Supreme Court allows LA County sheriff to be held personally liable in lawsuit

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an effort by Los Angeles County to prevent Sheriff Lee Baca from being sued by a man who claims he was stabbed 23 times while jailed.

The Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/IolQWj ) says Baca's appeal was rejected without comment Monday.

County lawyers argued that Baca couldn't be held personally responsible for the 2006 attack because he had no personal involvement.

The high court, however, let stand a lower court ruling that said Baca could be sued on grounds that he knew about such violence and didn't try to stop it.

Dion Starr sued Baca and jail deputies, claiming that Latino gang members stabbed him at the downtown Men's Central Jail and that a guard kicked him in the face. [MORE]

No prosecution of Border agent for shooting Mexican teenager - Shot Dead for Throwing Rocks

Hernandez-Guereca crime scene following the altercation between U.S. border agents and alleged "Mexican illegal aliens."

According to law enforcement reports, fifteen-year old Sergio Hernandez-Guereca was shot in his head as U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents tried to detain two men who had crossed into the United States illegally near the Paso del Norte Bridge in El Paso, Texas. The teenager was pronounced dead at the scene.  

A federal law enforcement officer told the Law Enforcement Examiner that Hernandez was with a gang of youths throwing rocks at the agents. The anonymous law enforcement source stated that witnesses claimed one agent fired several shots toward the group, but the still unidentified agent claimed he acted in self-defense.

Mexican officials, including President Felipe Calderón, denounced the teen's death. The country's secretary of state said the use of firearms was a "disproportionate use of force" in response to rock throwing.

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Jesse Jackson Leads Protest for Hanna: Black Man Beaten and Tasered to Death by N. Chicago Police

From [HERE] National civil-rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson has suddenly become a frequent visitor to Lake County, where he said he will establish a new Rainbow PUSH Coalition office in North Chicago.

During his second trip to that town in two days, Jackson on Saturday helped lead a march and rally protesting police brutality in the Nov. 6 arrest and ensuing death of Darrin “Dagwood” Hanna. Hanna died in November 2011, a week after he was beaten and repeatedly shocked with a stun gun at the hands of North Chicago police.

About 300 men, women and children carried signs and chanted “No justice, no peace” as they walked the 12 blocks from 17th Street and Park Avenue — near where Hanna, 45, was arrested inside his apartment on a domestic battery charge — to City Hall on Lewis Avenue.

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Sharpton Calls for justice in case of Black Man Run Down by NYPD Police Cruiser

From [HERE] It was standing room only at the National Action Network Headquarters in Harlem on Saturday, as the Reverend Al Sharpton and community members turned out in a show of support for Laverne Dobbinson.

Her son, Tamon Robinson, was a Brooklyn man who allegedly died from his injuries after he was hit by a police car. "We deserve justice because my son did not deserve to die like that," said Dobbinson.

Police say Robinson was in the street allegedly stealing paving stones when they spotted him early on April 12. That theft charge was later dropped. His family says he was mowed down by police in front of his home in Canarsie.

Doctors told them Robinson was brain dead by the time he was brought to Brookdale Hospital, where he later died.

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Rodney King 20 Years After the Not Guilty Verdict

From [HERE] and complete Rodney King Video [HERE] and [HERE]. The 20 year anniversary of the Rodney King verdict is April 29. Riots began hours after four police officers were aquitted in the videotaped beating of Rodney King. Many persons of color reacted violently when confronted with the realization that the U.S. has a system of white supremacy in a place -  not a system of justice.

Here is a timeline of events surrounding the Rodney King incident:

March 3, 1991: Rodney King beaten. Just after midnight March 3, 1991, Rodney Kingwas speeding on the 210 freeway in Los Angeles when a police officer started pursuing him. After King led them on a high-speed chase, he was pulled out of his car. Nearby resident George Holliday videotaped four white officers beating King, who is black. Holliday sold the tape to a local television station and the videotape stunned the nation a day later after CNN aired the footage. The nine-minute and twenty second videotape turned what would otherwise have been a violent, but soon forgotten, encounter between Los Angeles police and Rodney King into one of the most widely watched and discussed incidents of its kind.  All of the blows struck by officers come within the first minute-and-a-half of the video. [MORE] 

March 5, 1991: Officers arrested. Two days after the beating, Sgt.Stacey Koon, OfficerLaurence Powell, Officer Timothy Wind and Officer Theodore Briseno were arrested. They were charged with assault and using excessive force.

March 5, 1992: Trial begins. The prosecution made opening statements a year later in the state trial of the four officers in Simi Valley, Calif. They entered pleas of not guilty after they were arraigned on charges soon after the incident.

March 17, 1992: Prosecution rests. The prosecution rested its case just two weeks into the trial. Midway through testimony of the defendants, prosecutors begin to realize they might lose the case as they relied too much upon videotaped evidence.

April 29, 1992: Verdicts rendered. Judge Stanley Weisberg read the verdict the jury had reached -- all four officers were acquitted and not guilty. Shortly thereafter, massive riots broke out, resulting in the deaths of 53 people and $1 billion in damage to the city.

May 1, 1992: King appeals to rioters. King made an appeal to rioters in Los Angeles on television, asking "Can't we all get along?" A day later, U.S. Marines were called in to maintain order after the Los Angeles Police Department was overrun. The riots quieted down after the troops entered the city.

Feb. 25, 1993: Civil rights trial starts. The four officers had a federal civil rights trial in Los Angeles. Separate from the original state trial, federal prosecutors alleged the beating was racially motivated, which prompted the lawsuit.

April 16, 1993: Two guilty, two acquitted. Powell and Koon are convicted of civil rights violations and spend 30 months in federal prison. Briseno and Wind are acquitted. No riots were reported after this new trial.

