VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Should Judge Rhodes recuse himself? He chaired pro-Ch9 forum with trial witness Charles Moore, PA 4/EM advocates in Oct. 2012  

Judge has ignored motions to lift stay on higher-level U.S. District Court lawsuits re: constitutionality of PA 436/EM before eligibility trial 

He has not yet ruled on Orr’s $349 million Barclay’s “debtor-in-possession” loan which Detroit City Council has twice nixed 

Crowds took the streets outside federal courthouse to stop Detroit bankruptcy Oct. 23, 2013.

By Diane Bukowski 

October 27, 2013 

Protester decries Orr appointee’s racist statement on hoodies.

DETROIT – At least one thousand city retirees and their supporters, including leaders of virtually the entire union movement, and many from community and faith-based organizations, took the streets in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Detroit for hours on Oct. 23. 

At the start of the march, the crowd was big enough to circle the building without a break.

Inside, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes kicked off the eligibility trial in Detroit’s Chapter 9 Bankruptcy case, the largest in the nation’s history. The filing is also only one in the country initiated by an unelected official, Detroit Emergency Manager (EM) Kevyn Orr, under state Public Act 436. 

Early on, Judge Rhodes ruled definitively that he recognizes Orr as the official representative of the city of Detroit, and in an unprecedented move extended bankruptcy protection to state officials including Mich. Governor Rick Snyder, who is to take the stand Mon. Oct. 28. 

Protesters decried banks’ role in Detroit takeover.

Rhodes’ impartiality is seriously open to question. More than a year ago, he chaired a forum on Chapter 9 bankruptcy and EM’s which featured Charles Moore of Detroit consultant Conway McKenzie, a chief witness in the trial. Also on the panel were a drafter of PA 4, PA 436’s predecessor EM law, and EM trainers. The possibility of a Detroit Chapter 9 bankruptcy was discussed at the forum long before Kevyn Orr was a gleam in the eyes of the banks and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. 

The presence of protesters in unprecedented numbers showed that many are increasingly distrustful of Rhodes’ ultimate ruling in the case and sense that broad mass action is necessary to stave off the destruction of Detroit. 

“We’re coming off of the wall” 

“They think they’ve got our backs to the wall,” said Ed McNeil, a member of the Official Retirees Committee as well as top executive assistant to Al Garrett, president of AFSCME Council 25. “But we’re going to come off that wall. We’re going to fight in whatever way we have to.” 

Ed McNeil of AFSCME Council 25 speaks at rally.

He noted that Detroit financial czar Mike Illitch is planning to build an $881 million hockey stadium and upscale housing/retail complex in midtown Detroit, athough Illitch’s Red Wings owe the city $70 million in taxes. DTE, which is set to run the newly-formed Public Lighting Authority, shutting down Detroit’s Public Lighting Department, owes another $170 million, McNeil said. 

“These same banks demanding their money are the ones who drove 200,000 Detroiters out of their homes through predatory mortgages and illegal foreclosures,” Attorney Jerome Goldberg, a member of the Detroit Debt Moratorium Coalition, said. “Chase Bank is paying $13 billion to settle a Justice Department lawsuit related to these practices and still may face criminal charges. Orr serves the banks at the expense of the workers with predatory lending not only to homeowners but to the city itself.” 

Jerry Goldberg of Detroit Debt Moratorium NOW!

Keith Johnson, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, referenced Orr’s answer on a 60 minutes show to the moderator’s question, “What do you say to the workers who will lose their small pensions?” Orr said only, “Sorry.” 

“We don’t need your apology,” Johnson said. “We are all here today, the UAW, AFSCME, the American Federation of Teachers, all of us—we are ONE.” 

Should Rhodes recuse himself? 

Rhodes is pressing ahead at breakneck speed with the eligibility trial, despite broad outstanding issues objectors have asked to be addressed prior to the trial, related to District Court level constitutional matters. News reports have indicated Rhodes expects the trial to last five days, despite a 132-page order he issued Oct. 24 listing a multitude of issues to be debated.

(Click on http://www.mieb.uscourts.gov/apps/detroit/SelectedOrder.cfm and hit “Orders,” then hit “Amended Final Pre-Trial Order #1354.”)

On Oct. 10, 2012, Rhodes chaired a Federal Bar Association (FBA) of Eastern Michigan Bankruptcy Committee forum, called “Between a Rock and a Hard Place–Municipal Entities in Distress.” In its notice of the forum, the FBA said it was “a panel discussion on emergency managers and Chapter 9 bankruptcy.” 

Pro-EM forum Oct. 20, 2013: (l to r) Frederick Headen, Edward Plawecki, Judge Steven Rhodes, Douglas Bernstein, Judy O’Neill, Charles Moore.

 Rhodes declined comment on his stance during the Southfield-based forum, which involved a broad discussion after the panel presentations. Rhodes was hardly an expert on Chapter 9 bankruptcy at the time, having handled only one other much smaller Chapter 9 case. That was the 1994 case of “Addison Community Hospital Authority.” In it, Rhodes barred the “Concerned Citizens for Addison Community Hospital” from intervening as a group. Addison is located just south of Jackson, Michigan. 

Anti-bankruptcy protesters Oct. 23, 2013.

The FBA and the U.S. Trustees’ office both said that the forum was not videotaped or transcribed, but the Oakland Legal News gave a brief description. A broader article in the Flint-Genessee Legal News expanded on the panelists’ comments, which were universally critical of public officials as opposed to business executives, advocating downsizing of city workforces and land. 

