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Ferguson grand juror sues to remove gag order
Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY 2:08 p.m. EST January 5, 2015
A juror who sat on the panel that reviewed evidence in the August shooting death of Michael Brown has filed suit, seeking to remove a lifetime gag order that prevents members of the grand jury from speaking publicly about the case.
The federal suit filed on Monday names St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch as the defendant, because he would be the person to bring charges against a grand jury member who violated the gag order. The plaintiff, who is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, is identified in the lawsuit as "Grand Juror Doe."
The grand juror would like to talk about the experience of serving on the panel, which declined to indict former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for the death of Brown, to contribute to the ongoing national conversation on race relations, according to the ACLU.
It is a crime, however, for members of a grand jury to speak out without permission from a court.
"The Supreme Court has said that grand jury secrecy must be weighed against the juror's First Amendment rights on a case-by-case basis," Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Missouri, said in a statement. "The rules of secrecy must yield because this is a highly unusual circumstance. The First Amendment prevents the state from imposing a lifetime gag order in cases where the prosecuting attorney has purported to be transparent."
McCulloch announced in November that the jury would not indict Wilson, who shot the unarmed Brown, 18, at least six times after a confrontation in the St. Louis suburb on Aug. 9.
Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, faced criticism for declining to replace McCulloch, whose police officer father was fatally shot in the line of duty, with a special prosecutor to oversee the case. Some activists have also charged that McCulloch presented evidence in a way to ensure that the jury would not return an indictment.
The case spurred nationwide protests, and after the verdict was announced dozens of businesses in Ferguson were burned and looted by rioters.
Edward Magee, a spokesman for McCulloch, said that the prosecutor had not yet been served with the lawsuit and had no comment. McCulloch will have 21 days to file a formal response with the court.
In the suit, the juror contends that "the investigation of Wilson had a stronger focus on the victim (Brown) than in other cases presented to the grand jury." The juror also states in the lawsuit that explanation of the law was made in a "muddled and untimely manner" compared with other cases that were presented to the grand jurors, who began their service in May.
"In Plaintiff's view, the current information available about the grand jurors' views is not entirely accurate — especially the implication that all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges," according to the lawsuit. "Moreover, the public characterization of the grand jurors' view of witnesses and evidence does not accord with Plaintiff's own."
Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri, said the grand juror, if allowed to speak, could help state lawmakers as they review suggested legislation that has been proposed in the aftermath of Brown's death.
"Currently our elected officials have only one side of the story," Mittman said. "They have the government's view and the Constitution doesn't permit that. In this case, we have a grand juror who respects the grand jury process and has said I have information that is important and that legislators need to know, that can inform the public about these important public policy questions."
Common objections to the Black Lives Matter movement
by theorganizertc on January 16, 2015
On the center divide on Highway 55 in Minneapolis after grand jury decision
to not indict Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you’re aware of the protests and actions that have sprung up in the wake of the police murders of Mike Brown and Eric Garner. In Minneapolis, we’ve taken our marches onto the highways, blocked traffic, demanded to be met at city hall, and defied the Mall of America by gathering there for a rally.
Much like anywhere else though, along with a lot of support, there’s been a fair amount of negative reaction. In the comment sections of local media, in our workplaces, maybe even in our families, we’ve begun to notice a string of repeated objections.
Patrick O’Donohue, an IWW member and a participant in the local Black Lives Matter movement, responds to some of these objections.
Common objections to the Black Lives Matter movement
by Patrick O’Donohue
“People need to stop making things about race.”
Agreed. Racist institutions and people need to stop making things about race by treating people of color unfairly. Until they do, we should all point out their racism and criticize them for it.
“We need to come together, not be divided!”
Agreed. We should come together against racism.
“ALL lives matter!”
Agreed. So, when the police treat lives as if they don’t matter, we object. When the police target some ethnic groups, such as black people or Native Americans, for disproportionate abuse, we point out that racist targeting. When police continue to summarily execute black people and get away with it over and over, and treating black lives as if they do not matter, it is appropriate for us all to say, “Black lives matter!”- because all lives matter.
