(nyt) Troy Davis, whose death row case ignited an international campaign to save his life, has lost what appeared to be his last attempt to avoid death by lethal injection on Wednesday.
Rejecting pleas by Mr.
Complete Story...
Today is Sunday, February 05, 2012 1:01AM
Georgia Pardons Board Denies Clemency for Death Row Inmate
September 20, 2011 by BBN Editors, via NYT
Megan Sallomi: Vance Dropped the Ball on DSK
August 30, 2011 by BBN Editors,
(BBN Editors: This Letter to the Editor appeared in the New York Daily News on August 26, 2011. We believe it is an underreported perspective.
Complete Story...
Nafissatou Diallo/DSK Maid Tells Her Side of Alleged Rape by Strauss-Kahn
July 24, 2011 by NEWSWEEK.com,
(By Christopher Dickey and John Solomon, Newsweek) “Hello? Housekeeping. ” The maid hovered in the suite’s large living room, just inside the entrance.
Complete Story...
(Watch Video) Miami Cop Shooting: Differing Accounts from Cops, Witness
June 12, 2011 by BBN Editors,
(BBN Warning: The video was recorded on May 30, 2011 while Miami Police Department officers shot at the victim who was killed as a result of gun shots. Please be advised that the video is raw and may be disturbing).
Complete Story...
Heartbreaking. Body of Missing Teenager Felicia Barnes Found in River.
April 22, 2011 by BBN Editors,
(Baltimoresun. com) As the desperate search for missing honors student Phylicia Barnes came to a heartbreaking end Thursday, police said the discovery of her body in the Susquehanna River could be "instrumental" in hunting down new leads in a 4-month-old case that has yielded painfully few clues.
Complete Story...
Still, No Settlement for 5 Men Wrongfully Convicted of Central Park Rape
April 17, 2011 by Sarah Burns, for NYDN
This Tuesday marks 22 years since a young, white woman jogging in Central Park was brutally raped, beaten and left for dead on a secluded path along the Loch in the northern part of the park. She has since made a miraculous recovery, but the five teenagers who were wrongly convicted in her attack are still awaiting justice.
Complete Story...
(Video) ‘60 Minutes’: Mortgage paperwork mess: Next housing shock?
April 06, 2011 by BBN Editors,
. Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes" reports how problems with mortgage documents are prompting lawsuits and could slow down the weak housing market.
Complete Story...
(BBN Update) Williams-Bolar Case: Ohio Prosecutor Followed the Law.
February 18, 2011 by Sharon D. Toomer, for BBN
A few weeks ago, the online community was in an uproar over the jailing of Ms. Kelley Williams-Bolar, the Ohio mother who Summit County District Attorney Sherri Bevan Walsh prosecuted, a jury convicted and a judge sentenced to ten days in jail for two felony counts of tampering with records.
Complete Story...
BBN Report/Info: Excessive Prosecution of Akron, Ohio Mother of Two
January 26, 2011 by BBN Editors,
. For those following the case of Ms.
Complete Story...
Still No Justice for Civil Rights-Era Rapes
October 17, 2010 by Errin Haines, AP/WashingtonPost
(AP/WashingtonPost) Years before Rosa Parks fought for justice from her seat on a Montgomery bus, she fought for Recy Taylor.
Parks was an NAACP activist crisscrossing Alabama in 1944 when she came across the case of Taylor, a 24-year-old wife and mother who was brutally gang raped and dumped on the side of a rural road.
Complete Story...
Shame of NY Court: Juvenile Counselor, 42, Gets Probation for Raping Teen
October 06, 2010 by BBN Editors,
Caption: (NYDN) 'I knew I was just raped. I knew it wasn't supposed to happen,' Ashley, now 20, says of attack by juvenile counselor Tony Simmons
(BBN Editor’s Note: The mission of The New York Unified Court System, according to its website, is “to promote the rule of law and to serve the public by providing just and timely resolution of all matters before the courts.
Complete Story...
Attorney: Video Contradicts Police Version of How 7-Year-Old Was Shot
May 17, 2010 by AP/MSNBC,
An attorney for the family of a 7-year-old girl slain during a weekend raid at their Detroit home says video footage contradicts the police department's version of events.
Geoffrey Fieger said Monday that footage shot by the A&E crime-reality show "The First 48" shows that police fired into the home at least once after lobbing a flash grenade through a window.
Complete Story...
‘The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness’
April 09, 2010 by BBN Editors,
(democracynow. org) A new book by legal scholar and civil rights advocate Michelle Alexander argues that although Jim Crow laws have been eliminated, the racial caste system it set up was not eradicated.
Complete Story...
March on City Hall Calls for End to ‘Stop and Frisk.’ “N.Y.P.D. Keep Your Hands Off Me.”
October 17, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) With a chorus of plastic drumbeats, solidarity chants and fluttering flags, more than 400 protesters made a pilgrimage across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall Park in Manhattan.
One marcher held a giant paper hand with this inscription: “N. Y. P. D. More...
NYPD cop Michael Daragjati taped making racial slurs about black man; accused of false arrest. "I fried another n-----."
October 17, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) "I fried another n-----. "
That's how racist NYPD cop Michael Daragjati described falsely charging a black man with resisting arrest on Staten Island, authorities said Monday.
"Another n----- fried, no big deal," crowed Daragjati, according to a transcript of a phone conversation intercepted by the feds.
Daragjati, who is white, is charged with violating the unnamed man's civil rights by fabricating the charges because he mouthed off about being stopped and frisked by the cop last April.
The incident is believed to be racially-motivated because Daragjati used the n-word repeatedly in the monitored phone calls. More...
'Stand Up, Speak Out,' Derrick Bell Told Law Students. Professor Bell died on Wednesday, October 5, 2011.
October 07, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(npr) Professor Derrick Bell: "In all my courses, I really have to teach the basic messages of my life that the rewards, the satisfactions, are not in being partner or making a million dollars, but in recognizing evils, recognizing injustices and standing up and speaking out about them even in absolutely losing situations where you know it's not going to bring about any change — that there are intangible rewards to the spirit that make that worthwhile. ". . . . More...
Mayor Bloomberg slammed by judge (Nicholas Garaufis) for ignoring years of discrimination in FDNY hiring practices. City officials "chose to ignore" evidence that the FDNY's testing, recruit
October 07, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(nydn)A federal judge Wednesday ordered the appointment of an outside monitor for the FDNY with sweeping powers to oversee the selection of entry-level firefighters.
While issuing the order, Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis slammed Mayor Bloomberg and his team for ignoring a mountain of evidence showing discriminatory hiring practices for years:
"Though the city's use of discriminatory hiring practices has persisted through numerous changes in city leadership, the evidence adduced in this case gives the court little hope that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg or any of his senior leadership has any intention of stepping up to the task of ending discrimination in the FDNY. " Garaufis concluded that only a court-ordered monitor could end decades of bias against minorities seeking employment in the Fire Department that he described as a "stubborn bastion of white male privilege. "
The judge harshly criticized Bloomberg for vigorously fighting a U. More...
Hundreds of New Yorkers who have been caught with small amounts of marijuana, or who have simply admitted to using it, have become ensnared in civil child neglect cases in recent years.
August 18, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) Hundreds of New Yorkers who have been caught with small amounts of marijuana, or who have simply admitted to using it, have become ensnared in civil child neglect cases in recent years, though they did not face even the least of criminal charges, according to city records and defense lawyers. A small number of parents in these cases have even lost custody of their children.
New York City’s child welfare agency said that it was pursuing these cases for appropriate reasons, and that marijuana use by parents could often hint at other serious problems in the way they cared for their children.
As states and localities around the country loosen penalties for marijuana, for both recreational and medical uses, they are increasingly grappling with how to handle its presence in homes with children. California, where the medical marijuana movement has flourished, now requires that child welfare officials demonstrate actual harm to a child from marijuana use in order to bring neglect cases, and defense lawyers there say the authorities are now bringing fewer of them. More...
Their Names Were NOT Caylee - Romona Moore Legal Defense Fund
August 08, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(WAOD) By now all of you are familiar with the name Casey Anthony. While most of Black Twitter and Nancy Grace appeared to be obsessed with her trial for the murder of her daughter, Caylee, you might have missed the following names: Tonia Carmichael, Nancy Cobbs, Tishana Culver, Crystal Dozier, Telacia Fortson, Amelda Hunter, Leshanda Long, Michelle Mason, Kim Smith, Janice Webb, Diane Turner. These were all Black women who were killed by one madman in Cleveland, OH in the most horrific ways imaginable. Equally horrifying was that he was so brazen that be didn't bother to bury most of their bodies and what's horrifying is that the community these women lived in didn't bother to look for them.
Their body parts in many cases were left out in the open to rot inside the killer's house and the stench of their decaying bodies filled the air of the neighbohood, but even in the stench of death, the neighbohood around them kept moving along and the police didn't bother to look for these women. More...
Video shows white teens driving over, killing black man, says DA
August 08, 2011 by kevinjcharles (View Source)
Video shows white teens driving over, killing black man, says DA. . . . . More...
Officers Found Guilty in Hurricane Katrina Bridge Shootings. Defendants convicted on 25 counts, including federal civil rights violations, for violence and deception that began on the Danziger Bridge
August 05, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) In a verdict that brought a decisive close to a case that has haunted and horrified this city since most of it lay underwater nearly six years ago, five current and former New Orleans police officers were found guilty on all counts by a federal jury on Friday for shooting six citizens, two of whom died, and orchestrating a wide-ranging cover-up in the hours, weeks and years that followed. The defendants were convicted on 25 counts, including federal civil rights violations, for the violence and deception that began on the Danziger Bridge in eastern New Orleans on Sept 4. 2005, just days after Hurricane Katrina hit and the levees failed.
“The officers convicted today abused their power and violated the public’s trust during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – exacerbating one of the most devastating times for the people of New Orleans,” said Attorney General Eric Holder in a statement. “I am hopeful today’s verdict brings justice for the victims and their family members, helps to heal the community and contributes to the restoration of public trust in the New Orleans Police Department. More...
(AJZ) Overcrowded jails inimical to justice. In California, long jail sentences pack prisons, but a Supreme Court ruling and a hunger strike may improve conditions.
August 04, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(AlJazeera) It's been two months since a divided US Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling, which ordered the state of California to reduce its prison population by roughly 33,000. The state's 33 prisons currently hold 156,000 prisoners, nearly double the number they were designed to house.
In the 5-4 ruling, the court said that overcrowded and unhealthy living conditions violated constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment and threatened inmates' health. In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, "A prison that deprives prisoners of basic sustenance, including adequate medical care has no place in civilised society. "
In order to highlight the inhumane conditions, Justice Kennedy, in a rare move, included three photos in his opinion showing overcrowded conditions in gymnasium-style rooms and holding cells used to house suicidal inmates. More...
Akron mom in school-residency case weeps before Parole Board. Her only goal was daughters' safety, attorney says.
July 20, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(columbusdispatch) Tears flowed freely today from the eyes of an Akron mother jailed for falsifying documents so she could enroll her kids in a different school.
Gov. John Kasich and others have made the case about school choice, but Kelley Williams-Bolar told the Ohio Parole Board that her daughters' safety, not their education, was her only concern.
"I did some things wrong, but I love my kids," she said. "I would have done anything for the children. More...
SIGN PETITION TO "BAN THE BOX" ON JOB APPLICATIONS IN NEW YORK STATE
June 28, 2011 by thedeadtruth
ATTENTION! Advocates, Not for Profit Organizations and Concerned Citizens:
I just signed the petition "BAN THE BOX ON JOB APPLICATIONS IN NEW YORK STATE" and wanted to see if you could help me bring a Ban the Box law to New York State so “Rehabilitated” and “Qualified” formerly convicted people can get a fair chance to get hired by employers. By adding your name, you are telling the New York State Legislature, the New York City Council, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo that job discrimination in all of it’s forms needs to be “Outlawed” in the State of New York. Our goal is to reach 10,000. 00 signatures and we need your support. PLEASE PRESS ON THE LINK BELOW AND ASK YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, COLLEAGUES AND ASSOCIATES TO SIGN THE PETITION AS WELL. More...
Black Women Perceived as Being More White Receive Judicial Leniency in the United States
June 26, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(sciencejournal)Despite the incessant, ignorant harping in the United States media about how this country has entered a "post-racial era," i. e. racial discrimination is no longer a major problem, it is in fact a continuing and serious issue. Among the large body of damning evidence is that of racial disparities in the judicial system, e. g. More...
Creators of The Wire accuse US law boss of waging war on America's underclass.
June 09, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(taustralian) WHEN Eric Holder, the US Attorney-General, called for the revival of a cult TV show earlier this week, it must have seemed a safe gesture - politically innocuous and likely to make him wildy popular around the world.
He cannot have expected the savage response from the producers of the crime drama The Wire, who accused the chief prosecutor of presiding over “a war on our underclass”.
Mr Holder was speaking at a panel organised by the Justice Department to raise awareness of the effects of drug abuse on children and families. “I want to speak directly to (Ed) Burns and (David) Simon,” Mr Holder said, referring to the show's creators.
“Do another season of The Wire,” he said, to loud applause. More...
More Hispanics go to federal prison. Statistics reveal Hispanics now comprise nearly half of all people sentenced for federal felony crimes.
June 08, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(AP)They shuffle into the courtroom in shackles, still wearing the dust-covered clothes and shoes from when they crossed the desert into the U. S. from Mexico.
The 70 illegal immigrants, mostly men and mostly in their 20s and 30s, fill the 16-seat jury box and seven rows of wooden benches normally reserved for the public in Tucson's gleaming federal courthouse. The courtroom is expansive, with a regally high ceiling, and is filled with the pungent smell of dried sweat. More...
Obama cracks down on abuses by big-city police departments. In shift from Bush, Obama's DOJ is aggressively investigating police departments accused of civil rights violations.
June 01, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(salon. com) In a marked shift from the Bush administration, President Obama's Justice Department is aggressively investigating several big urban police departments for systematic civil rights abuses such as harassment of racial minorities, false arrests, and excessive use of force.
In interviews, activists and attorneys on the ground in several cities where the DOJ has dispatched civil rights investigators welcomed the shift. To progressives disappointed by Eric Holder's Justice Department on key issues like the failure to investigate Bush-era torture and the prosecution of whistle-blowers, recent actions by the DOJ's Civil Rights Division are a bright spot.
In just the past few months, the Civil Rights Division has announced "pattern and practice" investigations in Newark, New Jersey and Seattle. More...
Pregnant and handcuffed. There were 976,420 drivers stopped by police last year. It is a horrible thought that race has something to do with it.
May 11, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(nydn/jimmy breslin) There were 976,420 drivers stopped by police last year. It is a horrible thought that race has something to do with it.
. . . More...
John Thompson: The Prosecution Rests, but I Can’t. (Thompson spent 18 years in prison and exonerated).
