Criminal Justice

Woman’s ‘Lynching’ Charge Sparks Call For Change

March 20, 2015 Marissa Lang, www.sacbee.com Resist! Criminal Justice, Police abuse, Racism

Sacramento, CA - State and local officials will try to remove the term “lynching” from California law after the statute, originally created to protect black detainees from angry white mobs, has been used to prosecute a woman of color in what her lawyer calls an “incredibly ironic” turn of events. Maile Hampton, 20, will stand before a judge on April 9 and answer to a felony charge of lynching. Hampton, of Sacramento, appeared Monday in Sacramento Superior Court surrounded by more than 30 supporters. “It’s ironic that this code section was designed and passed to protect, primarily, African Americans from vigilante justice,” said Linda Parisi, Hampton’s attorney. “But that’s not how it’s being used.”

Employee Wage Theft At Papa Johns Ends In $2.1 M Judgment

March 17, 2015 Office of Attorney General Schneiderman, www.ag.ny.gov Resist! Criminal Justice, Law, New York (NY), Worker Rights and Jobs

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that his office has obtained a judgment against New Majority Holdings, LLC (New Majority) a Papa John’s pizza franchisee, and its owner and operator Ronald Johnson for underpaying hundreds of delivery workers at five Harlem pizza restaurants. “Within the last two months, courts have found that two Papa John's franchisees owe almost $3 million to their workers,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “We will continue to investigate wage and hour violations in the fast food industry. More broadly, franchisors need to step up to the plate. I call on all fast food franchisors, including Papa John's, to take steps necessary to ensure that their workers -- the backbone of their business -- are treated fairly and paid the wages the law requires."

Judge Rules In Occupy Pensacola Lawsuit

March 15, 2015 Staff, www.pensacolatoday.com Resist! Criminal Justice, Free Speech and Assembly, Occupy Movement

Florida - After more than three years of litigation in the Occupy Pensacola v. City of Pensacola case, a federal judge has decided the case in favor of the city. Senior U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson granted the city’s motion for summary judgment on Friday, ruling that the city’s action to limit the time and location of Occupy protests had not violate the protestors constitutional rights. “I appreciate Judge Vinson’s ruling, and I’m relieved to bring this litigation to a close,” said Mayor Ashton Hayward in a news release. “While we have the utmost respect for our constitutional freedoms, the city has an obligation to safeguard public health and safety.” The litigation arose out of local protests, modeled after the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, which began in October 2011. In order to call attention to various political, economic, and social justice issues, the “Occupy Pensacola” group held marches and pitched tents in Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza, later relocating to the north lawn of City Hall.

Assange Breakthrough: Swedish Prosecutors Will Interview Him

March 14, 2015 David Crouch, www.theguardian.com Educate! Criminal Justice, Julian Assange, Law, Sweden

Lawyers for Julian Assange have claimed victory after a Swedish prosecutor bowed to pressure from the courts and agreed to break the deadlock in the WikiLeaks founder’s case by interviewing him in London. Marianne Ny, who heads the investigation into accusations of rape, coercion and sexual molestation against Assange, made a formal request to interrogate him in the Ecuadorian embassy – the first sign of movement in a case that has been frozen since August 2012. The prosecutor will also ask the UK government and Ecuador for permission to carry out the interviews at the embassy in London, where Assange has been staying for more than two-and-a-half years to avoid extradition to Sweden, from where he fears being handed over to the US to face espionage charges.

Rasmieh Odeh Sentenced To 18 Years, Will Appeal

March 13, 2015 Kim Jansenn, www.chicago.suntimes.com Resist! Chicago, Criminal Justice, Israel, Law, Palestine

Prosecutors called Rasmieh Odeh “a terrorist icon” who’d blown up a Jerusalem supermarket. Her lawyers called her a “resistance” fighter who was long ago framed by an Israeli military court. And between them, the two sides at times turned the 67-year-old Evergreen Park activist’s immigration fraud case into a proxy for the decades-old Arab-Israeli conflict. But in sentencing Odeh to 18 months in prison, ordering her deportation back to Jordan and stripping her of her U.S. citizenship, a federal judge on Thursday said Odeh’s case “isn’t a political case — it’s about honesty and telling the truth under oath.” U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain split the difference between the five to seven years prosecutors wanted Odeh to serve and her request to simply be allowed to leave the country without being locked up.

