The latest data released by the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) which indicates that the conviction rate for members of the general public who were tried on criminal charges ranged around 68% from 2002 through 2006. Furthermore, the US BJS reports indicated that the incarceration rate remained fairly stable at an average of 70% and the average length of post-conviction incarceration for the general public was 49 months.
For a comparison we can use data from our National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project (NPMSRP) which tracked over 8,300 credible reports involving allegations of police misconduct in the US from April of 2009 through December 2010 which involved nearly 11,000 law enforcement officers within those 21 months. Of those reported allegations, only 3,238 resulted in criminal charges against law enforcement officers. Of those 3,238 criminal cases against law enforcement officers in the US, only 1,063 officers were ultimately convicted of those charges or reduced charges associated with the original allegations. Of the law enforcement officers who were ultimately convicted, 36% were ultimately sentenced to spend any time incarcerated and the average length of incarceration for those sentenced to prison or jail was approximately 34.6 months.
This would appear to indicate that there are disparities on a national scale between how law enforcement officers are treated in the criminal justice system since conviction and incarceration rates for law enforcement officers are nearly half that of the conviction and incarceration rates for the general public and, even when convicted, law enforcement officers spend 29% less time behind bars on average than the rest of the public.
The disparity becomes even more apparent when we focus only on excessive force cases. Of the 2,716 law enforcement officers involved in alleged incidents where use of force was questioned, only 197 were ultimately charged with a criminal offense and, of that 197, only 77 were convicted. Of even more relevance, for the 426 law enforcement officers who were accused of using excessive force in incidents where a fatality occurred, only 28 faced charges and half of those who were prosecuted ended up being convicted.
It is interesting that, even though the prosecution rates for non-fatal and fatal excessive force incidents are at an identical 7%, the conviction rate for fatal excessive force cases is 11% higher, at 50%, than the non-fatal excessive force conviction rate of 39%. As a comparison point, off-duty assault allegations result in criminal charges 55% of the time and end in a conviction 24% of the time. Off-duty murder allegations result in a prosecution rate of 71% and conviction rate of 45% which appears to indicate that on-duty violence is tolerated more than off-duty violence.
Oddly, this would give the appearance that it may be easier, not harder, to convict police officers accused of fatal use of excessive force, in fact the conviction rate for fatal excessive force cases was higher than any other type of case according to the data we’ve gathered (followed by murder at 45% and sexual offences at 41%). This would also appear to indicate that successfully prosecuting excessive force cases may not be as difficult as suggested since the conviction rates for these cases are actually higher than the overall average law enforcement conviction rate of 37%.
However, these numbers could also indicate that prosecutors are far more particular about what excessive force cases they pursue since the charge rates for both non-fatal and fatal excessive force cases are so much lower than any other type of case. In fact, there does appear to be an inverse relationship between prosecution and conviction rates when it comes to law enforcement officers (when excluding drug-related cases).
Link: http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/?p=3928
Favorite Quotes
Monday, February 28, 2011
Ashley Madison's website for "dating" the infidelity economy is alive, well, and profitable.
Do you want to have an affair?
After hearing an ad on Howard Stern's radio show or seeing a schlocky commercial on late-night TV, you might find yourself on AshleyMadison.com—the premier "dating" website for aspiring adulterers. Type in the URL, and as the page loads a gauzy violet backdrop appears with a fuzzy image of a half-dressed couple going at it beyond a hotel doorway. "Join FREE & change your life today. Guaranteed!"
Setting up a profile costs nothing and takes about 12 seconds. First you check off your availability status: "attached male seeking females," "attached female seeking males," or, even though the concept of the site is that all users are in relationships and therefore equally invested in secrecy, "single female seeking males." Next you're asked for location, date of birth, height and weight, and whether you're looking for something "short term," "long term," "Cyber affair/Erotic Chat," "Whatever Excites Me," and so on. If you're like me, you choose a handle based on the cupcake you most recently ate—"redvelvet2"—and then shave a few years and pounds off your numbers.
Once you provide an e-mail address that your spouse would presumably never have access to, you're thrust into Ashley Madison's low-tech pink and purple interface. And then, if you're a woman, the onslaught begins.
Promoting adultery and creating a market for it has made Biderman rich. It has not made him popular. "Nobody knows how many people are adulterous. But there is something important here," says Helen Fisher, an anthropologist specializing in love and relationships who is also a consultant to the dating site Match.com. "Even though some people are predisposed to adultery, we do have a big cerebral cortex with which we make decisions—some people are predisposed to alcohol and they give up drinking, drug addicts overcome addiction. This guy is preying on human frailty. It's a little bit like pimping if he's making money." Still, "they certainly own that cheaters' market," said David Evans, publisher of Online Dating Insider. "It's quite lucrative and successful."
Link:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_08/b4216060281516.htm
After hearing an ad on Howard Stern's radio show or seeing a schlocky commercial on late-night TV, you might find yourself on AshleyMadison.com—the premier "dating" website for aspiring adulterers. Type in the URL, and as the page loads a gauzy violet backdrop appears with a fuzzy image of a half-dressed couple going at it beyond a hotel doorway. "Join FREE & change your life today. Guaranteed!"
Setting up a profile costs nothing and takes about 12 seconds. First you check off your availability status: "attached male seeking females," "attached female seeking males," or, even though the concept of the site is that all users are in relationships and therefore equally invested in secrecy, "single female seeking males." Next you're asked for location, date of birth, height and weight, and whether you're looking for something "short term," "long term," "Cyber affair/Erotic Chat," "Whatever Excites Me," and so on. If you're like me, you choose a handle based on the cupcake you most recently ate—"redvelvet2"—and then shave a few years and pounds off your numbers.
Once you provide an e-mail address that your spouse would presumably never have access to, you're thrust into Ashley Madison's low-tech pink and purple interface. And then, if you're a woman, the onslaught begins.
Promoting adultery and creating a market for it has made Biderman rich. It has not made him popular. "Nobody knows how many people are adulterous. But there is something important here," says Helen Fisher, an anthropologist specializing in love and relationships who is also a consultant to the dating site Match.com. "Even though some people are predisposed to adultery, we do have a big cerebral cortex with which we make decisions—some people are predisposed to alcohol and they give up drinking, drug addicts overcome addiction. This guy is preying on human frailty. It's a little bit like pimping if he's making money." Still, "they certainly own that cheaters' market," said David Evans, publisher of Online Dating Insider. "It's quite lucrative and successful."
Link:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_08/b4216060281516.htm
Sealing Court Records & Proceedings a pocket guide 2010 (Federal Judicial Center)
This Pdf. pocket guide offers private investigators some insight into what it takes to seal or unseal records.
Link:
http://www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/sealing_guide.pdf/$file/sealing_guide.pdf
Link:
http://www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/sealing_guide.pdf/$file/sealing_guide.pdf
MA., residents need a bill to allow the public to videotape or photograph the police without fear of being arrested.
Connecticut State Sen. Martin Looney (D-New Haven) has introduced a short bill (PDF) that not only acknowledges the right of citizens to record on-duty police officers, it also provides for a civil action against police officers who violate that right.
That second part is important. A right doesn't mean much if there are no consequences for government officials who ignore it. Witness this case in Florida, where an officer erroneously tries to say federal law prohibits citizen recordings of cops. Even in states where courts have thrown out criminal charges, a cop who doesn't want to be recorded can still harass, threaten, and even arrest you. You may not be charged. But he won't be punished, either.
This is the first proposed state law I've seen on this issue that includes an appropriate enforcement mechanism. It would be great to see Congress take up a similar bill, under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Link to the Connecticut Bill:
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/TOB/s/pdf/2011SB-00788-R00-SB.pdf
That second part is important. A right doesn't mean much if there are no consequences for government officials who ignore it. Witness this case in Florida, where an officer erroneously tries to say federal law prohibits citizen recordings of cops. Even in states where courts have thrown out criminal charges, a cop who doesn't want to be recorded can still harass, threaten, and even arrest you. You may not be charged. But he won't be punished, either.
This is the first proposed state law I've seen on this issue that includes an appropriate enforcement mechanism. It would be great to see Congress take up a similar bill, under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Link to the Connecticut Bill:
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/TOB/s/pdf/2011SB-00788-R00-SB.pdf
Friday, February 25, 2011
NY- "Stop and Frisk" policy occurs mostly in black & latino communities and most lack any legal justification.
In 2009 in New York City, a record 576,394 people were stopped, 84 percent of whom were Black and Latino residents — although they comprise only about 26 percent and 27 percent of New York City’s total population respectively. The year 2009 was not an anomaly. Ten years of raw data obtained by court order from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) reveal that stop-and-frisks result in a minimal yield of weapons and contraband. Moreover, the practice contributes to continued mistrust, doubt and fear of police officers in communities of color that are already scarred by systemic racial profiling and major incidents of police brutality.
The City often relies on a report it commissioned in 2007 from the RAND Corporation that claims its stop-and-frisk policy is not racially biased.
"I have a problem with this, a private company working in partnership with authorities conducts a study and guess what? The Rand Corporation finds in favor of the police, screw our Constitutional Rights."
There is a clear need for accountability, independent oversight and reform in the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk.
Nearly half of all documented stops are justified by citing the vague category “furtive movements,” in stark contrast to the only 15 percent of stops citing “fits relevant description.”
Most stops occur in Black and Latino neighborhoods, and even after adjustments for other factors including crime rates, social conditions and allocation of police resources in those neighborhoods, race is the main factor determining NYPD stops.
•Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be stopped than Whites even in areas with low crime rates, where populations are mixed or mostly White.
•Nearly 150,000 stops over the last six years are facially unconstitutional and lack any legal justification. All together, 30 percent of all stops are unconstitutional, underlining a severe lack of adequate officer oversight in the NYPD.
•Black and Latino suspects are treated more harshly in instances in which police officers make the determination that a crime has occurred. Black and Latino suspects are more likely to be arrested rather than issued a summons when compared to White suspects who are accused of the same crimes. Black and Latino suspects are more likely to have force used against them.
•The rate of gun seizures is nearly zero—0.15 out of a hundred stops—a disturbingly low return for a law enforcement tactic which the NYPD itself claims is designed specifically to remove illegal guns from the streets.
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has long been active in the movement to address racial profiling, particularly in New York City. CCR filed Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al., a federal class action lawsuit against the NYPD and the City of New York that challenges the NYPD’s practices of racial profiling and unconstitutional stop-and-frisks.
Links: http://ccrjustice.org/floyd
http://ccrjustice.org/files/Fagan%20Report%20Summary%20Final.pdf
http://ccrjustice.org/files/Expert_Report_JeffreyFagan.pdf
http://ccrjustice.org/files/CCR_Stop_and_Frisk_Fact_Sheet.pdf
The City often relies on a report it commissioned in 2007 from the RAND Corporation that claims its stop-and-frisk policy is not racially biased.
"I have a problem with this, a private company working in partnership with authorities conducts a study and guess what? The Rand Corporation finds in favor of the police, screw our Constitutional Rights."
There is a clear need for accountability, independent oversight and reform in the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk.
Nearly half of all documented stops are justified by citing the vague category “furtive movements,” in stark contrast to the only 15 percent of stops citing “fits relevant description.”
Most stops occur in Black and Latino neighborhoods, and even after adjustments for other factors including crime rates, social conditions and allocation of police resources in those neighborhoods, race is the main factor determining NYPD stops.
•Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be stopped than Whites even in areas with low crime rates, where populations are mixed or mostly White.
•Nearly 150,000 stops over the last six years are facially unconstitutional and lack any legal justification. All together, 30 percent of all stops are unconstitutional, underlining a severe lack of adequate officer oversight in the NYPD.
•Black and Latino suspects are treated more harshly in instances in which police officers make the determination that a crime has occurred. Black and Latino suspects are more likely to be arrested rather than issued a summons when compared to White suspects who are accused of the same crimes. Black and Latino suspects are more likely to have force used against them.
•The rate of gun seizures is nearly zero—0.15 out of a hundred stops—a disturbingly low return for a law enforcement tactic which the NYPD itself claims is designed specifically to remove illegal guns from the streets.
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has long been active in the movement to address racial profiling, particularly in New York City. CCR filed Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al., a federal class action lawsuit against the NYPD and the City of New York that challenges the NYPD’s practices of racial profiling and unconstitutional stop-and-frisks.
Links: http://ccrjustice.org/floyd
http://ccrjustice.org/files/Fagan%20Report%20Summary%20Final.pdf
http://ccrjustice.org/files/Expert_Report_JeffreyFagan.pdf
http://ccrjustice.org/files/CCR_Stop_and_Frisk_Fact_Sheet.pdf
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Why is it so hard to prosecute a cop?
Washington's 25-year-old law regulating the use of deadly force by police provides a much broader defense than most other states' laws, a key reason that officers are rarely prosecuted in this state.
The law lays out a four-part test for determining whether use of deadly force is justifiable homicide. The officer must reasonably believe the suspect is attempting to commit a felony; has probable cause to believe his life is in danger, or that or others' lives are; and that the force is "necessary."
But the fourth provision sets an even higher bar: The officer is justified if he is acting "without malice" and in "good faith." Malice is defined in some cases as an "evil intent" or an "abandoned and malignant heart."
"Most states don't have a specific standard like that," said David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who studies the use of force. Instead, states more often give prosecutors broader discretion in determining whether to charge officers, he said.
Malice is extremely hard to prove, especially against police officers, who jurors are predisposed to believe are the "good guys," said Harris. "Putting a police officer on trial effectively turns the world upside down for the average person."
Links:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2011/02/16/2014241877.pdf
http://www.cityofseattle.net/police/news/2_16_2011/Firearms_Review_Board.pdf
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014248676_shootinglaw17m.html
The law lays out a four-part test for determining whether use of deadly force is justifiable homicide. The officer must reasonably believe the suspect is attempting to commit a felony; has probable cause to believe his life is in danger, or that or others' lives are; and that the force is "necessary."
But the fourth provision sets an even higher bar: The officer is justified if he is acting "without malice" and in "good faith." Malice is defined in some cases as an "evil intent" or an "abandoned and malignant heart."
"Most states don't have a specific standard like that," said David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who studies the use of force. Instead, states more often give prosecutors broader discretion in determining whether to charge officers, he said.
Malice is extremely hard to prove, especially against police officers, who jurors are predisposed to believe are the "good guys," said Harris. "Putting a police officer on trial effectively turns the world upside down for the average person."
Links:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2011/02/16/2014241877.pdf
http://www.cityofseattle.net/police/news/2_16_2011/Firearms_Review_Board.pdf
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014248676_shootinglaw17m.html
US vs. Raney case shows the Government will go to great lengths to prosecute an innocent person.
A police officer in Houston, Texas thought he had a slam dunk case against a motorist he stopped for driving on the wrong side of the road on September 15, 2008. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in a February 10 decision overturned the stop on the grounds that driving on the wrong side of the road is not always against the law.
The appellate court majority found that since the right lane of the two-lane road was blocked, it constituted an obstruction allowing Raney's maneuver. The court did not believe, based on the evidence, that prosecutors could prove that Raney should have noticed that Officer Walker was directing traffic. It also disagreed that Raney's actions were reckless
The prosecutor then asked rhetorically why any of the officers would ever risk their careers by lying in court to obtain a conviction. The appellate court found these statements highly objectionable.
"We feel it prudent to address this issue because the government has been cautioned repeatedly by this court against making such arguments, yet we continue to face them on appeal," the majority wrote. "It is troubling to this court that the government made these types of improper remarks in the present matter because the primary inculpatory evidence was the testimony of the law enforcement witnesses whose credibility was bolstered by the prosecution... Despite our precedent clearly condemning such remarks, the government continues to disregard our admonishments."
Judge Fortunato Benavides dissented, arguing that "an ordinary traffic jam" does not necessitate driving on the wrong side of the road. A copy of the decision is available in an 80k PDF file at the source link below.
Links: http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2011/us-wrongway.pdf
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/34/3412.asp
The appellate court majority found that since the right lane of the two-lane road was blocked, it constituted an obstruction allowing Raney's maneuver. The court did not believe, based on the evidence, that prosecutors could prove that Raney should have noticed that Officer Walker was directing traffic. It also disagreed that Raney's actions were reckless
The prosecutor then asked rhetorically why any of the officers would ever risk their careers by lying in court to obtain a conviction. The appellate court found these statements highly objectionable.
"We feel it prudent to address this issue because the government has been cautioned repeatedly by this court against making such arguments, yet we continue to face them on appeal," the majority wrote. "It is troubling to this court that the government made these types of improper remarks in the present matter because the primary inculpatory evidence was the testimony of the law enforcement witnesses whose credibility was bolstered by the prosecution... Despite our precedent clearly condemning such remarks, the government continues to disregard our admonishments."
Judge Fortunato Benavides dissented, arguing that "an ordinary traffic jam" does not necessitate driving on the wrong side of the road. A copy of the decision is available in an 80k PDF file at the source link below.
Links: http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2011/us-wrongway.pdf
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/34/3412.asp
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Is the U. S. Coast Guard bankrupting the owners of ocean freighters?
"Seized" A sea captain's adventures.
by Max Hardberger.