“Irish-Americans were persecuted, too”
Agreed. Many decades ago, but agreed. That’s why Irish-Americans should stand on the side of people who are currently going through discrimination similar to what our ancestors went through. Same goes for people whose ancestors were Italian, German, Jewish, Slavic, Spanish, or any other ethnicity that faced discrimination when they first came to America. Really, the same goes for all of us.
“All this race stuff just divides us against the real problems like class and government abuses of power”
Agreed. Racism has historically been used to keep exploited and governed populations from working together against their common interests. As such, racism is a supporting pillar maintaining the power of class and the state. Instead of allowing racism to fool us into supporting the institutions of the state and of class, we should unite with people of color against those institutions and against the racism that upholds them.
“White people get killed by the police, too!”
Agreed. We get killed at a much lower rate, and the media doesn’t demonize the white victims of police brutality to nearly the same degree that black victims of police brutality get demonized, but yes: white people get killed by the police, too– especially white queer, mentally ill, homeless, or working class people. These aspects of police discrimination should be discussed, just like the racial aspect should be- and, of course, every summary execution by the police should be condemned. The demands that the Black Lives Matter movement is making- demands like body cameras, independent investigations of police violence, community oversight of the police, and an end to ‘broken windows’ policing and the drug war- are demands that will help all victims of police brutality, regardless of our race.
“You’re inconveniencing people!”
Agreed. That’s the point of civil disobedience- we aim to make it impossible to continue ignoring the problem of police brutality and racism. We aim to make our movement a constant problem for those in power and for those who’ve ignored the problem, because we have seen that politely asking for the state to please stop summarily executing people doesn’t work. If you only support social change when it’s convenient, non-disruptive, and doesn’t interrupt business as usual, then you don’t support social change at all. Change is disruptive by definition.
“You protestors are breaking the law!”
Agreed. The law is breaking human beings and communities every day. The law targets working class people and people of color for mass incarceration through the racially targeted drug war, ‘broken windows’ policing that gives unforgiving punishment for minor ‘offenses’, and policies of minimum sentencing. The law operates as a back-door tax on the communities the police target, and as a way to funnel people into prisons to be used as cheap labor. The law covers for the police when the police murder unarmed people. We are absolutely breaking the law, and hope to break it so thoroughly it can no longer be used to target and oppress working class people and people of color.
Sandra Bland: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
The family of an Illinois woman found dead in a Texas jail cell after she was arrested during a traffic stop is raising questions about how she died.
Sandra Bland, 28, was found dead in Waller County, Texas, on Monday, the Chicago Tribune reports. Local authorities in Texas say Bland killed herself, but her family and friends don’t believe that is the case, and suspects that the true cause of her death is being covered up.
stefano » Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:02 am wrote:Good thing they have all those guns, hey, otherwise their civil rights might come under threat.
Voting controversies
There has been a history of controversies regarding the reluctance of county officials to allow students attending historically-black Prairie View A&M University to vote in Waller County.[9][10][1]
As reported by the US District Court (Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division) in Veasey v Perry, October 2014 (CIVIL ACTION NO. 13-CV-00193), pp 6–7 verbatim:
In 1971, after the 26th Amendment extended the vote to those 18 years old and older, Waller County which was home to Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), a historically Black university, became troubled with race issues. Waller County’s tax assessor and voter registrar prohibited students from voting unless they or their families owned property in the county. This practice was ended by a three-judge court in 1979.
In 1992, a county prosecutor indicted PVAMU students for illegally voting, but dropped the charges after receiving a protest from the DOJ.
In 2003, a PVAMU student ran for the commissioner’s court. The local district attorney and county attorney threatened to prosecute students for voter fraud—for not meeting the old domicile test. These threatened prosecutions were enjoined, but Waller County then reduced early voting hours, which was particularly harmful to students because the election day was during their spring break. After the NAACP filed suit, Waller County reversed the changes to early voting and the student narrowly won the election.