Neither quoted Rhodes directly. 

The company Rhodes kept  

“Frederick Headen, Director of the Bureau of Local Government Services in the Michigan Department of Treasury, discussed the various Michigan statutes relating to emergency managers,” said the Oakland Legal News. 

Protesters included very senior retirees. Grey Panthers speaker said bankruptcy is an attack on all older people in violation of federal law.

“Edward J. Plawecki, Jr., General Counsel/Director of Government Relations at Pierce Monroe & Associates, discussed how the Michigan emergency manager statutes work in practice. Charles M. Moore, Principal at Conway MacKenzie, discussed the practical realities of emergency managers, ways municipalities can avoid emergency managers and otherwise deal with financial distress issues. Judy A. O’Neill, Partner at Foley & Lardner, discussed Chapter 9 bankruptcy issues, including constitutional concerns, contract, and plan confirmation issues. Douglas C. Bernstein, Shareholder at Plunkett Cooney, spoke on Chapter 9 eligibility and filing challenges.” 

Conway McKenzie has a one-year $19.3 million consultant contract on the Detroit bankruptcy case, and has already been paid nearly $3 million. The firm’s Charles Moore is one of the chief witnesses Orr plans to call in the Detroit Chapter 9 eligibility hearing. 

“Why aren’t municipalities addressing these issues?” Moore asked during the forum, according to the Flint article, referring to what had been termed excess numbers of municipal workers in Detroit. 

Protesters demand jail for those pushing bankruptcy and theft of pensions.

“If this is what is causing financial distress, why aren’t leaders taking more action, as companies would, to address them? . . . .Many times those elected officials have no experience in business at all. . . . No politician ever gets rewarded for solving tomorrow’s problems today. So you have a situation where you see the trends happening, but there’s no incentive to act, even if the leader knew what to do. They’re not equipped with crisis management skills or expertise.” 

O’Neill helped draft Public Act 4; she and Bernstein trained EM’s 

According to the Foley & Lardner website, Judy O’Neill “assisted with drafting Public Act 4 [the predecessor to PA 436] . . . and has assisted at two Emergency Manager training sessions.” She “practices in bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, commercial transactions, and corporate law, concentrating on issues arising under the bankruptcy code.” 

Retirees came out en masse.

PA 4 was resoundingly defeated in a state referendum at the polls in Nov. 2012, with only four of 83 counties approving it.  PA 436 was birthed in the dead of the night during a lame-duck session of the Michigan state legislature, which added an appropriations clause to prevent another referendum. 

“What we’ve heard from everybody here today is that every method of implementation is replete with litigation,” O’Neill said at the forum according to the Flint article. “Even Chapter 9, which probably has the strongest hold, has this eligibility fight that consumes resources and time.”

Protesters brought their babies and children.

Bernstein, often quoted in the daily media as a bankruptcy expert, also helped train candidates for emergency manager positions along with other Plunkett Cooney Associates, according to their website.  Plunkett Cooney itself held a similar forum in April of that year.

According to the Flint paper, Headen said during the forum that he has served on 16 financial review teams, five each under former Michigan Governors John Engler and Jennifer Granholm, and six “so far,” under Snyder.“ He took a highly anti-union, anti-worker stance in his remarks. 

Headen denounces number of Detroit unions, workers 

Public safety workers don’t even have Social Security to fall back on.

“Back in January our review team was in Detroit,” the paper quoted Headen. “The city at that time had between nine and ten thousand employees. It also had 48 bargaining units, one of which I believe had only one member. The state of Michigan, by contrast, has about 50,000 employees with less than half a dozen bargaining units. In Detroit, 65 people are doing payroll while we have 15 people doing payroll for the entire state of Michigan.” 

Plawecki appeared to be the only participant taking a somewhat measured view. 

“I hear all the time that we [Detroit] have too many police officers,” Plawecki said according to the Flint article. 

“Well, if you look at a study that says for 700,000 people you should have 5000 officers, statistically that’s too many. However, you can’t look at it that way. A geographical analysis would show that just two precincts in Detroit — the 7th and the 9th — are larger than the entire cities of Cleveland or Paris. So when you’re talking about resources you would have to move firefighters or officers from one side of the city to the other. You’ve got to look at the size of the land when you look at the size of the services.” 

Protesters by the hundreds.

One attendee at the forum defended Rhodes’ role. 

“I attended the forum,” Attorney Thomas R. Morris said in an email to VOD. “I recall some speculation by the speakers regarding the possibility of a chapter 9 filing by Detroit, but the topics which I recall as being the primary topics of discussion were past appointments of emergency managers or emergency financial managers. Judges are not precluded from participating in educational programs, and in fact are encouraged to do so. I do not see anything improper about Judge Rhodes having participated in the forum. I do not speak on behalf of any client or organization in this regard, but only on my own behalf.” 

Rhodes has not ruled on motions to lift stay on PA 436 lawsuits 

Rhodes earlier denied eloquent motions filed by the Official Retirees Committee, constituted at Orr’s request, to stay the bankruptcy proceedings until a higher-level U.S. District Court determines matters of constitutionality vis-à-vis the state and the federal government. 

Cancel the Debt banner has been at every rally against EM Orr and bankruptcy case.

The Committee said in its filing, “. . . if Chapter 9 is as broad as the Emergency Manager [Kevyn Orr] contends, then Chapter 9 is unconstitutional and the City cannot be a debtor in Chapter 9.” 