April 10, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) I SPENT 18 years in prison for robbery and murder, 14 of them on death row. I’ve been free since 2003, exonerated after evidence covered up by prosecutors surfaced just weeks before my execution date. Those prosecutors were never punished. Last month, the Supreme Court decided 5-4 to overturn a case I’d won against them and the district attorney who oversaw my case, ruling that they were not liable for the failure to turn over that evidence — which included proof that blood at the robbery scene wasn’t mine.
Because of that, prosecutors are free to do the same thing to someone else today. More...
Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?
April 06, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(RS) Financial crooks brought down the world's economy — but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them. Why?. . . . More...
Justice Department to investigate Seattle Police civil-rights practices
April 01, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(seattletimes) Seattle Police Chief John Diaz said he welcomes the Department of Justice's announcement Thursday that it will investigate whether his officers have engaged in a pattern of unnecessary force and biased policing.
The department has fully cooperated with the inquiry so far, Diaz said, and will continue to do so.
"We have nothing to hide," he said. "We've been open and transparent with the Department of Justice, which makes for a good working relationship. "
Diaz, attending a previously scheduled appearance with The Seattle Times editorial board, said he had received a call from the DOJ hours earlier alerting him to the decision. More...
Judge Convicted in Pennsylvania Kids-for-Cash Scheme, Faces Long Prison Term and Class Action Lawsuit
February 24, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(democracynow. org) A federal jury has found a former Pennsylvania judge guilty of participating in a so-called "kids for cash" scheme, in which he received money in exchange for sending juvenile offenders to for-profit youth jails over the years. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella, Jr. , was convicted Friday of accepting bribes and kickbacks for putting juveniles into detention centers operated by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western Pennsylvania Child Care. Ciavarella and another judge, Michael Conahan, are said to have received $2. More...
South Dakota Bill Could Legalize Murder Of Abortion Providers
February 20, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(tpm) Killing a doctor who performs abortions in South Dakota may soon be, in some circumstances, legally justifiable -- that is, if a bill passed out of committee in the state House of Representatives on Monday, which makes it a "justifiable homicide" for someone to kill someone attempting to harm an unborn child, becomes law.
State Rep. Phil Jensen (R), who introduced the bill, denied that the it would open the door to killing abortion doctors, since abortion is legal. "This code only deals with illegal acts, which doesn't include abortion," he told TPM.
The legislation passed out of committee along party-lines with a vote of 9-3. More...
(Brooklyn, NY) Nun Mary Turcotte recants accusation of rape after police release sketch of made-up suspect - "Black man, 40 to 50 years old, 6-feet-4, up to 250 pounds."
February 02, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) A Brooklyn nun from a fringe Christian sect has confessed to an unholy lie: telling cops she was sexually attacked and left unconscious in a snowbank, sources said Monday.
After a police search for a hulking black man was launched, the 26-year-old white woman from the Apostles of Infinite Love convent in East Flatbush recanted, the sources said.
She told cops she made up the story in an attempt to cover up a consensual sex romp with a bodega worker inside the Glenwood Ave. residence.
A woman in religious garb who answered the door at the convent said the nun, identified as Mary Turcotte, suffered an "emotional break" and made everything up - even her excuse. More...
UPDATE: Juvenile justice counselor was convicted of sexually assaulting two girls under his care at the Family Court building in Lower Manhattan.
January 23, 2011 by editor (View Source)
BBN Editors: Read the background on this story at http://www. blackandbrownnews. com/america/justice/1284037135_story. php
. . More...
Woman Abducted as Infant in 1987 Meets Family. Carlina White, now 23 and living in Georgia, reunited with her biological parents.
January 19, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) It was an abduction that made headlines and stunned the authorities: A 3-week-old infant, taken to a Manhattan hospital in August 1987 for treatment of a fever, was snatched by a woman dressed in nurse’s clothes and never heard from again.
Two decades later, with investigators stumped and the case cold, the parents of the abducted girl refused to give up hope, believing that someday their daughter might return.
Their prayers were answered.
Carlina White, now 23 and living in Georgia, was reunited on Friday with her biological parents, Joy White and Carl Tyson, bringing an end to one of the most baffling missing persons cases in the New York Police Department’s files. The reunion brought elation to a mother and father racked by pain and anger for over two decades, and a new family for a woman who had long held suspicions about her past. More...
'For Poor, Bail System Can Be an Obstacle to Freedom.' Vague laws, insufficient oversight allowed some bondsmen in NY to return defendants to jail for questionable or unspecified reasons.
January 11, 2011 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) Before George Zouvelos agrees to post someone’s bail, a customer must put up cash, sign a 20-page contract and initial 86 separate paragraphs.
Those paragraphs are chock-full of fees: $250 if the defendant misses a weekly check-in; as much as $375 an hour for obscure tasks like bail consulting and research; and unspecified amounts if Mr. Zouvelos, a bail bondsman based in Manhattan, farms out tasks like obtaining court documents or delivering release papers to jail.
Then there are the thousands of dollars that Mr. Zouvelos can charge if he decides to revoke a bond and return a defendant to jail, as he did 89 times during a four-month period last year. More...
Heidi Jones, NY Weather Anchor, Accused of Lying About Attempted Rape. According to Report, Jones Claimed "Hispanic Man" Raped Her.
December 15, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(cbs) Heidi Jones, a weather anchor for New York's WABC-TV who allegedly lied about being raped, has been charged with filing a false police report.
According to the New York Post, Jones is accused of telling police she was raped in Central Park, although not until two months after the alleged incident occurred.
Jones, who also serves as fill-in talent on Good Morning America, claimed she was sexually assaulted on Sept. 24, reports the New York Post.
The newspaper cites sources who say police noticed inconsistencies in her story. More...
Click here to find out more! Mass. jury says tobacco firm used free cigarettes to entice black kids to smoke, awards $71M
December 15, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(lat) A jury has ruled the Lorillard Tobacco Co. tried to entice black children to become smokers by handing out free cigarettes and has awarded $71 million in compensatory damages to the estate and son of a woman who died of lung cancer.
The Suffolk Superior Court jury announced its verdict Tuesday after hearing weeks of testimony.
Willie Evans alleged Lorillard introduced his mother, Marie Evans, to smoking as a child in the late 1950s by giving her free Newport cigarettes at the Orchard Park housing project in Boston, where she lived. He said his mother smoked for more than 40 years before dying of lung cancer at age 54. More...
New Jersey Legislature Passes “Anti-Bullying Bill Of Rights”
November 22, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(njtoday) The bipartisan “Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights” is headed to Gov. Chris Christie’s desk. It was approved in the Assembly by a vote of 72-1-5, while the state Senate passed it with a 30-0 vote.
The legislation is the product of nearly a year of research and discussions with top bullying experts, advocates and victims in an effort to combat harassment, intimidation and bullying among students. “The truth is that every day there is a student in an elementary school, high school or even a college who feels a sense of fear and emotional dread every time he or she steps foot into the school building or signs onto the internet,” said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle(D-Bergen). More...
(NYC) Bob Herbert: The Shame of New York City. The NYPD are not just permitted, they are encouraged to trample on the rights of black and Hispanic New Yorkers.
October 31, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(bob herbert/nyt) The whole notion of the rule of law, critical to a democracy, is sabotaged when the guardians of the law — in this case the officers of the New York City Police Department — are permitted to violate the law with impunity.
The police in New York City are not just permitted, they are encouraged to trample on the rights of black and Hispanic New Yorkers by relentlessly enforcing the city’s degrading, unlawful and outright racist stop-and-frisk policy. Hundreds of thousands of wholly innocent individuals, most of them young, are routinely humiliated by the police, day in and day out, year after shameful year.
Jeffrey Fagan, a professor of law and public health at Columbia University and a widely recognized scholar on the subject of police and citizen interactions, has filed a report in support of a federal class-action lawsuit challenging the stop-and-frisk policy as unconstitutional. Based on analyses of the department’s own statistics, he found, as the plaintiffs and other observers have argued all along, that seizures of weapons or contraband as a result of the stops “is extremely rare. More...
'Family Fight, Border Patrol Raid, Baby Deported.' Border Patrol Deports 3-Year-Old American Citizen to Mexico with Father, an Alleged Witness to Murder.
September 21, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) A few days before her daughter Rosa’s first birthday, Monica Castro and the girl’s father had a violent argument in the trailer they all shared near Lubbock, Tex. Ms. Castro fled, leaving her daughter behind.
Ms. Castro, a fourth-generation American citizen, went to the local Border Patrol station. More...
(White Woman Who Lied, Accused Black Woman of Throwing Acid) Why Oprah and Everyone Else Swallowed Storro's Lie That a Black Did It .
September 21, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(ccn-Earl Ofari Hutchinson) Oprah shouldn't feel too bad that she initially swallowed whole Bethany Storro's lying claim that a black doused her face with acid and then booked her on her show. Oprah, The facebook crowd, the sponsors of planned fundraisers, and the thousands that sent sympathy letters and cards to Storro bought her lie too. Obviously they didn't remember Charles Stuart, Susan Smith, and more recently Bonnie Sweeten and Ashley Todd. Whites who screamed a black man did it to cover up murder. There's a long sordid history of whites screaming that it was a black man that raped, assaulted, and robbed them to cover up their crimes, misdeeds, or carnal lust. More...
Woman's story of acid attack a hoax - video, slideshow. Woman claimed "African American Woman" Threw Acid in Her Face. That Was a Lie.
September 17, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(examiner) The adage that truth is stranger than fiction certainly applies in the case of a Vancouver, Washington woman who claims someone threw acid in her face. As it turns out, she is that someone.
Fox News said, "28-year old Bethany Storro admitted she lied when she reported an African American woman poured acid on her face when she pulled up at a local Starbucks August 30th. The story gained national attention and even led to copycat attacks across the country. "
According to the BBC, "Ms Storro, 28, initially told police an unknown African-American woman had thrown a cup of liquid into her face after asking, 'Hey, pretty girl, want something to drink?'
"She underwent surgery and made several media appearances, including a televised press conference with her head wrapped in bandages. More...
Congress narrows gap in cocaine sentences. changed law that has subjected tens of thousands of blacks to long prison terms for crack cocaine convictions while giving far more lenient treatment to thos
July 28, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(wapo) Congress changed a quarter-century-old law that has subjected tens of thousands of blacks to long prison terms for crack cocaine convictions while giving far more lenient treatment to those, mainly whites, caught with the powder form of the drug.
The House, by voice vote, approved a bill reducing the disparities between mandatory crack and powder cocaine sentences, sending the measure to President Barack Obama for his signature. During his presidential campaign, Obama said that the wide gap in sentencing "cannot be justified and should be eliminated. " The Senate passed the bill in March.
The measure alters a 1986 law, enacted at a time when crack cocaine use was rampant and considered a particularly violent drug, under which a person convicted of crack cocaine possession gets the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times the same amount of powder cocaine. More...
Update: New York City settles for $7.15M in Sean Bell police shooting.
July 27, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) The city agreed Tuesday to pay more than $7 million to settle a wrongful death civil suit lodged by the fianceé and pals of Sean Bell, an unarmed man gunned down by cops on his wedding day, sources said.
The settlement, approved by a Brooklyn federal magistrate, ends a four-year legal battle by tragic would-be bride Nicole Paultre Bell and two men wounded in a 50-shot barrage that claimed her lover's life.
Under the agreement, the city will pay Paultre Bell, the mother of Sean Bell's two children, $3. 25 million, according to a source familiar with the settlement.
Bell's pals Joseph Guzman, 35, will receive $3 million and Trent Benefield, 27, will be granted $900,000. More...
Rough justice in America. Too many laws, too many prisoners. Never in the civilised world have so many been locked up for so little.
July 27, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(economist) Justice is harsher in America than in any other rich country. Between 2. 3m and 2. 4m Americans are behind bars, roughly one in every 100 adults. If those on parole or probation are included, one adult in 31 is under “correctional” supervision. More...
14 Shocking Facts That Prove the Criminal Justice System Is Racist. African-Americans are directly targeted and punished in a much more aggressive way than white people.
July 27, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(altnet) The biggest crime in the U. S. criminal justice system is that it is a race-based institution where African-Americans are directly targeted and punished in a much more aggressive way than white people.
The biggest crime in the U. S. More...
DeFarra Gaymon Fatally Shot in NJ by Cop; CEO in Town for HS Reunion
July 22, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(cbs) DeFarra Gaymon's weekend was supposed to be fun-filled. The 48-year-old CEO was traveling from Georgia to New Jersey to celebrate his 30th high school reunion with friends and former classmates from Montclair High School.
No one could have predicted the tragic turn his trip would take.
Gaymon's plan was to fly to New Jersey Thursday evening for the event scheduled to take place the following night, but the man whom everyone referred to as "Dean" never showed, reports The Star Ledger.
According to the Essex County Sheriff's Office, Gaymon was shot and killed Friday evening at Newark's Branch Brook Park during a "tussle" with an undercover police detective, but it is unclear what led to the incident. More...
Are tough on crime policies actually racist?
July 15, 2010 by 932hart
Are tough on crime policies actually Racist?
Just over a century ago, American’s dealt with crime and punishment in a totally different way than how we deal with these maladies today. According to Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Assistant Professor of history at the University of Indiana –in a Reaction Essay published by The Defenders Online – titled: “Violence, Gun Rights, and Compassionate Progressivism;” when white’s were the predominant criminal offender at the turn of the 1800’s, the social forces of that time utilized all of the resources at their disposal to save those youth. Professor Muhammad’s findings are in stark contrast to how the majority of white Americans view criminal offenders (whom are mostly black) today. “Pardons” were used much more in the early 1900’s when the recipients of the pardons were mostly white people.
The 70’s ushered in an entirely different genre of sitcom that began the racial stereotype of blacks as rapist, drug dealers/addicts, pimps and robbers that lasted up until this very day. More...
Police Officers Charged In Post-Katrina Shootings. Six current or former officers are charged in a 27-count indictment.
July 13, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(npr) Four more New Orleans police officers have been charged in the deadly shootings of two people in Hurricane Katrina's chaotic aftermath and could face the death penalty for the killings that have brought down a string of other officers.
Related NPR Stories
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Katrina & Recovery
What Happened on New Orleans' Danziger Bridge?
Six current or former officers are charged in a 27-count indictment unsealed Tuesday. Five former New Orleans police officers already have pleaded guilty to helping cover up the shootings on the Danziger Bridge that left two men dead and four wounded just days after the August 2005 hurricane. In one instance, a mentally disabled man was shot in the back and stomped before he died.
The indictment charges Sgts. More...
(NYC) A Few Blocks, 4 Years, 52,000 Police Stops. Police Officers stop people they think might be carrying guns.
July 12, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) When night falls, police officers blanket some eight odd blocks of Brownsville, Brooklyn. Squad cars with flashing lights cruise along the main avenues: Livonia to Powell to Sutter to Rockaway. And again.
