Vote por Penzone para Sheriff
TSA comes up with a kinder, gentler way to rape travelers!!!
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Government replaces body scanners at some airports
Associated Press Thu Oct 25, 2012 2:46 PM
CHICAGO — The federal government is quietly removing full-body X-ray scanners from seven major airports and replacing them with a different type of machine that produces a cartoon-like outline instead of the naked images that have been compared to a virtual strip search.
The Transportation Security Administration says it is making the switch in technology to speed up lines at crowded airports, not to ease passenger privacy concerns. But civil liberties groups hope the change signals that the equipment will eventually go to the scrap heap.
“Hopefully this represents the beginning of a phase-out of the X-ray-type scanners, which are more privacy intrusive and continue to be surrounded by health questions,” said Jay Stanley, a privacy expert at the American Civil Liberties Union.
The machines will not be retired. They are being moved to smaller airports while Congress presses the TSA to put in place stronger privacy safeguards on all of its imaging equipment.
In the two years since they first appeared at the nation’s busiest airports, the “backscatter” model of scanner has been the focus of protests and lawsuits because it uses X-rays to peer beneath travelers’ clothing.
The machines are being pulled out of New York’s LaGuardia and Kennedy airports, Chicago’s O’Hare, Los Angeles International and Boston Logan, as well as airports in Charlotte, N.C., and Orlando, Fla.
The TSA would not comment on whether it planned to remove machines from any other locations.
Some of the backscatter scanners have gone to airports in Mesa, Ariz., Key West, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The TSA is still deciding where to send others.
The switch is being made as the TSA is under pressure from Congress. Legislation approved in February gave the agency until June to get rid of the X-ray scanners or upgrade them with software that produces only a generic outline of the human form, not a blurry naked image. The agency, however, has the authority to grant itself extensions, and the current deadline is now May 31, 2013.
So far, only the other type of scanner that TSA uses has been upgraded. Called millimeter-wave scanners, they resemble a large glass phone booth and use radio frequencies instead of X-rays to detect objects concealed beneath clothing.
The scan is processed by software instead of an airport security worker. If the software identifies a potential threat, a mannequin-like image is presented to the operator showing yellow boxes over areas requiring further inspection, by a pat-down for example.
Besides eliminating privacy concerns, the machine requires fewer people to operate, takes up less space in crowded security zones and completes a scan in less than two seconds, allowing screening lines to move faster.
“It’s all done automatically to look for threats, so you don’t have anybody in a back room that has to look at the imaging,” said Doug McMakin, who led the team that developed the millimeter-wave technology at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
The TSA did not announce the change until after news reports revealed it last week. In a statement, officials said speed was the reason for the switch to the millimeter-wave machines.
In addition to speed and space advantages, the millimeter-wave technology does not produce the ionizing radiation that has led to safety concerns with the X-ray machines, which required passengers to stand between two refrigerator-sized boxes.
The TSA and other experts have said the amount of radiation is less than what passengers get on the flight itself.
A TSA spokesman would not say whether the change was the beginning of a phase-out for the X-ray scanners. The agency said in the statement that it was confident both types of machine could ensure passenger safety.
The government began deploying both types to airports in 2010 after a foiled al-Qaida plot to bomb a U.S.-bound jet using explosives that can be missed by traditional metal detectors.
The scanners can cost as much as $170,000 each. There are currently about 800 of them at 200 U.S. airports. About two-thirds of them are the millimeter-wave machines.
The TSA has spent nearly $8 million developing the upgraded privacy software and plans to spend more as it works to develop software for the backscatter machines, according to a September report by the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security.
The committee’s Republican chairman, Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, said the TSA needs to be more forthcoming about when it will have that upgrade “rather than simply shuffling” the machines from one airport to another.
“Travelers deserve to see a concrete timeline for implementing privacy software on all (scanning) machines and a commitment from TSA to sponsor an independent analysis of their potential health impact,” he said.
Aviation expert Robert Poole of the Reason Foundation said it made sense to switch to the millimeter-wave scanners at busier airports, noting that “the faster processing time is a huge advantage.”
“But it still seems like a very poor decision to still be foisting those flawed machines — or certainly less good machines — on people in the smaller airports,” he said.
Arizona DPS officers accepting bribes from Arizona Trucking Association
In this Phoenix New Times article Arizona Department of Public Safety Police Officers seem to have been caught accepting illegal gifts from the Arizona Trucking Association.There crimes were exposed as a result of when a TV camera was panning thru the crowd and Arizona DPS Lieutenant Colonel Jack Hegarty and DPS Sergeant Tim Mason appeared on Chase Field's giant video screen.
Somewhere among the many thousands of TV viewers, someone recognized one or both men. And took a still shot of the video.
Kentucky’s Egregious Death Penalty
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Kentucky’s Egregious Death Penalty
Published: October 24, 2012
The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights voted unanimously last week to recommend that the state abolish the death penalty. There is every reason for Kentucky to take the advice and become the 18th state to prohibit capital punishment.
The death penalty in Kentucky is colossally unfair, costly and riddled with constitutional error. From 1976 through last year, of the 78 people sentenced to death in the state, 50 had their sentences overturned on appeal, with 15 of those for prosecutorial mistakes or misconduct.
In December, a report conducted by the American Bar Association based on a two-year review by a team of lawyers, professors and former members of the State Supreme Court found enormous problems with the state’s capital system.
Kentucky’s laws and procedures, the report said, failed to “protect the innocent, convict the guilty and ensure the fair and efficient enforcement of criminal law in death penalty cases.”
For instance, among the state’s 57 prosecutors’ offices, some “will charge every death-eligible case as a capital case” while most others do not. This means that the pursuit of the death penalty in Kentucky is largely arbitrary and capricious, determined by which office happens to be prosecuting the case.
Judges presiding over capital trials often give inadequate jury instructions so that almost half of the jurors interviewed in a long-term study did not understand that they could consider mitigating evidence at sentencing, which could allow them to avoid imposing the death penalty. The system does not protect the rights of people with severe mental illnesses who, the United States Supreme Court has said, cannot be sentenced to death. And there are no standards governing the qualifications for lawyers who handle capital cases, with dreadful consequences: 10 of the 78 people sentenced to death had lawyers who were later disbarred.
In 2010, a state court blocked Kentucky from executing anyone because of “substantial legal questions regarding the validity” of its lethal injection protocol. That ruling alone should be the end of capital punishment.
Kentucky can ensure that heinous criminals are no longer threats to society by sentencing them to life without parole. It is time for the state to end the death penalty.
If they were not being paid big bucks to arrest people for these harmless expressions
of free speech these overpaid government thugs would have to get a job at McDonalds
flipping burgers.
'Kill Obama' sign gets Colorado man a visit from Secret Service
By John M. Glionna
October 24, 2012, 12:36 p.m.
Colorado resident Lee Mulcahy discovered that there are limits to the discussion when it comes to political signage outside your home in this presidential election year.
The phrase “Fire Obama” is permissible and such placards adorn some yards. But “Kill Obama” is not, and Mulcahy, of Aspen, received a visit the other day from both local police and the U.S. Secret Service.
“We felt this was pretty serious -- anything that has to do with the president of the United States is serious, so we immediately contacted the Secret Service,” Blair Dweyer, a community relations specialist for Aspen police, told the Los Angeles Times.
Authorities say that several neighbors in the Rocky Mountain resort community’s Burlington Ranch area called to report the message painted in red -- not on a sign -- but on the front of a home under construction.
The Aspen Times reported that Mulcahy, a local artist who the newspaper described as “well-known in local circles for his written, verbal and artistic attacks on government and big business,” contacted police insisting he was not the culprit.
Mulcahy, a self-described tea party member who has offered his support for vice presidential candidate Paul D. Ryan on his Facebook page, later painted over the message, police said.
But the artist still got a visit from concerned officials. Police Officer Terry Leitch told the Aspen paper that the Secret Service agent “kind of stressed the point how people's perceptions of that [the anti-Obama message] would be.”
Mulcahy did not return phone calls seeking comment.
But a lawyer who serves as counsel for the Colorado Press Assn. told Aspen reporters that the anti-Obama message, no matter how blatant, is protected under free speech.
“It is a federal offense [a felony] to make a ‘true threat' against the president of the United States,” he wrote in an email to reporters. “However, the Supreme Court has held that statements of political protest, that are not intended to (or are not reasonably understood as) conveying a serious threat — one that would cause reasonable apprehension in the target of the threat — are not subject to criminal punishment.”
Still, the Aspen police switchboard lighted up with complaints about the sign, which many people said could be seen from a local bus stop for schoolchildren. Even the head of the local housing authority made a personal call to the Secret Service.
“This is a small town,” Dweyer told The Times. “When things like this happen, people take interest.”
Protester sprouts peace sign in lawn
by Paula Hassler - Aug. 2, 2008 07:00 AM
Special for The Republic
Lowell achieved some notoriety about four years ago when he built a 10-foot-diameter peace symbol made of plastic pipe covered with 200 shiny CDs. His home is due east of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, so he figured people in approaching aircraft could see the glittering design strung up on his roof with the help of some backyard trees. Last month, Lowell devised a watering technique that enabled him to grow grass in his front yard in a way that formed three large peace signs and the words "Out of Iraq."
"My lawn was brown and pretty much dying of thirst at that time, so I watered the designs and not the rest of the grass," he said. "I had gotten in trouble for letting my lawn go totally dead and I figured this might be one tactic, to say it was an art project."
The grassy symbols stood out boldly until recent storms greened up the entire lawn. "My work was looking fine until the rains came and sort of erased it on me, but when the monsoons are over I'll reseed the designs and make them larger and more visible," he said.
"I know how to use my weed eater to sharpen up the image, and it will be a permanent fixture in my front yard. When Google Earth retakes its satellite pictures in our area, my symbols will show up to the whole world that I do not like our government making war for bad reasons."
Lowell said he appreciates the folks who honk in approval of his work as they drive past his home.
"The neighbors are cool with it, and it could give people the idea to express themselves," he said. "If you see someone do something that you believe in, and it's a novel idea, then you might go out and also do something creative. It's sort of suggesting to the world that you expressed your feelings and your beliefs in any way you can that's not hurting anyone else."
Lowell keeps busy these days with his Web site, writing letters to newspapers and tending to his home-based gemology business. His 1982 Toyota pickup, usually parked in his driveway, is plastered with anti-war bumper stickers and political slogans.
Thinking back to his treetop peace-symbol project of 2004, Lowell regrets that it didn't last very long.
"The sun ruined the CDs after a period of time, and replacing all 200 of them was not an option," he said.
But he did find a way to recycle it.
People who drive by his home in December will see the plastic-pipe peace sign festooned with Christmas lights on his roof - or propped up by his front door.
It's Tempe vs. Tempe resident in code war
by Dianna M. Náñez - Oct. 15, 2012 09:37 AM
The Republic | azcentral.com
A Tempe resident at odds with municipal code enforcement over piles of storage in his backyard is appealing for a reprieve.
But city officials say they have received several neighbor complaints and everyone must follow the city code.
Lowell said he wanted to know if other Tempe residents were having problems with city code and suggested that if so, perhaps they could band together.
When Lowell found out that Tempe no longer allows citizens' public comment at council meetings to air on the city's cable broadcast or the city's website, he broadened his appeal to include an argument for reinstating the public-comment broadcast.
"I think what they are doing is absolutely draconian," he said.
Lowell's problems with Tempe code enforcement started when he received a notice in April 2011 for violating city code banning dead grass, overgrown weeds, and excessive debris and outdoor storage.
Lowell argued that his neighborhood is littered with code violations and wondered why Tempe's code enforcement was focusing on him. To make his point, he sent an e-mail to former Mayor Hugh Hallman about numerous yard violations throughout the neighborhood.
Lowell said that he has lived at the same Tempe house near Priest and University drives for 40 years without any problem, until he fought the violation. He said he thinks his fight spurred code-enforcement officials to single him out.
Lowell ultimately spruced up his yard and cut back his weeds in hopes of getting city officials to back off on the violation for excessive storage.
He asked the city to give him examples of proper storage for his carport. Instead, he said, Tempe officials suggested he draft plans for the new storage and submit them to the city.
Lowell said that a few months after the first 2011 notice, he got an inspection visit from Tempe code-enforcement manager Jeff Tamulevich. He said he pleaded with Tamulevich to understand that much of the storage in his carport was related to his gem-and-mineral business, and that moving the materials would hurt him financially.
Lowell said that when he asked Tamulevich whether it would be OK to move the materials to his backyard, Tamulevich asked to see the backyard.
Soon after that visit Lowell said that he got an additional violation of city code banning improper and excessive storage materials related to a home business. Lowell, a geologist, collects and sells gems and minerals that he stores at and ships from his house.
Lowell said he later learned during a free consultation with an attorney that he did not have to let Tamulevich in his backyard.
"I was intimidated," he said. "And worried because it was going to cost me thousands of dollars to build new storage. I'm going to lose money spending time removing all the rocks and stuff I have."
Lowell said he cleaned the carport. He acknowledges that he has piled-high mounds of materials in his backyard. But he doesn't think his backyard storage should be an issue.
"No one can see it," he said. "This is selective enforcement. What about all the other people with stuff for their home business in their backyard, are they going to go around and cite them, too?"
Michelle Jones is among the neighbors who have written letters on Lowell's behalf, saying that he should be allowed to keep his backyard as is.
"He's been there for 40 years without an issue," she said. "The thing is, from being a witness to what's going on on this street, considering all the rental houses, cars left without registration ... feral cats, Jack is the least of the problems."
Tempe officials recently gave Lowell a six-month extension to remove the excessive materials in his backyard or build proper storage.
Lowell said that he realizes that he may lose his fight with the city. But he has decided to go public with the grievance because he wants to warn others not to allow code officials on to their private property.
In an interview with The Republic, city officials said that they have worked with Lowell for more than a year so that he may correct his code violations.
Tamulevich said that the city received several neighbor complaints about Lowell's violations. "We don't selectively enforce the code," he said. "We receive complaints and we address those complaints."
Tamulevich insists that he never asked to enter Lowell's backyard.
"He voluntarily brought us to the backyard," he said, adding that residents do not have to allow code-enforcement officials in their backyard because it is private property.
[Look, Jack, when you are dealing with government terrorists, the first thing you have to do is demand that they honor ALL your constitutional rights, which includes the 4th Amendment preventing them from searching your stuff with out a search warrant, and the 5th Amendment which means you have the right to keep you mouth shut and refuse to answer ALL their questions. Never, never, never let anybody from the government search your stuff, and never, never, never answer any questions from a government cop or zoning inspector. ]
City spokeswoman Kris Baxter said that Tempe has codes related to home businesses because "people who live in a residential area have the right to a residential experience."
"The primary intent of Tempe's code ... (is) to ensure safe clean neighborhoods," she said. "We value our small businesses, we're trying to make it easier for our businesses to succeed. (But) the code has to be followed by everyone.
"What we're trying to do for our entire city is make it easier for fire and police to get through properties in the event of an emergency," she said.
Tempe's interim Community Development director Lisa Collins said she could not provide specific examples of what amount of home-business materials would not violate excessive-storage rules because each situation is different. Nor could she provide specific examples of proper storage for home-business materials, but she noted that storage with walls and a roof is generally OK.
Collins encouraged residents to call the city's development department for assistance before starting a home business to ensure it complies with city code.
"Our goal is to be helpful," she said. "We don't just cite them (residents) and issue citations, we work with them to bring things into compliance."
Redflex salesman caught giving bribes,
opps I mean campaign contributions,
opps I mean a free hotel room to a
Chicago official.
City red-light camera vendor under scrutiny
Ties between ex-city official, contractor questioned; payment of $910 hotel tab also at issue
By David Kidwell, Chicago Tribune reporter
October 14, 2012
Prompted by a Tribune investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in Chicago's red-light camera program, an Arizona-based firm has disclosed it paid a $910 luxury hotel tab for the city official in charge of its contract and failed to tell City Hall about the ethics breach for two years.
Lawyers for Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. said the firm disciplined the executive vice president involved and sent him to "anti-bribery" training after the incident, but did not report the violation to the Chicago Board of Ethics until this month, after the newspaper's inquiries.
The company also acknowledged to the newspaper it did not disclose internal allegations about ties between the city official and a Redflex contractor who received more than $570,000 in commissions — $1,500 for each of the 384 cameras the company installed in Chicago.
The company said an exhaustive probe by an outside law firm found no evidence of an inappropriate relationship, although neither man was questioned in the probe. Both men told the newspaper they've done nothing improper.
The disclosures add to a growing list of questions about Redflex, including its relationship with John Bills, the man at City Hall who oversaw the company's biggest U.S. contract from its beginning in 2003. The Tribune previously disclosed that after retiring from the city last year, Bills went to work as a consultant for the Redflex-funded Traffic Safety Coalition.
That group, run by a political ally of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, backed the mayor's successful push to expand the city's camera program to target speeders. The Emanuel administration now has the authority to pepper half the city with cameras that could tag speeders in school and park "safety zones" for tickets as high as $100. And Redflex is a top contender for the new business.
The stakes are huge — the business could be worth tens of millions of dollars to vendors, and the city has already reaped more than $300 million in camera fines since 2003. Emanuel is counting on up to $30 million in revenue next year from the new speed cameras, which the city hopes to begin testing late this year.
Redflex describes its Chicago camera contract as the "largest enforcement program in the world" and holds it out as a model in efforts to expand across the country.
A spokeswoman for Emanuel said late Friday that the mayor ordered the corporation counsel to review the allegations "that occurred before he took office" and the matter was also reported to the city inspector general's office.
"If true, the city will pursue all remedies, including permanent debarment of Mr. Bills and Redflex from ever doing business with the city of Chicago on any current or future contracts," said spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton. "The mayor has zero tolerance for this type of misconduct — from an employee or contractor — and will act swiftly and harshly whenever abuse is uncovered to protect Chicago taxpayers."
Many of the questions about the Redflex success in Chicago revolve around the friendship between Bills, who was the $138,000-a-year managing deputy commissioner for the city Transportation Department, and Marty O'Malley, who was retained by Redflex as its Chicago liaison at the outset of the red-light program in 2003.
The two men told the Tribune they were longtime acquaintances whose families lived in the same Southwest Side neighborhood near the St. Bede Catholic Church years ago. They said neither of them knew what the other's job was until they met in their official capacities with the fledgling Chicago program — Bills on one side as the overseer of the city contract and O'Malley on the other as the Redflex customer service representative.
Both Bills, 51, and O'Malley, 72, said their relationship played no role in O'Malley's hiring and in no way influenced Bills' management of the contract. Both said their friendship grew while working closely together on the program for nearly a decade.
Redflex general counsel Andrejs Bunkse said Thursday that the company was unaware the two men knew each other before O'Malley was hired. He said, "I do not know," when asked whether Bills played any role in O'Malley's hiring.
But in an Aug. 24, 2010, letter to the board of directors of the company's Australian parent company, a Redflex executive raised questions about Bills' relationship with O'Malley and said O'Malley's involvement in the program was unnecessary. The Tribune has obtained a copy of the letter, which alleged myriad internal problems at the company.
It also alleged Bills received "nonreported lavish" hotel accommodations "directly on the expense report" of Redflex Executive Vice President Aaron Rosenberg.
"This alone would nullify our contract arrangement with Chicago," the letter said.
Bunkse said the company was rocked by the serious allegations and the board of directors ordered an outside investigation by the Chicago law firm of Quarles & Brady. He said the three-week "deep-dive" probe included employee interviews and an extensive review of company expense reports. The investigation discounted most of the allegations in the letter, Bunkse said, with the notable exception of the one-time hotel tab for Bills.
Bunkse further cast doubt on the letter by claiming the executive wrote it while under investigation by the company for substantial abuse of a company expense account.
Rosenberg was warned by Redflex's top executives "that this was a potential conflict of interest issue and a violation of company policy and a follow-up event would result in his termination," Bunkse said. "And we put him through anti-bribery training."
The company also overhauled its expense account procedures, including appointing an outside agent to handle travel and hotel arrangements.
"It was unacceptable, and we put in many more measures in addition to that as a result," said Bunkse. "But at the time we did not tell the Board of Ethics about it, it was an oversight and a lapse."
Allegations about an improper relationship between Bills and O'Malley were unfounded, Bunkse said. The company told the Tribune its investigators didn't interview Bills because he was a city employee and also didn't interview O'Malley. The firm said it spoke with O'Malley last week, after the newspaper's inquiries.
The company also sought reimbursement from Bills after the Tribune inquiry. The company declined to provide its 2010 investigative report, Rosenberg's expense reports or the filing last week to the city ethics board.
Bills, in an hourlong interview with the newspaper, said he first learned there was a problem when he received a call from Rosenberg in the first week of October.
"He told me there was some kind of internal audit and they discovered a discrepancy," Bills said. "Apparently they inadvertently paid some expenses for me, at a hotel, and he wanted me to take care of it."
Bills said he travels to Arizona at least once each year to watch the White Sox in spring training. In March 2010, he said all the rooms were booked.
"So I remember I called Aaron and asked if he could do anything," Bills said. '"He said he would see what he could do. He called me back and said he booked me a room and that all I would have to do is pay for it."
Bills said he presented his credit card at the hotel and the room tax and incidental expenses were charged to it. He said he never noticed that the hotel room was never charged to his card. "It was a mistake," he said.
Bills acknowledged he told his ex-wife the Arizona trips were for business. "I might have told her that, just to stay out of trouble at home," he said.
Bills said he cut a check to reimburse Redflex after the call from Rosenberg and immediately reported himself to the ethics board. City ethics rules ban employees from taking such gifts or contractors from giving them.
"I never would have intentionally accepted a dime from Redflex, I wouldn't do that," said Bills.
As to his relationship with O'Malley, Bills said, "I did not recommend him for the job at Redflex and had nothing to do with him getting hired.
"I have never taken a dime from Marty," Bills added. "I was a strong proponent of the system, it works. It was never about the money with me."
In a separate interview, O'Malley told the Tribune he was hired by Redflex after answering a classified employment ad for a customer service representative.
"They flew me out to Phoenix for the interview," said O'Malley, a resident of south suburban Worth who said his previous employment included work for an environmental abatement company in Louisiana. "Redflex knew nothing about the city of Chicago. I don't know what they saw in me, but in the environmental business I negotiated a lot of high-priced contracts."
O'Malley said the interview went well.
"I told them about Chicago, how it is a city of 50 aldermen and it is like an orchestra of soloists. You have to listen to each one or you don't have a chance," O'Malley said.
He attributed his lucrative pay arrangement to his negotiation skills.
"I have been a commission salesman a lot," O'Malley said. "I threw out the idea that I should get 3 percent of every ticket, but it was just laughed at. I tried to negotiate the best deal I could."
In the end, he said, he negotiated $50,000 in annual pay and $1,500 commission for every camera installed in the city. "I'm sure had they known at the time how big it was going to get they would have never given me so much," he said. "I made out pretty good."
Bunkse, the Redflex general counsel, said such a commission agreement is not unusual for the company.
"I know he's been paid a great deal of money; we've also generated a great deal of money from the program by a wide margin compared to any other program," Bunkse said.
O'Malley said his neighborhood ties to Bills had nothing to do with him getting the job and Bills' name never came up in the interview with Redflex.
"I never talked to him about it," O'Malley said, adding they didn't know each other well before working together on the contract.
"My wife's girlfriend's son ran around with John Bills," O'Malley said. "The name of the Bills family was familiar. We were in the same neighborhood, went to the same church, but I didn't really know them that well. It was proximity more than anything else."
Bills and O'Malley said there was never a financial connection between them, but they became good friends while working together on the contract.
"We worked together constantly every day, of course," O'Malley said. "Yes, I went to his daughter's graduation. I went to his father's wake. John has a real passion to make the program work. I had a passion to make the program work."
dkidwell@tribune.com
Landowners on border say they were shortchanged
Oct. 15, 2012 06:52 AM
Associated Press
BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- When the federal government began seizing private land along the U.S.-Mexico border to build a towering fence, Teofilo Flores was offered $1,650 for a slice of his backyard.
At first, it seemed like a square deal. But then the cotton grower learned that his neighbor had received 40 times more for a similar piece of land. And another nearby farmer pocketed $1 million in exchange for his cooperation.
Since 2008, hundreds of landowners on the border have sought fair prices for property that was condemned to make way for the fence. But many of them received initial offers that were far below market value. And dozens accepted those amounts without seeking any legal help, only to discover neighbors had won far larger settlements after hiring attorneys.
"You get angry. But that's the way of life, I guess," Flores said of the bigger payouts won by other landowners. "You know, people that got more money can afford to do more things."
The disparities raise questions about the Justice Department's treatment of hundreds of landowners from Texas to California who couldn't afford lawyers and must now live with a massive steel barrier running through their farms, ranches and yards.
The wide variation in price "underscores how unfair these original offers were," said attorney Corinna Spencer-Scheurich, who represented poor and middle-class landowners when the seizures began.
The federal government "is using its power, its clout, to try to take land from people at a price that is unfair. I think that is clear based on the settlements," she said.
Federal attorneys say the initial offers represented only a starting amount that would permit the seizures to begin and could be adjusted later.
In 2006, Congress ordered construction of 670 miles of heavy metal fence to help curb illegal immigration. The project required landowners on the border to give up property that ranged from the size of a driveway to much larger farms and commercial lots.
The Constitution requires the government to provide compensation whenever it takes property for a public project using a process known as eminent domain.
About 400 landowners have been affected. Most are in Texas, because that state has more private property along the border than do New Mexico, Arizona or California, where much of the border land is already in federal hands.
An Associated Press analysis of nearly 300 Texas land cases found that most of the settlement money went to a small group of owners, all of whom had attorneys. The legal help appeared to pay off: Of nearly $15 million that has been paid out, 85 percent has been awarded to just a third of the property holders.
There are other reasons for the larger settlements beyond the advantage of legal representation. Many of the best-compensated landowners oversee large citrus groves or other commercial operations on land that is inherently more valuable.
They also stand to lose more from the rows of 18-foot rust-colored steel posts that now divide their land. Farmers, for instance, have complained that the fence slows down their work because large agricultural machines now have to drive around the bulky barriers.
Most of the fence construction was completed two years ago, but the government is still negotiating for land surrounding the project.
One recent case involved 8 acres at the entrance to a sable palm grove managed by The Nature Conservancy. The government initially offered $114,000, but in August the matter was settled for nearly $1 million.
The fence forced a developer to scrap plans for an entertainment district along the Rio Grande in Brownsville. The government's first offer was $233,300. After a three-year legal battle that almost went to a federal trial, both sides settled for $4.7 million.
But those examples did nothing to help people such as Oscar Ceballos, the owner of a trucking business whose home is on the same half-acre as his fleet of tractor-trailers and his repair garage. Ceballos said he was first offered $1,600 to surrender about 60 feet of his property.
He called the offer ridiculous. But with no money to hire an attorney, he said, he went to a legal-aid clinic that agreed to take his case for free. He joined a group of 28 landowners who demanded a federal jury review their cases -- the fiercest opposition to the fence along the entire border.
Ceballos accuses government attorneys of trying to sabotage his case by uncovering his assets and pressing his lawyer about why a free clinic would accept him as a client.
Eventually, Ceballos said, his lawyer told him he had taken the case as far as he could and suggested hiring a more skilled private attorney if he wanted to wring any more money out of the government. By that point, Ceballos had succeeded in getting nearly $40,000 more.
"They wouldn't have paid me anything close to that if I didn't have legal aid," he said. "I guess that gave me a chance to fight the government a little bit. Some other people didn't know or have the chance to fight the government, and they just took what they were offered."
In response to inquiries from the AP, the Justice Department pointed to a 144-page federal guide on land seizures. When taking land, the government strives "to achieve a fair resolution for both the landowner and American taxpayers," spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said.
The agency declined to comment on unresolved cases.
Lawyers for the government have argued that the original lowball offers often served merely as down payments to permit the government to take the land quickly so construction could begin. The plan was for full compensation to be paid later after factoring in damage to property and the loss of market value. Some landowners' attorneys concurred with that understanding.
During the earliest stages of the disputes, government attorneys asked that a land commission be created to decide compensation instead of bringing dozens of cases in front of jurors, but a judge rejected that request. No case has ever gone to trial.
Of the 28 landowners who asked for juries, the half who settled received additional checks that were on average 1,200 percent more than the original offer.
"The government finally came to its senses in those cases," said attorney H. Dixon Montague, who negotiated the settlement for the now-dead entertainment district.
Flores signed a final agreement this summer closing his case.
The 75-year-old military veteran said he worked with an attorney for a time but was forced to let him go after being told it would cost $25,000 to get the case inside a courtroom.
Some of his neighbors also gave up fighting.
"You got to figure the cheapest way out," he said.
Alcohol causó muerte de alguacil Dever
Phoenix, Arizona
por Denis García - Oct. 12, 2012 09:50 AM
La Voz
La autopsia realizada al cadáver de Larry Dever, alguacil del condado Cochise que murió en un accidente de tráfico en el norte de Arizona la semana pasada, comprobó que su nivel de alcohol en la sangre era de 0.291, tres veces por encima del permitido, según dio a conocer el diario The Arizona Republic.
Dever era conocido por su posición rígida en contra de la inmigración indocumentada. Fue el único alguacil de los condados fronterizos con México que apoyó la aplicación de la ley SB 1070 y en todo momento mantuvo una posición crítica hacia el gobierno federal al que acusaba de no asegurar apropiadamente la frontera.
El accidente se produjo el 18 de septiembre cuando la camioneta del alguacil volcó en un camino de terracería estrellándose contra un muro de contención de piedra. Las autoridades confirmaron que no llevaba puesto el cinturón de seguridad.
La oficina del sheriff del condado de Cochise comentó en un comunicado que la familia de Dever expresó su dolor al conocer los hechos, apuntando que el sheriff todavía no estaba recuperado del estrés y la presión causada por problemas personales recientes, incluyendo la muerte de Annie, su madre de 86 años, fallecida 4 días antes.
Mesa tattoo case likely to end in a settlement
Mesa could owe more than legal fees of $142,000
by Gary Nelson - Oct. 16, 2012 09:30 AM
The Republic | azcentral.com
The controversy over a southwest Mesa tattoo parlor may end without another round of the courtroom sparring that so far has cost the city nearly $142,000 in legal fees.
Michael Kielsky, a lawyer for Ryan and Laetitia Coleman, said this week that "active negotiations" are under way to settle the case out of court.
The case dates to early 2009, when the Colemans asked Mesa for permission to open a tattoo parlor on the southeastern corner of Dobson and Baseline roads, in an Albertsons-anchored strip mall.
Staff planners recommended approval because the Colemans had complied with all of Mesa's zoning rules and, furthermore, had agreed to other restrictions on their business under a "good neighbor" policy.
But the Planning and Zoning Board, heeding the concerns of Dobson Ranch neighbors, recommended denial. And in March 2009, the City Council rejected the license 6-1, with Mayor Scott Smith the lone yes vote.
Smith said neighbors speaking at the council meeting had not proven the shop would be detrimental to the area and that the free market should determine its success or failure.
The Colemans sued, alleging Mesa had violated their free-speech rights and demanding damages that included the money they had spent renovating their storefront.
The legal battle culminated in a Sept. 7 ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court, which set a precedent by becoming the first state supreme court to rule that receiving a tattoo, giving a tattoo and the business of running a tattoo parlor are all protected by free-speech guarantees in the U.S. and state constitutions.
The Supreme Court ordered the case back to Maricopa County Superior Court, which originally had summarily rejected the Colemans' claim.
"Municipalities have legitimate interests in controlling the location of businesses through zoning ordinances," the court said, but it added the Colemans deserve a full hearing of their claim.
"We're basically back to square zero, or maybe square one, with the huge difference that now we have a ruling from the Arizona Supreme Court," Kielsky said. "It puts Mesa legally in a very difficult position."
Mesa often hires outside counsel for cases that are beyond the normal load of the city attorney's office, and for this one it engaged the Phoenix firm of Mariscal, Weeks, McIntyre & Friedlander.
From June 2010 through July 3 of this year,Mesa paid the firm nearly $142,000 for its work, which included oral arguments as the case spiraled up the legal ladder.
While happy that the case produced a free-speech legal precedent, Kielsky said the Mesa council could have averted both the trouble and the expense by telling Dobson Ranch neighbors that the shop had a legal right to open, and voting accordingly.
The legal fight, Kielsky said, "was worth it. On the other hand, it was also avoidable."
Dennis Kavanaugh, who represents Dobson Ranch on the council, was one of the most ardent opponents of letting the shop open on the busy corner.
Now, he'd like to see the legal fight wind down. "The results in a superior-court trial are uncertain for both parties even given the Supreme Court opinion," Kavanaugh said.
"From purely my own perspective, settlement is a preferred option," he added. "And the council should work to modify our codes to be consistent with the new court ruling and to minimize the risk of future legal challenges."
A settlement was one of the options discussed by the council in a recent executive session.
If that's how the case ends, Mesa's expenses could include the $40,000 to $50,000 that Kielsky said the Colemans spent refurbishing the shop.
With that money in hand, he said, the Colemans might again consider opening a store in Mesa.
"Opening a shop definitely is in the cards if we can resolve the opportunity costs that Ryan was unfortunately forced to absorb because of the city's unreasonable conduct," Kielsky said.
Kielsky is the Libertarian Party candidate for county attorney in the Nov. 6 election. He is the only opponent of incumbent Republican Bill Montgomery.
Yes, I know assaulting a pig is a felony, but the pig assaulted the woman first by grabbing her, and deserved to be slapped.
Mesa police: Woman arrested after slapping officer
by Jonathan Reid - Oct. 16, 2012 08:18 AM
The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team
A New Mexico woman was arrested early Monday after she slapped an officer in the face and attempted to resist arrest, according to Mesa police.
Gabriela Reyes, 24, was arrested during a response to a noise complaint about 1:35 a.m. in the 4000 block of East Broadway Road, , according to a court document.
Reyes, who was told to sit outside the apartment, attempted to walk through the front door and was grabbed by an officer who tried to escort her away, according to police.
Reyes then slapped the officer in the side of the face, and when the officer told Reyes that she had just committed a felony, Reyes said she did not care, police said.
When the officers attempted to arrest Reyes, she fought with police and broke the door frame of an apartment by kicking it with both feet five or six times, according to the court document.
Reyes was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest by using or threatening to use physical force and criminal damage, according to police.
Yes, some of the wording in the article sounds pro medical marijuana. But government tyrants frequently give draconian police state laws names to make them sound like they are helping people. A good example is the "Patriot Act", it should really be called the "Police State Act"
Medical-pot dispensaries require redefining Gilbert 'parks'
by Parker Leavitt - Oct. 15, 2012 08:31 AM
The Republic | azcentral.com
Gilbert may soon add a definition of "park" to its Land Development Code after a lack of clarity on the issue last year caused problems for proposed medical-marijuana dispensaries trying to comply with the town's rigorous regulations.
A full year after the Gilbert Planning Commission initiated a town-code amendment, the panel this month voted in support of new definitions for public and private parks. The proposed code changes must still go before the Town Council for final approval.
Meanwhile, a state lottery in August granted preliminary approval for one marijuana dispensary to open in Gilbert, although the state has not released details about which applicant was chosen.
So far, Gilbert has only awarded a required use-permit to one potential dispensary, D.R.H. Enterprises. Owner Devon Haile did not respond to a request for an interview, and it remains unclear if and when the dispensary can open.
Gilbert prohibits marijuana dispenaries within 1,000 feet of a park, day-care center, school or place of worship, but the code never described what sort of facilities the town considered to be park space.
Differing interpretations ultimately doomed plans for two dispensaries last year, when the council overturned the Planning Commission's near-unanimous decision to grant use permits for the businesses to operate in north Gilbert industrial complexes.
Some argued a true park should have playground equipment, picnic tables and sport courts, while others extended the definition to retention basins and green areas. Some even suggested outdoor employee-break areas might also be considered miniature parks.
The uncertainty made it tough for would-be dispensary owners to find a suitable location because nearly every possible site has at least some green space nearby.
The confusion led Gilbert residents Paul and Robin Schroeder, who had hoped to open a "mom-and-pop" dispensary, to threaten the town with a lawsuit, claiming they were "duped" into believing their application was viable.
Initially, the Schroeders' dispensary won the blessing of town officials and the Planning Commission despite a challenge from nearby business owner Joe Turner, who claimed the proposed came within 1,000 feet of a park.
The council, which had taken a harsh stance against medical-pot dispensaries, later overturned the Planning Commission's approval while acknowledging the code language related to parks needed clarification.
Arizona voters approved the medical-pot program in 2010, prompting municipalities to enact their own laws restricting where and how marijuana dispensaries can operate.
An ordinance approved by the council in January 2011 limits dispensaries' hours of operation, which could not be earlier than 8 a.m. nor later than 6 p.m.
The ordinance also requires dispensaries to be housed in permanent buildings with a security plan reviewed by town officials. Dispensaries in Gilbert can't sell other merchandise, and cultivation can only take place inside a closed, locked building, not on a farm, according to the ordinance.
While dispensaries have yet to materialize around the state, there are hundreds of approved medical-marijuana patients in Gilbert's two statistical areas, which roughly divide the town into western and eastern halves.
Through Sept. 19, the state had approved 343 patients in west Gilbert and 642 patients in east Gilbert, according to the Department of Health Services.
Statewide, more than 32,000 patients are qualified to use medical marijuana, with men outnumbering women nearly three to one, according to a DHS report.
Patients can cite a variety of medical conditions when applying for permission to use marijuana, and about nine in 10 reported "chronic pain" among their conditions, according to DHS.
From this article it sounds like Emperor Obama is considering drone strikes against Libya, thinking they may help him get reelected in 2012 by being "tough on terrorists".
Of course drone strikes on Libya would be an illegal act of war by the President violating both the U.S. Constitution and International law.
But don't count on the President obeying the law. American Presidents have routinely violated both the U.S. Constitution and International Law many times since World War II, when the American Empire has invaded or bomb countries through out the world.
White House mulls how to strike over Libya attack
Oct. 15, 2012 03:45 PM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The White House has put special operations strike forces on standby and moved drones into the skies above Africa, ready to strike militant targets from Libya to Mali -- if investigators can find the al-Qaida-linked group responsible for the death of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya.
But officials say the administration, with weeks until the presidential election, is weighing whether the short-term payoff of exacting retribution on al-Qaida is worth the risk that such strikes could elevate the group's profile in the region, alienate governments the U.S. needs to fight it in the future and do little to slow the growing terror threat in North Africa.
Details on the administration's position and on its search for a possible target were provided by three current and one former administration official, as well as an analyst who was approached by the White House for help. All four spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the high-level debates publicly.
The dilemma shows the tension of the White House's need to demonstrate it is responding forcefully to al-Qaida, balanced against its long-term plans to develop relationships and trust with local governments and build a permanent U.S. counterterrorist network in the region.
Vice President Joe Biden pledged in his debate last week with Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to find those responsible for the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.
"We will find and bring to justice the men who did this," Biden said in response to a question about whether intelligence failures led to lax security around Stevens and the consulate. Referring back to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year, Biden said American counterterror policy should be, "if you do harm to America, we will track you to the gates of hell if need be."
The White House declined to comment on the debate over how best to respond to the Benghazi attack.
The attack has become an issue in the U.S. election season, with Republicans accusing the Obama administration of being slow to label the assault an act of terrorism early on, and slow to strike back at those responsible.
"They are aiming for a small pop, a flash in the pan, so as to be able to say, 'Hey, we're doing something about it,'" said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rudy Attalah, the former Africa counterterrorism director for the Department of Defense under President George W. Bush.
Attalah noted that in 1998, after the embassy bombing in Nairobi, the Clinton administration fired cruise missiles to take out a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan that may have been producing chemical weapons for al-Qaida.
"It was a way to say, 'Look, we did something,'" he said.
A Washington-based analyst with extensive experience in Africa said that administration officials have approached him asking for help in connecting the dots to Mali, whose northern half fell to al-Qaida-linked rebels this spring. They wanted to know if he could suggest potential targets, which he says he was not able to do.
"The civilian side is looking into doing something, and is running into a lot of pushback from the military side," the analyst said. "The resistance that is coming from the military side is because the military has both worked in the region and trained in the region. So they are more realistic."
Islamists in the region are preparing for a reaction from the U.S.
"If America hits us, I promise you that we will multiply the Sept. 11 attack by 10," said Oumar Ould Hamaha, a spokesman for the Islamists in northern Mali, while denying that his group or al-Qaida fighters based in Mali played a role in the Benghazi attack.
Finding the militants who overwhelmed a small security force at the consulate isn't going to be easy.
The key suspects are members of the Libyan militia group Ansar al-Shariah. The group has denied responsibility, but eyewitnesses saw Ansar fighters at the consulate, and U.S. intelligence intercepted phone calls after the attack from Ansar fighters to leaders of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, bragging about it. The affiliate's leaders are known to be mostly in northern Mali, where they have seized a territory as large as Texas following a coup in the country's capital.
But U.S. investigators have only loosely linked "one or two names" to the attack, and they lack proof that it was planned ahead of time, or that the local fighters had any help from the larger al-Qaida affiliate, officials say.
If that proof is found, the White House must decide whether to ask Libyan security forces to arrest the suspects with an eye to extraditing them to the U.S. for trial, or to simply target the suspects with U.S. covert action.
U.S. officials say covert action is more likely. The FBI couldn't gain access to the consulate until weeks after the attack, so it is unlikely it will be able to build a strong criminal case. The U.S. is also leery of trusting the arrest and questioning of the suspects to the fledgling Libyan security forces and legal system still building after the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
The burden of proof for U.S. covert action is far lower, but action by the CIA or special operations forces still requires a body of evidence that shows the suspect either took part in the violence or presents a "continuing and persistent, imminent threat" to U.S. targets, current and former officials said.
"If the people who were targeted were themselves directly complicit in this attack or directly affiliated with a group strongly implicated in the attack, then you can make an argument of imminence of threat," said Robert Grenier, former director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center.
But if the U.S. acts alone to target them in Africa, " it raises all kinds of sovereignty issues ... and makes people very uncomfortable," said Grenier, who has criticized the CIA's heavy use of drones in Pakistan without that government's support.
Even a strike that happens with permission could prove problematic, especially in Libya or Mali where al-Qaida supporters are currently based. Both countries have fragile, interim governments that could lose popular support if they are seen allowing the U.S. unfettered access to hunt al-Qaida.
The Libyan government is so wary of the U.S. investigation expanding into unilateral action that it refused requests to arm the drones now being flown over Libya. Libyan officials have complained publicly that they were unaware of how large the U.S. intelligence presence was in Benghazi until a couple of dozen U.S. officials showed up at the airport after the attack, waiting to be evacuated -- roughly twice the number of U.S. staff the Libyans thought were there. A number of those waiting to be evacuated worked for U.S. intelligence, according to two American officials.
In Mali, U.S. officials have urged the government to allow special operations trainers to return, to work with Mali's forces to push al-Qaida out of that country's northern area. AQIM is among the groups that filled the power vacuum after a coup by rebellious Malian forces in March. U.S. special operations forces trainers left Mali just days after the coup. While such trainers have not been invited to return, the U.S. has expanded its intelligence effort on Mali, focusing satellite and spy flights over the contested northern region to track and map the militant groups vying for control of the territory, officials say.
In northern Mali, residents in the three largest cities say they hear the sound of airplanes overhead but can't spot them. That's standard for drones, which are often invisible to the naked eye, flying several thousand feet above ground.
Residents say the plane sounds have increased sharply in recent weeks, following both the attack in Benghazi and the growing calls for a military intervention in Mali.
Chabane Arby, a 23-year-old student from Timbuktu, said the planes make a growling sound overhead. "When they hear them, the Islamists come out and start shooting into the sky," he said.
Aboubacrine Aidarra, another resident of Timbuktu, said the planes circle overhead both day and night. "I have a friend who said he recently saw six at one time, circling overhead. ... They are planes that fly at high altitudes. But they make a big sound. "
Let's outlaw intelligence
Oct. 15, 2012 06:14 PM
To paraphrase Will Rogers, let's outlaw intelligence in America.
If it works as well as prohibition of alcohol in the 1930s did and as well as the "war on drugs" currently does, in five years, we'll be the smartest nation on the planet.
-- Bill Betz, Mesa
It really annoys me that when you report a crime, instead of hunting down the people that screwed you the first thing the cops do is investigate YOU to see if you are committing any crimes or if you have any warrants out for your arrest.