Rhodes has not yet ruled on motions filed by the Michigan NAACP et al and Phillips et al to lift the stay on two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of PA 436, the Emergency Manager law which put Orr in place. The suits have been pending before U.S. District Court Judge George Caram Steeh since before Orr’s July 18 Chapter 9 filing, and challenge Orr’s capacity to file bankruptcy as an unelected official. 

More babies showed up; their futures are at stake.

Clearly angry at Rhodes’ stay, Steeh ruled, “Although it is not apparent that any interests of the City of Detroit bankruptcy proceedings are implicated in the case, the plain language of the stay order would apply to this lawsuit. In accordance with the broadly worded Extension Order issued by the bankruptcy court, this court will abide by the stay unless and until such time as an order issues lifting or modifying the stay to permit the captioned matter to proceed.” (Emphasis added in Phillips brief). 

Firefighters were out in force.

According to his Oct. 24 order, Rhodes appears to be planning to decide the constitutional questions himself during the eligibility trial, despite his lower role in federal court. He has said that objectors can still appeal his actions to the District Court.

Meanwhile, however, Orr is moving full speed ahead with the dismantling of Detroit, having ordered a state lease of Belle Isle, a takeover of the Public Lighting Department, and a $349 million “debtor-in-possession” loan from Barclay’s, a chief participant in the global LIBOR interest rate-rigging scandal.

Barclay’s loan awaits Rhodes approval 

Protesters compared Detroit takeover to apartheid.

Orr’s Barclay’s proposal must still be approved by Rhodes. The loan is intended to pay off UBS AG and Bank of America, other LIBOR participants who have been sued by government regulators across the world,  on a $250 million swap deal.

The deal is related to the disastrous 2005 $1.5 billion pension obligation certificate loan pressed on Detroit by Wall Street ratings agencies Standard and Poor’s and Fitch, and implemented by former Detroit CFO Sean Werdlow, who promptly took a position with UBS AG’s minority partner in the deal, Siebert, Brandford and Shank. 

That deal would cut off any further action by Detroit to recoup the losses it suffered on the debt when the stock market crashed in 2008, or the cancellation of the entire debt if it was negotiated under fraudulent circumstances. Attorney Vanessa Fluker demanded at the City Council hearing on the debt that Orr obey the dictates of PA 436 and investigate any criminal actions which contributed to the city’s financial crisis.

Protesters chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets! Whose city? Our city!”

Related stories:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/10/27/jpmorgan-said-to-reach-13-billion-u-s-settlement-on-mortgage-bond-sales/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/10/22/a-grand-heist-detroit-city-council-people-say-no-to-banks-em-barclays/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/10/09/constitutional-civil-human-rights-before-detroit-bankruptcy-groups-say-protest-tues-oct-15-10-am/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/09/28/nan-to-protest-detroit-bankruptcy-filing-tues-oct-15-10-am-fights-police-brutality-in-ohio/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/09/23/detroit-retirees-residents-committee-blast-bankruptcy-filing-at-court-hearings/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/09/17/official-retirees-committee-in-detroit-bankruptcy-blasts-em-orr-gov-snyder-asks-for-stay-pending-higher-court-ruling-what-will-judge-rhodes-do-sept-19/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/09/09/illitch-plans-881-million-red-wings-stadium-project-with-public-funds-despite-detroit-bankruptcy-filing/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/09/09/detroit-bankruptcy-filing-slows-michigan-bond-sales-84-high-interest-rates-cited/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/08/27/secrecy-of-detroit-bankruptcy-docs-release-of-casino-taxes-swaps-retirees-committee-at-issue/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/08/20/detroit-bankruptcy-objections-raise-possible-bank-crimes-related-to-poc-debt-and-casino-tax-deal-hundreds-protest-banks-in-downtown-detroit/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/08/20/detroit-schools-set-to-pay-hefty-rates-on-92-million-bond-due-to-city-bankruptcy-filing/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/08/16/state-stays-lawsuits-vs-em-law-pa-436-citing-detroit-chapter-9-bankruptcy-filing/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/08/16/no-banker-left-behind-in-detroit-bankruptcy-case/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/08/12/rush-to-detroit-bankruptcy-judge-sides-with-em-orr-aug-2-approves-retirees-committee-prematurely-sets-breakneck-deadlines/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/07/29/war-retirees-workers-residents-v-wall-street-in-detroit-bankruptcy-judge-throws-out-state-claims/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/07/23/detroit-bankruptcy-snyder-orr-want-retirees-suits-dumped-while-creditor-ubs-announces-high-profits-hearing-wed-july-24-10-a-m-judge-rhodes/

Civil settlement does not exempt Chase officials from criminal prosecution

By Tom Schoenberg, Dawn Kopecki, Hugh Son & Dakin Campbell

Oct 20, 2013

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s record $13 billion deal to end U.S. probes of its mortgage-bond sales would free the nation’s largest bank from mounting civil disputes with the government while leaving a criminal inquiry unresolved.

Protesters in Birmingham, Alabama, where Montgomery County bankruptcy resulted in cancellation of 75 percent of debt to Chase due to bank’s fraudulent practices. Sewage customers, however, were burdened with higher rates. JPMorgan and Chase are among Detroit’s largest creditors in its current bankruptcy.

The tentative pact with the Department of Justice increased from an $11 billion proposal last month and would mark the largest amount paid by a financial firm in a settlement with the U.S. The deal wouldn’t release the bank from potential criminal liability, at the insistence of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, according to terms described by a person familiar with the talks, who asked not to be named because they were private.