On the inner streets, dozens of officers, many fresh out of the police academy, walk in pairs or linger on corners. Others, deeper within the urban grid, navigate a maze of public housing complexes, patrolling the stairwells and hallways. More...
A nephew of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suffered a seizure after he was beaten and shocked during a scuffle with security guards at a New Orleans area hospital, relatives alleged.
July 12, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(wapo) A nephew of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suffered a seizure after he was beaten and shocked during a scuffle with security guards at a New Orleans area hospital, relatives alleged.
Derek Thomas, 25, was immobilized with a stun gun Thursday after he tried to leave the emergency room at West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, La. , his sister told WDSU, a local television station. Security responded after Thomas refused a doctor's request to put on a hospital gown and started to leave, Kimberly Thomas said.
"One of the security guards punched him in the lip," she told WDSU. More...
'Former BART transit officer convicted of involuntary manslaughter.' Police officer Johannes Mehserle faces four years in prison for killing Oscar Grant, an unarmed Black man shot in the back on a su
July 09, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(lat) A former transit police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man at an Oakland train station was convicted of involuntary manslaughter Thursday, capping a racially charged case that raised fears in the Bay Area of possible violence after the verdict.
Prosecutors accused the ex-officer of intentionally firing his handgun as he tried to handcuff Oscar J. Grant III on New Year's Day 2009. Johannes Mehserle, 28, tearfully testified that the shooting was a tragic accident caused when he mistakenly grabbed his firearm instead of an electric Taser weapon during a struggle with Grant.
The shooting was captured on video by several witnesses. More...
Oscar Grant Trial: Is An Uprising Worth It?
July 02, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(colorlines) As the city of Oakland, and the country at large, sits on pins and needles waiting for a verdict in the murder trial of former police officer Johannes Mehserle, shop owners are holding their breath. Cops are ready to fight. Community organizations in the city are fighting to get the message to the media, and their communities, that violence isn't the answer.
At least that's what's being reported in the tense days leading up to a verdict by local and mainstream news outlets. What hasn't been discussed is where that presumption of violence comes from in the first place, and if it's warranted. More...
Teen Dies After Allegedly Being Shot By Border Patrol Agent in El Paso.
June 08, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(ktsm) A teenage boy is shot and killed, and tonight it appears the shots were fired by a Border Patrol agent.
Witnesses say it was U. S. Border Patrol. The Border Patrol has confirmed that one of their agents was involved who shot the teen. More...
Evil in our society
May 22, 2010 by winfreylee (View Source)
Two women were arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle crystal methamphetamine inside a Bible to a man jailed in Louisiana. A 24 year old Queens man pleaded guilty to the brutal 2009 slaying of his ex-girlfriend, an NYPD criminologist. A Queens straphanger was nabbed trying to use a "hidden" video camera to film up a girl's skirt. A Brooklyn jury convicted a man of attempted murder for shooting at an officer during a robbery attempt at an auto repair shop last year. A Long Island man who tearfully pleaded with the public for two days to help him find his missing wife admitted in court that he killed her. More...
Evil in our society
May 22, 2010 by winfreylee (View Source)
Two women were arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle crystal methamphetamine inside a Bible to a man jailed in Louisiana. A 24 year old Queens man pleaded guilty to the brutal 2009 slaying of his ex-girlfriend, an NYPD criminologist. A Queens straphanger was nabbed trying to use a "hidden" video camera to film up a girl's skirt. A Brooklyn jury convicted a man of attempted murder for shooting at an officer during a robbery attempt at an auto repair shop last year. A Long Island man who tearfully pleaded with the public for two days to help him find his missing wife admitted in court that he killed her. More...
Evil in our society.
May 22, 2010 by winfreylee (View Source)
Two women were arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle crystal methamphetamine inside a Bible to a man jailed in Louisiana. A 24 year old Queens man pleaded guilty to the brutal 2009 slaying of his ex-girlfriend, an NYPD criminologist. A Queens straphanger was nabbed trying to use a "hidden" video camera to film up a girl's skirt. A Brooklyn jury convicted a man of attempted murder for shooting at an officer during a robbery attempt at an auto repair shop last year. A Long Island man who tearfully pleaded with the public for two days to help him find his missing wife admitted in court that he killed her. More...
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that juveniles who commit crimes in which no one is killed may not be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
May 18, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that juveniles who commit crimes in which no one is killed may not be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Five justices, in an opinion by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, agreed that the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment forbids such sentences as a categorical matter.
“A state need not guarantee the offender eventual release,” Justice Kennedy wrote, “but if it imposes the sentence of life, it must provide him or her with some realistic opportunity to obtain release before the end of that term. ”
The ruling marked the first time that the court excluded an entire class of offenders from a given form of punishment outside the context of the death penalty. More...
(UPDATE) Aiyana Jones 7-year-old girl killed in Detroit police raid
May 17, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(cnn) Police in Detroit, Michigan, on Sunday expressed "profound sorrow" at the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl in a police raid.
Aiyana Jones was shot and killed by police executing a search warrant as part of a homicide investigation, Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee said in a statement.
"This is any parent's worst nightmare," Godbee said. "It also is any police officer's worst nightmare. And today, it is all too real. More...
New York Minorities More Likely to Be Frisked. Blacks and Latinos were nine times as likely as whites to be stopped by the police in 2009.
May 13, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) Blacks and Latinos were nine times as likely as whites to be stopped by the police in New York City in 2009, but, once stopped, were no more likely to be arrested.
The more than 575,000 stops of people in the city, a record number of what are known in police parlance as “stop and frisks,” yielded 762 guns.
Of the reasons listed by the police for conducting the stops, one of those least commonly cited was the claim that the person fit the description of a suspect. The most common reason listed by the police was a category known as “furtive movements. ”
Under Commissioner Raymond W. More...
Why Ending Marijuana Prohibition is a Racial Justice Issue. 87% of those arrested in NYC are Black and Latino despite similar use to Whites.
May 12, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(change) The struggle to end America's disastrous war on drugs is a struggle for common sense, human rights and of course for racial justice. How could it not be, given the extraordinary and disproportionate extent to which people of color — and especially black people — are arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated for drug offenses?
Almost everyone gets it these days. The U. S. Senate recently voted unanimously to reform the racially discriminatory federal crack/powder mandatory minimum drug laws. More...
A lab-tech wreck for the NYPD. 'Faked' tests send DAs scrambling.
May 11, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(nypost) technician in the NYPD's forensics lab has been suspended for allegedly falsifying drug-test results, throwing into question "maybe thousands" of criminal cases -- and prompting a panicked meeting yesterday between cops and the city district attorneys.
. . . . More...
(NYC-Drug Policy Alliance) Billboard Company Rejects Ad Criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for Out-of-Control Marijuana Arrest Policy; Cites 'Political Circumstances from Mayor’s Office'
May 03, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(Drug Policy Alliance) The Drug Policy Alliance has received notice from Titan 360, North America’s largest transit advertising company, that a billboard that was set to run on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for his out-of-control marijuana arrest policy will not be allowed to run. According to an email from a Titan 360 account executive, the landlord refused the ad because of “political circumstances from the Mayor’s office. ”
The rejected ad states: “Nearly half of all New Yorkers have tried marijuana—including Mayor Bloomberg. We can’t arrest them all but Bloomberg is trying. ” The ad then states two statistics: “Marijuana arrests last year: 50,000. More...
(Video - PG County, MD) Beating of University of Maryland student by police probed by county prosecutors.
April 13, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(wapo) Prince George's prosecutors have begun a criminal investigation of three county police officers who beat an unarmed University of Maryland student with their batons after a basketball game last month in an incident that was caught on video and surfaced publicly Monday, authorities said. County police also ordered an internal affairs investigation of the three officers, Maj. Andy Ellis said. Ellis said the inquiry would also focus on a county officer who filed official charging documents that are contradicted by the video.
"The video shows the charging documents were nothing more than a cover, a fairy tale they made up to cover for the officers' misconduct," said Christopher A. More...
Alleged militia members indicted for plotting attack on police. 6 Michiganders, 3 others face weapons of mass destruction charges.
March 29, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(detroitfp) Six Michigan residents, two Ohio residents and an Indiana resident have been indicted on charges of attempted use of weapons of mass destruction in connection with their membership in a Lenawee County Christian militia group. Members of the Hutaree -- including a Michigan couple and their two sons -- conspired to oppose by force the authority of the U. S. government, according to a release by the U. S. More...
Hello, my name is Jaime Woodard (201-966-1251 or jaimelwoodard@gmail.com). I am the founder of a website called WE DESERVE OUR LIVES BACK.com. The site was built to promote the passing of bills and
March 28, 2010 by wedeserve (View Source)
Do you support H. R. 1529 The Second Chance Act of 2009? H. R. 1529 has died in committee since the year 2000. More...
The New Nigger! Resurrected.
March 24, 2010 by francwaa1981 (View Source)
As a Black man today I bow my head in shame for my entire “culture,” and hope to shed a little bit of light. Culture is a funny word when referring to the existing Black people in the United States of America. We are the only race of people without any accessible culture or homeland that we can return too or even refer to. I know the majority will respond, “What about Africa”? Yes I agree that is our homeland, but we no longer possess the language, self-reliance, or even the spirituality of the people who currently inhabit Africa. Considering the evidence, Blacks in America have been stripped down to an insipid race as well as being reprogrammed with pure witlessness that derives from new age religion, media, and technology that has been prescribed for them. More...
(NY) Justice Dept. Won't Pursue Charges in Sean Bell Shooting
February 17, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(wnyc) The three police officers acquitted of criminal charges in the 2006 shooting of an unarmed black man will not face federal civil rights charges. The U. S. Justice Department says there's not enough evidence to show the officers acted willfully in the death of Sean Bell.
Sanford Rubenstein, a lawyer for the Bell family, says their hopes are now pinned on a civil court case:
"More importantly, there will be a jury in the civil case. More...
Dental company, FORBA, exploited poor children for profit, government says. Company will pay $24 million and interest to settle.
January 24, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(gazette) Sterling Mustered screamed and cried at the sight of “anybody in scrubs” in the years following his one visit to Small Smiles Dentistry for Children in Colorado Springs.
“It was a classic abuse situation,” said his mother, Laura Mustered, a psychologist, “but it was done in a place of trust. ”
The boy, 9, was just a preschooler at the time of his dental appointment in 2004. She was not permitted to be with him during the visit. He emerged with two fillings, bruise marks on his neck, and a story that the dentist climbed on top of him to hold him down. More...
Twitter becomes key evidence in murder case. One man charged with killing friend over Twitter banter that escalated.
January 10, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) It started as a simple Twitter beef, 140-character spurts of anger by two young men who grew up together.
But the tough talk exploded out of cyberspace and onto the streets of Harlem, where a college student was gunned down feet from Gov. Paterson's home.
Now tweets sent by victim Kwame Dancy, 22, and accused killer Jameg Blake, 22, could become key evidence in a murder trial, the Daily News has learned.
Dancy's mother, Madeline Smith, is appalled Internet chest-thumping could have led to blood spilled on the sidewalk. More...
(TN) Lawsuit: Memphis Accuses Wells Fargo of Discriminating Against Blacks.
January 03, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) The mayor of Memphis, A C Wharton Jr. , has walked with bile rising in his throat through the streets of Hickory Hill and Orange Mound and Whitehaven in recent years, as house after house in those black neighborhoods has fallen into foreclosure.
Mr. Wharton and other city and county officials filed a lawsuit accusing one of the nation’s largest banks, Wells Fargo, of singling out black homeowners for high-interest subprime mortgages.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Tennessee, marshaled a raft of statistics to argue that Wells Fargo offered one lending reality for whites and another for blacks. More...
Class-Action Suit Claim: Youths detained in some of NY’s juvenile prisons have suffered bruises, cuts and a host of other injuries from aggressive physical restraining practices that violate their leg
January 03, 2010 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) Youths detained in some of New York’s juvenile prisons have suffered bruises, cuts and a host of other injuries from aggressive physical restraining practices that violate their legal and constitutional rights, according to a federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday.
The class-action suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan on behalf of roughly 500 youths in 10 of the prisons, also accuses the Office of Children and Family Services, the state agency that runs the facilities, of failing to provide adequate mental health services
The legal claim follows two withering reports from the United States Department of Justice and a state task force that portrayed the state’s juvenile justice system as so riddled with problems that it needed a complete overhaul.
The suit seeks an injunction that would sharply limit the use of force by youth counselors and require the state to provide the youths with more treatment for mental health problems, which affect a vast majority of those in custody.
The lawyers are also seeking unspecified monetary damages from employees who, the suit alleges, abused or mistreated eight youths currently in the custody of the Office of Children and Family Services. . More...
(NY) Black New Yorkers were seven times more likely than Whites to be arrested for marijuana possession and no more serious crime. Latinos were four times more likely.
December 23, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) Outside a music club on Greenwich Street in SoHo, the bouncers smoke joints as they check in the arriving customers. A young graphic artist routinely strolls through Chelsea, joint in hand. And when a publicist calls her supplier to order pot, she uses code words — a studio, a one- or two-bedroom — to signal how much she wants. New York City is now entering its 10th year of pouring tens of millions of dollars into arresting people for the lowest-level misdemeanor marijuana cases.
But the SoHo bouncers and the Chelsea graphic artist don’t have much to worry about, at least from the police: they are white. More...
(NY) Judge orders NYPD to reveal racial data on all people shot at by cops from 1997 to 2006
December 21, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) A judge Monday ordered the NYPD to turn over the racial breakdown of all people shot at by police officers between 1997 and 2006.
The New York Civil Liberties Union sued the NYPD in 2008 for racial data about shooting victims.
The NYPD agreed to release the racial breakdown of those injured by police gunfire, but not data about those who were shot at but not hit.
In an opinion dated Dec. 15, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden ruled the NYPD had not met its burden under the state's Freedom of Information Law to withhold the data. More...
(PA) 4 Police Officers Are Among 5 Indicted for Covering Up Hate Crime Killing of Latino Immigrant. Two others charged with beating.
December 15, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(ap) Four Pennsylvania police officers have been led into a courtroom in handcuffs for arraignment on charges that they orchestrated a cover-up in the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant.
A federal indictment announced Tuesday accuses Shenandoah Police Chief Matthew Nestor and three officers under his command of charges including witness tampering and lying to the FBI in the 2008 death of Luis Ramirez.
The officers are awaiting their arraignment in a Wilkes-Barre (BEHR') courtroom Tuesday.
The indictment also charges two former high school athletes with a hate crime for allegedly shouting racial epithets at Ramirez while they were beating him.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. More...
Judge Jack Weinstein rips NYPD on false arrests as brothers sue for $10M over wrongful narcs bust. Judge: "widespread falsification by arresting officers."