In this case the cops arrested the victims of a burglary for possession of marijuana and possession of an illegal alligator.
And of course the insane "war on drugs" frequently prevents people from reporting crimes against them when use harmless, but illegal drugs.
People who use harmless but illegal drugs frequently don't report the crimes because they are afraid of exactly what happened here. The cops will also arrest them for their use of harmless, but illegal drugs, instead of going after the criminals that robbed them.
In the few times that I have been victimized by criminals I don't waste my time calling the police because I don't want to have the cops treat me like a criminal by searching me for drugs, and running my name thru the computer looking for arrest warrants.
Tempe man forces 2 burglary suspects to strip, police say
by Jackee Coe - Oct. 16, 2012 09:57 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
A Tempe man who forced two men to strip naked after catching them burglarizing his car later was arrested after police discovered he had drugs and an alligator in his home, officials said.
Anthony Burton, 29, was booked into jail on suspicion of illegal possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and live wildlife, Tempe Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jeff Glover said. Anthony Gammon, 18, and Alberto Rosciano, 20, were booked on counts of burglary, possession of burglary tools, misconduct involving weapons and possession of drug paraphernalia.
About 3:15 a.m. Monday, Burton confronted Gammon and Rosciano with a handgun as they were breaking into his 2007 maroon Dodge Charger in the parking lot of an apartment complex near Priest Drive and Southern Avenue, police said. Burton forced the two men at gunpoint back to his apartment, where he demanded they return everything they had stolen from his car, police said.
Burton then forced Gammon and Rosciano to remove all their clothing, supposedly to ensure they didn't have additional stolen items, he said. Burton told them to leave but refused to give them back their clothes, only giving them their keys, police said.
Witnesses saw the men in the parking lot of the complex as they were leaving and called police, Glover said. They gave officers descriptions of both the men and their vehicle. Officers stopped Gammon and Rosciano, who still were naked, near Rural Road and U.S. 60, and later arrested them.
When officers went to Burton's apartment to talk to him about the incident, they discovered marijuana, several items of drug paraphernalia, and a live approximately 13-inch American alligator in a glass cage, Glover said. Burton apparently bought the gator over the Internet from a Florida company that breeds reptiles.
"So everybody was arrested," Glover said.
Burton was not booked on counts related to forcing Gammon and Rosciano to strip naked because investigators believe he did so as a victim attempting to ensure his own safety from the suspected burglars, Glover said.
Detectives can review the case later and decide to add additional charges, but what those charges are would depend on several factors, he said.
The alligator was turned over to the Phoenix Herpetological Society. American alligators can grow to up to 14 feet long and weigh 1,000 pounds.
Curator Daniel Marchand said the herpetological society will find a home for the reptile, which he estimated is about a year and a half old.
"We're a no-kill facility so we are connected with zoos and sanctuaries throughout the United States," he said.
Marchand said they have "hundreds" of alligators come through, even though they are "100 percent illegal" to have in Arizona. They have found homes for most of them, are still looking for homes for others and have others still that they will keep because they have grown too big to place elsewhere.
Most people who have alligators in Arizona "don't care about the dangers it poses to them or their children or anybody around them," Marchand said.
Funding for dam, other projects highlight Tempe bond elections
Posted: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 5:56 am
By Michelle Peirano, Special to Tribune
A trio of bond questions have been added by the City of Tempe to its upcoming Nov. 6 general election ballot.
The city is requesting authorization to borrow $29.8 million for public safety efforts, parks improvements and community service and municipal infrastructure preservation,
A set of bond authorizations approved in 2008 totaled $241 million, but several of those bonds have since been paid off, and the city is asking for additional authorization to continue projects outlined in the its budget. The project funds identified by the city include $6.4 million for public safety, $10.5 million for parks improvements and community service and $12.9 million for municipal infrastructure preservation.
The city plans to use the public safety bond to buy new vehicles and equipment, improve facilities and upgrade the radio communication system of the police and fire departments.
Replacement of the Tempe Town Lake dam is the main project to be funded through the category of parks improvements and community service. The rubber dam burst in 2010, and was repaired using a temporary rubber bladder, which was lent to the city by Bridgestone. The cost of that temporary replacement will need to be paid for if it is not replaced by Dec. 28, 2015. Early this year, the City Council voted to replace the rubber dam with a steel-hinged, gate dam estimated to cost $68.1 million over the next 50 years.
Municipal infrastructure preservation includes new cooling and heating systems for city buildings, as well as new lighting, flooring and roofs.
The city intends to pay the project debt over time through secondary property taxes, which can only be used to pay off bonds, according to Arizona Law. Revenue from secondary property tax has traditionally fluxuated with the economy and property values in the past, but Tempe changed its collection methods this year in an attempt to better predict the funding available for projects in coming years, said Ken Jones, Tempe’s finance and technology director.
“We only issue the bonds and do the projects when we know we can do it,” Jones said. “We had bond authorizations in the past, but the economy tanked and property values went way down.”
The issued property tax ordinance stabilized the amount of property taxes paid to the city, Jones said. This is the first year the city has used the new property tax model, collecting the same amount of property tax last year plus a 2.3 percent increase that reflects inflation. Under the new ordinance, the city cannot collect more than a 3.3 percent increase of its total property value regardless of the inflation rate.
“Prior to the adoption of this policy annual secondary property tax collections were projected to decline from $25 million in fiscal year 2009-10 to $14.5 million in 2011-12; declining further to $11.2 million by FY 2014-15 before property value recovery would begin to have a positive impact on tax collections in 2015-16,” wrote Jones and Tempe City Manager Charles Meyer in the 2011-2012 city budget.
Along with approval of this year’s tax change and the city’s budget, council also decided to allow the two-tenths of a cent sales tax expire in July 2014, resulting in a 3 percent cut for each of the next three years ($5.2 million this year), and made the last change in a three-year plan to cut $14 million from the transportation fund.
On the Nov. 6 ballot, Tempe voters will also see an override for the Tempe Union School District budget and a bond question for the district. The election for Tempe Mayor and Council was conducted in May and will not be on the general election ballot either. Early ballots can be cast at the Tempe Public Library.
Michelle is a Senior studying print and multimedia journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Contact her at (480) 898-6514 or tribintern@evtrib.com
Damn right. Arresting harmless pot smokers is a big time jobs program for the over paid and under worked DEA thugs and they would like to keep it that way!!!
The DEA said there was not a scientific consensus on the medical benefits of marijuana. It also said marijuana has many "chemical components" that are not well understood.
You can also say the same thing about "aspirin" but nobody wants to make "aspirin" illegal and start throwing people that use "aspirin" in prison.
Despite our limited scientific knowledge of "aspirin" we know it works very well for a number of things, and we use it for those reasons. The government should treat marijuana the same way.
Medical marijuana advocates seek reclassification of drug
By David G. Savage, Washington Bureau
October 16, 2012, 7:39 p.m.
WASHINGTON — A medical marijuana advocate urged a federal appeals court to require the U.S. government to relax, or at least rethink, a more-than-40-year-old rule that treats marijuana as a highly dangerous drug with no medical value.
Federal drug regulators "have failed to weigh the evidence" from a growing number of medical studies showing that marijuana is effective for relieving pain and nausea, said Joe Elford, counsel for Americans for Safe Access.
In his legal brief, he said the Drug Enforcement Administration displayed a "bias" against marijuana by ignoring its medical benefits and exaggerating its danger. That is the only way to explain how the "federal government could conclude that marijuana is as harmful as heroin and PCP and even more harmful than methamphetamine, cocaine and opium," he told the court.
Elford was challenging the DEA's insistence that marijuana is properly classified as a Schedule I drug, meaning it has no accepted medical benefits and has a high potential for abuse. This classification means, for example, that doctors at the Veterans Administration may not give marijuana to a disabled veteran to treat his chronic pain, he said, citing the plight of one of the plaintiffs in the case. If marijuana were reclassified, Elford said, it would help doctors and patients by permitting its use under medical supervision.
Marijuana's classification as a Schedule I drug dates to 1970, when Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act. On two occasions since then, marijuana advocates have petitioned the DEA to reconsider the classification, citing the medical benefits of cannabis. They also noted that 16 states and the District of Columbia have opted to allow medical use of marijuana in some instances.
But the DEA turned down the most recent petition last year and made no change in the classification schedule. By way of explanation, the agency said there was not a scientific consensus on the medical benefits of marijuana. It also said marijuana has many "chemical components" that are not well understood.
During Tuesday's argument, a Justice Department lawyer said the government remained convinced of the danger of marijuana. "It's the most widely abused drug in the United States," said Lena Watkins, the government lawyer.
The case was heard by a veteran panel of three judges who questioned whether they were in a position to reject the DEA's determination.
"Don't we have to defer to their judgment" on what the medical studies show? asked Judge Merrick Garland. "We're not scientists. They are." [Rubbish, the DEA thugs are not scientists, they are mostly cops. Cops who's only mission is to arrest and jail Americans who use drugs the DEA doesn't approve of]
"The real question is to what extent we have to defer to the agency," added Judge Harry Edwards. The two judges said they could not overturn the DEA's decision unless they found it to be "arbitrary and capricious."
Elford responded that the judges should send the case back to the DEA to require the agency to hold a hearing to consider research over the last decade on the benefits of marijuana.
Judge Karen Henderson, the third member of the panel, noted that changing the classification of marijuana would not decriminalize it. "It would still be illegal," she said.
david.savage@latimes.com
Police 'regret' using stun gun on blind man
Oct. 17, 2012 09:46 AM
Associated Press
LONDON -- Police in Britain have apologized for using a stun gun to subdue a blind stroke victim mistakenly thought to be carrying a sword.
Lancashire Police Chief Stuart Williams said Wednesday police brought the victim to a local hospital to be checked out after they realized they had used the weapon against the wrong man.
He says police "deeply regret" the incident, which happened after police received multiple reports that a man was walking through the town of Chorley "armed with a samurai sword."
Williams says an urgent investigation has been launched into the incident and that the matter will also be reviewed by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Police say a different man was arrested in connection with the sword reports, but was not charged with any crimes.
Man held in plot to blow up Federal Reserve
Oct. 17, 2012 05:13 PM
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- A Bangladeshi man who came to the United States to wage jihad was arrested in an elaborate FBI sting on Wednesday after attempting to blow up a fake car bomb outside the Federal Reserve building in Manhattan, authorities said.
Before trying to carry out the alleged terrorism plot, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis went to a warehouse to help assemble a 1,000-pound (450 kg) bomb using inert material, according to a criminal complaint. He also asked an undercover agent to videotape him saying, "We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom," the complaint said.
Agents grabbed the 21-year-old Nafis -- armed with a cellphone he believed was rigged as a detonator -- after he made several attempts to blow up the bomb inside a vehicle parked next to the Federal Reserve, the complaint said.
Authorities emphasized that the plot never posed an actual risk. However, they claimed the case demonstrated the value of using sting operations to neutralize young extremists eager to harm Americans.
"Attempting to destroy a landmark building and kill or maim untold numbers of innocent bystanders is about as serious as the imagination can conjure," said Mary Galligan, acting head of the FBI's New York office. "The defendant faces appropriately severe consequences."
Nafis appeared in federal court in Brooklyn to face charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida. Wearing a brown T-shirt and black jeans, he was ordered held without bail and did not enter a plea. His defense attorney had no comment outside court.
The defendant had sought assurances from an undercover agent posing as an al-Qaida contact that the terrorist group would support the operation.
"The thing that I want to do, ask you about, is that, the thing I'm doing, it's under al-Qaida?" he was recorded saying during a meeting in bugged hotel room in Queens, according to the complaint.
In a September meeting in the same hotel room, Nafis "confirmed he was ready to kill himself during the course of the attack, but indicated he wanted to return to Bangladesh to see his family one last time to set his affairs in order," the complaint said.
But there was no allegation that Nafis actually received training or direction from the terrorist group.
Prosecutors say Nafis traveled to the U.S. on a student visa in January to carry out an attack. In July, he contacted a confidential informant, telling him he wanted to form a terror cell, the criminal complaint said.
In further conversations, authorities said Nafis proposed several spots for his attack, including the New York Stock Exchange -- and that in a written letter taking responsibility for the Federal Reserve job he was about to carry out, he said he wanted to "destroy America." Other communications took place through Facebook, the complaint said.
A Twitter account with the suspect's name and photo had six followers and two messages and was linked to a Facebook page that had been taken down.
Federal officials were at the home where Nafis was staying, a red brick building in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens. Owner Rafiqul Islam said Nafis was staying with his second-floor tenants, and he was told he was related to the family. The tenants didn't answer their door and their apartment was dark.
Islam said the federal officials had come to the home when he was at work in Manhattan. He said Nafis had only lived there about a month or so.
"I didn't notice anything, he spoke to me very quietly," Islam said. "He said he was going to be studying here."
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the case is one more reminder that New York remains a target:
"New York continues to be very much in the mind frame of terrorism. This individual came here with the express purpose of committing a terrorist attack; he was motivated by al-Qaida. We see this threat as being with us for a long time to come."
Kelly said security is always a precaution and there are about a thousand officers in the counterterrorism division. He didn't specify if any additional measures were being taken.
The bank, located at 33 Liberty St., is one of 12 branches around America that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, make up the Federal Reserve System that serves as the central bank of the United States. It sets interest rates.
The Federal Reserve is one of the most fortified buildings in the city, smack in the middle of a massive security effort headed by the New York Police Department where a network of thousands of private and police cameras watch for suspicious activity.
The department uses sophisticated programs that can search for suspicious activity, like an object in one place for a long time, at the building modeled after London's "ring of steel." The analytic software also is designed to take video and catalog it according to movements, shapes and colors, so officers can set parameters to search the system for, say, a suspicious van.
The Fed is also home to the world's largest accumulation of gold, according to the bank's website. Dozens of governments and central banks store a portion of their gold reserves in high-security vaults deep beneath the building. In recent years, it held 216 million troy ounces of gold, or more than a fifth of all global monetary gold reserves, making it a bigger bullion depository than Fort Knox.
The federal case was the latest where a terrorism plot against the city turned out to be a sting operation.
Four men were convicted in 2009 in a plot to bomb synagogues and shoot down military planes with missiles - a case that began after an FBI informant was assigned to infiltrate a mosque in Newburgh, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of New York City. The federal judge hearing the case said she was not proud of the government's role in nurturing the plot.
In 2004, a Pakistani immigrant was arrested and convicted for a scheme to blow up the subway station at Herald Square in Midtown Manhattan. His lawyers argued that their client had been set up by a police informant who showed him pictures of Iraq abuse to get him involved in an attack against civilians.
Border Patrol scrutinized over teen's shooting death
by Bob Ortega - Oct. 18, 2012 12:07 AM
The Republic | azcentral.com
NOGALES, Ariz. - There was nothing unusual about the call to the Border Patrol and Nogales police on Oct. 10 to report two men climbing the border fence to bring drugs into the United States.
It also was not unusual that once Border Patrol agents arrived at the scene and attempted to arrest the men, who were now fleeing back to Mexico, one or more people began to hurl rocks over the fence at the agents from the Mexico side of the border.
The decision by one or more agents to open fire on the rock throwers, though, is another matter. It is the subject of furious disagreement between the Border Patrol and critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union and human-rights advocates, who say agents resort to deadly force too often. The Mexican government has condemned the shooting and called for a thorough investigation.
At least one Border Patrol agent fired shots through an opening in the fence. Moments later, Mexican police found the body of a 16-year-old boy on the ground in front of a medical office. Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez had been shot eight times. Police investigators marked 11 bullet holes on the walls of the medical office.
Elena Rodriguez is the 18th person to be killed by Border Patrol agents since January 2010, with all but two of those deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border, says Vicki Gaubeca, director of the ACLU's Regional Center for Border Rights, in Las Cruces, N.M. Eight of those killed allegedly had been throwing rocks at Border Patrol officers.
In the most recent incident, there are discrepancies between the Border Patrol's version of events and accounts of witnesses on the Mexican side of the border. The Border Patrol said its agent fired at someone who was throwing rocks at the agents over the fence. Elena Rodriguez's family has said all the bullets entered the boy's body from behind.
The discrepancies may be resolved: A Border Patrol spokesman says video cameras on the border fence were in operation during the incident. Those recordings have been turned over to FBI investigators. Sonora's attorney general also has requested a copy from the Department of Justice, the attorney general's spokeswoman, Sandra Hurtado, said.
The FBI was on the scene hours after the incident and has collected reports from the agents and Nogales police officers. It is standard for the FBI to investigate deadly incidents involving the Border Patrol.
Use of deadly force
Even before Elena Rodriguez's death, the ACLU, several members of Congress and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had this year called for an independent, comprehensive investigation into Customs and Border Protection's policies on use of force.
ACLU attorney Chris Rickerd has criticized agents' actions in several deaths involving border agents, including a March 21, 2011, incident in which a Border Patrol officer in Douglas shot a 19-year-old U.S. citizen, Carlos Lamadrid, three times in the back as Lamadrid fled into Agua Prieta, Mexico. Rickerd said the Border Patrol should explain what disciplinary actions it takes when agents violate use-of-force policies.
The Border Patrol didn't respond by deadline to questions from The Republic about what disciplinary actions, if any, have been taken related to the 18 deaths.
Customs and Border Protection spokesman Michael Friel said the agency's use of force is based on the Department of Justice's policy. "Law-enforcement personnel are trained to use deadly force in circumstances that pose a threat to their lives, the lives of their fellow law-enforcement partners and innocent third parties," he said.
CBP wouldn't provide additional details on its use-of-force policy. But rocks are considered potentially lethal, and the agency typically has not disciplined officers for firing at rock throwers.
The agency doesn't classify rock-throwing incidents separately from other assaults on agents, but Friel said that such incidents are the most common type of assault along the border, numbering in the hundreds over the past three years.
No agents have been killed in rock-throwing incidents. Since early 2010, seven Border Patrol agents have been killed on duty: five in vehicle accidents; one, Brian Terry, was shot by drug smugglers in 2010; and one, Nicholas Ivie, was shot in a friendly-fire incident two weeks ago near Bisbee.
Lt. Carlos Jimenez of the Nogales Police Department said it's common for drug cartels to hire people as border lookouts "and to tell them if something goes bad to throw rocks to distract or deter law-enforcement officers ... They'll pay anybody willing to do it, youths, old people. They don't discriminate by age or gender."
Elena Rodriguez's mother, Araceli Rodriguez, insisted that her son would not have been involved in drug activity and must have been walking in the area when he was shot less than four blocks from his home.
"He wasn't a bad boy," she said tearfully in an interview at her home in Nogales, Sonora. A framed photograph of her son surrounded by flowers stood on a nearby table.
"They killed my little boy, and I want to know why. I want to know why they shot him so many times, why they shot him in the back," she said. "We want justice."
The Border Patrol declined to discuss details of the Elena Rodriguez case, citing the FBI investigation.
Responding to the scene
Nogales, Ariz., police Officer Quinardo Garcia was the first of several officers to respond to a report, at 11:16 p.m. on Oct. 10, of two men climbing over the border fence from Mexico.
Garcia said in a report that he saw two men carrying bundles of marijuana on their backs, jumping down from the fence onto the Arizona side and running toward houses on a street facing the fence. He chased them into a driveway and lost sight of them.
Moments later, he said, the first of several Border Patrol agents arrived, along with a police K-9 officer, John Zuniga.
In his report, Zuniga wrote that he spotted the two men, who had dropped their bundles, trying to climb back over the fence into Mexico. After Zuniga and Border Patrol agents yelled at them to get down from the fence, Zuniga reported that he "heard several rocks start hitting the ground, and I looked up and could see the rocks flying through the air."
As he took his dog back to his vehicle, Zuniga heard gunfire. When he looked up, he saw an agent standing by the fence.
Neither Zuniga nor Garcia reported seeing shots fired.
"I then heard an agent say, 'There is one 10-7,' which means out of service or no longer alive," Zuniga wrote in the report.
The Border Patrol initially told the public that an agent had fired and someone "appeared" to have been hit. The agency has not said whether more than one agent fired shots.
Across the fence, in his home and medical office on Calle Internacional, a street that runs along the border, Dr. Luis Contreras Sanchez was surfing the Internet when he heard someone run past his window, followed by at least eight shots, he said in an interview with The Republic.
"I turned out the light, dove down and called the police," he said. "I didn't hear anyone screaming or yelling outside, or I'd have gone out."
Minutes later, police arrived, Contreras Sanchez said. He looked out and saw the boy face down on the sidewalk.
While Border Patrol officials said that the agent fired after rock-throwers ignored repeated orders to stop, Contreras Sanchez said he didn't hear such orders. The Nogales Police Department's reports don't mention orders for the rock-throwers to stop.
Actions criticized
To some Border Patrol critics, even if Elena Rodriguez was throwing rocks, the agent's response was not justified.
"If you see photos of where he was standing and where he allegedly was throwing rocks, from that distance, how lethal could those rocks be? How defensible is it to shoot someone?" asks the ACLU's Gaubeca.
The fence where the incident occurred was rebuilt a year ago as part of a project to construct more than 650 miles of new barriers mandated by Congress to tighten border security.
The new fence covers a 2.8-mile stretch from one end of Nogales to the other. Built of parallel beams constructed from a triple layer of rebar, concrete and steel, the fence averages 18 to 20 feet in height and has an extra steel barrier on top to make it harder to scale.
When it was completed during the summer of 2011, officials said the fence would better protect border agents from rock-throwers because unlike the old sheet-metal fence, which was 10 to 12 feet high, agents can see through it.
It may have had an impact. Border Patrol officers in the Tucson Sector, which includes Nogales, reported 251 assaults for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2011, a 40 percent drop from the previous fiscal year.
At the main border crossing in Nogales, the fence is at street level. Moving west, toward Contreras Sanchez's office, three blocks away, the fence climbs a steep hill on the U.S. side. Where Elena Rodriguez was shot, the base of the fence is 25 feet above street level; the top of the fence is roughly 45 feet above where the boy was shot.
The angle is such that it would be all but impossible for a rock-thrower to hit someone near the fence on the U.S. side.
Elena Rodriguez's family has hired a U.S. attorney, Luis Parra, to sue the Border Patrol.
Similar cross-border suits in recent years have been dismissed by U.S. courts. For example, 15-year-old Sergio Hernandez-Guereca was shot twice and killed by a Border Patrol officer in El Paso in June 2010, allegedly while throwing rocks as the agent arrested another youth.
The Department of Justice declined to prosecute the agent, saying he hadn't violated CBP's use-of-force policies or training. The department declined an extradition request by the state government of Chihuahua. Federal district courts twice dismissed suits by the family, alleging wrongful death and violation of the boy's rights. In both cases, U.S. District Judge David Briones ruled that U.S. constitutional protections don't apply because Hernandez-Guereca was a Mexican citizen and in Mexico at the time he was killed. An appeal to the 5th Circuit Court is pending.
David Shirk, director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego, called the judge's ruling "a legitimate legal interpretation in the absence of any higher court ruling that suggests otherwise . . . It exposes one of the many challenges of the border region that are not well captured in national law."
He said firing a gun on one side of an international border doesn't necessarily create legal responsibility for the impact in the neighboring country.
Gaubeca said that while the Mexican government could ask to extradite the Border Patrol agent, the U.S. government can, as it has before, simply say no.
"How do you wrestle with the issue of causing harm on the other side of an international boundary, and what remedy is there for people who feel this is a wrongful shooting or an inappropriate use of lethal force?" Gaubeca asked.
This, she argues, is why it's particularly important for the Border Patrol to train its agents to defuse confrontations.
Since 2007, when the George W. Bush administration launched a major expansion, the Border Patrol has nearly doubled in size, to more than 21,000 agents. To recruit and quickly hire that many new agents, the Border Patrol reduced requirements, deferred background checks and omitted lie-detector tests that had been standard, and shortened training that officers receive, said John Carlos Frey, a filmmaker who this year produced a documentary on the patrol for the PBS program "Need to Know."
Rickerd, of the ACLU, said in a recent blog post that the Border Patrol should "make clear whether or not it abides by best law enforcement practices," in terms of the training it gives agents, whether it equips them with adequate protective gear that would reduce their need to use deadly force, and what plans it has to install dashboard-mounted and other cameras to record its agents' actions.
On Monday, as she waited to meet with state police for any news on the investigation, Araceli Rodriguez shared one of the many questions to which she'd like an answer: "Why didn't the Border Patrol agents just fire a warning shot in the air?"
Pinal County taps 'rainy day' fund to close Sheriff's Office budget gap
by Lindsey Collom - Oct. 17, 2012 09:48 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
Pinal County's contingency fund is nearly $900,000 lighter now that supervisors have closed a budget gap in the Sheriff's Office from last year.
County supervisors on Wednesday approved an $888,213 transfer from the county's "rainy day" fund to cover overspending from the Sheriff's Office patrol budget for fiscal 2011-12, which ended June 30.
Supervisors had given the Sheriff's Office nearly $21 million for its patrol operations, which covers salary and benefits, fuel, supplies and other expenses. At year's end, the patrol division was over budget by about $1.15 million, according to county figures.
The Sheriff's Office blames its budgeting issues on underfunding. County supervisors contend Sheriff Paul Babeu has mismanaged his resources.
The sheriff's jail operation came in under budget: Out of $24.5 million set aside for the jail, about $264,300 went unspent.
Babeu has said the budget overage was due to rising fuel costs, shift-differential pay, overtime pay and related expenses, and administrative-leave pay. The personnel-related overages were due in part to a contract the Board of Supervisors signed with a deputy's union after the budget was set and an unanticipated increase in the county's retirement-contribution rate.
This fiscal year, supervisors expanded Babeu's budget by nearly $2.2 million, with $1.5 million of that meant for vehicle replacement and the remainder for fuel and a substation lease.
I have always suspect that Warren Jeffs was railroad by the government because of his crackpot religious beliefs.
Warren Jeffs sees Texas bigamy charges dropped
Oct. 17, 2012 08:31 PM
Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas attorney general's office has dropped bigamy charges against imprisoned polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.
Attorney general's spokesman Jerry Strickland said Wednesday that the motion to dismiss charges was filed this week in San Angelo.
Prosecutors cited the need for judicial economy, noting that Jeffs is already serving a life prison sentence.
Jeffs is confined to an East Texas prison for sexually assaulting two underage girls he considered his brides. The charges followed the 2008 raid at the remote West Texas ranch that's home to followers of his Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The 56-year-old Jeffs isn't eligible for parole until he's at least 100 years old.
Strickland says the Jeffs investigation has been difficult on the community and for the local judicial system.
Remember Tom Horne is the guy who asked Jan Brewer to declare
Arizona Medical Marijuana laws null and void so he could round up
pot smokers and send him to prison.
I wonder was that was just a smoke screen to divert attention from his own crimes?
Order issued in Horne campaign finance case
Posted: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 9:58 am
Associated Press
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s compliance order alleges that Horne and his campaign violated campaign finance laws by discussing and coordinating election strategy with a pro-Horne group that was supposedly operating independently.
The order is the result of an FBI investigation and subsequent review by Montgomery’s office. Montgomery on Oct. 1 announced he would pursue civil penalties against Horne, his campaign and Horne supporter Kathleen Winn’s group.
Horne and Winn have denied coordination between her group and his campaign.
Horne declined to comment Tuesday after Montgomery released the order under a public records request by The Associated Press.
Our government masters worldwide routinely lie to make themselves look like heroes???
Mexican officials hoping to use Lazcano's dead parents for ID
October 17, 2012 | 12:31 pm
MEXICO CITY — Just in time for the Day of the Dead, the weird, ghoulish story of Mexican drug lord Heriberto Lazcano just got weirder and more ghoulish.
After killing a man they claim was Lazcano in a firefight this month — but then promptly losing possession of his body — Mexican officials are trying to get permission to exhume Lazcano’s late parents in order to prove, by use of DNA tests, that the man who was felled in a hail of bullets outside of a Coahuila baseball stadium really was him.
The Mexican Navy insists it is “100% certain” that it was Lazcano, leader of the notorious Zetas cartel, who was slain in the shootout in the border state of Coahuila. But government officials have had a hard time convincing the public that they got their man, because the body was stolen shortly after the shooting by armed commandos, who snatched the corpse from a funeral parlor in the middle of the night.
Naval officials say that a fingerprint match confirms the body’s identity (the prints were taken before the body was stolen, they say). But the doubters run from everyday Mexicans, many of whom have a taste for conspiracy, to ex-President Vicente Fox, who said recently that the story seemed like a tough one to swallow.
[link in Spanish
the article in Spanish follows this article here]
The missing body has become an embarrassment for the administration of outgoing President Felipe Calderon, which should have been able to count Lazcano’s slaying as an unalloyed victory in its war on the narco gangs. Instead, Mexican papers have been full of withering jokes at its expense — one cartoon recently made reference to the popular zombie TV series “The Walking Dead” — and bizarre info-graphics comparing photos of the face of the living “El Lazca” with the bloated, dead face that is supposed to be his as well.
Enter into the mess an assistant federal prosecutor, Cuitlahuac Salinas, who said in a news conference Wednesday that while experts were “certain” they had identified the body, they were trying to get the proper permits to dig up Lazcano’s parents in the state of Hidalgo, in order to “obtain their genetic profile.”
It is not clear what genetic material officials have of Lazcano’s to use for comparison purposes. Before joining the Zetas, the drug lord was a member of the Mexican army. He also spent some time in a Mexican jail.
Salinas said his office was also trying to find Lazcano’s living sisters, as well. But in this case, at least so far, the living have proved as elusive as the dead.
Critica Fox al gobierno por el 'mal manejo' del caso 'Lazca'
Policía • 15 Octubre 2012 - 4:30am — Daniel Martínez
Insiste en propuesta de legalizar drogas: "Reitero mi posición a favor de la legalización; me parece que es la gran solución".
Guanajuato • El ex presidente Vicente Fox criticó al gobierno de Felipe Calderón por la forma en que se manejó la muerte de Heriberto Lazcano, El Lazca, presunto líder absoluto de Los Zetas.
Acusó a las autoridades federales de querer “presumir” con el abatimiento de uno de los hombres del narcotráfico más buscados en México y tachó de increíble la presunta desaparición del cuerpo del jefe zeta.
“No sé cómo pretenden que nos traguemos una rueda de molino con este asunto de El Lazca, tan mal manejado que realmente deja en evidencia que lo único que se busca es presumir ante la opinión pública cosas a la carrera, sin el debido sustento”, mencionó en San Cristóbal.
Fox se declaró a favor de la legalización de las drogas y señaló que es uno de los caminos para frenar el tráfico de estupefacientes hacia Estados Unidos.
“Reitero mi posición a favor de la legalización; me parece que es la gran solución y alguien tiene que empezar esa idea, porque al esperar que Estados Unidos y su ciudadanía avancen hacia una legalización se está perdiendo un tiempo valioso para México.”
El ex mandatario se dijo esperanzado de que el presidente electo Enrique Peña Nieto adopte nuevas estrategias para frenar el narcotráfico en territorio nacional y evitar con ello los muertos que deja el crimen organizado.
“Algún día llegará, que un presidente de México diga: ¡Jóvenes, se acabó! Es su tarea, ustedes detengan la droga allá en la frontera, México no tiene que estar pagando este precio brutal de muertos”, afirmó.
Señaló que el derramamiento de sangre no solo se traduce en la pérdida de vidas humanas, sino en la ausencia de capital extranjero para las inversiones.
Declaró que la presencia del Ejército en las calles es parte del problema, ya que su lugar está en los cuarteles.
“Con esta estrategia lo único que estamos haciendo es engordar el caldo a Estados Unidos; en realidad nos tienen trabajando para ellos: en México no se produce droga, no se consume droga en cantidades mayores, por tanto, el trabajo y la tarea solo la estamos haciendo para ese país.”
Rockford area takes aim at state gun law
By Robert McCoppin and Stacy St. Clair Tribune reporters
7:28 a.m. CDT, October 18, 2012
ROCKFORD – In the only state that doesn’t let its residents walk around with concealed firearms, a northwest Illinois county could become the testing ground for gun enthusiasts who want a clean sweep for their Second Amendment rights.
A grass-roots movement in Winnebago County is taking aim at Illinois’ long-held position, setting up a possible showdown between gun-rights advocates and a sympathetic state’s attorney who believes the effort won’t pass legal muster.
The county has scheduled a pair of hearings this month to determine whether it should allow people to carry guns within Winnebago borders. The proposed ordinance – which was written after officials received a petition with more than 11,000 signatures this year – would contradict state law.
The plan took a hit a few weeks ago when Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joseph Bruscato’s office sent a letter to the board saying the county could not circumvent state statute and create its own gun law. Bruscato, who for years has publicly pushed for concealed carry laws in Illinois, said he had no choice but to warn against the effort.
“Despite my personal views, I cannot give bad legal advice,” he said. “This ordinance would not be upheld.”
That opinion, however, is not stopping county board member Jim Webster, a gun-rights enthusiast from the far northern part of the county. At the first of the two hearings on the issue Wednesday, he brought in a Second Amendment lawyer to counter Bruscato’s position.
Webster, a local tree nursery owner and a longtime National Rifle Association member, wrote the proposed ordinance himself after receiving the petition in August. It would let people carry guns in Winnebago if they had proper training and possessed a Utah permit, which is recognized in neighboring Midwestern states and has no residency requirements.
“The people are telling us that it’s about time we did something,” Webster said. “Our founding fathers weren’t wimps. They knew what they were doing when they wrote the Second Amendment.”
Supporters argue the ordinance would pull Winnebago back into accordance with the U.S. Constitution and override the statute that they say is in direct violation of the Second Amendment, which affords the right to keep and bear arms.
About 50 people attended Wednesday’s hearing, with the vast majority there to support the ordinance. No one spoke against it.
Cheryl Edwards, weekly host of a local radio show on WFEN and a mother, told board members that a neighbor “opened fire” on her home in August with what turned out to be a pellet gun, but police didn't show up for hours. Two weeks ago, she was shot at in a drive by shooting while working as a valet driver, she said.
“It would mean so much to know that I have that right to protect myself if need be,” she said.
The concealed carry movement was spearheaded by local Tea Party activists, who started a petition drive at an area gun shop this summer. The effort spread quickly by word of mouth, with people mailing their signatures to organizers without being solicited, said David Hale, coordinator of the Rockford Tea Party.
Almost every customer who has come into Eric Sonnenberg’s Forest City Firearms shop in Rockford has signed the petition, Sonnenberg said. He doubts the law will become reality, but he thinks its passage could prompt change on the state level.
“Illinois is now a magnet for every bad guy in the country,” Sonnenberg said. “If you were a bad guy, where would you go, where your victim won’t be able to shoot back at you? That’s why our crime rate is going through the roof.”
Robert King, who oversees CeaseFire’s anti-violence efforts in Rockford, said he empathizes with concerns about crime and public safety in the area. However, he questions whether a concealed carry law would simply exacerbate the already tense situation. King fears the ordinance would encourage residents to take the law into their own hands, much like the Trayvon Martin case.
“We understand the need to find a solution to the violence around us,” said King, who is also the executive director of the Booker Washington Community Center in Rockford. “But what you’re going to do is push people toward vigilantism. You’re going to make a bad situation even worse.”
Winnebago residents seemed to agree in 2008, when they overwhelmingly rejected an advisory referendum pushing for a concealed carry law in Illinois.
But proponents suggest the climate has changed dramatically in the past four years, partially because of U.S. Supreme Court rulings that overturned existing gun bans in Chicago and Washington D.C. Downstate Pike County passed an advisory referendum on a concealed carry law this spring, and several other rural communities have placed the issue on the November ballot.
“We felt it was the perfect moment to challenge the state law,” Hale said. “We also felt it was time to see where our elected officials stood on this issue once and for all. It’s time for these politicians to show some courage.”
Second Amendment lawyer Walter Maksym described the proposed ordinance as a “re-do” for Winnebago. As county prosecutors sat nearby, Maksym argued the state’s attorney’s office should not enforce the state ban on concealed carry because it violates the U.S. Constitution.
The Chicago attorney predicted the courts would strike down the current state statute and lawmakers will have to come up with an accommodation.
“There has been a tide change” Maksym said. “The pendulum has swung.”
The proposed ordinance still faces an uphill battle, as the county’s public safety committee must vote on it before it can go to the full board. And despite a super majority of conservatives on the panel, Webster believes it will be difficult to find enough support during an election year.
Hale also doubted its passage, especially given the board’s recent decision to table a resolution in support of a statewide concealed carry law.
“We’ve got a county board full of wishy-washy, soft-spined Republicans,” Hale said. “But we’re still sending a message here.”
rmccoppin@tribune.com
I suspect the DEA would love to have 100 sick people be in pain without their medicine if their silly rules would prevent one junkie from getting high.
Let's face it the "War on Drugs" is really a war on the American people and a war on the Bill of Rights.
A New Painkiller Crackdown Targets Drug Distributors
By BARRY MEIER
Published: October 17, 2012
A local druggist in Newport Beach, Calif., never expected that the federal government’s recent crackdown on distributors of prescription painkillers would ensnare him.
But in June, Cardinal Health, a major distributor, abruptly cut off his supplies of narcotics like OxyContin and Percocet. A few months earlier, the Drug Enforcement Administration had accused Cardinal of ignoring signs that some pharmacies in Florida that it supplied with such drugs might be feeding street demand for them.
Cardinal told the druggist, Michael Pavlovich, that the volume of pain drugs and other controlled medications he was dispensing was too high, a situation he said was explainable. His pharmacy specializes in pain patients, he said. Still, it took weeks for Cardinal to start supplying him again, and even then, it limited its shipments to about 15 percent of his previous orders. As a result, Mr. Pavlovich said, many of his patients had to go elsewhere to get prescriptions filled.
“We have to convince them that our dispensing is legitimate,” he said of his dealings with Cardinal.
Cardinal’s crackdown on Mr. Pavlovich was a sign of a new approach by the D.E.A. to stem the growing misuse and abuse of painkillers. In the last decade, the agency has tried a variety of tactics with limited success, from arresting hundreds of doctors to closing scores of pharmacies. Now, it and other agencies are moving up the pharmaceutical food chain, putting pressure on distributors like Cardinal, which act as middlemen between drug makers and the pharmacies and doctors that dispense painkillers.
In response, the distributors are scrambling to limit their liability by more closely monitoring their distribution pipelines and cutting off some customers.
Since January, for example, Cardinal has cut ties with a dozen pharmacies in states including Arizona, California, Nevada and Oklahoma, interviews and court records show. In doing so, the wholesaler, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, cited audits suggesting that people seeking to buy prescription drugs illegally might have targeted the store in question.
Several of the affected drugstores sued Cardinal unsuccessfully to resume supplies, but documents filed in those actions show that until recently, the wholesaler shipped large volumes of pain pills to the stores for months, if not years.
George S. Barrett, Cardinal’s chairman and chief executive, said the company had tightened the criteria it used in determining whether to sell narcotics to a pharmacy. In May, Cardinal settled the action brought by the D.E.A. in connection with its Florida sales by agreeing to suspend shipments of controlled drugs, like narcotics, from a facility in that state for two years. It could also face a significant fine.
“We had a strong antidiversion system in place, but no system is perfect,” Mr. Barrett said. Among other steps, the company said it had created a special committee to regularly evaluate pharmacies that order high volumes of narcotic drugs.
Another major distributor, AmerisourceBergen, recently disclosed that it faces a federal criminal inquiry into its oversight of painkiller sales. And in June, West Virginia officials filed a lawsuit against 14 drug distributors, including Cardinal and AmerisourceBergen, charging that they had fed illicit painkiller use in that state. The companies have denied wrongdoing.
D.E.A. officials have heralded the Cardinal action as the forerunner of a more aggressive approach to the painkiller problem. But critics say that for years, the agency did little to scrutinize distributors who were making tens of millions of dollars from the prescriptions generated by pain clinics in Florida, Ohio and other states. These facilities, often described as “pill mills,” employed doctors who wrote narcotics prescriptions after cursory examinations of patients.
“In the case of West Virginia, they have done nothing,” said a lawyer in Charleston, James M. Cagle, who is working on the state’s action against distributors.
The drug distribution system is a sprawling one that involves about 800 companies, which range in size from a few giants like Cardinal to hundreds of small firms. For wholesalers, the markup on medications can be small, sometimes a few pennies a pill. But with billions of pills sold annually, the profits can be big. Narcotic painkillers are now the most widely prescribed drugs in the United States, with sales last year of $8.5 billion.
This is not the first time the industry has faced scrutiny. In 2008, Cardinal paid $34 million to settle charges that it failed to alert the D.E.A. to suspicious orders for millions of pain pills that it was shipping to Internet pharmacies — operations that for years supplied the illicit market. The same year, another big distributor, McKesson, paid $13 million to settle similar charges. As part of the agreements, both companies denied wrongdoing.
Executives like Mr. Barrett of Cardinal say that it is often difficult for a distributor to tell whether a pharmacy or a doctor is serving legitimate pain patients or supplying illicit drug demand. And distributors have long complained that the D.E.A. has never issued specific guidelines for when they should stop shipping to a customer.
But agency officials say that wholesalers know about the red flags. For example, the agency charged that Cardinal was selling 50 times the amount of pain pills containing the narcotic oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin and other drugs, to its four top pharmacy customers in Florida than it was supplying to the average drugstore in that state.
Cardinal failed to scrutinize such sales, the agency said, even violating the safeguards it promised to put in place when it agreed to settle the government charges in connection with its supplying of Internet pharmacies. “Everyone is making a large amount of money on these drugs,” said Joseph T. Rannazzisi, a deputy assistant administrator of the D.E.A. division that oversees legal drugs, like painkillers.
The D.E.A. is able to track where painkillers are going because distributors regularly file reports detailing their shipments to customers. But just how aggressively the agency uses that data is anyone’s guess.
An agency employee, Michelle Cooper, testified last year that she had attended a training session at which instructors described how investigators like her could use the database to identify suspicious distributors. In doing so, they pointed to data showing that a distributor had suddenly started shipping large and growing volumes of pain pills to Florida drugstores.
It was only later that Ms. Cooper discovered that the case involved a real distributor, not a hypothetical one, and that the company was still making those shipments despite the agency’s apparent awareness of them.
“I didn’t believe the numbers they were showing us were real,” she said. “I thought it was for training purposes.”
Ms. Cooper subsequently investigated the company, Keysource Medical, which agreed last year to give up its license to distribute narcotic drugs.
Faced with Congressional pressure, agency officials like Mr. Rannazzisi have said that they are increasing the ranks of investigators like Ms. Cooper, and that they provide distribution data to state officials when local authorities request it as part of an investigation.
But state officials say it would be more helpful to get that data routinely so they can act more quickly against rogue clinics and pharmacies. For years, Ohio law enforcement authorities did not know which distributors were supplying the many pill mills operating in the state, one official said. If the D.E.A. had supplied that information, “we would have known about the number of shipments going into Ohio and where they were going,” said Aaron Haslam, an assistant state attorney general.
Also, while the D.E.A. brings actions against distributors like Cardinal for failing to notify the agency of a “suspicious order” from a pharmacy or other customer, it does not share those reports with officials in the state where the pharmacy is based.
In response to a request from The New York Times, the agency even declined to disclose the number of such reports it received annually. A spokeswoman, Barbara Carreno, said in a statement that the agency considered such statistics “law enforcement sensitive” information, but she did not elaborate.
The Times has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking that data.
Fair trial. Ask the CIA if you deserve a "fair trial" and they will tell
you that you won't get a fair trail if they decide you are a criminal.
The CIA will give you a fair chance to run from a drone launched
missile if they decide to execute you for crimes you have allegedly committed.
I can only wonder when the DEA will be requesting drones to executed suspected drug dealers with!
CIA seeks to expand drone fleet, officials say
By Greg Miller, Published: October 18
The CIA is urging the White House to approve a significant expansion of the agency’s fleet of armed drones, a move that would extend the spy service’s decade-long transformation into a paramilitary force, U.S. officials said.
The proposal by CIA Director David H. Petraeus would bolster the agency’s ability to sustain its campaigns of lethal strikes in Pakistan and Yemen and enable it, if directed, to shift aircraft to emerging al-Qaeda threats in North Africa or other trouble spots, officials said.
If approved, the CIA could add as many as 10 drones, the officials said, to an inventory that has ranged between 30 and 35 over the past few years.