The jump in legal expenses forced Jamie Dimon, chairman, president and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., last week to report the bank’s only quarterly loss on his watch.

“To not get the waiver from criminal prosecution is not good,” said Nancy Bush, a bank analyst who founded NAB Research LLC in New Jersey. “What we’re looking for in a settlement of this size is certainty from things like the criminal prosecution of a company. The Street wants certainty.”

Chase CEO Jamie Dimon

JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, 57, personally discussed the deal with Holder after markets closed Oct. 18 as the banker sought to end probes that have beset his firm and resulted in its first quarterly loss under his watch. The agreement, which isn’t yet final, includes $4 billion in relief for unspecified consumers and $9 billion in payments and fines, according to another person briefed on the terms.

The payouts would cover a $4 billion accord with the Federal Housing Finance Agency over the bank’s sale of mortgage-backed securities, that person said. The deal, which may be announced in the coming week, also resolves pending inquiries by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the people said.

Dwarfing Pay

Metro Detroiters protest Chase’s proposed eviction of Gregorio Martinez outside local Chase branch in Detroit.

The settlement would amount to more than half of JPMorgan’s record $21.3 billion profit last year, or 1.5 times what the firm’s corporate and investment bank set aside to pay employees during this year’s first nine months. Only seven companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average earned more than $13 billion in 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Some portions of the deal, such as relief to homeowners, would probably be tax deductible for JPMorgan.

The outline of the tentative accord was reached during a telephone call between Holder, Dimon, JPMorgan General Counsel Stephen Cutler and Associate U.S. Attorney General Tony West, said the person. The settlement’s statement of facts is still being negotiated.

Bondholder Concerns

Holder told Dimon that a release from the criminal inquiry wouldn’t be forthcoming as part of any deal, said the person familiar with their talks. The accord will probably require JPMorgan to cooperate in criminal investigations of individuals tied to wrongdoing associated with the bank’s mortgage practices, said the person.

JP Morgan and other banks don’t want to be “saddled with costs” to reimburse homeowners, the victims of their fraud.

Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Justice Department, and Matt Mittenthal, a spokesman for Schneiderman, declined to comment.

The possible inclusion of homeowner relief has revived concerns among mortgage-bond investors that efforts to ease the financial burdens of millions of Americans may lower the value of instruments held by Wall Street money managers.

The Association of Mortgage Investors, representing mutual funds and pensions, urged Holder in an Oct. 7 letter not to let banks saddle them with costs associated with relief for mortgage borrowers. Banks settling claims of underwriting lapses often service debts in bonds held by others, who can wind up bearing the burden of breaks granted to homeowners.

Talks Intensify

JPMorgan’s push to settle the mortgage probes and other cases required a $7.2 billion charge in the third quarter, causing the bank to report a $380 million loss on Oct. 11. The firm has tapped $8 billion of $28 billion in reserves set aside since 2010 to cover its legal expenses.

Protest in 2010 against Chase and We.lls Fargo in Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland, CA

Those costs follow three years of record profits that have driven the stock higher. JPMorgan’s shares have climbed 72 percent since the end of 2008, compared with a 48 percent gain in the KBW Bank Index of 24 U.S. firms. On the day the firm reported its quarterly loss, the stock closed little changed. It has since climbed 3.4 percent.

“It looks like they are gradually becoming able to put the past and the crisis behind them,” said Craig Pirrong, professor of finance at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business whose research includes risk management. “It’s an expensive history lesson, and they are not out of the woods yet.”

JPMorgan’s push to end the mortgage probes intensified last month after the U.S. Attorney’s office in Sacramento, California, told the bank it was preparing to bring a case. Authorities there already had concluded there were civil violations and opened a criminal probe, JPMorgan said in an August regulatory filing. Continue reading →

Aiyana Jones’ grandmother Mertilla Jones marches Oct. 21, 2013 with familes of Davontae Sanford, Lamar Grable, Cornell Squires, and other victims of Detroit police killings and brutality.

Schlenkerman convicted previously of 7 felonies, domestic violence

Davontae Sanford still fighting to withdraw guilty plea after six years

Charles Jones/Chauncey Owens’ trial begins next week 

Schlenkerman at Charles Jones exam Jan. 26, 2012.

By Diane Bukowski

October 28, 2013 

DETROIT – As the first-degree murder trial of Charles Jones and Chauncey Owens begins next week, VOD has learned that the chief witness against Jones, “jail-house snitch” Jay Schlenkerman,  as Jones’ attorney termed him, was charged with three more serious felonies in April, adding to a long list detailed in earlier VOD stories.

Schlenkerman pled guilty to the offenses “Operating while intoxicated,” “Police Officer—fleeing—Third Degree; and “Operating-License Suspended, Revoked, Denied” in front of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Michael Callahan in July, according to court records. But he was mysteriously allowed to withdraw his guilty plea in August, then later had his bond reduced from $60,000 to $5,000 and was freed on tether in September.  Click on Schlenkerman ROA to read details of charges and actions against Schlenkerman.

Previous charges against ‘jail-house’ snitch Jay Schlenkerman, per court records.

The statute cited in the second charge indicates that it involved a vehicular collision. Schlenkerman’s original attorney withdrew from his case Sept. 20, and was replaced by court-appointed attorney Ronald P. Weitzman. 

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Aiyana’s grandmother Mertilla Jones said. “How does he keep getting away with beating on women and fleeing from the police, when if he was Black, they would have whipped his a- – and locked him up?” 

