with three cosponsors: two Republicans and one Democrat. The bill would allow lenders to ignore state interest-rate caps by partnering with a national bank. Most states have interest rate caps of 36 percent, but 15 states have none at all, and the bill could mean that millions of Americans would face rates of 350 percent or more.
Although it has been generally overlooked amid the GOP’s stumbling attempt to repeal Obamacare and its aggressive plan to slash taxes for Wall Street, Warner’s little bill has a much better chance of making it into law than the Republican Party’s marquee efforts. The bill has the backing of Reps. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), two Black proxymoronic, Ho-Rep Democrats with a history of sympathy for the financial industry. Warner’s Senate version is co-sponsored by tea party darling Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.).
In addition to traditional payday lenders, newer financial technology companies want to become bigger players in the high-interest loan business. Warner is an outspoken proponent of fintech, and should his bill become law, these companies will be able to partner with major banks, evade interest rate caps and profit off of low-income borrowers facing soaring interest rates. Companies such as LendingClub, Prosper and LendUp will be able to expand their high-interest lending operations.
Warner’s bill has drawn opposition from consumer groups including Americans for Financial Reform, the Center for Responsible Lending and the Consumer Federation of America, along with civil rights organizations including the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In September, 152 state and national organizations, including the Center for Responsible Lending, the National Consumer Law Center and the NAACP, wrote a letter to Congress urging members to vote against the Protecting Consumers' Access to Credit Act. “This bill could open the floodgates to a wide range of predatory actors to make loans at 300% annual interest or higher,” wrote the groups. “Fintech lenders also should not be allowed to make loans that exceed state interest rate caps… The bill wipes away the strongest available tool against predatory lending practices.”
Diane Standaert, director of state policy and executive vice president at the Center for Responsible Lending, told International Business Times, “What’s at stake is pretty simple: either allowing 300 percent interest loans or not. Siding with consumers or not. You have to look at the more than 150 groups opposing this versus who’s pushing the bill. There’s a clear the line in the sand about what’s at stake and who really benefits.”
A payday loan is a relatively small, extraordinary high-cost loan, typically due in two weeks and made with a borrower’s post-dated check or access to the borrower’s bank account as collateral. Payday loans are designed to trap borrowers in debt. Due to the short term, most borrowers cannot afford to both repay the loan and pay their other important expenses. If the loan cannot be paid back in full at the end of the term, it has to be renewed, extended, or another loan taken out to cover the first loan. Fees are charged for each transaction. Lenders ask that borrowers agree to pre-authorized electronic withdrawals from a bank account, then make withdrawals that do not cover the full payment or that cover interest while leaving principal untouched.If the lender deposits a repayment check and there are insufficient funds in the borrower’s account, the borrower is hit with even more fees for insufficient funds in their accounts. The bounced amount causes any other automatic debits or payments from the account to also fail and accrue more overdraft fees - wreaking havoc on a person's bank account - thereby leading them to borrow more or disaster.
The Center for Responsible Lending found that almost half of payday loan borrowers will default on their loan within the first two years. Taking out payday loans increases the difficulty of paying the mortgage, rent, and utility bills. The possibility of increased economic difficulties leads to homelessness and delays in medical and dental care and the ability to purchase drugs. For military men, using payday loans lowers overall performance and shortens service periods. To limit the issuance of military payday loans, the 2007 Military Lending Act established an interest rate ceiling of 36% on military payday loans.
The annual percentage rates on payday loans are extremely high, typically around 400% to 1000%. The loans are available to people unable to obtain credit from traditional lending institutions. They are a last resort taken by persons under extreme financial pressure usually during an emergency of some kind. Sounds like usury right? Not so in a crimeogenic system of white supremacy. Payday loans are the creation of Neuropeans.
Can't vote for no nigger loving Democrats. The GOP always has some moving pre-textual criteria for explaining what motivates its votary. But the unchanging bottom line is racism and their hatred of Blacks & non-white immigrants. [Doug Jones, Roy Moore's opponent, is a perceived nigger lover because he is a former U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted members of the Ku Klux Klan for bombing a black church in Birmingham in 1963, killing four Black girls. The GOP wants nothing to do with that image.] "Most white people hate Black people. The reason that most white people hate Black people is because whites are not Black people. If you know this about white people, you need know little else. If you do not know this about white people, virtually all else that you know about them will only confuse you." -Neely Fuller. And most white people are republican.