The outcome has broad implications for counterterrorism policy and whether the CIA gradually returns to being an organization focused mainly on gathering intelligence, or remains a central player in the targeted killing of terrorism suspects abroad.
In the past, officials from the Pentagon and other departments have raised concerns about the CIA’s expanding arsenal and involvement in lethal operations, but a senior Defense official said that the Pentagon had not opposed the agency’s current plan.
Officials from the White House, the CIA and the Pentagon declined to comment on the proposal. Officials who discussed it did so on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of the subject.
One U.S. official said the request reflects a concern that political turmoil across the Middle East and North Africa has created new openings for al-Qaeda and its affiliates.
“With what happened in Libya, we’re realizing that these places are going to heat up,” the official said, referring to the Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi. No decisions have been made about moving armed CIA drones into these regions, but officials have begun to map out contingencies. “I think we’re actually looking forward a little bit,” the official said.
White House officials are particularly concerned about the emergence of al-Qaeda’s affiliate in North Africa, which has gained weapons and territory following the collapse of the governments in Libya and Mali. Seeking to bolster surveillance in the region, the United States has been forced to rely on small, unarmed turboprop aircraft disguised as private planes.
Meanwhile, the campaign of U.S. airstrikes in Yemen has heated up. Yemeni officials said a strike on Thursday — the 35th this year — killed at least seven al-Qaeda-linked militants near Jaar, a town in southern Yemen previously controlled by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the terrorist group’s affiliate is known.
The CIA’s proposal would have to be evaluated by a group led by President Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, officials said.
The group, which includes senior officials from the CIA, the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, is directly involved in deciding which alleged al-Qaeda operatives are added to “kill” lists. But current and former officials said the group also plays a lesser-known role as referee in deciding the allocation of assets, including whether the CIA or the Defense Department takes possession of newly delivered drones.
“You have to state your requirements and the system has to agree that your requirements trump somebody else,” said a former high-ranking official who participated in the deliberations. “Sometimes there is a food fight.”
The administration has touted the collaboration between the CIA and the military in counterterrorism operations, contributing to a blurring of their traditional roles. In Yemen, the CIA routinely “borrows” the aircraft of the military’s Joint Special Operations Command to carry out strikes. The JSOC is increasingly engaged in activities that resemble espionage.
The CIA’s request for more drones indicates that Petraeus has become convinced that there are limits to those sharing arrangements and that the agency needs full control over a larger number of aircraft.
The U.S. military’s fleet dwarfs that of the CIA. A Pentagon report issued this year counted 246 Predators, Reapers and Global Hawks in the Air Force inventory alone, with hundreds of other remotely piloted aircraft distributed among the Army, the Navy and the Marines.
Petraeus, who had control of large portions of those fleets while serving as U.S. commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, has had to adjust to a different resource scale at the CIA, officials said. The agency’s budget has begun to tighten, after double-digit increases over much of the past decade.
“He’s not used to the small budget over there,” a U.S. congressional official said. In briefings on Capitol Hill, Petraeus often marvels at the agency’s role relative to its resources, saying, “We do so well with so little money we have.” The official declined to comment on whether Petraeus had requested additional drones.
Early in his tenure at the CIA, Petraeus was forced into a triage situation with the agency’s inventory of armed drones. To augment the hunt for Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric linked to al-Qaeda terrorist plots, Petraeus moved several CIA drones from Pakistan to Yemen. After Awlaki was killed in a drone strike, the aircraft were sent back to Pakistan, officials said.
The number of strikes in Pakistan has dropped from 122 two years ago to 40 this year, according to the New America Foundation. But officials said the agency has not cut back on its patrols there, despite the killing of Osama bin Laden and a dwindling number of targets.
The agency continues to search for bin Laden’s successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and has carried out dozens of strikes against the Haqqani network, a militant group behind attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
The CIA also maintains a separate, smaller fleet of stealth surveillance aircraft. Stealth drones were used to monitor bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Their use in surveillance flights over Iran’s nuclear facilities was exposed when one crashed in that country last year.
Any move to expand the reach of the CIA’s fleet of armed drones probably would require the agency to establish additional secret bases. The agency relies on U.S. military pilots to fly the planes from bases in the southwestern United States but has been reluctant to share overseas landing strips with the Defense Department.
CIA Predators that are used in Pakistan are flown out of airstrips along the border in Afghanistan. The agency opened a secret base on the Arabian Peninsula when it began flights over Yemen, even though JSOC planes are flown from a separate facility in Djibouti.
Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.
ACLU sues Sheriff Baca over bail refusals
By Cindy Chang, Los Angeles Times
October 19, 2012, 12:05 a.m.
The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca on behalf of people who say they were denied bail for minor offenses after being flagged by immigration authorities.
British filmmaker Duncan Roy, who says he spent nearly three months in L.A. County jails without a chance to post bail, is one of the five plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which will be filed today in U.S. District Court.
Roy was arrested Nov. 15 in Malibu on an extortion charge. He was in the country legally but was identified as a suspected illegal immigrant through a federal program called Secure Communities, which sends the fingerprints of all arrestees through an immigration database.
Sheriff's Department officials rejected Roy's repeated efforts to post $35,000 bail, citing a detention order by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the lawsuit alleges.
The ACLU and other plaintiffs' attorneys say the bail denials have been a blanket practice by the Sheriff's Department, affecting thousands of people who are subjected to ICE holds in local jails. The lawsuit notes that the denials may have ceased in the last week.
A Baca spokeswoman said she had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on its specifics. She disputed the charge that the Sheriff's Department has denied bail to anyone because of ICE holds.
"If you are able to post bail — say it's $10,000 — and you're an immigrant from wherever. With or without an ICE hold, we accept that," said the spokeswoman, Nicole Nishida.
A report by prison expert James Austin cites data from Baca's office indicating that at least 20,000 Los Angeles County inmates, nearly all of them Latino males, were subjected to ICE holds in 2011.
As many as 17 other counties, including Orange, San Bernardino, Sacramento and San Diego, also allegedly deny bail for defendants with ICE holds, according to John Bench, president of the Golden State Bail Agents Assn.
"The principle of bail is something so fundamental, that you shouldn't be held until you're found guilty," said Jennie Pasquarella, an ACLU attorney involved in the lawsuit.
The dangerous conditions in the nation's largest jail system, which will be overseen by a special monitor after a scathing report by a blue ribbon panel, add "insult to injury" for anyone detained unnecessarily, Pasquarella added.
The Obama administration's deportation policies, which rely on cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, have come under fire in California. Legislation that would have prohibited sheriffs and police departments from enforcing ICE holds in most cases was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown last month.
Denying bail to arrestees would go above and beyond Secure Communities, which requires only that local law enforcement agencies honor the 48-hour ICE holds.
Alain Martinez-Perez, another plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit, was arrested in December following a domestic dispute. He spent several days behind bars while his cousin's efforts to post bail were rejected because he was under an immigration hold, the lawsuit says.
"People should not be abused in this way," Martinez-Perez, a 37-year-old immigrant from Mexico, said in an interview. "The law should reflect the need to protect all people. We come to America to make better lives, not to be abused and treated differently from others."
cindy.chang@latimes.com
Police use of drones concerns activists
Justin Berton
Updated 10:57 p.m., Thursday, October 18, 2012
Imagine a day when an unmanned aircraft can follow a homicide suspect driving on Interstate 880 and silently track him to his hideout in the East Bay.
Police say that day is coming - possibly by next year. Remote-controlled aircraft known as drones will help their efforts to fight crime and make officers safer, and save taxpayers from the rising costs of fueling and maintaining helicopters.
Critics, however, worry that law enforcement's use of the flying cameras will result in privacy abuses and open the door to the unwarranted surveillance of residents and, eventually, entire neighborhoods.
Imagine a day, they say, when an unmanned aircraft silently follows a resident from his front door to work under the guise of community policing.
On Thursday, civil rights attorneys and antidrone activists gathered outside Oakland City Hall to criticize an Alameda County Sheriff's Office plan to buy the high-tech gadgets. It would be among the first law enforcement agencies in the state to do so.
Deputies tested the machines two months ago and have applied for a federal grant that could bring the first aerial device to the county by 2013.
Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the sheriff, said deputies would deploy a drone only in emergencies, just as the department uses helicopters today.
New tool, same rules
The drone's cameras could give officers an aerial view of unfolding crime scenes such as hostage situations, or track dangerous suspects who flee into backyards or wooded areas, Nelson said. Instead of fueling a $3 million helicopter, officers could remotely launch a battery-powered drone that costs $50,000 to $100,000.
The 4-pound model tested by deputies, loaded with high-definition cameras, zipped through the air at a height of 400 feet for several hours without having to be recharged.
"We could use them in search-and-rescue operations," Nelson said, "which could save someone's life."
Critics suspicious
For all the good intentions, Sheriff Gregory Ahern incited privacy advocates this week when he said he would also use the unmanned devices to scout for marijuana farms and characterized such work as "proactive policing." Critics view that as code for spying on large swaths of territory, such as high-crime neighborhoods.
"It will become integrated into their everyday police tactics," said Rachel Herzing, an activist with Critical Resistance, a national group that advocates for alternatives to imprisonment. "A few years ago, we didn't see tanks or armored vehicles in the streets of Oakland. Now we see it and it's become almost normal."
Linda Lye, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, echoed the concern that local police were purchasing military tools normally reserved for war and had not come up with a worthy rationale for deploying drones.
"When law enforcement has dangerous and powerful tools in their arsenal, they'll use them," Lye said. "The invitation to abuse this tool is enormous."
Use is spreading
Domestic agencies and private groups have dramatically increased their use of drones in recent years, just as the military has come to rely on them in wars.
Fire crews in some states use drones in wildlands to see what a blaze is doing behind the firewall. Environmentalists use them to monitor animals in remote areas. State law enforcement agencies in Texas and Arizona have purchased planes to monitor the U.S.-Mexican border.
The use of drones by local law enforcement agencies is still rare, but experts agree a push of federal money and a drop in the cost of the technology will give hundreds of local police departments the incentive to start using the planes in coming years.
Legal issues
The rise of the machines is certain to lead to legal battles down the road, said Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy at San Francisco's Center for Democracy and Technology.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that what's viewable from the air is fair game for police, Dempsey said. But if a drone tails a suspect for an extended period, the courts may want police to obtain a search warrant, he said.
Dempsey said the technology was outpacing the law books, and that "this issue is headed straight for the Supreme Court."
Trevor Timm, a spokesman with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said his group wanted local police departments to work with privacy advocates to draft regulations on when drones could be used.
"We want to make sure there are robust rules in place before they fill up the skies of the Bay Area," Timm said. "Right now, it's cheap, it's easy, and there's no rules of the road. It could get out of control very fast."
Justin Berton is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jberton@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @justinberton
San Jose police officer arrested in time sheet fraud case
By Dana Hull
dhull@mercurynews.com
Posted: 10/18/2012 07:25:19 PM PDT
SAN JOSE -- The San Jose Police Department arrested one of its own Thursday.
Officer Jeffrey Enslen was arrested and booked on one count of felony grand theft as a result of suspected time sheet fraud.
The department's Criminal Investigation Detail (CID) completed a 9-month investigation and presented its findings to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, which filed one count of grand theft.
Enslen, 45, was arrested without incident and booked into the Santa Clara County Jail. He has been placed on paid administrative leave from the
Richardson: Arredondo left giant black mark on Tempe
Posted: Friday, October 19, 2012 8:12 am
Guest Commentary by Bill Richardson
Ex-Tempe City Council member Ben Arredondo is nothing more than a crooked politician who took advantage of his position of power for personal gain.
On Oct. 5, Arredondo, a member of the Tempe City Council from 1994 to 2010 and at that time a member of the State Leglislature since 2010, pled guilty in U. S. District Court in Phoenix to felony charges involving bribery and misappropriating scholarship funds. A plea agreement made with the U.S. Attorney’s Office recommends he serve 27 to 51 months in prison, and Arredondo subsequently gave up his senate seat.
Arredondo reportedly took $6,000 worth of bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as developers who wanted to do business in Tempe and diverted $50,000 in scholarship funds to family members.
The story continues to make headlines.
The Arizona Republic reported on July 14 Tempe Vice Mayor Joel Navarro, Council members Corey Woods and Robin Arredondo-Savage — Ben Arredondo’s niece — also met with Arredondo and undercover FBI agents and that longtime City of Tempe lobbyist Mike Williams could be tied to the FBI probe. Navarro, Woods, Arredondo-Savage and Williams have not been charged criminally.
A May 16 story reported Arredondo “accepted expensive tickets to sporting events from Fiesta Bowl executives after helping the bowl secure a $6.45 million subsidy from Tempe in 2005.” No charges were filed in this case against Arredondo or a host of other elected officials who were playing patty-cake with the Fiesta Bowl.
Several Fiesta Bowl officials have pled guilty to crimes. And a story from May 2011 said “Arredondo was intimately involved with ASU, Insight and the Fiesta Bowl, he was continually involved in negotiations. Arredondo also was close to Gary Husk, who, in addition to lobbying for the Fiesta Bowl, had been a paid consultant for Tempe.”
According to the December 2002 Los Vecinos Newsletter
(download a PDF copy at
evtnow.com/4f1
http://www.asu.edu/copp/urban/reports/files/Vecinos1202.pdf
), a Feb 24, 2005 East Valley Tribune story and Tempe records, Husk was paid a total of nearly $500,000 for consulting work at the police department and the city’s diversity office from 2002 to 2007.
Husk is reportedly under criminal investigation.
Besides being a crook, Arredondo was a Godfather-like figure in Tempe who used his political power to dictate as much city policy as possible. He also used his power to promote those in his camp of followers. His tentacles reached far and had a powerful grip. He pretty much got what he wanted most of the time.
An Oct. 5 Arizona Republic story quoted Arredondo as telling undercover FBI agents, “You guys will ask, you guys will have. I don’t know how else to say it. We’ll be just fine because not only we’re covered at the city, we’re covered now at the state.” His statement tells me he was confident the fake developers were going to get what they needed in Tempe even with his new presence at the legislature.
I have to wonder if the behind the scenes meeting between Arredondo, council members, purported developers and maybe even city staff is how Tempe does the people’s business on a regular basis? It’s obvious someone involved in the Arredondo meetings with undercover FBI agents knew a payoff was necessary to get the Tempe project done.
Is this is how Arredondo always did the people’s business?
Arredondo joins a growing list of corrupt Arizona officials. He’s the second Tempe official convicted of corruption charges. In 1994, City Magistrate Stephen Mirretti pled guilty to bribery and fraud. Mirretti’s circle of powerful friends included officials at city hall and the police department, just like Arredondo’s.
As best I can tell, Tempe could hold the record for city officials going to prison. It may also hold the record for the highest crime rate around. Corruption and crime usually go hand in hand.
Ben Arredondo the crook has left a giant black mark on Tempe. A black mark city officials have yet to show it doesn’t deserve.
Retired Mesa master police officer Bill Richardson lives in the East Valley and can be reached at bill.richardson@cox.net.
Montgomery tells Horne to pay back election cash
By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez The Republic | azcentral.com Sat Oct 20, 2012 1:10 AM
The Oct. 11 compliance order, released to the media this week, reiterates allegations by county prosecutors and federal investigators that Horne violated state laws by coordinating election tactics with an independent-expenditure committee chaired by Kathleen Winn, now a top Horne staffer.
Horne and Winn on Friday filed a written response to the order, providing their evidence as to why they did not act improperly. The response states they were allowed to communicate as long as they did not talk about the independent-expenditure committee. They maintain that they did not discuss the committee.
Horne, in an e-mail to The Arizona Republic, said the entire case is based on “misleading speculation.”
“There is no direct evidence of coordination, because there was none,” Horne said.
Horne and Winn have until Nov. 5 to amend the 2010 election reports and pay back an estimated $400,000 in contributions made to the independent-expenditure committee. If they do not comply with the order, Montgomery will issue an order assessing civil penalties, which could exceed $1 million.
Horne and Winn can request an informal closed-door settlement meeting, or appeal. If they appeal, the case will be assigned to a Maricopa County Superior Court judge and, like with any civil case, proceedings will be public.
The order stems from a 14-month joint FBI and County Attorney’s Office investigation that culminated earlier this month when Montgomery announced he would pursue civil penalties instead of criminal action.
Investigators found Horne and Winn deliberately broke campaign-finance laws during the 2010 general election, when Horne allegedly collaborated with Business Leaders for Arizona to quickly raise more than $500,000 to run negative ads against his Democratic opponent, Felecia Rotellini.
The county’s 20-page compliance order, obtained by The Arizona Republic through a public-records request, reiterated the FBI and county evidence that Horne and Winn illegally worked together to receive contributions and buy ads to defeat Rotellini. The order states that Horne directed contributions to Winn, discussed fundraising for the committee and directed how the money should be spent. The order also contained new references to numerous e-mails from the 2010 general election in which Winn and Horne are included in exchanges regarding campaign meetings, strategy and newspaper articles written about the election.
Following Montgomery’s Oct. 1 announcement, The Republic reviewed nearly 3,300 pages of documents that describe the extent of the investigation through witness interviews, e-mails, subpoenas, phone logs and other records.
Investigators grilled witnesses about their recollections of Horne and Winn’s alleged involvement in the committee and pieced together evidence they believe proves: Horne helped direct the committee’s fundraising and messaging; Winn continued her involvement in Horne’s campaign while running the committee; and Winn raised and spent money through the committee while she maintained constant contact with Horne.
Investigators also focused on witnesses’ recollections of Horne’s response to learning of the FBI inquiry and his repeated attempts to learn what they knew.
Witnesses described to investigators a sorority-type environment at the Attorney General’s Office. Some women were described as a “harem” of “Horne-ites” who vied for the politician’s attention. One witness said another witness was directed to Horne’s office to tell him about her FBI interview while another female worker gave Horne a massage.
Witnesses said they were uncomfortable with Winn’s abrupt arrival in Horne’s primary campaign while he was still superintendent of education. One said she did not understand why “he listened to her above all else.”
Horne’s criminal investigator, Margaret “Meg” Hinchey, described a conversation in which Horne asked her and her boss, Andy Rubalcava, if he could tell them about a possible crime with the promise that they would not investigate it.
The investigative file shows:
Witnesses said Amy Rezzonico, Horne’s longtime spokeswoman, told them Horne put Winn in charge of the independent-expenditure committee because she “was pushing back and resisting taking direction” from Carmen Chenal, a longtime Horne confidante and employee. Rezzonico said, “And so, as a way for AG Horne to ‘separate’ the two women, he told Winn, ‘You go do this independent expenditure and take care of this money for me.’”
At a 2010 primary-victory party, Horne’s California brother-in-law, Richard Newman, asked Horne if there was anything he could do to help during the general election. Horne directed Newman to talk to Winn, who was also at the party. “Well, I know Tom said that it was — it was an independent committee,” Newman told investigators.
Newman donated $115,000 total to the committee. In the days leading up to an initial $15,000 donation, investigators said phone records showed more frequent communication between Horne and his sister and between Horne and Newman. After Newman’s first $15,000 check did not arrive as quickly as it was needed, he sent a second check. That check “was delivered to Tom’s home and left” near the front door, according to an Oct. 21, 2010 e-mail to Newman from his assistant.
Lucia de Vernai, an attorney general’s legal assistant, told investigators that Winn talked openly to Horne’s campaign workers about her involvement with the independent-expenditure committee in the weeks following the primary and intensified in October 2010. De Vernai said Winn would stop by Horne’s campaign headquarters and “talk to Tom, you know, kind of in the corner.”
Former Assistant Attorney General Ron Lebowitz said he believed Winn was working with Horne’s campaign in October 2010 when she came to Lebowitz’s house to pick up an $840 check. Lebowitz said Winn told him to make the check payable to the independent-expenditure committee and told him the maximum amount he could donate was $840 — the same limit for an individual donating to a candidate.
Sharon Collins, who runs Horne’s Tucson office, was concerned by Horne’s reaction to learning the FBI contacted independent-expenditure committee donor Chuck Diaz. While at a Feb. 10 Sierra Vista event with the attorney general and his wife, Horne said he thought the Obama administration “was going after him” and wanted to know exactly what Diaz had told Collins.
Collins described a conversation with Horne in which she said, “Do, ah, did you want me to call Chuck?” She said Horne replied, “Just wait till he talks to his lawyer, you might need a script.” When FBI agents pressed her on why Diaz would need a script, she replied, “To say the right thing.”
Collins also reported that Horne wanted her to call Diaz after his meeting with the FBI, but Collins said she and Winn told Horne that was not a good idea.
Michael Vargas, Horne’s 2010 campaign manager, said Horne after the primary asked Vargas which political-consulting firms he would recommend if Winn were to run an independent committee. Vargas recommended Brian Murray of Lincoln Strategy Group, his former employer. Winn later contacted Murray and hired the firm.
Murray told investigators he repeatedly told Winn to avoid talking to Horne about independent-expenditure committee activities. Murray was so uncomfortable with the pair’s contact that he notified an attorney for Lincoln.
Murray said Horne earlier this year asked to meet at a downtown diner. Murray thought the meeting was to discuss political activities, but Horne wanted him to describe why his relationship with Winn had soured and pressed Murray to “dig deeper” to recall if there were activities from the 2010 cycle that were “expressly illegal.” Horne told Murray the FBI would likely contact him; Murray promised to give him a heads-up if that happened.
Hinchey’s notes said that on Oct. 7, 2011, Horne asked her and her boss, Rubalcava, if he could tell them about something he may have learned as a result of someone listening to another person’s phone call in the office. The investigators said there could be potential criminal implications. “He said he knew that and thus wanted to ask Rubalcava and I if we would promise not to investigate or report it as a crime,” Hinchey wrote.
Hinchey and Rubalcava said they could not because it would violate their oaths as law-enforcement officers. Hinchey wrote that she told Horne, “I also advised AG Horne that if he, as the top law-enforcement officer in the state, knew of a possible crime and withheld that information, it would not look good for him or be a good idea.”
Horne later dropped the issue.
Horne and Winn, in their response, offer context to some of the e-mails, phone calls and conversations the county has cited as evidence of coordination.
The response repeated their earlier statements that their phone communication spiked in late October 2010 because Winn, who has an extensive real-estate background, was helping Horne with the complicated sale and purchase of commercial-shopping centers.
“Winn and Horne knew that they could not discuss the independent campaign, and they rigorously avoided any such conversation,” the response states. “After the closing on Oct. 28, phone calls between them dropped off sharply.”
The county has offered as evidence that Horne and Winn were on the phone as she was e-mailing Murray about a Rotellini attack ad. In their response, Horne and Winn deny that allegation, saying the phone call was unrelated to the campaign. They also said Winn did not send Murray a response until two minutes after the phone call ended.
The response points out that federal and state investigations have no evidence to support that Horne and Winn were talking about the independent-expenditure committee.
“She had First Amendment rights to converse with the candidate, as long as they did not discuss the independent expenditure, which they did not do,” the response states.
Some e-mails involving Winn and Horne, according to the response, addressed committee contributions but not expenditures. To violate state law, according to the response, “the coordination or direction must be with respect to how they money is spent or the content of the ad, not with respect to contributions.”
The response notes that Horne sent Winn an e-mail on Oct. 27 suggesting that Winn try to get more money from the Republican State Leadership Committee but states that there was no violation because Winn did not act on the suggestion.
“Coordination is a two-way street,” the response states.
The response also says Horne did not refer anyone to donate to the independent campaign, did not suggest potential donors to Winn and did not speak to anyone about making contributions to an independent campaign.
The response also includes an affidavit from Winn, in which she states that there was no coordination.
“I took no instruction from anyone and specifically no instruction from Mr. Horne or any of his campaign staff or advisers,” Winn said in the affidavit.
DPS presence at State Fair deters rowdiness, criminals
By JJ Hensley The Republic | azcentral.com
Fri Oct 19, 2012 11:10 PM
The State Fair brings many people festive visions of Ferris wheels, fried foods and barnyard animals. For others, the 128-year-old Phoenix tradition conjures up images of roving bands of youths looking for trouble.
But the most prevalent problems encountered by off-duty law-enforcement officers working at the Arizona State Fair are lost children who have strayed from their parents amid the sights and sounds, and adults who take in too much alcohol at the 18-day event.
That reality runs counter to the perception some Valley residents have of the State Fair, said Marketing Director Kristi Walsh, due in large part to the number of uniformed, off-duty Arizona Department of Public Safety officers readily visible in the 80-acre fairgrounds near 19th Avenue and McDowell Road. And the public hardly notices the additional undercover officers.
“We experience the same type of things that all large events experience,” said Walsh, a 16-year employee of the fair. “There is a misconception out there, I think. It’s kind of the difference between individuals’ view and the 20,000-foot view that’s incorrect. When you look at the people coming out, they’re having a great time, they’re having a safe time.”
Last year, officers reunited 336 children with their parents; arrested or cited 34 people for disorderly conduct and 23 for drinking too much; and made nine arrests for assault.
Those numbers are surprisingly low given that, on average, more than a million people visit the fair each year, said DPS Capt. Deston Coleman, who works with the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit when he’s not supervising patrols at the fairgrounds.
“The families are coming here, they’re having a good time. Nobody wants to cause trouble, and if patrons come in and they want to cause trouble, they’re immediately removed,” Coleman said.
Officers ejected 90 patrons — along with 13 employees — at last year’s event.
“It’s safe, it’s fun and we haven’t had any problems that match the image that might be out there,” he said.
On a typical weekday, about 35 uniformed DPS officers patrol the fair, a number that increases to 50 on most weeknights and more than 70 on the weekends, Coleman said.
The officers, both uniformed and undercover, are trained to recognize gang activity, Coleman said. But they also try to interact with the public in a friendly way that’s not always possible when working a traffic accident or issuing a speeding ticket.
The DPS officers work out of a small building on the south side of Veterans Memorial Coliseum, near the guest-services area, a medical-treatment station and an air-conditioned trailer where lost children can play games with volunteers until their parents are located.
The guest-services area offers wristbands for families that can be placed on an adult and a child with phone numbers and other contact information that officers can use should they become separated.
“Our biggest problem is getting parents to think it could happen to them,” Coleman said. “They never think it’s going to happen, but it happens every day. It’s not parents being negligent; it’s kids being kids.”
And when adults behave like kids?
The officers have four holding cells in their building where disorderly patrons are housed until they are transported to jail if it’s believed they committed a crime — or, in the case of drinking too much, sent to a detoxification center in downtown Phoenix or released to responsible friends or family members, Coleman said.
Through the first four days of this year’s fair, DPS officers made one arrest for intoxication and took the man to the detox facility because he was too far gone for officers to leave him in the care of his friends.
“They’re allowed to come here and have fun, as long as they’re not causing a disruption,” Coleman said.
The fair’s reputation for fun was on the mind of three generations of a Gilbert family as they applied sunscreen and prepared to enter the fairgrounds on Friday afternoon.
Steven Ingram said there was a time years ago when he hesitated to come on nights and weekends, but the visible presence of DPS officers started to ease those concerns, so much that he didn’t give a second thought to bringing his family, including grandchildren Killian, 5, and Collin, 2, on Friday.
“You’re always going to have a bit of that,” Ingram said of the excessive reveling and rowdy individuals. But the visible presence of DPS has helped.
“It worked,” Ingram said. “People tend to behave a bit more.”
George Whitmore Jr. dies at 68; exonerated in three N.Y. murders
Los Angeles Times staff and wire reports
October 20, 2012
In the city of New York, in 1964, a destitute young black man named George Whitmore Jr. confessed to three murders he did not commit.
"I didn't do it, but they wouldn't believe me," Whitmore, then a 50-year-old handyman, told New York Newsday in 1995. "At one point I really did think I was going to the electric chair."
He was eventually proved innocent, and his legal case helped persuade New York lawmakers in the mid-1960s to drop the state's death penalty for most crimes. The case was also cited in the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1966 Miranda ruling, which established such protections for suspects as the right to remain silent.
Whitmore died Oct. 8 at 68 in a Wildwood, N.J., nursing home. The cause was a heart attack, a daughter, Regina Whitmore, told the New York Times.
He was 19 when he was taken to a Brooklyn police station for questioning about an attempted rape.
By the time his interrogation ended several days later, he had confessed to the attempted rape, to the recent murder of a woman in Brooklyn and to the high-profile murders of two young women in 1963 in Manhattan.
The nearly blind Whitmore later recanted the confessions and maintained his innocence, saying police had beaten him and made him sign a confession without knowing what it was.
"Call it what you want — brainwashing, hypnosis, fright," one unnamed prosecutor told the media, according to a 1966 Los Angeles Times article. "They made him give an untrue confession."
Although lawyers and reporters were able to expose Whitmore's confession as a fabrication, he was in and out of prison because of the various cases until 1973, when prosecutors said new evidence exonerated him of the attempted rape.
Upon his release for good — almost exactly nine years after his original arrest — he said, "No animosity. I have no animosity," Newsday reported in 1995.
The son of an itinerant laborer, Whitmore was born May 26, 1944, in Philadelphia and grew up in Wildwood, N.J., in a poor family.
He sold his false-confession story to Hollywood for "a few thousand dollars," according to Newsday. It became the basis of the 1973 television movie "The Marcus-Nelson Murders," which spawned the "Kojak" television series.
After winning a civil lawsuit for wrongful imprisonment, Whitmore bought a small dairy farm in New Jersey but failed to hold on to it.
While living in Wildwood, he operated a commercial fishing boat for a time. Disabled in a boating accident, he struggled with unemployment.
Whitmore, who never married, is survived by four daughters, two sons and more than 20 grandchildren.
news.obits@latimes.com
Commuters' privacy is being clipped
Published 5:04 p.m., Friday, October 19, 2012
Bay Area officials are encouraging public transit commuters to adopt the Clipper card, which is accepted by every major Bay Area transit system. The cards are convenient and easy to use, so it's not surprising that people are adopting them enthusiastically - there are more than 1 million active cards in circulation.
But those commuters may be surprised at how much their Clipper cards know about them. If you use a Clipper card, your every move on public transit can be stored for up to seven years - even after an account is closed.
Since the card was launched in 2010, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has reported receiving three search warrants or subpoenas for customers' information. There's also a smartphone app that allows anyone to scan a Clipper card and bring up the owner's transit history.
If all of this sounds familiar, that's because it is: This is an ongoing privacy battle with technologies ranging from Google to FasTrak. Unfortunately, the technological devices that rely on privacy invasions seem to be proliferating faster than the legal challenges against them.
But the Clipper card dilemma should be an easy one to resolve. California has a law, passed in 2010, that limits the use of data collected through FasTrak devices. We urge the Legislature to draft a similar bill for Clipper cards as soon as it returns to session.
In the meantime, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission should adopt a disclosure policy for Clipper customers, who in all likelihood are unaware that their data is being collected.
Arizona AG's office blocked embarrassing info
Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
Posted: Sunday, October 21, 2012 12:15 pm
Associated Press
The Arizona Capitol Times reports
(http://bit.ly/QwRnaY)
that censored material included rumors of sexual affairs between Attorney General Tom Horne and a subordinate, questions about a key ally's conduct at work and disparaging comments about the ally, who is entangled with him in alleged campaign finance violations.
Horne's office in August released investigator Margaret Hinchey's case file into the suspected leaks. The file included memos outlining Hinchey's interviews with eight Attorney General's Office employees.
Those memos were heavily censored, with large chunks of text blotted out. But when the Maricopa County Attorney's Office released documents from a joint investigation with the FBI into alleged campaign violations by Horne and ally Kathleen Winn, the file included the memos in their entirety.
Attorneys who specialize in First Amendment issues say there are several reasons why a government agency can withhold information from public records. However, attorneys say the fact that something is potentially embarrassing to a public official isn't one of them.
Solicitor General David Cole responded that the redactions were based on a 1984 Arizona Supreme Court ruling stating that information can be withheld on grounds of privacy, confidentiality or the best interests of the state.
"In responding to public records requests, it is the policy of this office to redact information that is known to be defamatory and false. It is also the policy of this office to redact extraneous gossip, innuendo, rumors, and hurtful remarks that have nothing to do with the legitimate functions of the agency and that can cause damage to individuals and the agency. Our practices comport with Arizona law," Cole said in an email to the Capitol Times.
Horne launched the internal investigation in 2011 after the Phoenix New Times submitted public records requests regarding Carmen Chenal, who is in charge of foreign extraditions at the Attorney General's Office, and wrote about Horne's hiring of her.
Perhaps the most damaging redacted information is about an alleged affair between Horne, who is married, and Chenal, a former law partner who worked for him at the Arizona Department of Education.
Horne hired Chenal for a six-figure job, despite a spotty record that included the loss of her law license, which she got back with his help. According to Hinchey and the FBI's interviews with employees at the Attorney General's Office, Winn often exhibited jealousy of Chenal and other female colleagues she perceived as being close to Horne.
Horne did not respond to an email and a voicemail message from the Capitol Times inquiring about the rumored affair with Chenal. Horne has refused to answer the question when asked by other media outlets.
In an email to The Associated Press, Arizona Solicitor General Dave Cole said state officials redacted information because of privacy, confidentiality, and the "best interests of the state."
"In responding to public records requests, it is the policy of this office to redact information that is known to be defamatory and false," Cole wrote. "It is also the policy of this office to redact extraneous gossip, innuendo, rumors, and hurtful remarks that have nothing to do with the legitimate functions of the agency and that can cause damage to individuals and the agency. Our practices comport with Arizona law."
And of course anything they say can and will be used against them. And the police routinely take innocent things people say and twist the words around and claim the person admitted committing a crime.
I didn't make that up, but Ray Krone,
the 100th person to be freed from death row when DNA tests proved he was innocent
told me that is what the Phoenix police did with his questioning.
They twisted around his words saying he was innocent and claimed he admitted committing the crime.
And Ray Krone told me for that reason if he is ever arrested again
he will refuse to answer any police questions and demand a lawyer.
Anarchist probe: Jailed activists say they won't talk to feds
By Kim Murphy
October 19, 2012, 10:15 p.m.
SEATTLE—The federal detention center near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is usually home to suspected bank robbers and drug dealers awaiting trial, or perhaps illegal immigrants fighting deportation. These days, though, it’s taken on an air of political intrigue, as three activists who’ve refused to testify before a federal grand jury engage in an extended war of nerves with authorities.
The federal probe, detailed in an examination of the case in the Los Angeles Times, is looking at the activities of anarchists in the Pacific Northwest and damage to a federal appeals courthouse during May Day protests in Seattle on May 1.
It has apparently become a hot topic of discussion at the detention center, where Matthew Duran, 24, a computer technician and self-described anarchist from Olympia, Wash., has been jailed since a federal judge found him in contempt for refusing to answer questions posed to him by a federal prosecutor.
"They took me down to...my unit, which is the general population area," Duran recalled in a recent interview at the detention center. "I get in there and people ran up to me and they're like, 'What's your race? Who do you roll with?' And I'm like, 'I'm not in a gang. I'm Chicano.' 'What are you here for?' 'I'm here for not snitching on people.' They're like, 'That's ... awesome.'
“In like five minutes they came back with this grocery bag full of food and toiletries, and they’re like, ‘Here, we take care of our own.’”
Duran, who grew up in Southern California, was an activist on migrant workers rights issues before moving to Olympia a few years ago. He said inmates watched the first presidential debate together. They then fell into conversation about why Duran considered himself an anarchist — what was an anarchist, they wanted to know? — and why he had elected to defy a federal judge’s order to tell a grand jury what he knew?
“They asked me, ‘Where do you stand on the spectrum?’ I said, ‘Very far left, without capitalism, without state or federal government. I think people ought to be able to organize on their own and still be accountable to their community, and to their society,’” Duran said.
“Well, there’s not a lot of cool politics up there," he said, referring to his jail unit. "It definitely got people riled up. The guy I was talking to was a libertarian who believes the fundamentals of capitalism are absolutely necessary to keep society going. Well, to maintain the status quo, I said, I guess that is technically true.”
Duran and one of his fellow activist inmates, Olympia bartender Katherine Olejnik, wore jailhouse khakis and spoke separately in a small attorney interview room as a guard waited outside.
They seemed relaxed and cheerful, mindful that they had become celebrities in activist circles that have spread their photos across the Internet. Supporters have characterized the probe as a witch hunt aimed at quashing the radical fringes of the Occupy movement.
“I do want to protect my friends and comrades from whatever I may or may not know,” Duran said. “But this is a tool from the McCarthy era, like the House Un-American Activities Committee. ‘Are you or are you not an anarchist, did you ever subscribe to this publication, have you ever been to a political meeting?' That type of thing. It seems like it was taken right out of the '50s or '60s. But I guess it’s more along the lines of, it never went away.”
Duran’s attorney, Kimberly Gordon, said a federal appeals court on Friday rejected her motion appealing Duran’s detention, though she has argued that it amounts to an unconstitutional fishing expedition through citizens’ political activities under the guise of probing crimes of vandalism.
Duran, Olejnik and Leah-Lynn Plante all have been offered immunity from prosecution — meaning they could not assert their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to testify. Federal authorities have made it clear that no one has the right to hide evidence of a crime — and damage to the federal courthouse that day and to surrounding businesses such as Niketown ran into the tens of thousands of dollars, at least.
“Matt really had no idea what they were going to ask him when he walked in there, but he was pretty resolved at that point that he did not want to be used by the government as a tool to prosecute or punish other people without his permission,” Gordon said. “He was more interested in making sure he was not used in that way than he was in keeping himself out of custody.”
Olejnik, 23, Duran’s roommate in Olympia, is studying for the law school admission test while waiting out her own indefinite period in custody. She said she is determined not to offer information about fellow activists and her own political associations, even if she has to sit at SeaTac through the end of the current grand jury’s 18-month term.
“I think it’s going to be fine,” she said. “Me and Matt are probably going to have to give up our house. But our friends are amazing. They’re going to pack up our house for us, people are raising money for a storage unit for us, they’re taking care of our cat, calling our parents, calling our employers, making sure we get mail and books.”
Duran is hoping his job at the computer company in Olympia will be waiting for him whenever he is released.
“I talked to my boss, the CEO, and they’re like, 'Wow, we never had a case like this. But you’re a good kid, you’re smart, we invested like a year’s training and we want you back, as long as you don’t get criminal charges or anything.'”
So the wait goes on.
“I really don’t see it ending any other way,” Duran said. “I know I’m not going to talk.”
Second the criminal justice system is screwed up royal. I think something like two thirds of the people in American prisons are there for victimless drug war crimes and should not be there are all.
So I think it is stupid for an employer to deny a person a job because they have been convicted of a crime. But that should be the employer's decision, not mine or some government nannies.
And last but not least the people that sell this type of information on criminal records, credit checks and other things should be held accountable when they provide false information which harms people.
Business risks rise in criminal history discrimination
By Ellen Jean Hirst, Chicago Tribune reporter
October 21, 2012
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sent a warning to businesses: Conduct criminal background checks at your own risk.
Companies that ask job applicants if they've been convicted of a felony or check criminal histories expose themselves to potential discrimination lawsuits.
"I would suggest to (businesses) that they think long and hard about why they think they need to do a criminal background check," said John Hendrickson, the regional attorney for the EEOC's Chicago district.
The EEOC in April issued enforcement guidance on the matter that is expected to hold significant sway in court. The commission stated that people cannot be denied employment based solely on criminal histories but stops short of banning the use of criminal background checks.
To avoid missteps, the EEOC suggests that companies consider three things: how long ago the crime was committed, the nature of the crime and how the crime might relate to the job. The agency also said companies should also give ex-offenders a chance during job interviews to explain conviction circumstances as well as rehabilitation efforts.
"Employers should record and document the justification for their employment decisions when they are making the decision with someone with a criminal history," said Jeff Nowak, a Chicago labor and employment attorney.
Sometimes there are good business reasons not to hire people with certain criminal records.
For example, if a job applicant were a convicted embezzler, the company would have a strong case not to hire that person in a financial capacity. However, the person might be qualified to hold jobs that don't deal with money.
Even before the guidance was issued, companies were put on notice that they could be vulnerable to paying damages to people for using their criminal history background against them. In January, Pepsi was ordered in a court case to pay $3.13 million to black applicants who'd been denied work because of past arrests or minor convictions. As a result, Pepsi revamped its hiring procedures.
A 2007 court case triggered the EEOC to look at the issue. In the case, Douglas El claimed he was unjustly fired when his employer learned about a 40-year-old second-degree murder conviction. While an appeals court upheld his dismissal, the court asked the EEOC to provide a legal analysis and updated research on the impact of using criminal records in hiring decisions.
The EEOC found that significantly more African-American and Hispanic people — especially men — are incarcerated, so they are disproportionately affected when companies don't hire ex-offenders.
Since the guidance was published, the commission's Chicago district has fielded a slight increase in criminal history discrimination complaints, according to John Rowe, the EEOC's Chicago District Office director. In years past he said it was rare for anyone to file such a complaint.
At the same time, employers are being forced to consider: "Do I want to risk ... being sued by the EEOC or risk criminal conduct by future employees that might impact my clients?" said Nowak.
So far, more businesses are opting not to conduct criminal background checks, with 14 percent of businesses reporting this year that they don't do them, a 7 percent increase from 2010, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. In 2012, 69 percent of businesses used criminal background checks for every position, while the rest only use the checks for some positions.
Because of the potential for negligent hiring suits due to employee criminal misconduct, Nowak said businesses should still do criminal background checks.
Some small businesses like Erie-LaSalle Body Shop in Chicago, a 78-year-old family-owned business, mostly rely on intuition when making hires.
Owner Robert Gottfred is glad to interview anyone who shows the initiative to make an appointment.
He does criminal background checks only after he knows he wants to hire someone, as a precaution. His main concerns about prospective hires are involvement in serious crimes such as theft or sexual or physical abuse.
"I use somewhat of my intuition in many cases, sometimes right, sometimes wrong," Gottfred said. "Obviously I'm for the freedom for the employer to act in the best interest of his employees and clients."
While he had not heard of the EEOC's enforcement guidance, Gottfred said he has hired ex-offenders he felt were qualified.
Sometimes people who aren't called back after job interviews never know the reason they've been rejected.
A case in point is William Greene, a 60-year-old with a slew of drug convictions from his youth who five years ago decided to turn his life around. "I promised my mom I'd leave everything alone," Greene said. "She begged me to stop."
Greene worked at two jobs as cook for a few years each and spent almost a year as an assistant to a disabled stroke patient, who was also a friend. He was fired, unjustly Greene said, from his job as a cook in 2010 when new management came in. Since then, he's applied for many jobs but never hears back.
"If you never get a call back, if you don't know, how can you know you're being discriminated against?" Green asked.
The EEOC guidance could mean he'll start getting calls back, or at least explanations, for why he wasn't hired.
Mike Dombrowski, program director at Illinois Manufacturing Foundation, understands Greene's frustration. He helps run a 600-hour training program at the Sheridan Correctional Center to prepare inmates to get jobs after they've served their time. He teaches the inmates specific machining and vocational skills and requires them to attend counseling.
Dombrowski said the deciding factor in recidivism is whether the ex-offender can find a job.
"You give him an education and a decent living wage, and he can stay out of prison," Dombrowski said.
Some businesses, like Chicago's Lou Malnati's, have been hiring felons for years.
The popular Chicago-style pizza chain runs a program that helps train felons to work at the restaurant, Chief Operating Officer Jim D'Angelo said.
Several of D'Angelo's most loyal employees have come from that program, he said.
"I'd say the success of the program is if the individual is ready to change their life," D'Angelo said.
Businesses that haven't already will likely begin to revise policies that bar hiring ex-offenders and assess whether convictions have "a nexus to the job," said Nancy Hammer, senior government affairs policy counsel for the Society for Human Resource Management.
Once businesses do that, she said, they can focus on candidates' central qualities.
"The bottom line, too, is what they're really looking at is skills," Hammer said. "Do you have the right skills? Do you have the right experience? All this other stuff is sort of in addition to that."
ehirst@tribune.com
Hey, we all know that either Obamney or Rombama is going to
win the election, so what hard could there be in letting the Libertarians
and Greens into the debate. It would give us some new interesting ideas.
Like legalizing drugs, ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and repealing
the unconstitutional Patriot Act.
And no I don't work for Sheriff Joe and wouldn't work for him if you paid me.
Let's hope Sheriff Joe loses this election and is replaced by
Paul Penzone.
Of course
Paul Penzone
isn't much better then Sheriff Joe,
but it certainly would be nice to get rid of Sheriff Joe who has been terrorizing
the citizens of Maricopa County for the last 20 years.