December 03, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) A respected federal judge slammed the NYPD Monday as plagued by "widespread falsification by arresting officers. "
Brooklyn Federal Judge Jack Weinstein delivered the disturbing appraisal in a four-page decision refusing to throw out a multimillion dollar suit against the city filed by two men who were busted on bogus narcotics charges.
Weinstein, a 40-year veteran of the bench, was not persuaded by the city's claim that there is no evidence that police lying is condoned as an official policy.
"Informal inquiry by [myself] and among the judges of this court, as well as knowledge of cases in other federal and state courts . . More...
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon convicted of embezzlement; on a single charge of taking gift cards intended for the city's poor.
December 01, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(bsun) Jurors in the theft trial of Sheila Dixon convicted the Baltimore mayor Tuesday on a single charge of taking gift cards intended for the city's poor.
Although Dixon was acquitted of a felony theft charge, her conviction could force her from office.
Jurors deliberated more than six days after hearing the Democrat was accused of using or keeping $630 worth of gift cards. She allegedly solicited most of the cards from a wealthy developer and then bought electronics at Best Buy, clothes at Old Navy and other items at Target.
The jury convicted her on one count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary and acquitted her on two counts of felony theft and one count of misconduct in office. More...
(NY) "NYPD On Track To New Stop-And-Frisk Record." Black and Latinos Most Impacted by Policy.
November 19, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(ny1) Despite aggressive criticism of the stop-and-frisk policy, new statistics show the New York Police Department is on track to stop a record number of people this year.
Police say nearly 138,000 people were stopped and questioned in the third quarter of this year, or 15 percent more from this time last year.
However, only 7 percent of those stopped were given a summons and just 6 percent were arrested.
The New York Civil Liberties Union says if police continue to stop and question people at this rate, 535,000 innocent people will have been stopped this year.
The NYPD says the NYCLU is spinning the statistics by defining an "innocent" person as someone who hasn't been convicted of a crime. More...
(Missouri - Heather Ellis Story) Black and Hispanic residents have long complained about the predominantly white police department unfairly profiling them during traffic stops.
November 19, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(cnn) This much isn't in dispute: Heather Ellis cut in line at a Wal-Mart nearly three years ago.
But the accounts of what happened next vary, depending on whom you ask -- and has divided this economically struggling Missouri town of 11,000 along racial lines.
Ellis, then a college student with no criminal history, said some white patrons shoved and hurled racial slurs at her when she switched checkout lines at Wal-Mart in January 2007.
Store employees refused to give her back her change and called police, she said.
And when she was taken outside to the parking lot, an officer allegedly told her to "Go back to the ghetto. More...
(St. Louis) Woman Who Cut In Line At Walmart Could Face Prison Time In Racially Charged Incident
November 16, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(hupo) Nearly three years after Heather Ellis switched checkout lines at a southeast Missouri store and touched off what she calls a racially charged dispute with white customers and authorities, the young black schoolteacher faces a trial that could send her to prison for 15 years.
Witnesses have told authorities that Ellis cut in front of waiting customers at the Walmart in Kennett on Jan. 6, 2007, shoved merchandise already placed on a conveyor belt out of the way, and became belligerent when confronted, according to court filings.
Ellis maintains she was merely joining her cousin, whose checkout line was moving more quickly. She claimed in a written complaint to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that she was then pushed by a white customer, hassled by store employees, called racial slurs and physically mistreated by Kennett police officers. More...
Megan Williams, W. VA woman who claimed torture, rape in 2007 by White family in trailer home to recant sex-torture testimony.
October 21, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(gazette) Seven people pleaded guilty for their part in abusing Megan Williams -- but now Williams says that abuse never happened.
She will hold a press conference Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, to recant her claims of abuse, attorney Byron L. Potts, who represents Williams, told The Charleston Gazette on Tuesday night.
"She has decided she has been living this lie for approximately two years and she has decided to tell the truth," Potts said. "She fabricated the story and she did this in retaliation because she was having a relationship with one of them. More...
(Video) "Shootout at West Toledo bar spurs fears of criminal bravado"
October 15, 2009 by editor (View Source)
Police release footage of wild gunfight caught on tape. The authorities hope to identify some of the participants by making the video available to the public. . . . More...
Tom Joyner's great-uncles pardoned after 94 years.
October 14, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(usat) South Carolina pardoned syndicated radio host Tom Joyner's great-uncles Wednesday, nearly a century after they were sent to the electric chair for the 1913 murder of a Confederate Army veteran.
Officials believe the two men are the first in the state to be posthumously pardoned in a capital murder case.
Black landowners Thomas and Meeks Griffin were executed 94 years ago after a jury convicted them of killing 73-year-old John Lewis, a wealthy white veteran living in Blackstock, a Chester County town 40 miles north of Columbia. Two other black men were also put to death for the crime.
"This won't bring them back, but this will bring closure. More...
Ex-Fiance of an 'Atlanta Housewives' Cast Member Killed In "One-on-One" Fight at Club. Arrest Made.
October 03, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(ajc) Atlanta police charged a strip club employee with voluntary manslaughter Saturday in the beating death of the former fiancé of the newest member of the reality television show The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Ashley “A. J. ” Jewell, who was engaged to Kandi Burruss until last August, died of massive head injuries at Piedmont Hospital. He was fatally injured in a "one-on-one" fight with Fredrick Richardson Friday night, police said. More...
Four Latino and Black college students at Hoftra Univ. (NY) were released from jail. Student who accused them of rape lied.
September 17, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(newsday)
Suddenly they were free. And at first, they couldn't believe their reversal of fortune.
Two of the men who were falsely accused of raping a woman in a Hofstra University dorm spoke out Wednesday night to describe the shock of freedom - and the relief of exoneration - after the woman admitted to prosecutors that she had lied about being tied up and gang-raped by five men in a campus dorm bathroom.
"I'm feeling great right now," said Stalin Felipe, 19, speaking in a telephone interview from a relative's home in Brentwood, shortly after being released from four days in a Nassau County jail cell.
"I was half-asleep in my cell and one of the COs [correction officers] came over and said, 'Hey, you're now free. More...
Kristoff: Is Rape Serious? Underlying doubt about the seriousness of some rape cases. In short, this isn’t justice; it’s indifference.
September 13, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) When a woman reports a rape, her body is a crime scene. She is typically asked to undress over a large sheet of white paper to collect hairs or fibers, and then her body is examined with an ultraviolet light, photographed and thoroughly swabbed for the rapist’s DNA.
It’s a grueling and invasive process that can last four to six hours and produces a “rape kit” — which, it turns out, often sits around for months or years, unopened and untested.
Stunningly often, the rape kit isn’t tested at all because it’s not deemed a priority. If it is tested, this happens at such a lackadaisical pace that it may be a year or more before there are results (if expedited, results are technically possible in a week). More...
UPDATE: Coroner rules Jackson’s death a homicide. Court document reveals singer had lethal levels of propofol in system.
August 24, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(msnbc) The Los Angeles County coroner ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press on Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings have not been publicly released. Meanwhile, a search warrant affidavit revealed that Jackson had lethal levels of the powerful anesthetic propofol in his system when he died in his rented Los Angeles mansion on June 25.
The document unsealed Monday allowed officials to raid the Houston offices and storage facility of Dr. Conrad Murray last month. More...
Plaxico Burress Pleads Guilty on Felony Charge. Will Serve Two Year Prison Term.
August 20, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(espn) Former New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress pleaded guilty Thursday to a weapons charge and agreed to a two-year prison term for accidentally shooting himself at a Manhattan nightclub.
Burress pleaded guilty to one count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, a lesser charge than he initially faced. Under a plea agreement, he agreed to a two-year prison sentence and two years of supervised release.
Burress was indicted earlier this month on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. He faced a minimum sentence of 3½ years if convicted at a trial. More...
U.S. native activist's, Leonard Peltier, parole decision may come Tuesday
August 18, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(vancouversun) An American aboriginal activist, extradited from Canada and convicted of murdering two FBI agents, may be freed on Tuesday after more than 30 years in a Pennsylvania prison.
Leonard Peltier, serving two consecutive life sentences for the murder of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, who were gunned down during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in North Dakota in June 1975, appeared before the parole board for the first time in 16 years on July 28.
The board has 21 days from the time of the hearing to make a ruling.
Peltier, a former leader of the American Indian Movement, an aboriginal activist organization, escaped during the shootout and, after months on the run, fled to Hinton, Alta.
He was captured by the RCMP in February 1976. More...
“Pause and ask yourself why do you think more blacks and Hispanics are stopped?“ Ex-cop says he used skin color to make arrests.
August 03, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(nydn)Former NYPD cop Jake McNicholas: So please, ponder this for a moment. Who do you think is terrorizing the black community? Who do you think is raping and assaulting young black women? Who do you think is pulling out the nine and shooting young male blacks on the corner over a bag of Cheez Doodles and a Philly blunt? Pause and ask yourself why do you think more blacks and Hispanics are stopped? Because, you guessed it, they are the ones committing the crimes and fitting the description. The Police Department is not making this up. This is the horrible truth. The carnage is appalling, and rather than address the real issue, liberals and civil rights leaders make excuses and ignore the facts. More...
Four boys charged in rape of 8-year-old girl. Took turns raping girl after luring her into a shed. Family of girl says SHE brought shame on family.
July 29, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(phoenix/ap) Authorities said Thursday that four boys ages 9 to 14 took turns raping an 8-year-old girl for more than 10 minutes after luring her into a shed with chewing gum, and now her family has rejected her for bringing shame on them.
"The father told the case worker and an officer in her presence that he didn't want her back," Phoenix Police Sgt. Andy Hill said. "He said, 'Take her, I don't want her. ' "
The victim is in the care of Child Protective Services, authorities said. More...
So. Carolina mother arrested for criminal neglect in child's obesity. Case looks on child obesity as child abuse. But is it?
July 28, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(usat) Jerri Gray was doing all she could to help her son lose weight, her attorney says. But something had gone terribly wrong for the boy to hit the 555-pound mark by age 14.
Authorities in South Carolina say that what went wrong was Gray's care and feeding of her son, Alexander Draper. Gray, 49, of Travelers Rest, S. C. More...
UPDATE: LAPD Investigation of Michael Jackson's Death. Conflicting stories circulating about investigation. BBN will take wait and see approach.
July 15, 2009 by editor
(BBN Editors). . There are too may conflicting stories circulating about the LAPD's investigation of Michael Jackson's death. Today, one entertainment-gossip network says that LAPD says the investigation is ongoing; another entertaiment-gossip outlet says that LAPD says the investigation is being treated as homicide with a focus on Dr. Conrad Murray. More...
Vigil planned for Burr Oak Cemetery families. Emmett Till's Casket Moved. Michelle Obama's father NOT Buried in Burr Oak.
July 14, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(abclocal) Investigators say more than 100,000 gravesites will need to be inspected at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip after an alleged scheme to resell plots. Sunday afternoon many families are expected to gather at the cemetery for a vigil.
A representative of the cemetery's president and CEO said Burr Oak's owners acted as fast as they could once they were told about a worker discovering a handful of bones.
Left unanswered is how the cemetery's condition was allowed to deteriorate so dramatically for so long.
The Cook County Sheriff says as many 100,000 grave sites will need to be checked at the Alsip cemetery. More...
Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers resigns after her guilty plea to a felony charge of accepting a bribe in exchange for her yes vote.
June 29, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(freep) Convicted Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers has resigned effective July 6.
A member of Conyers’ staff handed the two-sentence resignation letter at 11:52 a. m. to Deputy City Clerk Vivian Hudson in the Clerk’s Office on the second floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. More...
UPDATE: City Finds Neglect and Cover-Up in death of Esmin Green at Kings County Hospital's (NY) Psychiatric ER.
June 21, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) City investigators admitted Friday that the staff at a city-run hospital in Brooklyn failed to provide basic medical care to a psychiatric patient who died on a waiting room floor, and then tried to cover up their neglect. In a report released exactly one year after the death of the patient, Esmin Green, in Kings County Hospital Center’s psychiatric emergency room, the city’s Department of Investigation said its review had found a “systemic failure” to care for Ms. Green.
Ms. Green, a 49-year-old Jamaican immigrant, had been waiting for nearly 24 hours when she collapsed from a blood clot. More...
Prisoners have no constitutional right to DNA testing that might prove their innocence, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-to-4 decision.
June 18, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) Prisoners have no constitutional right to DNA testing that might prove their innocence, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in a 5-to-4 decision.
The court divided along familiar ideological lines, with the majority emphasizing that 46 states already have laws that allow at least some prisoners to gain access to DNA evidence.
“To suddenly constitutionalize this area,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority, “would short-circuit what looks to be a prompt and considered legislative response. More...
Drug Suspect Turns Tables On NYPD With Videotape. Jose and Maximo Colon on Right Side of Law; Cops Arrested.
June 17, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(ap) When undercover detectives busted Jose and Maximo Colon last year for selling cocaine at a seedy club in Queens, there was a glaring problem: The brothers hadn't done anything wrong.
But proclaiming innocence wasn't going to be good enough. The Dominican immigrants needed proof.
"I sat in the jail and thought . . More...
UPDATE: No murder conviction in Mexican immigrant's beating death by White Teens in Pa.
May 31, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(cnn) A fomer Pennsylvania high school football player was acquitted of murder Friday in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant last summer. However, a Schuylkill County jury found Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak guilty of simple assault stemming from the death of Luis Ramirez, who died of blunt force injuries to the head after a fight with the defendants and their friends.
Donchak, 19, was also found guilty of providing alcohol to the group of teens that encountered Ramirez the night of July 12 on a residential street in the rural mining town of Shenandoah.
Both teens were acquitted of ethnic intimidation charges.
Prosecutors alleged the teens baited the undocumented Mexican immigrant into a fight with racial epithets, provoking an exchange of punches and kicks that ended with Ramirez convulsing in the street, foaming from the mouth. More...
Dozens arrested in crackdown on Latino gang accused of targeting blacks.
May 27, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(lat) Federal authorities Thursday accused a south Los Angeles County street gang of a litany of crimes, including the murder of a sheriff's deputy and racially motivated attacks designed to drive African Americans from their town.
The charges, part of a massive racketeering case dubbed Operation Knock Out, were outlined in several indictments charging 147 members and associates of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang with murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and witness intimidation. The gang, also known as VHG, is so pervasive in Hawaiian Gardens that one in 15 people living in the square-mile city just north of Long Beach has ties to it, said Sal Hernandez, the FBI's top agent in Los Angeles.
"Imagine living in a community where one in every 15 of your neighbors swears allegiance to an organization committed to the spread of violence," he said. "The good people deserve to live in peace. More...
Informant who ensnared Bronx terror suspects avoided by nearly everyone else at Newburgh mosque. Even law enforcement source called informant "slippery".
May 25, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) The informant who ensnared the four Bronx terror suspects was the guy nearly everyone else at their Newburgh mosque had the common sense to avoid.