Excerpt taken from page 151:
"For example the Mobile Coast Guard inspectors are wild dogs. The problem in the United States is that ships are inspected by Coast Guard officers who may or may not know anything about ship construction or condition. Many are so called Ninety-Day Wonders who come out of the Coast Guard's three month training course-some of them from Iowa or Montana and have never seen a ship before- and are immediately able to go aboard ocean freighter in the nation's ports and bankrupt owners."
Link:
by Max Hardberger.
Excerpt taken from page 151:
"For example the Mobile Coast Guard inspectors are wild dogs. The problem in the United States is that ships are inspected by Coast Guard officers who may or may not know anything about ship construction or condition. Many are so called Ninety-Day Wonders who come out of the Coast Guard's three month training course-some of them from Iowa or Montana and have never seen a ship before- and are immediately able to go aboard ocean freighter in the nation's ports and bankrupt owners."
Link:
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The U. S. Government can create fake people on social media websites to promote it's political agenda or use it to destroy people's credibility.
The US government is offering private intelligence companies contracts to create software to manage "fake people" on social media sites and create the illusion of consensus on controversial issues.
The contract calls for the development of "Persona Management Software" which would help the user create and manage a variety of distinct fake profiles online. The job listing was discussed in recently leaked emails from the private security firm HBGary after an attack by internet activist last week.
According to the contract, the software would "protect the identity of government agencies" by employing a number of false signals to convince users that the poster is in fact a real person. A single user could manage unique background information and status updates for up to 10 fake people from a single computer.
The software enables the government to shield its identity through a number of different methods including the ability to assign unique IP addresses to each persona and the ability to make it appear as though the user is posting from other locations around the world.
"Those names can be cross-referenced across Facebook, twitter, MySpace, and other social media services to collect information on each individual. Once enough information is collected this information can be used to gain access to these individuals social circles.
Even the most restrictive and security conscious of persons can be exploited. Through the targeting and information reconnaissance phase, a person’s hometown and high school will be revealed. An adversary can create a classmates.com account at the same high school and year and find out people you went to high school with that do not have Facebook accounts, then create the account and send a friend request. Under the mutual friend decision, which is where most people can be exploited, an adversary can look at a targets friend list if it is exposed and find a targets most socially promiscuous friends, the ones that have over 300-500 friends, friend them to develop mutual friends before sending a friend request to the target. To that end friend’s accounts can be compromised and used to post malicious material to a targets wall. When choosing to participate in social media an individual is only as protected as his/her weakest friend."
Links:http://www.seankerrigan.com/docs/PersonaManagementSoftware.pdf
http://www.examiner.com/social-media-in-national/us-gov-software-creates-fake-people-on-social-networks-to-promote-propoganda
The contract calls for the development of "Persona Management Software" which would help the user create and manage a variety of distinct fake profiles online. The job listing was discussed in recently leaked emails from the private security firm HBGary after an attack by internet activist last week.
According to the contract, the software would "protect the identity of government agencies" by employing a number of false signals to convince users that the poster is in fact a real person. A single user could manage unique background information and status updates for up to 10 fake people from a single computer.
The software enables the government to shield its identity through a number of different methods including the ability to assign unique IP addresses to each persona and the ability to make it appear as though the user is posting from other locations around the world.
"Those names can be cross-referenced across Facebook, twitter, MySpace, and other social media services to collect information on each individual. Once enough information is collected this information can be used to gain access to these individuals social circles.
Even the most restrictive and security conscious of persons can be exploited. Through the targeting and information reconnaissance phase, a person’s hometown and high school will be revealed. An adversary can create a classmates.com account at the same high school and year and find out people you went to high school with that do not have Facebook accounts, then create the account and send a friend request. Under the mutual friend decision, which is where most people can be exploited, an adversary can look at a targets friend list if it is exposed and find a targets most socially promiscuous friends, the ones that have over 300-500 friends, friend them to develop mutual friends before sending a friend request to the target. To that end friend’s accounts can be compromised and used to post malicious material to a targets wall. When choosing to participate in social media an individual is only as protected as his/her weakest friend."
Links:http://www.seankerrigan.com/docs/PersonaManagementSoftware.pdf
http://www.examiner.com/social-media-in-national/us-gov-software-creates-fake-people-on-social-networks-to-promote-propoganda
Attorney's are using Google and social media websites to determine if people will make good jurors.
When picking a jury, lawyers always try to stack the panel with people likely to take their side. Now, some are taking the vetting process to a new level: they're quietly trawling social networks and other sites to ferret out the most intimate details of potential jurors' lives, from their sexual orientation to their income level and politics.
In essence, the traditional question-and-answer session known as "voir dire" is being transformed into "voir Google," sparking concerns about privacy and about whether courts are adequately supervising the process.
While interviews suggest that Internet vetting of jurors is catching on in courtrooms across the nation, lawyers are skittish about discussing the practice, in part because court rules on the subject are murky or nonexistent in most jurisdictions. Ten law firms and five jury consultants declined requests from Reuters Legal to observe them building juror profiles, many saying they weren't sure judges would approve. "Lawyers don't know the rules yet," said John Nadolenco, a partner at Mayer Brown in Los Angeles. "It's like the Wild West."
One law firm that was open about its online vetting of jurors is the Wooten Law Firm in Auburn, Alabama. Earlier this month, plaintiffs' lawyer Nick Wooten allowed Reuters Legal to watch as he and his team combed through a roster of 280 citizens who comprise the jury pool for two of Wooten's upcoming cases in Circuit Court in rural Chambers County. One client is suing an insurance company that allegedly declined to replace a roof damaged in a storm; the other is suing a gas company over a gas log heating system that allegedly sparked a fire.
After the jury list was culled by eliminating former Wooten clients and others who would be knocked out of the pool anyway, a paralegal began assembling profiles based on each would-be juror's online persona. The paralegal scanned Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and used Google searches to find jurors' names on the websites of government agencies, school boards, local companies, and sites that contain property records. Links to each site were assembled in a spreadsheet.
The online review quickly produced useful insights for Wooten to take to voir dire. For example, the Facebook page of Juror 115 contained, in Wooten's estimation, both positive indicators and red flags. Wooten was pleased to discover that the 32-year-old white male is Facebook friends with three people from Wooten's high school class and with one of his clients. Also, the juror "likes" the Chambers County Sheriff's Department; one of Wooten's grandfathers was a police officer in the area. "We have a lot in common," Wooten said.
In Columbia, Missouri, criminal-defense attorney Jennifer Bukowsky builds Excel spreadsheets about prospective jurors using Facebook, MySpace, Google Inc and a state database of civil and criminal actions called Case.net. During a trial in Circuit Court for Boone County, Missouri, late last year in which her client, a black male, was charged with sexual assault, Bukowsky hoped to keep a white female juror on the panel because the woman's Facebook page included several pictures of her with a black man -- which Bukowsky took as a sign the woman was not racist. "Internet research affected our decision with respect to whether to keep or strike a juror," Bukowsky said. The prosecution struck the woman from the jury pool, and the trial ended in a hung jury.
Link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/17/us-courts-voirdire-idUSTRE71G4VW20110217?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews
In essence, the traditional question-and-answer session known as "voir dire" is being transformed into "voir Google," sparking concerns about privacy and about whether courts are adequately supervising the process.
While interviews suggest that Internet vetting of jurors is catching on in courtrooms across the nation, lawyers are skittish about discussing the practice, in part because court rules on the subject are murky or nonexistent in most jurisdictions. Ten law firms and five jury consultants declined requests from Reuters Legal to observe them building juror profiles, many saying they weren't sure judges would approve. "Lawyers don't know the rules yet," said John Nadolenco, a partner at Mayer Brown in Los Angeles. "It's like the Wild West."
One law firm that was open about its online vetting of jurors is the Wooten Law Firm in Auburn, Alabama. Earlier this month, plaintiffs' lawyer Nick Wooten allowed Reuters Legal to watch as he and his team combed through a roster of 280 citizens who comprise the jury pool for two of Wooten's upcoming cases in Circuit Court in rural Chambers County. One client is suing an insurance company that allegedly declined to replace a roof damaged in a storm; the other is suing a gas company over a gas log heating system that allegedly sparked a fire.
After the jury list was culled by eliminating former Wooten clients and others who would be knocked out of the pool anyway, a paralegal began assembling profiles based on each would-be juror's online persona. The paralegal scanned Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and used Google searches to find jurors' names on the websites of government agencies, school boards, local companies, and sites that contain property records. Links to each site were assembled in a spreadsheet.
The online review quickly produced useful insights for Wooten to take to voir dire. For example, the Facebook page of Juror 115 contained, in Wooten's estimation, both positive indicators and red flags. Wooten was pleased to discover that the 32-year-old white male is Facebook friends with three people from Wooten's high school class and with one of his clients. Also, the juror "likes" the Chambers County Sheriff's Department; one of Wooten's grandfathers was a police officer in the area. "We have a lot in common," Wooten said.
In Columbia, Missouri, criminal-defense attorney Jennifer Bukowsky builds Excel spreadsheets about prospective jurors using Facebook, MySpace, Google Inc and a state database of civil and criminal actions called Case.net. During a trial in Circuit Court for Boone County, Missouri, late last year in which her client, a black male, was charged with sexual assault, Bukowsky hoped to keep a white female juror on the panel because the woman's Facebook page included several pictures of her with a black man -- which Bukowsky took as a sign the woman was not racist. "Internet research affected our decision with respect to whether to keep or strike a juror," Bukowsky said. The prosecution struck the woman from the jury pool, and the trial ended in a hung jury.
Link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/17/us-courts-voirdire-idUSTRE71G4VW20110217?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews
Monday, February 21, 2011
Orange County, Fl- Security guards chase boy into traffic resulting in his death, they claim he was in violation of the mall's dress code!
An Orange County family claims security guards chased their son to his death. The guards admitted it was because of the teen's clothes.
The family of Raheem Key is suing Valor Security and Simon properties because they claim the security guards chased their son into traffic where he was killed.
The crash happened in June near the Waterford Lakes Town Center in East Orange County.
The family is suing for $20 million, and the Florida Highway Patrol released audio recordings from when they interviewed the security guards about that chase.
"I ran over somebody! I ran over somebody! He ran out of nowhere," said the 911 caller to the operator.
The driver of an SUV had no time to stop when 15-year-old Raheem Key ran into Waterford Lakes Parkway. He was running from two security guards on a golf cart, who work for Valor Security and patrol the Waterford Lakes Town Center.
"I couldn't believe that he actually died because of a pair of pants," said Key's grandmother Carolyn Franks.
The Florida Highway Patrol interviewed both security guards and their supervisor. The guards said they were after Key because they warned him several times that he was in violation of the mall's dress code.
What is happening to our country? Mall security enforcing a dress code, results in a kid being killed, this is disgusting!
Link: http://www.wftv.com/news/26918881/detail.html
The family of Raheem Key is suing Valor Security and Simon properties because they claim the security guards chased their son into traffic where he was killed.
The crash happened in June near the Waterford Lakes Town Center in East Orange County.
The family is suing for $20 million, and the Florida Highway Patrol released audio recordings from when they interviewed the security guards about that chase.
"I ran over somebody! I ran over somebody! He ran out of nowhere," said the 911 caller to the operator.
The driver of an SUV had no time to stop when 15-year-old Raheem Key ran into Waterford Lakes Parkway. He was running from two security guards on a golf cart, who work for Valor Security and patrol the Waterford Lakes Town Center.
"I couldn't believe that he actually died because of a pair of pants," said Key's grandmother Carolyn Franks.
The Florida Highway Patrol interviewed both security guards and their supervisor. The guards said they were after Key because they warned him several times that he was in violation of the mall's dress code.
What is happening to our country? Mall security enforcing a dress code, results in a kid being killed, this is disgusting!
Link: http://www.wftv.com/news/26918881/detail.html
NY County Crime Lab closed because of continued drug testing errors, etc.
A New York government crime lab was shut down on Friday as part of a probe into whether drug evidence was being tested accurately, authorities said, in a move that could prompt prisoners to seek to have their convictions overturned.
Some 9,000 drug cases from 2007 to 2010 at the Nassau County Crime Lab are under review, with evidence in some cases being retested for accuracy, said Nassau County, N.Y. District Attorney Kathleen Rice.
Lab supervisors are being investigated for a possible cover-up because they knew about trouble in the drug-testing section in September 2010, Rice said. That was three months before release of a report by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors that triggered the probe and put the lab on probation.
"In light of the information about the supervisors, I requested the County Executive immediately shut down all sections of the crime lab until our review is complete," Rice said.
The shut-down is a "precautionary measure," she said.
So far six cases involving the drugs Ecstasy and Ketamine were tested incorrectly, and the defendants were not charged properly, Rice said.
Officials immediately closed the drug section. On Friday, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice and County Executive Edward Mangano said new revelations that police supervisors were aware of problems with ecstasy testing as far back as September prompted the closure of the entire lab.
The current situation, Rice said, makes it "impossible for our prosecutors to offer narcotics evidence to the court with the fairness and integrity that I believe are required and that the community deserves."
Problems first surfaced in December when a national accrediting group placed the lab on probation – the only lab in the country facing that sanction. The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board cited 15 failures of the lab to comply with nationally recognized standards, including improper maintenance of equipment and instruments, failure to properly mark evidence, failure to properly store evidence, failure to secure the lab and inadequate record-keeping.
Defense attorney Brian Griffin said his office has been getting many calls from clients wanting to know where they stand.
"I have a client who agreed to take a plea in a cocaine case," Griffin said. "He lost his job because of the arrest and conviction. It changed his life, obviously not in a positive way. Now to hear there are deep-rooted problems that predate and postdate my client's testing? It's a great concern."
Griffin questions whether his client indeed had cocaine in his possession and whether it was accurately analyzed. He said the fact his client believed he had cocaine is beside the point; authorities have to certify that any substance used in a prosecution is indeed an illicit drug.
"That's what we call burden shifting," he said. "The fundamental rule in the Constitution is that the government has the burden of proving its case. It's not on the charged citizen to disprove anything."
Links: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=133870757
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/18/us-crime-lab-idUSTRE71H79420110218
Some 9,000 drug cases from 2007 to 2010 at the Nassau County Crime Lab are under review, with evidence in some cases being retested for accuracy, said Nassau County, N.Y. District Attorney Kathleen Rice.
Lab supervisors are being investigated for a possible cover-up because they knew about trouble in the drug-testing section in September 2010, Rice said. That was three months before release of a report by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors that triggered the probe and put the lab on probation.
"In light of the information about the supervisors, I requested the County Executive immediately shut down all sections of the crime lab until our review is complete," Rice said.
The shut-down is a "precautionary measure," she said.
So far six cases involving the drugs Ecstasy and Ketamine were tested incorrectly, and the defendants were not charged properly, Rice said.
Officials immediately closed the drug section. On Friday, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice and County Executive Edward Mangano said new revelations that police supervisors were aware of problems with ecstasy testing as far back as September prompted the closure of the entire lab.
The current situation, Rice said, makes it "impossible for our prosecutors to offer narcotics evidence to the court with the fairness and integrity that I believe are required and that the community deserves."
Problems first surfaced in December when a national accrediting group placed the lab on probation – the only lab in the country facing that sanction. The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board cited 15 failures of the lab to comply with nationally recognized standards, including improper maintenance of equipment and instruments, failure to properly mark evidence, failure to properly store evidence, failure to secure the lab and inadequate record-keeping.
Defense attorney Brian Griffin said his office has been getting many calls from clients wanting to know where they stand.
"I have a client who agreed to take a plea in a cocaine case," Griffin said. "He lost his job because of the arrest and conviction. It changed his life, obviously not in a positive way. Now to hear there are deep-rooted problems that predate and postdate my client's testing? It's a great concern."
Griffin questions whether his client indeed had cocaine in his possession and whether it was accurately analyzed. He said the fact his client believed he had cocaine is beside the point; authorities have to certify that any substance used in a prosecution is indeed an illicit drug.
"That's what we call burden shifting," he said. "The fundamental rule in the Constitution is that the government has the burden of proving its case. It's not on the charged citizen to disprove anything."
Links: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=133870757
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/18/us-crime-lab-idUSTRE71H79420110218
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Baltimore issues over 2,000 red light camera tickets with dead officer's signature.
Getting pulled over and ticketed by law enforcement makes for a bad day, and we're quite certain the feeling is amplified when the citation comes in the mail days after the infraction occurs. There's no surprise, then, that most drivers can't stand traffic cams, and in many cases, the ticketed fight the infractions tooth and nail. In the city of Baltimore, MD, there are 2,000 ticketed motorists who may have a solid case.
WBAL-TV 11 reports that a police officer who tragically died in a car accident 'signed' those 2,000 tickets months after he passed away. That's a big problem, because each red light camera citation is supposed to be reviewed by an officer of the law before getting sent out. City officials claim that the residents received the wrong notice, and that the tickets were in fact properly reviewed before being issued. We're guessing that those ticketed won't buy that explanation and the courts in Baltimore will be quite busy for the next few months.
All branches of government are facing constricting budgets," a AAA Carolinas statement explained. "Law enforcement agencies will not be able to simply add staff to handle the growing traffic volume and therefore must look to creative solutions to do more with less. This photo-radar enforcement program in the Town of Ridgeland is one such example and should be replicated as opposed to rejected."
Excerpt taken from :http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/33/3399.asp
Keep in mind that AAA supports the use of "RED LIGHT CAMERA'S"
They claim that creative solutions need to be found to screw the public, what better way to scew with people than have a dead police officer sign the red light violations and then say all violations were reviewed before being issued! Law enforcement will not be able to simply add staff? No they'll just use dead officers."