Scottsdale examines police overspending
By Beth Duckett The Republic | azcentral.com Sun Oct 21, 2012 10:11 PM
Top officials in Scottsdale say they are taking steps to manage excess overtime and other costs that triggered a $500,000 shortfall in the city’s Police Department last quarter.
Several Scottsdale elected officials have raised concerns about the overspending.
“When you bust your budget and don’t have an answer for why it’s happening, there is a cause for concern,” Mayor Jim Lane told The Arizona Republic. “It’s something we need to stay on top of.”
The lapse, which stemmed mostly from police overtime but also included wages and other extra costs, occurred during the first three months of the fiscal year, which started July 1.
If the trend continues, critics say, the Police Department could overextend its budget this year by upwards of $2 million.
Scottsdale’s Police Department initially was $700,000 over its budget for overtime, wages and other related costs as of Sept. 30.
Because of savings elsewhere, the overall difference now is $500,000, a city finance official said.
At least one Scottsdale City Council member has asked for a laundry list of potential cuts to offset the ongoing overage, which could take months to fix.
“I don’t think the Police Department’s inability or unwillingness to manage its overtime payments should be at the expense of all the other staffers or other city services,” said Councilman Ron McCullagh, a vocal critic.
But others in Scottsdale have defended the department, saying police and the Public Safety director are being unfairly targeted.
“It’s fine to be a fiscal conservative, but you have to have your priorities in order,” said City Councilman Bob Littlefield.
“Public safety is the Number 1 priority in this town. The citizens have said time and time again that their Number 1 priority is to make sure they’re safe.”
Seeking answers
McCullagh insisted that his concerns about the department aren’t personal.
“It is no more than I would ask of any other department head who was way over budget three months into the fiscal year,” he said.
Even so, several council members have accused McCullagh and others of wrongfully attacking the Public Safety Department and its executive director, Alan Rodbell, during a recent council meeting.
“What I was adamant about, what I resented and what I became emotional about, was the fact that Ron (McCullagh) was giving the police chief (Rodbell) a hard time,” Littlefield said.
During the council discussion, McCullagh asked Rodbell if he thought the department would be within budget by the end of the current quarter, Dec.31.
Rodbell said it will be difficult to resolve the imbalance by the end of the second quarter, but he is moving to address the issue.
“With vacancies and spiraling vacancies, if we don’t start attracting employees and maintaining and retaining our employees, this is exactly what takes place,” Rodbell told the council.
“What we’re doing is looking very seriously at our scheduling to see if we can do some different scheduling,” he added.
“Until I fill the vacancies, I’m not too sure I can take overtime out of the equation entirely.”
Several council members said the city manager, not the Public Safety director, should address the issue.
The city manager, who oversees the budget, could conclude that the police overtime was necessary and could compensate by taking money from elsewhere in the budget, Littlefield said.
Scottsdale acting City Manager Dan Worth told TheRepublic he is working alongside Rodbell to find a solution.
A last resort would be to reallocate dollars from another city department, he said.
“There’s a number of things we’re doing already,” Worth said. “We’re going to report it frequently so the council knows where we stand, and we can see if we can reverse the trend.”
Scottsdale is searching for a permanent city manager after David Richert resigned in July. The council chose Worth, the Public Works executive director, to fill in temporarily, under the condition that he will not pursue the position permanently.
A new city manager will not be hired until after the newly seated council takes office in January.
Staffing shortages
Scottsdale has earmarked roughly $79.5 million for police expenses this fiscal year, which makes up about one-third of its general-fund budget for basic services. The current budget ends on June 30.
Police officials cited several factors that are driving up overtime costs, most notably the temporary filling of jobs while police employees are training, on military leave or injured.
Sgt. Mark Clark, a department spokesman, said the police budget has a built-in cushion for unexpected staffing losses, which “have been more than that cushion can allow for this year.”
Since the budget took effect July 1, the department has lost 12 sworn and six civilian positions, he said.
Once a police officer leaves, it can take about a year to train a replacement.
To fill those positions while employees are training, the city has relied on existing employees to work overtime.
“Operating at minimum critical-service levels, which is where we are, if you don’t have actual people, fully functioning officers or dispatchers available, then you have to pay overtime,” Clark said.
He added that Scottsdale residents “have certain standards they expect for the Police Department.”
Councilwoman Suzanne Klapp said the council was made aware during budget talks that overtime would be higher this year because of police officers leaving the department.
“I believe it’s an overreaction to the overtime issue,” said Klapp, who is up for re-election in November. “Not that it’s not important. But I believe there is an explanation for why it’s occurring and steps are being taken to try and improve it over time.”
One reason for the exodus of employees, critics say, is waning wages and benefits.
According to a recent compensation study comparing Scottsdale with other Valley police departments, rookie police officers in Scottsdale earn the lowest salary of officers in all major cities in the Phoenix metro area.
'Kill Obama' sign gets Colorado man a visit from Secret Service
Think of it as a jobs program for overpaid and under worked Secret Service agents.
Protester sprouts peace sign in lawn
Source
Meet Edward "Jack" Lowell: age 59, Arizona State University graduate, geologist, gemologist, Tempe resident and tireless war protester since the Vietnam era.
Jack Lowell - Terrorized by Tempe Messy Yard Police
Source
Jack Lowell has taken his case to the mayor and City Council. Last month, he spoke during the public-comment portion of the council meeting, hoping to express his grievance to a larger Tempe audience watching the meeting at home on TV.
Redflex gives bribes to Chicago official????
Photo Radar - it's all about money!!!!
Been screwed by Uncle Sam???
Source
Alcohol causó muerte de alguacil Dever
Source
Mesa p*ssed away $142,000 in failed attempt to shut down tattoo parlor!
Mesa pissed away $142,000 in failed attempt to shut down tattoo parlor!
Woman arrested after slapping officer
Don't these pigs have any REAL criminals to hunt down???
Gilbert to redefine definition of "parks" to keep pot stores out of town???
From this article I suspect the town of Gilbert,
which is really a city under Arizona law, wants to
redefine the definition of "park" to prevent medical
marijuana dispensaries from coming to the town or city.
Will Obama bomb Libya to get reelected???
Will Obama order drone strikes on Libya to get reelected in 2012?
Let's outlaw intelligence
Source
Pot smokers force burglars to get naked
Pot smokers force people that robbed them to get naked.
Tempe wants $29.8 million to fix the Tempe Town Toilet???
Tempe wants $29.8 million to fix Tempe Town Toilet and fund cops
DEA is "biased" on marijuana?
DEA is "biased" on marijuana and ignores its medical benefits and exaggerates its danger??
Blind man having a stroke tasered by the pigs
Cops have some stun gun fun on a blind man having a stroke
FBI busts another bomb plot they created!!!
Who needs criminals when you have the FBI?
BP thugs shoot Mexican teenager in the back?
Source
Sheriff Babeu spends money like a drunken sailor???
Source
Warren Jeffs sees Texas bigamy charges dropped
Warren Jeffs was railroaded on bigamy charges???
Tom Horne ordered to refund illegal campaign contributions
Tom Horne doesn't obey the laws he pretends to enforce???
A prosecutor is ordering Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne to report and refund hundreds of thousands of dollars of allegedly illegal campaign contributions benefiting Horne’s 2010 election campaign.
Mexico lying about murdering drug lord Heriberto Lazcano???
Mexico lying about murdering drug lord Heriberto Lazcano???
Critica Fox al gobierno por el 'mal manejo' del caso 'Lazca'
Source
Winnebago County wants to bring the 2nd Amendment back to Illinois!!!
Winnebago County wants to un-repeal the 2nd Amendment in Illinois!!!
DEA Painkiller Crackdown Targets Drug Distributors
DEA Painkiller Crackdown Targets Drug Distributors
CIA wants drones to kill with
CIA wants drones so it can be the judge, jury and executioner??
LA Sheriff sued for refusing to release people on bail
Source
Police use of drones concerns activists
Source
San Jose piggy busted for sheet fraud case???
Source
Arredondo left giant black mark on Tempe
Source
Montgomery tells Horne to pay back election cash
Source
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery is ordering Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne and an employee to accurately report and refund hundreds of thousands of dollars of alleged illegal campaign donations.
A jobs program for DPS cops??
A welfare program to give overpaid and under worked cops overtime pay??? Probably!!!
Do they really need to hire DPS cops and pay them $50 an hour
(which is the cost when you ad in over time and retirement)
to round up lost children when you could hire rent-a-cops to
do the same thing for $10 an hour
George Whitmore Jr. dies at 68; exonerated in three N.Y. murders
Source
Bus companies trace your moves for the police???
I suspect this also happens in Phoenix, if you buy a weekly or monthly bus pass. Valley Metro probably keeps track each and every time that you board a bus.
Attorney General Tom Horne blocked embarrassing info???
Remember this is coming from a guy who wants to jail medical marijuana users.
If you ask me Tom Horne''s war on pot smokers is just a smoke screen to cover up his own crimes.
The Arizona Attorney General's Office redacted embarrassing information in a release of hundreds of documents from an internal probe over suspected media leaks.
Anarchist probe: Jailed activists say they won't talk to feds
I don't agree with these alleged anarchists, but they are certainly doing the right thing by refusing to talk to the police.
EEOC - Refuse to hire a criminal? You could be sued!!!
Hmmm ... Uncle Sam will deny you a student loan if you admit smoking marijuana but the Feds will let you sue a private business that does the same thing. What hypocrites.
Were some issues missing from these debates?
Some choice for President - Obamney or Rombama - forget Gary Johnson or Jill Stein.
In this
editorial
Vin points out that the Presidential debates are rigged to exclude
third parties like Gary Johnson from the Libertarian Party and
Jill Stein from the Green Party.
Sheriff Joe's IT guy
Since I am a computer geek, I figured I would include this
article
I saw on the New Times about Sheriff Joe's IT guy.
He is of Chad Willems who operates a business called
of Summit Consulting when he isn't working at his full time
job at Maricopa County.
Scottsdale cops spend our money like drunken sailors!!!
Scottsdale police over spend by $700,000
Source
Lets face it the police are corrupt to the core. You should quickly be able to figure that out from this article.
Beaten bartender's suit will feature off-duty cop's beating video at upcoming trial
Woman attacked by cop alleges police 'code of silence' led to cover-up
By Annie Sweeney, Chicago Tribune reporter
7:06 a.m. CDT, October 22, 2012
The shocking videotape showed off-duty Chicago police Officer Anthony Abbate throw a female bartender half his size against a wall in the Northwest Side tavern, slam her to the floor and pummel her with frenzied punches and kicks.
Weeks later, fearful for the bartender's safety and that police had downplayed the seriousness of the beating, her lawyers released the video, sparking international outrage and one of the most embarrassing incidents in the Police Department's history.
Now, almost six years later, bartender Karolina Obrycka's lawsuit against Abbate and the city of Chicago is set to go to trial on Monday in federal court. While the videotaped beating remains the emotional center of the case, the trial will turn on whether Abbate, other officers and higher-level police officials engaged in a cover-up to try to protect the veteran officer and keep the damaging video from public exposure.
Obrycka's lawyers will attempt to put the so-called code of silence among cops on trial, a review of court records shows.
A spokesman for the city's Law Department declined to discuss the case, but at a court hearing last week, attorney Matthew Hurd, representing the city at the trial, made it clear there will be no last-minute settlement despite the potential millions of dollars in damages at stake.
"This case is a matter of principle," said Hurd, explaining later that the city won't settle lawsuits by paying damages on behalf of officers involved in altercations while off-duty.
Details of the beating won't likely be in dispute at the trial, but the clash will still be a key part of the evidence. Jurors are expected to view the video and hear from both Obrycka and Abbate, who was found guilty for the beating, on what happened at Jesse's Short Stop Inn on Feb. 19, 2007, and in the hours and days afterward.
By witness accounts, Abbate consumed large quantities of alcohol during two separate visits to the bar that day. He first left the bar about 3 p.m. after he started a fight with another patron and a different bartender cut him off from more alcohol, according to court records. Obrycka was working behind the bar for a couple of hours before Abbate returned about 8 p.m. Over the next hour and a half, he drank mixed drinks and shots of brandy, the records indicate.
Earlier, the video showed an agitated Abbate punching one friend and tossing another to the floor in apparent anger over a remark made about his dog. He is seen shouting "Chicago Police Department" over and over again as he flexed his biceps. At one point, he sang "Sweet Caroline" to Obrycka as the juke box played.
At about 9:30 p.m., after Obrycka refused to serve him more alcohol, Abbate went behind the bar. A determined Obrycka tried to fight back, but at 6 feet 1 inches and 250 pounds, Abbate towered over her. He slammed her into a wall, tossed her to the floor and punched and kicked her repeatedly, telling her "nobody tells me what to do," court records allege.
When Abbate left, Obrycka immediately called 911, touching off what her lawyers contend was a cover-up by police concerned over one of their own.
Two veteran Grand Central District patrol officers responded and learned from Obrycka that her attacker was a Chicago police officer and that the entire incident was captured by surveillance cameras. However, the officers didn't mention either detail in their report, according to the court records.
Obrycka's lawyers said that another bartender, Patti Chiriboga, a friend of Abbate's, warned the officer's girlfriend the day of the beating about the damaging nature of the videotape. Abbate and his police partner made some 150 phone calls to other officers and detectives in the hours after the beating, according to court records.
That same evening, Gary Ortiz, another Abbate friend and city employee, went to the bar to ask Obrycka not to press charges, according to the lawsuit. Ortiz relayed that Abbate had offered to pay for Obrycka's medical bills and time off work if she did not complain to the department or file a lawsuit, her lawyers contend. Obrycka declined the offer. According to court records, the city has conceded that Ortiz's action was an attempted bribe.
Obrycka's lawyers also contend that Chiriboga, after meeting with Abbate, warned of problems for the bar and its employees if the videotape didn't disappear.
In a conversation secretly tape-recorded by the bar's owner, Martin Kolodziej, Chiriboga allegedly explained how a desperate Abbate had angrily threatened her to help conceal the beating, even making a veiled reference about her brother at one point.
"He goes, 'Believe me what I tell you.' He said, 'Your life, everybody in the (expletive) bar — this is, this is — I'm backed against the wall,'" a transcript quoted Chiriboga as saying. "'I don't give a (expletive). I did, I did that to Karolina,' he said, 'but I want the tape. I want the (expletive) tape.'
"He calls me — he tells me, 'Do you love your brother?'"
In the same conversation, Chiriboga told Kolodziej that Abbate threatened to falsify charges or plant evidence if necessary.
"You tell Martin to get rid of that tape or there's gonna be people getting DUIs," she quoted Abbate as telling her, according to the transcript. "You might be driving with a pound of (expletive) cocaine on you."
Three days after the beating, officers interviewed Obrycka and handed her a typed complaint form for a misdemeanor battery, her lawyers said.
According to Obrycka's lawyers, Chiriboga lied when she told the Office of Professional Standards, the agency then responsible for investigating police misconduct, that Abbate never made those threats.
The lawyers alleged that the conspiracy to cover up the extent of the beating stretched high into the department.
According to the lawsuit, OPS investigators did not follow up on the allegations of bribery and intimidation, didn't conduct a meaningful interview of Abbate or recommend his suspension, and submitted incomplete evidence to the Cook County state's attorney's office.
"The OPS investigators set about a concerted and deliberate effort to minimize and conceal from public scrutiny the details and facts of the case," the lawsuit said.
In addition, an assistant deputy superintendent in charge of the Internal Affairs Division soft-pedaled Abbate's wrongdoing in a call to the deputy chief of the state's attorney's professional standards unit, calling it a misdemeanor battery, according to Obrycka's lawyers.
It wasn't until March 14 that Abbate was charged — with misdemeanor battery.
A few days later, Obrycka's lawyers released the videotape to the news media. In their lawsuit, they said they took that step because of the Police Department's inaction and out of concern for Obrycka's safety.
The tape of the beating went viral, causing a firestorm of criticism that ultimately contributed to the sudden retirement of then-Police Superintendent Philip Cline and the overhaul of how allegations of wrongdoing by officers are investigated.
Within days, prosecutors upgraded the charges against Abbate to felonies.
In 2009 Abbate was convicted in a bench trial after his attorney tried to portray Obrycka as the aggressor. At sentencing, prosecutors sought prison time, saying it was "by the grace of God" that Obrycka "wasn't hurt or worse."
But in a controversial decision, Circuit Judge John Fleming spared Abbate from prison, sentencing him to two years of probation. Abbate was later fired by the Chicago Police Board.
asweeney@tribune.com
More on the alleged photo radar crooks at Redflex
Source
Redflex consultant also has ties to controversy in Louisiana
By David Kidwell, Chicago Tribune reporter
October 22, 2012
A consultant for Chicago's embattled red-light camera vendor — under scrutiny for his $570,000 in commissions and his relationship to the city manager who oversaw the contract — is also tied to another company deal investigated in an ongoing federal corruption probe in Louisiana, the Tribune has learned.
A federal grand jury in 2010 demanded records from Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. involving its 2007 deal to install red-light cameras in Jefferson Parish, a large suburban government just outside New Orleans, a company lawyer disclosed in a Tribune interview. The lawyer said company officials are confident nothing was improper.
"They asked questions about procurement arrangements and whether or not there had been any inappropriate conduct on behalf of Redflex," the company's general counsel, Andrejs Bunkse, said in a recent interview. "We gave them all our records and thoroughly complied, and haven't heard from them in close to two years."
The company's deal was among many government contracts that federal authorities examined in a wide-ranging probe of the parish, which functions much like a county. The investigation has led to several convictions including a guilty plea last month by the former parish council president, but none was related to Redflex's dealings in Louisiana.
The U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Jim Letten, declined to discuss his office's ongoing investigation, including whether Redflex remains under scrutiny.
Federal authorities subpoenaed Redflex after disclosures about a lucrative commission deal the company gave to a lobbyist and former New Orleans city councilman who helped swing the votes for the multimillion dollar contract. The lobbyist's commission deal was worth about 3 percent of the contract.
Redflex was introduced to lobbyist Bryan Wagner by Marty O'Malley, a company consultant and its Chicago customer service representative, who used to work for an environmental company in Louisiana. Redflex and O'Malley came under scrutiny in Chicago this month amid Tribune inquiries into internal Redflex allegations about O'Malley's own large commission deal and his personal ties to former city manager John Bills. Bills oversaw the company contract for red-light cameras in Chicago.
In the wake of those reports, Chicago rejected Redflex's bid for a new speed camera program, Bills was asked to resign his post on a clout-heavy county panel and the city inspector general opened an investigation that includes Redflex's relationship with Bills and O'Malley. Both Bills and O'Malley said they have done nothing improper.
O'Malley, 72, of Worth, was first hired by Redflex in 2003 to be the company's liaison to Chicago officials at the outset of its contract to install red-light cameras throughout the city. In a recent interview, O'Malley said he met Wagner years before when Wagner was lobbying for O'Malley's former employer.
"Yes, that's correct. I introduced them," O'Malley told the Tribune. "Bryan Wagner and I worked together when I worked for an environmental abatement company in Louisiana in the 1990s. I knew Redflex was having trouble making any headway there, so I mentioned that I knew somebody down there that might help if they were interested."
Wagner did not return telephone messages Friday.
On. Sept. 24, U.S. Attorney Letten's office entered into a plea agreement with former Jefferson Parish president Aaron Broussard, who was indicted last year on charges involving bribery and wire fraud. He pleaded guilty to two counts, and agreed to cooperate with federal authorities in their ongoing probe. He is set to be sentenced Feb. 25. Two top parish aides and a contractor also have pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy.
At a news conference the next day, FBI Special Agent Michael Anderson told reporters: "I know that there's more out there."
After disclosures in 2010 about Redflex's deal with Wagner, the Jefferson Parish council voted to suspend the contract. That move prompted a lawsuit from Redflex, seeking more than $7 million in lost revenue and penalties. That litigation continues.
O'Malley said he tried to negotiate a similar deal when he went to work for Redflex in Chicago in 2003.
"I threw out the idea that I should get 3 percent of every ticket, but it was just laughed at," O'Malley said. "I tried to negotiate the best deal I could."
Instead, he received $50,000 in annual pay and a $1,500 commission for each of the 384 cameras that would be installed over the next seven years — collecting more than $570,000.
O'Malley said there was nothing inappropriate in his relationships with Wagner in Louisiana or Bills in Chicago.
The allegations against O'Malley and Bills — along with a description of O'Malley's role in introducing Wagner to the company — were included in an Aug. 24, 2010, letter written by a Redflex executive who was under investigation for substantial abuse of the company expense account. After the letter was sent to the board of directors of Redflex's Australian parent company, company counsel Bunkse said an outside law firm discounted most of the allegations.
Bunkse said the independent review uncovered one instance in which the company paid for a two-day hotel tab for Bills at the Arizona Biltmore in March 2010. The company did not inform Chicago city officials of the allegations or its findings until Tribune inquiries this month.
That failure prompted the Emanuel administration last week to accuse the company of covering up the matter, and disqualifying it as a bidder in the mayor's plan to pepper up to half the city with cameras to catch speeders near schools and parks. Redflex's role as operator of Chicago's red-light cameras — which have generated some $300 million in ticket revenue for the city and more than $97 million in fees for Redflex — is also in doubt pending the city's investigation.
The stakes are huge for the publicly traded company. It is bidding on camera projects across the nation, from Tacoma, Wash., to Baltimore, where this month it was chosen as a finalist for that city's speed camera program.
After Chicago's decision to label the company a "non-responsible bidder," Redflex Holdings Group made a filing to the Australian Securities Exchange announcing its troubles in Chicago — which the filing said represents 13 percent of the company's total revenue.
The filing notified stockholders that the company's bid on speed cameras has been rejected, and "the city has also notified the company that the current in-force contracts for red-light enforcement are in breach." By the close of the market Friday, Redflex stock had dropped more than 20 percent on the Australian exchange since the announcement — from $2.10 to $1.66 per share.
dkidwell@tribune.com
Scottsdale-based Taser donates $300K to police
By Kevin Johnson USA Today Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:23 PM
WASHINGTON - The nation’s largest association of police chiefs, which has advised thousands of its members on the appropriate use of stun guns, accepted a $300,000 donation from the foundation associated with Scottsdale-based Taser International, the biggest supplier of stun guns to law enforcement.
The contribution to the International Association of Chiefs of Police Foundation, the organization’s philanthropic arm, raises questions because police are a primary source of business for the Arizona company.
The rapid deployment of stun guns across the country, and questions related to their safety, prompted the International Association of Chiefs of Police in 2007 to publish guidelines for “selecting, acquiring and using” the devices.
And as recently as this year, the police-chiefs association cited the increasing use of stun guns in a report on police use-of-force issues.
Police-chiefs association and Taser officials said they found nothing wrong with the gift, saying the contribution — the largest ever to the association foundation — would provide funds to families of officers killed in the line of duty.
But law-enforcement and criminal-justice analysts said the donation raises questions about the police-chiefs association’s ability to engage in future reviews involving the technology and whether the contribution represented a de facto endorsement.
“When you accept that kind of donation, you create an impression that you view the product favorably,” said Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s largest police union. “There is an appearance issue here.”
Samuel Walker, a University of Nebraska criminologist who has written on police-accountability issues, said the relationship “raises serious concerns.”
“It’s like a non-profit taking funds from the tobacco industry and being involved in studies on smoking and lung cancer,” Walker said.
Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said the company sought no favored treatment for its products in the decision to contribute.
“We did this (foundation contribution) for the highest of purposes,” Tuttle said, adding that the company’s foundation had initially raised the funds to assist the families of fallen officers.
The gift was announced earlier this month at the police-chiefs association’s annual conference in San Diego. Taser said it was transferring the money from its own foundation, which provides aid to the families of police killed in the line of duty, so that it could be administered by the chiefs’ group.
James McMahon, the police-chiefs association’s chief of staff, said the contribution had no connection to the association’s research program. He said the foundation is a separate entity under the association and Taser’s donation represented a transaction “from one foundation to another.”
I bet that was a smoke screen to cover up his crimes.
Redacted parts of AG Office documents allege impropriety
By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Oct 23, 2012 12:34 AM
The redactions could violate state public-records law, some legal experts say.
The Arizona Public Records Law requires state and local government agencies to make various public records open for inspection by any person unless it is confidential by law, or if privacy interests outweigh the public’s interest or if disclosure is not in the state’s best interest.
The Attorney General’s Office in August produced for The Arizona Republic and other media hundreds of records that stemmed from a 2011 internal investigation Horne ordered into suspected media leaks. The records included eight memos — some with large areas redacted — summarizing interviews of attorney-general employees by Horne’s investigator, Margaret “Meg” Hinchey.
Earlier this month, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office produced unredacted versions of six Hinchey memos as part of the records it released tied to an investigation into alleged campaign-finance violations by Horne and his employee Kathleen Winn. County Attorney Bill Montgomery has accused the pair of illegally coordinating tactics during the 2010 election with an independent-expenditure committee Winn chaired. Horne and Winn deny the allegations and have vowed to fight them in court.
A comparison of the two versions of six memos shows the Attorney General’s Office redacted information about an alleged personal relationship between Horne, a married man, and Assistant Attorney General Carmen Chenal, a long-time Horne employee and confidant.
The office also redacted an employee statement that focused on Winn performing private work on government time — a practice that Horne personally sanctioned — as well as remarks witnesses made about Winn’s behavior.
When asked Monday if he would comment on the personal allegations against him, Horne responded via text, “Cole’s characterization is appropriate.”
Arizona Solicitor General David Cole, who oversaw the redactions, said “speculative, mean spirited, nasty gossip that can be false and that can be the subject of lawsuits for defamation does not serve the public interest.”
Chenal could not be reached for comment late Monday.
Winn said statements made by witnesses about her were false, describing one witness as “mentally unstable,” and Hinchey as a sloppy investigator who must not have fully understood witnesses’ statements.
Amy Rezzonico, Horne’s spokeswoman, said the redactions were consistent with state law, and based on privacy, confidentiality and the best interests of the state. In an e-mailed statement, she wrote it is office policy “to redact information that is known to be defamatory and false. It is also the policy of this office to redact extraneous gossip, innuendo, rumors, and hurtful remarks that have nothing to do with the legitimate functions of the agency and that can cause damage to individuals and the agency.”
First Amendment lawyers and experts, however, said the records shed light on the conduct of public officials and should not be redacted.
“The courts have consistently held that just because something is embarrassing to a public official does not mean that it should not be released as part of a public-records request,” said lawyer Dan Barr, who reviewed both versions of the memos. “The best interests of the state do not equate with the best interests of public officials.”
Lawyers also pointed to the attorney general’s own handbook, a guide for agencies to use when determining which documents are subject to public scrutiny under the Arizona Public Records Law. That handbook specifically cites one Arizona court, which found, “The cloak of confidentiality may not be used, however, to save an officer or public body from inconvenience or embarrassment.”
Cole, who reports to Horne, said Horne was not involved in deciding what information was redacted.
Cole wrote in an e-mail to The Republic that he has a public-records committee comprised of seasoned lawyers to ensure the agency follows the law. He cited case law that he believes shows his office acted properly in redacting the material.
Kathryn Marquoit, assistant ombudsman for public access at the state ombudsman’s office, has not reviewed the redactions. Generally, she said, agencies must find that it would be an invasion of privacy before it redacts such information.
“Just because it’s personal information doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an invasion of privacy,” she said, saying in this case, the agency appears to try to make a case that the information is not public because it does not deal with the public business.
“But I think that’s a tough argument to make,” she said.
In July 2011, Horne handpicked Hinchey to conduct a confidential internal investigation to determine if someone within the office had leaked information to the PhoenixNew Times regarding his hiring of Chenal despite a history of problems with her law license. Hinchey interviewed numerous employees, obtained access to staff phone records and e-mails, and searched Winn’s office once she became the suspected source of the leak.
The Attorney General’s Office’s redactions to Hinchey’s notes included:
Numerous references to an alleged affair between Horne and Chenal. Lucia de Vernai, a legal assistant, stated she heard Winn mention the rumor of an affair between Horne and Chenal five to ten times.
Assistant Attorney General Michael Flynn recalled another employee telling him about a video of Horne and Chenal walking together and that “Horne’s arms swung in a manner, that just prior to going off camera, that one might think AG Horne was about to give Chenal a ‘butt pat.’”
Numerous references to employees dislike of Winn because of her alleged “jealousy” of other women she perceived to be close to Horne, her alleged treatment of other employees and Winn’s alleged giddiness after the New Times wrote a story about the alleged affair between Horne and Chenal.
Linnea Heap, a collector in the agency, stated Winn made “snarky” comments about Heap’s friendship with Chenal and said Winn talked about being contacted by a reporter about “the rumor of an affair” between Chenal and Horne.
Heap also recalled a conversation with Winn during the 2010 campaign, according to the notes. “Heap indicated that she thinks Winn desires the attention and that it seems she is now trying to be ‘Mrs. AG,’” the notes stated.
Winn told The Republic she is happily married and is not jealous of any women at the office.
“I’m very secure in who I am,” she said. “I have a great relationship with the AG.”
De Vernai recalled a conversation she had with Winn, in which she said Winn stated, “C’mon. If Tom was going to have an affair, who do you think he would have one with? Carmen or me?”
De Vernai also recalled a dinner, where Winn told her, Chenal and one other woman, “I’m the new girlfriend. You’re the crabby old one.” De Vernai said the other woman, who helped out during the 2010 election, responded she would “arm wrestle” Winn for Horne.
Winn said she did not say that.
Numerous references to employees’ exasperation with Winn, whom one employee alleged inserts herself into work-related matters she was not qualified to handle. For example, Flynn was uncomfortable that Winn allegedly gave her personal cellphone number to a juvenile who sought her advice on an incident while attending a “sexting” lecture. “Flynn does not think Winn should have done that as she makes herself a witness to a crime and likely is not qualified to provide such ‘counseling,’” Hinchey’s notes read.
Flynn also told Hinchey he had the impression Winn thinks she is a “cop, an attorney and a counselor.” Hinchey wrote Flynn was aware of Winn “conducting her own investigation into some party level activity related to precinct party voting.”
Former Assistant Attorney General Gerald Richard told Hinchey that Winn once asked him to get Chenal to use her relationship with Horne to get Winn a raise. Winn earns an annual salary of about $100,000.
Winn said she does not recall that conversation.
De Vernai said she believed Winn, who has a real-estate-related background, “solicits employees” as clients, and that she has reported concerns about Winn twice to Horne who responded he “won’t fire her.”
Winn said she has never solicited work from employees. Records provided to The Republic in the past show Horne allowed Winn to perform private real-estate-related work on government time.
I bet that was a smoke screen to cover up his crimes.
Tom Horne's office withholds public information to protect ... Tom Horne
By LAURIE ROBERTS
Mon, Oct 22 2012
When we last left our story, we had learned that our hero was suspected of having an affair with an assistant attorney general he’d hired – a woman whose qualifications were, let’s just say, less than impressive. And, that Horne and another of his hires – a women who ran a supposedly independent campaign to help get him elected – have been accused of violating campaign-finance laws.
The state’s top law enforcement official has dodged accusations of an affair and denied trying to cheat his way into office by coordinating with a supposedly “independent” campaign that was pouring money into his 2010 election bid.
Which brings us to today’s episode: Public Records, Schmublic Records…. in which we learn that the Attorney General’s Office has been hiding records about embarrassing stuff. Things like his rumored affair with Assistant Attorney General Carmen Chenal and questions about the on-the-job conduct of Kathleen Winn, his campaign ally-turned-community-outreach-coordinator.
The story actually began in July 2011, when New Times columnist Stephen Lemons questioned why Horne would hire Chenal given that she had, among other things, long ago been suspended from practicing law.
(That is, until Horne helped her get her license back. She’s now on probation while serving as an assistant attorney general.)
Horne immediately launched an internal investigation. No, not to find out why his office was paying a six-figure salary to a woman who had questionable credentials, but to find the source of the leak to Lemons.
Instead, the investigator found evidence suggesting that Horne had violated state law by coordinating with Winn’s independent campaign.
In August, Horne’s office released results of the leak investigation, as Arizona’s Public Records Law required. But the records were heavily censored.
Earlier this month, we found out why. That’s when Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, in announcing that Horne and Winn had violated campaign-finance laws, released a clean copy of the records.
Turns out all those pages blacked out by the Attorney General’s Office contained interviews with staffers who talked of Horne’s rumored long-time affair with Chenal. Of reports that Winn was calling herself Horne’s “new girlfriend” and “inserting herself” into cases where she had no business, given that she is neither an attorney nor an investigator. Of concerns that Winn was working on her mortgage broker business on state time.
Horne spokeswoman Amy Rezzonico said in an e-mail that the records were withheld “on the bases of privacy, confidentiality and best interests of the state.”
Indeed, the Arizona Supreme Court has said that records may be withheld “where recognition of the interests of privacy, confidentiality or the best interest of the state in carrying out its legitimate activities outweigh the general policy of open access.”
The court also has said the state must “specifically demonstrate how production of the documents would violate the rights of privacy or confidentiality or would be detrimental to the best interests of the state.”
The question here is, was Horne’s interest in keeping this stuff quiet in the best interest of the state? Or in the best interest of Horne?
Two experts on Arizona’s Public Records Law tell me there was no legitimate reason to withhold what were clearly public records.
“The courts have held that embarrassment for a public official is not a reason to redact information,” said attorney Dan Barr, who represents the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona.
Attorney David Bodney, who represents The Republic and 12News, called it “a risky overbroad approach to public information that prohibits the ability of the public to monitor the conduct.”
The people who control the information, however, seem to think it’s perfectly acceptable to pick and choose what you and I get to know about how the chief law enforcement agency in the state is operated. Horne’s solicitor general, Dave Cole, said in an e-mail that a committee of lawyers in the Attorney General’s Office decided not to disclose the information and that Horne wasn’t involved in the decision.
“Speculative, mean spirited nasty gossip that can be false and that can be the subject of lawsuits for defamation does not serve the public interest,” Cole said.
Translation, Horne’s people weren’t protecting Horne. Or his assistant attorney general/rumored girlfriend. Or his campaign pal who now does…whatever it is she does over there at the Attorney General’s Office.
No, they were protecting us.
Really, they were.
As the state spins, you see, it also unravels.
Maybe a good way to reduce crime would be to fire all the cops who are tricking people into committing crimes. That would certainly reduce the crime rate.
And of course I suspect the FBI and Homeland Security is doing the same stuff at the Federal level. I have posted a number of article where the FBI has created bomb plots and then arrested people the tricked into participating in the fake bomb plots.
N.Y. police informant: Paid for ‘baiting’ Muslims
By Matt Apuzzo Associated Press Tue Oct 23, 2012 7:28 AM
NEW YORK — A paid informant for the New York Police Department’s intelligence unit was under orders to “bait” Muslims into saying bad things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam, he told The Associated Press.
Shamiur Rahman, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen of Bengali descent who has now denounced his work as an informant, said police told him to embrace a strategy called “create and capture.” He said it involved creating a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capturing the response to send to the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and goodwill from the police after a string of minor marijuana arrests.
“We need you to pretend to be one of them,” Rahman recalled the police telling him. “It’s street theater.”
Rahman, who said he plans to move to the Caribbean, said he now believes his work as an informant against Muslims in New York was “detrimental to the Constitution.” After he disclosed to friends details about his work for the police — and after he told the police that he had been interviewed by the AP — he stopped receiving text messages from his NYPD handler, “Steve,” and his handler’s NYPD phone number was disconnected.
Rahman’s account shows how the NYPD unleashed informants on Muslim neighborhoods, often without specific targets or criminal leads. Much of what Rahman said represents a tactic the NYPD has denied using.
The AP corroborated Rahman’s account through arrest records and weeks of text messages between Rahman and his police handler. The AP also reviewed the photos Rahman sent to police. Friends confirmed Rahman was at certain events when he said he was there, and former NYPD officials, while not personally familiar with Rahman, said the tactics he described were used by informants.
Informants like Rahman are a central component of the NYPD’s wide-ranging programs to monitor life in Muslim neighborhoods since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Police officers have eavesdropped inside Muslim businesses, trained video cameras on mosques and collected license plates of worshippers. Informants who trawl the mosques — known informally as “mosque crawlers” — tell police what the imam says at sermons and provide police lists of attendees, even when there’s no evidence they committed a crime.
The programs were built with unprecedented help from the CIA.
Police recruited Rahman in late January, after his third arrest on misdemeanor drug charges, which Rahman believed would lead to serious legal consequences. An NYPD plainclothes officer approached him in jail and asked whether he wanted to turn his life around.
The next month, Rahman said, he was on the NYPD’s payroll.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday. He has denied widespread NYPD spying, saying police only follow leads.
In an Oct. 15 interview with the AP, however, Rahman said he received little training and spied on “everything and anyone.” He took pictures inside the many mosques he visited and eavesdropped on imams. By his own measure, he said he was very good at his job and his handler never once told him he was collecting too much, no matter whom he was spying on.
Rahman said he thought he was doing important work protecting New York City and considered himself a hero.
One of his earliest assignments was to spy on a lecture at the Muslim Student Association at John Jay College in Manhattan. The speaker was Ali Abdul Karim, the head of security at the Masjid At-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn. The NYPD had been concerned about Karim for years and already had infiltrated the mosque, according to NYPD documents obtained by the AP.
Rahman also was instructed to monitor the student group itself, though he wasn’t told to target anyone specifically. His NYPD handler told him to take pictures of people at the events, determine who belonged to the student association and identify its leadership.
On Feb. 23, Rahman attended the event with Karim and listened, ready to catch what he called a “speaker’s gaffe.” The NYPD was interested in buzz words such as “jihad” and “revolution,” he said. Any radical rhetoric, the NYPD told him, needed to be reported.
Talha Shahbaz, then the vice president of the student group, met Rahman at the event. As Karim was finishing his talk on Malcolm X’s legacy, Rahman told Shahbaz that he wanted to know more about the student group. They had briefly attended the same high school.
Rahman said he wanted to turn his life around and stop using drugs, and said he believed Islam could provide a purpose in life. In the following days, Rahman friended him on Facebook and the two exchanged phone numbers. Shahbaz, a Pakistani who came to the U.S. more three years ago, introduced Rahman to other Muslims.
“He was telling us how he loved Islam and it’s changing him,” said Asad Dandia, who also became friends with Rahman.
Secretly, Rahman was mining his new friends for details about their lives, taking pictures of them when they ate at restaurants and writing down license plates on the orders of the NYPD.
On the NYPD’s instructions, he went to more events at John Jay, including when Siraj Wahhaj spoke in May. Wahhaj, 62, is a prominent but controversial New York imam who has attracted the attention of authorities for years. Prosecutors included his name on a list of people they said “may be alleged as co-conspirators” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though he was never charged. In 2004, the NYPD placed Wahhaj on an internal terrorism watch list and noted: “Political ideology moderately radical and anti-American.”
That evening at John Jay, a friend took a photograph of Wahhaj with a grinning Rahman.
Rahman said he kept an eye on the MSA and used Shahbaz and his friends to facilitate traveling to events organized by the Islamic Circle of North America and Muslim American Society. The society’s annual convention in Connecticut draws a large number of Muslims and plenty of attention from the NYPD. According to NYPD documents obtained by the AP, the NYPD sent three informants there in 2008 and was keeping an eye on the group’s former president.
Rahman was told to spy on the speakers and collect information. The conference was called “Defending Religious Freedom.” Shahbaz paid Rahman’s travel expenses.
Rahman said he never witnessed any criminal activity or saw anybody do anything wrong.
He said he sometimes intentionally misinterpreted what people had said. For example, Rahman said he would ask people what they thought about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, knowing the subject was inflammatory. It was easy to take statements out of context, he said. He said wanted to please his NYPD handler, whom he trusted and liked.
“I was trying to get money,” Rahman said. “I was playing the game.”
Rahman said police never discussed the activities of the people he was assigned to target for spying. He said police told him once, “We don’t think they’re doing anything wrong. We just need to be sure.”
On some days, Rahman spent hours and covered miles in his undercover role. On Sept. 16, for example, he made his way in the morning to the Al Farooq Mosque in Brooklyn, snapping photographs of an imam and the sign-up sheet for those attending a regular class on Islamic instruction. He also provided their cell phone numbers to the NYPD. That evening he spied on people at Masjid Al-Ansar, also in Brooklyn.
Text messages on his phone showed that Rahman also took pictures last month of people attending the 27th annual Muslim Day Parade in Manhattan. The parade’s grand marshal was New York City Councilman Robert Jackson.
Rahman said he eventually tired of spying on his friends, noting that at times they delivered food to needy Muslim families. He said he once identified another NYPD informant spying on him. He took $200 more from the NYPD and told them he was done as an informant. He said the NYPD offered him more money, which he declined. He told friends on Facebook in early October that he had been a police spy but had quit. He also traded Facebook messages with Shahbaz, admitting he had spied on students at John Jay.
“I was an informant for the NYPD, for a little while, to investigate terrorism,” he wrote on Oct. 2. He said he no longer thought it was right. Perhaps he had been hunting terrorists, he said, “but I doubt it.”
“I hated that I was using people to make money,” Rahman said. “I made a mistake.”
The Top 20 Airports for TSA Theft
By MEGAN CHUCHMACH | ABC News
Your suitcase has been tagged and whisked away for a TSA security check before being loaded onto a plane en route to your final destination. How safe are the belongings inside? The TSA has fired nearly 400 employees for allegedly stealing from travelers, and for the first time, the agency is revealing the airports where those fired employees worked.
Newly released figures provided to ABC News by the TSA in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show that, unsurprisingly, many of the country's busiest airports also rank at the top for TSA employees fired for theft.
Sixteen of the top 20 airports for theft firings are also in the top 20 airports in terms of passengers passing through.
At the head of the list is Miami International Airport, which ranks twelfth in passengers but first in TSA theft firings, with 29 employees terminated for theft from 2002 through December 2011. JFK International Airport in New York is second with 27 firings, and Los Angeles International Airport is third with 24 firings. JFK ranks sixth in passenger traffic, while LAX is third. Chicago, while second in traffic, ranked 20th in theft firings.
The four airports listed in the TSA's top 20 list of employee firings for theft that aren't also among the FAA's top 20 for passenger activity are Salt Lake City International, Washington Dulles, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, and San Diego International.
The top airports across the U.S. for TSA employees fired for theft are:
1. Miami International Airport (29)
2. JFK International Airport (27)
3. Los Angeles International Airport (24)
4. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (17)
5. Las Vegas-McCarren International Airport (15)
6. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and New York-Laguardia Airport (14 each)
8. Newark Liberty, Philadelphia International, and Seattle-Tacoma International airports (12 each)
11. Orlando International Airport (11)
12. Houston-George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Salt Lake City International Airport (10 each)
14. Washington Dulles International Airport (9)
15. Detroit Metro Airport and Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (7)
17. Boston-Logan International, Denver International and San Diego International airports (6)
20. Chicago O'Hare International Airport (5)
During a recent ABC News investigation, an iPad left behind at a security checkpoint at the Orlando airport was tracked as it moved 30 miles away to the home of the TSA officer last seen handling it.
Confronted two weeks later by ABC News, the TSA officer, Andy Ramirez, at first denied having the missing iPad, but ultimately turned it over after blaming his wife for taking it from the airport. Ramirez was later fired by the TSA.
The iPad was one of ten purposely left behind at TSA checkpoints at major airports with a history of theft by government screeners, as part of an ABC News investigation into the TSA's ongoing problem with theft of passenger belongings. The other nine iPads were returned to ABC News after being left behind.
The agency disputes that theft is a widespread problem, however, saying the number of officers fired "represents less than one-half of one percent of officers that have been employed" by TSA.
Family files lawsuit over Arizona inmate's death
By JJ Hensley The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:27 PM
The family of a man who died late last year after an altercation with officers in a Maricopa County jail filed suit Tuesday afternoon, accusing the Sheriff’s Office, Phoenix police and health-care workers of mocking Ernest “Marty” Atencio’s mental-health struggles, shocking him and beating him before he died.
Atencio, 44, was jailed on assault allegations in mid-December. He died at a hospital five days later following a scuffle with officers in which Atencio was struck several times and shocked near his heart with a Taser, according to the lawsuit. Atencio’s family has called the incident a “jailers’ riot”.
The family’s lawsuit claims he was exhibiting signs of mental illness. Police reports, which mention that Atencio would become distracted and attempt to chase while talking to officers, support that claim.