Schlenkerman was convicted of six felony counts involving drunk driving beginning in 2000, one felony count of assaulting a police officer, and a slew of misdemeanor domestic violence charges, including one in 2011 where he nearly killed the victim. He served two years in the Michigan Department of Corrections and shorter sentences in local jails. (See box at right.)

An advocate for Davontae Sanford noted that the withdrawal of Schlenkerman’s guilty plea contrasts harshly with Sanford’s case, based on a confession made at the age of 14 to four drug-house murders in 2007.  An Appeals Court just ruled, over the objection of the prosecutor, that Vincent Smothers, who has confessed to the killings and exonerated Sanford, must be allowed to testify at Sanford’s next plea withdrawal hearing. 

“The disparity vis-a-vis Davontae Sanford in [the prosecutor] fighting to keep his ill-advised induced plea in place while Mr. Schlenkerman’s request was not even contested speaks volumes of the shady deals they cut with the real criminals at that corner on St. Antoine!” said paralegal Roberto Guzman. 

Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller, chief of communications for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, had not responded to a request for a statement before this story went to press. Schlenkerman’s attorney Weitzman said he could not comment due to attorney-client privilege. 

Roberto Guzman leads chants during joint Oct. 21, 2013 march at Frank Murphy Hall.

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Richard Skutt is hearing the Jones/Owens cases, with jury selection for Owens set for Mon. Oct. 28 and for Jones on Tues. Oct. 29. They are charged with killing Je’Rean Blake, 17, two days before Detroit police conducted a military-style raid on the Jones’ home, seeking Owens as a suspect in that case, and ended up shooting Aiyana Jones, 7. 

The two are co-defendants, but will face separate juries. 

Judge Skutt earlier barred Schlenkerman’s testimony against Jones, but the prosecutor appealed and Judge Skutt’s ruling was overturned at the state Appeals and Supreme Court levels. Jones has languished at the Wayne County Jail since Nov. 2011 awaiting decisions from the higher courts before going to trial. 

Aiyana Jones and little brother Carlos, who was in the house with the rest of her family when she was shot to death/Photo Dominika Jones

Schlenkerman and Owens were incarcerated at the Wayne County Jail Dickerson facility in 2011. Schlenkerman falsely testified at Jones’ preliminary exam in Jan. 2012 that he had been convicted of only one felony despite his actual record. He then claimed that Owens told him in great detail that Jones had given him the gun to kill Blake. 

Jones was not charged until 17 months after Aiyana’s killing by Officer Joseph Weekley.  Jones, Aiyana’s mother Dominika Jones and their toddler sons, grandmother Mertilla Jones, uncle Vincent Ellis, cousin Mark Robinson and great-aunt   Robinson were present in the lower flat on Detroit’s east side as police, pouring from a military vehicle,  tossed an incendiary grenade inside, stormed the house, and killed Aiyana with an MP-5 submachine gun. 

Aiyana Jones’ father Charles Jones is comforted by her great aunt JoAnn Robinson and cousin Mark Robinson the morning of her death; Mark warned cops children were in house.

Chauncey Owens, Jones’ co-defendant, lived upstairs from the Jones’ family with his long-time fiance’ Krystal Jones, Aiyana’s aunt. Unlike daily media stories have said, he was not “hiding out” there when the home was invaded. It was his residence. Evidence at the Weekley trial called into question whether he was actually guilty in the death of Blake. His attorney David Cripps asked for a complete transcript of the Weekley trial file in order to defend his client.

Owens refused to testify against Charles Jones repeatedly during the exam proceedings and was charged with contempt of court by 36th District Court Judge E. Lynise Bryant-Weekes as a result.

Court records also show that Owens’ NEVER stated he gave Charles a gun, despite daily media reports that he confessed that in order to plead guilty to a second-degree murder charge. That plea deal was withdrawn after his refusal to testify against Jones, which resulted in Prosecutor Moran’s use of ‘jail-house snitch’ Schlenkerman instead.

Chauncey Owens refused to testify against Charles Jones at preliminary exam.

Weekley, who has been free on bond since Aiyana’s death, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm. His trial resulted in a hung jury on June 18, after the prosecution appeared to deliberately undermine the case by failing to challenge numerous questionable statements and evidence produced by Weekley’s defense attorney.

Weekley is scheduled for re-trial on December 4, 2013. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway, who is hearing his case, admitted that she and Asst. Prosecutor Robert Moran wanted Weekley’s trial set after the Jones/Owens trial.

According to Schlenkerman’s former fiancé, he has a history of functioning as a jail-house snitch, explaining why he is still free after 13 years of serious offenses. 

He was incarcerated at Dickerson for only six months in her domestic violence case, one among many filed by other women.  In court documents, she related the following:

Police file photo of some of Schlenkerman victim’s injuries after he beat her in face with his belt.

“Early morning, 1:30, he came home drunk and proceeded to beat me with a belt in face, upper body, vaginal area and groin, made me sleep in the bathroom, peed on me, and wouldn’t let me leave. He stuck his fingers up my butt and then in my mouth and told me that’s what a dirty whore tastes like.” 

She said she was held against her will in her home for three days, that Schlenkerman threatened to kill her, and that he had raped her before.  Brownstown Township police cited “kidnapping” in the first report they filed with Michigan State Police, but Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Opolla Brown changed the charge to misdemeanor domestic violence. 