Trump/Bannon and other Neuropeons like Roy Moore are the opposite of the refinement of racism/white supremacy. The true power of white supremacy lies in its concealment. Less clever than stupid klansman, the only thing Trump folks are concealing from us is their tails. The operating system (OS) of white supremacy is primarily based on deception and works most effectively in the background, like invisible deadly toxins in the air. It is carried out through various false pretenses [see above story]. Public, overt racist conduct & speech disrupt the smooth operation of this global system and do not effectively promote it. [MORE] So watch what you wish for!
"How Far Will Government Go When Its Powers Remain Unchecked." [MORE]
Whitenology Public Relations: Protesting Against Unlawful Conduct by Public Servants is Now "Extremist" [Stay in your Place]What on earth is radical about protesting against the use of unlawful force and deprivation of Constitutional rights by police officers against Blacks & Latinos? What possibly could be radical about protesting against conduct that is already illegal? Having something to say about a public servant unconstitutionally & unlawfully stopping, detaining and injuring and/or murdering people based on skin color is not radical speech or conduct. It is normal. Put the black power fist down. This is whitenology propaganda; defining the outer limits & parameters of Black dissent and the ranges of "normal" conduct by African Americans & Latinos.
Such "protest" by Blacks only seeks to uphold the status quo, uphold the rule of existing laws; civil torts & criminal laws already prohibiting excessive force, criminal assaults, threats & murder etc.
Elite racists are trying to radicalize common sense! They are attempting to make Blacks & Latinos believe that what is actually conservative in nature and common sense for white people - is radical thought & conduct for Blacks. Therefore, we reject common sense when we reject "the radical" or what is "radical" to do. So, law abiding or obedient Blacks & Latinos will not pursue things that anyone else with common sense would pursue- because to do so would be revolutionary. lol
Racism involves the power of one "race" to impose its will upon another. White supremacy/racism is the ultimate affirmative action and the ultimate form of identity politics. [MORE]
Doc Blynd explains 'Police are paramilitary professionals at making citizens arrests. People who are awake see cops as mercenary security guards that remind us daily, through acts of force, that we are simultaneously both enemies and slaves of the Corporate state - colonized, surveilledand patrolled by the desensitized and lobotomized drones of the colonizers.' [MORE]
From [CBS] and [CarbonatedTV] A new report warns of dire health effects on communities of color caused by oil and gas facilities located near residential areas, linking emissions of pollutants with high rates of cancer and asthma, especially in African-American neighborhoods.
The report, titled "Fumes Across the Fence-Line" and released on Tuesday, was produced by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) the Clean Air Task Force (CATF) and the National Medical Association (NMA). The authors write that "fence-line communities" are disproportionately affected by pollution emitted by nearby industrial facilities.
"We've found that fence-line communities, including many African-Americans, are suffering especially serious health consequences as a result of these emissions," said the CATF's Lesley Fleischman, a co-author of the report.
The report found that more than 1 million African-Americans across the U.S. live within a half mile of natural gas facilities, with many communities facing a higher risk of cancer linked to emissions from the plants. The authors write that the oil and gas industry emits a total of 9 million tons of methane and other pollutants into the atmosphere every year, making the industry the largest emitter of methane gas in the country.
Methane contributes to climate change at a rate that's 87 times higher than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas contributing to a changing climate. Methane plays a huge part in forming smog and warming the atmosphere; benzene, a carcinogenic compound; and other impulsive organic compounds that also add to the smog problem and can have a negative impact on the lungs.
Oil and natural gas industries ignore the Environmental Protection Agency’s air quality standards for ozone smog due to natural gas emissions in many African-American communities. Because of this gloomy and over polluted scenario, black children miss 100,000 school days each year while around 138,000 suffered asthma attacks.
