The Conscience of Abe’s Turn freedom of speech, defense, and life

A selection of news stories from the previous week. (Follow the links embedded in the following summaries to read more detailed news stories about each case.)

Lost: Thanks to Radley Balko’s dogged investigations, we now have the video evidence that shows Steven Hayne and Michael West falsifying evidence in Jimmie Duncan’s case, video that prosecutors originally refused to turn over to Duncan’s lawyers, video that the trial judge had inexplicably ruled contained “no exculpatory evidence favorable to the defendant.” There’s no telling how many innocent people have been harmed by Hayne and West, because even though the Missippi government has downgraded their trust in the alleged perjurers, officials still refuse to acknowledge there may have been a serious problem and refuse to review the many cases the duo worked on. Hayne in fact is still giving testimony in Missippi courts. (See also Rogier van Bakel’s post on the case and Radley Balko’s update.)  read more »

Under the heading of “Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” is this funny video Radley Balko posted on his blog. Hey, at least the cop said he was sorry.

Always watching!
-TimK

Radley Balko posted a quick link to this Boston Herald article, which reports:

[Massachusetts state] trooper “Kathleen T. Carney was stripped of her service weapon and cruiser last week after a Dec. 1 duty status hearing stemming from allegations of brutality in the drunken-driving arrest of a 35-year-old Quincy woman, Patricia J. Dooling, on the night of Aug. 28…

There are several points in this article that ring a bell.  read more »

I have the Cato Institute’s official blog, Cato @ Liberty, listed in the “Conscience of America” links on this site. Most of the blog posts are quick, easy reading, accessible to the average American (or perhaps slightly above average) on the go. I’ve long been a fan of the Cato Institute, however, even in the many years before they had a blog. As a libertarian think-tank, Cato has long provided me with masses of valuable research on both civil rights and economic rights issues.

So for the more in-depth advocate, who wants to be deeply informed about the issues, here are just a few of the informative articles and papers I’ve read recently on civil rights, courtesy of the Cato Institute:  read more »

Here’s the story, as handed down by the family of Yolanda Madden:

The police in Odessa, Texas persuaded (or maybe forced) an informant to plant drugs on Yolanda Madden. This informant later testified in federal court that he had planted the false drug evidence. Other evidence (hair and urine) exonerated Yolanda. Even so, she is currently serving an multi-year prison sentence.

This is a story, of course, that many of us have heard many times before. The names and details change, but the story is largely the same. Because this is how drug prohibition works— Or rather, this is how drug prohibition fails us. If you’ve read the Abe’s Turn series, you have surely noticed it also infused with the spirit of these real-life stories.

The pattern of growing police power in order to combat fear, instead of actual crime, and Americans’ nonchalant acceptance of that power, is gradually eroding our security as free citizens. It is one of the most overlooked critical issues in American politics today.

But wait! There’s more to the story!  read more »

Relying on the word of an informant, over a dozen officers stormed into Ryan Frederick’s home on the night of January 17, 2008, in yet another botched, no-knock drug raid, looking for Marijuana. Ryan was in bed, grabbed his gun. End result: two cops dead.

Now, the prosecutor wants to move the Ryan Frederick case to a different venue because of “adverse and inaccurate publicity.” The judge said, no, we’ll try the case here.

Says Radley Balko:

I’ve never heard of a change of venue being granted to prosecutors over the objections of the defense. None of the defense attorneys I’ve asked about the case could, either.

That Ebert [the prosecutor] even tried I think shows that he knows his case against Frederick is coming apart at the seams.

On top of that, the defense is saying the warrant used for the raid was invalid, because the evidence used to support it was gotten by breaking into Ryan’s home.

Ryan’s next pretrial hearing is scheduled for December 5, and the trial is scheduled to start January 20, 2009.

-TimK

Thanks to Radley Balko for a pointer to this comment by Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson regarding the Cheye Calvo case.

The Prince George police had raided Cheye Calvo’s home, looking for drugs. Turns out, I guess, he didn’t have anything to do with drugs after all. Oops.

(Yeah, I know. Even if you’re not familiar with the Calvo case, you’ve heard this story before. But bear with me, because it gets more interesting.)

Meanwhile, however, SWAT team members with itchy trigger fingers held him and his mother-in-law at gunpoint, after shooting his two dogs. No, that’s not quite right. Actually, the cops handcuffed them and interrogated them for hours, while his dogs were marinating nearby in pools of their own blood.

Scenarios of this type play out every week in the U.S. of A., home of the brave, land of the handcuffed and interrogated. What makes the Calvo case different is that Calvo is a politician: Mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland. And that means the police raid really was a mistake. Oops again.  read more »