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Oct 22 2006
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ARCHIVE OF COVERAGE: Police & Legal |
This page is a partial archive of reporting by US-based IMCs on police abuse, government misuse of surveillance, and grassroots resistance through monitoring efforts and legal activism. It is not a complete archive of such coverage. If you know of a story that is missing, please contact the editorial collective at imc-us-editorial((at))lists.indymedia.org.See also: Prison Issues Archive | Human & Civil Rights Archive
October 22:
Every year on October 22, communities mobilize to protest police brutality and remember the those who have lost their lives as a result of police brutality. National October 22nd Coalition | Stolen Lives Project | Indybay's Past Coverage of October 22nd | Roundup of actions in 2006 and 2007.
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local and national features
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Mar 09 2010
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Update - G20 appeal win and the LRAD experts in Pittsburgh |
A few thoughts on last week’s G20 appeal hearingsLast week, I was in Pittsburgh again to deal with my appeal on my summary offense conviction of “disorderly conduct”. At this time, there were also a few other appeal hearings from other G20 arrestees for similar offenses. So on March 1st, I went into a hearing of four other G20 Arrestees to get an idea of how the summary appeal process works in Pennsylvania. There were three students and one non-student – all of whom were either arrested on the evening of September 25th near the University of Pittsburgh or the day earlier at Lawrenceville during the un-permitted march.
While none of these appeals had anything with the “failure to disperse” charge, the testimony that the Commonwealth gave focused on the Long-Range Acoustic Device (aka the sound cannon/LRAD), the location of LRADs, alleged dispersal orders, and generally alleged “anti-police” rally that evening. Sgt. O’Neil from the Pittsburgh PD stated that their intelligence indicated that a “anti-police rally” was taking place in Schenley Plaza and that they deployed the LRAD to disperse people from this area.
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Mar 09 2010
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Court Allows Torture Suit Against Former Defense Sec't Rumsfeld |
CHICAGO – Federal Judge Wayne R. Andersen issued an historic ruling today allowing a suit charging former Defense Secretary with authorizing torture. Rumsfeld asked the court to dismiss the case because he is a high-placed governmental official and argued that he was immune from suit even for allegations of torture. Mr. Rumsfeld also argued that due to his position, the Constitution permitted him to order interrogation techniques that are widely considered by human rights experts to be torture. The Court rejected both of Mr. Rumsfeld's arguments and held that high-placed placed cabinet officials can be held personally liable if they authorize the use of torture. While many previous civil suit attempts to prosecute Bush-era cabinet officials for authorizing torture have failed, the suit brought by Chicago-based Loevy and Loevy Attorneys at Law, Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel v. Donald Rumsfeld, United States of America and Unidentified Agents, will now proceed to discovery and a trial. More
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Mar 08 2010
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Eight Reasons the Iowa A.L.F. Investigation is a Fraud |
Five years after the Animal Liberation Front raids the University of Iowa, the government launches a prosecution that is a fraud on its face | From Voice of the Voiceless
In late-2004, morning workers arrived at the Spence Laboratories to find $450,000 in damage to equipment and 401 animals missing. Graffiti left at the scene read "Science Not Sadism" and "Free The Animals". In a long communique, the Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) took credit.
Just before the 5-year statute of limitations was to expire (most federal crimes have an SoL of 5 years), two Minneapolis activists were subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury in Davenport, IA. It soon became clear the grand jury was investigating the University of Iowa A.L.F. raid. Both were jailed after refusing to testify. Soon after, one of the two - Scott DeMuth - was indicted for Animal Enterprise Terrorism.
Related: Jail & Mail Update on Carrie Feldman, Imprisoned Grand Jury Resister
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Mar 05 2010
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No Guantanamo In DC |
"We don't want a Guantanamo in the Nation's Capital" said Johnny Barnes, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area, before a packed audience during yesterday's community dialogue at the University of the District of Columbia on the "Secure Communities" program. The controversial program, recently implemented by the Metropolitan Police Department without community consultation, runs the fingerprints of everyone arrested in the District of Columbia through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) database.