"The life-threatening burdens placed on communities of color near oil and gas facilities are the result of systemic oppression perpetuated by the traditional energy industry, which exposes communities to health, economic, and social hazards," the report says.
From [USNews] Responding to an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit against the City of St. Louis, a federal judge has limited St. Louis police response to protests, issuing a preliminary injunction against using chemical agents on peaceful protesters.
Judge Catherine Perry ordered the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) to refrain from using chemical agents “including, but not limited to, mace/oleoresin capsicum spray or mist/pepper spray/pepper gas, tear gas, skunk, inert smoke, pepper pellets, xylyl bromide, and similar substances” against anyone engaged in “expressive, non-violent activity.” SLMPD officers, she ordered, can only use chemical agents against nonviolent protesters when they have probable cause to arrest them and have issued clear, unambiguous warnings and given the person adequate opportunity to comply.
Perry also ordered the police department not to use chemical agents for dispersing crowds without giving adequate warnings and providing an opportunity to disperse, and forbid the use of chemical agents for “the purpose of punishing the person for exercising constitutional rights”.
Her order permits police to halt protests, but only if demonstrators pose "an imminent threat to use force or violence or violate a criminal law with force or violence."
In testimony during a preliminary hearing the ACLU suit, Perry heard testimony from protesters and bystanders about the use of chemical agents with no audible warning and about other police misconduct, including the use of “kettling” tactics during mass arrests.
The ACLU argued the SLMPD frequently uses pepper spray and other chemicals to retaliate against citizens protesting police brutality. ACLU Legal Director Tony Rothert called the use of pepper spray “the new firehose”.
From [WashPost] and [MORE] In April, law enforcement from Georgia’s Worth County descended on a high school and, without a warrant, conducted body searches on an estimated 900 students, touching some students’ genitals and breasts. They said they were searching for drugs. They found none.
A class-action federal lawsuit soon followed, and the sheriff and two deputies were indicted in October in the raid on Worth High School in Sylvester, which is about 170 miles south of Atlanta. Sylvester is 60% Black. [MORE] On Tuesday, a legal advocacy group, the Southern Center for Human Rights, said a proposed $3 million settlement had been reached in the lawsuit, pending a judge’s approval.
Earlier this week, Gov. Nathan Deal suspended Sheriff Jeff Hobby [racist suspect in photo] by executive order pending the outcome of his legal case or until the expiration of his term of office, whichever comes first. Hobby faces charges of sexual battery, false imprisonment and violation of oath of office, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Hobby’s attorney, Norman Crowe Jr., told the newspaper last month that the sheriff was at the raid but did not conduct body searches. “The sheriff’s position is that he’s not guilty,” Crowe said. “He’s committed no crime.”
The Southern Center for Human Rights filed the federal lawsuit in June against Hobby and his deputies on behalf of nine students. The suit said that on April 14, deputies placed the school on lockdown for four hours and students were directed to remain in “specified areas without any explanation” as to what was happening. Their cellphones were also seized, so they were unable to call their parents.
Dozens of deputies conducted “pat down” searches, with some deputies touching students’ private parts, the lawsuit said. “Defendants’ searches of students were intrusive, performed in an aggressive manner, and done in full view of other students,” the lawsuit said. It cited multiple examples, including claims that “deputies touched and manipulated students’ breasts and genitals.”
Tommy Coleman, a lawyer for the school district, said in June that the students’ account of the search was accurate, as The Washington Post reported. The sheriff ‘s office also said in a news release after the search that “one of the deputies” had conducted a pat down of some students “that was more intrusive than instructed by the Sheriff.”
At the end of October, the governor appointed a review committee to evaluate the administration of the sheriff’s department since Hobby’s indictment. The committee unanimously recommended that he be suspended.
From [NYTimes] A Brooklyn judge has ruled that the police need an eavesdropping warrant to covertly track the cellphones of criminal suspects, raising the bar in New York for the use of a surveillance device that is facing challenges across the United States.
Justice Martin P. Murphy said the New York Police Department had improperly homed in on an attempted murder suspect last year by intercepting the suspect’s cellphone signals without a warrant based on probable cause that he committed a crime.