Environmental Activist Released 10 Years Early Based On FBI Documents

March 11, 2015 Chris Steele, www.truth-out.org.com Resist! CIA, Criminal Justice, Environment, Law, Political Prisoner

After serving nine years in prison, Eric McDavid was freed on January 8, 2015, when it was revealed - through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)-released court documents pored over by his supporters - that the government withheld documents from him that supported his defense claim that he was entrapped by the FBI. McDavid, who identifies as an anarchist and an environmental activist, was charged with "conspiracy to use fire or explosives to damage corporate and government property" in May 2008 and sentenced to 19 years and 7 months in prison. McDavid is a victim of a long history and concerted effort by federal and state entities in the United States to target anarchists and other radicals. An early example of surveillance and harassment against birth control advocates, anarchists and radicals being targeted by the US government dates back to the Comstock Act.

Mothers For Justice Outreach Letter: Victims Of Police Violence

March 11, 2015 Maria Hamilton, www.popularresistance.org Organize! Criminal Justice, police brutality, Racism, Violence

In the wake of the recent unjust murders of Dontre Hamilton, Corey Stingley, Derek Williams, Brandon Johnson, Larry Jenkins, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and so many more at the hands of police officers and racist vigilantes, people in cities across the nation have risen up to demand Justice in their communities. For every individual killed, there is a mother who has suffered a loss greater than any one person should have to bear. We, the mothers of this movement, are calling on all concerned community members to join us in our fight. Together we unite to stand against police brutality and racial injustice and to demonstrate our love and determination to protect our children and our country. On May 9th, 2015, Mother’s Day Weekend, The Mothers for Justice United will march on the US Department of Justice in our nation’s capital, Washington DC. Will you stand with us? "

Kathy Kelly’s View Of Prison From The Inside

March 11, 2015 Kathy Kelly, www.commondreams.org Resist! Criminal Justice, Law, Prison Industrial Complex

During my four stints in U.S. federal prisons, I've witnessed long-term inmates' unconquerably humane response when a newcomer arrives. An unscripted choreography occurs and the new prisoner finds that other women will help her through the trauma of adjustment to being locked up for many months or years. Halfway through a three-month sentence myself, I'm saddened to realize that I'll very likely adapt to an outside world for which these women, and prisoners throughout the U.S. prison system, are often completely invisible. U.S. state and federal prison populations have risen, since 1988, from 600,000 to an estimated 1,600,000 in 2012. This trend shows inhumane behavior on the part of lawmakers and myriads of employees who benefit from the so-called "criminal justice" system. But our entire society bears responsibility for what now can aptly be labeled a "prison-industrial complex."

Chelsea Manning: CIA Torturers Should Be Held Accountable

March 10, 2015 Chelsea E Manning, www.theguardian.com Resist! Chelsea Manning, Criminal Justice, Senate, Torture

Torture is clearly defined as one of these offenses. And, while the treaty precludes extradition for offenses that are deemed as “a political offense”, it also excludes “murder or other wilful crime, punishable under the laws of both [nations] with a penalty of at least one year”. Torture, then, is not deemed a political offense. However, while the treaty does not bind either nation to extradite its own citizens – making automatic extradition impossible – under the law, the US Secretary of State has the power to order the surrender of any US citizen whose extradition has been requested. I believe that if such a request should come before the Secretary of State, then he (or she) is morally and ethically obligated to grant it or risk further degrading the credibility of the US before the rest of the world and implicitly endorsing other countries that still use torture as a political weapon against their own citizens.

Ten Found ‘Not Guilty’ For Flood Wall Street Action

March 6, 2015 Krystle Holmes and John Tarleton, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Climate Change, Criminal Justice, Flood Wall Street

In his ruling, Judge Robert Mandelbaum found that the NYPD's order to disperse was unlawful, and that by ordering protesters to leave the entire Wall Street area, police violated protesters' First Amendment right to carry their message directly to its intended recipients: the Wall Street bankers who bankroll climate change. Defense Attorney Jonathan Wallace successfully argued that the Constitution protects citizen's rights to express political speech within proximity to the target of the protest. In this case, the NYPD first prevented protesters from entering Wall Street before later ordering them to leave the area altogether. This pattern of policing proved to be the Prosecution's undoing. Judge Mandelbaum also broke new ground by taking judicial notice that climate change is happening, is a serious problem, requires immediate action, and is caused by human activity.

