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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Transgender Former Inmate Files Lawsuit Claiming Georgia Jail Failed To Stop Month-Long Series Of Sexually Assaults By Deputy!!!

This is just despicable! A Georgia deputy has been fired and is now facing a lawsuit from a transgender former inmate who says he was sexually assaulted repeatedly during his incarceration.

According to WSTB-TV reports:

Gwinnett County taxpayers could be on the hook if a transgender man wins a lawsuit he filed, after he was allegedly sexually assaulted by a deputy while in jail.

Former Deputy Duane Clark, 40, was fired and arrested for sexual assault of the inmate and violation of oath by a public officer following the 2012 incident. The now former inmate said the sexual assaults happened repeatedly for almost a month while he was in the jail during January 2012.

“When the guard confronted him, my client said he wasn’t interest in doing what he wanted him to do. He told him that this was his pod and he would do what he told him to do,” said attorney Jeff Sliz.

Sliz is the attorney for the former inmate, who was recently released from prison. Channel 2 Action News is not revealing the former inmate’s identity because he is an alleged victim of sexual assault.

“He was violated by his protector,” Sliz said.

In addition to suing Clark, Sliz and his client are also suing Sheriff Butch Conway, and Gwinnett County.

In the federal lawsuit: “Defendant Gwinnett County, which knew or should have known that transgender inmates are at greater risk of sexual assault by detention officers, was deliberately indifferent to the risk of harm to Plaintiff by not having policies and procedures in place to address that risk other than State Law penal statues.”

For example, Sliz claimed no one was monitoring the surveillance cameras for the pod and there was not an second corrections officer assigned to the area.

“They had it set up to monitor these people but they just didn’t do it,” Sliz said.

“Immediately following this inmate’s allegation, Duone Clarke was placed on Administrative Leave. At the conclusion of the subsequent investigation, Duone Clarke was terminated and our agency obtained criminal arrest warrants. I cannot provide further information due to the pending legal action,” said Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Deputy Shannon Volkodav.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Affluenza Is A Slap In The Face To Poor People Dealing With The Justice System


Time for Compassion? Aging Political Prisoners Suffer From Illness, Long Solitary Confinement (Parts 1 & 2)


As people around the world mark the holiday season, often recognized as a time of compassion, we host a roundtable discussion about the growing number of aging political prisoners in the United States convicted in the 1960s and 1970s who are seeking compassionate release, clemency or a pardon. In some cases, they are simply asking to be released into general population after decades of solitary confinement. Many have poorly treated diseases such as diabetes, while at least one has terminal cancer.

Part 1
Part 2

We are joined by Soffiyah Elijah, an attorney who has represented many political prisoners and successfully won the release Marilyn Buck in 2010 so she could live her final weeks in freedom before she died from cancer. Elijah also has a separate career as the executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, which monitors conditions in state prisons. We also speak with Jihad Abdulmumit, National Chairperson for the Jericho Movement; Juan Méndez, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, who has found the use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons can amount to cruel and unusual punishment; and Matt Meyer, long-time leader of the War Resisters League who previously served as coordinator of the international Nobel campaign for Puerto Rican political prisoners. He co-wrote the introduction to "Oscar López Rivera: Between Torture and Resistance," and is the editor of "Let Freedom Ring: A Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners." 



Sunday, December 22, 2013

Cop Calls Obama A 'Muslim Commie' On Facebook



"A New York City-area police officer could be fired after posting an obscene, racist and threatening rant against President Barack Obama on social media.

Officer Peter Burns, of Pleasantville police, was accused of making the comments Dec. 11 on a Facebook page he operated under the name "Coon Trapper."

"The fact that he (Obama) is still alive bewilders me," Burns allegedly wrote in the post. "Go die in a shallow grave you Muslim commie.""* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Judge Dismisses Charges On Black Teens Arrested While Waiting For Bus



A judge has dismissed all charges against three African-American star high school basketball players who were arrested at 8:45 AM the day before Thanksgiving for waiting for a school bus. The trio of teens were handcuffed and arrested even after they explained to Rochester, New York police officers why they were waiting on the sidewalk.

Some claimed racism was at the core of the arrests. Parents were forced to pay about $200 for each teen’s bail, so they wouldn’t spend Thanksgiving Day in jail.

City Court Judge Teresa D. Johnson today dismissed all disorderly conduct charges today, after Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley last week said she would not press charges. “After reviewing the facts associated with these arrests, I have decided to dismiss the charges in the interest of justice,” Doorley told reporters.