The Police Department denied it had tracked the suspect that way and disputed the judge’s reasoning, saying that an eavesdropping warrant is only needed to capture the content of calls or messages and that the department’s tracking devices do not allow them to record that information.
The ruling, made earlier this month and published this week, could complicate an untold number of ongoing investigations in New York that relied on the tracking device, and adds to the mounting pushback from judges and elected officials against its unfettered use.
From [US News] Former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has lost another bid to get a judge disqualified from a racial profiling lawsuit that ultimately discredited his non-white immigration patrols and led to a criminal case against the ex-lawman. [90% of the world could have been pulled over under Arpaio's policy b/c 90% of the world is non-white [MORE]]
U.S. District Murray Snow on Tuesday rejected the request that Arpaio and his former second-in-command Jerry Sheridan made just days after Arpaio was defeated in last year's election for the metro Phoenix post.
Arpaio and Sheridan had argued that Snow had improper private conversations with an official hired to monitor the sheriff's office on behalf of the court and said the encounters included discussions about whether the sheriff's office had committed contempt of court.
Snow ruled that Arpaio and Sheridan, who has retired from the sheriff's office, lacked legal standing to seek his removal and had long ago waived their right to try to disqualify the judge from the case.
Six months before Arpaio's defeat in the 2016 election, the judge found Arpaio and Sheridan in civil contempt of court for defying a 2011 court order to stop traffic patrols that targeted all non-whites in an effort to unconver illegal non-white immigrants.
Snow later recommended a criminal contempt charge against Arpaio for ignoring the order. Another federal judge filed the charge against Arpaio and found him guilty. But he was spared a possible jail sentence when President Donald Trump pardoned his misdemeanor conviction in late August.
Snow, who was nominated to the federal bench by President George W. Bush, had ruled in 2013 that Arpaio's officers had racially profiled Latinos in his immigration patrols.
From [ThinkProgress] Police in Mesquite, Texas have dropped a charge against an unarmed man who was arrested and shot by police after officers believed he was burglarizing his own car.
Lyndo Jones, 31, was sitting inside his truck in a parking lot on the evening of November 8, struggling with a malfunctioning car alarm, when police arrived and instructed him to exit the vehicle. Officials said they were responding to reports of a possible car burglary after someone nearby reported hearing the alarm.
After “ma[king] contact” with Jones, Jones exited his vehicle voluntarily. Officers said a scuffle ensued.
“An altercation, a scuffle began and the individual ended up being shot,” Mesquite Police Department spokesman Lt. Brian Parrish told reporters afterward. Parrish claimed it had taken three officers to “subdue” Jones and that he had allegedly tried to “run.”
“He was actively trying to stand up and get out of the area,” Parrish said, noting that the officers had held Jones down until paramedics arrived. Justifying the actions of the officer who shot Jones — 10-year police veteran Derick Wiley — he added, “The situation was that Mr. Jones didn’t give the officer ample opportunity to start an investigation.”
Police charged him with evading arrest. The charge was later dropped on Tuesday, six days after Jones was shot by police. Parrish told ThinkProgress that the decision to dismiss the charge was made to “hopefully assist in his medical recovery” and that the charge “may be revisited at a later time.”
“It’s not getting pushed aside,” he said. “Right now, it’s more important for [Jones] to heal.”
Jones’ attorneys have disputed the official police account.
“Within 10 seconds of their arrival, he had been shot it the stomach. While on the street suffering from his wound, officers attempted to perform a cavity search and he reacted to that, and he was shot a second time in this back,” Jones’ lawyer, Lee Merritt, told Dallas–Fort Worth ABC affiliate WFAA8. Merritt claimed that police had also conveniently left out the fact that the truck Jones had been sitting in was his own in their initial public reports.
“That was not a mistake. That was an intentional misrepresentation to the public,” he added. “…That truck was his. How can you burglarize your own car?”
According to reports, Jones was treated for his wounds at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas and was handcuffed to the bed.
Wednesday, November 22, 2017 at 05:19AM 