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Mar 04 2010
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The Racialization of Crime and Punishment --An Interview With Nancy A. Heitzeg |
As movements for Abolition and Civil Rights worked to end the institutions of slavery, lynching and legalized segregation, new and more indirect mechanisms have emerged for perpetuating systemic racism and its economic underpinnings...The prison industrial complex is the current manifestation of the legal legacy of the racialized transformations of plantations into prisons, of Slave Codes into Black Codes, of lynching into state-sponsored executions.
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Mar 03 2010
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Sheriff Stanek landing Fed cash for KingFish military cellphone tracker in Hennepin County |
National Guard intelligence analysts fuse to metro police departments; Lobby for warrantless wiretaps in St. Paul A source revealed a new move in the profitable world of government tracking goodiez: Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek lost out on nearly half a million dollars to buy a very secret advanced cell phone tracking kit called "KingFish" manufactured by Harris Corporation, when the Hennepin County Board deemed it expensive and possibly unconstitutional; he doesn't want to talk about it, the Star Tribune reported recently. However, he is apparently now going to get some kind of secret grant from the Feds to get KingFish anyway, probably paid via DHS or DOJ grant programs (much as Edina got a silly $182K police battletank). Will the Hennepin County Board be able to obtain the truth at today's meeting?
Also a couple proposals including the "Kelsey Smith" bill (HF2639/SF2470) are going through the Legislature to let the police instantaneously locate cell phones without warrants, under the excuse of abduction emergencies, although this bill's language is frighteningly unrestricted... READ MORE
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Mar 02 2010
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DC City Council Considers Banning the Wearing of Masks While Protesting |
On February 4, 2010, Councilmember Mendelson held a hearing on Bill 18—63, the Residential Tranquility Act of 2009, aka the "Mask Prohibition Act of 2009" (pdf), making it illegal to wear a mask at a protest, due to frequent animal rights protesters demonstrating at individual DC resident's homes. Councilperson Cheh is a sponsor of this bill.Read More | Voices of Washington, Masked Choral Group Video | Wearing a Mask Is Not Illegal (pdf)
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Feb 27 2010
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Mother Recounts Lead-Up to Murder of Her Son by OPD |
Anita L. Wills, mother of Jerry Amaro, writes: "This is a blog written in response to the death of a young man in Oakland California. The courts have cleared the way for his mother to sue, the City of Oakland. He died after being beat by Police in Oakland California. Two of the Policemen involved in the incident, were also involved in the wrongful prosecution of my son in 2001. The blog is about my son, the events that transpired, and how the Police and Courts figured in his wrongful conviction.
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Feb 26 2010
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Scott DeMuth’s Hearing Held Tuesday; Carrie Feldman Still in Segregation |
[Tuesday] morning, over a dozen supporters from Minneapolis and the Quad Cities joined Scott DeMuth, indicted for conspiracy under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), in the Federal Courthouse in Davenport for his arraignment for the new indictment that was issued last week. There was also a hearing on numerous discovery-related motions for his upcoming trial. Scott’s attorney, Michael Deutsch, argued that the prosecution has failed to produce the discovery that the defense is entitled to under the rules. Judge Shields took the arguments under advisement and is expected to issue a ruling within the next few days. Related: Feldman moved to Muscatine County ... | ... And then to Dubuque County, IA | Updates from the Scott/Carrie Support Committee | Events: Political Repression and State Violence with Dhoruba Bin Wahad | Star Tribune: Stuck Three Months in Iowa Jail For Refusing To Testify
Past Feature: As DeMuth's Trial Date Nears, Federal Prosecutor on Crusade Against Anarchist Ideology
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Feb 25 2010
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The People vs. Johannes Mehserle: Second Los Angeles Hearing |