Medical records in the court file show she was treated for a closed head injury, physical and sexual abuse, post-traumatic stress syndrome, likely leakage of cerebro-spinal fluid through her nose, and that she was experiencing “night terrors.”

Members of the Jones family including Aiyana’s aunt Krystal Jones at left, during Oct. 21, 2013 protest.

Related stories:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/05/15/judge-throws-out-jail-house-snitch-statement-against-aiyana-jones-dad-charles-jones/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/02/01/aiyana%e2%80%99s-dad-faces-trial-for-murder-based-on-%e2%80%9cjail-house-snitch%e2%80%9d-jay-schlenkerman%e2%80%99s-testimony/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/01/10/schlenkerman-brutally-abused-women-lied-served-mdoc-time-for-repeat-dui%e2%80%99s-but-is-%e2%80%98jail-house-snitch%e2%80%99-in-jones-case/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/12/24/prosecution-uses-%e2%80%98jail-house-snitch%e2%80%99-against-aiyana%e2%80%99s-dad-after-owens-again-refuses-to-testify-in-murder-case/

ABSTRACT

of

Exposing Judges’ Unaccountability and Consequent Riskless Wrongdoing:

Pioneering the news and publishing field of judicial unaccountability reporting

and

a Plan of Action to Achieve Legislated Judicial Reform

Based on Transparency, Accountability, Discipline by Citizen Boards, and

Liability of Judges and Judiciaries to Their Victims

Dr. Richard Cordero, Esq.

By Dr. Richard Cordero, Esq.

Judicial Discipline Reform

New York City

Dr.Richard.Cordero.Esq@gmail.com

http://Judicial-Discipline-Reform.org/OL/DrRCordero-Honest_Jud_Advocates.pdf

This study analyzes official statistics of the Federal Judiciary, legal provisions, and other publicly filed documents. It discusses how federal judges’ life-appointment; de facto unimpeachability and irremovability; self-immunization from discipline through abuse of the Judiciary’s statutory self-policing authority; abuse of its vast Information Technology resources to interfere with their complainants’ communications; the secrecy in which they cover their adjudicative, administrative, disciplinary, and policy-making acts; and third parties’ fear of their individual and close rank retaliation render judges unaccountable.

Their unaccountability makes their abuse of power riskless; the enormous amount of the most insidious corruptor over which they rule, money!, as well as other social and professional benefits make doing wrong to grab them tempting; and millions of in practice unreviewable cases make the temptation ever-present.

These are the means, motive, and opportunity for judges to do wrong and for their wrongdoing to be inevitable.

Judges do wrong in such regular, widespread, and coordinated fashion as to have turned wrongdoing into their institutionalized modus operandi and the Judiciary into the safe haven for judicial wrongdoers.

Their abuse of power entrusted to them by We the People is a betrayal of trust. Engaging in it and giving priority to covering it up to protect themselves and their peers injure in fact people’s rights, property, liberty, and life; and deprive the People of their fundamental human, civil, and due process right of access to fair and impartial courts.

Exposing the existence, scope, and gravity of their wrongdoing to the national public will cause such outrage as to enable the media and voters to force legislated, rather than voluntary, judicial reform, lest politicians be voted out of, or not into, office; this is realistic, as the Tea Party precedent shows.

The exposure is started by the study, whose publication will pioneer the news and publishing field of judicial unaccountability reporting. It can be continued at a presentation by the author held at a law school attended by its members and those of business, journalism, and IT schools, civil rights advocates, and the media.

Edward Snowden

The evidence of judges’ wrongdoing will introduce the call for ‘reverse surveillance’ over them by We the People, as opposed to the mass surveillance over the People by the NSA with judges’ rubberstamping approval revealed by Edward Snowden.

The presentation can give rise to the formation of a multidisciplinary team of students, professors, journalists, and civil rights advocates to conduct reverse surveillance through a Follow the money! and IT Follow the wire! investigation.

The team can organize the first of a series of multimedia conferences to report to the national public its findings and expose judges’ pattern of disregard of the law. It can announce the formation of a multidisciplinary academic and business venture to promote:

1. the establishment of local chapters to surveil, report, and advocate reform

• a) based on transparency, accountability, discipline, and judges’ and the Judiciary’sliability to their victims, and
• b) implemented with the aid of citizen boards;

2. the creation of a for-profit institute to conduct IT research, educate, publish, etc.; and

3. the submission of articles on judges’abuse of power and secrecy for publication in a volume that can lead to a periodical.

Such reform will be of historic proportions although it will only implement foundational principles of our republic:

We the People are the only source of sovereign power, who entrust a portion of it to each public servant and to whom each is accountable, for none is beyond our control or above the law.

The reform can begin in the Federal Judiciary and extend to Congress, the Executive Branch, the states, and the rest of the world. A new We the People-government paradigm can emerge: the People’s Sunrise.

Those who are instrumental in its emergence can become recognized here and abroad as the People’s Champions of Justice.

For information on staging the presentation, contact Dr. Cordero at Dr.Richard.Cordero.Esq@gmail.com.

Dare trigger history!

http://Judicial-Discipline-Reform.org/OL/DrRCordero-Honest_Jud_Advocates.pdf

©2013 Richard Cordero. All rights reserved. A license is hereby granted for distributing and reprinting this article, provided it is distributed and reprinted in its entirety, without addition or modification and with inclusion of this copyright note; proper attribution is made to the author, Dr. Richard Cordero, Esq.; and its link accompanies it: http://Judicial-Discipline-Reform.org/OL/DrRCordero-Honest_Jud_Advocates.pdf >Lsch:8.

