Criminal Defense News of the Week
by: Sduclos • November 20, 2012 • no comments
Contents |
Stop-and-Frisk "For Being a F***ing Mutt!"
Last week, the Nation posted a recording of NYPD stopping and harassing a young teenager. This is a rare glimpse for the non-harassed and non-defense-attorneys public:
"On June 3, 2011, three plainclothes New York City Police officers stopped a Harlem teenager named Alvin and two of the officers questioned and frisked him while the third remained in their unmarked car. Alvin secretly captured the interaction on his cell phone, and the resulting audio is one of the only known recordings of stop-and-frisk in action.
***
Early in the stop, one of the officers asks, 'You want me to smack you?' When Alvin asks why he is being threatened with arrest, the other officer responds, 'For being a f***ing mutt.' Later in the stop, while holding Alvin's arm behind his back, the first officer says, "Dude, I'm gonna break your f***in' arm, then I'm gonna punch you in the f***in' face.' "
See the video here:
Stopped-and-Frisked: 'For Being a F**king Mutt' [VIDEO] by Ross Tuttle and Erin Shneider - The Nation, Oct. 8, 2012.
City Attorney Releases Drafts of Lt. King's Conclusions as to Whether Frashour Acted as Trained
"In four drafts written from May 12, 2010 through June 15, 2010, King found Officer Ron Frashour acted as trained.
In each of those drafts, King, then a lieutenant in the training division, highlighted his conclusions on Frashour's use of deadly force by writing in bold-face, capital letters: "THIS WAS CONSISTANT WITH TRAINING."
On June 20, 2010, King seemed to waver. He said it was up to the chief and police commissioner to decide if Frashour acted as trained. King added that, in his opinion, Frashour's actions were consistent with his training. Yet King also condemned the bureau's training as not stressing "de-escalation" or flexibility.
The next day, June 21, 2010, King veered far from his prior drafts' findings, concluding for the first time Frashour did not act as trained. King also didn't mention anything about deficiencies in bureau training."
Juveniles in Solitary Confinement
A new study issued earlier this month by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union shows the degree to which extended isolation - which is hard going for mature adults - can easily lead to mental illness and other damage among emotionally immature young people. The report, Growing Up Locked Down, is based on interviews and correspondence in 2011 and 2012 with more than 125 individuals who were sent to jail or prison in 20 states while under the age of 18."
- Adolescents in Grown-Up Jails (Editorial) - The New York Times, October 15, 2012
Tennessee Death Row Inmate's Conviction Overturned
"A Tennessee judge on Friday overturned the conviction and death sentence of a man who has spent 14 years on death row over the killing of an ex-girlfriend whose body was never found.
A USA TODAY investigation last year showed that Memphis prosecutors responsible for the case never told the man, Michael Dale Rimmer, or his lawyers, about an eyewitness who had told the police that two different men were inside the office around the time she disappeared, and that both had blood on their hands. One of the men that the witness identified was already wanted in connection with a stabbing.
***
The case is the latest black eye for prosecutors in Memphis, who have been faulted repeatedly for failing to disclose evidence that could be helpful to defendants."
[http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/12/tennessee-death-sentence-overturned/1630757/ Tennessee death-row inmate's conviction overturned by Brad Heath - USA Today, Oct 12, 2012.]