The latest in the ongoing trial of Johannes Mehserle, accused of shooting Oscar Grant in the back early New Year's Day 2009. Mehserle is the first police officer in California history to be tried for murder committed while on-duty. The Grant-Mehserle saga has sparked unrest and rebellion in the Bay Area, leading to the transfer of the trial to Los Angeles, where social justice advocates have placed immense pressure to ensure that the truth comes out and that the structures permitting this type of injustice are challenged. The preliminary hearing on February 19, 2010 dealt with four main things: the reduction of bail, the removal of the Alameda DA, a ruling made by Judge Espinoa, and the schedule of the case. Full report: The People vs. Johannes Mehserle Second Los Angeles Hearing by Traci and Erinn
RELATED: Lessons from the Oscar Grant Tragedy – We Need to Get to Work by Kokayi Kwa Jitahidi
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Feb 23 2010
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Barefoot Host Dawn Zuppelli Detained at Canadian Border |
Rochester Indymedia journalist, Dawn Zuppelli, was interrogated and detained for over an hour by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) on her way to cover protests at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC. Upon arriving at customs at the Vancouver International Airport, she and her colleague Ted Forsyth, also with Rochester Indymedia, were asked the obligatory questions as to why they were coming to Vancouver. Zuppelli was tagged for further interrogation and funneled off to a check point area sometime around 12:05AM on February 10. She was released sometime around 1:15AM. She was taken into a separate room with other agents and passengers. The room was outfitted with sterile metal desks, two sided mirrored window rooms, and plenty of customs officers donning bullet proof vests and latex gloves.
Additional Information: Indymedia Reporter Detained in "No Mans Land" on his way to Vancouver Olympics | Independent media reporter rejected at border - Feb 6
Additional Information: Indymedia Reporter Detained in "No Mans Land" on his way to Vancouver Olympics | Independent media reporter rejected at border - Feb 6
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Feb 19 2010
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Stand Together Against Police Violence March 3PM Friday |
Rally and March in response to the recent murder of Aaron Campbell by Portland Police, and the perpetual violence perpetrated by police in our communities.
Pioneer Square @ 3pm on Friday the 19th!
Tomorrow, we are calling for the citizens of Portland to stand strong together against the violence inherent to the policing system. We have asked our fellow students to join us in walking out of classes and into the streets. We now extend our invitation to our teachers and professors, as well as to all of the many members of Portland's diverse communities. We will not be passive observers to the continued brutalization of our friends, neighbors and families, but instead will stand strong in opposition to those who would marginalize and attempt to quell our outrage.
See you in the streets!
love and unity,
Students for Revolutionary Action
Pioneer Square @ 3pm on Friday the 19th!
Tomorrow, we are calling for the citizens of Portland to stand strong together against the violence inherent to the policing system. We have asked our fellow students to join us in walking out of classes and into the streets. We now extend our invitation to our teachers and professors, as well as to all of the many members of Portland's diverse communities. We will not be passive observers to the continued brutalization of our friends, neighbors and families, but instead will stand strong in opposition to those who would marginalize and attempt to quell our outrage.
See you in the streets!
love and unity,
Students for Revolutionary Action
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Feb 18 2010
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Coroner’s Inquest Into Kiwane’s Death / Court Hearing For Jeshaun |
At a coroner’s inquest on Thursday, February 18, 2009 into the police killing of Kiwane Carrington, six jurors ruled the death was an accident. This came after Illinois State Police Special Agent Lisa Crowder, who oversaw the investigation, stretched the facts in the case. Interviewed after the hearing, James Montgomery Jr., the attorney who has filed a civil suit on behalf of Carrington’s family, said the testimony was a “smoke screen” to make the youth look bad.
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Feb 18 2010
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Last Two of the Oakland 100 Headed to Trial |
JR Valrey and Holly Works, the last two of the Oakland 100 — those arrested during the rebellions that followed the police murder of Oscar Grant last year — must raise legal defense funds for their imminent trials. JR's trial starts Monday, February 22nd, and Holly's starts the following Monday, March 1st. Supporters are calling out to all who are able to come to the trials.