But jail health-care workers failed to recognize Atencio’s signs of mental illness, according to the lawsuit, denying him the medical treatment he needed and sending him through the booking process where officers allegedly made fun of Atencio’s mental state before becoming physically engaged with him.
Similar issues have plagued Maricopa County jails for years. The lawsuit, filed for the family by Valley attorney Mike Manning, points out repeated instances in which health-care professionals, judges and court-appointed auditors have cited the system’s failures in tending to mentally ill patients and providing adequate care to inmates.
“Prior to December 15, 2011, both Maricopa County and Sheriff Arpaio were aware of a long history of deliberate indifference to the provision of medical care to those in the county’s jails and ‘long-overdue, constitutionally required corrections that needed to be made as quickly as possible’,” the lawsuit states, citing a 2010 federal court ruling that found standards in the jails continued to fall short of requirements.
The Sheriff’s Office was not immediately available for comment on the lawsuit. The agency in the past has declined to comment on the Atencio case.
Earlier this month, another Manning client settled a 6-year-old lawsuit against the county for $3.25 million. That case alleged circumstances similar to those in the Atencio suit filed Tuesday. Deborah Braillard was taken to jail in January 2005 on suspicion of drug possession and died days later from complications related to her diabetes. Jail workers mistakenly attributed Braillard’s disorientation to drug withdrawal despite information about her diabetic condition being recorded in jail files during Braillard’s previous bookings.
The Atencio lawsuit cites numerous instances in the past 17 years in which courts have pointed out jail deficiencies to county administrators and the Sheriff’s Office, only to see little change in the factors that allegedly contributed to Atencio’s death.
“The Court further found that, ‘the intake screening [at the jails] often does not capture basic and necessary information from detainees, including an adequate history from those suffering from chronic diseases’,” the lawsuit notes, citing a 2008 court ruling.
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner earlier this year issued a report that concluded that Atencio died of cardiac arrest, acute psychosis, medical problems and “law-enforcement subdual,” but the report did not list a manner of death.
A pair of Phoenix police officers contacted Atencio twice on the night he was detained.
During the first contact, outside a convenience store, officers noticed that Atencio was behaving erratically and told him to go home. Moments later, the officers received a call about a man kicking at a woman’s apartment door in the 2800 block of West Laurel Lane. The officers recognized Atencio as the man they had encountered outside the convenience store, and they arrested him after the woman requested prosecution.
When Atencio arrived at the Fourth Avenue Jail’s intake area — where inmates are screened for medical and mental-health concerns, and the most serious are supposed to receive immediate attention — officers recognized his signs of mental illness but failed to respond, according to the claim.
“She (mental-health professional Monica Scarpati) admitted that she did not complete a full assessment of Marty and sent him to an isolation cell,” the family’s notice of claim stated. “Ms. Scarpati and (Correctional Health Services nurse Bill McClean) fell below the applicable standard of care by, in RN McClean’s words, ‘accepting’ Marty into the jail and not doing anything to make sure that Marty got the immediate medical attention that he so obviously needed and deserved.”
According to the claim, as Atencio waited for further processing, other officers noticed his mental state and began mocking him. According to an interview with an inmate who was nearby at the time, one officer thought Atencio’s mug shot could be featured on the Sheriff’s Office website that posts booking photos.
“An MCSO lieutenant stated in an interview that the process of taking Marty’s photo was, ‘Ah, you know, it’s kinda comical,’” according to the claim.
As Atencio prepared to leave the booking area, he became uncooperative with Phoenix officers but was not violent or combative, according to interviews with officers contained in the claim.
Surveillance video shows that when a Phoenix officer placed his arm around Atencio’s neck and took him to the ground, nearby officers joined in the effort to subdue Atencio. This is the beginning of what Atencio’s family referred to as a “jailers’ riot.”
Neither the notice of claim nor the lawsuit request any damages from the Medical Examiner’s Office, but it did allege that the office attempted to shield the county from liability by failing to select a manner of death from one of the four descriptions: suicide, homicide, natural causes or accidental.
Scottsdale-based Taser donates $300K to police
It's not a bribe, it's a campaign contribution. Honest!!!!
AG Tom Horne redacts anything that makes him look bad???
Remember Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is the guy who asked Governor Jan Brewer to declare Prop 203 null and void so he could arrest medical marijuana patients.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office redacted allegations about an alleged affair between Tom Horne and one of his subordinates, and disparaging information about another employee and political ally, a comparison of documents shows.
Tom Horne's office withholds public information to protect ... Tom Horne
Remember Tom Horne is the guy who asked Governor Jan Brewer to
declare Prop 203 null and void so he could continue arresting medical
marijuana smokers.
We take you now to the latest in As the State Spins, the daytime drama starring everybody’s favorite attorney general, Tom Horne.
N.Y. police informant: Paid for ‘baiting’ Muslims
From this article is sounds like the cops are tricking people into committing crimes so they can arrest them.
Top 20 airports where people are robbed by TSA agents.
I have seen news articles listing the top 20 car models stolen by crooks. But this is the first time I have ever seen an article that lists the top 20 airports where TSA crooks rob passengers.
Family files lawsuit over another murder in Maricopa County Jail
Source
Arpaio versus Manning -- again. Will it matter?
Source
Arpaio versus Manning -- again. Will it matter?
By EJ MONTINI
Tue, Oct 23 2012
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s most effective adversary over the years is not a politician. It’s attorney Michael Manning.
Fresh off collecting $3.2 million settlement over the death of Deborah Ann Braillard, an insulin-dependent diabetic who died after her medical condition was treated with indifference in the sheriff’s jail, Manning is filing a lawsuit on behalf of the family of Ernest “Marty” Atencio, a mentally ill man who died at a hospital five days after a scuffle with officers in which Atencio was struck several times and shocked near his heart with a Taser.
Over the years, Manning has done what no political opponent has been able to do: Hold Arpaio to account.
Sort of.
He has won a number of large judgments and settlements on behalf of clients who died in the jail, all before having been convicted of anything.
But his efforts have not led to Arpaio losing an election.
Manning learned early on that you don’t fight Arpaio in the court of public opinion, but in an actual courtroom.
"You can't out-press conference the sheriff," Manning once told me. "He's too good at it. No one who is handed a law degree is going to be as good at public relations as someone like Arpaio. You can't win there. The only place to win is in court. Then, eventually, the public relations will follow."
Now, on the verge of another election, Manning has filed another lawsuit.
It’s hard to say if it will impact the election or not.
After the Braillard case was settled Manning told me, “I’m a product of a Pollyannaish Catholic education and I keep believing that these things are going to make a difference and people will figure it out.”
I’m a product of a Catholic education as well. I have been writing about Arpaio for 20 years.
Each time I do I get an earful from the sheriff’s most ardent supporters.
Not only have they not “figured it out,” they don’t want to.
Nepotism in Tempe City Government
From this article it sounds like there is a lot of nepotism going on in the Tempe city government.In the article current Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell glorifies his daddy, former Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell.
And you only though nepotism goes on in third world dictatorships like North Korea.
Force him to show up to trial so it looks like he is getting a fair trial???
SourceHearing on hold for accused USS bomber
By Ben Fox Associated Press Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:21 PM
KINGSTON, Jamaica -- A dispute over whether a defendant must be present during a military tribunal brought proceedings to a halt Tuesday in the case of a Guantanamo prisoner accused in the attack on the Navy destroyer the USS Cole.
Defendant Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, 47, boycotted the pretrial motions hearing to protest the use of belly chains to move him from his cell at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
Prosecutors wanted al-Nashiri brought to court to explain his reasoning on the record before any discussion of other motions in the case. The defense objected, saying any use of force could traumatize a man who they say was tortured in U.S. custody.
Complicating matters was Tropical Storm Sandy, which was forecast to grow into a hurricane as it heads north in the Caribbean Sea and possibly force the evacuation of the U.S. base in Cuba.
The judge, Army Col. James Pohl, decided after more than 90 minutes of debate that al-Nashiri must come to court Wednesday.
“Tomorrow, weather permitting, your client is coming,” Pohl told the defense team, before the hearing was adjourned for the rest of the day.
Whether a defendant must attend sessions of the tribunal has been a recurring theme with al-Nashiri, who is accused of orchestrating the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, as well as in the case of five Guantanamo prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Pohl, who presides over both cases, has previously ruled that defendants have a right to be absent from pretrial proceedings just as they have a right to be present for them.
He has not said yet whether they must attend their actual trials, which in both cases are not expected to start for at least a year. He has signaled he will likely require them to be in court once a jury is convened.
Prosecutors want the accused present for all proceedings, in part to eliminate any doubts about why they were absent that could later provide grounds for an appeal.
“The accused has to come to ensure the integrity of the trial,” the chief prosecutor, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, said of al-Nashiri.
Al-Nashiri faces charges that include terrorism and murder in a special tribunal for wartime offenses known as a military commission for allegedly orchestrating the bombing of the USS Cole, an attack that killed 17 sailors and wounded 37. He is also accused of setting up attacks on two other vessels. He could get the death penalty if convicted.
TSA fights major image problem
By Joe Davidson, Updated: Wednesday, October 24, 5:36 AM
What is going on with TSA?
At Newark Liberty International Airport, 44 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees face disciplinary action on charges related to screening misconduct. In June, eight transportation security officers there were dismissed.
At Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, 43 employees were disciplined (38 suspended, five fired) this year for not following screening procedures.
At Charlotte Douglas International Airport in 2011, 23 employees were disciplined after an investigation into checked baggage screening.
At Honolulu International Airport last year, TSA moved against 48 employees (36 proposed firings, 12 suspensions) for not screening luggage properly.
Looks like a bad pattern.
But to the union representing officers in the Newark case, it’s a matter of smoke with no fire. To an outside federal employee expert, these cases represent a vigilant agency with no patience for wrongdoing and the tools to deal with it quickly.
“I believe it’s more a function of the fact that 1) the standards of conduct are both clearer and more stringent at TSA than at many other federal agencies, 2) TSA workers are more in the public eye than many other federal employees and 3) TSA has a more streamlined disciplinary process than most agencies,” John Palguta said by e-mail. “So when there are problems they are more easily identified and more quickly dealt with.” He is a Partnership for Public Service vice president who previously worked for the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Personnel Management. (The Partnership has a content-sharing relationship with The Washington Post.)
As bad as these cases look, TSA Administrator John Pistole says they do not represent an endemic problem.
After the Honolulu case, TSA did a nationwide review to determine if lax screening practices were widespread. That review discovered issues in Fort Myers and Charlotte. The Newark case developed separately from an investigation into theft from baggage.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a pattern,” Pistole said in an interview, citing the millions of passengers and bags TSA processes and a workforce, at 450 locations, the size of a small city. He has established an Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate allegations of misconduct. “I would not say [it’s] pervasive or systemic across the board.”
It’s not even pervasive among the 44 workers facing the allegations in Newark, according to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Peter Winch, the union’s acting director of field services and education, said “there is no misconduct.” The Newark TSAs, as instructed, did not open bags that were sent to a room for further inspection, he said, because the bags had been marked cleared. TSA says any bag in that room needed to be opened and checked as part of standard operating procedure.
Whatever the truth in Newark, these cases are creating a major credibility and image headache nationwide for an agency whose workers, for the most part, are professional, honest and competent.
The cases also provide ammunition for Republicans on Capitol Hill who want TSA to privatize a greater portion of its screening operation.
“All the time TSA spends on managing and disciplining its bloated workforce is time it doesn’t spend on security,” said Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the Homeland Security subcommittee on transportation. “TSA has more than just an image problem and has lost the trust of the American people. Actions must be taken now to transform TSA into a smarter, leaner organization and that starts with partnering with the private sector on passenger screening.”
In a June letter to TSA officials around the country, Pistole said “I am concerned that the prompt reporting of misconduct, lapses in integrity and ethics is not part of the culture across all of TSA.” He told officials: “You must support a culture of hard work, integrity and professionalism in which employees feel free to report SOP [standard operating procedure] violations and misconduct without fear of retaliation.”
Acknowledging “it obviously hurts our image” during the interview, Pistole said one thing the cases have not done is endanger the flying public. The chances the improper baggage screening has compromised security “is so remote,” he said, given the nearly 1.8 million passengers and 3.4 million bags screened every day by about 50,000 TSAs.
There have been no allegations of collusion with any of the screening problems, as was the case with Los Angeles International Airport officers charged with taking bribes to allow drug couriers safe passage.
For Palguta, whatever the blow to TSA’s image, the group of screening cases “says some good things about the TSA culture, i.e., there is little tolerance for misconduct or poor performance and the agency will take action when it believes it has cause,” he said.
“I do not think it suggests that TSA employees are more prone to performance problems.”
Previous columns by Joe Davidson are available at wapo.st/JoeDavidson.
Former San Jose officer alleges rampant time-card fraud
By John Woolfolk
jwoolfolk@mercurynews.com
Posted: 10/24/2012 06:17:40 AM PDT
SAN JOSE -- A former San Jose police officer has filed a federal lawsuit against the city alleging he was pressured to retire in retaliation for reporting what he considered time-card fraud among his fellow cops.
Thomas Correa alleged in the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that "timesheet abuse/fraud and wasted resources is rampant at SJPD, particularly in the Airport Division," where he worked for seven of his 27 years on the force before retiring in May 2011.
City Attorney Rick Doyle said he has not yet reviewed the lawsuit and could not comment on it.
It is the second time this year that a former city airport officer has sued San Jose in federal court alleging retaliation for reporting alleged time-card fraud. In June, officers Luis Hernandez and Cindy Calderon filed a lawsuit alleging they were subjected to reassignment and other forms of retaliation after Hernandez accused fellow airport officer Jaime Zarate of time-card fraud to facilitate outside pay jobs in 2007.
Prosecutors charged Zarate, now retired, with felony timecard fraud in 2008 but the case was dismissed a year later. Hernandez' lawsuit remains unresolved.
Correa's lawsuit alleges his supervisor, Sgt. Kimberly Hudson, and other officers branded him a "snitch" after he refused to go along with their plans to slack off on the job by going out to pizza and then going home before the end of their shift in October
2010.
Such fraud, he said, was widespread and enabled by a practice in which the schedules for teams of officers overlapped on Wednesdays each week, leaving the airport overstaffed on what they called a "hole day" in which he said "a team would have the expectation of doing absolutely nothing."
"Among other things," Correa alleged in court papers, "this would involve hours and hours of mountain-bike racing, weight-lifting, jogging, exercising, long dinner breaks somehere in the city, taking the city van to mountain-bike races at the Los Gatos Creek trails, movie nights, etc."
Correa alleged that on Oct. 20, 2010, his team was to hold a terrorist-response training, but instead of reporting back to work, his supervisor and colleagues had planned to meet for pizza and then go home hours before their shift ended. He said in his suit that after he refused and returned to work, his supervisor, Hudson, became furious with him for "ruining their 'free night,'" prevented him from working overtime hours to which he was entitled and even attacked him physically in her office.
According to the suit, in the aftermath, it was Correa who wound up facing accusations of misconduct from his superiors who accused him of "creating a hostile work environment and sexual-orientation discrimination." He acknowledged being found guilty of misconduct in an internal investigation he argued was biased to preserve a culture of time-card cheating.
"He was disciplined for doing the right thing -- simply going to work instead of partaking in time-sheet fraud," the suit said.
Contact John Woolfolk at 408-975-9346. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/johnwoolfolk1.
Targeted killing is now so routine that the Obama administration has spent much of the past year codifying and streamlining the processes that sustain it.
The only question I have is when will the President allow the DEA to add names of suspected drug dealers to his murder list.
Of course first it will only be suspected drug dealers in foreign countries, then over time suspected drug dealers in America will be added to the list.
Plan for hunting terrorists signals U.S. intends to keep adding names to kill lists
By Greg Miller, Published: October 23
Editor’s note: This project, based on interviews with dozens of current and former national security officials, intelligence analysts and others, examines evolving U.S. counterterrorism policies and the practice of targeted killing. This is the first of three stories.
Over the past two years, the Obama administration has been secretly developing a new blueprint for pursuing terrorists, a next-generation targeting list called the “disposition matrix.”
The matrix contains the names of terrorism suspects arrayed against an accounting of the resources being marshaled to track them down, including sealed indictments and clandestine operations. U.S. officials said the database is designed to go beyond existing kill lists, mapping plans for the “disposition” of suspects beyond the reach of American drones.
Although the matrix is a work in progress, the effort to create it reflects a reality setting in among the nation’s counterterrorism ranks: The United States’ conventional wars are winding down, but the government expects to continue adding names to kill or capture lists for years.
Among senior Obama administration officials, there is a broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at least another decade. Given the way al-Qaeda continues to metastasize, some officials said no clear end is in sight.
“We can’t possibly kill everyone who wants to harm us,” a senior administration official said. “It’s a necessary part of what we do. . . . We’re not going to wind up in 10 years in a world of everybody holding hands and saying, ‘We love America.’ ”
That timeline suggests that the United States has reached only the midpoint of what was once known as the global war on terrorism. Targeting lists that were regarded as finite emergency measures after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are now fixtures of the national security apparatus. The rosters expand and contract with the pace of drone strikes but never go to zero.
Meanwhile, a significant milestone looms: The number of militants and civilians killed in the drone campaign over the past 10 years will soon exceed 3,000 by certain estimates, surpassing the number of people al-Qaeda killed in the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Obama administration has touted its successes against the terrorist network, including the death of Osama bin Laden, as signature achievements that argue for President Obama’s reelection. The administration has taken tentative steps toward greater transparency, formally acknowledging for the first time the United States’ use of armed drones.
Less visible is the extent to which Obama has institutionalized the highly classified practice of targeted killing, transforming ad-hoc elements into a counterterrorism infrastructure capable of sustaining a seemingly permanent war. Spokesmen for the White House, the National Counterterrorism Center, the CIA and other agencies declined to comment on the matrix or other counterterrorism programs.
Privately, officials acknowledge that the development of the matrix is part of a series of moves, in Washington and overseas, to embed counterterrorism tools into U.S. policy for the long haul.
White House counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan is seeking to codify the administration’s approach to generating capture/kill lists, part of a broader effort to guide future administrations through the counterterrorism processes that Obama has embraced.
CIA Director David H. Petraeus is pushing for an expansion of the agency’s fleet of armed drones, U.S. officials said. The proposal, which would need White House approval, reflects the agency’s transformation into a paramilitary force, and makes clear that it does not intend to dismantle its drone program and return to its pre-Sept. 11 focus on gathering intelligence.
The U.S. Joint Special Operations Command, which carried out the raid that killed bin Laden, has moved commando teams into suspected terrorist hotbeds in Africa. A rugged U.S. outpost in Djibouti has been transformed into a launching pad for counterterrorism operations across the Horn of Africa and the Middle East.
JSOC also has established a secret targeting center across the Potomac River from Washington, current and former U.S. officials said. The elite command’s targeting cells have traditionally been located near the front lines of its missions, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. But JSOC created a “national capital region” task force that is a 15-minute commute from the White House so it could be more directly involved in deliberations about al-Qaeda lists.
The developments were described by current and former officials from the White House and the Pentagon, as well as intelligence and counterterrorism agencies. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
These counterterrorism components have been affixed to a legal foundation for targeted killing that the Obama administration has discussed more openly over the past year. In a series of speeches, administration officials have cited legal bases, including the congressional authorization to use military force granted after the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as the nation’s right to defend itself.
Critics contend that those justifications have become more tenuous as the drone campaign has expanded far beyond the core group of al-Qaeda operatives behind the strikes on New York and Washington. Critics note that the administration still doesn’t confirm the CIA’s involvement or the identities of those who are killed. Certain strikes are now under legal challenge, including the killings last year in Yemen of U.S.-born al-Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son.
Counterterrorism experts said the reliance on targeted killing is self-perpetuating, yielding undeniable short-term results that may obscure long-term costs.
“The problem with the drone is it’s like your lawn mower,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and Obama counterterrorism adviser. “You’ve got to mow the lawn all the time. The minute you stop mowing, the grass is going to grow back.”
An evolving database
The United States now operates multiple drone programs, including acknowledged U.S. military patrols over conflict zones in Afghanistan and Libya, and classified CIA surveillance flights over Iran.
Strikes against al-Qaeda, however, are carried out under secret lethal programs involving the CIA and JSOC. The matrix was developed by the NCTC, under former director Michael Leiter, to augment those organizations’ separate but overlapping kill lists, officials said.
The result is a single, continually evolving database in which biographies, locations, known associates and affiliated organizations are all catalogued. So are strategies for taking targets down, including extradition requests, capture operations and drone patrols.
Obama’s decision to shutter the CIA’s secret prisons ended a program that had become a source of international scorn, but it also complicated the pursuit of terrorists. Unless a suspect surfaced in the sights of a drone in Pakistan or Yemen, the United States had to scramble to figure out what to do.
“We had a disposition problem,” said a former U.S. counterterrorism official involved in developing the matrix.
The database is meant to map out contingencies, creating an operational menu that spells out each agency’s role in case a suspect surfaces in an unexpected spot. “If he’s in Saudi Arabia, pick up with the Saudis,” the former official said. “If traveling overseas to al-Shabaab [in Somalia] we can pick him up by ship. If in Yemen, kill or have the Yemenis pick him up.”
Officials declined to disclose the identities of suspects on the matrix. They pointed, however, to the capture last year of alleged al-Qaeda operative Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame off the coast of Yemen. Warsame was held for two months aboard a U.S. ship before being transferred to the custody of the Justice Department and charged in federal court in New York.
“Warsame was a classic case of ‘What are we going to do with him?’ ” the former counterterrorism official said. In such cases, the matrix lays out plans, including which U.S. naval vessels are in the vicinity and which charges the Justice Department should prepare.
“Clearly, there were people in Yemen that we had on the matrix,” as well as others in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the former counterterrorism official said. The matrix was a way to be ready if they moved. “How do we deal with these guys in transit? You weren’t going to fire a drone if they were moving through Turkey or Iran.”
Officials described the matrix as a database in development, although its status is unclear. Some said it has not been implemented because it is too cumbersome. Others, including officials from the White House, Congress and intelligence agencies, described it as a blueprint that could help the United States adapt to al-Qaeda’s morphing structure and its efforts to exploit turmoil across North Africa and the Middle East.
A year after Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta declared the core of al-Qaeda near strategic defeat, officials see an array of emerging threats beyond Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia — the three countries where almost all U.S. drone strikes have occurred.
The Arab spring has upended U.S. counterterrorism partnerships in countries including Egypt where U.S. officials fear al-Qaeda could establish new roots. The network’s affiliate in North Africa, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has seized territory in northern Mali and acquired weapons that were smuggled out of Libya.
“Egypt worries me to no end,” a high-ranking administration official said. “Look at Libya, Algeria and Mali and then across the Sahel. You’re talking about such wide expanses of territory, with open borders and military, security and intelligence capabilities that are basically nonexistent.”
Streamlining targeted killing
The creation of the matrix and the institutionalization of kill/capture lists reflect a shift that is as psychological as it is strategic.
Before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States recoiled at the idea of targeted killing. The Sept. 11 commission recounted how the Clinton administration had passed on a series of opportunities to target bin Laden in the years before the attacks — before armed drones existed. President Bill Clinton approved a set of cruise-missile strikes in 1998 after al-Qaeda bombed embassies in East Africa, but after extensive deliberation, and the group’s leader escaped harm.
Targeted killing is now so routine that the Obama administration has spent much of the past year codifying and streamlining the processes that sustain it.
This year, the White House scrapped a system in which the Pentagon and the National Security Council had overlapping roles in scrutinizing the names being added to U.S. target lists.
Now the system functions like a funnel, starting with input from half a dozen agencies and narrowing through layers of review until proposed revisions are laid on Brennan’s desk, and subsequently presented to the president.
Video-conference calls that were previously convened by Adm. Mike Mullen, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have been discontinued. Officials said Brennan thought the process shouldn’t be run by those who pull the trigger on strikes.
“What changed is rather than the chairman doing that, John chairs the meeting,” said Leiter, the former head of the NCTC.
The administration has also elevated the role of the NCTC, which was conceived as a clearinghouse for threat data and has no operational capability. Under Brennan, who served as its founding director, the center has emerged as a targeting hub.
Other entities have far more resources focused on al-Qaeda. The CIA, JSOC and U.S. Central Command have hundreds of analysts devoted to the terrorist network’s franchise in Yemen, while the NCTC has fewer than two dozen. But the center controls a key function.
“It is the keeper of the criteria,” a former U.S. counterterrorism official said, meaning that it is in charge of culling names from al-Qaeda databases for targeting lists based on criteria dictated by the White House.
The criteria are classified but center on obvious questions: Who are the operational leaders? Who are the key facilitators? A typical White House request will direct the NCTC to generate a list of al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen involved in carrying out or plotting attacks against U.S. personnel in Sanaa.
The lists are reviewed at regular three-month intervals during meetings at the NCTC headquarters that involve analysts from other organizations, including the CIA, the State Department and JSOC. Officials stress that these sessions don’t equate to approval for additions to kill lists, an authority that rests exclusively with the White House.
With no objections — and officials said those have been rare — names are submitted to a panel of National Security Council officials that is chaired by Brennan and includes the deputy directors of the CIA and the FBI, as well as top officials from the State Department, the Pentagon and the NCTC.
Obama approves the criteria for lists and signs off on drone strikes outside Pakistan, where decisions on when to fire are made by the director of the CIA. But aside from Obama’s presence at “Terror Tuesday” meetings — which generally are devoted to discussing terrorism threats and trends rather than approving targets — the president’s involvement is more indirect.
“The president would never come to a deputies meeting,” a senior administration official said, although participants recalled cases in which Brennan stepped out of the situation room to get Obama’s direction on questions the group couldn’t resolve.
The review process is compressed but not skipped when the CIA or JSOC has compelling intelligence and a narrow window in which to strike, officials said. The approach also applies to the development of criteria for “signature strikes,” which allow the CIA and JSOC to hit targets based on patterns of activity — packing a vehicle with explosives, for example — even when the identities of those who would be killed is unclear.
A model approach
For an administration that is the first to embrace targeted killing on a wide scale, officials seem confident that they have devised an approach that is so bureaucratically, legally and morally sound that future administrations will follow suit.
During Monday’s presidential debate, Republican nominee Mitt Romney made it clear that he would continue the drone campaign. “We can’t kill our way out of this,” he said, but added later that Obama was “right to up the usage” of drone strikes and that he would do the same.
As Obama nears the end of his term, officials said the kill list in Pakistan has slipped to fewer than 10 al-Qaeda targets, down from as many as two dozen. The agency now aims many of its Predator strikes at the Haqqani network, which has been blamed for attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
In Yemen, the number of militants on the list has ranged from 10 to 15, officials said, and is not likely to slip into the single digits anytime soon, even though there have been 36 U.S. airstrikes this year.
The number of targets on the lists isn’t fixed, officials said, but fluctuates based on adjustments to criteria. Officials defended the arrangement even while acknowledging an erosion in the caliber of operatives placed in the drones’ cross hairs.
“Is the person currently Number 4 as good as the Number 4 seven years ago? Probably not,” said a former senior U.S. counterterrorism official involved in the process until earlier this year. “But it doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous.”
In focusing on bureaucratic refinements, the administration has largely avoided confronting more fundamental questions about the lists. Internal doubts about the effectiveness of the drone campaign are almost nonexistent. So are apparent alternatives.
“When you rely on a particular tactic, it starts to become the core of your strategy — you see the puff of smoke, and he’s gone,” said Paul Pillar, a former deputy director of the CIA’s counterterrorism center. “When we institutionalize certain things, including targeted killing, it does cross a threshold that makes it harder to cross back.”
For a decade, the dimensions of the drone campaign have been driven by short-term objectives: the degradation of al-Qaeda and the prevention of a follow-on, large-scale attack on American soil.
Side effects are more difficult to measure — including the extent to which strikes breed more enemies of the United States — but could be more consequential if the campaign continues for 10 more years.
“We are looking at something that is potentially indefinite,” Pillar said. “We have to pay particular attention, maybe more than we collectively have so far, to the longer-term pros and cons to the methods we use.”
Obama administration officials at times have sought to trigger debate over how long the nation might employ the kill lists. But officials said the discussions became dead ends.
In one instance, Mullen, the former Joint Chiefs chairman, returned from Pakistan and recounted a heated confrontation with his counterpart, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
Mullen told White House and counterterrorism officials that the Pakistani military chief had demanded an answer to a seemingly reasonable question: After hundreds of drone strikes, how could the United States possibly still be working its way through a “top 20” list?
The issue resurfaced after the U.S. raid that killed bin Laden. Seeking to repair a rift with Pakistan, Panetta, the CIA director, told Kayani and others that the United States had only a handful of targets left and would be able to wind down the drone campaign.
A senior aide to Panetta disputed this account, and said Panetta mentioned the shrinking target list during his trip to Islamabad but didn’t raise the prospect that drone strikes would end. Two former U.S. officials said the White House told Panetta to avoid even hinting at commitments the United States was not prepared to keep.
“We didn’t want to get into the business of limitless lists,” said a former senior U.S. counterterrorism official who spent years overseeing the lists. “There is this apparatus created to deal with counterterrorism. It’s still useful. The question is: When will it stop being useful? I don’t know.”
Karen DeYoung, Craig Whitlock and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
He effectively got life in prison for stealing a stinking slice of pizza!
If it costs $50,000 to put a guy in prison for a year that lousy theft of a $2 slice of pizza is costing the taxpayers of California $1.25 million to jail the guy for 25 years.
Three-strikes shouldn't be about small-time crime
By George Skelton Capitol Journal
October 22, 2012
SACRAMENTO — One guy stole a loaf of bread. Another was caught with a speck of meth. Somebody grabbed $1 in change from a parked car.
These men all had one thing in common besides being losers. They were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for their crime.
Not under Taliban law in some backward, oppressive society. They were administered that severe punishment here in enlightened California under our three-strikes law.
Proposition 36 on the Nov. 6 ballot would apply some balance, prudence and logic to the sentencing of career criminals.
"There would be proportionate justice evenly applied while still preserving the essence of a very powerful sentencing tool," says Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, one of Prop. 36's leading advocates.
The three-strikes law was enacted in 1994 in the wake of the L.A. riots and the kidnap-murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas in small-town Petaluma.
But Fresno portrait photographer Mike Reynolds was the driving force. His 18-year-old daughter Kimber had been murdered by two career criminals on a stolen motorcycle trying to snatch her purse.
Reynolds was — is — articulate, energetic, committed and street-smart. He got rolling on a ballot initiative to lock up repeat offenders before they could wreak more havoc. He also simultaneously pushed a bill in the Legislature.
"Better get the hell out of the way," then-Assembly Speaker Willie Brown advised Democrats. They did.
The bill sailed through the Legislature. And Reynolds' identical ballot initiative — Prop. 184 — was embraced by 72% of voters.
The official ballot argument for Prop. 184 promised it would "keep career criminals, who rape women, molest innocent children and commit murder, behind bars where they belong."
Three-strikes has helped do that. But it also has done much more. It has kept locked up for life decrepit old men whose last crime may have been shoplifting a pair of work gloves.
It's not that three-time losers shouldn't be shoved back into the slammer. But for 25 years to life? This state can no longer afford that, if it ever could. Moreover, the punishment should fit the crime.
Here's how three-strikes works: A felon who has two prior convictions for a violent or serious crime — rape, for example, or assault with intent to rob — is subject to a 25-to-life sentence, regardless of the latest offense. It could be pilfering food.
In 2004, there was a ballot initiative to soften the law. It would have been too soft for Cooley, and he strongly opposed the idea. So did then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Schwarzenegger paid for his own dramatic TV ad that showed a cell door clanging and the governor snarling, "Keep them behind bars." Voters narrowly rejected the initiative.
Cooley then proposed a major tweak to the sentencing law that ultimately, in essence, became Prop. 36.
First, however, the 2006 Legislature was offered the proposed revision and meekly declined.
Under Prop. 36, the third strike would have to be violent or serious before the criminal could receive a 25-to-life sentence, with some major exceptions. If a prior conviction had been for murder, rape or child molesting, for example, the 25-to-life sentence still could be administered regardless of how minor the last offense.
Even those spared a life sentence wouldn't exactly skate. They'd serve double the normal time for the crime. They'd be punished as a two-striker.
Inmates currently imprisoned under the three-strikes law could apply for a sentence reduction if their last strike was nonviolent or non-serious.
There are about 137,000 convicts locked up in state prisons, costing taxpayers nearly $9 billion annually. About 9,000 are third-strikers. The legislative analyst estimates that $70 million could be saved by enacting Prop. 36 — not a lot, relatively, but the state is scratching for every dime.
Michael Romano, director of the Three Strikes Project at Stanford Law School, calculates that almost 3,700 third-strikers have been convicted of nonviolent or non-serious crimes. Of those, around 3,000 would benefit from Prop. 36.
"Many are among our oldest and sickest prisoners, so they're going to cost more" to incarcerate, Romano says. "They're the least likely to commit new crimes when they get out. The single biggest predictor of whether someone is going to commit a crime is age."
The law lecturer adds: "They should be punished, but receiving a life sentence for stealing a pair of socks is not what the voters intended.
"Of course, these people are not innocent. But do we lock up people we're angry with or actually scared of?"
Both. The former is for punishment, the latter for protection. But for many third-strikers, the punishment hardly fits the crime.
Still, Reynolds, the father of three strikes, adamantly opposes Prop. 36.
"If this passes, you're looking at a sure-fire formula for more crime," he says. "You're talking about repeat offenders. They're not going off to never-never land to live happily ever after."
The California District Attorneys Assn. and several law enforcement groups oppose the measure.
"The current law is working well because district attorneys use their discretion appropriately in charging three-strikes cases," the attorneys association asserts in a campaign document. And "judges use their discretion" to reduce felonies and dismiss prior strikes.
Cooley and the district attorneys of San Francisco and Santa Clara already have adopted their own prosecutorial policies similar to Prop. 36. But the ballot measure is needed, Cooley says, so sentencing doesn't vary so widely around the state.
Few laws are perfect. Three-strikes certainly isn't. It needs a little fixing.
Prop. 36 is about ending injustices and wasteful spending.
george.skelton@latimes.com
And of course this is another one of those articles where our blow hard, crooked politicians and police give us the line of "Do as I say, not as I do"
Arizona AG cited in hit-run accident
By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez The Republic - azcentral.com Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:52 PM
The accident was witnessed by two FBI special agents who were tailing Horne as part of an investigation into alleged campaign-finance violations. The FBI turned the information over to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Earlier this month, county officials referred the matter to the city of Phoenix.
The state’s top prosecutor issued a brief, written statement about the citation shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Phoenix Police Department Sgt. Trent Crump said detectives from the Vehicular Crimes Unit cited Horne Wednesday morning.
The citation was for one count of leaving the scene of a collision/unattended vehicle, a class three misdemeanor and the lowest-level misdemeanor offense. Crump said the ticket includes a court date and refers Horne to Phoenix Municipal Court.
“I first learned of my possible involvement in this incident several months ago, and requested from investigating authorities the name of the owner of the vehicle so I could immediately pay for any damage I may have caused,” the statement read. “For some unknown reason I received no response. Hopefully, I can now obtain this information or the owner will contact me so I can pay for any damage that I may have unknowingly caused.”
Phoenix police and city prosecutors have not released public records about the accident to The Republic.
Other public records obtained by the newspaper from the county attorney’s office detail the crash. Maricopa County Attorney's Detective Mark Stribling wrote an April 19 memo describing how FBI agents Brian Grehoski and Merv Mason watched the accident and the minutes leading up to it. Stribling wrote that agents saw Carmen Chenal, a longtime Horne confidante and employee, leave the Attorney General's Office during lunch hour, get into a vehicle and drive to a downtown Phoenix parking garage. Horne then left the office and drove his gold Jaguar into the same garage.
Horne and Chenal then left the garage, with Horne driving the vehicle originally driven by Chenal, Stribling wrote. Chenal was in the passenger seat.
“Horne was now wearing a baseball hat and he drove to Carmen's residence where Horne backed into a white Range Rover,” Stribling wrote. “Horne and Chenal then drove away, parked in a parking garage and both walked into residential area where Chenal lived.”
New York police officer charged with plan to cook, eat women
Basil Katz Reuters
11:02 a.m. CDT, October 25, 2012
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City police officer was charged on Thursday with conspiring to kidnap, torture, cook and eat women whose names he kept in a list on his computer.
Gilberto Valle III, 28, ofForest Hills, Queens, was arrested on Wednesday by the FBI, a spokesman for the agency said.
In a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday inManhattan federal court, Valle was charged with conspiring to cross state lines to kidnap and with illegally accessing a federal database.
The complaint said investigators had uncovered a file on Valle's computer containing the names and pictures of at least 100 women, as well as the addresses and physical descriptions of some of them.
The complaint said that Valle had undertaken surveillance of some of the women at their work and at their home.
In an excerpt of a July conversation with an unnamed co-conspirator, Valle is quoted in the complaint as saying: "I can just show up at her home unannounced, it will not alert her, and I can knock her out, wait until dark and kidnap her right out of her home."
"I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus... cook her over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible." The woman in question is identified only as "Victim 1."
Valle was not charged with carrying out any of the alleged planned attacks, according to the charges, suggesting he was arrested before any of the targeted women were harmed.
A lawyer for Valle could not immediately be identified.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department could not immediately be reached for comment.
Officer Held in Plot to Cook Women and Eat Them
By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
Published: October 25, 2012
A New York police officer was arrested Wednesday in Queens by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after he discussed cooking and eating female body parts, according to a criminal complaint.
The evidence against the officer, a six-year veteran of the New York Police Department, consists of e-mails and instant messages in which he was “discussing plans to kidnap, rape, torture, kill, cook and eat body parts of a number of women,” according to the complaint against the officer, Gilberto Valle.
The complaint suggests that Officer Valle, who worked in the 26th Precinct in Manhattan and lives in Forest Hills, Queens, never followed through on any of the acts he is accused of discussing. He was charged with federal kidnapping conspiracy, and is expected to appear in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon. Officer Valle, who is married, joined the force in July 2006.
In one message to a co-conspirator, Officer Valle wrote that he was contemplating cooking a person “over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible,” according to the complaint.
“The allegations in the complaint really need no description from us,” Mary E. Galligan, the F.B.I.'s acting assistant director, said in a statement. “They speak for themselves. It would be an understatement merely to say Valle’s own words and actions were shocking.”
The criminal complaint describes two separate episodes in which Officer Valle discussed abducting women. In each case it appears that the women knew the officer vaguely.
In an episode in February, Officer Valle sent an online message to another unnamed person in which he offered to kidnap a woman on the person’s behalf for a price: “$5,000 and she is all yours,” the officer wrote, according to the complaint.
“Just so that you know, she may be knocked out when I get her to you,” Officer Valle wrote, according to the criminal complaint. “I don’t know how long the solvent I am using will last but I have to knock her out to get her out of her apartment safely.”
Officer Valle appeared to be under the impression that the person he was communicating with intended to rape the woman, according to the criminal complaint.
“She will be alive,” he wrote. “It’s a short drive to you. I think I would rather not get involved in the rape. You paid for her. She is all yours and I don’t want to be tempted the next time I abduct a girl.”
Officer Valle also wrote that he would not budge on his $5,000 price. “Like I said this is very risky and will ruin my life if I am caught.”
While the complaint does not identify the woman in question, F.B.I. agents later learned that cellphone tracking devices indicated that Officer Valle had made or received phone calls on the block in Manhattan where the woman lived. When an F.B.I. agent interviewed the woman, she said she did not know Officer Valle well.
In a search of the officer’s computer, federal investigators discovered “files pertaining to at least 100 women,” according to the complaint. “The F.B.I. has identified and interviewed 10 of these women, each of whom has confirmed to the F.B.I. that Valle is known to her.”
In the search, federal agents also discovered a document Officer Valle had created that appeared to be a “blueprint” for “abducting and cooking” another woman, according to the complaint, which redacts the name of the victim.
In one message from July 19, 2012, Officer Valle sent an instant message to a person described as a “co-conspirator,” indicating that he was meeting with the intended victim three days later, according to the complaint. The victim, who was later interviewed in October by the F.B.I., said she had met the officer that day “at a restaurant for lunch,” according to the complaint. What happened during or after the lunch was not disclosed.
NYPD cop charged in sick gal pal kidnap-cook plot
By BRUCE GOLDING and DOUG AUER
Posted: 11:40 AM, October 25, 2012
Feds busted an NYPD cop, who hatched a sick plot to kidnap and cook his girlfriend and up to 100 other women, authorities said today.
Gilberto Valle III was arrested without incident at his Forest Hills home yesterday, before anyone could be harmed, law enforcement sources said.
Valle, 28, was assigned to the 26th Precinct in Harlem.
The accused sicko and aspiring hired-gun kidnapper made his cannibalistic plans between January and Wednesday, according to a federal complaint.
“On or about July 9, 2012, Gilberto Valle, the defendant, using the Internet and an electronic instant messaging program, communicated with a co-conspirator not named … about kidnapping, cooking and eating body parts of woman,” FBI Special Agent Anthony Foto wrote.
The suspect also “accessed a law enforcement database without authorization,” according to Foto.
He allegedly kept a detailed list of women he was targeting in these ghoulish plots.
Valle “had created files pertaining to at least 100 women and containing at least one photograph of each woman, the majority of whom are listed by their first and last name,” according to Foto.
“The FBI has identified and interviewed ten of these women, each of whom has confirmed to the FBI that Valle is known to her.”
Valle wrote to his co-conspirator between July 9 and 17 and detailed how they’d target “Victim 1,” according to feds.
“How big is your oven?” the unidentified conspirator wrote.
“Big enough to fit one of these girls if I folded their legs,” Valle allegedly responded. “The abduction will have to be flawless.”
Valle allegedly added: “ I know them … [Victim 1], I can just show up at her home unannounced...it will not alert her, and I can knock her out, wait until dark and kidnap her right out of her home.”
The conspirator suggested Valle should target a stranger, because Victim 1 might be too easily identified as a friend of the cop. But Valle allegedly said the victim is from out of state and he’d be able to avoid detection.
Once he captured Victim 1, Valle allegedly planned to make her murder as ghoulishly painful as possible.
“I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus … cook her over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible,” the FBI quoted Valle.
“I love that she is asleep right now not having the slightest clue of what we have planned. her days are numbered. I’m glad you’re on board. She does look tasty doesn’t she?”
The two also discussed how to make chloroform and estimated that “Victim 1” was good for 75 pounds of edible meat.
“The defendant created and edited a document entitled 'Abducting and Cooking [Victim 1]: a Blueprint,’” Foto wrote.
“The document contains pedigree information about Victim-1, including her name, date of birth, height, weight and bra size. The document also contains a section called 'Materials Needed’ in which Valle wrote, in part, the following: Car [I have it], Chloroform [refer to Web site for directions], Rope [Strongest kind to tie her up].”
FBI agents met with Victim 1, and she told them Valle and her met for lunch on July 22.
Valle and his co-conspirator had similar sick plans for another woman, identified in court papers as “Victim-2” -- with the cop allegedly being paid $5,000 for his work securing their prey.
“Full payment due at delivery,” Valle allegedly wrote. “Just so that you know, she may be knocked out when I get her to you.”
Valle allegedly said this work would launch his new career.
“I am aspiring to be a professional kidnapper and that’s business,” the sicko cop wrote, according to feds. “But I will really get off on knocking her out, tying up her hands and bare feet and gagging her.”
The customer and co-conspirator demanded his prize be delivered in pristine shape and Valle allegedly agreed.
“No need to worry. She will be alive. It’s a short drive to you. I think I would rather not get involved in the rape,” Valle allegedly replied. “You paid for her. She is all yours and I don’t want to be tempted the next time I abduct a girl.”
The FBI met with “Victim-2” and she told agents she only knows Valle in passing and he’s never been to her Manhattan apartment building.
Additional reporting by David K. Li
(480) 948-7724
TSA fights major image problem
I'm just reposting the article. If you ask me I would disband the TSA and fire everyone in it. Hell, I would disband the entire Homeland Security Agency and fire everybody in it, if I could.
Former San Jose officer alleges rampant time-card fraud
Source
Obama wants to murder suspected criminals
Hunt down criminals and arrest them??? Hell no, Obama plans to murder them. Screw that fair trial thing!
$2 pizza theft costs taxpayers $1.25 million
One of the first people I remember being sentenced under the 3 strikes law was some guy who swiped a slice of pizza in Redondo Beach.
