Sentencing Guidelines Do Not Apply to White Cops/Defendants who Terrorize Non-Whites From [MORE] On Thursday U.S. District Court Judge Inge Johnson (in photo) sentenced white Birmingham police officer Corey Hooper to five years probation, including six months home detention, for his conviction last fall on an excessive force charge related to hitting a handcuffed Black man in the backseat of a patrol car in 2007.
A federal prosecutor said after the hearing that prosecutors will review the sentence for a possible appeal of the sentence. The prosecutor had suggested more than seven years in prison.
Last year a federal jury in a civil trial of a lawsuit filed against Hooper found that Hooper had used excessive force against Gulley for the same incident. The jury awarded Gulley $71,290 in the case. Gulley's injuries were so severe he had to go to the hospital three separate times, Gulley's attorney Wendy Brooks Crew told jurors.
According to the lawsuit, Gulley had been arrested and was in handcuffs in the back of a police car when Hooper, who was not the arresting officer, pulled him from a patrol car and repeatedly punched him in the face with a closed fist causing severe injury to Gulley. Jurors found that once apprehended, Gulley was not trying to escape and was not posing a threat. The jury deliberated less than an hour and a half before finding Officer Hooper, guilty of depriving Gulley's civil rights. [MORE]
After the verdict, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance originally said:
“Few police officers violate their oaths to uphold the law and protect the public, but those who do must be held accountable, as this defendant was today,” Vance said. “I thank the FBI for its hard work compiling the evidence in this case. This was the district’s first civil rights trial since my office formed a Civil Rights Enforcement Unit to expand the office’s work in enforcing civil rights laws. We are committed to aggressive civil rights enforcement.” (FBI press release)
“Police officers who abuse their authority undermine the dedicated men and women who put their lives on the line every day,” Haley said. “The sentence handed down today sends the right message to those in law enforcement who would engage in such conduct.” (Ibid)
U.S. District Court Judge Inge Johnson also ordered that during probation Hooper is not to get into any new debt so he can repay a civil lawsuit judgment against him to Martez Gulley, the man he was charged with hitting. Hooper also can't get a job in law enforcement or security and must participate in an anger management program, she said.
"I think you snapped that day. You're not allowed to snap," Johnson said. "So I want you to get some treatment." "Your conduct was inexcusable. You shouldn't have beaten a man with his hands handcuffed behind his back," the judge said.
Everett Wess, who along with Emory Anthony were Hooper's defense attorneys , told the judge that Hooper had already suffered with the loss of his job. Wess said after the hearing that they were pleased with the sentence and that the judge was correct in her assessment of what happened that day.
"It was a one-time situation where he snapped," Wess said.
Hooper apologized to Johnson. "I take responsibility for my actions... I've never been in a situation like this," he said.
Hooper told the judge that he has three children, including a special needs son, who depend on him. "This will never happen again. I'll never be in a position for something like this ever happening again," he said.
Hooper's wife, a pastor, and his mother made pleas to the judge for mercy. Hooper's mother, Angela Hubbard, called her son a sweet spirit who was called to the ministry.
Johnson said today was the first time in the 35 years she has been a judge _ including her time as a state circuit court judge _ that she has had to sentence a police officer.
She said in fashioning Hooper's sentence, she considered a number of factors. She noted Hooper's life of service in the community, including as a minister. Hooper also was a decorated officer with a number of local and state awards. Hooper in 2003 was recognized by the Alabama Attorney General's office for saving residents by catching them as they jumped off their second and third floor balconies to escape an apartment fire in September 2002.
Johnson also noted the time between the incident and Hooper's indictment last year. "Justice has not been swift," she said.
[Hooper faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. [MORE] This was a very humane sentence. Non-white men do not receieve this kind of treatment from white judges.
White supremacy/racism is on full display whenever "white defendants" or "white complaining victims" enter a criminal courtroom, especially if non-whites are involved. Go to your local court and check it out for yourself. Being "white" has everything to do with; whether police will stop or arrest, whether prosecutors will charge, what prosecutors will charge, the quality of the plea offered, the penalties prosecutors will seek, pre-trial detention or release and what sentence will be imposed. Mostly, what you notice in court is that white defendants are treated humanely (by white judges, prosecutors and police) and are actually presumed to be innocent, which is not the way non-whites are treated.]
Assistant U.S. Attorney Pat Meadows told the judge that the U.S. Attorneys Office did not find out about the allegations until the civil suit filed by Gulley against Hooper was underway. He objected to the sentence because he said the judge varied greatly from the sentencing guidelines.
In a sentencing memorandum filed last week, Meadows had recommended a sentence of more than seven years in prison based on sentencing guidelines.
"We're disappointed with the sentence," Meadows said after the hearing. He said prosecutors will review it for a possible appeal.
U.S. Attorneys Offices must get permission from the U.S. Solicitor General in order to appeal a sentence handed down by a judge.
"Most police officers honor their oaths, day in and day out, to uphold the law and protect the public, but this defendant disgraced his badge and harmed a person he was sworn to protect," said Joyce White Vance, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. "Although the government vigorously pursued a prison sentence, the defendant can no longer abuse his power as a police officer."
"I thank the FBI for its hard work investigating and compiling evidence in this case. My office remains committed to aggressive civil rights enforcement."
A federal jury on Oct. 3 found Hooper guilty of using excessive force for hitting Gulley, who was handcuffed in the back of a patrol car in the 2007 incident. But Hooper was found not guilty of a second charge of using excessive force in the use of a stun gun against another man in a separate 2007 incident.
Prior to the sentence Hooper haf been promoted twice since the incident. He is now a homicide detective [MORE]
Seeking retaliation for losing the case, after the verdict was rendered the Birmingham Police faxed an arrest warrant to the Court and had Gulley arrested for a bogus burglary charge. Police arrested him. [MORE] and [MORE]