General Petraeus: Too Big To Jail

March 6, 2015 Ray McGovern, www.consortiumnews.com Educate! Criminal Justice, Law, Wars and Militarism

The leniency shown former CIA Director (and retired General) David Petraeus by the Justice Department in sparing him prison time for the serious crimes that he has committed puts him in the same preferential, immune-from-incarceration category as those running the financial institutions of Wall Street, where, incidentally, Petraeus now makes millions. By contrast, “lesser” folks – and particularly the brave men and women who disclose government crimes – get to serve time, even decades, in jail. Petraeus is now a partner at KKR, a firm specializing in large leveraged buyouts, and his hand-slap guilty plea to a misdemeanor for mishandling government secrets should not interfere with his continued service at the firm.

Gagged And Censored: Justice Not Served For Drone Protester

March 6, 2015 Bonnie Block and Joy First, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Criminal Justice, Drones, Free Speech

Bonnie said that this trial is about a constitutional free speech issue and the jury should be the ones to decide on whether she was trespassing or had a constitutional right to be on the base sharing her literature. The judge responded that deciding about constitutional issues is not up to the jury and Bonnie will not be allowed to bring that up. Bonnie will now be going to trial on April 1 without being able to offer a strong defense. Her ability to do so has been taken away by the prosecutor and the judge before the trial even begins. This happens so many times in trials for protestors and it is outrageous. We are gagged and then we are censored. As we consider this grave miscarriage of justice in Wisconsin, we realize it is all part of a bigger system of illegal actions by our government.

Can Police Training Put The Cuffs On Racial Bias?

March 5, 2015 Steve Early, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Criminal Justice, police brutality, Racism

Everybody from police brutality critics to the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the commissioner of police in New York City now agree that “unconscious bias” can adversely affect police interaction with the public. In a widely reported speech at Georgetown University last month, FBI chief James Comey noted that police officers “often work in environments where a hugely disproportionate percentage of street crime is committed by young men of color.” In such a setting, “no one’s really color blind,” he contended. “Maybe it’s a fact we all should face: everyone makes judgments based on race.” Whether an individual officer is white or black, he or she views young whites and blacks differently because the latter “look like so many others the officer has locked up.”

Students Vow To Attain Justice For Jeremy

March 2, 2015 Tallahassee Dream Defenders, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Criminal Justice, police brutality, Police violence

Tallahassee, FL - On Feb. 25, students and community members rallied at the Leon County Courthouse, demanding that Officer David Stith of the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) be fired and jailed for killing Jeremy “Jed” Lett, a young African American man. On Feb. 3, TPD Officer David Stith shot and killed Jeremy Lett outside of his apartment complex. Police claim Lett matched the description of a burglary suspect from the complex. Lett was unarmed and had no criminal record. Officer Stith is now on paid administrative leave. Outside the Leon County Courthouse, student protesters held signs, “End police brutality” and “Jail killer cops.” Regina Joseph of the Tallahassee Dream Defenders led chants, “No justice, no peace, no racist police!” and “Jeremy means we have to fight back.” During the rally, Shivaani Ehsaan from the Dream Defenders called for “an end to police terror in Tallahassee and for the implementation of a civilian review board with firing power over the police department.”

The Bad Cop Database

February 20, 2015 Leon Neyfakh, www.slate.com Organize! Accountability, Criminal Justice, Law, police brutality

At a time when police departments around the country are being criticized for a lack of a transparency, the arrival of Legal Aid’s database represents a bold attempt to systematically track officers with a history of civil rights violations and other kinds of misbehavior, and thereby force judges, prosecutors, and juries to take the officers’ past actions into consideration when adjudicating cases. If a defense attorney can successfully call into question the credibility of an arresting officer, she might be able to convince a judge to let a defendant out of jail without bail, or maybe even to dismiss the case entirely. Information about an officer’s past misconduct can also serve as a bargaining chip during plea negotiations with prosecutors.

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