Links:http://www.wbaltv.com/r-video/26825879/detail.html
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/16/baltimore-issues-over-2-000-red-light-camera-tickets-with-dead-o/
WBAL-TV 11 reports that a police officer who tragically died in a car accident 'signed' those 2,000 tickets months after he passed away. That's a big problem, because each red light camera citation is supposed to be reviewed by an officer of the law before getting sent out. City officials claim that the residents received the wrong notice, and that the tickets were in fact properly reviewed before being issued. We're guessing that those ticketed won't buy that explanation and the courts in Baltimore will be quite busy for the next few months.
All branches of government are facing constricting budgets," a AAA Carolinas statement explained. "Law enforcement agencies will not be able to simply add staff to handle the growing traffic volume and therefore must look to creative solutions to do more with less. This photo-radar enforcement program in the Town of Ridgeland is one such example and should be replicated as opposed to rejected."
Excerpt taken from :http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/33/3399.asp
Keep in mind that AAA supports the use of "RED LIGHT CAMERA'S"
They claim that creative solutions need to be found to screw the public, what better way to scew with people than have a dead police officer sign the red light violations and then say all violations were reviewed before being issued! Law enforcement will not be able to simply add staff? No they'll just use dead officers."
Links:http://www.wbaltv.com/r-video/26825879/detail.html
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/16/baltimore-issues-over-2-000-red-light-camera-tickets-with-dead-o/
Lawrence, MA- Police are facing so many lawsuits the city will no longer defend them.
Mayor William Lantigua says he will no longer pay legal bills for police officers being sued, including the bills for those officers involved in nine brutality cases pending in U.S. District Court.
The mayor says over the past three years, the city has spent $1.2 million to defend officers in civil cases. Instead, Lantigua says he will hold to the police unions' contract, which says the city only has to pay the $5,000 retainer for a patrolman and $7,500 for a superior officer. Lantigua says officers have two options when they are being sued — to use one of the three city attorneys or have their unions pay for the defense.
Patrolmen "are currently faced with the prospect of having to finance their own legal defense and personally satisfy any adverse judgments potentially rendered against them," wrote Mark Esposito, the lawyer representing the patrolmen.
Link:
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x253819531/City-pulls-plug-on-police-legal-bills
The mayor says over the past three years, the city has spent $1.2 million to defend officers in civil cases. Instead, Lantigua says he will hold to the police unions' contract, which says the city only has to pay the $5,000 retainer for a patrolman and $7,500 for a superior officer. Lantigua says officers have two options when they are being sued — to use one of the three city attorneys or have their unions pay for the defense.
Patrolmen "are currently faced with the prospect of having to finance their own legal defense and personally satisfy any adverse judgments potentially rendered against them," wrote Mark Esposito, the lawyer representing the patrolmen.
Link:
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x253819531/City-pulls-plug-on-police-legal-bills
NH- Police officers propensity for lying is classified as "Laurie Materials" what is it called in other states?
New Hampshire Town and City Article Index
Policy Needed on Police Personnel Files
New Hampshire Town and City, May 2004
Q. What are Laurie materials?
A. Not all information in a police officer’s disciplinary file is considered Laurie material that must be turned over to the prosecutor. The model policy proposed by the Attorney General’s office describes Laurie materials as: a deliberate lie during a court case, administrative hearing, other official proceeding, or internal investigation or police report; falsification of records or evidence; egregious dereliction of duty that implicates a police officer’s character for truthfulness; founded complaints of excessive use of force; mental instability resulting in suspension of the officer for evaluation or treatment, except for counseling after involvement in a traumatic incident or when no disciplinary action was taken.
In the Laurie case, the police officer’s file included documentation of many incidents that “reflect negatively on [the officer’s] character and credibility,” according to the Court. These incidents included false statements about qualifications on employment applications, claims that he had never been disciplined by pervious employers despite incidents of excessive force, abusive treatment and threats of physical harm directed at civilians, suspensions from duty, tainted court cases due to lack of truthfulness as determined by polygraph tests, misuse of firearms and a psychologist’s recommendation that the officer “should not be entrusted with a gun and a badge” and should be referred for counseling. The file was deemed material to the officer’s character and credibility, and failure by the police department to make the information available to the defense resulted in overturning a first-degree murder conviction.
The following excerpt is taken from the Union Leader February 20, 2011 article:
The committee that disciplines judges has cautioned Goffstown District Court Judge Paul H. Lawrence for discussing a Weare police lieutenant's credibility to a prosecutor, but dismissed the scathing complaint the officer filed accusing the judge of abuse of office.
The Supreme Court Judicial Conduct Committee voted to dismiss Lt. James Carney's complaint, finding no judicial misconduct, at its December meeting.
Carney, an 18-year veteran police officer and second in command at the Weare Police Department, complained that Lawrence told newly hired police prosecutor Catherine Baumann last summer that the officer had "Laurie" issues, when he in fact did not.
Prosecutors and police chiefs are required to maintain a list of officers with Laurie issues, which are confidential personnel matters that show a police officer's propensity for dishonesty. It is information that could be turned over to defense counsel if the officer were to testify at trial.
Links:http://www.nhlgc.org/publications/item_detail.asp?TCArticleID=219
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Judge+cautioned+in+officer%27s+complaint&articleId=1cd8723c-5e3a-42b2-955e-1dde6a8cf8b3
Policy Needed on Police Personnel Files
New Hampshire Town and City, May 2004
Q. What are Laurie materials?
A. Not all information in a police officer’s disciplinary file is considered Laurie material that must be turned over to the prosecutor. The model policy proposed by the Attorney General’s office describes Laurie materials as: a deliberate lie during a court case, administrative hearing, other official proceeding, or internal investigation or police report; falsification of records or evidence; egregious dereliction of duty that implicates a police officer’s character for truthfulness; founded complaints of excessive use of force; mental instability resulting in suspension of the officer for evaluation or treatment, except for counseling after involvement in a traumatic incident or when no disciplinary action was taken.
In the Laurie case, the police officer’s file included documentation of many incidents that “reflect negatively on [the officer’s] character and credibility,” according to the Court. These incidents included false statements about qualifications on employment applications, claims that he had never been disciplined by pervious employers despite incidents of excessive force, abusive treatment and threats of physical harm directed at civilians, suspensions from duty, tainted court cases due to lack of truthfulness as determined by polygraph tests, misuse of firearms and a psychologist’s recommendation that the officer “should not be entrusted with a gun and a badge” and should be referred for counseling. The file was deemed material to the officer’s character and credibility, and failure by the police department to make the information available to the defense resulted in overturning a first-degree murder conviction.
The following excerpt is taken from the Union Leader February 20, 2011 article:
The committee that disciplines judges has cautioned Goffstown District Court Judge Paul H. Lawrence for discussing a Weare police lieutenant's credibility to a prosecutor, but dismissed the scathing complaint the officer filed accusing the judge of abuse of office.
The Supreme Court Judicial Conduct Committee voted to dismiss Lt. James Carney's complaint, finding no judicial misconduct, at its December meeting.
Carney, an 18-year veteran police officer and second in command at the Weare Police Department, complained that Lawrence told newly hired police prosecutor Catherine Baumann last summer that the officer had "Laurie" issues, when he in fact did not.
Prosecutors and police chiefs are required to maintain a list of officers with Laurie issues, which are confidential personnel matters that show a police officer's propensity for dishonesty. It is information that could be turned over to defense counsel if the officer were to testify at trial.
Links:http://www.nhlgc.org/publications/item_detail.asp?TCArticleID=219
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Judge+cautioned+in+officer%27s+complaint&articleId=1cd8723c-5e3a-42b2-955e-1dde6a8cf8b3
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Fema centers to hire corporate executives and sign non-diclosure agreements. No reason to doubt they will abuse their power and spy on Americans.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has begun inviting private-sector executives to work at its headquarters for the first time, part of the agency’s renewed outreach to corporate America and a tacit acknowledgment that government cannot handle disasters alone.
Under the program, a key initiative of FEMA administrator Craig Fugate, corporate executives in industries ranging from retail to energy spend three months at the agency’s response coordination center and serve as a liaison to the business world, particularly during a disaster. The executives also get a seat at the table for key meetings to provide a private-sector perspective.
“I really feel like we have the pipeline in now to FEMA,” said Joe LaRocca, vice president of loss prevention for the National Retail Federation, a trade group. “Over the past year, they have taken a fresh approach.”
Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Center and professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said the focus on partnerships is part of a broader trend toward government contracting for services ranging from defense to electricity. (The executives working at FEMA’s coordination center remain on their own company payrolls.)
“We’ve moved beyond a sort of 20th-century concept of government that focuses on what public agencies do and more to a concept of government that emphasizes relationships,” she said. “This is simply a recognition of the way that the world has changed.”
FEMA officials said that they reached out to the retail industry first because it provides critical goods to residents during a disaster but that they are hoping to work with leaders from other industries, too. An executive from Target launched the program in November, and a representative from discount retailer Big Lots is slated to take her place this month.
On a recent morning, Katie Dempsey, senior assets protection investigator at Target, blasted e-mails to her contacts at retailers across the country as a major snowstorm prepared to strike the Midwest and Northeast. She wanted to know how many stores were closed in the affected regions.
Candidates with operational experience are preferred. During their rotation, candidates must be able to deploy to the NRCC within 90 minutes of notification. Candidates will complete an orientation and training program before their rotations begin, and will participate in operational training programs and exercises as needed during their rotation. No security clearance is required; however, candidates must submit to a background credit check and criminal history check (via fingerprinting). Candidates will be required to complete (1) a Standard Form (SF) 450 financial disclosure; (2) a screening agreement; (3) a non-disclosure agreement; and (4) an Organizational Conflict of Interest Avoidance and Mitigation Plan. Candidates agree to participate in a compliance review during their rotation, as well as after-action reviews if deemed necessary by FEMA.
Link:
http://publicintelligence.net/public-private-partnership-corporate-executives-now-working-at-fema-headquarters/
Under the program, a key initiative of FEMA administrator Craig Fugate, corporate executives in industries ranging from retail to energy spend three months at the agency’s response coordination center and serve as a liaison to the business world, particularly during a disaster. The executives also get a seat at the table for key meetings to provide a private-sector perspective.
“I really feel like we have the pipeline in now to FEMA,” said Joe LaRocca, vice president of loss prevention for the National Retail Federation, a trade group. “Over the past year, they have taken a fresh approach.”
Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Center and professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said the focus on partnerships is part of a broader trend toward government contracting for services ranging from defense to electricity. (The executives working at FEMA’s coordination center remain on their own company payrolls.)
“We’ve moved beyond a sort of 20th-century concept of government that focuses on what public agencies do and more to a concept of government that emphasizes relationships,” she said. “This is simply a recognition of the way that the world has changed.”
FEMA officials said that they reached out to the retail industry first because it provides critical goods to residents during a disaster but that they are hoping to work with leaders from other industries, too. An executive from Target launched the program in November, and a representative from discount retailer Big Lots is slated to take her place this month.
On a recent morning, Katie Dempsey, senior assets protection investigator at Target, blasted e-mails to her contacts at retailers across the country as a major snowstorm prepared to strike the Midwest and Northeast. She wanted to know how many stores were closed in the affected regions.
Candidates with operational experience are preferred. During their rotation, candidates must be able to deploy to the NRCC within 90 minutes of notification. Candidates will complete an orientation and training program before their rotations begin, and will participate in operational training programs and exercises as needed during their rotation. No security clearance is required; however, candidates must submit to a background credit check and criminal history check (via fingerprinting). Candidates will be required to complete (1) a Standard Form (SF) 450 financial disclosure; (2) a screening agreement; (3) a non-disclosure agreement; and (4) an Organizational Conflict of Interest Avoidance and Mitigation Plan. Candidates agree to participate in a compliance review during their rotation, as well as after-action reviews if deemed necessary by FEMA.
Link:
http://publicintelligence.net/public-private-partnership-corporate-executives-now-working-at-fema-headquarters/
PA- Former Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. convicted on 12 counts of racketeering & conspiracy in the kids-for-cash case is free on bail.
Former judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. will remain free while he pursues likely appeals to his conviction on 12 counts, including racketeering and conspiracy, in the kids-for-cash case, a federal judge has ruled.
Ciavarella faces a likely sentence of 12 to 15 years under federal sentencing guidelines, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney William Houser, who argued that Ciavarella should be immediately placed in custody.
"He has a very strong motive to flee," Houser said. "He's approaching 61 years of age. His crimes had a devastating effect on his community and his state."
Defense attorney William Ruzzo argued Ciavarella would never leave his family and has complied with conditions placed on him by the court since his arrest in 2009.
"This man would rather be on a gurney and be injected rather than leave his family," Ruzzo said.
U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik agreed and ruled that Ciavarella will remain free on $1 million unsecured bond.
The six-man, six-woman jury found the former Luzerne County juvenile court judge guilty of counts related to a $997,600 payment he and another judge received in 2003 from Robert K. Mericle the builder of a for-profit juvenile detention center. It acquitted him on all counts directly related to subsequent payments by Mericle and Robert J. Powell, the owner of the center, who alleged he was extorted by Ciavarella.
Ciavarella, his hands clasped in front of him, showed no emotion as the verdict was read. He huddled briefly with family members before Kosik instructed the jury it had to return to deliberations to determine if Ciavarella will have to forfeiture money to the government. The jury decided Ciavarella should be liable to forfeit $997,600, but testimony at the six-day trial indicated Ciavarella has little, if any, money.
Links: http://citizensvoice.com/news/court#axzz1EQaV9aTK
http://citizensvoice.com/ciavarella-guilty-on-12-counts-will-remain-free-on-bail-1.1107067#axzz1ELjLLxwo
Ciavarella faces a likely sentence of 12 to 15 years under federal sentencing guidelines, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney William Houser, who argued that Ciavarella should be immediately placed in custody.
"He has a very strong motive to flee," Houser said. "He's approaching 61 years of age. His crimes had a devastating effect on his community and his state."
Defense attorney William Ruzzo argued Ciavarella would never leave his family and has complied with conditions placed on him by the court since his arrest in 2009.
"This man would rather be on a gurney and be injected rather than leave his family," Ruzzo said.
U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik agreed and ruled that Ciavarella will remain free on $1 million unsecured bond.
The six-man, six-woman jury found the former Luzerne County juvenile court judge guilty of counts related to a $997,600 payment he and another judge received in 2003 from Robert K. Mericle the builder of a for-profit juvenile detention center. It acquitted him on all counts directly related to subsequent payments by Mericle and Robert J. Powell, the owner of the center, who alleged he was extorted by Ciavarella.
Ciavarella, his hands clasped in front of him, showed no emotion as the verdict was read. He huddled briefly with family members before Kosik instructed the jury it had to return to deliberations to determine if Ciavarella will have to forfeiture money to the government. The jury decided Ciavarella should be liable to forfeit $997,600, but testimony at the six-day trial indicated Ciavarella has little, if any, money.
Links: http://citizensvoice.com/news/court#axzz1EQaV9aTK
http://citizensvoice.com/ciavarella-guilty-on-12-counts-will-remain-free-on-bail-1.1107067#axzz1ELjLLxwo
Friday, February 18, 2011
MA- CPCS funding for private investigators is in jeapordy, we need your support.
SAMPLE-MAIL/LETTER TO SEND TO YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND SENATOR AND THE WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE IS ON THEIR WEBSITE.
There are all the contact numbers you need to get started, links to legislators and a detailed letter to legislators/ FACT sheet which you can use for letters, emails, talking points, etc.
Lastly, I cannot stress this enough: The word we are hearing is that the House and Senate Ways & Means committees are saying they are NOT hearing enough from the 3,000 attorneys doing this work and private investigators. WE NEED TO CHANGE THAT PRONTO. WE NEED TO CHANGE THAT IN A VERY SUBSTANTIAL WAY. This cannot be emphasized enough, make no mistake: the entire system, and your livelihoods or a good portion thereof, are literally at stake. Even if you have already communicated with your own legislators (House & Senate), it is imperative that we ALL also contact both the House and Senate Ways & Means Committee offices. We must politely stress the Governor’s plan is in fact more costly, is unworkable and is a needless destruction of a model system.
Link: http://www.macaa.biz/
There are all the contact numbers you need to get started, links to legislators and a detailed letter to legislators/ FACT sheet which you can use for letters, emails, talking points, etc.
Lastly, I cannot stress this enough: The word we are hearing is that the House and Senate Ways & Means committees are saying they are NOT hearing enough from the 3,000 attorneys doing this work and private investigators. WE NEED TO CHANGE THAT PRONTO. WE NEED TO CHANGE THAT IN A VERY SUBSTANTIAL WAY. This cannot be emphasized enough, make no mistake: the entire system, and your livelihoods or a good portion thereof, are literally at stake. Even if you have already communicated with your own legislators (House & Senate), it is imperative that we ALL also contact both the House and Senate Ways & Means Committee offices. We must politely stress the Governor’s plan is in fact more costly, is unworkable and is a needless destruction of a model system.
Link: http://www.macaa.biz/
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Unique "usernames" for Ebay, Facebook etc. can be tracked by criminals, spammers etc.
