Newark Activists demand that Earl Faison case be Reopened - Black Man Beaten to Death in "Stairwell of Torture"

The Newark-based People’s Organization for Progress (POP) hand delivered a letter to New Jersey State Attorney General Zelima V. Farber on April 11, regarding re-opening the murder case of Earl Faison. It has been seven years since the aspiring rapper died at age 27 at the hands of five Orange, New Jersey police officers, who had arrested him as a suspect in the murder of a fellow police officer.  On April 7, 1999, police officer Joyce Ann Carnegie was murdered, and a manhunt for her killer began. Several people were arrested, including Faison, a parolee who was known by the Orange Police Department. The real killer of Officer Carnegie subsequently confessed and is serving a life sentence. However, the state of New Jersey never brought charges against the five officers for the killing of Faison. They were finally sent to jail by a federal court, which ruled in 2004 that they had violated his civil rights. Four of the officers were sentenced to four years, and the fifth received nine years. The U.S. Attorney said that Faison died in a “stairwell of torture” because he was brutalized out of the sight of those who were present in the Orange police station where they were holding him. Police officials stated in 1999 that Faison died of an asthma attack. While he remained handcuffed, Faison was beaten and pepper sprayed in his mouth and nose. The POP letter to the attorney general stated that the case should be reopened because “Faison lost more than his civil rights, he lost his life and someone must be held accountable for his death.” It also stated in the letter that if “the murder case of Emmett Till can be reopened after 50 years…then the case of Earl Faison can be reopened after seven years.” Lawrence Hamm, POP’s chairman, said “it is clear to us that the killing of Earl Faison is part of the long shameful history of racially motivated police brutality in New Jersey."  [MORE]