Driving a silver Hummer or black Mercedes-Benz, Shahed (Malik) Hussain arrived at the Masjid al-Ikhlas mosque Friday mornings and stayed for hours in the parking lot trying to chat up those who seemed to be down on their luck.
He offered meals, jobs and advice on how to get rich.
"If you need anything, just let me know," Hussain, 52, would say, according to people approached by him.
He was friendly. More...
“H1N1 (Swine Flu) Virus: The First Legal Action Targets a Pig Farm.” Va. Based SmithField Foods Owns massive pig farm in Mexico.
May 25, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(time) In an initial step toward what could be the first wrongful-death suit of its kind, Texas resident Steven Trunnell has filed a petition against Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, based in Virginia, and the owner of a massive pig farm in Perote, Mexico, near the village of La Gloria, where the earliest cases of the new H1N1 flu were detected. Trunnell filed the petition in his home state on behalf of his late wife, Judy Dominguez Trunnell, the 33-year-old special-education teacher who on May 4 became the first U. S. resident to die of H1N1 flu. In late April, Dominguez Trunnell, who was eight months pregnant, became ill with what would eventually be confirmed as H1N1 flu. More...
Tale of two Morehouse students holds bizarre twist of fate. A gun shot victim's dream of graduating is derailed; his assailant gets to graduate.
May 12, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(ajc) Joshua Brandon Norris is expected to graduate soon and become a Morehouse Man, with all its prestige. At 22, he’s had a good run during his time at Morehouse College. He drove a Hummer, co-owned a fashion store at Perimeter Mall and owns a stylish $450,000 townhouse.
He also shot another student. Across the country, Frank Rashad Johnson, the victim, attends Sacramento City College and lives with his mother, trying to save money. More...
Hispanics and the Criminal Justice System. Low Confidence, High Exposure.
April 12, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(pewcenter) At a time when Latinos are interacting more than ever with police, courts and prisons, their confidence in the U. S. criminal justice system is closer to the low levels expressed by blacks than to the high levels expressed by whites, according to a pair of nationwide surveys by the Pew Research Center.
Six-in-ten (61%) Hispanics say they have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence that the police in their local communities will do a good job enforcing the law, compared with 78% of whites and 55% of blacks. Just under half (46%) of Hispanics say they have confidence that police officers will not use excessive force on suspects, compared with 73% of whites and 38% of blacks. More...
UPDATE: $3 million settlement for family in King-Harbor Hospital (LA) death of Edith Rodriguez, who was left to die in Emergency Room
April 09, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(lat) Los Angeles County supervisors have agreed to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the children of Edith Rodriguez, the woman who died after writhing in pain for 45 minutes on the waiting-room floor of Martin Luther King Jr. -Harbor Medical Center, according to an attorney representing the family.
Rodriguez's death nearly two years ago attracted national attention, becoming a symbol of an indifferent emergency system. A triage nurse had dismissed her complaints in the early morning of May 9, 2007. A security videotape showed a janitor mopping around Rodriguez and other staff walking past. More...
Dallas police chief apologizes for conduct of officer who drew gun on NFL player outside hospital.
March 26, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(dallasnews) The nearly 17-minute video shows the entire incident involving Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats and Dallas police officer Robert Powell. Moats was rushing his wife and two of her family members to a hospital, where his mother-in-law lay dying. She died while Moats and his wife's grandfather waited outside the hospital for the officer to issue a ticket. . . More...
Class-action lawsuits target subprime lenders Wells Fargo, HSBC. NAACP: Banks steered blacks to bad loans.
March 15, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(msnbc) The NAACP is accusing Wells Fargo and HSBC of forcing blacks into subprime mortgages while whites with identical qualifications got lower rates.
Class-action lawsuits were to be filed against the banks Friday in federal court in Los Angeles, Austin Tighe, co-lead counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told The Associated Press.
Black homebuyers have been 3 1/2 times more likely to receive a subprime loan than white borrowers, and six times more likely to get a subprime rate when refinancing, Tighe said. Blacks still were disproportionately steered into subprime loans when their credit scores, income and down payment were equal to those of white homebuyers, he said.
Melissa Murray, vice president of corporate communications for Wells Fargo & Co. More...
Dept. of Justice notified Sheriff Joe Arpaio (AZ) that it opened investigation into him for "alleged" patterns of discrimination because of national origin.
March 15, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(nam) The Department of Justice notified Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into him for "alleged" patterns of discrimination because of national origin, among other things.
The letter was sent on the eve of an event organized Wednesday by a coalition of civil and immigrant rights groups, including America’s Voice, to deliver 35,000 petitions calling for the Department of Justice to investigate the sheriff.
The tactics of the notorious sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz. , and his use of racial profiling affecting the general population, including citizens and legal residents, have generated more than 35,000 petitions across the country calling for a federal investigation. They are also asking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to end its agreement with the sheriff through the 287(g) program. More...
Lawsuit: Texas town stops minorities, seizes money and property by threatening them with criminal prosecution -- or worse.
March 15, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(cnn) Officials in the tiny east Texas town of Tenaha are accused in a federal lawsuit of stopping African-Americans driving through town and seizing their money and property by threatening them with criminal prosecution -- or worse.
Among the plaintiffs are two African-Americans who claim they forfeited more than $50,000 under threat of money-laundering charges, and a biracial couple who gave up more than $6,000 after officials threatened to put their children in foster care. No one was charged with a crime.
The lawsuit, filed in July 2008, has 10 plaintiffs, said attorney Timothy Garrigan, one of the attorneys who filed the suit. But he told CNN Wednesday that "we get more inquiries every day. More...
The Two Corrupt Pa. Judges Who Plead Guilty to Taking Kickbacks for Sentencing Juveniles to Prison Damage Families and Lives of Victims.
March 13, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(Philly) As Joanne Balasavage sat with her 16-year-old son, Charlie, outside the Luzerne County juvenile courtroom of Judge Mark A. Ciavarella, she noticed a troubling trend.
Only parents emerged from the courtroom, no children. They could hear shackles jangle across the floor that day in January 2007 as one after another, juvenile defendants were taken away.
Then came Charlie's turn. More...
The Smoking Gun: LAPD Details Rihanna Beating. Singer told cop how Chris Brown punched, bit her in February assault.
March 05, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(TSG) In case you seek more information about the singer Rihanna's alleged beating at the hands of her boyfriend Chris Brown, a Los Angeles search warrant application further details the February 8 incident involving the chart-topping singers. In a sworn affidavit, LAPD Detective De Shon Andrews provides an account of the attack based on Rihanna's statements to police. The search warrant affidavit, a copy of which you'll find below, was filed to secure cellular phone records for Rihanna, Brown, and one of Rihanna's personal assistants. According to the affidavit, Brown sought to push Rihanna out of his rented Lamborghini during an argument, and banged her head against the car's passenger window. He then allegedly punched her repeatedly and warned, "I'm going to beat the shit out of you when we get home! You wait and see!" Bloodied, Rihanna reportedly then called her assistant Jennifer Rosales and left a message asking the aide to call police. More...
Judge fines Ma. dad $500 for assaulting Chuck E. Cheese. Prosecutors requested jail time. Chuck E. says group of youth jumped him in game area.
March 03, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(southcoasttoday) A Fairhaven man will pay a $500 fine after pleading guilty Monday to assaulting a Chuck E. Cheese mascot last year in Dartmouth.
Trahan Pires, 34, ripped the mascot's headwear off, pointed a finger at the man underneath the mouse costume and yelled at him because he thought the mascot had picked up his son and pinned him against a video game, court records said.
The incident occurred in May 2008, during a birthday party for Pires' 11-year-old son at the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in the Dartmouth Towne Center. More...
A man has been arrested for allegedly sending Barack Obama and his staff envelopes containing HIV-infected blood.
February 27, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(skynews) Saad Hussein, an Ethiopian refugee in his late 20s, sent a number of items to the offices of the Illinois government in the weeks before the US President's inauguration, according to court documents.
One envelope contained a letter with reddish stains and an admission ticket for Mr Obama's election night celebration in Grant Park, Chicago.
Court documents claim Hussein told FBI agents he is "very sick with HIV" and cut his fingers with a razor so he could bleed on the letter.
Hazardous materials teams were called in after the envelope addressed to "Barack Obama" was opened.
Days after the first letter was sent, Hussein allegedly placed two more letters in the mail, one addressed to "Emanuel", an apparent reference to the President's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. More...
TSG: Terrence Howard was once nabbed for beating wife. May explain why he defended Chris Brown in Rhiana beating.
February 17, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(tsg) After Chris Brown's arrest for assaulting his girlfriend Rihanna, the actor Terrence Howard chose to salute the alleged batterer. "It's just life, man. Chris is a great guy. He'll be alright," said Howard. "And Rihanna knows he loves her, you know? They'll be alright. More...
R&B singer Chris Brown booked on suspicion of making felony criminal threats
February 09, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(lat) R&B singer Chris Brown has been booked tonight on suspicion of making felony criminal threats in connection with an incident involving his girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna, according to Los Angeles Police Department sources familiar with the case.
Brown was booked at the Wilshire Division station and posted $50,000 bail, sources said. He left the station before 9 p. m.
Los Angeles police said earlier they planned to detain Brown for questioning on an alleged domestic violence assault. More...
Federal Prosecutors Charge New York Gang of Three White Men in Election Night Bias Attacks. Gang targeted Blacks.
January 07, 2009 by editor (View Source)
(Tom Hays/AP) Three white New Yorkers, riled by Barack Obama's victory, spent election night hunting down black people to beat up and yelling insults about the president-elect, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
The men beat a Liberian immigrant teen, pushed a black man to the ground and drove their car over a white man they thought was black, according to the indictment unsealed in Brooklyn.
Ralph Nicoletti, 18, Michael Contreras, 18, and Brian Carranza, 21, were arrested early Wednesday. They were to be arraigned later in the day on charges of conspiracy to interfere with voting rights.
A fourth defendant was expected to separately plead guilty to unspecified charges, according to law enforcement officials. More...
UPDATE: NASCAR settles $225 million racial discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Mauricia Grant, a former official with the organization.
December 19, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(AP) NASCAR has settled a $225 million lawsuit filed by a former official who said she was subjected to racial discrimination and sexual harassment during her two-plus years working for the stock-car organization. The suit was settled during a Dec. 3 mediation held in New York between Mauricia Grant and NASCAR. Settlement terms were confidential. Neither side admitted liability or wrongdoing, according to NASCAR. More...
Bias suit shame for Eliot Spitzer's (Disgraced NY Govenor's)dad: Four black ex-staffers awarded $1.3M in discrimination lawsuit.
December 09, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) Now it's former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's dad who's disgraced.
A jury found that Bernard Spitzer discriminated against four employees who were fired at one of his luxury Manhattan apartment buildings nine years ago.
He was ordered to pay more than $1. 3 million in back wages and damages to a former doorman and three porters - all of them black. More...
O.J. Simpson sentenced to at least 9 years. NFL Hall of Famer could be in prison until age 94, if parole is denied.
December 05, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(lvsun) O. J. Simpson will spend at least nine years in a Nevada prison.
District Court Judge Jackie Glass handed the former NFL star his punishment, 33 years in prison without the possibility of parole for nine years, just after 10 a. m. More...
Long Island Grand Jury Indicts Gang of 7 Teens in Savage Killing of Marcello Lucero, an Ecuadorean Immigrant
November 16, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(newsday) A Suffolk grand jury indicted seven teenagers Friday in last weekend's vicious gang assault that left an Ecuadorean immigrant stabbed to death in Patchogue.
The indictment was sealed so it is not known whether it contains new and more serious charges than those already faced by the defendants. None of them appeared in court Friday in Central Islip.
After Marcelo Lucero, 37, of Patchogue was stabbed to death last Saturday, Jeffrey Conroy, 17, of Medford, was charged with first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime. He also faces a charge of gang assault, as do the other six defendants. More...
7 Long Island, NY Teens Face Gang Assault Charges in Hate-Crime slaying of Marcello Lucero an Ecuadorean Immigrant.
November 11, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(newdsay) One is a three-sport athlete. Another is a quiet teenager who became more withdrawn after his mother died a few years ago. A third is awaiting sentencing for his involvement in a violent home invasion that left a man dead.
Somehow they came together Saturday night, determined, prosecutors say, to do one thing: attack a Hispanic man.
Seven Patchogue-Medford High School students were arraigned Monday for a fatal stabbing authorities are treating as a hate crime. More...
Former Chicago Police Officer Linked to Brutality Arrested in Florida. Police Brutality Scandal Contributed to emptying of Ill. death row and continues to resonate as one of the most racially charged
October 23, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) The authorities arrested a former Chicago police commander at his Florida home on Tuesday and charged him in a police brutality scandal that contributed to the emptying of Illinois’ death row and that continues to resonate as one of the most racially charged chapters in the city’s history.
The activities of the former commander, Jon Burge, 60, have been the subject of speculation for decades as scores of criminal suspects, many poor and black, have come forward saying they were routinely brutalized by Mr. Burge and the mostly white officers under his command on the South Side in the 1980s.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said at a news conference that Mr. More...
Michael Vick planning to plead guilty in Virginia. Lawyers ask that he enter plea by video on state dogfighting charges.
October 22, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(rd)Suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick plans to plead guilty to state dogfighting charges via videoconference from federal prison in an effort to put his crimes behind him quickly and focus on his future, his lawyers said yesterday.
Vick's lawyers, William R. "Billy" Martin and Lawrence H. "Woody" Woodward, have filed a motion in Surry County Circuit Court asking that their client be allowed to enter guilty pleas from the federal prison camp in Leavenworth, Kan. , where he is serving a 23-month sentence for a federal dogfighting charge. More...
Settlement Will Allow Thousands of Mexican Laborers in U.S. to Collect Back Pay
October 19, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) Tens of thousands of Mexicans who labored in the United States under a World War II-era guest worker program will be eligible to collect back pay under a settlement to a long-fought lawsuit.
From 200,000 to 300,000 laborers, called braceros, worked as farmhands or railroad workers from 1942 to 1946, and under the program, a portion of their pay was deducted and transferred to the Mexican government to be given to the workers when they returned to Mexico.
But many laborers said they never received the pay, and many never even knew that 10 percent of their salaries was deducted. In 2001, lawyers filed a class action lawsuit in California.
The lawsuit was dismissed twice, as courts considered whether too much time had passed and whether a lawsuit against the Mexican government could have standing in the United States. More...
Inside Account of U.S. Eavesdropping on Americans. U.S. Officers' "Phone Sex" Intercepted, Recorded, Shared Across NSA Listening Post.
October 09, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(abc) Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency (NSA) center in Fort Gordon, Georgia.
The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), called the allegations "extremely disturbing" and said the committee has begun its own examination.
"We have requested all relevant information from the Bush Administration," Rockefeller said Thursday. "The Committee will take whatever action is necessary. More...