French security academics developed a system that cross-referenced publicly-available data from several major websites to build up detailed profiles of real people.
The team harvested almost 10 million usernames from Google, eBay and MySpace.
Using statistical analysis techniques they showed that it is possible, to a high degree of certainty, to track about half of internet users across the internet based on only their username. They also showed that the more unique - the more entropy it has - the username, the more likely it is that it can be linked to a real person.
"For example, by matching a Google profile to an eBay account one could send spam emails that mention a recent sale."
The researchers argue that such targeted phishing emails would trick more people into clicking on malicious links that allow criminals to take control of computers.
Such profiling methods could also be used by unscrupulous online marketers to gather data about individuals' interests without their knowledge or consent.
To combat the potenital threat, the researchers suggest trying to use different usernames on different websites. The team have created a tool to allow internet users to test how unique their usernames are, to "allow them to take an informed decision on whether to change their pseudonym for their online activity they wish to remain private."
Check this link to see how unique your username is:
http://planete.inrialpes.fr/projects/how-unique-are-your-usernames/
Links:http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.5578
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8326598/Unique-usernames-allow-spammers-to-track-you.html
The team harvested almost 10 million usernames from Google, eBay and MySpace.
Using statistical analysis techniques they showed that it is possible, to a high degree of certainty, to track about half of internet users across the internet based on only their username. They also showed that the more unique - the more entropy it has - the username, the more likely it is that it can be linked to a real person.
"For example, by matching a Google profile to an eBay account one could send spam emails that mention a recent sale."
The researchers argue that such targeted phishing emails would trick more people into clicking on malicious links that allow criminals to take control of computers.
Such profiling methods could also be used by unscrupulous online marketers to gather data about individuals' interests without their knowledge or consent.
To combat the potenital threat, the researchers suggest trying to use different usernames on different websites. The team have created a tool to allow internet users to test how unique their usernames are, to "allow them to take an informed decision on whether to change their pseudonym for their online activity they wish to remain private."
Check this link to see how unique your username is:
http://planete.inrialpes.fr/projects/how-unique-are-your-usernames/
Links:http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.5578
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8326598/Unique-usernames-allow-spammers-to-track-you.html
Bloggers supposedly received $10 gift cards in exchange for writing a positive story about Toyota.
I just received an email that absolutely astounded me, regarding a blogging opportunity from Toyota for mom bloggers. Tell me if this doesn’t just seem wrong on so many levels. Of course, you’ve heard all of the scary news about the Toyota sudden acceleration problem, and I am sure it has been a headache of epic proportions for Toyota.
I’m still picking up the pieces of my broken heart after learning that Toyota Doesn’t Make Cars for Me, and now, this. Toyota wants to give me a $10 Amazon gift card to post some of their recent “positive news” on my blog, Tweet it to my 32,000 Twitter followers, and give a whole slew of their videos an endorsement on YouTube.
Looking around the internet, there is often a thin line between editorial content and advertising. It's not surprising to go to an entertainment blog on a Friday to not only see that the page has been skinned with an ad for a new movie but also a gallery of that movie's star or a fluff interview with someone in the film. But some mommy bloggers say they're not willing to cross that line by accepting a $10 gift card in exchange for writing a positive story about Toyota.
From the e-mail sent to the mommy bloggers:
"I need you to:
Write a post about the report & good news
In the post, link to a few of the articles or videos below
If possible, share on social networks or “thumbs up” the YouTube videos."
Link:
http://dearcrissy.com/toyota-pays-mom-bloggers-10-to-bury-bad-press/
I’m still picking up the pieces of my broken heart after learning that Toyota Doesn’t Make Cars for Me, and now, this. Toyota wants to give me a $10 Amazon gift card to post some of their recent “positive news” on my blog, Tweet it to my 32,000 Twitter followers, and give a whole slew of their videos an endorsement on YouTube.
Looking around the internet, there is often a thin line between editorial content and advertising. It's not surprising to go to an entertainment blog on a Friday to not only see that the page has been skinned with an ad for a new movie but also a gallery of that movie's star or a fluff interview with someone in the film. But some mommy bloggers say they're not willing to cross that line by accepting a $10 gift card in exchange for writing a positive story about Toyota.
From the e-mail sent to the mommy bloggers:
"I need you to:
Write a post about the report & good news
In the post, link to a few of the articles or videos below
If possible, share on social networks or “thumbs up” the YouTube videos."
Link:
http://dearcrissy.com/toyota-pays-mom-bloggers-10-to-bury-bad-press/
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) & the NBA All Star game are encouraging U. S. citizens to spy on each other.
It's only a matter of time before every sporting event in this country encourages U. S. citizens to spy on each other! The DHS wants citizens to report suscpicious activity, start reporting this brazen policy of turning the U. S. into a police state to your Senators, Congressmen etc.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano expanded her agency’s citizen action campaign “If You See Something, Say Something” to include security plans for next weekend’s National Basketball Association’s (NBA) All Star game in Los Angeles.
Napolitano held a press conference on Tuesday at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., with NBA Commissioner David Stern to announce the “partnership” that will put posters and announcements on TV monitors at the Staples Center in Los Angeles next weekend, and at other venues nationwide over the coming months.
"Every citizen plays a critical role in identifying and reporting suspicious activities and threats," Napolitano said. "Our partnership with the NBA to bring the ‘If You See Something, Say Something’ campaign to professional basketball events throughout the nation is a vital part of our efforts to ensure the safety of players, employees and fans."
A DHS press release released in conjunction with the press conference said the campaign is also in place in more than 9,000 federal buildings nationwide, at Walmart stores, Mall of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Amtrak, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the general aviation industry, and state and local fusion centers (centers where state, local and federal law enforcement share intelligence and other resources) across the country.
Link:
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/homeland-security-spends-part-29-million
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano expanded her agency’s citizen action campaign “If You See Something, Say Something” to include security plans for next weekend’s National Basketball Association’s (NBA) All Star game in Los Angeles.
Napolitano held a press conference on Tuesday at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., with NBA Commissioner David Stern to announce the “partnership” that will put posters and announcements on TV monitors at the Staples Center in Los Angeles next weekend, and at other venues nationwide over the coming months.
"Every citizen plays a critical role in identifying and reporting suspicious activities and threats," Napolitano said. "Our partnership with the NBA to bring the ‘If You See Something, Say Something’ campaign to professional basketball events throughout the nation is a vital part of our efforts to ensure the safety of players, employees and fans."
A DHS press release released in conjunction with the press conference said the campaign is also in place in more than 9,000 federal buildings nationwide, at Walmart stores, Mall of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Amtrak, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the general aviation industry, and state and local fusion centers (centers where state, local and federal law enforcement share intelligence and other resources) across the country.
Link:
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/homeland-security-spends-part-29-million
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
What's wrong with expert tesitmony and did expert testimony convict an innocent woman of murder?
Austin, TX- In August 2005, Rosa Jimenez was charged and tried for murder and serious bodily injury to a child.
The prosecution's evidence photos included an image of a slight cut on Rosa Jimenez's right thumb. According to prosecutors, the cause of Bryan's death was clear. Rosa Jimenez had – for reasons unknown – taken five attached sheets of paper towel, wadded them up tightly, and jammed them down Bryan's throat, depriving him of air. She then waited – while he choked and turned blue and began to die – before taking him to Vera's apartment and calling 911, giving herself a chance to clean up the traces of her crime. She washed blood from the side of her bathtub, and possibly even removed and hid the sheets from her bed. Yet police did not find bloody bed sheets in the apartment, and although there was a drop of Bryan's blood on the tub, there was no evidence to suggest that there had been more blood there, nor were there any signs that someone had tried to clean additional blood stains.
But who, exactly, is in the best position to say what happened to Bryan Gutierrez that day – beyond a reasonable doubt? The only adult present in the apartment, Jimenez, insists that Bryan's choking was an accident. Although Jimenez did not testify at trial, the video of her interview with police was played for the jurors, who could follow along with a printed transcript. In the end, it seems the jurors believed the experts; after a six-day trial the jury found Jimenez guilty, sentencing her to 99 years in prison.
Did the experts in this case – the doctors who forcefully asserted that this had been no accident – help put a cold-blooded child-killer behind bars? Or did the state's use of expert witnesses to explain the fatal injury convince a jury to convict an innocent person? More broadly, in such an expert-dependent case as this – one that demands professional certainty on difficult questions – what is the effect of expert witnesses? Who is the best expert? Who decides? What if they're wrong? And what impact does the use of expert witnesses have on our criminal justice system?
Five years after her trial, after hearings over several days in December 2010, then-Travis County District Judge Charlie Baird concluded that Jimenez is entitled to a new trial. Her new defense attorneys proffered additional expert testimony to counter the expert evidence offered by the state at trial, testimony that Baird found credible. Had Jimenez's jury heard any alternate theory of the crime, it is unlikely that the verdict would have been the same, Baird opined, concluding that Jimenez had been denied due process and that her attorney, veteran defender Leonard Martinez, had rendered ineffective assistance to his client. If the Court of Criminal Appeals agrees, Jimenez's case may be coming back for a retrial.
Professor D. Michael Risinger says there's no doubt that jurors are influenced by expert witnesses: "These people come into court blessed by the judge. They look authoritative, speak authoritatively, and they have paper credentials." But that doesn't necessarily mean that they know what they're talking about. A related problem, of course, is that the system is generally underfunded, says Gross, and without a healthy balance between state and defense, the entire adversarial system can be undermined. In this system, the state usually has access to numerous experts, including many, like medical examiners, who are institutional players. With "limited funds, or none, and no access to experts" to counter the state power, the adversarial process fails. "So whatever adversarial system [there is], if there is only one side to it, it falls apart entirely."
Gross says he can't say specifically that medical experts are unduly influential on jurors, but he suspects they do wield power. "What I can say is that a good expert – that is, an expert who is an effective witness – can be very influential," he said. "When we're in the situation where you're looking for a physician to give advice and get treatment, if you find someone who strikes you as caring and intelligent and reasonable, you breathe a sigh of relief," he posits. "If you have a doctor who creates that impression for a jury – answers questions you'd like a doctor to be able to answer – [and] he's the kind of person you say, 'I'm glad he's treating me,' how could a jury not be influenced by this in the context" of being a witness in a criminal trial? The problem, he says, is that, at times, "some people [who] create that kind of impression are better performers than doctors or scientists."
The best example of that kind of expertise is that of deceased forensic psychiatrist Dr. James Grigson, known as "Dr. Death" for his hundreds of appearances as an expert witness for the state in death penalty cases. Grigson was reprimanded multiple times by professional organizations for allegedly unethical practices, in part for testifying about the future dangerousness of defendants, some of whom he'd never even examined. After he was expelled in 1995 from the American Psychiatric Association and the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians for alleged ethical violations, Grigson told The Dallas Morning News that he didn't expect the censures would affect his testifying as an expert for the state. "For them to say I'm unethical ... it's really an insult," he told the daily. Gross says Grigson was exactly the kind of expert that put on a good show for jurors. "He was very manipulative; he wanted to persuade people. You think of him as 'Dr. Death,' but he didn't come across as bloodthirsty" when testifying, he said. "But the problem is that he was testifying to things he had no way of knowing."
Link:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2011-02-04/a-parliament-of-experts/
The prosecution's evidence photos included an image of a slight cut on Rosa Jimenez's right thumb. According to prosecutors, the cause of Bryan's death was clear. Rosa Jimenez had – for reasons unknown – taken five attached sheets of paper towel, wadded them up tightly, and jammed them down Bryan's throat, depriving him of air. She then waited – while he choked and turned blue and began to die – before taking him to Vera's apartment and calling 911, giving herself a chance to clean up the traces of her crime. She washed blood from the side of her bathtub, and possibly even removed and hid the sheets from her bed. Yet police did not find bloody bed sheets in the apartment, and although there was a drop of Bryan's blood on the tub, there was no evidence to suggest that there had been more blood there, nor were there any signs that someone had tried to clean additional blood stains.
But who, exactly, is in the best position to say what happened to Bryan Gutierrez that day – beyond a reasonable doubt? The only adult present in the apartment, Jimenez, insists that Bryan's choking was an accident. Although Jimenez did not testify at trial, the video of her interview with police was played for the jurors, who could follow along with a printed transcript. In the end, it seems the jurors believed the experts; after a six-day trial the jury found Jimenez guilty, sentencing her to 99 years in prison.
Did the experts in this case – the doctors who forcefully asserted that this had been no accident – help put a cold-blooded child-killer behind bars? Or did the state's use of expert witnesses to explain the fatal injury convince a jury to convict an innocent person? More broadly, in such an expert-dependent case as this – one that demands professional certainty on difficult questions – what is the effect of expert witnesses? Who is the best expert? Who decides? What if they're wrong? And what impact does the use of expert witnesses have on our criminal justice system?
Five years after her trial, after hearings over several days in December 2010, then-Travis County District Judge Charlie Baird concluded that Jimenez is entitled to a new trial. Her new defense attorneys proffered additional expert testimony to counter the expert evidence offered by the state at trial, testimony that Baird found credible. Had Jimenez's jury heard any alternate theory of the crime, it is unlikely that the verdict would have been the same, Baird opined, concluding that Jimenez had been denied due process and that her attorney, veteran defender Leonard Martinez, had rendered ineffective assistance to his client. If the Court of Criminal Appeals agrees, Jimenez's case may be coming back for a retrial.
Professor D. Michael Risinger says there's no doubt that jurors are influenced by expert witnesses: "These people come into court blessed by the judge. They look authoritative, speak authoritatively, and they have paper credentials." But that doesn't necessarily mean that they know what they're talking about. A related problem, of course, is that the system is generally underfunded, says Gross, and without a healthy balance between state and defense, the entire adversarial system can be undermined. In this system, the state usually has access to numerous experts, including many, like medical examiners, who are institutional players. With "limited funds, or none, and no access to experts" to counter the state power, the adversarial process fails. "So whatever adversarial system [there is], if there is only one side to it, it falls apart entirely."
Gross says he can't say specifically that medical experts are unduly influential on jurors, but he suspects they do wield power. "What I can say is that a good expert – that is, an expert who is an effective witness – can be very influential," he said. "When we're in the situation where you're looking for a physician to give advice and get treatment, if you find someone who strikes you as caring and intelligent and reasonable, you breathe a sigh of relief," he posits. "If you have a doctor who creates that impression for a jury – answers questions you'd like a doctor to be able to answer – [and] he's the kind of person you say, 'I'm glad he's treating me,' how could a jury not be influenced by this in the context" of being a witness in a criminal trial? The problem, he says, is that, at times, "some people [who] create that kind of impression are better performers than doctors or scientists."
The best example of that kind of expertise is that of deceased forensic psychiatrist Dr. James Grigson, known as "Dr. Death" for his hundreds of appearances as an expert witness for the state in death penalty cases. Grigson was reprimanded multiple times by professional organizations for allegedly unethical practices, in part for testifying about the future dangerousness of defendants, some of whom he'd never even examined. After he was expelled in 1995 from the American Psychiatric Association and the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians for alleged ethical violations, Grigson told The Dallas Morning News that he didn't expect the censures would affect his testifying as an expert for the state. "For them to say I'm unethical ... it's really an insult," he told the daily. Gross says Grigson was exactly the kind of expert that put on a good show for jurors. "He was very manipulative; he wanted to persuade people. You think of him as 'Dr. Death,' but he didn't come across as bloodthirsty" when testifying, he said. "But the problem is that he was testifying to things he had no way of knowing."
Link:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2011-02-04/a-parliament-of-experts/
Indiana State Department of toxicology falsified hundreds of test results.
What is the commonality in these crime labs falsifying test results? They work closely with the police & prosecution.
The first major report from an audit of the Indiana State Department of Toxicology further brings into question the validity of potentially hundreds of drug and alcohol tests performed at the lab in recent years.
The findings from the audit, provided to The Indianapolis Star, showed errors in about 200 of 2,000 marijuana tests reported to law enforcement as having positive results. That includes about 50 described as "a conscious manipulation of results" by lab workers.
The legal maneuver comes on the heels of last week's report in The Indianapolis Star that revealed the depth of testing problems at the lab: An ongoing audit found lab errors in 10 percent of 2,000 positive blood tests for marijuana.
And those results are only a fraction of what will eventually be reviewed -every test from 2007 to 2009, more than 10,000 samples overall.
Defense attorneys reacted to the audit results with words such as "shock" and "inexcusable" and "forensic perjury." Former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman called the findings "a potential mess." Now Newman -- who was hired by Indiana University to assess and address the problems -- is working to create a system for handling what he expects to be a flood of appeals.
"This is a potential mess," said former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman, who was hired to fix the agency. "The only thing that saves it is . . . the criminal justice system and the scientific community (being) brought together to try to make sense about how to go forward."
Newman acknowledged there is potential for numerous verdicts to be overturned and cases to be dismissed, although not every error is necessarily connected to a wrongful conviction. Some of the problems may not be significant enough to change the outcome of cases.
But Larry Landis, executive director of the Indiana Public Defender Council, called the revelations "shocking" and "inexcusable."
"If they're manipulating data, how can you rely on anything they do?" Landis said. "We're talking about people's lives."
