What is Collective White Power? From [HERE] and [MORE] The federal criminal trial of a Fresno police sergeant and three former officers ended abruptly Friday after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked 9-3 to find the defendants not guilty of charges of police brutality and obstruction of justice. The panel's vote was a devastating blow to the prosecution, which convinced three Fresno police officers to testify against their own. The jury had one or two people who appeared to be Hispanic. The rest were white. [MORE]
(What kind of white people (racist suspects) were on the jury? There are whites who:
- are practicing racism against non-whites at a particular moment
- are not practicing racism at that moment but have practiced it at a previous time, or will practice it at a later time
- are not practicing racism at that moment, but say and do nothing to stop those who are
- are not practicing racism at that moment, but have no problem with other whites practicing racism (don’t care)
- are benefiting from the crime of racism even if they are not practicing racism at that moment
- refuse to tell WHO is practicing racism; HOW racism is being practiced; and refuse to help the victims with the information they have
- oppose racism by exposing and opposing whites who practice it [MORE])
It's unclear whether prosecutors will retry the case. Suspect Rolando Celdon was punched and kicked, bit by a police dog, shot with a stun gun and blasted several times with a bean-bag shotgun in October 2005. He did not testify as he was deported as a result of the underlying criminal case.
"What a waste of taxpayers money," said attorney Marshall Hodgkins, who defended former Fresno officer Sean Plymale.
Both sides agreed that during the early hours of Oct. 10, 2005, Celdon broke into his girlfriend's southeast Fresno apartment, threatened her life and hit her in front of her young son. Celdon left before police arrived. A short time later, Plymale and his police dog, Tymo, confronted Celdon a few blocks from the girlfriend's home.
Hardin testified he rolled up to the scene shortly after 2 a.m. and saw Plymale standing on the opposite side of a 6-foot fence topped with barbed wire checking Tymo for injuries -- 5 to 10 feet from Celdon who was lying in the dirt in pain from being bitten.
Hardin said he didn't know at the time that Tymo had clamped onto Celdon's ankle and that Celdon had taken the 70-pound dog over the fence.
Hardin said he noticed Coleman holding a shotgun that fires beanbags filled with pellets. He said he saw three or four spent shell casings on the ground and Van Overbeek standing next to Coleman.
Then Van Dalen arrived and he quickly jumped over the fence, Hardin testified.
"Do you need any help?" Hardin asked. But Van Dalen didn't respond, he said.
Per department policy, Hardin, a rookie at the time, said he pulled out his gun in case Celdon became combative. He said Burger arrived and did the same thing.
Hardin testified he quickly realized that Celdon had nothing in his hands and he was not fighting. "He was kind of crying and he had a scared look on him," he told jurors. "There was no threat."
Hardin also told the jury that he believed Celdon could be easily handcuffed. Instead, Coleman shot Celdon and Van Dalen kicked him, he testified.
Hardin said Manfredi arrived and got upset when Coleman fired a final round at Celdon. He wasn't upset with Celdon's alleged mistreatment, Hardin said. The sergeant was mad that the shotgun blast hurt his ears, Hardin said.
Seeing no threat, Hardin said he put his gun away. So did Burger, he said.
Like Van Overbeek, Hardin told the jury that Coleman and Van Dalen joked about shooting Celdon in the testicles, but Coleman declined to do it. Hardin also said Celdon complied with orders from a Spanish-speaking officer.
After the incident, Hardin said he told Burger: "That was crazy."
A federal indictment accused Fresno police Sgt. Michael Manfredi and Plymale of concealing the alleged assault on Celdon by former officers Coleman and Paul Van Dalen. All four were charged with falsifying an official report to obstruct justice. If convicted, each could have faced up to 20 years in prison.
Police were searching for Celdon because he had broken into his girlfriend's southeast Fresno apartment and assaulted her in front of her child. Celdon was was later deported after being convicted of stalking and striking her. He was unavailable for the trial.
Because he couldn't be found in Mexico, the prosecution's case was built on the testimony of Fresno police officers Martin Van Overbeek, Tom Hardin Jr. and Beau Burger. They testified that Celdon posed no threat when Coleman fired six or seven bean-bag rounds at him and Van Dalen kicked him in the side at least twice. They also said they never saw a weapon near Celdon when he was taken into custody.