US Supreme Court Rejects New Trial For Former Black Panther
October 06, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(AFP) The US Supreme Court Monday refused to hear arguments for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther accused of killing a police officer who has become an icon for anti-capital punishment campaigners.
His lawyer Robert Bryan has already said he will seek to bring a second Supreme Court appeal -- on the grounds of racism -- for the 54-year-old former radio journalist accused of the 1981 murder of Daniel Faulkner.
Abu-Jamal's death sentence was overturned in March by a federal court in Philadelphia, which found that the jury in the case had been incorrectly instructed. The judges voted two-to-one to uphold his conviction, however.
Having escaped death row, his lawyers are now fighting a life sentence and want to bring him back before a jury for a new trial. More...
Las Vegas Jury Finds OJ Simpson Guilty On All Counts. Faces Five Years to Life in Prison. Sentencing on December 5th.
October 04, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(LVS) O. J. Simpson is going to prison.
A predominantly white, predominantly female jury has found the former NFL All Star guilty of all of the 12 robbery, kidnapping and weapons charges he faced following a run-in last year with a pair of memorabilia dealers.
His co-accused, Clarence “C. More...
NYPD: Blacks, Latinos lead crime stats. Both groups dominated tallies of both suspects and victims.
September 19, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) Black New Yorkers are 13 times more likely to be murdered - or arrested for murder - than whites, an NYPD crime analysis shows.
Blacks and Hispanics dominated tallies of both suspects and victims, according to an NYPD racial breakdown of crimes requested by the Daily News.
The News asked for the stats after civil rights groups slammed the NYPD because 90% of people shot at by cops in 2007 - the last year for which data was available - were black or Hispanic. Police brass said that was because minorities accounted for the majority of crime suspects and victims.
Of the 244 murders between Jan. More...
Question to Detroit: How long will you be Kwame Kilpatrick's fool?
August 10, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(freep) Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is in jail (finally) and the City of Detroit is in its most precarious state in decades. But who's the fool in this horrible production?
It's not the mayor, despite his serial misbehavior, his unbelievable audacity, his ridiculous clinging to power.
At this point, it's Detroiters -- of every hue, economic station, political affiliation, block club and neighborhood. It's the people who live here, who do business here, who care about this place and depend on its health and vitality.
We are the fools, for letting this awful chapter in the city's 300-year history develop to this point. More...
Prince George's County Maryland raid on Mayor's home prompts call for probe. Police killed the Mayor's two dogs.
August 08, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(bsun) When the shooting stopped, two dogs lay dead. A mayor sat in his boxers, hands bound behind his back. His handcuffed mother-in-law was sprawled on the kitchen floor, lying beside the body of one of the family pets that police had killed before her eyes.
After the raid, Prince George's County police officials who burst into the home of Berwyn Heights' mayor last week seized the same unopened package of marijuana that an undercover officer had delivered an hour earlier.
What police left behind was a house stained with blood and a trail of questions about their conduct. More...
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick faces felony assault charge after his night behind bars.
August 08, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(fp) Shortly after Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick wakes up in jail this morning -- still reeling from becoming the first sitting mayor in Detroit's 307-year history to spend a night behind bars -- Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox is expected to charge him with felony assault. The announcement will come just 25 hours after the onetime political wunderkind went to court Thursday, with plans to waive a preliminary examination and speed his way to trial on perjury and other charges from the text message scandal. Instead, he wound up getting locked up.
Kilpatrick appeared devastated when 36th District Judge Ronald Giles, speaking in low-key tones from the bench, made his blockbuster ruling: The mayor's unauthorized trip to Windsor last month, a bond violation, had earned him a court-ordered trip to the Wayne County Jail. Immediately. More...
'Christian' biker gang named 'Set Free Soldiers' charged with murdering members of biker gang Hells Angels.
August 06, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(lat) Officers arrested eight members of an Anaheim biker gang and charged them with attempted murder this morning as part of an ongoing operation, authorities said.
The charges stem from a fight last week at a Newport Beach bar between two biker gangs, said Anaheim police Sgt. Tim Schmidt.
The group arrested this morning are members of a Christian biker gang named Set Free Soldiers, and the victims are members of the Hells Angels, Schmidt said.
The operation, which included SWAT teams, began about 5 a. More...
Ex-Newark Mayor Sharpe James sentenced to 27 months; Former Mistress, Tamika Riley gets 15 months for fraud.
July 29, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nsl) Sharpe James, the five-term Newark mayor and a towering figure in New Jersey politics, was sentenced today to 27 months in prison for failing to disclose his romantic relationship with a girlfriend he helped get lucrative city land. "This is a sad day," U. S. District Judge William Martini said, announcing the decision after a four-hour hearing in a packed Newark courtroom. Martini also ordered James to pay $100,000 fine and report to prison Sept. More...
Three White Pennsylvania Teens Charged in Beating Death of 25 Year Old Mexican Immigrant. Teens charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation.
July 27, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(philly/ap) Luis Ramirez, a 25-year-old Mexican immigrant, crossed paths late one night with some teenage football players who had been out drinking in their small Pennsylvania coal town.
Taunts ensued. One youngster threw a punch, knocking Ramirez to the ground, and another followed with a kick to the head, authorities said yesterday, when they charged three teens in the death of the farmhand and factory worker.
Brandon Piekarsky, 16, and Colin Walsh, 17, were charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation. Derrick Donchak, 18, was charged with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. More...
Louisiana cop may be charged in case of Baron "Scooter" Pikes who was tasered to death. Pikes jolted so many times by the 50,000-volt taser that he might have been dead before the last two
July 23, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(cnn) A police officer shocked a handcuffed Baron "Scooter" Pikes nine times with a Taser after arresting him on a cocaine charge.
He stopped twitching after seven, according to a coroner's report. Soon afterward, Pikes was dead.
Now the officer, since fired, could end up facing criminal charges in Pikes' January death after medical examiners ruled it a homicide.
Dr. More...
George Bush's Pardons Attorney, Roger Adams: "This might sound racist, but [the applicant] is about as honest as you could expect for a Nigerian. Unfortunately, that's not very honest."
July 15, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) A top Bush administration pardon lawyer was fired for making racist remarks in the case of a beloved Brooklyn minister facing deportation, the Daily News has learned.
"This might sound racist, but [the applicant] is about as honest as you could expect for a Nigerian. Unfortunately, that's not very honest," pardon attorney Roger Adams said as he recommended President Bush deny clemency to the Nigerian immigrant under consideration.
That Nigerian turned out to be Park Slope minister Chibueze Okorie, sources familiar with the case told The News.
Adams was forced out in January because of his anti-Nigerian comments. More...
Bernice and Marty King Sue their brother Dexter for mismanaging family funds. Dexter King calls lawsuit false, reckless.
July 13, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(ajc) Dexter Scott King said Saturday that he was "shocked" by a recent lawsuit filed by his siblings accusing him of mismanaging money in one family account and taking money for his own personal use out of another.
"It totally blindsided me. I think maybe it was a reckless attempt to express their grievances. They are false claims and I will addressing that accordingly," King said in a brief interview at his Malibu home a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean in an exclusive community west of Los Angeles.
"We are private family," King said. More...
Michael Vick files for bankruptcy protection. Attorney says imprisoned Falcons QB is in a "precarious financial position".
July 08, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(ajc) Just seven months after Michael Vick was sentenced to federal prison, the fallen Falcons quarterback found himself in a "precarious financial position" and filed for bankruptcy protection. One of his creditors is the Falcons.
In Chapter 11 documents filed in federal court in Virginia on Monday, Vick cites debts of between $10-50 million dollars. He also cites assets in the same range.
In the court documents, Vick lists seven creditors, including the Falcons, that are owed a total of $12. More...
Open Letter to former NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his father, real estate mogul, Bernard Spitzer: Do the right thing. Settle the discrimination law suit against you.
July 06, 2008 by editor (View Source)
We understand that Bernard Spitzer, father of former Governor Spitzer is gravely ill and for that we are very sorry. But we appeal to Mr. Spitzer now. . . More...
Joe Horn cleared by grand jury of shooting dead two robbers in the back. The robbers were burglarizing the home of Horn's neighbor.
June 30, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(chron) A Harris County grand jury decided today that Joe Horn should not be charged with a crime for shooting two burglary suspects he confronted outside his neighbor's home in Pasadena last fall.
The decision to clear Horn of wrongdoing came two weeks after the grand jury began considering evidence in the case, including Horn's testimony last week.
Horn, a 62-year-old retiree, became the focus of an intense public debate after the Nov. 14 shootings. Many supporters praised him as a hero for using deadly force to protect property, while others dismissed him as a killer who should have heeded a 911 operator's instructions to stay in his house and wait for police. More...
Hip-Hop Pioneer 'Slick Rick' Pardoned by NY Governor David Paterson
May 26, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(examiner) Pioneering rapper Ricky "Slick Rick" Walters, who spent more than five years in prison on a 1991 attempted murder conviction and faced threats of deportation years after rehabilitating his life, was granted a full and unconditional pardon Friday by New York Gov. David Paterson.
Walters, 43, has been under threat of being sent back to his native United Kingdom, although he has lived in the United States since he was a child. In a statement, he expressed gratitude to Paterson and his lawyers, and hoped that he could finally put the turmoil behind him.
"This has been a long and difficult road and I am happy for this to be settled once and for all," Walters said. More...
Children In Adult Jails. The current system is counterproductive and inhumane. Congress could remedy this with one simple fix.
May 26, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) Children who are confined to adult jails are at greater risk of being raped, battered or pushed to suicide. They also are more likely to become violent criminals than children handled through the juvenile justice system. When Congress reauthorizes the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, it should press the states to end this barbaric practice.
The juvenile justice law provides federal aid to states that agree to humanize their often Dickensian systems — and to refrain from placing children in adult jails. The bargain worked well enough until the 1990s, when there was an outbreak of hysteria about so-called super predators and an adolescent crime wave that never materialized. More...
Racial Inequity and Drug Arrests. One in nine black men aged 20 to 34 are serving time, as are 1 in 36 adult Hispanic men.
May 11, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) (nyt) The United States prison system keeps marking shameful milestones. In February, the Pew Center on the States released a report showing that more than 1 in 100 American adults are presently behind bars — an astonishingly high rate of incarceration notably skewed along racial lines. One in nine black men aged 20 to 34 are serving time, as are 1 in 36 adult Hispanic men.
Now, two new reports, by The Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch, have turned a critical spotlight on law enforcement’s overwhelming focus on drug use in low-income urban areas. These reports show large disparities in the rate at which blacks and whites are arrested and imprisoned for drug offenses, despite roughly equal rates of illegal drug use. More...
Group's lawsuit challenges NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy
May 08, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(ap) A civil liberties group sued Wednesday in a challenge to the NYPD's practice of stopping hundreds of thousands of people each year for questioning, saying it is racially biased.
The New York Civil Liberties Union lawsuit lists New York Post reporter Leonardo Blair as the sole plaintiff, saying he was stopped and frisked by police officers as he walked from his car to his Bronx home last November.
He was taken to a police station, where officers expressed surprise that though he was black, he was not from "the projects," the lawsuit said. Blair, 28, has a master's degree from Columbia University.
The lawsuit, filed in U. More...
Sean Bell Evidence Sent to Feds in Step Toward Possible Civil Rights Charges.
May 08, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) The Queens judge who cleared three city cops of killing Sean Bell with a 50-bullet barrage has ordered all evidence from the controversial case turned over to the feds, sources said today.
Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman was asked for the evidence so the Justice Department could begin weighing if there are grounds to try the detectives on civil rights charges, the sources said.
Queens prosecutors were to meet this afternoon with Bell's parents and fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, to assure them they are cooperating with the feds "even though the trial is over," sources said.
While they are talking, staffers from the Queens district attorneys office will pick up a portable hard drive from the feds onto which the evidence will be downloaded.
The sitdown comes a day after the Bell family took part in a massive but peaceful demonstration aimed at pressuring the government to go after detectives Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver. More...
Drug Dealing College Students at San Diego State Univ. Busted in Major Federal Drug Ring. Fraternity Houses Raided. Ninety Six Arrests.
May 07, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(BBN Editors) This story of a organized drug crime ring on an American university campus is clear evidence that drug dealing doesn’t only take place in poor, urban neighborhoods as media and law enforcement authorities would have many to believe. If law enforcement agencies turned their attention from easy catch in Black and Brown communities to learning institutions like San Diego State as well as Ivy League universities, they'd see a pattern of drug dealing and use that would net them arrests like this………. (San Diego Tribune) San Diego State University police have contended with illegal drugs before, but what investigators discovered over the past year was worse – more sophisticated, more pervasive and more dangerous.
Federal agents and SDSU police culminated a yearlong investigation into drug dealing around campus yesterday, the first anniversary of a freshman's cocaine-related death.
Ninety-six suspects, including 75 SDSU students, have been arrested on drug-related charges as a result of the undercover operation, launched after Jenny Poliakoff, 19, was found dead in her off-campus apartment after a night of celebration with her sorority. More...
Legal Experts and Activists: The acquittal of three officers in the shooting death of Sean Bell lays bare the flaws in a system desperate for reforms.
April 27, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(newsday) The acquittal of three officers Friday in the shooting death of Sean Bell lays bare the flaws in a system desperate for reforms, civil rights activists said Sunday, calling for a special prosecutor to handle such cases.
"It is difficult, almost impossible, to prosecute on-duty police officers in police misconduct cases, especially those involving homicide allegations," said civil rights lawyer and former New York Civil Liberties Union head Norman Siegel. "The verdict underscores the need for systemic change. "
Flanked by Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) and members of the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care at a news conference outside One Police Plaza in Manhattan, Siegel called on Gov. More...
Juan Gonzalez: Sean Bell verdict sticks to script. It is the nightmare that keeps recurring. Throughout the black and Latino neighborhoods of this city, the anguish has been mounting for years from th
April 25, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(Juan Gonzalez) It is the nightmare that keeps recurring.
Whether its Amadou Diallo and the 41-shot barrage in the Bronx, or Timothy Stansbury opening the roof door of his public housing building only to be gunned down without warning, or the 50 shots unleashed on Sean Bell.
It's all become predictable - after much public fanfare, sometimes even a trial, our courts say no crime was involved in these heart-breaking shootings of unarmed black men.
Anyone who spent time in the Sean Bell trial knows the prosecutors were only going through the motions. The absymal New York Knicks had a better game plan this season than the prosecutors of Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper. More...
Denis Hamill: ‘In the Sean Bell case, it was the gang that couldn't prosecute straight .’ Prosecutors were defense lawyer's dream in this case. Politics more at play than quest for justice.
April 25, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(Denis Hamill)It's one for the books.
"I never saw a case prosecuted like this," Marvyn Kornberg, the noted defense lawyer, said several times during the Sean Bell trial. "It's a throw-everything-at-the-wall approach. "
Stephen Murphy, who won the only acquittal in the sensational Howard Beach trial in the very same Queens courtroom 21 years ago, is still scratching his head.