Links:
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110210/NEWS14/102100397/1001/Toxicology-errors-could-go-trial-audit-continues?odyssey=nav|head
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110203/NEWS14/102030409/Errors-found-Indiana-state-lab-toxicology-tests?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CIndyStar.com
The first major report from an audit of the Indiana State Department of Toxicology further brings into question the validity of potentially hundreds of drug and alcohol tests performed at the lab in recent years.
The findings from the audit, provided to The Indianapolis Star, showed errors in about 200 of 2,000 marijuana tests reported to law enforcement as having positive results. That includes about 50 described as "a conscious manipulation of results" by lab workers.
The legal maneuver comes on the heels of last week's report in The Indianapolis Star that revealed the depth of testing problems at the lab: An ongoing audit found lab errors in 10 percent of 2,000 positive blood tests for marijuana.
And those results are only a fraction of what will eventually be reviewed -every test from 2007 to 2009, more than 10,000 samples overall.
Defense attorneys reacted to the audit results with words such as "shock" and "inexcusable" and "forensic perjury." Former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman called the findings "a potential mess." Now Newman -- who was hired by Indiana University to assess and address the problems -- is working to create a system for handling what he expects to be a flood of appeals.
"This is a potential mess," said former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman, who was hired to fix the agency. "The only thing that saves it is . . . the criminal justice system and the scientific community (being) brought together to try to make sense about how to go forward."
Newman acknowledged there is potential for numerous verdicts to be overturned and cases to be dismissed, although not every error is necessarily connected to a wrongful conviction. Some of the problems may not be significant enough to change the outcome of cases.
But Larry Landis, executive director of the Indiana Public Defender Council, called the revelations "shocking" and "inexcusable."
"If they're manipulating data, how can you rely on anything they do?" Landis said. "We're talking about people's lives."
Links:
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110210/NEWS14/102100397/1001/Toxicology-errors-could-go-trial-audit-continues?odyssey=nav|head
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110203/NEWS14/102030409/Errors-found-Indiana-state-lab-toxicology-tests?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CIndyStar.com
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Chicago- Araceli Beas was driving her car and allegedly updating her Facebook page when she fatally struck a pedestrian.
As private investigators, this case shows that texting or Facebooking etc. could be the cause of some motor vehicle accidents.
The family of a pedestrian fatally struck by a vehicle on the South Side in December filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the motorist, claiming she was updating her Facebook page on a cell phone when the crash happened.
Motorist Araceli Beas was updating her Facebook page on her mobile phone while driving when she fatally struck pedestrian Raymond Veloz at 7:54 a.m. Dec. 7, 2010, at 9220 S. Ewing Ave., according to a suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
Link:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/02/14/suit-motorist-updating-facebook-during-fatal-crash/
The family of a pedestrian fatally struck by a vehicle on the South Side in December filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the motorist, claiming she was updating her Facebook page on a cell phone when the crash happened.
Motorist Araceli Beas was updating her Facebook page on her mobile phone while driving when she fatally struck pedestrian Raymond Veloz at 7:54 a.m. Dec. 7, 2010, at 9220 S. Ewing Ave., according to a suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
Link:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/02/14/suit-motorist-updating-facebook-during-fatal-crash/
Seattle police officer Steve Pomper's article offers a disturbing view of police department policies in our country.
The city, using its Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), continues its assault on traditional and constitutional American values such as self-reliance, equal justice, and individual liberty. But more to our immediate concern, the city is inflicting its socialist policies directly on the Seattle Police Department.
Any student of history knows totalitarianism begins with small bites. In 21st Century America, political repression comes in the form of what Europeans call Fabian or Democratic Socialism, which we Americans know as progressivism.
By this method, if we aren't careful, we will literally vote ourselves into tyranny. Some think we came pretty damn close to it in 2008: Thank God for the November slap down ordinary Americans gave their overreaching government.
These initial policies always seem benign. The city compels its employees to participate in RSJI classes, and they conduct ostensibly, innocuous surveys advancing an unquestionably leftist political agenda. They attempt to make us feel comfortable with socialist and progressive terminology through repetition and saturation. The Race and Social Justice Initiative, SPD Race and Social Justice Change Team, and Race and Social Justice Survey. I'm waiting for the Race and Social Justice Torchlight Parade and Race and Social Justice 10K Race for Social Justice. On and on it goes until, they hope, the term no longer riles us.
I've given some thought to my own RSJI participation to date. The "Perspectives in Profiling" class (or as one officer put it, one of our "de-policing classes") served as a good way to learn what the enemy is up to (Yes, enemy. A liberal after my money in taxes maybe my opponent, but a socialist attacking the Constitution and my liberty is my enemy).
The RSJI survey was an opportunity to let the city know exactly how I feel about its institutional racial profiling policy. It was another opportunity to give them my opinions on the city practicing arbitrary justice over equal justice. To let them know that I'm not okay with blatantly violating the 14th Amendment.
I'll leave you with this refresher: employing the RSJI, the City of Seattle is actually deciding on which people do or do not "merit punishment" for a crime, based upon their race, ethnic heritage, and/or socio-economic status. So far this only applies to DWLS3, but one has to ask, what's next? They're also deciding purchases and the issuing of city contracts based upon similar criteria. This is social justice, folks, and socialism has no place in Seattle, and positively no place in the Seattle Police Department.
Link:
http://www.mynorthwest.com/category/news_chick_blog/20110123/SPD-officer's-view-of-Socialist-Seattle/
Any student of history knows totalitarianism begins with small bites. In 21st Century America, political repression comes in the form of what Europeans call Fabian or Democratic Socialism, which we Americans know as progressivism.
By this method, if we aren't careful, we will literally vote ourselves into tyranny. Some think we came pretty damn close to it in 2008: Thank God for the November slap down ordinary Americans gave their overreaching government.
These initial policies always seem benign. The city compels its employees to participate in RSJI classes, and they conduct ostensibly, innocuous surveys advancing an unquestionably leftist political agenda. They attempt to make us feel comfortable with socialist and progressive terminology through repetition and saturation. The Race and Social Justice Initiative, SPD Race and Social Justice Change Team, and Race and Social Justice Survey. I'm waiting for the Race and Social Justice Torchlight Parade and Race and Social Justice 10K Race for Social Justice. On and on it goes until, they hope, the term no longer riles us.
I've given some thought to my own RSJI participation to date. The "Perspectives in Profiling" class (or as one officer put it, one of our "de-policing classes") served as a good way to learn what the enemy is up to (Yes, enemy. A liberal after my money in taxes maybe my opponent, but a socialist attacking the Constitution and my liberty is my enemy).
The RSJI survey was an opportunity to let the city know exactly how I feel about its institutional racial profiling policy. It was another opportunity to give them my opinions on the city practicing arbitrary justice over equal justice. To let them know that I'm not okay with blatantly violating the 14th Amendment.
I'll leave you with this refresher: employing the RSJI, the City of Seattle is actually deciding on which people do or do not "merit punishment" for a crime, based upon their race, ethnic heritage, and/or socio-economic status. So far this only applies to DWLS3, but one has to ask, what's next? They're also deciding purchases and the issuing of city contracts based upon similar criteria. This is social justice, folks, and socialism has no place in Seattle, and positively no place in the Seattle Police Department.
Link:
http://www.mynorthwest.com/category/news_chick_blog/20110123/SPD-officer's-view-of-Socialist-Seattle/
Monday, February 14, 2011
Deep web research 2011 for private investigators.
Bots, Blogs and News Aggregators (http://www.BotsBlogs.com/) is a keynote presentation that I have been delivering over the last several years. Much of my information comes from the extensive research that I have completed over during this time into the "invisible" or the "deep" web. The Deep Web covers in the vicinity of 1 trillion plus pages of information located through the world wide web in various files and formats that current Internet search engines cannot find or have difficulty accessing. The current search engines locate and provide access to hundreds of billions of pages at this time.
In the last several years, some of the more comprehensive search engines have written algorithms to search the deeper portions of the world wide web by attempting to find files such as .pdf, .doc, .xls, ppt, .ps. and others. These files are predominately used by businesses to communicate their information within their organization or to disseminate information to the external world from their organization. Searching for this information using deeper search techniques and the latest algorithms allows researchers to obtain a vast amount of corporate information that was previously unavailable or inaccessible. Research has also shown that even deeper information can be obtained from these files by searching and accessing the "properties" information on these files!
This report and guide is designed to give you the resources you need to better understand the history of the deep web research, as well as various classifications of resources that allow you to search through the currently available web to find those key sources of information nuggets only found by understanding how to search the "deep web".
Link: http://www.llrx.com/features/deepweb2011.htm
In the last several years, some of the more comprehensive search engines have written algorithms to search the deeper portions of the world wide web by attempting to find files such as .pdf, .doc, .xls, ppt, .ps. and others. These files are predominately used by businesses to communicate their information within their organization or to disseminate information to the external world from their organization. Searching for this information using deeper search techniques and the latest algorithms allows researchers to obtain a vast amount of corporate information that was previously unavailable or inaccessible. Research has also shown that even deeper information can be obtained from these files by searching and accessing the "properties" information on these files!
This report and guide is designed to give you the resources you need to better understand the history of the deep web research, as well as various classifications of resources that allow you to search through the currently available web to find those key sources of information nuggets only found by understanding how to search the "deep web".
Link: http://www.llrx.com/features/deepweb2011.htm
Fox news and other media outlets make up stories and air them to a gullible public.
“Like any news channel there’s lot of room for non-news content. The content that wasn’t ‘news,’ they didn’t care what we did with as long as it was amusing or quirky or entertaining; as along as it brought in eyeballs. But anything—anything--that was a news story you had to understand what the spin should be on it. If it was a big enough story it was explained to you in the morning [editorial] meeting. If it wasn’t explained, it was up to you to know the conservative take on it. There’s a conservative take on every story no matter what it is. So you either get told what it is or you better intuitively know what it is.”
What if Fox News staffers aren’t instinctively conservative or don’t have an intuitive feeling for what the spin on a story should be? “My internal compass was to think like an intolerant meathead,” the source explains. “You could never error on the side of not being intolerant enough.”
“And then two, three, five years into that it was, we’re taking the Bush line on things, which was different than the GOP. We were a Stalin-esque mouthpiece. It was just what Bush says goes on our channel. And by that point it was just totally dangerous. Hopefully most people understand how dangerous it is for a media outfit to be a straight, unfiltered mouthpiece for an unchecked president.”
It’s worth noting that Fox News employees, either current or former, rarely speak to the press, even anonymously. And it’s even rarer for Fox News sources to bad mouth Murdoch’s channel. That’s partly because of strict non-disclosure agreements that most exiting employees sign and which forbid them from discussing their former employer. But it also stems from a pervasive us-vs.-them attitude that permeates Fox News. It’s a siege mentality that network boss Roger Ailes encourages, and one that colors the coverage his team produces.
Non-disclosure agreements are the norm in news media, do we really believe Fox News is the only channel that makes up stories and follows the U. S. Administration's edict?
Link: http://mediamatters.org/blog/201102100007
What if Fox News staffers aren’t instinctively conservative or don’t have an intuitive feeling for what the spin on a story should be? “My internal compass was to think like an intolerant meathead,” the source explains. “You could never error on the side of not being intolerant enough.”
“And then two, three, five years into that it was, we’re taking the Bush line on things, which was different than the GOP. We were a Stalin-esque mouthpiece. It was just what Bush says goes on our channel. And by that point it was just totally dangerous. Hopefully most people understand how dangerous it is for a media outfit to be a straight, unfiltered mouthpiece for an unchecked president.”
It’s worth noting that Fox News employees, either current or former, rarely speak to the press, even anonymously. And it’s even rarer for Fox News sources to bad mouth Murdoch’s channel. That’s partly because of strict non-disclosure agreements that most exiting employees sign and which forbid them from discussing their former employer. But it also stems from a pervasive us-vs.-them attitude that permeates Fox News. It’s a siege mentality that network boss Roger Ailes encourages, and one that colors the coverage his team produces.
Non-disclosure agreements are the norm in news media, do we really believe Fox News is the only channel that makes up stories and follows the U. S. Administration's edict?
Link: http://mediamatters.org/blog/201102100007
US Chamber of Commerce lobbyists attack & discredit liberal bloggers.
Lobbyists for the US Chamber of Commerce have been working with firms to develop methods to deceive and discredit the Chamber's most vocal progressive opponents, according to documents obtained by ThinkProgress.
Lee Fang of the liberal blog reports that the Chamber and its hired firms mapped ways to attack labor and progressive groups that have taken on the powerful business lobby, "in particular ThinkProgress, the labor coalition called Change to Win, the SEIU, US Chamber Watch, and StopTheChamber.com."
In one document prepared by a group called Themis, US Chamber Watch is singled out as "one of the most active members of the opposition." It notes that the Chamber, unlike many of its critics, is "politically connected," making its opponents "vulnerable to information operations that could embarrass the organization and those associated with it."
A six-point plan to discredit the US Chamber Watch includes depicting it as a pawn of labor federation Change to Win, and tying it to labor leader Andy Stern and Velvet Revolution. It also proposes swindling the group by creating "a false document" about the Chamber's finances and, once it's publicized, providing "explicit evidence proving that such transactions never occurred."
"Also," it continues, "create a fake insider persona and generate communications with CtW. Afterward, release the actual documents at a specified time and explain the activity as a CtW contrived operation. Both instances will prove that US Chamber Watch cannot be trusted with information and/or tell the truth."
ThinkProgress reports that the Chamber hired lobbying firm Hunton and Williams and a set of private security companies -- HB Gary Federal, Palantir, Berico Technologies -- three of which apparently comprise "Team Themis."
Link:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/11/chamber-lobbyists-map-strategies-discredit-progressive-critics/
Lee Fang of the liberal blog reports that the Chamber and its hired firms mapped ways to attack labor and progressive groups that have taken on the powerful business lobby, "in particular ThinkProgress, the labor coalition called Change to Win, the SEIU, US Chamber Watch, and StopTheChamber.com."
In one document prepared by a group called Themis, US Chamber Watch is singled out as "one of the most active members of the opposition." It notes that the Chamber, unlike many of its critics, is "politically connected," making its opponents "vulnerable to information operations that could embarrass the organization and those associated with it."
A six-point plan to discredit the US Chamber Watch includes depicting it as a pawn of labor federation Change to Win, and tying it to labor leader Andy Stern and Velvet Revolution. It also proposes swindling the group by creating "a false document" about the Chamber's finances and, once it's publicized, providing "explicit evidence proving that such transactions never occurred."
"Also," it continues, "create a fake insider persona and generate communications with CtW. Afterward, release the actual documents at a specified time and explain the activity as a CtW contrived operation. Both instances will prove that US Chamber Watch cannot be trusted with information and/or tell the truth."
ThinkProgress reports that the Chamber hired lobbying firm Hunton and Williams and a set of private security companies -- HB Gary Federal, Palantir, Berico Technologies -- three of which apparently comprise "Team Themis."
Link:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/11/chamber-lobbyists-map-strategies-discredit-progressive-critics/
Atlanta, GA- Police won't harass, arrest citizens who videotape them in public.
Faced with complaints from a citizen watchdog group, Atlanta police will stop interfering with people who videotape officers performing their duties in public, an agreement reached with the city Thursday says.
The settlement, which also calls for the city to pay $40,000 in damages, requires city council approval.
The agreement resolves a complaint filed by Marlon Kautz and Copwatch of East Atlanta, a group that films police activity with cell phones and hand-held cameras. The group has volunteers who go out on patrols and begin videotaping police activity when they come across it.
Last April, Kautz said, he pulled out his camera phone and began recording Atlanta police who were arresting a suspect in Little Five Points. Two officers approached him and said he had no right to be filming them, Kautz said. When Kautz refused to stop, one officer wrenched Kautz's arm behind his back and yanked the camera out of his hands, he said.
"I was definitely scared," Kautz, 27, said.
Kautz said that when he asked to get his phone back, another officer said he'd return it only after Kautz gave him the password to the phone so he could delete the footage. When Kautz refused, police confiscated the phone, he said. When police returned it, Kautz said, the video images had been deleted, altered or damaged.
As part of Thursday's settlement, reached before a civil rights lawsuit was filed, the city will pay Kautz and Copwatch of East Atlanta $40,000 in damages. APD will also adopt an operating procedure that prohibits officers from interfering with citizens who are taping police activity, provided individuals recording the activity do not physically interfere with what the officers are doing. The policy is to be adopted within 30 days after the Atlanta city council approves the settlement, and training is to be carried out during police roll calls.
"We commend the city for resolving a long-standing problem of police interfering with citizens who monitor police activity," the group's lawyers, Gerry Weber and Dan Grossman, said.
Atlanta, Georgia agrees that videotaping police is not a crime. Only in the U. S. a supposed free country can citizens be arrested for videotaping police. Sadly, in Massachusetts it is still a crime to videotape police without their consent.
Link: http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/apd-wont-hinder-citizens-834521.html
The settlement, which also calls for the city to pay $40,000 in damages, requires city council approval.
The agreement resolves a complaint filed by Marlon Kautz and Copwatch of East Atlanta, a group that films police activity with cell phones and hand-held cameras. The group has volunteers who go out on patrols and begin videotaping police activity when they come across it.
Last April, Kautz said, he pulled out his camera phone and began recording Atlanta police who were arresting a suspect in Little Five Points. Two officers approached him and said he had no right to be filming them, Kautz said. When Kautz refused to stop, one officer wrenched Kautz's arm behind his back and yanked the camera out of his hands, he said.