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne nailed for hit and run.
Isn't Tom Horne the jerk who asked Governor Jan Brewer to declare Prop 203 null and void so he could continue to send medical marijuana smokers to prison? I bet that was just a smoke screen to cover up his crimes!!!!
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne has received a misdemeanor citation alleging he caused paint damage to the bumper of a parked vehicle during a March 27 fender bender that he did not report.
New York police officer charged with plan to cook, eat women
This could be a hoax that made it into the Chicago Tribune, but you never know, it could be real!
NYPD Officer Held in Plot to Cook Women and Eat Them
Source
NYPD cop charged in sick gal pal kidnap-cook plot
Source
Joe Arpaio Used Campaign Cash to Pay Himself Rent Money
The article also mentions the location of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's campaign office which is:
Starworld Travel Agency
Source
10632 North 71st Place
Scottsdale, AZ
85254
Joe Arpaio Used Campaign Cash to Pay Himself Rent Money
By Matthew Hendley Wed., Oct. 17 2012 at 6:15 AM
A campaign-finance complaint has been filed against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, mostly related to the oodles of cash he's sent over to his campaign manager Chad Willems' company, Summit Consulting.
While we were adding up how much Arpaio's forked over to Summit (more than $1.5 million since January), we happened to notice that Arpaio effectively cut himself a rent check using campaign contributions.
On January 29, Arpaio's campaign made a $1,200 payment to Ava Investments LLC, which is noted as "monthly rental for campaign office" in Arpaio's campaign-finance forms.
That would be Ava Arpaio, who runs Ava Investments LLC, a company that lists the sheriff as a "manager" in filings with the Arizona Corporation Commission.
Although the location of the campaign office hasn't changed from 10632 North 71st Place -- the location of Ava Arpaio's travel agency, and an address that might sound familiar to longtime New Times readers -- that's the only listed payment to Ava Investments.
That may very well be where the campaign-finance complaint comes into play. The complaint, filed by a woman named Irene Montoya Hemphill, raises a few issues, including that there's no way of telling what Willems -- Arpaio's campaign manager -- and Summit Consulting are doing with all that money
As you can see from an example below, Arpaio's campaign isn't too descriptive about what they're paying Summit Consulting for. "TV advertisement" shows up for three payments, "Fund Raising/Adm" shows up for another, and the fifth one is just left up to your imagination:
One might assume that instead of just listing that Arpaio's cutting himself the rent check, that money is sent to Summit before a check it made out to "Ava Investments LLC" -- since that office was still being used as campaign headquarters, as of September 24.
If not, that could be an issue.
Kristi Passarelli, a campaign-finance manager with the county elections department, explained to us that a candidate has to pay rent if they're using a corporate-owned location.
Therefore, since Arpaio just had to pick a spot owned by his wife and himself, he'd have to pay rent to his wife and himself.
Using property that's owned by a corporation without paying that corporation would be perceived as a corporate donation, which is prohibited by law.
So, long story short, Arpaio effectively paid himself, and should still be paying "Ava Investments LLC" for his own good -- and at the expense of the dopes who give him money.
Meanwhile, the citizen complaint -- sent to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and Maricopa County Clerk Michael Jeanes -- says "it appears [Arpaio] is funneling nearly everything through the 'Summit Consulting Group,'" which is a claim that would be hard to deny.
"It is acting as a conduit for many of those services and actually contracting out with other campaign operatives to do this work," the complaint says.
State law requires these forms to include "a clear description of the items or services purchased," but it's impossible to tell what the threshold is for specificity is on campaign-finance forms.
The complaint also points to the fact that some of the math is wrong in there, but all the Sheriff's campaign would have to do is yell "oops" to get out of that one. It also accuses Arpaio of campaigning in his MCSO uniform, which won't actually get him in trouble, since that kind of thing is kosher for county sheriffs.
Still, it would be nice to know how that money's being used, for instance, how much of it shows up at the bottom of Willems' ATM receipts.
And of course this happened in Illinois where the 2nd Amendment has pretty much been flushed down the toilet and only cops have guns.
Two ex-cops -- one released from Death Row -- charged in extortion plot
Staff report
11:54 a.m. CDT, October 26, 2012
Federal officials say they have foiled a grisly extortion plot involving two former police officers -- one of them released from Death Row nearly 15 years ago -- who plotted to abduct and dismember a man they believed had access to large amounts of cash from real estate holdings.
Steven Mandell, 61, of Buffalo Grove, and Gary Engel, 61, of Homer Glenn, are charged with attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion. Mandell had been sentenced to death for murder and kidnapping but his case was overturned in 1998.
Mandell was a Chicago police officer for about 10 years until 1983, and Engel was a former Willow Springs police officer.
The two were arrested Thursday evening on the Northwest Side as they allegedly planned to "arrest" the man and bring him to an office outfitted with a sink, a counter and shower.
They had “prop” firearms and fake law enforcement credentials, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Engel also possessed handcuffs and Mandell had a fake arrest document that appeared to name the victim as a criminal defendant.
After the arrests, FBI agents searched the area where the two planned to abduct the man and seized a loaded .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol and additional ammunition, as well as saws, a butcher knife and zip-ties used for use as restraints.
Mandell and Engel intended to abduct the man, known as “Soupie” or “Soupie Sales,” during a fake arrest while the victim attended a meeting with another person identified only as Individual A, prosecutors said.
They planned to take the man to a nearby office, which they called “Club Med,” where they planned to force the man to turn over cash and about 25 commercial real estate holdings and then kill him, prosecutors said.
During the investigation, which included audio and video recordings, Mandell speculated the victim generated as much as $100,000 a month in cash from rental properties. At one time, Mandell and Engel discussed demanding at least $500,000 from the victim to be released, while still planning to murder the victim, prosecutors said.
During the last month, Mandell arranged to outfit “Club Med” with a large deep sink, a long counter and a shower, according to federal officials.
"He took possession of the extortion location this past Monday, and met there with Engel over the next three days to plan how they would abduct the victim while posing as police officers, how they would restrain the victim, and dismember the victim after the extortion and murder," the U.S. attorney's office said in a statement.
On Oct. 10, Mandell discussed the plot with Individual A, telling the person: “My guy knows what he’s doing, he knows how to waterboard, do interrogation, psy-ops,” according to the affidavit.
Mandell and Engel allegedly discussed using the counter and sink area to drain the victim’s blood before dismembering the body.
Federal officials say Mandell was known as Steven Manning when he worked as a Chicago police officer from 1973 to 1983.
Mandell was also the leader of a burglary ring, according to law enforcement officials. In 1993, he was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering trucking company owner James Pellegrino, who was found in the Des Plaines River two months after his disappearance in 1990 with a bullet wound to the head.
Pellegrino’s wife testified that her husband warned her Manning might kill him, but the conviction was overturned in 1998 when the Illinois Supreme Court found a Cook County judge improperly admitted testimony, including Pellegrino’s wife’s, and some evidence into the trial.
At the time of the murder conviction, Manning had already been convicted in 1992 of kidnapping a drug dealer in Missouri, but that conviction was also overturned.
Mandell sued two FBI agents following his release from prison, claiming they framed him in Pellegrino’s murder. While he won the case, he lost a similar case against the federal government and collected no money in the lawsuits.
Oh well, I guess the government bureaucrat's war on the Second Amendment in Illinois works about as well as their war on drugs and anybody who wants an illegal gun can get it.
Cops using sensors to pick up gunshot sounds in 2 locations on South, West sides
By Jennifer Delgado, Chicago Tribune reporter
October 26, 2012
Hoping to quell rising violence on the South and West sides, Chicago police are again turning to sensors to more quickly track down gunfire in some of the city's most crime-ridden communities.
The Police Department began using gunshot detection technology early last month in two 1.5-square-mile areas to try to better pinpoint the location of gunshots, Superintendent Garry McCarthy disclosed Thursday. The sensors sometimes give officers information before 911 calls are made, he said.
In the past decade, the city twice installed the devices but ultimately removed them because of their high price tags and ineffectiveness. Since then the technology has improved "dramatically," McCarthy said.
"What we can do with this is overwhelming right now," McCarthy said at a news conference. "It's gotten a lot better, and obviously as it's out there longer, it's a lot cheaper also."
The one-year contract for the ShotSpotter system costs about $200,000 — money that will come from drug forfeitures and other property seized by police, authorities said.
The company running the technology said the devices are in more than 70 cities, including Gary, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, up from 45 two years ago, said Ralph Clark, president and CEO of SST, which produces the ShotSpotter system.
After a shot is fired, three or more sensors detect the sound and calculate its location. Trained acoustics experts in the company's 24/7 review center in California confirm if the sound came from a weapon and not a car backfire, fireworks or other loud noises. The technicians then pass the information onto Chicago's Crime Prevention and Information Center, which dispatches officers to the scene.
The technology can pinpoint the location of the gunfire to within 5 to 10 feet, Clark said.
When the city previously used the sensors, the devices often identified other noises as gunfire, prompting the city to remove them, said Dennis Rosenbaum, a professor of criminology, law and justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
But the technology has improved and better detects gunfire, he said. Rosenbaum noted that the review center didn't exist when the city tested the system earlier.
"If it can help and get officers to the right location, there's some potential there of intervening and finding out who's behind this (shooting), making arrests and, at a minimum, gathering additional information from the community," he said of the sensors.
McCarthy acknowledged he was initially wary of the system when it was used in his previous post in Newark, N.J. That changed after he discovered that the technology helped police make arrests and solve crimes when residents didn't call 911.
In the first few weeks with the system in operation, Chicago police arrested two felons with extensive criminal histories and recovered two weapons with the help of the sensors, he said.
With shootings when no one calls 911, "this is just an incredible tool for us," McCarthy said.
Police declined to say specifically where the sensors are but noted they were installed in areas that cover portions of the Englewood, Chicago Lawn, Harrison and Grand Crossing police districts.
The technology not only differentiates between gunshots and other loud noises but also filters out conversations, police said.
Though he didn't have a timeline, McCarthy said the city probably will expand the program as the department figures out how to pay for the system without tapping into tax funds.
Though Rosenbaum said he believes the sensors have improved and succeeded in other cities, he pointed out that police can't just rely on the technology but still need to encourage citizens to cooperate with officers.
"It's good to have people in the street … that are willing to work with the police and give them additional information," he said.
Tribune reporters Jeremy Gorner and Jason Meisner contributed.
jmdelgado@tribune.com
In Terry V Ohio the Supreme Court said that if the cops want to
question somebody they are allowed to pat down the person's
outside garments looking for weapons.
That is only a pat down of the outside of the persons outer clothing.
The Terry V Ohio does not allow the cops to reach inside the persons
pockets or search the person's inner garments.
Cops routinely use Terry V Ohio as a lame excuse to illegally
search people for drugs.
In the following article the ASU police did a pat down search of the
guy looking for weapons and felt two soft objects in the guys pants
where were baggies of marijuana, something any reasonable person
would not think was a weapon, but a bag of marijuana, or perhaps
a handkerchief.
Of course the cop doing the Terry V Ohio pat down search lied and
claimed he thought the two soft bags of marijuana were not really
soft baggies that contained marijuana, but hard solid steel objects
like guns.
And from there the cop used that lie to justify a search of the person
and discovered that the alleged two soft objects the cop thought were
guns, where not weapons but baggies
of marijuana.
I always say that the "war on drugs" is just a jobs program for cops
which allows them to arrest people for victimless "drug war" crimes.
I think about two thirds of the people in American prisons are there
for victimless "drug war crimes".
Every day in the
State Press,
which is the newspaper of
Arizona State University they run an article on the 2nd page
which lists arrests made by the ASU and Tempe police.
If your read the article every day, you will notice that most of the
arrests made by the ASU cops are for victimless "drug war" crimes.
There are also a lot of arrest for alchol use too, but I suspect that
is because there are a lot of people under 21 who live at the
ASU dorms or hang out in Tempe that like to drink. But I also consider
underage drinking a victimless crime like I consider using illegal drugs.
Man arrested after trying to evade police
By Ana Ramirez
October 24, 2012 at 8:27 pm
Tempe Police reported the following incidents Wednesday:
An 18-year-old Tempe man was arrested Sunday at Lemon Street and Rural Road on suspicion of marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession, according to a police report.
Officers started following the man when he left as a passenger in a vehicle after seeing police, police reported.
Police followed the vehicle through two apartment complexes before it pulled into a dead-end parking lot, according to the report.
Police stopped the vehicle when they realized there was no license plate light, police reported.
Officers felt several lumps in his pockets during a routine weapons search, according to the report.
The search revealed the lumps were plastic baggies and a pill bottle, both of which contained marijuana, police reported.
The man told police there was a total of eight grams of marijuana between the pill bottle and the bags, according to the report.
Police found a scale with marijuana residue under the passenger seat after a K-9 search, police reported.
The man said he purchased the scale because he didn’t want people to “rip him off,” according to the report.
He said he had purchased the marijuana 30 minutes prior to his encounter with police from a drug dealer at Lemon Street and Terrace Road, police reported.
Police found white rolling papers in his wallet, according to the report.
The man was transported to the Tempe City Jail, where he was booked and released for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
A 26-year-old Tempe man was arrested Sunday at University Drive and River Drive on suspicion of marijuana possession and being in possession of a firearm while in possession of illegal drugs, according to a police report.
Officers arrested the man after stopping his vehicle because it had white lights in the back, police reported.
The officer noticed a black holster with a semi-automatic handgun next to the driver, according to the report.
Officers noticed an odor of marijuana when the man exited his vehicle, police reported.
Police found a container with marijuana in the man’s left pocket, according to the report.
The man said he purchased the marijuana for $10 and said he didn’t know it was illegal to have a firearm while in possession of illegal drugs, police reported.
The man was transported to Tempe City Jail, where he was booked and released for possession of marijuana and for having a firearm while being in possession of an illegal drug, according to the report.
Reports compiled by Ana Ramirez. Reach the reporter at amrami13@asu.edu
SNIP
Patagonia law officer suspended after crash
A Patagonia deputy marshal has been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation into a single-vehicle crash early Wednesday in Tucson.
The officer on the scene "noticed signs consistent with alcohol intoxication" and initiated a drunken-driving investigation, Hawke said. Depending on the outcome, additional charges could be filed.
Tynes was not injured.
The incident comes as a blow to the tight-knit members of the Patagonia Marshal's Department.
Tynes' arrest "greatly upsets me," Patagonia Marshal Joe Patterson said.
"If you're out and impaired, give me a call and I will get you a ride home," he said. "I would go out any time of the day or night to pick somebody up to take them home safely and not endanger the public.
"With that being said, I am very opinionated on DUIs," he added. "There's no reason, no excuse. If you think you can get away with risking your life or risking someone else's life by doing something that stupid, you've got another thing coming.
"I've talked to Deputy Tynes, and he knows exactly how I feel about this situation, and I will be taking future actions," Patterson said.
SNIP
Deputy marshal suspended after Tucson crash
October 24, 2012 4:01 pm
Kimberly Matas, Arizona Daily Star
A Patagonia deputy marshal has been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation into a single-vehicle crash early Wednesday morning in Tucson.
The officer on-scene “noticed signs consistent with alcohol intoxication” and initiated a DUI investigation, Hawke said. Depending on the outcome, additional charges could be filed.
Tynes was not injured.
The incident comes as a blow to the tight-knit members of the Patagonia Marshal’s Department.
Tynes arrest “greatly upsets me,” Patagonia Marshal Joe Patterson said.
“If you’re out and impaired, give me a call and I will get you a ride home,” he said. “I would go out any time of the day or night to pick somebody up to take them home safely and not endanger the public. With that being said, I am very opinionated on DUIs. There’s no reason, no excuse. If you think you can get away with risking your life or risking someone else’s life by doing something that stupid, you’ve got another thing coming.
“I’ve talked to Deputy Tynes and he knows exactly how I feel about this situation and I will be taking future actions,” Patterson said.
The TPD investigation is ongoing.
On the other hand I guess it is a lot easier to pretend that some guy you framed and sent to prison for 20 years is really guilty of the crime instead of admitting you f*cked up and destroyed the guys life.
Wow! Kind of reminds me of David Dorn.
Lake County continues to press case against man cleared of rape by DNA
By Dan Hinkel, Chicago Tribune reporter
October 28, 2012
Lake County prosecutors have turned to the state's highest court in their bid to continue holding a man accountable for battering a woman even though he's been cleared of raping her during the same incident in 1986.
Bennie Starks spent 20 years in prison for raping and battering a 69-year-old woman in Waukegan before appellate judges granted him a new trial and ordered him freed on bond in 2006, citing DNA evidence. Prosecutors dropped the rape charges in May on the same day they reversed course in two murder cases involving DNA, tacitly acknowledging two other men had been wrongly accused.
But Starks' aggravated battery conviction was split from the rape case by a prior court ruling. Although he faces no threat of more prison time — he more than served his five-year battery sentence while imprisoned for rape — Starks, 53, hopes to see the lesser conviction undone as well. His attorneys argue he couldn't have battered the woman if he didn't rape her.
One of Starks' lawyers, Jed Stone, castigated Lake County prosecutors "for not recognizing that they have prosecuted — again — an innocent person."
"I don't know when this prosecution (of Starks) will die its death," he said. "It will, and Bennie will be cleared."
Appellate judges ruled for Starks in June, ordering Lake County to hold a hearing at which his lawyers can argue for a new trial in the battery case. Prosecutors asked the Appellate Court to reconsider, but it declined in August.
Now prosecutors have asked the Illinois Supreme Court to review the case and decide whether the Appellate Court erred in ordering the hearing.
The prosecution's petition focuses on what it says are procedural errors, rather than the facts of the case or the DNA evidence. For example, prosecutors question whether Starks obtained proper permission to file his claim of innocence. Prosecutors suggest the Supreme Court could take the case to "alleviate the confusion" in the lower courts.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan signed off on the prosecutors' filing, which is required for a Supreme Court review, because her office wants to see the procedural issues clarified, said Ann Spillane, her chief of staff. The same questions are relevant to other cases, Spillane said.
Attorneys seeking Supreme Court review face daunting odds. Of 1,799 petitions for review filed in 2011, the judges agreed to consider 78 cases, according to court statistics.
Starks' legal situation could change in December, when a newly elected state's attorney takes over from the retiring Michael Waller. Following a series of high-profile defeats in DNA cases, the campaign to succeed Waller has focused on approaches to forensic evidence.
With the information he has about Starks' case, Democratic candidate Chris Kennedy said he would plan to clear him if elected, saying pursuit of the conviction "seems to be a waste of money."
Republican Mike Nerheim said he's been following the case and would review the evidence upon taking office. If the evidence doesn't support the conviction, Nerheim said, he would clear Starks.
Waller could not be reached for comment.
Starks' rape case is one of four violent felony cases in Lake County dismantled by DNA in the last two years. In all four cases, prosecutors maintained that seemingly exculpatory forensic evidence did not clear the suspect, instead offering alternative explanations for how other people's blood or semen came to be at the crime scene.
At Starks' trial, the victim identified him as the man who bit and raped her. His jacket was found near the scene, and prosecutors said bite mark evidence pointed to him. Starks said the jacket was stolen from him, and his lawyers have called the dental evidence into question.
When the DNA evidence emerged in the early 2000s, prosecutors argued that it didn't clear Starks because the victim could have had consensual sex with another man. The woman, who has since died, testified she had not had sex for weeks before the rape.
dhinkel@tribune.com
From this article where the cops are using a sharpshooter in a helicopter to murder suspected drug smugglers in Texas I suspect the day when they will be using drones to do the same thing isn't far away.
Trooper fired from chopper to stop truck, kills 2
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and JUAN CARLOS LLORCA
Associated Press
LA JOYA, Texas (AP) — A Texas state trooper who fired on a pickup truck from a helicopter and killed two illegal immigrants during a chase through the desert was trying to disable the vehicle and suspected it was being used to smuggle drugs, authorities said Friday.
The disclosure came a day after the incident that left two Guatemalan nationals dead on an isolated gravel road near the town of La Joya, just north of the Mexico border.
State game wardens were the first to encounter the truck Thursday. After the driver refused to stop, they radioed for help and state police responded, according to Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman Mike Cox.
When the helicopter with a sharpshooter arrived, officers concluded that the truck appeared to be carrying a "typical covered drug load" on its bed and was travelling at reckless speeds, police said.
After the shots were fired and the truck's tires blown out, the driver lost control and crashed into a ditch. State police said a preliminary investigation revealed that the shots fired from the helicopter struck the vehicle's occupants.
Eight people who were in the truck were arrested. At least seven of them were also from Guatemala. No drugs were found.
The Guatemalan consul in McAllen, Alba Caceres, told The Associated Press that the surviving witnesses told her "one died immediately, the other was apparently taken to a hospital and died on the way."
The sharpshooter was placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure after such incidents.
An expert on police chases said the decision to fire on the truck was "a reckless act" that served "no legitimate law enforcement purpose."
"In 25 years following police pursuits, I hadn't seen a situation where an officer shot a speeding vehicle from a helicopter," said Geoffrey Alpert, professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina. Such action would be reasonable only if "you know for sure the person driving the car deserves to die and that there are no other occupants."
In general, he said, law enforcement agencies allow the use of deadly force only when the car is being used as a weapon, not "just on a hunch," Alpert added.
The Texas Department of Public Safety referred questions about its policy governing the use of deadly force to its general manual, which says troopers are allowed to use such force when defending themselves or someone else from serious harm or death. Shooting at vehicles is justified to disable a vehicle or when deadly force is deemed necessary.
Other law enforcement agencies that patrol the border say they have similar limits on the practice.
For instance, federal Customs and Borders Protection agents "are trained to use deadly force in circumstances that pose a threat to their lives, the lives of their fellow law enforcement partners and innocent third parties," agency spokesman Doug Mosier said.
But a report presented Thursday to the United Nations by the American Civil Liberties Union said shootings and excessive force by Customs and Border Protection agents on the border have left at least 20 individuals dead or seriously hurt since January 2010.
Of those, eight cases involved agents responding to reports of people throwing rocks. Six involved people killed while standing on the Mexican side of the border.
In recent years, Texas state police have increased their presence in the border area, deploying more agents, more helicopters and more boats to patrol the Rio Grande.
Troopers are regularly involved in high-speed pursuits, often chasing drug smugglers into the river and back to Mexico.
Agency Director Stephen McCraw has said state police were pushed into that role because the federal government's efforts to secure the border have been insufficient.
Diplomats quickly began their own investigation into the chase.
The head of the Guatemalan Consulate in McAllen said she is demanding federal and state authorities provide an explanation.
"I am baffled. I can't understand how this could happen," Caceres said. "I understand that the agents are doing their job, that they are protecting their border. But if there is someone who is responsible for this, he has to pay."
The Guatemalans started their journey 19 days ago near Guatemala City, with plans to stay with friends and relatives in New York, New Jersey and Houston, she said.
They were covered with a tarp, but as the car sped away from the game warden and the helicopter, the men "were having lots of trouble holding on to that tarp, Caceres said. "They must have seen them."
As my Libertarian friend CD said, it's too bad the defense attorney can't call the dog up to the witness stand and ask the dog if it really smelled drugs, or if the dog's handler made the whole thing up to give the cops a lame excuse to search for drugs.
The cops often claim the dog smelled drugs when there were none because of money the suspect had in his wallet. Allegedly almost every dollar bill in the world has a trace of cocaine on it when somebody used the bill to snort a line of cokes. Of course if that line is true then drug dogs should be banned, because they will get a positive result anytime they are around a person with money in their wallet, including money in the drug dog handlers wallet.
Of course the real answer is to quit worrying about if drug dogs are reliable and end the insane war on drugs, which is really a war on the Bill of Rights along with being a war on the American people.
Will Supreme Court turn up its nose at drug-sniffing dogs?
Jonathan Stempel Reuters
12:36 p.m. CDT, October 28, 2012
The court is scheduled on Wednesday to hear Florida's appeal of two decisions by that state's highest court that found the detection of drugs by trained police dogs had violated the constitutional ban on unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
These arguments involve distinctly different issues: whether a dog can sniff outside a home without a warrant, and how qualified a dog must be to do a legitimate sniff.
They give the Supreme Court a chance to extend, or limit, prior decisions giving police a long leash to use dogs, including for suitcases at airports and cars stopped at checkpoints.
"If the court vindicates the ability of police to use dogs without probable cause, and that a sniff outside a car justifies searching that car, it could enhance their ability to use dogs for law enforcement," said Richard Garnett, a University of Notre Dame law professor and clerk for former Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
Like others in law enforcement, Florida maintains that dog "alerts" are not searches because they uncover illegal activities that deserve no privacy protection.
The retired Justice David Souter mocked that idea in a dissent from a 2005 pro-sniff decision, saying it supposes that a trained canine becomes an "infallible dog" that never errs.
At least 23 U.S. states joined each of Florida's appeals, calling drug-detecting dogs "essential weapons" at the forefront of efforts to stop illegal drug production and sales.
The Supreme Court is often their ally in search cases, typically siding with the police.
SANCTITY OF THE HOME
One of Wednesday's cases, Florida v. Jardines, concerns a December 5, 2006, search outside Joelis Jardines' home nearMiami.
A "crime stopper" had tipped police that marijuana was growing inside. Relying on that tip, a detective, joined by Franky, approached. Trained to find the strongest odor, Franky went to the front door, sniffed the base, and sat down.
That was the alert his handlers were looking for. After obtaining a search warrant, police found marijuana plants inside the home. Jardines was arrested for possessing more than 25 pounds of marijuana, and stealing the electricity to grow it.
In voiding the search, Florida's highest court called Franky's sniff an "unreasonable government intrusion into the sanctity of the home." There, it said, the expectation of privacy was much greater than in a car or an airport.
The court also likened Franky to the heat-sensing thermal imagers that the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 2001 decision that cut across ideological lines, said could not without a warrant be used outside a home to detect marijuana growing inside.
Where the government uses a device "not in general public use" to uncover details about a home, "the surveillance is a 'search' and is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant," Justice Antonin Scalia then wrote for a 5-4 majority.
"Jardines is a line-drawing case: the question is can police use the dog at the front door," said Orin Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University and former clerk to JusticeAnthony Kennedy. "If a warrant were needed, police would never use the dog at a house, because then they could just go inside."
TELLTALE NERVES
Wednesday's other case, Florida v. Harris, involves a search not of a house, but of Clayton Harris' pickup truck.
An officer pulled over Harris near Bristol, Florida, in the state's panhandle, on June 24, 2006, after seeing that the truck had an expired tag. An open beer can lay in the cup holder.
Nervous, shaking and breathing rapidly, Harris would not let the officer search his truck. Out came Aldo, who was led around the truck for a "free air sniff."
Near the driver's door handle, Aldo gave his alert, becoming excited and then sitting down. The officer then searched the truck's interior, and found 200 pseudoephedrine pills and 8,000 matches, which are ingredients formethamphetamine.
Harris pleaded no contest, but he got a reprieve. The Florida Supreme Court said the state did not show Aldo's reliability as a drug detector with evidence of his training, certification and performance, and his handler's experience.
By comparison, Franky had no such problems, according to court papers. At the time of Jardines' search, he had made 399 positive alerts. The result: seizures of roughly one ton of marijuana and 34 pounds of cocaine andheroin.
"The state's 'credentials alone' canine-reliability test is based on an overgeneralized assertion - that all trained or certified drug-detection dogs are reliable in the field," a group of 34 law professors said in a brief supporting Harris.
Regardless of how the court rules in both cases, police will go on using dogs for drug detection. The questions are when, and how.
Decisions in both cases are expected by the end of June.
The cases are Florida v. Jardines, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 11-564; and Florida v. Harris, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 11-817.
(The story was refiled to make clear drug-sniffing dogs in headline)
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Howard Goller and Tim Dobbyn)
Of course anybody who believes in a fair trial will tell you that is a bunch of BS. You should have a little evidence before you lock somebody in prison for 50 years because of an alleged rape.
But hey the cops got confessions??? Yea, so what. Most police forces stopped beating people with rubber hoses to get confessions years ago.
Now the cops use the "9 Step Reid Method" which is a technique to get confessions which beats the person with a mental rubber hose to get a confession.
If you go by the number of false confessions the "9 Step Reid Method" gets, it is just as efficient as beating a person with a real rubber hose to get a confession. And the confessions are just as reliable as those obtained by psychically beating a person with a rubber hose.
When Mass Hysteria Convicted 5 Teenagers
By BRENT STAPLES
Published: October 27, 2012
Mass hysteria always makes perfect sense when we are trapped in it. It can take decades — or even longer — before the crazed irrationality of a particular episode shows itself for what it was. That realization comes through with considerable force in a new documentary about the case of the five black and Hispanic teenagers who were wrongly convicted in the beating and rape of a young, white jogger in Central Park in the spring of 1989.
The film, written and produced by the documentarian Ken Burns, with his daughter, Sarah Burns, and her husband, David McMahon, offers a matter-of-fact but profoundly disturbing depiction of the forces that led citizens, politicians, the media and the criminal justice system to brush past yawning gaps in the evidence in the case. The five teenagers, aged 14 to 16, were convicted — based on confessions they say were coerced — in what former Mayor Ed Koch describes in the film as “the crime of the century.”
The convictions were overturned in 2002, after a serial rapist and murderer, who had staged a similar attack in the park just 48 hours before the one on the jogger, stepped forward to admit his crime, saying that he had acted alone.
An exhaustive investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office corroborated the man’s story — noting that his DNA had been found at the scene and that there was no physical evidence to tie the five teenagers to the very bloody crime scene. The investigation report, which recommended that the court overturn the convictions, seemed to suggest that the five should never have been indicted at all. But by that time, Kharey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana had completed their sentences and been robbed of their young lives.
The film scarcely mentions the pending federal lawsuit in which the five men and their families are seeking $50 million each in damages. But lawyers for the city have subpoenaed raw footage and outtakes from the film, “The Central Park Five,” arguing that the material is crucial to its ability to defend itself. The subpoena fight shows that the past, as Faulkner pointed out, is never really past.
My job as an assistant metropolitan editor for The Times in the late 1980s gave me a close vantage point on the events that unfolded in the aftermath of the attack. But it was only with the documentary — and the distance of time — that I gained perspective on the civic turmoil of the period and the symbolic role that the young suspects played.
Back then, New York was still reeling from its brush with bankruptcy, the deadly crack wars were raging, and one could drive for blocks and blocks through terrifying landscapes of bombed out buildings in poor neighborhoods.
In the public mind, a large group of teenagers who had roamed the park the evening of the jogger attack, chucking rocks at a cab and assaulting runners, embodied the decline of civilized society itself. The five who were charged with the jogger case were depicted as “animals,” “savages” and especially “wolves” as they headed to convictions that were almost assured before the first juror was called. Never mind the absence of physical evidence, or the timeline analysis suggesting that the group was probably elsewhere in the park when the attack on the jogger took place. Or confessions described in the district attorney’s investigation as differing “from one another on the specific details of virtually every major aspect of the crime — who initiated the attack, who knocked the victim down, who undressed her, who struck her, who held her, who raped her, what weapons were used in the course of the assault and when in the sequence of events the attack took place.”
The old interrogation footage of the frightened teenagers who confessed, shown in “The Central Park Five,” stands in sharp contrast to the “wolves” that were put forward to us in 1989. We see a baby-faced 14-year-old Raymond Santana mumbling out a confession, which he now says he made up in an attempt to satisfy the police, who he claimed promised to let him go home if only he provided a story. We see the special-education student, Kharey Wise, who was 16 but whose mental abilities were younger than his years. He is overwhelmed when shown a picture of the victim’s injuries and almost swooning with gratitude when someone hands him a can of soda.
By the time the videotaped confessions were taken, the defendants, their lawyers say, had endured lengthy interrogations and been subjected to coercive and deceptive interrogation techniques, including force and trickery, sleep deprivation and isolation from their families. The complaint further asserts that the boys were told that they could go home if they provided statements placing themselves at the scene and incriminating others.
Looking back at their younger selves, the men speak of loss and of standing at a kind of remove from the lives they are trying to live. As Mr. Wise, who served 13 years, puts it: “You can forgive but you won’t forget. You won’t forget what you done lost. No money could bring that time back. No money could bring the life that was missing or the time that was taken away.”
Anybody that reads my posts, knows this stuff happens all the time and I routinely post articles on people that have been framed by the police and spend 10 or 20 years in prison before being releases when they are usually proven innocent by DNA tests.
The sad thing about these cases is the cops NEVER learn from their mistakes.
Cops that frame people, like the cops that framed Phoenix Ray Krone for murder are rarely fired or even punished.
And the police never change the techniques they use to investigate these crime. In these cases the cops usually have a hunch that person X did it and then they manufacturer or make the evidence fit their theory that person X did it.
One last problem is the technique the cops use to get confessions which is the "9 Step Reid Method".
The "9 Step Reid Method" is the psychological equivalent of beating a person with a mental rubber hose to get a confession.
The "9 Step Reid Method" is a very efficient method of getting confessions, real and false. And based on past cases the "9 Step Reid Method" routinely gets false confessions.
Trial in 1977 killing asks: Were suspects framed?
By Ryan J. Foley Associated Press Sun Oct 28, 2012 12:54 PM
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Two black men wrongly convicted in the 1977 murder of a white Iowa police officer hope to prove something they couldn’t during trials that sent them to prison for 25 years: that detectives framed them to solve a high-profile case.
During a civil trial that starts Wednesday in Des Moines, Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee will argue that Council Bluffs police officers coerced witnesses into fabricating testimony against them in the killing of John Schweer.
Schweer was found dead while working as the night watchman at a car dealership. Harrington and McGhee, then teenagers from neighboring Omaha, Neb., say detectives used threats against a group of young black car theft suspects to trump up evidence targeting them because of their race and pressure to solve the retired captain’s killing.
Despite little physical evidence, Harrington and McGhee were convicted at 1978 trials and sentenced to long prison terms. They were freed in 2003, after the Iowa Supreme Court found that prosecutors committed misconduct in concealing reports about another man seen near the crime scene with a shotgun. The key witnesses had also recanted their testimony, saying they were pressured into implicating the men.
After winning their freedom, they filed lawsuits against prosecutors and officers they blamed for forcing them to spend their adult lives in the Fort Madison prison. Their case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009 over the issue of whether suspects have the constitutional right not to be framed by prosecutors. Before justices ruled, Pottawatamie County agreed to pay $12 million to settle claims against two former prosecutors while not admitting wrongdoing.
The settlement did not resolve claims against Council Bluffs and former detectives Dan Larsen and Lyle Brown.
Harrington and McGhee claim Larsen and Brown coerced the group of black car theft suspects into fingering them in the death. Investigators took the star witness, a 16-year-old confessed liar with numerous aliases, to the crime scene, gave him details about the murder weapon, and had him repeatedly change his story until it was plausible, the lawsuit claims.
The witness, Kevin Hughes, was aggressively questioned in Schweer’s death after he was pulled over several weeks later driving a vehicle stolen from a Nebraska dealership. He first implicated three other men who had alibis before eventually claiming Harrington pulled the trigger and McGhee drove the getaway car after they went to steal a car from the dealership Schweer was guarding. Hughes said later he lied to get reward money and avoid being charged himself. Other witnesses also recanted.
Jurors will be asked to decide at trial, scheduled to last through Nov. 16, whether detectives, who were both white, and the city violated Harrington and McGhee’s civil rights and, if so, how much they should receive in damages.
“We have waited for a very long time to have this trial and we look forward to having an opportunity to present our case,” said Stephen Davis, an attorney for McGhee, now married and living in a Midwestern community he does not want to disclosure.
Facing a possible verdict of millions, lawyers for the detectives and the city are making an aggressive defense. They plan to argue that Harrington and McGhee probably were the real killers — and that even if they weren’t, detectives did nothing wrong in focusing on them as suspects under the circumstances.
“There is going to be evidence that this civil jury will hear surrounding Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee’s involvement in this crime and it’s evidence that the juries in 1978 considered,” said attorney Kristopher Madsen. “But importantly, we believe there’s going to be lacking any credible evidence to indicate these two police detectives in any way fabricated evidence or coerced or threatened witnesses or violated any civil rights of Harrington and McGhee.”
The stakes are high for the city because recent court rulings have concluded it will have little insurance coverage if liable.
Lawyers would not say how much compensation Harrington and McGhee would seek, but they plan to show jurors a mock prison cell to illustrate their lives behind bars. Harrington’s daughter, born after he was imprisoned, is expected to testify about the former high school football player’s long dream of freedom.
A key question will be why detectives stopped pursuing suspect Charles Gates. Police reports about Gates had been hidden from the defense and were uncovered in 1999 by a former prison barber who became convinced of Harrington’s innocence and worked for years for his freedom.
They showed that witnesses reported seeing a man with a dog carrying a shotgun near the crime scene, where Schweer’s bullet-riddled body was found surrounded by bloody dog prints. In the nights before his death, the police reports show Schweer reported having altercations with a white man carrying a shotgun and walking a dog — something Gates was known to do.
Police questioned Gates, a 48-year-old loner, and he failed a lie-detector test. He had also been a suspect in an earlier unsolved murder. Investigators even consulted an astrologer about Gates, but ignored him after Hughes and other teens were stopped in the stolen car. Gates denied in a 2003 interview with police that he was involved in the slaying. Attempts to find Gates and reach him for comment were not successful.
“Larsen and Brown thought it was their lucky day. They could pin the murder on them, or use them to pin it on some ‘ghetto dwellers’,” plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote, using a term detective Larsen once used to refer to Omaha residents. “Either way, Larsen and Brown would be putting blacks in front of a white Council Bluffs jury for the killing of a white Council Bluffs cop. That would mean case closed and they would be heroes.”
SB 1070 training costs $640,000
By Jacques Billeaud Associated Press Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:34 PM
PHOENIX - Police agencies in Arizona have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars training officers to enforce the state’s immigration law, despite claims from supporters that it wasn’t going to cost much extra for the state’s 15,000 officers to carry out the statute.
An informal survey by the Associated Press of selected police departments and a state agency that trains officers shows that seven agencies have spent a combined $640,000 on training that focused heavily on the law’s requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, question people’s immigration status if they’re believed to be in the country illegally. Other agencies were surveyed, but said no training-cost estimates were available.
A federal judge gave police the go-ahead to start enforcing the law’s questioning requirement on Sept.18 after a two-year court battle waged by the Obama administration, immigrant-rights advocates and others.
Lost in all the heated political rhetoric surrounding the law was the question about how much it would cost to carry out.
The spokesman for Gov. Jan Brewer said in the days after the questioning requirement took effect that he didn’t know why there would be any additional costs in enforcing the measure.
Brewer spokesman Matthew Benson said that immigration inquiries are just another line of questioning for officers to work into their routines when they stop someone and have good reason to make immigration inquiries.
A week later, when told about training costs, Benson said the amount being spent on the law would still pale in comparison to the estimated $934million in net costs from illegal immigration that the state had to eat in 2011, the last year for which an estimate was available.
That estimate includes the costs of educating illegal immigrants, jailing illegal immigrants arrested on state crimes and providing health care for those in the country illegally.
Beyond the training, there are costs to actually enforce the law.
Those figures are not known, although they aren’t as great as opponents had predicted.
Federal authorities who are charged with verifying the immigration status of people on behalf of local police departments said they haven’t experienced a significant uptick in calls since officers started to enforce the questioning requirement.
Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor had predicted in 2010 that the law’s immigration-check requirement for all arrested people before they can be released from custody would result in higher jail costs.
But Villaseñor’s interpretation of the law has since changed.
He said the prevailing view by police departments now is that in cases where federal authorities didn’t respond to an inquiry or there is no record of a person in an immigration database, they will fall back on their department’s policies, which in Tucson is to cite and release them.
Only one study has been conducted on the costs of enforcing the immigration law, but that examination by budget analysts for the Legislature concluded the costs couldn’t be predicted and is considered outdated.
Budget staffers at the Legislature haven’t produced another study on the subject.
Federal immigration officials who in 2010 had predicted the questioning requirement could dramatically increase their workload and slow down response times on immigration checks say they don’t have an estimate on how much the checks are costing Washington.
The $640,000 in training costs consists of an estimated $360,000 at the Phoenix Police Department; $123,000 at the Tucson Police Department; an estimated $23,000 at the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office; about $2,000 at the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office; an estimated $24,000 by the Flagstaff Police Department; and $28,000 by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. An additional $80,000 was spent by the Chandler Police Department, which also trained its civilian employees.
Remember the guy who causes this hit and run accident is Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne.
When Tom Horne isn't crashing into other cars on his way to an alleged affair with Carmen Chenal is is demanding that Gov Brewer declare Prop 203 null and void so he can resume jailing medical marijuana smokers.
Horne hit-and-run caused more than $1,000 in damage, records
By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Oct 30, 2012 12:22 PM
The documents were released Tuesday to The Arizona Republic and 12 News in response to public-records requests.
The owner of the 2008 Range Rover that was struck, Kevin Montaño of Goodyear, said it is unclear how the damages will be repaired because the insurer of the vehicle driven by Horne needs to further investigate the accident.
“He’s a man,” Montaño said. “It happens. I wasn't in the vehicle, I wasn't aware of the impact he felt when it hit. He says he didn't even feel anything. You've got to take him at his word, you know?”
Montaño said he has never spoken with the attorney general.
Horne last week received a misdemeanor citation alleging he caused paint damage to the bumper of a parked vehicle during a March 27 fender bender that he did not report. The citation was for one count of leaving the scene of a collision/unattended vehicle, a class three misdemeanor. Police have said the ticket includes a Nov. 2 court date and refers Horne to Phoenix Municipal Court.
The accident was witnessed by two FBI special agents who were tailing Horne as part of an investigation into alleged campaign-finance violations. The FBI turned the information over to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Earlier this month, county officials referred the matter to the city of Phoenix.
Other public records obtained by the newspaper from the county attorney’s office detail the crash. Maricopa County Attorney's Detective Mark Stribling wrote an April 19 memo describing how FBI agents Brian Grehoski and Merv Mason watched the accident and the minutes leading up to it. Stribling wrote that agents saw Carmen Chenal, a longtime Horne confidante and employee, leave the Attorney General's Office during lunch hour, get into a borrowed car, and drive to a downtown Phoenix parking garage. Horne then left the office and drove his gold Jaguar into the same garage.
Horne and Chenal then left the garage, with Horne driving the vehicle originally driven by Chenal, Stribling wrote. Chenal was in the passenger seat. Horne was wearing a baseball cap as they drove to Carmen’s residence.
After the accident, the Phoenix report states, Horne “stopped for an estimated 10 to 20 seconds. Neither Tom nor Carmen got out or opened the windows to look out to see the damage. Tom pulled away and parked the vehicle in another area of the parking garage and the two of them walked through the resident gate and went into Carmen’s apartment.”
The new records show images of the damage to the Range Rover, which include dark paint streaks on the bumper. A repair estimate by Penske Automotive Collison in Scottsdale indicates the costs to repair it would be $1,070.95, including parts, paint and labor.
Horne declined to speak to Phoenix police who investigated the case. His spokeswoman, Amy Rezzonico, and employee Linnea Heap, whose Volkswagon car Horne was driving during the accident, also declined to speak to the police.
In an April 20 interview with the FBI, Heap first tells agents that Chenal “told me that someone had hit the bumper,” according to transcripts. Heap stated Chenal saw minor damage when she “came to the car.” The agents chided Heap for protecting Chenal, her friend, and pointed out that Martha Stewart went to prison for lying to the FBI, not securities fraud.
Heap later changed her story, saying Chenal told her that Horne hit the Range Rover while backing up in the parking garage. Chenal told Phoenix police that she looked out of the window to see if there was any damage to the Rover, and that there was none. She said the damage to Heap’s car was no more than $150.
Horne’s versions of his response to the accident have varied, and they conflict with authorities’ records. He has told The Republic he could not remember who he was with when the accident occured, but on the same day told other media outlets he was with Chenal. He told one TV station he didn’t see ay damage to the Range Rover. And he told another TV station he hardly remembered the accident.
But records show neither Horne nor Chenal “made any attempt to check for damage or make any kind of notification to the vehicle owner,” such as leaving a note. Records also show Rezzonico told the FBI Horne paled when he recounted the accident days later to her.
Babeu’s new posse too risky to insure
Letter to Babeu
By Lindsey Collom The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:33 PM
An armed volunteer posse set up by Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu to scan the desert for violent drug smugglers is running into serious bureaucratic opposition that might thwart the controversial operation.