In 2007-08, during then Senator Barack Obama’s campaign for president, Waller County made a number of voting changes without seeking preclearance. The county rejected “incomplete” voter registrations and required volunteer deputy registrars (VDRs) to personally find and notify the voters of the rejection. The county also limited the number of new registrations any VDR could submit, thus limiting the success of voter registration drives. These practices were eventually prohibited by a consent decree.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waller_County,_Texas
stefano » Thu Jul 16, 2015 3:02 am wrote:Another black person killed by cops. In Texas. Looks like she'll be much harder to portray as a gangster - 28-year-old female uni administrator.
Good thing they have all those guns, hey, otherwise their civil rights might come under threat.Sandra Bland: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
The family of an Illinois woman found dead in a Texas jail cell after she was arrested during a traffic stop is raising questions about how she died.
Sandra Bland, 28, was found dead in Waller County, Texas, on Monday, the Chicago Tribune reports. Local authorities in Texas say Bland killed herself, but her family and friends don’t believe that is the case, and suspects that the true cause of her death is being covered up.
At 25 minutes and five seconds into the arrest video taken three days before Sandra Bland’s death in jail, a tow truck operator can be seen shutting his truck’s door and walking toward the police cruiser’s dashcam. At 25:16, he exits on the right side of the frame. Four seconds after that, the footage jump-cuts to the same scene: the door is suddenly open and the man materializes as if from thin air and begins his route toward the camera again. Throughout, the video’s audio continues uninterrupted. What’s going on here?
Just one day after Sandra Bland was found dead in her jail cell in Texas, another young black woman, Kindra Chapman, was found in eerily similar circumstances in a jail cell in Alabama.
The 18-year-old was arrested July 14 on accusations she stole a cell phone, according to AL.com. She was booked just before 6:30 p.m. and found unresponsive in her cell at 7:50 p.m. Like Bland, authorities have blamed Chapman’s death on suicide by hanging. Like Bland, Chapman’s family said the teen had a full and happy life and do not believe she committed suicide. Like Bland, Black Lives Matter activists have joined her family in demanding answers.
In an email to AL.com, Chapman’s mother, Kathy Brady, said she believes police killed her daughter, and that she wasn’t notified of Chapman’s death until 9 p.m.
Other family members who spoke with reporters said Chapman wouldn’t have killed herself.
“I want answers, like where was she for 45 minutes,” her cousin Otis Chapman asked local station WBRC. “There’s surveillance all around… She would not harm herself at all… In my heart, she wouldn’t do nothing like that.”
Another routine traffic stop has led to the death of an unarmed Black man. This time, Samuel Dubose, 43, was the victim in what appears to be another act of senseless violence perpetrated by a White police officer.
According to WLWT, Dubose was stopped by Officer Ray Tensing near the University of Cincinnati on Sunday evening because his front license plate was missing. Tensing reported that he asked for Dubose’s license and he was handed a beer. The officer then asked Dubose to step out of the vehicle. Dubose attempted to drive away, but Tensing shot him in the head. Dubose was unarmed and died from his gunshot wound.
Millions of people viewed video of the fatal police shooting March 1 of an unarmed black man known as "Africa" outside his skid row tent.
Police said the man, Cameroonian immigrant Charly Keunang, grabbed an officer's holstered gun when they tried to take him into custody on suspicion of robbery. The shooting stoked long-simmering tensions and anger among skid row inhabitants and advocates who accuse Los Angeles police of being too quick to resort to heavy-handed, violent tactics.
Lost in the debate was a second actor in the confrontation: A thin black woman who stepped into the frame and picked up a nightstick one of the officers dropped during the fierce struggle with Keunang.
The homeless woman, Trishawn Cardessa Carey, 34, has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon against a police officer and resisting arrest, and could face 25 years to life in prison under California's three-strikes sentencing law for repeat offenders.
After nearly five months in jail, Carey was granted a reduction in bail late Wednesday afternoon, to $50,000 from just over $1 million.
[...]
The footage shows Carey briefly lifting the baton as police scuffle with Keunang nearby. It does not show her swinging the club or striking anyone, and the prosecutor says he won't try to prove she did so.
Instead, Denton said he will argue that Carey attempted to attack an officer by "picking up the officer's baton and raising the baton to strike the officer."
"An attempt to strike someone is assault," Denton said. "There's no mystery here. The reality is all the conduct involved in this case is on the video."
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