"I was definitely scared," Kautz, 27, said.
Kautz said that when he asked to get his phone back, another officer said he'd return it only after Kautz gave him the password to the phone so he could delete the footage. When Kautz refused, police confiscated the phone, he said. When police returned it, Kautz said, the video images had been deleted, altered or damaged.
As part of Thursday's settlement, reached before a civil rights lawsuit was filed, the city will pay Kautz and Copwatch of East Atlanta $40,000 in damages. APD will also adopt an operating procedure that prohibits officers from interfering with citizens who are taping police activity, provided individuals recording the activity do not physically interfere with what the officers are doing. The policy is to be adopted within 30 days after the Atlanta city council approves the settlement, and training is to be carried out during police roll calls.
"We commend the city for resolving a long-standing problem of police interfering with citizens who monitor police activity," the group's lawyers, Gerry Weber and Dan Grossman, said.
Atlanta, Georgia agrees that videotaping police is not a crime. Only in the U. S. a supposed free country can citizens be arrested for videotaping police. Sadly, in Massachusetts it is still a crime to videotape police without their consent.
Link: http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/apd-wont-hinder-citizens-834521.html
Friday, February 11, 2011
Washington, DC- 1,400 drunk driving cases are called into question using breath analyzers that are found in most police departments nationwide.
The District's attorney general Irvin Nathan has dropped dozens of drunken driving cases since Jan. 31 and hundreds of others could be dropped as the police department shuts down its troubled alcohol breath-test program. Problems dating back more than three years with the city's breath analyzers were first revealed in February 2010, when it was discovered the machines' results were inaccurate. Since then, the D.C. medical examiner's office has refused to sign off on the accuracy tests of new analysis machines, officials said.
"The alcohol breath-analysis program? It doesn't exist anymore," said Ilmar Paegle, who discovered problems with the Intoxilyzer 5000s soon after he took over the city's breath-analysis program on Feb. 1, 2010. Paegle's contract ended last week. As he left, he said, the police department pulled off the street the Intoximeter, which replaced the Intoxilyzer last spring. "It's a royal mess," Paegle said.
The Washington Examiner reported this week that Nathan has been dropping drunken-driving cases in recent weeks, citing problems with the police department's breath analyzers, whose results have been unusable as courtroom evidence since it was revealed in February 2010 that they were inaccurate. Defense attorneys say they believe the attorney general is dropping the cases because he doesn't want to reveal the history of an investigation into two police officers who are responsible for a third of the city's 1,400 drunken-driving arrests each year. A review by The Examiner of 25 dropped cases showed the officers made the arrests in all of them. They are the subjects of an internal affairs investigation that began after they spoke out about problems with the breath analyzers
Link:http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/02/dcs-attorney-general-face-grilling-over-dropped-drunk-driving-cases
"The alcohol breath-analysis program? It doesn't exist anymore," said Ilmar Paegle, who discovered problems with the Intoxilyzer 5000s soon after he took over the city's breath-analysis program on Feb. 1, 2010. Paegle's contract ended last week. As he left, he said, the police department pulled off the street the Intoximeter, which replaced the Intoxilyzer last spring. "It's a royal mess," Paegle said.
The Washington Examiner reported this week that Nathan has been dropping drunken-driving cases in recent weeks, citing problems with the police department's breath analyzers, whose results have been unusable as courtroom evidence since it was revealed in February 2010 that they were inaccurate. Defense attorneys say they believe the attorney general is dropping the cases because he doesn't want to reveal the history of an investigation into two police officers who are responsible for a third of the city's 1,400 drunken-driving arrests each year. A review by The Examiner of 25 dropped cases showed the officers made the arrests in all of them. They are the subjects of an internal affairs investigation that began after they spoke out about problems with the breath analyzers
Link:http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/02/dcs-attorney-general-face-grilling-over-dropped-drunk-driving-cases
Nova Science: How Smart Are Dogs? Shows dogs use cues from their masters to pick the correct objects, how are "Drug Dogs" influenced?
Dogs being cued by their masters so they will pick the correct objects, a dogs desire is to please it's master! This raises red flags for "Drug Dogs" in police departments and how they might be influenced.
Link:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/how-smart-dogs.html
Link:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/how-smart-dogs.html
Lawrence, MA- Police officer Daron Fraser found guilty of Assualt & Battery.
HAVERHILL — A veteran Lawrence police officer was found guilty of domestic assault and battery and faces the possibility of losing his job.
Daron Fraser was placed on probation for a year and ordered by Judge Stephen Abany to attend a treatment program for batterers. Lawrence police Chief John Romero said he will recommend that Fraser be fired.
The guilty finding came yesterday after a two-day trial in Haverhill District Court.
Fraser, 39, of Raymond, N.H., was arrested after a July 13, 2010, altercation with a former girlfriend on Kimball Street. Another off-duty officer, Joshua Waller, 26, of Methuen, used a Taser issued by his employer, the Kingston Police Department, to subdue Fraser, investigators said.
Waller was initially arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, but District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett dropped that charge in September.
Link:
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x704274551/Officer-guilty-of-assault-chief-recommends-firing
Daron Fraser was placed on probation for a year and ordered by Judge Stephen Abany to attend a treatment program for batterers. Lawrence police Chief John Romero said he will recommend that Fraser be fired.
The guilty finding came yesterday after a two-day trial in Haverhill District Court.
Fraser, 39, of Raymond, N.H., was arrested after a July 13, 2010, altercation with a former girlfriend on Kimball Street. Another off-duty officer, Joshua Waller, 26, of Methuen, used a Taser issued by his employer, the Kingston Police Department, to subdue Fraser, investigators said.
Waller was initially arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, but District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett dropped that charge in September.
Link:
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x704274551/Officer-guilty-of-assault-chief-recommends-firing
Lawrence, MA - The city agrees to pay $400,000 to Manuel Colon because police officer Carl Farrington assaulted him in 2006.
LAWRENCE, MA — Manuel Colon and Jose Jimenez were driving through the city in a car they had just picked up at Logan International Airport as a favor for a friend on Dec. 14, 2006, while Colon was visiting from Puerto Rico.
Marked and unmarked police vehicles converged on their car as the two men drove along Common Street about 10:30 p.m. Acting on a report that the car had been stolen, which later proved erroneous, police ordered the two men out and took them to police headquarters in handcuffs.
Colon said he was put in a cell and brutalized by police for several hours. After he complained his handcuffs were too tight and that he was having difficulty breathing, Colon said Officer Carl Farrington punched him in the face, bloodying Colon's nose and fracturing bones around an eye.
Colon and Jimenez were released early the next morning. The stolen vehicle charges against them and a disorderly conduct charge against Colon were dropped at their arraignment a few hours later.
Late last month, the city agreed to pay Colon $400,000 to drop the suit. The city and Farrington admitted no wrongdoing, and Colon agreed to give the financially strapped city until Sept. 1 — two months into its next fiscal year — to pay $350,000 of the settlement. The first $50,000 is due Monday.
Boddy, Mayor William Lantigua and police Chief John Romero did not return phone calls. Farrington remains on duty, but was not working yesterday and could not be reached. In court papers, he claimed that Colon had struggled with police in the booking room and that any injuries Colon suffered "resulted from his own intentional and illegal conduct."
Incredible, officer Farrington is still on duty as a Lawrence police officer. This happened in 2006 and officer Farrington has been working for nearly 5 years since this incident took place, he cost the taxpayers $400,000 and still keeps his job?
Link:
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x353716246/City-settles-brutality-suit
Marked and unmarked police vehicles converged on their car as the two men drove along Common Street about 10:30 p.m. Acting on a report that the car had been stolen, which later proved erroneous, police ordered the two men out and took them to police headquarters in handcuffs.
Colon said he was put in a cell and brutalized by police for several hours. After he complained his handcuffs were too tight and that he was having difficulty breathing, Colon said Officer Carl Farrington punched him in the face, bloodying Colon's nose and fracturing bones around an eye.
Colon and Jimenez were released early the next morning. The stolen vehicle charges against them and a disorderly conduct charge against Colon were dropped at their arraignment a few hours later.
Late last month, the city agreed to pay Colon $400,000 to drop the suit. The city and Farrington admitted no wrongdoing, and Colon agreed to give the financially strapped city until Sept. 1 — two months into its next fiscal year — to pay $350,000 of the settlement. The first $50,000 is due Monday.
Boddy, Mayor William Lantigua and police Chief John Romero did not return phone calls. Farrington remains on duty, but was not working yesterday and could not be reached. In court papers, he claimed that Colon had struggled with police in the booking room and that any injuries Colon suffered "resulted from his own intentional and illegal conduct."
Incredible, officer Farrington is still on duty as a Lawrence police officer. This happened in 2006 and officer Farrington has been working for nearly 5 years since this incident took place, he cost the taxpayers $400,000 and still keeps his job?
Link:
http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x353716246/City-settles-brutality-suit
Thursday, February 10, 2011
David Haddigan a former Walpole police officer resigned after being accused of stealing repeatedly from a supermarket, now works in the Norfolk County Sheriff's Department.
A former Walpole police officer, who resigned after being accused of stealing repeatedly from a supermarket, was hired recently by the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Department because the sheriff believes he “deserved another opportunity.’’
The hiring of David Haddigan, who resigned from the Walpole Police Department in the summer of 2009, had come as a surprise to Police Chief Richard B. Stillman.
Last month, Stillman said, he was contacted by the staff of Sheriff Michael G. Bellotti and asked about Haddigan. Stillman said he told the staffers about the theft allegations.
In mid-January, Haddigan was hired by the sheriff’s department as a corrections officer at the correctional center in Dedham. He is now in training.
“I was very happy to get rid of [Haddigan] and my assumption was that he would never be a police officer again,’’ Stillman said in an interview. “And then he was hired as a corrections officer, something I would never have expected.’’
Haddigan, who joined the Walpole Police Department in 2001, resigned after an investigation into allegations that he stole items from the Walpole Stop & Shop. Eight employees told a police investigation they had witnessed thefts.
“He was going in virtually every day while on duty, parking in the fire lane, and he’d take something,’’ Stillman said. “A salad, a newspaper another day, small items.’’
The thefts occurred over the course of about four years, and Haddigan was in uniform when he took the items, Stillman said.
According to the chief, Haddigan denied the allegations. Haddigan earned a base pay of about $60,000 a year, with overtime and details boosting his income to more than $100,000, Stillman said.
Haddigan, 44, will earn about $41,000 in his new job with Norfolk County. His hiring by the sheriff’s department was first reported in the Walpole Times.
Link:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2011/02/10/former_walpole_police_officers_new_job_surprises_chief/
The hiring of David Haddigan, who resigned from the Walpole Police Department in the summer of 2009, had come as a surprise to Police Chief Richard B. Stillman.
Last month, Stillman said, he was contacted by the staff of Sheriff Michael G. Bellotti and asked about Haddigan. Stillman said he told the staffers about the theft allegations.
In mid-January, Haddigan was hired by the sheriff’s department as a corrections officer at the correctional center in Dedham. He is now in training.
“I was very happy to get rid of [Haddigan] and my assumption was that he would never be a police officer again,’’ Stillman said in an interview. “And then he was hired as a corrections officer, something I would never have expected.’’
Haddigan, who joined the Walpole Police Department in 2001, resigned after an investigation into allegations that he stole items from the Walpole Stop & Shop. Eight employees told a police investigation they had witnessed thefts.
“He was going in virtually every day while on duty, parking in the fire lane, and he’d take something,’’ Stillman said. “A salad, a newspaper another day, small items.’’
The thefts occurred over the course of about four years, and Haddigan was in uniform when he took the items, Stillman said.
According to the chief, Haddigan denied the allegations. Haddigan earned a base pay of about $60,000 a year, with overtime and details boosting his income to more than $100,000, Stillman said.
Haddigan, 44, will earn about $41,000 in his new job with Norfolk County. His hiring by the sheriff’s department was first reported in the Walpole Times.
Link:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2011/02/10/former_walpole_police_officers_new_job_surprises_chief/
Jurors are so convinced that a Cleveland teen should not have been charged with assaulting another teen that they've gone beyond acquitting him.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jurors are so convinced that a Cleveland teen should not have been charged with assaulting another teen that they've gone beyond acquitting him. A few are writing angry letters to police and intend to donate their jury pay to him.
At least three jurors plan to give the $100 they received to sit on the jury to defendant Demrick McCloud, 19, if McCloud earns a high school equivalency degree. They took only 30 minutes to find him not guilty in their deliberations Friday. The trial started Jan. 31.
As they were leaving the courthouse, jurors Ana de Freitas Boe, an English professor at Baldwin-Wallace College; Jeanne Knotek, an obstetrician and gynecologist; and alternate juror Richard Nagin discussed ways to help McCloud.
The three have committed to donating their jury stipend to a fund for McCloud. Boe said the amount is too small to compensate McCloud for his jail time, but the jurors intend it as a "show of support."
"He seemed like a decent kid who was falsely accused," Nagin said.
Boe said she will mail letters today to Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath and Fourth District Commander Deon McCaulley about the lack of a thorough investigation. Other jurors said they also will write to the police.
Last November, The Plain Dealer reported that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor William Mason had pursued criminal charges against hundreds of people over the last 10 years with little or no evidence against them.
Link:
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/02/jurors_so_upset_about_case_bro.html
At least three jurors plan to give the $100 they received to sit on the jury to defendant Demrick McCloud, 19, if McCloud earns a high school equivalency degree. They took only 30 minutes to find him not guilty in their deliberations Friday. The trial started Jan. 31.
As they were leaving the courthouse, jurors Ana de Freitas Boe, an English professor at Baldwin-Wallace College; Jeanne Knotek, an obstetrician and gynecologist; and alternate juror Richard Nagin discussed ways to help McCloud.
The three have committed to donating their jury stipend to a fund for McCloud. Boe said the amount is too small to compensate McCloud for his jail time, but the jurors intend it as a "show of support."
"He seemed like a decent kid who was falsely accused," Nagin said.
Boe said she will mail letters today to Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath and Fourth District Commander Deon McCaulley about the lack of a thorough investigation. Other jurors said they also will write to the police.
Last November, The Plain Dealer reported that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor William Mason had pursued criminal charges against hundreds of people over the last 10 years with little or no evidence against them.
Link:
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/02/jurors_so_upset_about_case_bro.html
Flex Your Rights founder Steve Silverman offers insight on dealing with police encounters.
In the above video, Reason TV interviews the founder of Flex Your Rights, Steve Silverman, who provides more insight into these types of interactions, especially in how not to consent to an illegal search.
Link: http://flexyourrights.org/
Police state U. S.- Federal Court upholds DUI jailing of sober man who blew a .03%
The Eleventh Circuit US Court of Appeals on Tuesday saw no problem with jailing a man for eight hours after he blew .03 on a breathalyzer -- far below the legal limit. Santa Rosa County, Florida sheriff's deputies had arrested Roger A. Festa on the charge of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) on April 9, 2005. Since he had been entirely sober, Festa sued Deputy Adam Teichner and Deputy Douglas Burgett for unlawful arrest.
On the day in question, Burgett had received a 911 call describing a vehicle similar to Festa's swerving. Burgett noticed Festa's car and claimed he saw it make a sudden lane change in order to avoid a car that had made an unexpected turn. He also noted that Festa, while not speeding, was varying his velocity. Burgett initiated the stop.
Festa explained to the deputy that he and his wife were in an unfamiliar area looking for a place to eat. He admitted that he had a single drink earlier in the afternoon. Burgett claimed he smelled a "mild odor" of alcohol. Deputy Teichner performed the roadside sobriety tests and brought Festa to the station for a breath test that registered .03.
"Unfortunately, I couldn't just let you go," Burgett told Festa in a court deposition. "You were under arrest for DUI."
Festa, who could add to his arrest statistics for the month, then explained how plea bargains would take care of the inconvenience done to Festa.
"Basically, once you were arrested for DUI, I made a determination from the conversations that we had between there and the jail that I was going to have this pled down to a reckless driving and then the reckless driving to a [nolle prosequi] so you would suffer no monetary damages or a record," Burgett said.
Instead of cutting a deal, Festa pleaded not guilty to both charges. The state eventually dropped the DUI charge and a judge tossed the reckless driving charge nearly a year later. The three-judge federal appeals panel found that the deputies were entitled to immunity for their actions while on duty because they had done nothing unconstitutional.
The deputies did nothing unconstitutional? If any of you had any questions that the United States is a police state, this leaves no doubt!(italics mine)
"No decision from the United States Supreme Court, this court, nor the Florida Supreme Court has clearly established that continued detention after an arrestee registers a breath-alcohol level of 0.05 or less is unconstitutional," the per curiam decision stated. "Indeed, neither the United States Supreme Court, this court, nor the Florida Supreme Court has established within what time frame nor under what circumstances an officer has an affirmative duty to release an arrestee. We therefore cannot conclude that Deputies Teichner and Burgett had fair warning that their continued detention of Festa was unconstitutional."
Festa died on May 9, 2010 while waiting for the case to be resolved. Festa was a successful businessman who earned a silver and bronze star during his service in Vietnam as an Army Ranger. A copy of the unpublished decision is available in a 70k PDF file at the source link below.