HBO: Paul Schiraldi/
Rob Brown as Delmod Lambreaux in Season 3 of ‘Treme’.

Third NYC lawsuit in one week about shopping while Black

October 26, 2013

NEW YORK — A black actor on the HBO drama series “Treme” said in a lawsuit on Friday that he was stopped because of his race while buying sunglasses at Macy’s — the third discrimination allegation made this week by a black shopper against a department store.

Robert Brown, who filed the lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, said he was detained by police at the flagship Herald Square store on June 8 after employees contacted authorities about possible credit card fraud.

Related: Teen says undercover cops at Barneys collared him unfarily

Related: Black woman says Hooters fired her over blond highlights

Macy’s Herald Square store.

He said he was “paraded while handcuffed” through the store to a holding cell, where he was kept for nearly an hour while officers grilled him and searched his bag. His lawsuit said Macy’s employees suggested he couldn’t afford to make such an expensive purchase. He eventually was released without charges.

The department store was profiling Brown because of his race, said his lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages.

“This is about justice, not money,” Brown’s lawyer John Elefterakis said.

Macy’s didn’t comment on the litigation but said in a statement it was investigating.

Trayvon Christian

The New York Police Department is accused in the lawsuit of violating Brown’s constitutional rights. The city’s Law Department said it would review the claims once it received a copy of the lawsuit.

Earlier this week, two Barneys New York customers came forward with similar stories. Trayon Christian and Kayla Phillips, who are Black, said they were detained by police after making expensive purchases at the store.

Police said they were already in the store when Christian was taken into custody and they were contacted by the store after Phillips used a temporary debit card.

Kayla Phillips

The accusations prompted an outcry from civil rights groups, with the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network threatening to picket the store. Sharpton said he planned to hold a Saturday news conference at which other shoppers who felt profiled would come forward.

The Barneys profiling claims also incited criticism on Twitter and an online petition asking rapper Jay-Z, who’s collaborating with the luxury retailer for a holiday collection, to disassociate from it. An email to his representative seeking comment was unanswered.

Barneys said on Thursday it had retained a civil rights expert to lead a review of its policies and procedures and had reached out to community leaders to start a dialogue. The CEO of Barneys, Mark Lee, offered his “sincere regret and deepest apologies.”

In the lawsuit against Macy’s, Brown, who also acted in “Don Jon” and “Finding Forrester,” said he tried to show police officers his identification to prove his credit/debit card wasn’t a fake but was told it was phony. He said he also produced the ID when buying the sunglasses.

Barney’s on Madison Avenue, NYC

Earlier this week, Christian sued Barneys, saying he was accused of fraud after using his debit card to buy a $349 Ferragamo belt in April. Phillips said in a notice of claim filed with the city that undercover officers detained her after she bought a $2,500 designer bag at Barneys in February.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said it’s standard practice for retailers to call police after they believe crimes are committed in stores and the cases are under investigation.

Teen with plastic pellet gun mourns death of his friend Andy Lopez. Photo/Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Third Fatal Officer involved shooting in Sonoma County in one month

By Martin Espinoza

SANTA ROSA PRESS DEMOCRAT

October 22, 2013, 3:42 PM

Andy Lopez

Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a 13-year-old boy Tuesday afternoon during an encounter in a southwest Santa Rosa neighborhood.

The boy’s father, Rodrigo Lopez, identified the teen as Andy Lopez and said he had been carrying a toy gun that belonged to a friend.

Santa Rosa and Petaluma police detectives are investigating the shooting. Interviews were conducted throughout Tuesday night, Santa Rosa Lt. Paul Henry said Wednesday morning.

Police officials were meeting Wednesday morning to get debriefed on the investigation and then planned to release more information, Henry said.

Sheriff’s officials early Wednesday declined to comment on the case, referring questions to Santa Rosa police.

The names of the deputies involved also haven’t been released. They’ve been placed on administrative leave, which is standard in such cases.

Maria Chavez comforts daughter Yaritz Romez, 14, at memorial. Photo Beth Schlanker PD

It was unclear Tuesday whether the rifle, which sheriff’s officials characterized as a replica, was capable of firing BBs or other projectiles.

Rodrigo Lopez said the last time he saw his son was Tuesday morning before he left for work.

“I told him what I tell him every day,” he said in Spanish, standing in the doorway of his mobile home near Moorland Avenue and Todd Road. “Behave yourself.”

The family had just returned home at about 9:15 p.m. from identifying Andy Lopez’s body.

The boy’s mother, Sujey Annel Cruz Cazarez, was grief-stricken in the living room.

“Why did they kill him? Why?” she said.

At 3 p.m., two sheriff’s deputies patrolling in the area of Moorland and West Robles avenues observed Lopez walking with what sheriff’s officials said appeared to be some type of rifle.

The deputies called for backup and repeatedly ordered the boy to drop the rifle, Sheriff’s Lt. Dennis O’Leary said in a news release.

At some point after the deputies told Lopez to drop the rifle, they fired several rounds from their handguns at the boy, who was hit multiple times, O’Leary said.

Andy Lopez body is covered up by sheriff’s deputies after he was shot to death for toy gun. Photo: PD

After telling Lopez to move away from the rifle, deputies approached the unresponsive teen as he lay on the ground and handcuffed him before administering first aid and calling for medical assistance, O’Leary said.