"I've thought all along that these cops were going to be acquitted because the prosecution made major blunders in the case," he said. More...
Actor Wesley Snipes sentenced to three years in federal tax case.
April 24, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(orlandosentinel) Actor Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison late this afternoon.
The decision in federal court here came after a daylong hearing. A federal judge earlier heard objections from a lawyer for Snipes, as the defense struggled to keep the Orlando-born actor out of prison for willfully failing to file a tax return.
When the sentence was read, Snipes had no expression at all on his face -- neither did his wife, who was sitting in the front row behind him.
When a reporter asked whether he wanted to say anything, Snipes just spread his arms as if to say, "Like what?"
He was with Dan Meachum, his legal counsel, who replied: "Not now. More...
8 Girls Charged As Adults In Video Tape Beating Case in Florida. Could Face Life in Prison.
April 11, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(tampa tribune) Prosecutors raised the stakes in the videotaped beating of a Lakeland girl with their decision Thursday to try eight teenage defendants as adults and with crimes that include kidnapping.
The defendants, one as young as 14, now face a penalty of up to life in prison.
The mother of one of the suspects said she can't understand the prosecutors' decision.
"Look at their ages, they're not adults," said Christina Garcia, the mother of Mercades Nichols. "They still have a teenage mentality. More...
Prosecutor Charges Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, and Chief of Staff-Fmr. Girlfriend with Perjury, Obstruction of Justice, Conspiracy. Perjury (lying under oath) Carries A 15 Year Sentence.
March 24, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(freep) Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and former chief of staff Christine Beatty were charged today with multiple counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office and conspiracy because of their conduct in last year’s police whistle-blower trial, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced.
Kilpatrick is charged with eight felonies and Beatty with seven. They are: perjury, conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office.
Worthy said the perjury charges accuse the two of lying during a whistle-blower lawsuit about the firing of Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown and about their romantic relationship.
Kilpatrick, 38, serving his seventh year in office, is the first Detroit mayor to face criminal charges while still in office. More...
Irked by a Driving Ticket? Now Drivers Can Rate the Officer Who Issued It on RateMyCop.com.
March 22, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) Inspired by the many Web sites that allow users to rate their teachers, their doctors, even their neighbors, a couple from Culver City have created one that allows people to rate police officers and sheriff’s deputies across the country.
Some law enforcement officials, though, strongly object to the site, arguing that it exposes officers to resentment and reprisal and vowing to pursue legislation to block it.
“Officers who are rated face unfair maligning without any opportunity to defend themselves,” said Jerry Dyer, the chief of the Fresno Police Department and president of the California Police Chiefs Association. The site, he said, puts officers and their families “in grave danger” because it reports their names and agencies, the raw material for further Internet research by those with the intent to harm.
But Gino Sesto, a founder of RateMyCop. More...
Prison for New York Man in Racial Shooting
March 20, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(ap) A black father was sentenced to two to four years in prison Wednesday for fatally shooting an intoxicated white teenager during a racially charged confrontation with two carloads of young people at the end of his driveway.
The parents of victim Daniel Cicciaro Jr. , 17, were irate after learning that John White did not receive the maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
White, 54, was convicted in December of second-degree manslaughter and a weapons charge.
"Nice message it sends to society that as long as you're black and there's a problem at the end of your driveway you can grab an illegal handgun and shoot someone in the face and get away with it," an infuriated Daniel Cicciaro Sr. More...
Football player's dreams die in a flurry of bullets in South L.A.
March 09, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(lat) Stanford University called about Jamiel Shaw a week or so ago, intrigued by the slight but speedy running back for Los Angeles High School, the Southern League's most valuable player last year. Rutgers University called a few days later.
The Shaw family already had reason to be proud. Jamiel's mother, Army Sgt. Anita Shaw, was on her second tour of duty in Iraq. More...
Vermont Town Approves Vote to Indict Bush-Cheney of Crimes Against the Constitution.
March 04, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(abc/ap) Voters in two Vermont towns approved measures Tuesday calling for the indictment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for what they consider violations of the Constitution.
More symbolic than anything, the items sought to have police arrest Bush and Cheney if they ever visit Brattleboro or nearby Marlboro or to extradite them for prosecution elsewhere — if they're not impeached first.
In Brattleboro, the vote was 2,012-1,795. In Marlboro, which held a town meeting on the issue, it was 43-25 with three abstentions.
"I hope the one thing that people take from this is, 'Hey, it can be done,'" said Kurt Daims, 54, who organized the petition drive that led to the Brattleboro vote. More...
Drug Sentencing Guidelines Take Effect. "Sentences for crack cocaine have been one of the most corrosive and unjust areas of criminal law."
March 04, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(ap) Marsha Cunningham was no drug dealer. But when authorities busted her boyfriend in the 1990s for selling crack and powdered cocaine, they also arrested her on a crack possession charge.
Her sentence: Fifteen years behind bars, only two less than her boyfriend got.
But Cunningham is now one of up to 20,000 inmates convicted of crack offenses who may see their prison terms reduced under new federal guidelines intended to bring retroactive fairness to drug sentencing.
"Marsha is a really good person," said her aunt, Ruby Jones of Houston. More...
Rapper Juvenile's 4-Year Old Daughter Among Triple Murder Victims
March 01, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(ajc/ap) Rap star Juvenile was the father of one of three Lawrenceville residents murdered Thursday night at their home, according to court records.
Jelani Deleston, 4, who police say was gunned down with her mother and sister, was the daughter of the 32-year-old rapper, according to child-support records in Gwinnett County.
The mother, Gwinnett County Sheriff's Deputy Joy Deleston, brought a paternity lawsuit against the 32-year-old rapper, whose real name is Terius Gray, in 2004.
Police say Anthony Tyrone Terrell, Deleston's 17-year-old son, killed her and her daughters Micaih, 11, and Jelani. They still don't know why he did it. More...
Duke's Falsely Accused Lacrosse Players Sue School
February 21, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(bloomberg) Duke University, rocked by unfounded rape allegations involving its lacrosse team two years ago, was sued by 38 members of that squad who say the school unfairly lent its credibility to the charges.
Duke officials remained silent during the rape probe, even though they had evidence the players were innocent, attorney Chuck Cooper said today in a statement. The players sued because of the emotional distress they suffered when school officials failed to support them during an investigation into the racially charged incident, according to a statement.
The case, which led to the cancellation of the ninth-ranked team's season and the coach's resignation, continues to haunt Duke even after the three students criminally charged were cleared. The lawsuit, filed today in U. More...
‘Montel’ Employee Sues Show After Getting Fired For Having Brain Aneurysm
February 15, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nymag) Last March, Erin Primmer, 35, had been a producer on The Montel Williams Show for two years. She was making $110K a year and was generally healthy until all of a sudden, on March 29, 2007, smack in the middle of Montel's show on "Survivor Stories: Ripped From the Headlines," she had a brain aneurysm, collapsed on the floor, and was rushed to the hospital. Fortunately for Erin, it wasn't the kind of brain aneurysm that kills you — but it was the kind of brain aneurysm that kills your career.
According to the lawsuit she is filing against CBS, when Erin returned to work, she was told that her contract wouldn't be renewed, that they needed someone physically “at the top of their game,” and “capable of handling the pressure” and that the next year was going to be “worse. ” It was in fact worse: Montel's show was canceled two weeks ago. More...
Young 23 year old American of African descent police officer killed in White Plains, New York by another police officer.
January 26, 2008 by aripat
Please pay attention to the media coverage from White Plains, New York after once again an off duty black police officer from Mount Vernon, NY was gunned down on 1/25/08 by another police officer as he intervened in an attempt to help resolove a dispute between two other citizens. All involved in the dispute were Black men so approaching officers acted with deadly force and shot young P. O. Christopher Ridley to death because he had a gun. The officer that killed officer Ridley was of American African descent as well. More...
UPDATE: Police in Sean Bell shooting granted non-jury trial . Trial Begins February 25th.
January 25, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(ap/nydn) Three police detectives charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man on his wedding day will be tried by a judge instead of a jury.
State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman in Queens formalized the arrangements Friday for the Feb. 25 trial of Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper.
The hearing came two days after an appeals court turned down a defense bid to move the trial out of New York City.
Sean Bell, 23, died in an onslaught of 50 police bullets as he left his bachelor party at a Queens nightclub on Nov. More...
Bad, Awful Times for Detroit Mayor, Kwami Kirkpatrick. An Extramarital Affair Exposed in Texting. Mayor Could Face Perjury Charges for Lying About the Affair.
January 25, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(AP) — The county prosecutor said Friday she has opened an investigation into reports that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his top aide exchanged romantic text-messages.
The messages raise the question of whether the mayor and Chief of Staff Christine Beatty committed perjury during a whistle-blower trial last summer. A conviction of lying under oath can bring up to 15 years' imprisonment.
Prosecutor Kym Worthy didn't elaborate on the specifics of her investigation, but said she was unaware of the text messages until she read a report in the Detroit Free Press on Thursday.
"The Wayne County prosecutor's office will conduct an independent investigation that will be fair, impartial and thorough," Worthy said. More...
Marion Jones Gets Six-Month Term for Obstruction of Justice
January 13, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(bloomberg) Marion Jones, the record-breaking sprinter who tearfully confessed she used steroids after years of public denial, was sentenced to six months in prison for lying in two federal grand jury investigations.
Jones, 32, pleaded guilty in October to two counts of obstruction of justice in federal court in White Plains, New York. The International Olympic Committee stripped her of the record five medals she won at the 2000 Games in Sydney after she admitted taking banned performance-enhancing substances.
She was the first athlete convicted in the almost five-year- old U. S. More...
Authorities Stumped over Report of Attack on Black Runner by a White Man at a High School Track Meet
January 02, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(AP/firstcoastnews) Officers investigating a report that a white man threw an irritating substance in the eyes of a black runner at a high school track meet last fall say they still have no leads despite reviewing 3,500 videos and photos.
Mohamed Noor, a black Somali immigrant attending Lewiston High School, fell from second place to finish 124th in the New England Cross Country Championships at Cumberland on Nov. 10 and reported afterward that a middle-aged white man tossed something into his eyes.
Noor struggled to cross the finish line of the 3. 1-mile race. More...
(UPDATE) Long Island Father Who Is Black Found Guilty of Manslaughter in Shooting Death of White Teenager
January 02, 2008 by editor (View Source)
A few weeks ago a Long Island, New York jury convicted John White of manslaughter for defending his family from a mob that showed up at his house threatening his son when he shot a teenager to death. John White is Black and the man he shot, Daniel Cicciaro, is White. Some believe Mr. White should have called police and let them deal with the angry mob; others believe Mr. White had every right to defend his family. More...
Dog Days for Actor Esai Morales: Lawsuit Alleges Rape.
January 02, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) A former girlfriend who alleges she was raped by Esai Morales - the Brooklyn-born actor best known for roles in "NYPD Blue" and "La Bamba" - said Friday two more women have made similar charges.
. . . . More...
UPDATE: MSG settles sex harassment suit with ex-Ranger cheerleader Courtney Prince
January 02, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) Still reeling from one sex harassment suit, Madison Square Garden settled another Wednesday - striking an out-of-court deal with the former head of the Rangers pep squad.
A lawyer for Courtney Prince, the fired captain of the Ranger City Skaters, confirmed the deal but wouldn't elaborate.
"We resolved this matter with no admission of wrongdoing on the part of any party," her lawyer, Kathleen Peratis, said in a statement.
The Garden issued an identical statement.
Prince filed suit in 2004, claiming the Garden was a virtual frathouse where male executives treated cheerleaders like sex objects. More...
VERDICT IN: Long Island (NY) Black Man Guilty of Manslaughter in Shooting Death of White Mob Member Who Threatened Him and His Family.
December 23, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) A Long Island jury convicted a black father of manslaughter Satuday night, rejecting the claim he was defending his family from a "lynch mob" when he shot a white teenager.
The panel deliberated for four days - and had said on Friday they were deadlocked - before finding John White, 54, guilty of gunning down 17-year-old Daniel Cicciaro Jr. last year.
"We're going to Disney. Wooo!" the victim's father, Daniel Cicciaro Sr. More...
Sharpton rally's for hate crime charges in West VA torture victim, Megan Williams, case. The legal charge in this case is still an issue.
December 19, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(charlestongazette) National activist the Rev. Al Sharpton showed up at a Tuesday rally in support of torture victim Megan Williams, saying he believes hate crime charges must be brought in the case.
“As long as you rape and call our daughters the nigger word and don’t handle it. You can bet we will be back in town,” he said.
Police say Williams, 20, was raped, beaten and tortured by six Logan County residents earlier this year. More...
U.S. Sentencing Commission Votes Unanimously to Make Crack Sentencing Reductions Retroactive for 19,500 Incarcerated People
December 11, 2007 by editor
(drugpolicy. org) The U. S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously today to make a recent amendment reducing recommended sentences for crack cocaine offenses retroactive. The practical effect is to make up to 19,500 currently incarcerated individuals eligible for early release. More...
High Court Eases Crack Sentence Guidelines. Decision Giving Judges Greater Discretion May Ease Racial Disparity In Cocaine-Fueled Jail Time.
December 11, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(cbs) The Supreme Court on Monday said judges may impose shorter prison terms for crack cocaine crimes, enhancing judicial discretion to reduce the disparity between sentences for crack and cocaine powder.
The crack disparity has long had racial overtones, reports CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews. For crack dealers, who are mostly black, 50 grams draws a 10-year minimum sentence. But for powder dealers, who are mostly white, it takes 5 kilos to draw 10 years, a 100-1 difference.
By a 7-2 vote, the court said Monday that a 15-year sentence given to Derrick Kimbrough, a black veteran of the 1991 war with Iraq, was acceptable, even though federal sentencing guidelines called for Kimbrough to receive 19 to 22 years. More...
Knicks settle Browne Sanders sexual harassment suit. THE END. Until the next sexual harrassment lawsuit against MSG coming up in 2009. A Former Cheerleader is suing.
December 10, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) Fired Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders settled her sexual harassment suit against the team Monday - days before a judge was to decide how much the team owed her in damages.
The settlement - for an undisclosed amount - was revealed in a one-paragraph statement filed today with Manhattan Federal Court Judge Gerard Lynch.
"It is hereby stipulated by and between the parties to this action, through their respective counsel, that the above-captioned action shall be dismissed, with prejudice. . . More...
UPDATE: 3 detained for questioning in Taylor killing. Taylor is the fourth NFL player to die this year, the second from gunfire.
November 30, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(ap/usat) At least three people from the Fort Myers, Fla. area were taken into custody Friday and are being questioned in connection with the death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor, the Associated Press is reporting.