County officials from across the state and their insurance underwriters believe Babeu has gone too far in recruiting military veterans to help his deputies, who patrol one of the most dangerous sections of Arizona desert, and have deemed the operation too risky.
Following legal warnings from alarmed underwriters that provide liability cover for posse volunteers in most county sheriff’s offices, an agency that coordinates insurance cover is changing its policy to specifically excludeBabeu’s Anti-Smuggling Posse.
The Arizona Counties Insurance Pool, a risk-sharing program for 11 of the state’s counties, has begun drawing up new policy rules as a direct response to Babeu’s move to send volunteers out to observe and report drug- and human-smuggling activity in the desert of western Pinal County.
The changes are unlikely to affect volunteer-posse operations in any other member county.
“There is not a county that has a posse like Sheriff Babeu’s proposed Anti-Smuggling Posse,” said Bill Hardy, ACIP executive director. “Normal posse activities include neighborhood-watch patrols, welfare checks — in other words, an extra set of eyes in the neighborhood. Additionally, they provide traffic control at accident and crime sites. We have never had a problem with those (posse members).
“However, we do not think it’s good risk management to put a group of gentlemen with weapons out in the desert at night, becoming involved in human- and drug-smuggling enforcement efforts.”
Arizona Counties Insurance Pool is governed by a board of trustees composed of representatives from each member county. It does not include Maricopa, Pima, Yuma and Coconino counties, which are self-insured.
During a board meeting last week, Hardy said trustees directed him to devise language that would modify the insurance policy to preclude liability coverage for the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office’s Anti-Smuggling Posse. The instructions followed an Oct. 22 letter to Babeu from ACIP’s legal representative, alerting the sheriff to the trustees’ and underwriters’ concerns regarding the posse’s function and mission.
“As understood by ACIP, this posse will consist of volunteers,” wrote Kenneth C. Sundlof Jr., an attorney with Jennings, Strouss & Salmon P.L.C., general counsel to the insurance pool. “The volunteers will be provided with semi-automatic weapons and surveillance gear by the Sheriff’s Department. While volunteers will be chosen based upon their prior law enforcement or military backgrounds, these volunteers will not be certified law enforcement officers. The purpose of the posse is to patrol the Western Pinal County area to report observations of possible illegal smuggling activities.”
Babeu has said members of the armed, all-volunteer posse do not patrol or make arrests. They assist law enforcement as needed, he said, but their main focus is surveillance and intelligence gathering at the direction of a multijurisdictional SWAT team led by the Sheriff’s Office. The size of the posse has not been disclosed.
The Sheriff’s Office would not clarify the new posse’s function and activities to date. Tim Gaffney, Babeu’s director of communications and grants, said the sheriff, in relaying a conversation he had with Hardy on Tuesday morning, told him “the county insurance pool will be covering our Anti-Smuggling Posse fully just as they do for other posse duties.”
Hardy acknowledged the call and said he told Babeu that ACIP is reviewing the policy.
“As of today, because the policy hasn’t been changed, I guess (Babeu) could make that statement,” Hardy said, adding later that “the position of the board is to move forward with not providing it. We just haven’t developed the policy language to date.”
Sundlof’s letter to Babeu said the underwriter had advised ACIP that it “will likely amend its policies to exclude coverage to volunteers engaged in law enforcement activities, at a minimum.”
Later in the letter, Sundlof refers to “the statement of the underwriter that there will be no liability coverage for the posse.” The current protocol gives county supervisors discretion to approve volunteer claims for workers’ compensation, and that will apply to new posse members as well, he added.
It is not clear what would happen if the Anti-Smuggling Posse were to continue to operate in the desert without liability coverage.
Not providing coverage to a sheriff-sanctioned group is bad policy, said Scott Strobel, president of the Pinal County Deputies Association, a nearly 200-member group and bargaining entity for sworn, civilian and volunteer Sheriff’s Office staff.
“I don’t know the details, so I don’t understand where it’s high risk,” Strobel said. “It’s no more high risk than having a posse member on duty. There’s just as many high-powered weapons in the metropolitan areas as out in the desert. It’s just that in the desert, it’s more remote.”
Babeu announced the formation of the Anti-Smuggling Posse earlier this month. It is separate from the Sheriff’s Office’s other posse groups, whose members assist patrol deputies and participate in search-and-rescue operations.
His new posse in some ways mirrors legislation Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, sponsored this year to require Gov. Jan Brewer to establish an armed-volunteer state guard on the border. Senate Bill 1083, which Babeu supported, passed in the Senate but stalled in the House. Critics listed liability and training as chief concerns.
Uniform for all member counties, the ACIP policy insures volunteers assisting in government business, including those engaged in law-enforcement activities.
Maricopa County has a similar policy. Cari Gerchick, county communications director, doubted that liability coverage would ever be restricted for the Maricopa County sheriff’s posse.
“Frankly, you’ve got a statute that authorizes them to act as long as they have a sheriff’s officer with them or are under their supervision,” Gerchick said. “I don’t see us meddling in what is appropriate law enforcement, but different counties operate differently.”
State law gives elected sheriffs the ability to request the aid of volunteer posse and reserve organizations. A sheriff may also authorize members of the sheriff’s volunteer posse to carry firearms if they have received firearms training approved by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.
Hardy said he’ll need to walk a fine line in crafting the revisions to the policy due to the technicality of insurance-coverage language. Although trustees did not move to pull coverage from other sheriffs’ posses, he said “we may not be able to do what we want to accomplish what we want to do without reducing coverage for all sheriffs’ posses.”
The Board of Trustees will ultimately approve the language and vote on it. There’s no indication the group will veer from its plan, Hardy said Tuesday, adding that “they are not interested in covering the type of exposure as outlined.”
Sheriffs officials from two member counties on the Arizona/Mexico border — Santa Cruz and Cochise — say the changes won’t affect their operations. Cochise County dissolved its sheriff’s posse a few years back.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada said the four volunteers in his office’s Law Enforcement Assist Team mostly help with crowd control and traffic. Team members are asked to report suspicious activity but may not get involved unless it’s at the direction of a sworn officer. Babeu has said his new posse is no different.
Estrada said he’s grateful for volunteers, but he questioned whether they should be taking on roles typically reserved for peace officers. Saying he could only speak for his own county, Estrada said, “This is not a game down here.I think everything is well intended, but I don’t personally or professionally feel comfortable with another group in here that hasn’t had the level of training that peace officers are known and recognized for.
“I wouldn’t want to see anybody come down here and do police work. I think we have enough agents down here to take care of that situation.”
Supreme Court to revisit use of dogs as basis for drug searches
By David G. Savage, Washington Bureau
October 31, 2012
WASHINGTON — Researchers at UC Davis set up a simple experiment to test police dogs and their fabled ability to detect drugs. They told 18 police dog handlers they had hidden small amounts of illegal drugs in four rooms of a church.
Over two days of testing, the drug-sniffing dogs alerted their handlers repeatedly and in every room — 225 times in all. And they were twice as likely to alert on spots marked with red construction paper that the handlers had been told would indicate drugs.
But in fact, no drugs were in any of the rooms, suggesting the "handler's beliefs" and their "hidden cues" may trigger the dog to alert on a target of suspicion, the researchers said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will revisit the constitutionality of using police dogs to trigger searches of cars and homes in a pair of cases from Florida. The justices will decide whether the 4th Amendment's ban on "unreasonable searches" requires the police to have more than an alert from a drug-sniffing dog before they open the trunk of a car or enter a home.
Nationwide, dogs are the leading weapon in the government's war on drugs. Florida alone has more than 1,000 K-9 units, and they were responsible for more than 130,000 arrests last year.
In the past, the high court has given the police a green light to conduct searches whenever a "well-trained narcotics detection dog" gives an alert. No one disputes that canines have an extraordinary ability to detect odors, and they can be invaluable in finding items such as hidden explosives or human remains.
But some experts in animal science are urging the justices to be cautious before allowing police dogs to serve as a substitute for search warrants.
Alerts from drug-detecting dogs "should be viewed with a healthy skepticism," said Auburn University professor Lawrence J. Myers, who has studied canines for decades. He said some dogs and their handlers were highly reliable, while others were not.
The UC Davis study "got an enormous reaction in the field," he said, because it showed the handlers, not the dogs, may be responsible for some of the alerts. "This is a major problem, and we've known it for a long time. The behavior of the handler affects the behavior of the animal," he said.
But Florida prosecutors and police dog handlers say that evidence of a dog's good training and certification should be enough to demonstrate their reliability. "If a dog is tested in a controlled setting, you know if the dog is wrong or right," said Arthur Daus, a lawyer for the National Police Canine Assn.
Last year, the Chicago Tribune reported on data from several suburban police districts, which found only 44% of the car searches that were triggered by an alert from sniffer dogs resulted in the discovery of drugs or drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.
Police officers usually discount these "false" alerts, suggesting they are probably triggered by "residual odors" in the vehicle. The dog may have detected the odor of marijuana or cocaine that had been kept in the trunk weeks before, they say.
But Myers said experiments in a controlled environment — like the church in the UC Davis study — also found some dogs and their handlers were wrong more often than right in detecting narcotics.
Last year, the Florida Supreme Court said it was not convinced drug-sniffing dogs were always reliable enough to justify searches of cars on the highway. "There is no uniform standard in this state or nationwide for acceptable level of training, testing or certification for drug-detection dogs," the state justices said. And the "potential for false alerts and for handler error" means that innocent motorists may be subjected to embarrassing searches, they said.
To justify a search that is triggered by a drug-sniffing dog, the police must furnish a trial judge with the canine's "field performance records, including any unverified alerts," as well as evidence of its training and certification, the state justices said.
The case to be heard Wednesday began when a police officer went on patrol near Tallahassee with "his K-9 partner Aldo," a German shepherd. The officer stopped a pickup with an expired tag. The nervous motorist, Clayton Harris, refused to permit a search of his truck.
After Aldo circled the vehicle and alerted next to a door, the officer said he had probable cause to search inside. He found a bag of pseudoephedrine pills, thousands of matches and other ingredients for making methamphetamine.
Harris pleaded no contest to the drug charges, but the state justices ruled the search of his truck was unconstitutional because the police had not furnished objective evidence of Aldo's reliability.
In a second case, the Florida court overturned the conviction of a Miami man for growing marijuana in his house. An officer had taken a drug-sniffing dog to the man's front porch, and the alert furnished the probable cause to obtain a search warrant.
However, the Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals from Florida's attorney general in the cases, Florida vs. Harris and Florida vs. Jardines.
Kenneth Furton, a chemist at Florida International University in Miami, led a group of scientists who studied police dogs. He said it was not good enough to allow police agencies to test their own dogs.
A dog and his handler must be tested on multiple vehicles, and "they need to be correct nine out of 10 times," he said.
david.savage@latimes.com
Preckwinkle drops bullet tax, keeps gun tax
By Hal Dardick Tribune reporter
10:43 a.m. CDT, October 31, 2012
The compromise was negotiated over several days with Commissioners John Fritchey and Edwin Reyes, both Chicago Democrats, who had balked at the guns and ammo taxes.
In exchange for their support, Preckwinkle agreed to create a $2 million fund to combat gun violence. Fritchey had proposed dedicating $1.4 million to anti-gun violence efforts. She also agreed to exempt law-enforcement officers from having to pay the tax, which helped convince Reyes to support the plan.
An undetermined portion of the $2 million would be granted to “non-profits with a track record of effective violence prevention and community outreach.” About $100,000 would be used to crack down on illegal gun purchases.
An advisory board that will award the grants also would look at gun courts in other jurisdictions and come up with a recommendation for the county by July 1, Preckwinkle said.
Although Preckwinkle dropped immediate plans for the ammo tax of a nickel per bullet, she said the county will continue to look at the idea. As it was proposed, the taxes on some boxes of bullets would have been greater than the cost of the bullets themselves, Preckwinkle said.
The bullet tax was projected to raise $400,000 in revenue. The gun tax would raise $600,000, Budget Director Andrea Gibson said.
The revenue would help defray the cost of medical care for people who are shot and then treated at county-run, taxpayer subsidized Cook County Hospital. The hospital treats about 670 gunshot victims at year at an average cost of $52,000, Preckwinkle said.
hdardick@tribune.com
Sure the laws making drugs illegal are definitively a government welfare program for cops.
But the RICO laws which allows the police to steal all the assets of anybody they suspect of
"drug war" crimes are an even bigger government welfare program for cops.
Former North Chicago chief accused of stealing seized drug money
By Robert McCoppin Tribune reporter
4:29 p.m. CDT, October 30, 2012
A former North Chicago police chief was arrested and charged today with theft of more than $140,000 that had been seized from drug arrests, officials announced.
Former Chief Michael Newsome was accused of using the money to buy a new car and do home repairs on his kitchen, among other personal expenditures, Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Steve Scheller said.
Newsome, who left office in February amid a public uproar over alleged police brutality within the department, was charged with an ongoing theft of more than $140,000 from April of 2011 through March 31 of this year, Scheller said.
Newsome, 51, was also charged with a separate count of theft of $500 to $10,000, stemming from an allegation that he withdrew an amount of money on May 4 of last year to pay for his children's school, authorities said.
Additionally, Newsome was charged with official misconduct and misapplication of funds, officials said.
Earlier this year, Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. directed Newsome’s successor, Chief James Jackson, to review all internal police policies, according to a statement from the city. In doing so, Jackson discovered questionable withdrawals from the asset forfeiture account maintained by the police department. Money seized from drug arrests is deposited into that account.
After that discovery, the mayor directed the chief to notify the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office, which opened an investigation, resulting in today’s arrest. Newsome surrendered to officials this morning and was released after posting $25,000 bond, officials said.
In the press release, Rockingham said that if the charges are proven, it would be “an enormous betrayal of trust.”
rmccoppin@tribune.com
Battle Amnesty International Must Win
Posted on October 31, 2012 | Author: Nick Dranias
This past Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of secret warrantless dragnet surveillance of international electronic communications. Amnesty International, which often communicates with Americans who are residents of foreign countries, has challenged the secret surveillance law, known as “FISA,” by arguing that the Fourth Amendment was meant to bar such warrantless surveillance. Although the challenge involves national security issues, its ultimate outcome could have a direct impact on all types of laws that authorize the government to access the private information of its citizens.
Amnesty International and its allies have faced a serious obstacle in making their constitutional arguments. The Obama administration is using the same arguments the Bush Administration used, claiming that the only injury that can allow a lawsuit to move forward under the Fourth Amendment is proof that someone has actually suffered a loss of privacy from warrantless surveillance. This, of course, is a virtually insurmountable hurdle when the surveillance is conducted in secret. In response, Amnesty has claimed its injury is international travel costs that have been incurred because people must communicate in person, rather than using telephones or email.
But there is a better argument. It involves recognizing that the Fourth Amendment does not merely protect against invasions of privacy. The Fourth Amendment guarantees “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects.” As such, the loss of “security” in our property and private communications is the primary injury that the Fourth Amendment seeks to prevent.
That injury—insecurity in property and private communications—is clear and concrete when the federal government dragoons internet servers to intercept and pierce the private communications of Americans. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will stand with Amnesty International. A win in this case is important to defend the liberties of Americans at home and abroad.
But sadly the cops & prosecutors would love to frame him a 2nd time, not because he is guilty, but to prove they didn't make a mistake when they framed him the first time.
Innocent dad won’t face retrial in death of baby
By Richard Ruelas The Republic | azcentral.com
Wed Oct 31, 2012 10:23 PM
Prosecutors have dropped efforts to retry a man who was convicted 10 years ago on charges that he shook a baby to death, a verdict that was set aside this year after a judge considered new evidence that indicated the child died of a disease rather than violent abuse.
Witt was still charged with first-degree murder in the death and faced a new trial. But last week, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office filed a motion to drop the case, saying its expert could not testify as to the state’s theory about the case.
On Monday, Superior Court Judge Robert Gottsfield tossed the case out with prejudice, meaning it can never be pursued again.
Witt said Wednesday that he was ecstatic to see the case finally gone.
“I can start my life over again,” he said.
He said he had not been looking forward to a new trial.
“I would rather the state came to their senses and do the right thing instead of have to go into court and fight and win,” he said. “They did the right thing finally. They did the wrong thing for so long, then they finally did the right thing.”
In its motion, the County Attorney’s Office said the expert it had retained was “unable to offer an opinion with the requisite reasonable degree of medical certainty due to the quality of the remaining evidence, leaving the state with no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
A spokesman for County Attorney Bill Montgomery said Montgomery was not available for an interview. His office released a statement that said the decision to drop the case “has nothing to do with the weak scientific arguments put forth by special-interest groups.”
In a September interview, Montgomery said he believed Witt was still responsible for the death.
“Obviously, we believed it the first time around,” he said.
An attorney for Witt, Christina Rubalcava of Osborn Maledon, who volunteered her time on the case, said she sensed that the state might drop its case because it had missed a court-ordered deadline to disclose the names of experts who would testify at a trial.
On Oct.23, the state filed a motion to dismiss the charges. The next day, Rubalcava asked the judge to dismiss them with prejudice. After a brief hearing held over the telephone, the judge agreed with Witt’s attorneys.
Rubalcava said that if the charges had simply been dropped, Witt would have faced the risk of them being refiled again. Murder charges have no statute of limitations.
“We wanted to push forward and not have him and (his wife) Maria deal with that for the rest of their lives,” Rubalcava said Wednesday.
Witt listened in on the court hearing, Rubalcava said. When it was over, he gave his attorney a big bear hug.
Witt had maintained his innocence since he and Maria first arrived at the hospital with the nearly comatose child on June1, 2000.
According to court records, police and hospital officials determined that night that the child’s eye and brain injuries were caused by violent shaking. They centered their attention on the last person who was with the baby: Witt.
Witt was convicted in a trial during which his actions were likened to that of a gorilla. A prosecutor told a jury that Witt would have seen the infant’s face as he shook him violently enough to cause bleeding on the brain and in the eyes.
Steven had been a sickly baby who had been in and out of the hospital during his short life, court records show. An autopsy photo showed an obstructed vein leading to the brain, something the medical examiner did not note in his 2000 report ruling the death a homicide by shaking.
That medical examiner, in a sworn statement given in February, said that he understood that several conditions mimic what were then seen as the telltale symptoms of a shaken baby and that, if he were to testify again, he would conclude the baby died of disease, not abuse.
That same conclusion was reached by Dr. Norman Guthkelch, a pediatric neurosurgeon who first speculated in 1971 that children could die of being shaken. Guthkelch, who is now retired and a part-time Arizona resident, was asked by Witt’s attorneys to examine the case.
Guthkelch testified that Witt had been convicted of murder on insufficient grounds. He also said his original article, which theorized that whiplash brain injuries could be caused by shaking, had been overused in the past 40 years.
He said his article has been used to justify “a diagnosis of criminal liability in circumstances of which I never envisaged.”
The Arizona Justice Project secured the release of one other man who had been accused in a shaking incident. Armando Castillo pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge this summer rather than risk a retrial.
Castillo and Witt became friends while serving time in state prison. Their friendship has continued outside the prison walls now that both have been released. With the case done, Rubalcava said, Witt and his wife hope to get from police a book of baby pictures that had been held as evidence.
Unacceptable behavior
Nov. 1, 2012 12:00 AM
The Republic | azcentral.com
Whether they think it fair or not, elected officials are expected to maintain a higher standard of behavior than the people who put them into office.
They have to follow the law, like the rest of us. But in exchange for public support, they also must meet a higher threshold of civil decency than the guy on the street.
But Horne is not just any public official. He is the state's attorney general, its top cop. And that renders Horne's tumble into tawdriness all that much more egregious.
It is not the state Minister of Obscure Bureaucracy who is (at best) pushing the limits of campaign-finance law or foisting dozens of marginally qualified political appointees into an Attorney General's Office racked with budget cutbacks.
It is not some small-potatoes official turning his office into a soap opera where partisan devotees openly fight for his favors. (A "harem" of "Horne-ites"?)
Or one who, allegedly, conducted a witch hunt for supporters of his election opponent. Or turned with a vengeance on the whistle-blower who reported his legally dubious campaign shenanigans to the FBI.
On top of all else, it is not some Smallville potentate who appears to have been caught in a lunch-hour tryst with an employee, capped off with a fender-bending hit-and-run while wearing a baseball cap pulled down low to avoid detection, like a low-budget version of John Edwards hiding out from the National Enquirer.
The essential point that Horne seems to be missing in all these escapades is the unavoidable unseemliness of it all. Horne is the Arizona attorney general. At least for now.
This is a position of stature, held in recent years by some of Arizona's most prominent political figures.
Bob Corbin served as attorney general. Grant Woods served as attorney general. We elected Janet Napolitano and Terry Goddard to attorney general. And regardless what one thinks of their politics, they conducted themselves with dignity and respect for the office.
Tom Horne is debasing it.
The particulars of the case against Horne seem to waiver between distasteful and possibly illegal. In the course of attempting what appears to be a cover-up fending off an investigation of his campaign-finance coordination with Kathleen Winn, Horne is accused of trying to script the responses of potential witnesses. Isn't it the duty of a prosecutor to let the cards fall where they may? Not for Tom Horne, apparently.
It is time for Horne to stop insulting the public's intelligence.
At the least, Arizona voters deserve a relatively honest explanation from Horne for his behavior.
It would help for him to acknowledge that elected officials should honor minimum standards of behavior and to apologize for having fallen far, far short.
Some attorney general
Nov. 1, 2012 12:00 AM
Let's see if I've got this straight:
Arizona, you sure know how to pick your law enforcers, don't you?
Bob Uselton
Police use Taser on 10-year-old at school career day, lawsuit alleges
By Ron Recinto | The Lookout
A Taser used by many police departments (Getty)A lawsuit claims an Albuquerque, N.M., police officer stunned a 10-year-old boy with a Taser after he refused to wash the officer's car.
Officer Christopher Webb was visiting the boy's elementary school for a career day on May 4 when the incident occurred, according to Courthouse News.
During the presentation, Webb apparently asked a group of students if they wanted to wash his patrol car, the lawsuit states. When the boy, identified as R.D. jokingly refused, Webb pointed the stun gun at him and said, "Let me show you what happens to people who do not listen to the police."
Then R.D., who weighs about 100 pounds, was hit in the chest with two barbs and 50,000 volts of electricity, according to Courthouse News Service.
Webb told the Albuquerque Journal the Taser was accidentally discharged.
The boy blacked out.
The officer removed the barbs, which left marks that "looked like cigarette burns" on R.D.'s chest, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit claims Webb acted in a "reckless manner."
R.D., who now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, has "woken up in the middle of the night holding his chest, afraid he is never going to wake up again," Courthouse News Service quoted his lawyer as saying.
Webb was suspended for three days without pay, the Albuquerque Journal reports. He did not return calls from the newspaper seeking a comment.
Lawsuit: Cop Tased boy on school career day
There’s a boy in New Mexico who probably won’t want a career in law enforcement after a school event went terribly wrong.
The Albuquerque Journal reported the legal guardian of a 10-year-old has filed a lawsuit after a police officer used a stun gun on the boy.
According to the suit, officer Christopher Webb asked students at Tularosa Intermediate School if they would be willing to clean his patrol car during a career-day presentation. The boy, referred to by initials “R.D.” in the lawsuit, joked that he wouldn’t. The officer pointed the stun gun at him, said “let me show you what happens to people who do not listen to the police,” and fired two barbs into the boy’s chest.
The lawsuit states: “Instead of calling emergency medical personnel, Officer Webb pulled out the barbs and took the boy to the school principal’s office.”
The officer said in a statement through his law firm the Taser “accidentally” went off as he was showing it to a group of students. He claims he took the student to the school nurse’s office and waited for family to arrive.
The lawsuit claims the boy has suffered since the incident, often waking up in the middle of the night “holding his chest, afraid he is never going to wake up again.”
Arizona Lawman Joe Arpaio's Re-election Bid Divides County
By REUTERS
Published: November 1, 2012 at 6:36 PM ET
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio's hardline stance on illegal immigrants has given him a national profile. But a backlash from angry Latinos is turning his bid for re-election into the toughest of his long career.
Republican Arpaio, who turned 80 this year, is seeking a sixth term in the state's most populous county, where a bitter national fight over illegal immigration has helped drive what has become the most costly sheriff's race in U.S. history.
To his supporters, he is a hard-as-nails lawman who locks up county inmates in an austere "Tent City" jail, and does not hesitate to arrest illegal immigrants nor flinch from probing Democratic President Barack Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate.
But for opponents, the man who styles himself "America's Toughest Sheriff," relentlessly profiles brown-skinned Hispanics across the sprawling Phoenix metro area and neglects police work in his tireless pursuit of media glory.
"When you try to do your job, and you are a little controversial, some people don't like it. That's the way it is," Arpaio told Reuters on the sidelines of a rally in suburban Phoenix, where he was feted by a crowd of supporters.
The Maricopa County sheriff, who his campaign says raised an $8.5 million war chest, is a favorite with Phoenix-area Tea Party conservatives who love him for his fights with the Obama administration and support for Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's clampdown on illegal immigration.
On the Democrat ticket, heavily outspent challenger Paul Penzone, who has raised $527,000, is riding a wave of community activism, pushing riled Latinos to vote to end the sheriff's 20-year-stint in office.
While Arpaio draws support from hundreds of enthusiastic supporters at rallies across the sun-baked Phoenix metro region, opponents see much with which to find fault.
He is the target of an ongoing Justice Department lawsuit alleging civil rights abuses by his office, including accusations of widespread racial profiling of Latinos in dozens of immigration "sweeps." Arpaio denies racial profiling.
Critics also cite what they see as the neglect of more than 400 sex-crime cases in a Phoenix suburb, some involving children, while they say deputies focused on rounding up landscapers in traffic stops.
Earlier this year, Arpaio dispatched volunteer posse members to Hawaii to investigate the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate at the request of local Tea Party grassroots activists - a key Arpaio constituency.
He declared the document a forgery even after most Republican critics of Obama had given up pursuing discredited claims that the president was not born in the United States.
"It was a completely absurd waste of time and resources," said Raquel Teran, an activist with the "Joe's Got To Go" campaign. "His priorities have not been to keep Maricopa safe, but to ... campaign while he's in office."
"UNFINISHED BUSINESS"
Stepping into the breach is Penzone, a retired 21-year Phoenix police veteran known as the face of the "Silent Witness Program," a tip line that helped snare two serial killers in 2006.
Penzone says he wants to focus on policing he believes was neglected by Arpaio's headline-grabbing policies in a deeply divided community where Latinos make up nearly a third of the 3.9 million population.
"He has turned that office into a machine for his public image and (it) should be a machine for public safety," Penzone told Reuters. "I didn't want to stand by any more on the sidelines."
Penzone, outspent by Arpaio by about 16 to 1, has been aided by a Democratic drive to register Latinos riled by a state immigration crackdown that requires police to check the papers of anyone they stop and suspect is in the country illegally.
The state Democratic Party has said activists registered about 15,000 voters - some new, others re-registered - in recent months, but were not able to say how many were Hispanic.
Penzone is also aided by groups like Citizens for a Better Arizona, which last year helped oust former Republican state senator Russell Pearce, the author of Arizona's immigration clampdown, in a recall election.
But beating the sheriff remains a long shot. Polls vary depending on which candidate paid for them, but all show Arpaio ahead by 4 to 14 percentage points.
One factor is the sheriff's war chest - greater than what many U.S. congressional candidates spend - which has financed an advertising blitz highlighting Arpaio's 50-year law enforcement career that included stints with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Turkey and Mexico, and as its Arizona chief.
Analysts say the blitz was helping consolidate his advantage with a core base of older, white retirees in Phoenix suburbs such as Sun City and Surprise who vote in high numbers and on whom the criticism of Arpaio has little impact.
"To the average older guy, the issue is ‘All he's doing is trying to protect us from the people who are coming across the border,'" said Bruce Merrill, an emeritus political science professor at Arizona State University.
Among that core group is retiree Jim Heath, who admires Arpaio for arresting illegal immigrants and not "coddling" inmates in county jail.
"He's probably not perfect, but I feel the major points ... how he treats the prisoners and tries to enforce the law, that's the decision-maker for me."
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)
Richardson: Has DPS become another failed Arizona agency?
Retired Mesa master police officer Bill Richardson lives in the East Valley and can be reached at bill.richardson@cox.net.
Posted: Thursday, November 1, 2012 9:14 am
Guest commentary by Bill Richardson
More bad news about the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
The Oct. 25 Phoenix New Times story,
"DPS Honchos' Ethics Are Questioned After Sports-Ticket Probe,"
told about the coziness of DPS Director Bobby Halliday, some of his command staff and members of Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit with the Arizona Trucking Association and its lobbyist. DPS is Arizona’s lead agency in enforcing laws that deal with commercial trucks.
According to the story, “DPS officials took expensive baseball tickets from the trucking association in 2010 and 2011.” A 2011 internal investigation of Jack Hegarty, a former lieutenant colonel, “revealed that the practice of DPS supervisors accepting baseball tickets from representatives of the industry they regulated had become routine.” Hegarty retired in lieu of suspension over his involvement in the scandal. Hegarty and Halliday were reportedly very close friends.
The story said the internal investigation revealed “Halliday remembered going to only two Diamondbacks games with the lobbyist. The first was in 2009, during the break in his service between retiring and becoming director and a second time after becoming director, either in the "early 2010" or "early 2011" season. Halliday said he was "under the impression" that Hegarty bought the tickets from the lobbyist.
Free or paid for, either way, DPS officials shouldn’t be getting baseball tickets from an industry they regulate.
During Halliday’s Arizona Senate confirmation hearing, the former DPS middle manager was quizzed about his coziness with the trucking industry. After his confirmation, DPS altered its policy and prohibited officers from making “administrative stops” on trucks, which do not require probable cause but are done to check drivers’ log books and look for safety violations. Safety checks aren’t the only concerns when it comes to truckers.
Rogue elements within the trucking industry play a key role in the supply chain of Mexico-based organized crime groups.
Retired U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Phil Jordan, who commanded the El Paso Intelligence Center, told me, “The cartels have deep infiltrations in the trucking industry. Law enforcement cannot afford to look the other way. Commercial trucks are used extensively to carry drugs throughout the United States and then return the proceeds to cartel bosses in Mexico. Arizona’s highways play a major role in this process.”
DPS’s troubles aren’t just with the trucking industry.
In recent years, local police have been forced to take on duties that DPS is supposed to perform. From investigating organized crime to running crime labs, to collecting and exchanging statewide information on criminals, cities are increasingly having to perform DPS’s statutory duties.
City officials may complain quietly about DPS, but the U.S. Senate complains openly.
In the Cronkite News story featured in the Oct. 7 East Valley Tribune, "Arizona police agencies criticized in Senate," there was criticism of the DPS-run Arizona Counter Terrorism Intelligence Center, ACTIC, for “questionable spending” and building a secret wiretap room. Program guidelines prohibit “surreptitious intelligence gathering.”
The story also said “the ACTIC was linked to incorrect information after the 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Many of the claims they made were later proven false. This showed how weak analysis could hinder law enforcement efforts.”
Sen. John McCain, said the Senate investigation “found a remarkable degree of ineffectiveness, ineptitude and waste.” That would describe the ACTIC that many have told me has failed to live up to expectations.
While the border and immigration continues to get the bulk of attention from state elected officials, someone needs to start paying attention to our own homegrown public safety failures that have allowed organized crime to put down roots and grow throughout Arizona.
Since Halliday was handpicked by Gov. Jan Brewer, DPS has been plagued with morale problems, cronyism, ethical questions and concerns about its inability to perform statutory duties.
There are reasons organized crime from Mexico likes doing business in Arizona and an inadequate statewide law enforcement system could be one of them.
Has DPS become another failed state agency?
Probably!!!
Of course this article is probably a perfect example of why you should NEVER offer to help the police.
With his offer to help the Scottsdale Police Ryan Festa caused himself to be arrested on marijuana charges by letting the police search his apartment where they found the pot.
If Ryan Festa had not let his lawyer do the talking for him the Scottsdale PD probably would have used the "9 Step Reid Method" to question him on the rape and he may have given them a false confession.
The "9 Step Reid Method" is notorious for getting false confessions.
The 4 kids from Tuscon who falsely confessed to the Buddhist Temple Murders 20 years ago were questioned using the "9 Step Reid Method" and it got them to confess.
Evidence exonerates man in Scottsdale rapes
By D.S. Woodfill and Domenico Nicosia The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team Thu Nov 1, 2012 7:32 PM
Forensic evidence in two Scottsdale rapes exonerated the man that police arrested last week in connection to the cases.
Ryan Festa, 22, was taken into custody by Scottsdale police last week after meeting with officers and his attorney Bernardo Garcia.
Scottsdale police spokesman Mark Clark said investigators expedited the testing of DNA samples taken from the scenes of the two rapes that occurred on Oct. 18 and Oct 24. Officials originally stated they expected the results to come back Monday.
Authorities constructed DNA profiles that did not match Festa’s DNA, which was submitted after he was taken into custody
Scottsdale police are urging the public who may have information in the cases to call them or Silent Witness. When asked if police were concerned the suspect would strike again Clark said, "obviously that's a concern. It's a concern for the entire community."
Festa lived in the same apartment complex as one of the victims. Festa was released Saturday after what Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesman Jerry Cobb called a highly unusual set of circumstances that started the night he turned himself over to police.
Garcia, Festa’s attorney, said in a Republic article on Oct. 30 that Festa saw the composite sketch on television and wanted to turn himself in “to make himself available to the Scottsdale police.
But Festa sat quietly through the police interrogation, Cobb said, and allowed his lawyer to do all the talking.
The second curve ball came after Festa’s booking when the two victims from the Oct. 18th and Oct. 24th attacks could not able to identify him as their attacker from a suspect lineup, Cobb said.
A final effort to keep Festa in jail on a suspected marijuana offense while investigators waited for DNA tests was failed when Garcia on Saturday presented a prescription card to the judge at a second appearance on the drug matter.
Court records obtained by The Republic shows Festa has a troubled history punctuated by violence, drug abuse and stays at psychiatric facilities after a suffering a traumatic brain injury when he was hit by a truck in 2005 at a bus stop.
He has also been diagnosed with moderate cognitive deficits, behavioral and emotional problems and substance-abuse issues, according to records.
He has participated in inpatient and outpatient intensive programs in California and Arizona, including Gentiva Rehab Without Walls, the Centre for Neuro Skills, Everlasting Services, St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center, Southwest Behavioral Health Crisis Recovery Unit and Desert Vista Behavioral Health Center.
According to an October 2010 filing relating to Festa’s guardianship, Festa had continued battling marijuana and alcohol addiction.
He has a marijuana conviction for which he was placed on probation in May 2011, according to records.
In both attacks, the assailant entered first-floor apartments through unlocked patio doors of women who live alone, police said. The attacker likely lurked in the bushes watching them through opened blinds and curtains, police said.
According to Scottsdale police, the first attack happened at 11 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Camden San Paloma Apartments, 6980 E. Sahuaro Drive.
The attacker entered and left naked, police said. The woman, 49, had just finished showering when he attacked, police said.
The second assault occurred about 11:30 p.m. Oct. 24 at Saddletree Apartments, 10444 N. 69th St., police said. The victim, 29, was sitting on a couch near the door in her nightgown and tried unsuccessfully to flee after the assailant broke in, police said.
The complexes are across Shea Boulevard from one another. Both border the same wash to the west and are within two blocks of each other, police said.
"We are positive that this is the right guy" - Sgt. Mark Clark
I bet they are saying
And I bet they are as positive as the Phoenix Police where then they arrested and framed Ray Krone for the murder of bar maid Kim Ancona in Phoenix. Well until he was released from prison 10 years later after the DNA tests proved he didn't murder Kim Ancona.
Scottsdale police: 16-year-old arrested in connection with rapes
By Laurie Merrill The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team Fri Nov 2, 2012 11:53 PM
Scottsdale police arrested a 16-year-old suspect just after 5 p.m. Friday in the rape of two women last month, one day after clearing another man who had turned himself in.
”We are positive that this is the right guy,” Sgt. Mark Clark said at a news conference announcing the suspect’s arrest on suspicion of sexual assault, burglary and kidnapping.
Preliminary DNA results match the suspect’s DNA, and at least one witness or victim has identified the youth in a lineup, Clark said.
The suspect was arrested in the 10000 block of North Scottsdale Road in a retail-center parking lot. Clark said the suspect lives on the same block and attends a high school, which police did not identify.
Police were still interviewing the teenager, and lineups were ongoing, said Lt. Todd Larson.
Police are also investigating whether the suspect committed other crimes. Because he is a juvenile, his arrest record was not released. Police said he had been apprehended before for similar crimes, but they would not elaborate.
In most cases, The Republic does not identify juvenile suspects or defendants unless they are charged as an adult.
Dozens of Scottsdale police have worked around the clock on several tips even after last week’s arrest of Ryan Festa, 22.
Festa was taken into custody after meeting with officers and his attorney, Bernardo Garcia.
Clark said investigators expedited the testing of DNA samples taken from the scenes of the two rapes.
Authorities constructed DNA profiles that did not match Festa’s DNA, which was submitted after he was taken into custody.
Garcia said Festa saw the composite sketch on television and wanted to turn himself in “to make himself available” to Scottsdale police.
But Festa sat quietly through the police interrogation and allowed his lawyer to do all the talking, said Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesman Jerry Cobb.
The two victims could not identify him as their attacker from a suspect lineup, Cobb said.
Court records obtained by The Republicshow Festa has a troubled history punctuated by violence, drug abuse and stints at psychiatric facilities after suffering a traumatic brain injury when he was hit by a truck in 2005 at a bus stop.
In both Scottsdale attacks, the assailant entered first-floor apartments through unlocked patio doors of women who live alone, police said.
The attacker likely lurked in the bushes watching them through open blinds and curtains, police said.
The first attack happened at 11 p.m. on Oct. 18 at the Camden San Paloma Apartments.
The attacker entered and left naked, police said. The woman, 49, had just finished showering when he attacked, police said.
The second assault occurred about 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 24 at Saddletree Apartments, in the 10400 block of North 69th Street, police said. The victim, 29, was sitting on a couch and tried to flee after the assailant broke in, police said.
People who receive the death penalty routinely spend 20+ years in prison before being executed.
The people what benefit hugely from this are the prosecutors, judges, and public defenders who are paid big bucks to work them thru the mandatory appeals process.
This article says California has spent about $4 billion to execute 13 inmates. That is a cost of $307 million per execution. I suspect money paid to the the judges, prosecutors and public defenders involved in these state sponsored murders ate up a large amount of those costs.
And of course that doesn't even address the issue that innocent people have been executed by the government and that more innocent people will be murdered by the government as long as the death penalty exists.
Foes say death penalty is too costly
By Paul Elias Associated Press Fri Nov 2, 2012 12:08 AM
SAN FRANCISCO -- Death penalty opponents in California are trying a new argument this year: Abolish capital punishment because the cash-strapped state can’t afford it.
Voters in the state with the nation’s largest death row will decide Tuesday whether to repeal the death penalty. Proponents of Proposition 34 say incarceration and litigation costs are too high for too little return.
California has spent about $4 billion since capital punishment resumed in 1977, yet just 13 inmates have been put to death.
An independent analysis says the state would save between $100 million and $130 million a year by converting death sentences to life without parole.
“The death penalty is a giant rathole where so much of California’s budget is thrown with no discernible benefit,” said Diane Wilson, whose husband, a police officer, was killed by a man now on death row.
A supporter of Proposition 34, she said the death sentence given to her husband’s killer “didn’t change anything. I still don’t have a husband, and my children and family are devastated.”
Opponents say the argument is merely a smoke screen by opponents of capital punishment.
“He deserves the ultimate punishment for what he did to my daughter,” said Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was abducted, raped and killed by Richard Allen Davis in 1993.
Klaas, an outspoken Proposition 34 opponent, said that rather than do away with the death penalty, the appeals process should be streamlined.
Three former California governors have spoken out against the initiative.
One, Republican Pete Wilson, co-wrote the official argument that says the groups pushing Proposition 34 are most responsible for the high costs of housing death row inmates and paying for their appeals.
Secret Service agent kills self amid affair probe
Associated Press Thu Nov 1, 2012 3:35 PM
WASHINGTON —A senior Secret Service agent who was being investigated by the government for failing to disclose a long-standing relationship with a foreign citizen killed himself last week in Washington, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
Rafael Prieto, a married father assigned to the security detail for President Barack Obama, had acknowledged to U.S. investigators that he had been having an affair for years with a woman from Mexico, these people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Prieto’s death or the investigation. Prieto’s relationship was revealed to Secret Service investigators by an agent who had been entangled in the Colombian prostitution scandal earlier this year, these people say. That agent was concerned that the Secret Service wasn’t enforcing its rules consistently.
Secret Service rules require that employees with a security clearance notify the agency about any relationship with a foreign citizen to ensure that the person is not a risk to national security. There is no evidence that Prieto’s relationship posed any security threat. Failing to disclose such a relationship would be a violation of the agency’s administrative rules, not a crime.
Prieto was serving on the protective detail for Obama, though he was not on duty at the time of his suicide. As recently as 2009, he was identified as the resident agent in charge at the Secret Service’s office in White Plains, N.Y. He had worked for the Secret Service for 22 years. He was 47, according to public records.
Prieto’s apparent cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning. He was found in his car with the engine running. His death was being investigated by Metropolitan Police in Washington and the medical examiner’s office.
“Rafael Prieto had a distinguished 20-year career with the Secret Service that was marked by accomplishment, dedication and friendships,” agency spokesman Edwin Donovan said in a statement. “The Secret Service is mourning the loss of a valued colleague.”
The Secret Service protects the lives of the president, vice president and their families, and also investigates counterfeiting, bank fraud, computer hacking and other financial crimes.
The behavior of Secret Service agents and officers has come under scrutiny since 13 employees were implicated in a prostitution scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, in April.
Those employees were in Caribbean resort city in advance of Obama’s arrival for a South American summit. After a night of heavy partying in some of Cartagena’s bars and clubs, the employees brought women, including prostitutes, back to the where they were staying. The incident became public after one agent refused to pay a prostitute and argued with her in the hotel hallway. Prieto was never in Colombia during the scandal.
Eight of those Secret Service employees have been forced out of the agency, three were cleared of serious misconduct and at least two employees are fighting to get their jobs back.
The scandal prompted Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to issue a new code of conduct that barred employees from drinking within 10 hours of the start of a shift or bringing foreigners to their hotel rooms.
Chief Charlie Beck says they just forgot. Honest!!!
It had nothing to do with the fact that the cops wanted to cover up the fact that they shot an unarmed, handcuffed prisoner.
LAPD chief says omission in news release was a mistake
By Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times
November 1, 2012, 8:18 p.m.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday that he and other police officials erred when they opted not to tell the public that a man shot by police had been handcuffed at the time.
"We should have included it," he said in an interview. "We got it wrong."
The mea culpa came after a Times report was published on the shooting and the department's decision not to include the detail of the handcuffs in a news release.
LAPD was wrong to omit shooting details, chief says
In the incident, officers were in the process of frisking and handcuffing several men they had stopped for questioning, when one of them bolted. As the officers pursued him, the other men fled as well. One suspect, who had been handcuffed with his hands behind his back, attempted to hide under an SUV.
Other officers arriving on the scene found the man and pulled him out from beneath the vehicle by his ankles. Saying they saw something metallic in his hands that they believed was a gun, the officers opened fire. The man, who was lying on his stomach, was hit once in the lower back and wounded critically. Police have not released the man's identity.
Police officials speculated that the flash of metal the officers said they saw was the handcuffs, but cautioned that the investigation into the shooting was in its early stages. The inquiry will focus in part on what information the initial officers relayed about the situation when they radioed for backup. Specifically, investigators will try to determine if the responding officers had been told that some of the escaped men had been handcuffed.
Two weeks after the shooting, the LAPD posted a news release on its website about the incident that neglected to mentioned that the shooting victim had been handcuffed. LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith acknowledged the handcuffs after The Times raised inquired about the matter.
Smith and Beck initially defended the decision, saying the department had to be careful not to taint the investigation into the shooting by releasing details that could influence witnesses.
Beck stood by the idea Thursday that the department needs to be cautious about what details it publishes about officer shootings, but said in this case the information about the handcuffs should have been included.
"This occurred not because we were trying to hide facts," Beck wrote in a letter to The Times. "It occurred because we were overzealous in protecting the purity of the criminal and administrative investigations. We went too far."