April 19, 1994: King awarded damages. After a civil trial in which King sued the city of Los Angeles for damages, a jury awarded him $3.8 million. In another civil trial against the four officers, a jury gave King no money after he asked for $15 million.

December 1995: Officers released. The two officers who spent time in federal prison were released after fulfilling their entire sentences. Powell and Koon did not work for law enforcement again.

Bond Remains in Trayvon Case: Zimmerman Allowed to Move out of State, Defense sets up Impeachment in Mini-hearing

From [HERE] Seminole County Judge Kenneth Lester on Friday allowed George Zimmerman to post a $150,000 bond to go free as he awaits trial on a second degree murder charge for his role in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26. The Judge rejected a prosecutor’s motion to increase his bail after his lawyer disclosed that Zimmerman had received more than $200,000 from a legal defense Web site he established.

Judge Kenneth Lester said, however, that he would revisit the issue if it became clear that the Zimmerman family had control of the money at the time of Mr. Zimmerman’s bail hearing last week, when the family said it would be unable to afford the $1 million bond requested by the prosecution. [MORE] 

Trayvon Martin Family has Raised Less Money for Legal Defense

In contrast to the $204,000 that killer Zimmerman has raised, Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump said Zimmerman's failure to reveal that he had the money shows that he is being dishonest. "If his testimony at the bond hearing is any indication of what is to come, then the lying has already begun," Crump said. The attorney also said the Martin family has raised less than $100,000 in fund-raising efforts to date, and that the money collected will go toward the Trayvon Martin Foundation.

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Donations Pour in to Trayvon Martin's Killer

• Al Sharpton, Trayvon Martin family urge peace on 20th anniversary of Rodney King Verdict [MORE] 
• Judge wants answers about $200,000 'Real George Zimmerman' defense fund [MORE] and [MORE]
• Pictured - People attend a rally in support of slain teenager Trayvon Martin in Los Angeles, California, April 26, 2012.[HERE]

(CNN) -- The lawyer for the neighborhood watch leader who fatally shot unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, said Thursday that his client has received about $200,000 from supporters.

Orlando lawyer Mark O'Mara told CNN's "AC360" that George Zimmerman told him Wednesday of the donations as they were trying to shut down his Internet presence to avoid concerns about possible impersonators and problems with his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

"He asked me what to do with his PayPal accounts and I asked him what he was talking about," O'Mara told Anderson Cooper. "And he said those were the accounts that had the money from the website he had. And there was about 200, $204,000 that had come in to date."

O'Mara had said earlier this month that he believed Zimmerman had no money. "I think he's indigent for costs," he said, adding that Zimmerman's relatives had few assets. (The Rednecks at CNN know good & well that Zimmerman's jewish daddy is a retired magistrate judge).

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White Men accused of Assaulting Black Baltimore teenager, seek to postpone trial

Beaten Black Teen Refuses to testify - Wants Charges Dropped [HERE]

(CBS/AP) and [HERE] BALTIMORE - Two brothers accused of beating a black teenager while on neighborhood watch for an Orthodox Jewish area are seeking to postpone their trial because of the publicity comparing their case to the case to Trayvon Martin. 

 Eliyahu and Avi Werdesheim were set to go on trial Monday in Baltimore. However, their attorney told a judge that due to recent press comparing their case to George Zimmerman's, he wanted to postpone the trial and seek a change of venue.

The Werdesheim brothers are accused of beating a 15-year-old boy in Baltimore in November 2010. Court documents say the brothers pulled up next to the teen in a vehicle, got out and surrounded him. He was allegedly thrown to the ground and hit in the head with a handheld radio.

The teen remembered the driver yelling, "You wanna (mess) with us, you don't belong around here, get outta here!" according to court documents, which do not identify which brother was driving.

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Beaumont Officer Blinds Latino Woman With Pepper Spray

From [HERE] A Beaumont police officer has been indicted by a criminal grand jury on three felony counts of assault and one felony count of use of force causing great bodily injury stemming from a DUI traffic stop in February, a District Attorney's spokesman said.

Beaumont police Officer Enoch Clark, 36, was arraigned Thursday morning in Riverside Superior Court, and he pleaded not guilty to all four charges, John Hall of the Riverside County D.A.'s office said.

"On Feb. 21, 2012, Clark was on duty, working patrol in the city of Beaumont," Hall said in a District Attorney's statement. "During his shift, Clark was involved in a possible driving under the influence investigation. While conducting that investigation, there was an altercation between the officer and a woman he was attempting to handcuff.

"Clark then pulled out a less-than-lethal device issued by his department called a JPX device," the District Attorney's statement said. "This device uses a 'wafer' of gun powder to propel a stream of pepper spray . . .  at a speed of more than 400 mph.

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Chicago police put on leave in fatal arrest of Darrin Hanna: Recording Reveals Black Man Plead for his Life

Police Recording Proves Hanna Begged For His Life During Arrest [HERE] 

Jesse Jackson Leads Protest [HERE] 

Beating Killed Man Who Died After North Chicago Police Incident, Autopsy Says [MORE] 

From [HERE] The seven North Chicago police officers involved in the violent arrest of a man who died a week later have been placed on paid leave temporarily, the mayor announced Tuesday.

The officers — Tristan Borzick, Jason Geryol, Gary Grayer, Marc Keske, Arthur Strong, Brandon Yost and Sgt. Salvatore Cecala — had been on desk duty since shortly after the Nov. 13 death of Darrin Hanna, 45. Police had been called to Hanna's apartment over complaints that he was fighting with his pregnant girlfriend, who told authorities that Hanna tried to drown her in the bathtub, reports show.

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