Links: http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2011/us-sober.pdf
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/34/3400.asp
On the day in question, Burgett had received a 911 call describing a vehicle similar to Festa's swerving. Burgett noticed Festa's car and claimed he saw it make a sudden lane change in order to avoid a car that had made an unexpected turn. He also noted that Festa, while not speeding, was varying his velocity. Burgett initiated the stop.
Festa explained to the deputy that he and his wife were in an unfamiliar area looking for a place to eat. He admitted that he had a single drink earlier in the afternoon. Burgett claimed he smelled a "mild odor" of alcohol. Deputy Teichner performed the roadside sobriety tests and brought Festa to the station for a breath test that registered .03.
"Unfortunately, I couldn't just let you go," Burgett told Festa in a court deposition. "You were under arrest for DUI."
Festa, who could add to his arrest statistics for the month, then explained how plea bargains would take care of the inconvenience done to Festa.
"Basically, once you were arrested for DUI, I made a determination from the conversations that we had between there and the jail that I was going to have this pled down to a reckless driving and then the reckless driving to a [nolle prosequi] so you would suffer no monetary damages or a record," Burgett said.
Instead of cutting a deal, Festa pleaded not guilty to both charges. The state eventually dropped the DUI charge and a judge tossed the reckless driving charge nearly a year later. The three-judge federal appeals panel found that the deputies were entitled to immunity for their actions while on duty because they had done nothing unconstitutional.
The deputies did nothing unconstitutional? If any of you had any questions that the United States is a police state, this leaves no doubt!(italics mine)
"No decision from the United States Supreme Court, this court, nor the Florida Supreme Court has clearly established that continued detention after an arrestee registers a breath-alcohol level of 0.05 or less is unconstitutional," the per curiam decision stated. "Indeed, neither the United States Supreme Court, this court, nor the Florida Supreme Court has established within what time frame nor under what circumstances an officer has an affirmative duty to release an arrestee. We therefore cannot conclude that Deputies Teichner and Burgett had fair warning that their continued detention of Festa was unconstitutional."
Festa died on May 9, 2010 while waiting for the case to be resolved. Festa was a successful businessman who earned a silver and bronze star during his service in Vietnam as an Army Ranger. A copy of the unpublished decision is available in a 70k PDF file at the source link below.
Links: http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2011/us-sober.pdf
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/34/3400.asp
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
AAA endorses illegal speed trap in S. Carolina, and says this should be replicated everywhere.
A century ago, the forerunners of the American Automobile Association (AAA) formed as a service dedicated, in part, to warning motorists about upcoming speed traps. AAA Carolinas turned its considerable influence on Monday to support a speed trap declared illegal by South Carolina's attorney general and several of its lawmakers. Since August, the tiny town of Ridgeland has allowed a private company to operate a speed camera on Interstate 95 in direct defiance of a law enacted in June specifically to stop the program (view law).
"All branches of government are facing constricting budgets," a AAA Carolinas statement explained. "Law enforcement agencies will not be able to simply add staff to handle the growing traffic volume and therefore must look to creative solutions to do more with less. This photo-radar enforcement program in the Town of Ridgeland is one such example and should be replicated as opposed to rejected."
Subcommittee members were not convinced, as the mayor himself described a system that operates on autopilot. One state senator sarcastically pointed out that the police officer, whose salary is covered by iTraffic, must have been "real observant" when he failed to notice one of the speed cameras was rammed by a motorist.
"We can't put issuing any kind of tickets on autopilot," state Senator George E. Campsen (R-Charleston) said. "There's got to be an ability for people to give a defense."
AAA now derives a significant portion of its revenue from automobile insurance, an amount that increases for each photo enforcement ticket issued in states like California and Arizona that apply license points to photo tickets.
Link: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/33/3399.asp
"All branches of government are facing constricting budgets," a AAA Carolinas statement explained. "Law enforcement agencies will not be able to simply add staff to handle the growing traffic volume and therefore must look to creative solutions to do more with less. This photo-radar enforcement program in the Town of Ridgeland is one such example and should be replicated as opposed to rejected."
Subcommittee members were not convinced, as the mayor himself described a system that operates on autopilot. One state senator sarcastically pointed out that the police officer, whose salary is covered by iTraffic, must have been "real observant" when he failed to notice one of the speed cameras was rammed by a motorist.
"We can't put issuing any kind of tickets on autopilot," state Senator George E. Campsen (R-Charleston) said. "There's got to be an ability for people to give a defense."
AAA now derives a significant portion of its revenue from automobile insurance, an amount that increases for each photo enforcement ticket issued in states like California and Arizona that apply license points to photo tickets.
Link: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/33/3399.asp
"Professional Courtesy" in police departments, why aren't police being held accountable when they break the law?
To get an idea of how far professional courtesy has gone in infecting our system of traffic safety enforcement, just Google "professional courtesy police" and you'll find a wealth of reading matter about when if ever law enforcement officers should apply the same traffic penalties to colleagues as they do to civilians.
Professional courtesy is a lively topic of discussion on police forums such as PoliceOne.com, where officers heatedly debate such topics as whether police who drive drunk should receive the same courtesy as other offenders.
"You are either an [expletive deleted] traffic cop or a civilian …" wrote someone with the handle Ronin. "It's perspective, boys and girls, in the grand scheme it's traffic. Nothing more than a revenue generator for the idiot politicians to spend on yet another failed social program. Cops should not write other cops, whether that cop is a new boot, salted veteran, or retired with Wyatt Earp."
What the reply shows is not only a disdain for ethics but for a large part of the body of law officers are sworn to enforce. It also exposes a contempt for fellow officers who take traffic duty – one of the most dangerous and necessary assignments in police work — seriously.
These attitudes are no secret to civilians. The National Motorists Association is a fringe group that essentially opposes all traffic law enforcement. Here's what its president, James Baxter, had to say:
"For as long as traffic laws have been enforced there has been professional courtesy among police officers. Cops don't give tickets to other cops. Why is that? If these laws have merit and it's to everyone's benefit that these laws be obeyed why aren't the enforcers held accountable?"
Link:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bs-md-dresser-getting-there-02-09-20110204,0,353880.story
Professional courtesy is a lively topic of discussion on police forums such as PoliceOne.com, where officers heatedly debate such topics as whether police who drive drunk should receive the same courtesy as other offenders.
"You are either an [expletive deleted] traffic cop or a civilian …" wrote someone with the handle Ronin. "It's perspective, boys and girls, in the grand scheme it's traffic. Nothing more than a revenue generator for the idiot politicians to spend on yet another failed social program. Cops should not write other cops, whether that cop is a new boot, salted veteran, or retired with Wyatt Earp."
What the reply shows is not only a disdain for ethics but for a large part of the body of law officers are sworn to enforce. It also exposes a contempt for fellow officers who take traffic duty – one of the most dangerous and necessary assignments in police work — seriously.
These attitudes are no secret to civilians. The National Motorists Association is a fringe group that essentially opposes all traffic law enforcement. Here's what its president, James Baxter, had to say:
"For as long as traffic laws have been enforced there has been professional courtesy among police officers. Cops don't give tickets to other cops. Why is that? If these laws have merit and it's to everyone's benefit that these laws be obeyed why aren't the enforcers held accountable?"
Link:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bs-md-dresser-getting-there-02-09-20110204,0,353880.story
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Shaken-baby syndrome faces new questions in Court, experts disagree about evidence.
But some experts say the testimony on which criminal courts rely in convicting those responsible for such child abuse may not be as reliable as was once thought, according to the New York Times.
Symptoms thought to conclusively show that shaking had occurred and the time frame in which injuries were deemed to have taken place are increasingly the subject of debate among experts, explains the magazine-length article. And some are also questioning whether innocent people have been wrongfully convicted based on unproven theories that were not aggressively challenged by defense lawyers relying on claimed medical expertise.
For example, “it is simply incorrect to state that severe retinal hemorrhaging is diagnostic of abuse or shaking,” says Evan Matshes. The Canadian forensic pathologist presented a paper on the topic at a 2010 meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
dozen years ago, the medical profession held that if the triad of subdural and retinal bleeding and brain swelling was present without a fracture or bruise that would indicate, for example, that a baby had accidently fallen, abuse must have occurred through shaking. In the past decade, that consensus has begun to come undone. In 2008, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, after reviewing a shaken-baby case, wrote that there is “fierce disagreement” among doctors about the shaken-baby diagnosis, signaling “a shift in mainstream medical opinion.” In the same year, at the urging of the province’s chief forensic pathologist, the Ontario government began a review of 142 shaken-baby cases, because of “the scientific uncertainty that has come to characterize that diagnosis.” In Britain, after one mother’s shaken-baby conviction was overturned, Peter Goldsmith, then attorney general, reviewed 88 more cases. In 2006, he announced doubts about three of the convictions because they were based solely on the triad; in the other cases, Goldsmith said, there was additional evidence pointing to the defendant’s guilt.
A small but growing number of doctors warn that there can be alternate explanations — infections or bleeding disorders, for example — for the triad of symptoms associated with shaken-baby syndrome. Across the country, the group of lawyers that has succeeded in exonerating hundreds of people based on DNA evidence is now mounting 20 to 25 appeals of shaken-baby convictions. “No one wants child abuse,” says Keith Findley, a lawyer for the Wisconsin Innocence Project. “But we should not be prosecuting and convicting people in shaken-baby cases right now, based on the triad of symptoms, without other evidence of abuse. If the medical community can’t agree about all the conflicting data and research, how is a jury supposed to reach a conclusion that’s beyond a reasonable doubt?”
Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/magazine/06baby-t.html
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/as_experts_disagree_about_evidence_in_shaken-baby_cases/
Symptoms thought to conclusively show that shaking had occurred and the time frame in which injuries were deemed to have taken place are increasingly the subject of debate among experts, explains the magazine-length article. And some are also questioning whether innocent people have been wrongfully convicted based on unproven theories that were not aggressively challenged by defense lawyers relying on claimed medical expertise.
For example, “it is simply incorrect to state that severe retinal hemorrhaging is diagnostic of abuse or shaking,” says Evan Matshes. The Canadian forensic pathologist presented a paper on the topic at a 2010 meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
dozen years ago, the medical profession held that if the triad of subdural and retinal bleeding and brain swelling was present without a fracture or bruise that would indicate, for example, that a baby had accidently fallen, abuse must have occurred through shaking. In the past decade, that consensus has begun to come undone. In 2008, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, after reviewing a shaken-baby case, wrote that there is “fierce disagreement” among doctors about the shaken-baby diagnosis, signaling “a shift in mainstream medical opinion.” In the same year, at the urging of the province’s chief forensic pathologist, the Ontario government began a review of 142 shaken-baby cases, because of “the scientific uncertainty that has come to characterize that diagnosis.” In Britain, after one mother’s shaken-baby conviction was overturned, Peter Goldsmith, then attorney general, reviewed 88 more cases. In 2006, he announced doubts about three of the convictions because they were based solely on the triad; in the other cases, Goldsmith said, there was additional evidence pointing to the defendant’s guilt.
A small but growing number of doctors warn that there can be alternate explanations — infections or bleeding disorders, for example — for the triad of symptoms associated with shaken-baby syndrome. Across the country, the group of lawyers that has succeeded in exonerating hundreds of people based on DNA evidence is now mounting 20 to 25 appeals of shaken-baby convictions. “No one wants child abuse,” says Keith Findley, a lawyer for the Wisconsin Innocence Project. “But we should not be prosecuting and convicting people in shaken-baby cases right now, based on the triad of symptoms, without other evidence of abuse. If the medical community can’t agree about all the conflicting data and research, how is a jury supposed to reach a conclusion that’s beyond a reasonable doubt?”
Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/magazine/06baby-t.html
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/as_experts_disagree_about_evidence_in_shaken-baby_cases/
Monday, February 7, 2011
Philadelphia police make filing complaints against fellow officers extremely difficult.
The number of complaints against Philadelphia police officers has spiked in the past few years, yet getting a complaint form isn't always as easy as it's supposed to be.
At times, officers at some police-district headquarters pressure complainants for personal information regarding the complaint, and provide misinformation or even deny them the form needed to file a complaint.
In spot checks conducted recently by the Daily News, supervisors at five police districts refused to allow the complainant to remain anonymous - which is against the Police Department's own policy - and wouldn't supply the form to reporters who posed as complainants.
An additional 11 of the city's 21 police districts did not follow department policies for filing complaints. Problems included creating a hostile environment for complainants, and neglecting to inform them of the procedure and locations to file a complaint.
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said in an interview with the Daily News that he would address the problems found during the checks, and stressed his commitment to rooting out police misbehavior.
William Johnson, PAC executive director, said he heard that the districts recently began asking for ID and warned that the practice could prevent residents with legitimate complaints from coming forward.
"They have been doing that," Johnson said. "That kind of thing could have a chilling effect with complainants. It goes against their policy.
"There is a need for the department to be community-sensitive and make sure they're following the process. Their only obligation is to give you a complaint form."
Ramsey said that he didn't know where the idea to request ID came from.
"They don't need to show a driver's license and all this other stuff; that is unnecessary and it really dissuades people from filing a complaint," Ramsey said. "It's not a policy within the Philadelphia Police Department."
The problem with filing complaints, however, is nothing new.
Responding to a rash of complaints that districts were withholding complaint forms, PAC and the University of Pennsylvania Law School conducted a survey in 2007 of police districts in West and Southwest Philly. The survey revealed several problems, including that officers demanded an explanation of the incident or required that complainants provide their name and phone number to receive a form.
Link:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110131_In_Philly__filing_complaint_against_a_cop_isn_t_easy.html
At times, officers at some police-district headquarters pressure complainants for personal information regarding the complaint, and provide misinformation or even deny them the form needed to file a complaint.
In spot checks conducted recently by the Daily News, supervisors at five police districts refused to allow the complainant to remain anonymous - which is against the Police Department's own policy - and wouldn't supply the form to reporters who posed as complainants.
An additional 11 of the city's 21 police districts did not follow department policies for filing complaints. Problems included creating a hostile environment for complainants, and neglecting to inform them of the procedure and locations to file a complaint.
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said in an interview with the Daily News that he would address the problems found during the checks, and stressed his commitment to rooting out police misbehavior.
William Johnson, PAC executive director, said he heard that the districts recently began asking for ID and warned that the practice could prevent residents with legitimate complaints from coming forward.
"They have been doing that," Johnson said. "That kind of thing could have a chilling effect with complainants. It goes against their policy.
"There is a need for the department to be community-sensitive and make sure they're following the process. Their only obligation is to give you a complaint form."
Ramsey said that he didn't know where the idea to request ID came from.
"They don't need to show a driver's license and all this other stuff; that is unnecessary and it really dissuades people from filing a complaint," Ramsey said. "It's not a policy within the Philadelphia Police Department."
The problem with filing complaints, however, is nothing new.
Responding to a rash of complaints that districts were withholding complaint forms, PAC and the University of Pennsylvania Law School conducted a survey in 2007 of police districts in West and Southwest Philly. The survey revealed several problems, including that officers demanded an explanation of the incident or required that complainants provide their name and phone number to receive a form.
Link:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110131_In_Philly__filing_complaint_against_a_cop_isn_t_easy.html
Sacremento, CA. Judge orders juror to turn over Facebook postings.
The Facebook fight under way in a Sacramento courtroom pivoted into new territory Friday when a judge gave a juror 10 days to turn over postings he made during a gang beating trial last year or face possible jail time.
An attorney for juror Arturo Ramirez protested the order by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael P. Kenny and said he would appeal it as high and as far as he can.
"It's a matter of principle and privacy," lawyer Kenneth L. Rosenfeld said. "There's no reason this material should be turned over. We're putting a burden on jurors that's going to make them not want to serve on jury duty. The entire system collapses without people wanting to serve on jury duty."
Friday's hearing had shaped up as a constitutional contest between Facebook and defense lawyers for reputed members of the so-called Killa Mobb gang who said their clients needed the postings to make sure the juror wasn't biased when he voted to convict them. Facebook countered that the disclosure was precluded by federal computer privacy law.
Kenny short-circuited the constitutional battle with his order Friday that the juror – who was not present in the packed courtroom – allow Facebook to make the postings available for judicial review in chambers. The federal Stored Communications Act allows for such disclosure if the individual party agrees to it, if it is requested by law enforcement agencies investigating a crime or by court orders in ongoing criminal investigations.
The defense lawyers asked for the postings once they were tipped off by another juror after the verdict that Ramirez had been talking on his Facebook page about the trial while it was under way. The attorneys have since succeeded in delaying the sentencing of their clients – some of whom are facing life terms – amid the effort to flush out what Ramirez wrote on his page, who responded, what they said and whether any of it influenced his decision in the case.
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/05/3379139/juror-ordered-to-turn-over-facebook.html
An attorney for juror Arturo Ramirez protested the order by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael P. Kenny and said he would appeal it as high and as far as he can.
"It's a matter of principle and privacy," lawyer Kenneth L. Rosenfeld said. "There's no reason this material should be turned over. We're putting a burden on jurors that's going to make them not want to serve on jury duty. The entire system collapses without people wanting to serve on jury duty."
Friday's hearing had shaped up as a constitutional contest between Facebook and defense lawyers for reputed members of the so-called Killa Mobb gang who said their clients needed the postings to make sure the juror wasn't biased when he voted to convict them. Facebook countered that the disclosure was precluded by federal computer privacy law.