The incident marked the second time in recent months that the LAPD had withheld important and potentially unfavorable information from the public in cases involving serious uses of force by officers.
In July, the department released an account of an incident in which a woman died after several officers forced her into the back seat of a police car. The news release made no mention of the fact that a female officer was under investigation for berating the woman and stomping on her genitals during the encounter. Police officials confirmed those details after The Times inquired about the case.
joel.rubin@latimes.com
Ex-Fullerton officer sentenced for destroying audio recorder
November 1, 2012 | 1:20 pm
A former Fullerton police officer has been sentenced to probation for destroying an audio recorder that captured his interactions with a drunk-driving suspect who later killed himself in the city jail.
Vincent Thomas Mater, 42, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of destruction of property and vandalism and was sentenced Thursday to three years of informal probation and 60 days of community service under a plea bargain offered by Orange County Superior Court Judge Frances Munoz. Mater could have faced 18 months in jail had he gone to trial on the charges.
Mater arrested Dean Francis Gochenour in April 2011 on suspicion of drunk driving and transported him to the city jail, where Gochenour hanged himself later that night.
Prosecutors said that after learning of Gochenour's death, Mater destroyed his digital audio recorder -- which all Fullerton officers are required to activate during all public contacts -- by crushing it and then removing the motherboard and circuit board after learning of Gochenour's death.
The destruction of the audio recorder prevented investigators from the D.A.'s office from recovering audio that could have given an insight into Gochenour's interactions with Mater.
Audio from recorders carried by the officers played a key role in the case against three former Fullerton officers who have been charged in the death of a mentally ill homeless man, Kelly Thomas.
Based on the evidence available, district attorney's investigators wrote in a report on Gochenour's death in custody that there was "no affirmative evidence" Mater knew that Gochenour might harm himself, but added the officer's conduct in damaging the recording device "remains of grave concern."
Mater told investigators that after trying unsuccessfully to download his audio recording of the arrest to the department's computer system, he had become frustrated and flung his recording device at a metal door.
He was placed on administrative leave shortly after the incident and resigned in August 2011 after the department initiated disciplinary proceedings. The district attorney's office filed charges against him in March.
A statement from the district attorney's office said prosecutors had objected to the probation sentence, arguing Mater should face jail time "based on the nature of the crime, destruction of evidence possibly related to an inmate's death, and the defendant's violation of his position of trust."
Attorneys representing Mater could not be immediately reached for comment.
2 Chicago cops say blowing whistle led to retaliation
Officers allege in federal lawsuit that they were penalized for going to the FBI
By Annie Sweeney and Steve Mills, Chicago Tribune reporters
8:15 a.m. CDT, November 2, 2012
The two veteran Chicago police officers were sent to the Ida B. Wells public housing complex to work undercover and catch drug dealers. But what Shannon Spalding and Daniel Echeverria found was nothing their bosses wanted to know about, the officers allege in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court.
The two officers, according to the lawsuit, discovered that colleagues on the police force were shaking down drug dealers and framing innocent people. But when they told their supervisors, they were told to "disregard" the wrongdoing. And when, as a last resort, they went to the FBI with their claims, high-ranking police officials labeled them "rats" and retaliated against them by putting them in do-nothing jobs.
"This is what will happen to you if you go against sworn personnel," Spalding said in an interview at her lawyers' office. "If you don't want a code of silence, you don't treat officers like this. ... It's cost us everything. My career is over. ... Nobody wants to work with me anymore."
"I almost feel punished for doing the right thing," Echeverria added.
With the lawsuit, Spalding, who has been with the department for 16 years , and Echeverria, a 13-year veteran, made public their previously unknown role in the FBI investigation that led to corruption charges against two colleagues, Sgt. Ronald Watts and Officer Kallatt Mohammed. Mohammed pleaded guilty to extorting payoffs from heroin and crack dealers and was sentenced last week to 18 months in prison. Watts has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
The lawsuit was filed as high-ranking Chicago police officers have been forced to answer questions at an unrelated federal trial about the so-called code of silence culture inside the department and whether it discourages officers from reporting wayward colleagues. That trial involves allegations that officers tried to protect Officer Anthony Abbate after he brutally assaulted a female bartender while he was off-duty and drunk.
According to the lawsuit, which names the city and a dozen high-ranking officers as defendants, Spalding and Echeverria said that, for all their efforts, they were removed from their narcotics unit assignment and shuttled around the department to lesser jobs far from their homes and at bad hours. At one point, they alleged, they were stuck inside a small office at the police academy for more than two months without any duties.
Spalding said she was once approached by an FBI officer about a decade ago asking if she had evidence that Watts was corrupt. It wasn't until late 2006 or early 2007 when the two officers were working in the narcotics unit in the Wentworth District that they learned of the alleged corruption, they said.
Echeverria said he was skeptical at first but heard the allegations from so many informants and other sources that he came to see them as credible. When he and Spalding reported the allegations to their supervisors, they learned they were common knowledge but were told to "disregard" them, they alleged.
According to the lawsuit, a number of high-ranking officers, including several commanders, discouraged them from informing on officers and ignored their information. Frustrated with the department, they walked into the offices of the FBI and told their story. They said they believed they were doing the right thing. What's more, they said, a former internal affairs chief had promised them their work on the undercover investigation would lead to promotions and coveted assignments.
"At the end of the day, we're officers. It's information someone has to do something about," Spalding said. "Even if it's drug dealers or people from the projects, they deserve to be protected."
The two alleged that when supervisors learned of their role in the undercover investigation, they called them "rats" and passed along that sensitive information to others in the department. When they complained to supervisors about the alleged retaliation, one told them, "Look, everyone is against you, so you don't want to piss me off," they alleged.
Another told them, "Sometimes you have to turn a blind eye" to wrongdoing, according to the lawsuit.
Spalding and Echeverria said they look back on their decision to investigate colleagues with a mix of pride and great regret.
"Had I known then what I know now," Spalding said as her voice trailed off.
asweeney@tribune.com smmills@tribune.com
No pigeons, planes, pingpong balls at China meet
By LOUISE WATT | Associated Press – Thu, Nov 1, 2012
BEIJING (AP) — Don't roll down the taxi windows. Don't buy a remote-controlled plane without a police chief's permission. And don't release your pigeons.
Beijing is tightening security as its all-important Communist Party congress approaches, and some of the measures seem downright bizarre. Kitchen knives and pencil sharpeners reportedly have been pulled from store shelves, and there's even a rumor that authorities are on the lookout for seditious messages on pingpong balls.
The congress, which begins Nov. 8, will name new leaders to run the world's most populous country and second-largest economy for the next decade. Most of the security measures have been phased in in time for Thursday's opening of a meeting of the Central Committee, the roughly 370-member body that is finalizing preparations for the congress.
China always tightens security for high-profile events, like much of the rest of the world. London, for instance, restricted air traffic during the Olympics.
But many of Beijing's rules seem extraordinary, perhaps in an effort to smooth a once-a-decade transition that has already been bumpy.
Bo Xilai, once a candidate for the all-powerful Politburo's Standing Committee, suffered a spectacular fall from grace in which his wife was convicted of murder. One of President Hu Jintao's closest aides was demoted, apparently after his son was killed alongside two partially dressed women in an accident in his Ferrari. Meanwhile, protests over pollution, land seizures and local corruption continue across the country.
Human rights groups report that activists and petitioners are being rounded up ahead of the congress. But the broader security measures may best illustrate how China is trying to leave absolutely no room for disruptions.
The government has blocked searches for the phrase "18th Party Congress" on websites including China's popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo. Internet posters manage to get around that by using characters that sound like "party congress." One substitute: "Sparta."
Taxi drivers have been told to remove window handles, to avoid sensitive parts of the city and not to open their windows or doors if they pass "important venues." Some taxi drivers, but not all, have been told to ask passengers to sign a "traveling agreement" if they want to go near Tiananmen Square.
A man who answered the phone at Wan Quan Si taxi company in the south of the capital said the rule applies to all taxi companies in Beijing. He declined to give his name.
Beijing investment company worker Li Tianshu said she didn't believe colleagues' claims that door handles had been removed until she got into a taxi herself the other day.
"There were no handles for three of the four windows," she said. "The driver told me that their company asked them to do it to prevent passengers spreading leaflets. The driver complained that if they don't take the handles away or the passengers throw leaflets out of the taxis, they will be fired."
Citizens have taken to Weibo to post photos of doors with handles crudely ripped off. Liu Shi, a client manager in a mass communication company, wrote that the taxi driver had told him that power to electronic window buttons would also be cut.
A memo circulating on Weibo warned taxi drivers to be on guard against passengers who may want to cast balloons with slogans or throw "pingpong balls with reactionary words." It was unclear who issued the memo and its authenticity could not be confirmed.
A man who wouldn't give his name at Tong Hai taxi company in central Beijing said it had received orders "from higher authorities" to reinforce security measures and a memo, but he wouldn't elaborate.
Police in the capital are asking that Chinese show their ID cards and foreigners their passports when buying remote-controlled model aircraft over safety concerns, the official Global Times newspaper reported Tuesday.
One toy store owner said authorities had told him to stop selling medium and large-sized planes.
"This kind of plane can't fly over long distances and it can hardly carry anything," said Chen Ziping, holding up a model about half a meter (half a yard) long. "They just told me to stop selling it and I have to follow the order."
The Global Times quoted an unnamed police officer from Aoyuncun station in Chaoyang district as saying that people wanting to buy model planes during the congress should go to the vendor's local police station to register. When the buyer receives approval from the station's police chief, he can make the purchase, the officer said.
Still, they won't be allowed to fly model planes in the city, and balloons also are on the blacklist, the newspaper said. It cited another officer from Chaoyang district Public Security Bureau as saying that pigeon owners must keep their birds in their coops during the congress.
Chen Jieren had a run-in with the security rules Sunday after the handle of his knife broke while he was cooking dinner. He took his ID card to the supermarket, knowing that people must show identification when buying knives during sensitive periods.
"Well, it didn't work this time," Chen said in a telephone interview. "I was told by the police that no more knives can be sold, not even pencil sharpeners. And I don't think the shopkeeper was kidding, because several days ago I saw myself that police were asking the sales assistants in the stationer's not to sell pencil sharpeners.
"I went back and got an old knife and tried to sharpen it. I guess I have to live with it until the Congress finishes," he added, glumly.
Wang Ye, an engineer from Beijing who lives in Shanghai, was planning on returning to his home city to run a marathon, but it was postponed with no word on when it might be held. The date of a marathon in the eastern city of Hangzhou, near Shanghai, was also changed.
"There is no official explanation, but we all know that it is due to the 18th Congress," he said. "(The Beijing marathon) has been held regularly for the past 31 years.
"I guess I will give up running competitions in China and try to attend more abroad," said Wang. "At least they tell me the schedule one year before the event."
If you ask me I think that is just to cover up his crimes.
Tom Horne pleads not guilty to hit-and-run
By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez The Republic | azcentral.com Fri Nov 2, 2012 12:35 PM
Horne’s attorney entered the plea late Thursday in Phoenix Municipal Court so the arraignment was canceled and a pretrial conference was scheduled for Nov 21.
Horne, the state’s top prosecutor, is charged with a Class 3 misdemeanor for leaving the scene of an accident with an unattended vehicle. The Class 3 misdemeanor carries a maximum of 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.
The March 27 incident was witnessed by two FBI special agents who were tailing Horne as part of an investigation into alleged campaign-finance violations.
Horne in a statement has said the accident “may have caused no damage to that vehicle. At worst, pictures show nothing but some scratched paint."
Phoenix Police Department records show that the fender bender caused more than $1,000 in paint damage to the bumper of the other vehicle.
Public records obtained by The Arizona Republic from the County Attorney’s Office detail the crash. County attorney’s Detective Mark Stribling wrote an April 19 memo describing how FBI Agents Brian Grehoski and Merv Mason watched the accident and the minutes leading up to it.
After the accident, the Phoenix report states, Horne “stopped for an estimated 10 to 20 seconds.”
“Neither Tom nor Carmen got out or opened the windows to look out to see the damage,” the report adds. “Tom pulled away and parked the vehicle in another area of the parking garage, and the two of them walked through the resident gate and went into Carmen’s apartment.”
Authorities concluded that Horne, a married man, did not leave a note so he could hide a relationship with Chenal.
An FBI report released by Phoenix police Tuesday states, “It should be noted that through the course of the investigation, SA (Special Agent) Grehoski and SA Mason learned that Horne is having an extramarital affair with Chenal and that they utilize Chenal’s apartment in furtherance of that affair. Though motive is not an element of the criminal statute listed above, it stands to reason that Horne did not want any record of his presence in the parking garage of Chenal’s apartment complex, thus he did not leave a note.”
Horne’s versions of his response to the accident have varied, and they conflict with authorities’ records. He has told The Republic he could not remember whom he was with when the accident occurred, but on the same day told other media outlets he was with Chenal. He told one TV station he didn’t see any damage to the Range Rover. And he told another TV station that he hardly remembered the accident.
But records show that neither Horne nor Chenal “made any attempt to check for damage or make any kind of notification to the vehicle owner,” such as leaving a note.
It's time to boot Sheriff Joe Arpaio out of office.
Sheriff Joe is not only the worst Sheriff in Maricopa County,
Sheriff Joe is the worst sheriff in the world!
According to this article Scottsdale Representative David Burnell Smith was busted for drunken driving.
David Burnell Smith sounds like a royal government ruler and tied to claim legislative immunity when he was popped.
Arizona lawmaker arrested on DUI charge
By Ashton Buccola The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team Fri Nov 2, 2012 11:49 PM
Smith had a blood-alcohol level of 0.137 percent, police said. The legal limit is 0.08 percent.
Smith, a Republican who represents northeast Phoenix, Carefree, Cave Creek and northwest Scottsdale, appeared to be invoking legislative immunity when he was pulled over, officials said.
“Do you know who I am?” Smith asked the arresting officer, according to a police report.
He was pulled over about 7:30 p.m. in the area of Pima and Lone Mountain roads and stumbled out of the car, police said.
Smith declined to comment Friday. Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin could not be immediately reached for comment.
Smith could not have legally claimed legislative immunity because the Legislature is not in session.
He was arrested on suspicion of DUI and was transported to Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center for a blood test, police said.
Police were tipped off to Smith at 6:57 p.m., when a motorist on Pima Road called police and reported that a late-model Chrysler 300 was swerving into oncoming traffic, according to officials.
Police said they found a car matching the description swerving in and out of its lane on a two-lane stretch of Pima Road near Lone Mountain Road.
When police attempted to pull the Chrysler over, it stopped abruptly in the middle of Pima Road, just north of Westland Road.
The car blocked 2 to 3 feet of the roadway, officers said.
After calling another officer to assist him, the arresting officer attempted to conduct sobriety tests on Smith, who refused, police said.
After officers placed him in handcuffs, Smith agreed to have his breath analyzed but refused standard field-sobriety tests, police said.
In using the machine, Smith initially inhaled several times, causing error readings before finally agreeing to exhale, officers said.
Smith ran for re-election to the House this year but lost in the Republican primary. He leaves office at the end of the year.
He is a personal-injury attorney at Smith Law Firm in Scottsdale.
Specializations listed on his company website include DUI and DWI arrest defenses.
Information regarding his court date was not immediately available.
Officer’s defense could cost city $350,000
By Beth Duckett The Republic | azcentral.com Thu Nov 1, 2012 5:53 PM
Scottsdale could spend $350,000 on legal costs to defend a former police officer who fatally shot six people in the line of duty.
The City Council on Nov. 13 will consider approving a contract of up to $350,000 with the law firm Struck, Wieneke & Love, which the city hired to defend former Officer James Peters, who is named in a lawsuit along with several other city officials.
The funds are specifically for Peters’ defense.
Peters was involved in seven shootings since 2002, six of them fatal. In the most recent incident Feb. 14, Peters fatally shot John Loxas after police were called to a house near Hayden and McKellips roads. Loxas, 50, was unarmed and holding his 7-month-old grandson at the time of the shooting.
Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and a Chicago law firm filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Loxas’ daughter and father.
The suit claims, among other things, that city officials failed to adequately investigate the previous shootings. It alleges that Scottsdale and Police Chief Alan Rodbell did not establish adequate policies to protect against the “unreasonable use of force by its officers.”
The suit seeks unspecified damages against Peters, the city, Rodbell and Detective Brian McWilliams.
Police have noted that Peters was investigated in a rigorous seven-step review process from the previous five shootings, which were found to be within policy each time.
The city denies any liability in the case.
Peters has since retired with an accidental disability pension of $4,547 per month, according to the city.
Scottsdale chose attorney Kathleen Wieneke to represent Peters in the case, a report said. On the firm’s website, Wieneke is listed as having “considerable experience and expertise” defending police shootings.
Under the contract, Chandler-based Struck, Wieneke & Love would receive up to $250,000 in attorneys’ fees and $100,000 in litigation costs, though the final price tag could be higher. Any additional funding would require approval from the council.
Scottsdale retained separate counsel for the city and other officers in the suit.
Phoenix-based Jones, Skelton & Hochuli, P.L.C., represents the city and the other defendants. The principal attorney is Georgia Staton, City Attorney Bruce Washburn said.
The council previously approved a contract with Jones, Skelton & Hochuli that allows them to provide legal services costing up to $50,000, Washburn said.
Reporter Laurie Merrill contributed to this story
Horne an embarrassment (hopefully) to himself
By EJ MONTINI
Sat, Nov 03 2012 6:29 PM
I told him the truth: I feel bad for Horne’s wife.
I don’t know her, but I’ve heard from someone who does that she is a very nice woman. I’d imagine these are difficult days for her and I don’t have the literary skills to make fun of her all-too-deserving husband without making things worse for her.
“Hey, a woman knows what she’s getting into when she marries a politician,” the caller said.
That’s true.
Spouses of politicians become accustomed to hearing and reading unpleasant things about their partners. Just as the children and extended families of other public figures get used to hearing criticism about a loved one’s job performance, whether their careers are in sports, entertainment or even the media. (Just ask my kids.)
Horne is no exception.
He's gotten bad press over allegations he was involved in an independent expenditure committee that attacked his Democratic opponent, Felicia Rotellini, during the 2010 race for AG.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, a fellow Republican, concluded that Horne was close with Business Leaders for Arizona, a committee that raised and spent more than $500,000 to attack Rotellini with TV ads.
"There were contemporaneous e-mails and telephone conversations on how much money was expected from this particular source of funds, and what ... needed to be the message, concerns over the content of the commercial in production, and active communications about why maybe some of the messaging needed to be changed," Montgomery said.
And that’s not the only problem Horne has had.
He brought with him to the AG’s office a host of cronies from the state education department, where he was the elected superintendent.
He allegedly went after a whistle blower in the AGs when whistle blowers are among the most valuable people we have for routing out injustice.
He stood by and watched silently when the state legislature “swept” $50 million from the $97 million Arizona received as part of a nationwide lawsuit settlement, money that was meant to help struggling Arizona homeowners.
At the very least the state’s top cop should stand up for vulnerable citizens. He didn’t.
All of that is fair game.
This is different.
This time when Attorney General Horne made the news it had less to do with affairs of state than with the state of an affair. There was an incident tied to an alleged tryst with an employee that involved a minor hit-and-run that wasn’t reported.
According to the FBI report released by Phoenix police: “It should be noted that through the course of the investigation, SA (Special Agent) Grehoski and SA Mason learned that Horne is having an extramarital affair with Chenal and that they utilize Chenal’s apartment in furtherance of that affair. Though motive is not an element of the criminal statute listed above, it stands to reason that Horne did not want any record of his presence in the parking garage of Chenal’s apartment complex, thus he did not leave a note.”
A paragraph with as much sordid information as that is a gold mine for a sarcastic hack like me.
So why not exploit it? Shouldn’t Horne be embarrassed?
Yes.
But no one else should.
Unless, maybe, you voted for him.
County attorney wants 9th Circuit to approve Arizona banning abortions after 19th week
Posted: Sunday, November 4, 2012 11:00 am
By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services | 2 comments
SAN FRANCISCO -- Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery goes to federal court Monday seeking approval for Arizona to start banning virtually all abortions after the 19th week of pregnancy.
Montgomery wants the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to dissolve the order it issued in August blocking the state from enforcing the law. He contends the statute, approved by the Legislature earlier this year, is within the power of the state to regulate the procedure.
But Monday's hearing is likely to be little more than a warm-up for the issue winding up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
That's because Janet Creps of the Center for Reproductive Rights said the Arizona law is a direct challenge to prior high court rulings making abortion legal.
For Montgomery to win his case, Creps said he will have to convince the 9th Circuit to disregard those rulings, something it cannot do. So the only way to uphold the law is have the nation's top justices revisit -- and potentially modify or overturn entirely those prior cases, going all the way back to the landmark 1973 ruling of Roe v. Wade.
Montgomery, for his part, thinks he's found a defense for the Arizona law that won't require overturning Roe: a more recent Supreme Court ruling allowing states to ban partial-birth abortions.
But even he conceded that the case is likely to wind up being decided not here but in Washington.
Roe v. Wade and its legal progeny essentially have said that states may not ban abortions outright prior to viability, the point at which a fetus can live outside the womb. Current medical science puts that somewhere between 22 and 24 weeks.
The justices, however, have allowed states to enact "reasonable regulations'' on those procedures. Montgomery says this law fits that exception.
The Arizona law makes it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion beyond the 19th week unless necessary to prevent a woman's death or "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.'' That provision, Montgomery argues, is what makes it legal.
"We don't have a ban,'' he said.
"If there is a medical emergency, then a woman does have access to abortion services,'' Montgomery explained. "I would say that we are regulating the abortion procedure.''
Creps said that's torturing the definition of "regulation.'' She said the fact that some women might be able to get an abortion legally at 20 weeks and beyond does not alter the fact that others who are not in an emergency situation will not.
"When you make something illegal, subject to criminal penalties, such that a woman who wants an abortion before viability but after 20 weeks can't get it because it's illegal for her physician to perform that procedure, that's a ban,'' Creps said. "And that's what the Supreme Court was talking about when it said you can't take away from a woman the ultimate right to make a decision prior to viability.''
Montgomery, however, is relying on that 2007 Supreme Court decision upholding the ban on partial-birth abortions, whether performed before or after viability.
"There are distinct interests that the state can assert in regulating abortions,'' he said of that ruling. Montgomery said the Arizona law fits that exception.
"We're looking at regulations that take into account the health and welfare of the mother,'' he said, citing studies that show abortions at 20 weeks and beyond are more dangerous than earlier procedures. And Montgomery said the state has an "interest in potential life, further illuminated by the latest in neonatal science that now makes us aware of the ability of the unborn child to feel pain.''
But Creps said that 2007 ruling simply banned one type of abortion procedure -- where a fetus is partially delivered first -- to terminate a pregnancy. She said nothing in that ruling allowed a state to ban all other procedures used prior to viability.
That gets back to whether this case will ultimately become the chance for the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade.
Montgomery agreed that the high court, in ruling against partial-birth abortions, was trying not to overturn its earlier rulings "where the only predominant interest was the woman's right to choose an abortion.'' He said, though, that decision gave the first inklings that the justices now believe that other factors need to be taken into account, including the health and welfare of the mother, even if they do intrude on the right of a woman under Roe v. Wade to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability.
This case, he said, could ultimately give the high court a chance to consider "how anachronistic Roe has become in light of advances in medical and neonatal science.''
Creps said she also is aware of the possibility this case could become the vehicle for the Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade. And she noted this is a very different bench than the one that first ruled on the issue in 1973.
But Creps said even if this case gets to the high court, she does not envision them using it to overturn nearly 40 years of rulings. If nothing else, she said, the justices give strong consideration to stare decisis, the principle that courts abide by prior rulings.
"I think the justices are going to be very reluctant to go back and say, 'No, we're now going to completely undermine that rule,' '' she said.
"I think and hope that they would see that that would really undermine the credibility of the court,'' Creps continued. "And it would be seen as influenced by politics where it should be determined based on stare decisis and the recognition of women's individual right,'' she said.
Montgomery does have some basis for believing he can convince the appellate court to see the law as regulatory versus an outright ban.
In July, U.S. District Court Judge James Teilborg said the law "does not impose a substantial obstacle to previability abortions.'' He said it was instead a narrow limit, between 20 weeks and the point of viability.
And Teilborg accepted Montgomery's arguments that the law is justified to protect maternal health and prevent a fetus from feeling pain while being aborted.
The case is slated to be heard sometime after 9:30 on Monday before Judges Marsha Berzon, Mary Schroeder and Andrew Kleinfeld.
But according to this article the IRS is not enforcing the laws. I suspect the IRS will selectively enforce the laws if a Christian cult or Muslim group our government masters don't like breaks the laws.
Of course it is also illegal for our government masters to accept bribes, opps, I mean campaign contributions, from these religious groups and in turn pass laws benefiting them.
IRS not enforcing rules on churches, politics
By Rachel Zoll Associated Press Sat Nov 3, 2012 11:05 AM
NEW YORK — For the past three years, the Internal Revenue Service hasn’t been investigating complaints of partisan political activity by churches, leaving religious groups who make direct or thinly veiled endorsements of political candidates unchallenged.
The IRS monitors religious and other nonprofits on everything from salaries to spending, and that oversight continues. However, Russell Renwicks, a manager in the IRS Mid-Atlantic region, recently said the agency had suspended audits of churches suspected of breaching federal restrictions on political activity. A 2009 federal court ruling required the IRS to clarify which high-ranking official could authorize audits over the tax code’s political rules. The IRS has yet to do so.
Dean Patterson, an IRS spokesman in Washington, said Renwicks, who examines large tax-exempt groups, “misspoke.” Patterson would not provide any specifics beyond saying that “the IRS continues to run a balanced program that follows up on potential noncompliance.”
However, attorneys who specialize in tax law for religious groups, as well as advocacy groups who monitor the cases, say they know of no IRS inquiries in the past three years into claims of partisanship by houses of worship. IRS church audits are confidential, but usually become public as the targeted religious groups fight to maintain their nonprofit status.
“The impression created is that no one is minding the store,” said Melissa Rogers, a legal scholar and director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at Wake Forest University Divinity School in North Carolina. “When there’s an impression the IRS is not enforcing the restriction — that seems to embolden some to cross the line.”
The issue is closely watched by a cadre of attorneys and former IRS officials who specialize in tax-exempt law, along with watchdog groups on competing sides of the church-state debate.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which seeks strict limits on religious involvement in politics, and the Alliance Defending Freedom, which considers the regulations unconstitutional government intrusion, scour the political landscape for any potential cases. While Americans United gathers evidence it hopes will prompt an IRS investigation, the Alliance Defending Freedom jumps in to provide a defense. Neither group knows of any IRS contact with houses of worship over political activity since the 2009 federal ruling.
Nicholas Cafardi, a Duquesne University Law School professor and Roman Catholic canon lawyer who specializes in tax-exempt law, said he has heard of no IRS inquiries over churches and politics in the last three years. Neither has Marcus Owens, a Washington attorney who spent a decade as head of the IRS tax-exempt division and is now in private practice.
Owens, who was with the IRS through 2000, said the agency had once initiated between 20 and 30 inquiries each year concerning political activity by churches or pastors. He said he knows of only two recent cases the IRS pursued against houses of worship or pastors, and neither involved complaints over partisan activity.
“What the IRS is desperate to do is to avoid signaling to churches and pastors that there is no administrative oversight,” Owens said. “The IRS has been vigilant with regard to civil fraud and criminal cases, but those aren’t all that common.”
The tax code allows a wide range of political activity by houses of worship, including speaking out on social issues and organizing congregants to vote. But churches cannot endorse a candidate or engage in partisan advocacy. The presidential election has seen a series of statements by clergy that critics say amount to political endorsements. Religious leaders say they are speaking about public policies, not candidates, and have every right to do so.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has recently taken out full-page ads in major newspapers, featuring a photo of renowned evangelist Billy Graham, urging Americans to vote along biblical principles. Graham met last month with Mitt Romney and pledged to do “all I can” to help the Republican presidential nominee.
In a survey last week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 40 percent of black Protestants who attend worship services regularly said their clergy have discussed a specific candidate in church — and the candidate in every instance was President Barack Obama.
This Sunday, Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Ill., ordered all the priests in his diocese to read a statement urging Catholics to vote and stating that, “Catholic politicians, bureaucrats, and their electoral supporters who callously enable the destruction of innocent human life in the womb also thereby reject Jesus as their Lord.”
In Texas, a pastor of a small independent church posted a sign on the front of the building that read, “Vote for the Mormon, not the Muslim.” Romney is the first Mormon nominee for president by a major party. Opponents of Obama, who is Christian, have spread false rumors that he is Muslim.
Renwicks made his comments Oct. 18, at a Washington seminar on tax-exempt organizations presented by the American Law Institute-Continuing Legal Education. Responding to a moderator’s question about the status of church audits, Renwicks said, “we’re basically holding any potential church audits — they’re basically in abeyance.
“I haven’t done a church audit in quite some time,” said Renwicks, according to a recording of the talk provided by the American Law Institute. “There were one or two — what I’d call somewhat, maybe potentially egregious cases — where I thought maybe, we need to go out there, but even those were put in abeyance until we get the signature issue resolved.”
An IRS reorganization in 1998 put responsibility for authorizing the audits in the hands of lower-ranking IRS officials. A Minnesota pastor, who faced an audit over his 2007 endorsement from the pulpit of Rep. Michele Bachmann, argued the IRS was violating its own rules. In 2009, a federal judge agreed, prompting a formal IRS rule-making process that continues today.
Dean Zerbe, a former senior counsel to the Senate Finance Committee who specializes in tax fraud and abuse, said the audits are “an extremely hellish area for the IRS to deal with.”
The agency has to balance enforcement with churches’ First Amendment rights. Even when the federal agency finds an outright violation, the penalty for houses of worship is usually little more than a warning. The IRS has revoked nonprofit status in just a handful of these cases since the rules for religious groups were adopted in 1954.
Last month, more than 1,500 pastors, organized by the Alliance Defending Freedom, endorsed a candidate from the pulpit and then sent a record of their statement to the IRS, hoping their challenge would eventually end up in court. The Alliance has organized the event, called “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” since 2008. The IRS has never contacted a pastor involved in the protest.
“I think people are misled to think the IRS wakes up every morning wanting to knock on the door of a church or synagogue,” said Zerbe. “Most senators blanch at the idea of having an IRS agent in the pews listening to what’s going on from the pulpit. … I think the IRS in some ways reflects that similar discomfort.”
Well that's 100 percent bullsh*t as you can see from all the
articles I have posted like the one that follows when either incompetent cops,
or corrupt cops framed innocent people for crimes the didn't commit.
The Indiana cops sent this women to prison based on a fingerprint that
wasn't even hers!!!!!
Indiana woman freed; fingerprint error in murder
Associated Press Sat Nov 3, 2012 2:43 PM
ELKHART, Ind. — A northern Indiana woman sentenced to 55 years in prison for allegedly helping kill a 94-year-old woman is now free after crucial fingerprint evidence in her trial was found to be inaccurate.
Lana Canen, 53, was released Friday from the Elkhart County Jail, where she had been transferred from a southern Indiana prison.
WSBT-TV and WNDU-TV report that a county judge authorized Canen’s release after prosecutors dismissed her 2005 murder conviction in Helen Sailor’s 2002 slaying. A police detective who had identified a fingerprint found at Sailor’s apartment as Canen’s admitted that his results were wrong.
“I feel like the system failed me,” Canen told WSBT-TV following her release. She had been in prison for eight years.
Canen and co-defendant Andrew Royer were both sentenced to 55 years in prison for Sailor’s death on Thanksgiving Day 2002. Prosecutors had said that Canen had conspired with Royer to rob Sailor. Royer, who allegedly strangled Sailor, is still serving his sentence.
But during Canen’s appeal earlier this year, a fingerprint expert from Arizona discovered that Elkhart County sheriff’s Detective Dennis Chapman had wrongly identified a fingerprint on a pill container found inside Sailor’s Elkhart apartment.
Prosecutor Curtis Hill said the fingerprint was a central part of the case against Canen and that without it, he could not prove she was involved.
“There’s just not an ability for me in good conscience to go forward and suggest that we have a sufficient amount to support a prosecution,” Hill said.
He said the only way Canen could be charged in Sailor’s death again is if investigators find other evidence against her.
Chapman was disciplined for his error and still works at the sheriff’s department.
Canen said Friday after her release that she had not seen her now 10-year-old grandson, her daughter and other relatives since she was first arrested in 2004. She said that when she was freed from the jail, even car exhaust smelled “good.”
She told WSTV-TV she had nothing to do with Sailor’s killing.
“That’s what’s hard to think (is) that people would think I’m that kind of a monster that would do that to a 94-year-old blind woman,” Canen said.
Policía retirado aspira a derrotar al controvertido Arpaio con el voto latino
Oct. 30, 2012 03:36 PM
Agencia EFE
Phoenix (Arizona), 30 oct (EFE).- El policía retirado Paul Penzone aspira a lograr el próximo 6 de noviembre lo que nadie ha conseguido antes: derrotar en las urnas al controvertido alguacil del condado Maricopa, Joe Arpaio, y para ello busca el voto latino.
"Es el momento de un cambio. Considero que las fuerzas del orden representan algo extraordinario en nuestra sociedad, la comunidad debe de tener confianza en nuestros policías y creo que eso hace falta dentro de la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado Maricopa", dijo a Efe, Penzone, candidato demócrata a ser el alguacil del condado.
Penzone, que estuvo al servicio del Departamento de Policía de la ciudad de Phoenix durante 21 años, criticó el trabajo realizado por el alguacil Arpaio, republicano conocido por su mano dura en contra de inmigración indocumentada.
En Arizona, la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado Maricopa es la única agencia del orden en llevar a cabo continuas redadas en negocios de la región en busca de trabajadores indocumentados, operativos que calificó de "ridículos".
"Creo que el único propósito de estos operativos es tener la atención de los medios de comunicación. De ninguna manera está combatiendo el crimen, creo que los esfuerzos se deben de enfocar en combatir a las organizaciones dedicadas al tráfico humano", aseguró el candidato demócrata al cargo en las elecciones del próximo 6 de noviembre.
De acuerdo a diferentes encuestas realizadas en las últimas semanas, Arpaio tiene una ventaja de entre 4 y 14 puntos frente a Penzone en intención de voto.
A pesar de estos sondeos, el candidato demócrata aseguró que no es "imposible" derrotar a Arpaio en las urnas, y está convencido de que, con el apoyo de los votantes latinos, es algo que puede lograrse.
Varios grupos y organizaciones en el condado han concentrado sus esfuerzos para registrar a nuevos votantes hispanos, los cuales están dando su apoyo a Penzone.
"Estoy muy agradecido por su apoyo. Creo que es una relación que ha crecido con el tiempo", dijo.
Penzone consideró "lamentable" que haya niños en el condado que digan que tienen "miedo" al ver a un policía de la Oficina del Alguacil por temor a que sus padres o algún familiar sean deportados.
Indicó que un policía debe de ser visto con orgullo dentro de su comunidad, como una persona en la que se puede confiar y llamar cuando hay una emergencia.
"El alguacil ha explotado el tema de la inmigración indocumentada y ha utilizado recursos que debieron haber sido usados para la seguridad pública", enfatizó el candidato.
En su opinión, es intolerable que un alguacil en Arizona enfrente demandas y acusaciones de prácticas de perfil racial, ya que, aseguró, un representante del orden nunca debe de basar sus conjeturas solamente en la raza o en el acento de persona.
Arpaio actualmente enfrenta una demanda por parte del Departamento de Justicia federal por acusaciones de prácticas de perfil racial en contra de conductores latinos y por violaciones a derechos civiles en sus cárceles.
También se encuentra a la espera del resultado de un juicio en su contra por las mismas acusaciones en una demanda entablada por una coalición de organizaciones civiles.
En el caso de ser electo, Penzone dijo que se concentrará en tres áreas para mejorar el servicio público y recuperar la confianza de todos los ciudadanos del condado.
La primera medirá será cambiar la "cultura" dentro de la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado Maricopa, la segunda será modificar el sistema de operaciones para concentrarse en los crímenes que afectan a las comunidades y, por último, dar un buen servicio a todos los residentes.
Two ex-cops charged in extortion, murder plot
Even if we didn't have the 2nd Amendment, cops like these are a good reason us citizens need guns. To protect our selfs from government criminals like these cops.
Cops using sensors to pick up gunshot sounds in Chicago
I thought the 2nd Amendment had been flushed down the toilet and for all practical purposes guns where illegal in Chicago and Illinois?
Cops use the old Terry V Ohio lie to illegally search people???
One lie cops routinely use to illegally search people for drugs is
the Terry V Ohio lie.
Drunk Tucson cop crashes into power pole
Source
Johnny Tynes, 37, who also works for the Arizona Department of Corrections, was booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of felony criminal damage after he drove into a utility pole, destroying it and knocking out power to people living in the area of East 22nd Street and South Fourth Avenue just before 5:30 a.m., said Sgt. Maria Hawke, a spokeswoman for the Tucson Police Department.
Johnny Tynes, 37, who also works for the Arizona Department of Corrections, was booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of felony criminal damage after he drove into a utility pole, destroying it and knocking out power to people living in the area of East 22nd Street and South Fourth Avenue just before 5:30 a.m., said Sgt. Maria Hawke, a spokeswoman for the Tucson Police Department.
Lake County continues to press case against man cleared of rape by DNA
Cops and prosecutors refused to admit they f*ck up royal!!!!
Sharpshooter in helicopter murders suspected drug smugglers
I have said a number of times I wonder when the US government will start using drones on American soil to murder suspected drug dealers with drone missile strikes.
Will Supreme Court turn up its nose at drug-sniffing dogs?
I suspect because of the large number of false positives when a cop with a drug dog claims the dog smelled drugs and the cops then search the person, car or home and find nothing I suspect the drug dog handler was lying when he says the dog smelled drugs to give the cops a lame excuse to "legally" search the person, car or home.
When Mass Hysteria Convicted 5 Teenagers
Who needs evidence to convict them? The cops and prosecutors will tell you they had black or brown skin so they must have been guilty of something.
Trial in 1977 killing asks: Were suspects framed?
Again I think the logic the racist cops use in these cases is that the suspects were Black so they must have been guilty of something.
Racism is expensive!
SB 1070 training costs $640,000
Source
Horne hit-and-run caused more than $1,000 in damage, records
Horne hit-and-run caused more than $1,000 in damage, records
New Phoenix Police Department records show that the hit-and-run fender bender that Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne and one of his employees were involved in last spring caused more than $1,000 in damages to the other vehicle.
Babeu’s new posse too risky to insure
I view Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu as a racist tyrant just like Sheriff Joe. Sadly Babeu sounds a little smarter then Sheriff Joe.
More on dope sniffing dogs and the Supreme Court.
Source
Preckwinkle drops bullet tax, keeps gun tax
Source
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle today dropped plans for a five-cent bullet tax, but still wants to charge a $25 tax on every gun purchase.
Former North Chicago chief accused of stealing seized drug money
Now do you believe me when I say the "war on drugs" is a welfare program for cops????
Battle Amnesty International Must Win
AI fights the unconstitutional FISA law
Source
Another person framed for murder by the state of Arizona!!!!
Another person framed for murder by the state of Arizona!!!!
Drayton Witt, 31, was released from prison in May after a judge set aside his 2002 murder conviction. The Arizona Justice Project filed a motion in February arguing that scientific evidence no longer supported the conclusion that Witt shook 4-month-old Steven to death.
Attorney General Tom Horne's Unacceptable Behavior
Remember Attorney General Tom Horne is the jerk who wants to repeal Prop 203 so he can throw pot smokers in prison!!!!
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is failing that latter test miserably. He very well may be failing the test as a law-abider, as well.
From the start, Horne's reaction to each of the controversies has been to deflect and deny. To contend, straight-faced, that his almost constant cellphone contact with Winn regarded a complicated real-estate transaction, not the workings of the independent expenditure campaign effort she led on his behalf.
Or that he parked in his [Carmen Chenal] alleged lover's parking garage because it was close to his favorite restaurant. Or that he didn't remember who was in the car.
Some attorney general
Source
Tom Horne, Arizona's top law-enforcement official, is accused of committing a hit-and-run allegedly so he wouldn't get caught committing adultery, and the only reason he was caught was because he was being followed by the FBI, which was investigating him over suspected campaign-finance violations.
Phoenix
Watch out kiddies, Officer Friendly has a taser!!!!
Officer Christopher Webb - "Let me show you what happens to people who do not listen to the police"
More on that piggy that tased a 10 year old smart ass
Source
Arizona Lawman Joe Arpaio's Re-election Bid Divides County
NY Times article about Sheriff Joe.
Mesa cop Richardson asks Has DPS become another failed Arizona agency?
This is the Phoenix New Times
article
Bill Richardson is referring to
Scottsdale PD would have framed Ryan Festa for rape???
If we didn't have DNA testing the Scottsdale Police would have framed Ryan Festa for rape?
Scottsdale cops got the right guy this time - Honest!!!!
The Scottsdale Police are positive they got the right guy!!!!
"Hey, he is a Negro, he must have done it"
Yes, just like they are positive when they arrested Ryan Festa for the same rape. Well until the DNA tests proved he didn't do it.
Death Penalty - A jobs program for lawyers??? Probably!!!
I like to call the death penalty a jobs program for lawyers, prosecutors and public defenders.
Secret Service agent kills self amid affair probe
Source
LAPD shoots handcuffed man
LA cops forget to tell media that an escaped prisoner they shot was handcuffed
Fullerton pig gets a slap on the wrist for destroying audio recorder
Fullerton pig gets a slap on the wrist for destroying audio recorder
Is the term "honest cop" an oxymoron? In most cases yes!!!
2 Chicago cops say blowing whistle led to retaliation
Source
No pigeons, planes, pingpong balls at China meet
Sounds like the Chinese are learning a few tricks from the American Homeland Security goons!!!
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne pleads not guilty to hit-and-run
Remember Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is the guy who wants
Jan Brewer to declare Prop 203 null and void so he can resume throwing
pot smokers into prison.
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne has pleaded not guilty in connection with the hit-and-run of a parked vehicle that FBI agents witnessed last spring.
Stribling wrote that agents saw Carmen Chenal, a longtime Horne confidante and employee, leave the Attorney General’s Office during lunch hour, get into a borrowed Volkswagen car and drive to a downtown Phoenix parking garage. Horne then left the office and drove his gold Jaguar into the same garage. Horne and Chenal then left the garage, with Horne driving the vehicle originally driven by Chenal, Stribling wrote. Chenal was in the passenger seat. Horne was wearing a baseball cap as they drove to Chenal’s residence.
Adiós Arpaio
Scottsdale Rep David Burnell Smith busted for DUI
More of the old "do as I say, not as I do" from our government masters.
State Rep. David Burnell Smith was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in north Scottsdale on Oct. 21 after his car was seen swerving, police said.
Scottsdale to pay legal bills for cop who murdered 6 people
And of course to add insult to injury, the city of Scottsdale is also paying a
$4,547 per month or $54,564 a year retirement pension to Officer James Peters
who has murdered 6 people.
Horne an embarrassment (hopefully) to himself
Source
“What is wrong with you?” asked the guy on the phone. “You used to go for the throat. I can’t BELIEVE you haven’t carved up (Attorney General) Tom Horne about that whole thing with the car and the woman and leaving the accident. Seriously, what’s up?”
While under surveillance by the FBI (There are legitimate question about why that was going on.) Horne and an employee named Carmen Chenal left the AG’s office at lunch time in separate cars. She borrowed a Volkswagen from a friend. He drove his Jaguar. They parked in a Phoenix garage near one another. Horne got out of his car, put on a baseball cap (a lame disguise) and then got into the VW. Horne was driving when agents said the VW hit a parked car and drove away without stopping to assess the damage, now estimated at over $1,000.
Bill Montgomery wants to flush a woman's right to have an abortion down the toilet???
Source
IRS not enforcing rules on churches, politics
I suspect these silly laws that make it illegal for religious groups to give money to people running for office are unconstitutional and violate the free speech part of the 1st Amendment.
Woman framed for murder released after 8 years in prison
You have heard the old line about how the cops and
prosecutors would rather have 100 guilty people go free
then one innocent person go to prison.
Policía retirado aspira a derrotar al controvertido Arpaio con el voto latino
Source