Indeed, as the school bus with their coach and fellow players pulled up to pick the three high schoolers up for a practice match, the police still refused to believe or release the teens. Even after their coach, Jacob Scott, spoke with police, they insisted on arresting the teens.

Coach Scott (in video, below) had told reporters that police threatened to arrest him as well, and had been joking around about taking the entire team to the police station.

At least one teen hired an attorney. There is no word on if the city will pay the attorney fees.

White Cop Aquitted of Killing Black Man During Hurricane Katrina Aftermath



A federal jury on Wednesday acquitted a former New Orleans police officer of fatally shooting a man without justification outside a strip mall in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath.

Jurors for David Warren’s retrial deliberated for 12 hours over two days before acquitting him of a civil rights violation and a firearm charge stemming from the September 2005 shooting death of 31-year-old Henry Glover, whose body was later burned in a car by a different officer.

After the verdict was read, Glover’s sister started wailing and had to be carried out of the courtroom. Warren’s family fought back tears. Several jurors also wiped away tears as they left the courtroom.

Warren’s family embraced each other. “Oh my gosh, I can’t even get it in my head,” Kathy Warren — David’s wife and mother of their five children, who range from 8 to 15 years old — told a relative who hugged her after the verdict.

Warren’s lawyers said he would be released Wednesday from the courthouse and go home with his family.

Warren testified Monday that he feared for his life when he shot Glover because he thought he saw a gun in his hand as he and another man ran toward the building he was guarding. Prosecutors, however, said Glover wasn’t armed and didn’t pose a threat.

Defense attorney Richard Simmons said the case was always about “a policeman’s worst nightmare, that split-second decision.”

“The benefit of the doubt has to go to the officer,” Simmons said, adding that “there’s no winners or losers, there’s just survivors.”


Police Dog Forced Into Car To Bite Surrendering Man | No Charges For Cop


"A grand jury declined to indict a North Carolina police officer this week despite viewing dashboard camera video that clearly shows him shoving a police dog inside a suspect's vehicle as he holds his hands up in surrender.

The police dog then attacks the suspect, Johnnie Williams, as he's trapped inside his car.

Williams, who suffered facial lacerations, said he never had a chance to surrender after leading Wilmington police on a pursuit Oct. 31 after driving through a drunken driving checkpoint.

Dash cam video shows Williams ram a police cruiser and running stop signs as he led officers on a chase through the city."* The Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down.

Pennsylvania Cops Allegedly Tortured Teen While Handcuffed



TULLYTOWN, PA — A woman turned to Facebook and social media for help in seeking justice for her son whom she says was severely injured during his violent encounter with the police and then isolated from her for three days. She says that her son was "brutally tortured" by Bucks County police officers after being arrested, handcuffed, and shocked in the face by a Taser.

The extensive lacerations, bruising, and black eyes were allegedly the result of the teen being tasered — while handcuffed — and falling once to the pavement. This was done because officers feared for his safety as he was close to traffic.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Houston Chronicle Editor Expose Judges Picking All White Grand Juries


17 Yr Old Student In Coma Due To Cops Tasing Him For Breaking Up A Fight



Handcuffed For Traveling With A White Girl


"A traveling dance troupe claims they were racially profiled by Texas cops, who cuffed the trio after suspecting something wrong with a 13-year-old white girl and two black men sharing the same car, according to a report.

The teen, Landry Thompson, had just stopped at a Houston gas station with her dance partner, Josiah Kelly, 22, and their instructor, 29-year-old Emmanuel Hurd, when cops approached about 3 a.m. Sunday, the group told KHOU-TV.

The group — from Tulsa, Okla. — tried to explain that they spent the day recording a dance video with a local group, Planet Funk Academy, but cops didn't buy their story."* Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola, and Jimmy Dore break it down on The Young Turks.

3 Students Arrested Waiting For School Bus


Three high school teens in Rochester, N.Y., were arrested while they waited for a bus, but authorities claimed the trio was obstructing the flow of other pedestrians on the sidewalk. On Wednesday morning, Raliek Redd, 16, Wan'Tauhjs Weathers 17, and Daequon Carelock, 16, said they were cuffed before they could board a school bus to a basketball game. 

The boys' coach, Jacob Scott unsuccessfully tried to convince the officers to let the players off the hook.

He said an officer told him, "If you don't disperse, you're going to get booked as well,'" Scott said. "I said, 'Sir, I'm the adult. I'm their varsity basketball coach. How can you book me? What am I doing wrong? Matter of fact, what are these guys doing wrong?'"
The teens face disorderly conduct charges