Kenny short-circuited the constitutional battle with his order Friday that the juror – who was not present in the packed courtroom – allow Facebook to make the postings available for judicial review in chambers. The federal Stored Communications Act allows for such disclosure if the individual party agrees to it, if it is requested by law enforcement agencies investigating a crime or by court orders in ongoing criminal investigations.
The defense lawyers asked for the postings once they were tipped off by another juror after the verdict that Ramirez had been talking on his Facebook page about the trial while it was under way. The attorneys have since succeeded in delaying the sentencing of their clients – some of whom are facing life terms – amid the effort to flush out what Ramirez wrote on his page, who responded, what they said and whether any of it influenced his decision in the case.
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/05/3379139/juror-ordered-to-turn-over-facebook.html
How the "CSI Effect" is influencing courtrooms in the U. S.
It's termed the CSI Effect. Prosecutors have been complaining that shows like CSI are creating the expectation that every trial must feature high-tech forensic tests. They fear that when they don't show off CSI-style technology, juries might let criminals get away with murder.
Donald Shelton, the chief judge of Watenshaw County, Mich., is skeptical. He began to notice that reports about the CSI Effect were long on anecdote, and short on data.
"One of the things that surprised me when I started looking into the CSI Effect was that there was no empirical research. Even the so-called studies that were out there were simply surveys of lawyers' opinions," he says.
Jurors don't need to watch CSI to be aware of advances in technology. They're more likely to be affected by the technology in their own pocket. Shelton's study showed that owning the latest BlackBerry has a much bigger impact on how jurors evaluate scientific evidence.
"The more sophisticated technological devices that jurors had, the higher their expectations for the prosecutors to present evidence," Shelton says.
Whatever the substance of the connection, lawyers, judges, and death investigators are acting as if the CSI Effect is real.
Some states now allow lawyers to strike potential jurors based on their TV habits. Judges are issuing instructions that warn juries about expecting too much scientific evidence based on what they see on TV.
In the field, Shelton says death investigators sometimes run useless tests, just to show they went the extra CSI mile.
"They will perform scientific tests and present evidence of that to the jury. Even if the results don't show guilt or innocence either way, just to show the jury that they did it."
Link:http://media.npr.org/documents/2011/feb/shelton-CSI-study.pdf
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/06/133497696/is-the-csi-effect-influencing-courtrooms
Donald Shelton, the chief judge of Watenshaw County, Mich., is skeptical. He began to notice that reports about the CSI Effect were long on anecdote, and short on data.
"One of the things that surprised me when I started looking into the CSI Effect was that there was no empirical research. Even the so-called studies that were out there were simply surveys of lawyers' opinions," he says.
Jurors don't need to watch CSI to be aware of advances in technology. They're more likely to be affected by the technology in their own pocket. Shelton's study showed that owning the latest BlackBerry has a much bigger impact on how jurors evaluate scientific evidence.
"The more sophisticated technological devices that jurors had, the higher their expectations for the prosecutors to present evidence," Shelton says.
Whatever the substance of the connection, lawyers, judges, and death investigators are acting as if the CSI Effect is real.
Some states now allow lawyers to strike potential jurors based on their TV habits. Judges are issuing instructions that warn juries about expecting too much scientific evidence based on what they see on TV.
In the field, Shelton says death investigators sometimes run useless tests, just to show they went the extra CSI mile.
"They will perform scientific tests and present evidence of that to the jury. Even if the results don't show guilt or innocence either way, just to show the jury that they did it."
Link:http://media.npr.org/documents/2011/feb/shelton-CSI-study.pdf
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/06/133497696/is-the-csi-effect-influencing-courtrooms
Saturday, February 5, 2011
MA Chiefs of Police December 2010 newsletter, contradicts the NECIR investigation claiming their is no evidence of racial profiling in MA.
What's disturbing about this article is The New England Center for investigative reporting claimed to do an "NECIR INVESTIGATION" into racial profiling and found no evidence. If they did a little more research they would have discovered that there are no records of racial profiling in MA and police departments are proud of it. The MA Chiefs of police December 2010 newsletter page 13 proudly lists as their number one accomplishment of 2010.
"A critical responsibility of a legislative agent is to monitor legislation filed by others, searching for proposals that are detrimental to our members or our profession. This year alone, with the help of many of you, we were able to prevent legislation:
1. Creating racial profiling data collection".
NECIR report:
Instead, the analysis by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting finds that the most common factor linking people who are arrested in Cambridge for disorderly conduct is that they were allegedly screaming or cursing in front of police.
Of the 392 adults arrested for disorderly conduct, 57 percent were white and 34 percent were black. That racial breakdown almost exactly mirrored the racial composition of the population that Cambridge police investigated for disorderly conduct, the NECIR analysis shows.
Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert C. Haas, who declined to comment on the Gates case, said that speech is never the sole basis for an arrest.
“You have a situation where you are trying to stop behavior, and entangled in that behavior you have people saying things,” he said. “It’s the behavior officers are trying to deal with and it’s the behavior that officers are trying to stop that they believe really creates social disharmony. They have an obligation to stop it.”
After reading the NECIR report it leaves many questions unanswered.
Does racial profiling exist in police departments, you be the judge.
The Police Commisioner in Cambridge states they are now the "social disharmony police" are you kidding me, do we live in Communist China?
Link MA Chiefs of Police newsletter 2010:
http://www.masschiefs.org/documents/December%202010%20Newsletter.pdf
NECIR link:
http://necir-bu.org/wp/the-pocantico-declaration-creating-a-nonprofit-investigative-news-network/investigations/disorderly-conduct/disorderly-conduct-necir/
"A critical responsibility of a legislative agent is to monitor legislation filed by others, searching for proposals that are detrimental to our members or our profession. This year alone, with the help of many of you, we were able to prevent legislation:
1. Creating racial profiling data collection".
NECIR report:
Instead, the analysis by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting finds that the most common factor linking people who are arrested in Cambridge for disorderly conduct is that they were allegedly screaming or cursing in front of police.
Of the 392 adults arrested for disorderly conduct, 57 percent were white and 34 percent were black. That racial breakdown almost exactly mirrored the racial composition of the population that Cambridge police investigated for disorderly conduct, the NECIR analysis shows.
Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert C. Haas, who declined to comment on the Gates case, said that speech is never the sole basis for an arrest.
“You have a situation where you are trying to stop behavior, and entangled in that behavior you have people saying things,” he said. “It’s the behavior officers are trying to deal with and it’s the behavior that officers are trying to stop that they believe really creates social disharmony. They have an obligation to stop it.”
After reading the NECIR report it leaves many questions unanswered.
Does racial profiling exist in police departments, you be the judge.
The Police Commisioner in Cambridge states they are now the "social disharmony police" are you kidding me, do we live in Communist China?
Link MA Chiefs of Police newsletter 2010:
http://www.masschiefs.org/documents/December%202010%20Newsletter.pdf
NECIR link:
http://necir-bu.org/wp/the-pocantico-declaration-creating-a-nonprofit-investigative-news-network/investigations/disorderly-conduct/disorderly-conduct-necir/
Friday, February 4, 2011
Frontline" Post Mortem" death investigation in America.
How America's patchwork system of death investigating is putting the living at risk.
In the United States there isn't just one system. Coroners can be elected or appointed. Some are also sheriffs or funeral home directors. But many coroners aren't doctors.
There are also medical examiners, who usually are medical doctors but may not be forensic pathologists trained in death investigation.
But no matter what form it takes, the death investigation system in the U.S. is in trouble. A yearlong investigation by NPR, PBS Frontline and ProPublica has found a dysfunctional system short of qualified people, squeezed for resources and lacking in oversight.
Medical examiner systems are operating in 16 states and the District of Columbia. Medical examiners are appointed to their position and almost always are physicians.
Click on the link to watch the full episode.
Link:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/post-mortem/
In the United States there isn't just one system. Coroners can be elected or appointed. Some are also sheriffs or funeral home directors. But many coroners aren't doctors.
There are also medical examiners, who usually are medical doctors but may not be forensic pathologists trained in death investigation.
But no matter what form it takes, the death investigation system in the U.S. is in trouble. A yearlong investigation by NPR, PBS Frontline and ProPublica has found a dysfunctional system short of qualified people, squeezed for resources and lacking in oversight.
Medical examiner systems are operating in 16 states and the District of Columbia. Medical examiners are appointed to their position and almost always are physicians.
Click on the link to watch the full episode.
Link:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/post-mortem/
Lawrence, MA. former police officer Kevin Sledge recieves a 10-12 year sentence for raping a woman while on duty.
LAWRENCE, MA. Police Officer Kevin Sledge will spend the next 10 to 12 years in jail for raping a drunken woman he picked up in his car while on duty in 2008.
Sledge, 48, of Salem, N.H., was also sentenced to five years probation on the three indecent assault and battery charges he was also found guilty of by a Newburyport Superior Court jury last week.
After last week's verdict, Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett praised the work of his prosecutors and the jury, calling Sledge "the worst kind — a predator with a badge."
Link:
http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x856147329/Cop-gets-10-to-12-years-in-prison-for-rape
Sledge, 48, of Salem, N.H., was also sentenced to five years probation on the three indecent assault and battery charges he was also found guilty of by a Newburyport Superior Court jury last week.
After last week's verdict, Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett praised the work of his prosecutors and the jury, calling Sledge "the worst kind — a predator with a badge."
Link:
http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x856147329/Cop-gets-10-to-12-years-in-prison-for-rape
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
How flawed are death investigations conducted by medical examiners and coroners in the U. S.?
Chris Reynolds vividly remembers his first encounter with the work of forensic pathologist Dr. Thomas Gill.It was 2001. Reynolds, a Santa Rosa private investigator, was hired by a Sonoma County man accused of killing his wife. Gill, who conducted the wife's autopsy, was the prosecution's key witness, having determined the death was a "textbook" case of suffocation.
Reynolds' client's prospects looked grim. But when Reynolds dug into Gill's background, he unspooled a history in which Gill landed post after post despite a lengthening trail of errors and, in one instance, drinking on the job.
Gill had been forced out of a teaching position at an Oregon university, and then fired for inaccurate findings and alcohol abuse by the coroner in Indianapolis, Reynolds discovered. Demoted for poor performance as a fellow for the Los Angeles County Coroner, he resurfaced at a private autopsy company in Northern California.
Reynolds learned that Gill had missed key evidence in the Sonoma County case and that he had been coached by prosecutors to downplay his past, prompting the dismissal of the murder charge.
Gill's ability to resurrect his career time and again reflects a profound weakness at the center of the U.S. system of death investigation.
A chronic shortage of qualified forensic pathologists allows even questionably competent practitioners to remain employable. The absence of trained practitioners is so acute that many jurisdictions don't look closely at the doctors they employ. Some of the officials who hired Gill acknowledged they knew about his problems but said they had no other viable options.
With no national oversight of forensic pathologists or standards that dictate who can do autopsy work, there is nothing to prevent Gill from resuming his career.
In some cases, officials in charge of death investigation are more concerned with costs than with competent autopsies, said Dr. John Pless, a director of the National Association of Medical Examiners and retired forensic pathology professor at Indiana University.
The following comment was posted by Robert Von Bargen:
Feb. 25, 2:20 p.m.
As a retired medical malpractice defense attorney, I can attest to the extent to which doctors are able to move from state to state or town to town and somehow escape their past.
I had the task of representing a young doctor who thought she was in a valid fellowship program, but the doctor who ran it had been disciplined and/or barred from practice in at least three other states.
The living can now check their doctor’s record at medical society websites. Autopsy surgeons, however, have compliant victims who are unable to choose their doctor.
Link to the article & comments section...
http://www.propublica.org/article/california-county-opens-review-into-autopsies-by-doctor-with-checkered-past
Link:
http://www.propublica.org/article/second-chances-underscore-flaws-in-death-investigations
Reynolds' client's prospects looked grim. But when Reynolds dug into Gill's background, he unspooled a history in which Gill landed post after post despite a lengthening trail of errors and, in one instance, drinking on the job.
Gill had been forced out of a teaching position at an Oregon university, and then fired for inaccurate findings and alcohol abuse by the coroner in Indianapolis, Reynolds discovered. Demoted for poor performance as a fellow for the Los Angeles County Coroner, he resurfaced at a private autopsy company in Northern California.
Reynolds learned that Gill had missed key evidence in the Sonoma County case and that he had been coached by prosecutors to downplay his past, prompting the dismissal of the murder charge.
Gill's ability to resurrect his career time and again reflects a profound weakness at the center of the U.S. system of death investigation.
A chronic shortage of qualified forensic pathologists allows even questionably competent practitioners to remain employable. The absence of trained practitioners is so acute that many jurisdictions don't look closely at the doctors they employ. Some of the officials who hired Gill acknowledged they knew about his problems but said they had no other viable options.
With no national oversight of forensic pathologists or standards that dictate who can do autopsy work, there is nothing to prevent Gill from resuming his career.
In some cases, officials in charge of death investigation are more concerned with costs than with competent autopsies, said Dr. John Pless, a director of the National Association of Medical Examiners and retired forensic pathology professor at Indiana University.
The following comment was posted by Robert Von Bargen:
Feb. 25, 2:20 p.m.
As a retired medical malpractice defense attorney, I can attest to the extent to which doctors are able to move from state to state or town to town and somehow escape their past.
I had the task of representing a young doctor who thought she was in a valid fellowship program, but the doctor who ran it had been disciplined and/or barred from practice in at least three other states.
The living can now check their doctor’s record at medical society websites. Autopsy surgeons, however, have compliant victims who are unable to choose their doctor.
Link to the article & comments section...
http://www.propublica.org/article/california-county-opens-review-into-autopsies-by-doctor-with-checkered-past
Link:
http://www.propublica.org/article/second-chances-underscore-flaws-in-death-investigations
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
ProPublica report shows Massachusetts has four uncertified medical examiners and no accreditation.
The ProPublica report shows Four uncertified medical examiners in MA. It shows two uncertified and two part time uncertified medical examiners.
Link: http://projects.propublica.org/forensics/systems/9
This link is for all the other states medical examiners or coroners:
Link:http://projects.propublica.org/forensics/
Link: http://projects.propublica.org/forensics/systems/9
This link is for all the other states medical examiners or coroners:
Link:http://projects.propublica.org/forensics/
ATM skimmers can be located at the front door or lobby of banks etc.
Media attention to crimes involving ATM skimmers may make consumers more likely to identify compromised cash machines, which involve cleverly disguised theft devices that sometimes appear off-color or out-of-place. Yet, many of today’s skimmer scams can swipe your card details and personal identification number while leaving the ATM itself completely untouched, making them far more difficult to spot.
The most common of these off-ATM skimmers can be found near cash machines that are located in the antechamber of a bank or building lobby, where access is controlled by a key card lock that is activated when the customer swipes his or her ATM card. In these scams, the thieves remove the card swipe device attached to the outside door, add a skimmer, and then reattach the device to the door. The attackers then place a hidden camera just above or beside the ATM, so that the camera is angled to record unsuspecting customers entering their PINs.
Link:
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2011/01/atm-skimmers-that-never-touch-the-atm/
The most common of these off-ATM skimmers can be found near cash machines that are located in the antechamber of a bank or building lobby, where access is controlled by a key card lock that is activated when the customer swipes his or her ATM card. In these scams, the thieves remove the card swipe device attached to the outside door, add a skimmer, and then reattach the device to the door. The attackers then place a hidden camera just above or beside the ATM, so that the camera is angled to record unsuspecting customers entering their PINs.
Link:
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2011/01/atm-skimmers-that-never-touch-the-atm/
Pro Publica reports 2,300 coroners & medical examiners offices found to have serious flaws.
In a joint reporting effort, ProPublica, PBS "Frontline" and NPR spent a year looking at the nation's 2,300 coroner and medical examiner offices and found a deeply dysfunctional system that quite literally buries its mistakes.
Blunders by doctors in America's morgues have put innocent people in prison cells, allowed the guilty to go free, and left some cases so muddled that prosecutors could do nothing.
The Massachusetts medical examiner's office has cremated a corpse before police could determine if the person had been murdered; misplaced bones; and lost track of at least five bodies.
More than 1 in 5 physicians working in the country's busiest morgues -- including the chief medical examiner of Washington, D.C. -- are not board certified in forensic pathology, the branch of medicine focused on the mechanics of death, our investigation found. Experts say such certification ensures that doctors have at least a basic understanding of the science, and it should be required for practitioners employed by coroner and medical examiner offices.
Link:
http://www.propublica.org/article/the-real-csi-americas-patchwork-system-of-death-investigation
Blunders by doctors in America's morgues have put innocent people in prison cells, allowed the guilty to go free, and left some cases so muddled that prosecutors could do nothing.
The Massachusetts medical examiner's office has cremated a corpse before police could determine if the person had been murdered; misplaced bones; and lost track of at least five bodies.
More than 1 in 5 physicians working in the country's busiest morgues -- including the chief medical examiner of Washington, D.C. -- are not board certified in forensic pathology, the branch of medicine focused on the mechanics of death, our investigation found. Experts say such certification ensures that doctors have at least a basic understanding of the science, and it should be required for practitioners employed by coroner and medical examiner offices.
Link:
http://www.propublica.org/article/the-real-csi-americas-patchwork-system-of-death-investigation
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