A law enforcement official in Lee County, Fla. , told the AP the men were in custody, but requested anonymity because the investigation is being handled by Miami-Dade County police. The Fort Myers News-Press, citing a neighbor, said the three were taken into custody early Friday morning at a home in Cape Coral, Fla. More...
Sean Taylor, Redskins Football Player, Dies from Gunshot Wound. He was 24 and leaves behind a baby daughter. Another Violent Death of a Young, Black Man.
November 27, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(miamiherald) Washington Redskins defensive back Sean Taylor died Tuesday morning, a day after he was shot by an intruder at his home in Palmetto Bay.
He was 24.
The one-time standout with the Miami Hurricanes died at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he was airlifted after the shooting Monday morning.
Shot in the groin, he suffered massive blood loss from a severed femoral artery. Surgery conducted later in the afternoon could not save him, although he was able to squeeze a doctor's hand, giving his family reason for hope. More...
Tawana Brawley Story: Either one of the largest failures in the history of the justice system or a disturbing lie.
November 25, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) Tawana Brawley - whose claims of being raped by a "white cop" shocked the city 20 years ago - has long since turned her back on New York. She changed her name, converted to Islam, moved south and got a bullmastiff "trained to bite" in case someone unwanted comes to visit.
The Daily News tracked her family to Claremont, Va.
In a wide-ranging two-hour interview, Glenda Brawley and Ralph King, Brawley's mother and stepfather, revealed glimpses into her life. She attended Howard University in Washington, where she could not have a roommate for security reasons. More...
UPDATE: Two Atlanta cops to go to jail for '06 raid that killed 92 year old, Kathyrn Johnston
November 23, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(ajc) A year after the violent death of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston, the two Atlanta narcotics officers who pleaded guilty in that crime are going to jail.
A federal judge Monday ordered Jason R. Smith and Gregg Junnier to turn themselves in to the United States Marshals Service by Dec. 3. They pleaded guilty in April and have been cooperating with federal authorities in a case that rocked the department and delved into officers faking warrants to make drug cases. More...
Michael Vick Begins Prison Sentence Early. Judge signs order allowing suspended QB to enter jail.
November 19, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(ajc) Suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has begun serving his prison sentence so he can get out of custody as soon as possible.
An official who answered the phone at the U. S. Marshal's Service in Richmond confirmed that Vick was in custody but would not provide additional details.
U. More...
Federal Grand Jury Indicts Barry Bonds on Perjury, Obstruction of Justice Charges
November 15, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(sanfranchron) Barry Bonds, the former Giants star and baseball's career home run king, was indicted by a federal grand jury today on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the BALCO sports steroid scandal.
Bonds was indicted for allegedly making false statements to the grand jury that investigated the BALCO steroids distribution ring, the U. S. attorney's office in San Francisco said. Bonds is accused of four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. More...
On Nov. 16th Civil Rights leaders to protest federal government's failure to prosecute hate crimes.
November 07, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(wapo) A group of national civil rights leaders came to Washington yesterday to reiterate calls for a massive march next week on the Justice Department to protest what they said was the federal government's failure to prosecute hate crimes.
Headed by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, the son of the legendary civil rights leader, the group said the march will start at noon Nov. 16 and proceed seven times around the department's headquarters, at Ninth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
"It is our feeling that with the increased amount of hate crimes and hate signs -- hanging nooses, swastikas -- that have gone on around this country unaddressed . More...
"Monster Cop's Gangsta Rap." Three Questions for NYPD? Where did you find this cop, who trained him, when does he get fired?
November 04, 2007 by editor (View Source)
This is one of New York's Finest at work. Just last week the same cop (view source for full details) was charged with child endangerment (see next story on BBN list) because he and his partner picked up a young boy who on Halloween was throwing eggs. They took the boy to a desolate area in Staten Island (NY), made him strip down to boxers and socks and left him there. The boy walked to a store and asked security to phone his parents. The boy is 14 years old, and yes he is Black and the cops are White. More...
NYPD Cops Charged with Stripping, Stranding Boy on Halloween
November 04, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) Two Staten Island cops were arrested Friday for stripping a Halloween prankster and leaving the boy stranded in a remote area, police said.
Officers Richard Danese and Thomas Elliassen, both 28, were charged with unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor, police said.
They caught 14-year-old Rayshawn Moreno of Graniteville throwing eggs at cars on Wednesday evening in a 120th Precinct neighborhood and decided to teach him a lesson, a police source and the boy's family said.
The cops drove the Port Richmond High School freshman to a swampy area of the 122nd Precinct, dropped him off wearing only boxer shorts and socks and left, the source said.
The boy hiked to a Burlington Coat Factory store on South Ave. More...
UPDATE: Genarlow Wilson is Released From Prison. He walked out of prison today at 5:15PM.
October 26, 2007 by editor (View Source)
Genarlow Wilson was released from a Georgia prison today at 5:15P. Finally! It took Georgia's Supreme Court to end this maddness. They rendered a decision that the punishment was cruel and inhumane. Georgia's Attorney General Thurbert Baker should feel professionally misguided and just silly right about now? Whatever point he was trying to prove by upholding Wilson's earlier conviction - after a Judge overturned it - has now been made "moot. " I hope Georgia voters remember AG Thurbert's part in this legal absurdity come election season. More...
UPDATE: Georgia Supreme Court freeing Genarlow Wilson. Sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment under Georgia and U.S. constitutions.
October 26, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(BBN) When Genarlow Wilson walks out of prison once and for all we will celebrate at BBN. . . . . More...
Five Latino Officers Suing The Hoboken (NJ) Police Department for Racism.
October 24, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(ap) Five Hoboken police officers are suing their department, charging they have endured constant racial slurs and intimidation because they are Hispanic.
The federal lawsuit claims a commanding officer is a white supremacist and that superiors fabricated charges against the Hispanic officers.
Police Chief Carmen LaBruno did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
A spokesman for Hoboken Mayor David Roberts says they have seen the lawsuit and have no immediate comment.
. More...
California Arson Suspect Killed, Another Arrested
October 24, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(lat) Amid worries of new blazes adding to the firestorm already afflicting the region, a man in Hesperia has been arrested on suspicion of arson, and police reported shooting and killing another arson suspect after chasing him out of scrub behind Cal State San Bernardino.
Law enforcement officials said today that they didn't know whether either of the men had started any of the more than a dozen large fires that have devastated Southern California in recent days, including the nearby Lake Arrowhead blaze. The brush fire in Hesperia was quickly extinguished by residents.
Investigators have said that at least two of the huge wildfires, one in Orange County and the other in Temecula, were the work of arsonists.
The confrontation that ended in the shooting death started about 6 p. More...
(Must Read) 5 Myths About Crack. Racially discriminatory sentencing that has packed prisons with Black and Brown People
October 16, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(wapo) Should judges have the discretion to depart from severe sentencing guidelines if they lead to unjust results? The Supreme Court wrestled with this question Oct. 2 during oral arguments in a crack-relatedcase, Kimbrough v. United States . The case had percolated up through the lower courts because the trial judge refused to impose a required sentence he found deeply unfair.
At the peak of the panic over crack cocaine in the mid-1980s, Congress passed a rash of laws requiring longer prison sentences. More...
T.I., riding hard, falls hard and fast. Brush with law on gun charges could land him in prison.
October 15, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(BBN recommends reading the full article – view source)
(ajc) Between fame and infamy, lay a day.
Saturday, T. I. was at the pinnacle of his career, the Michael Vick of the rap game.
He'd risen from a hard-scrabble beginning in Bankhead and survived his early crack-dealing days to become a Grammy-winning artist whose last two CDs debuted at the top of the charts. More...
New Orleans Corruption Cases Multiply. Fed Crackdown on post-Katrina wrongdoings and billboard campaign urges residents to expose crooked politics.
October 09, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(usat) The number of public corruption cases here has more than quintupled, sparked by a federal crackdown on post-Katrina wrongdoings and a billboard campaign urging residents to expose crooked politics and payoffs, the FBI said.
Federal statistics show that 171 people in the metropolitan area have been indicted on public corruption charges from 2003 through mid-September of this year, said Howard Schwartz, supervisory special agent for public corruption in the FBI's New Orleans' office. More than 80% were convicted or pleaded guilty to charges including bribery and fraud.
The upsurge in indictments is partly the result of corruption fueled by the enticement of billions of federal and state dollars flooding the region after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Schwartz said. Nationally, the number of pending public corruption cases has increased 49% since 2001. More...
MSG Ordered to Pay $11.6M in Anucha Brown Sanders Sexual Harassment Suit Against Knicks Owner and Coach Isiah Thomas
October 02, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) A Manhattan federal jury decided today that Madison Square Garden and its chairman must pay former exec Anucha Browne Sanders $11. 6 million for sexual harassment - $1. 6 million more than she was seeking.
The money decision came about two hours after the jury concluded that Knicks coach Isiah Thomas sexually harassed Browne Sanders and that MSG then fired her after she complained about his trash talking.
The jury said Thomas was not liable for punitive damages, but that MSG and Garden boss James Dolan were. More...
Another Loss to Senseless Violence: Taylor Bradford, 21, Football Player for University of Memphis Shot Dead.
October 01, 2007 by editor (View Source)
BBN is sick and tired of these stories of guns and violence in Black America. We hope you are tired of this nonsense too. (AP) A University of Memphis football player was fatally shot on campus in what police believe was a targeted attack, and classes were canceled Monday as a precaution.
Taylor Bradford, 21, apparently was shot near a university housing complex about 9:45 p. m. More...
UPDATE: Prosecutors Can’t Find Evidence from Wayne Williams Case. Williams Serving Life for ATL's Missing and Murdered Black Children.
September 30, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(BBN Editors: Back story on the case) In the 70's and part of the '80's Black children in Atlanta, Georgia were kidnapped (snatched from their neighborhoods) and found murdered. In all there were nearly 30 children found and reported on (we don’t know how many others). Wayne Williams was convicted of killing two of those children. As for the rest we don't know who killed them. Investigators stopped looking after Williams was sentenced for the two. More...
Bad Week for M. Vick: VA Indicts Him, Canadian Bank Sues Him, Nike Not Sure What to Do About Money It Lost on Him.
September 25, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(ajc) Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, already awaiting federal sentencing on a felony charges related to dogfighting, will face two state charges in Virginia, which could result in punishment that could seriously jeopardize his playing career.
A grand jury in Sussex County, Va. , recommended Tuesday that Vick, 27, and three others be charged with one count of beating or killing a dog and one count of engaging in and promoting dogfighting. Both counts are felonies. The charge of beating or killing a dog carries up to five years in prison and a $2,500 fine per animal. More...
Why the Feds Won't Prosecute West Virginia Torture Case of Black Woman as a Hate Crime
September 23, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(BBN Editors Note: For those of you who are wondering why the brutal rape and torture of the Black woman in WV by a white family won't be prosecuted by the Feds this is a perspective to read. View source for full article). . . . More...
NYC Basketball Team Targets of Racially Motivated Attacks near City Hall. White Men Yelled "Nigger" Before Attacking.
September 19, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(Juan Gonzalez/NYDN) Two coaches and several players of the Manhattan Community College basketball team say they were the targets of separate racial bias attacks and robberies near City Hall.
They say it happened last week, the attacks were carried out by the same group of white men - and the NYPD has failed to properly investigate.
"I've been all over this country and the world playing sports," said Chester Mapp, 49, coach of the Borough of Manhattan Community College Panthers for 15 years. "But never in my born days have I seen the kind of racism I witnessed last week right here in New York City. "
The first incident erupted around 8:30 p. More...
UPDATE - Conviction overturned for Mychal Bell of 'Jena 6'
September 14, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(newstar) The conviction of Mychal Bell, the Jena 6 member found guilty of aggravated second-degree battery earlier this summer, has been overturned, one of his attorneys confirmed this afternoon.
Bob Noel, told The News-Star the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, found the district court in LaSalle Parish did not have jurisdiction to try Bell as an adult.
. . . More...
Browne-Sanders vs Thomas/Knicks Coverage: "Fired Knicks VP puts Rangers' sex book in play"
September 14, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) She's going one on one with the Knicks, but Anucha Browne Sanders may know something about a little black book that could have New York Rangers executives skating on thin ice.
The fired Knicks honcho claims she told her Madison Square Garden bosses in 2005 that members of the Rangers' front office were keeping a Kama Sutra wish list they would like to try out on members of the team's on-ice cheerleading troupe, her lawyer says.
"Ms. Browne Sanders received information from her staff . . More...
Browne-Sanders vs Thomas/Knicks Coverage: "Sleaze play in Stephon Marbury's backseat "
September 14, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) Knicks star Stephon Marbury took the stand yesterday in the explosive $10 million sex harassment suit that's rocking the Garden and admitted luring an intern into his car for an alleged sexual encounter.
Marbury did not explicitly say they had sex while parked outside a Manhattan strip joint, as fired Knicks exec Anucha Browne Sanders has claimed in her suit.
"We got together right across the street," the fidgety point guard testified during his half-hour on the stand in Manhattan Federal Court.
Marbury made the admission after Browne Sanders, who claims the Knicks fired her in January 2006 when she threatened a suit, broke down while testifying for the first time in the bruising sex harassment trial.
Browne Sanders wept as she described how the intern, a St. More...
Browne-Sanders vs Thomas/Knicks Coverage: "B--ch, I don't give a f--k about the sponsors ..."
September 14, 2007 by editor (View Source)
Knicks coach Isiah Thomas was a foulmouthed bully who went on tirades at a moment's notice, a Manhattan Federal Court jury was told yesterday in a day of raw testimony filled with obscenities and sexual slurs.
Fired Knicks exec Anucha Browne Sanders said Thomas repeatedly called her a "bitch" and "ho" in private conversations, but then suddenly declared he loved her after they played a game of basketball.
Dressed in a baby-blue suit jacket and dark slacks, and wearing simple pearl earrings, Browne Sanders said Thomas bristled at her efforts to get players to turn out for corporate events scheduled long before he took over the team in December 2003.
"Bitch, I don't give a f--k about the sponsors . . More...
Colorado Police Link Rise in Violence to Hip-Hop Music. Police Action Angers Blacks and Latinos.
September 03, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(NYT) The D. J. puts on the popular song “No Problem” by Lil Scrappy, and a sea of young men and women rush the dance floor.
As the party anthem bursts through the speakers and Lil Scrappy drawls, “But you don’t want no problem, problem,” the crowd swerves in a sweaty, liquor-soaked rhythm. The scene, heavy with the sweet smoke of cigarillos and exploding with hip-hop’s unmistakable pounding bass, could be almost anywhere: New York, Chicago, Memphis, Oakland, Calif. More...
Jason Whitlock: Journey to Jena, justice is long, misleading
September 03, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(Whitlock/Fox) Forgive me. This column is going to ramble and stumble a bit before I get to my main point. Real Talk is like that sometimes. Good conversations don't always fit in a tight package. They wander from time to time, and the wandering provides context to the point. More...