Lopez was later pronounced dead at the scene. Neither deputy was injured, said Sheriff’s Lt. Steve Brown. Sheriff’s officials did not release the names of the deputies Tuesday, but said both had been placed on administrative leave.

Neighor passes by memorial with his child.

After securing the scene, deputies discovered the rifle the teen was carrying was a replica of an assault weapon, O’Leary said. Deputies also found a plastic handgun in the teen’s waistband.

The shooting took place at the edge of a field. The area was cordoned off for hours with yellow police tape. An ambulance and numerous patrol cars from both the Santa Rosa Police Department and Sheriff’s Office surrounded the area.

Moorland Avenue was initially closed from West Robles to Corby avenues.

Neither the Sheriff’s Office, nor the Santa Rosa Police Department, which is leading the investigation into the shooting, would release the boy’s name Tuesday.

Eduardo Diaz, a friend of Rodrigo Lopez, said Tuesday evening that he received a phone call and learned the boy was dead.

Cook Middle School students mourn Andy’s death.

 Diaz said the boy’s family lived near the corner of Todd Road and Moorland Avenue. The family said the boy recently attended Cook Middle School but had transferred to another school.

Moorland Avenue was blocked at Todd Road late Tuesday night.

At a little after 9 p.m., a police investigator’s SUV pulled up to the family’s home, a mobile home located on a property that has at least two other homes.

The boy’s mother, distraught and in tears, came out of the SUV accompanied by someone who appeared to be a family member.

She walked back to her home escorted by police investigators. Neighbors said she had been taken to identify the body of her son.

Two law enforcement chaplains arrived soon afterward. The mother’s cries could be heard from the dark driveway as the chaplains walked back to the residence in the rear of the property. Continue reading →

VOD Videojournalist Kenneth Snodgrass

Detroit’s Bus System Victim of Crime & Budgeting! A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass

Published on Oct 22, 2013

In April 2012, Mayor David Bing slashed the budget of the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) by $12.6 million and transferred management over to a private company. This has led to the shutting down of numerous bus routes. Many weekend and all overnight bus service ended.

Long lines, packed buses hurt both drivers and riders.

It’s been a year and a half since Mayor Bing has privatized the management of our public bus system, and the service has worsened dramatically. The city is now under the control of Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, who was appointed by the governor and given full governing powers, and who is probably planning another round of cuts and privatizations.

– – A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass
Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of
1} From Victimization To Empowerment… www.trafford.com/07-0913  eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com
2} The World As I’ve Seen It! My Greatest Experience!
{Photo Book}

YouTube: I have over 477 Video’s, 318 Subscribers, over 207,000 hits, now averaging 10,000 monthly on my YouTube channel @ www.YouTube.com/KennySnod

Members of various coalitions against “grand heist:” rally outside CAYMC before meeting Oct. 21, 2013,

Council votes down Orr’s deal but is to consider alternative Oct. 23 

Councilwoman Watson lays out details of $1.5 B POC loan fraud 

Mass rally set for Oct. 23 8 a.m. as bankruptcy eligibility trial begins in Federal Courthouse at 231 W. Lafayette in downtown Detroit 

By Diane Bukowski 

October 22, 2013 

City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson at table Oct. 21, 2013. She also testified against bankruptcy eligibility in front of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes.

DETROIT – In a stinging rebuke to the banks which have virtually destroyed Detroit, and to Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s bankruptcy plans, the City Council on Oct. 21 unanimously rejected a proposed $350 million loan deal with Barclay’s Capital, a chief culprit in the world-wide LIBOR interest-rigging scandal. 

City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson called the deal, embodied in Orr’s Executive Order #17, a “grand heist.”  Prominent objectors in a packed chambers also denounced the package, saying they were “shocked and horrified” by its terms. They included representatives of the revered Shrine of the Black Madonna, Michigan Forward, Moratorium Now, Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management, Free Detroit/No Consent, and the National Cummings Foundation. 

Cardinal Baye Landy of the Shrine of the Black Madonna.

“You have the duty to stand up and fight against tyranny and the subjugation and oppression of our people,” Cardinal Baye Landy of the Shrine told the Council. Detroit is the largest Black-majority city in the U.S. and in the world outside of Africa. 

The loan deal would throw the city deeper into debt, paying off a $250 million interest swaps arrangement with two other globally disgraced banks, UBS AG and Bank of America, at high interest rates. In the event of default, it would be backed by city and casino income taxes amounting to $96 million a year, as well as the proceeds from any sale of city assets exceeding $10 million. 

Terms of the “forbearance agreement” embodying the loan would prevent the city from suing recoup losses from the related predatory $1.5 billion Pension Obligation Certificate (POC) loan negotiated in 2005 with UBS AG and Siebert, Brandford and Shank. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes still must rule on that agreement in the face of numerous creditor objections, particularly from the pension funds and the Official Retirees Committee. 

Detroit EM Kevyn Orr.

Meanwhile, the daily media reports, Orr has introduced an alternate deal into the fray, which the Council is to consider at 8:30 AM Oct. 23, just as a mass protest takes place outside the federal courthouse, signaling the start of the bankruptcy eligibility trial. 

City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson crystallized objections to the swap deal as well as the POC loan on Oct. 21. 

“Barclay’s has the nerve to say the agreement would be in default if the Emergency Manager goes away,” Watson said. “That is outrageous on its face because Public Act 436 [the EM law] violates the Constitution. We need to sue those responsible for the 2005 deal. Wall Street came to the table to advocate the potentially fraudulent and biggest [POC] deal of its kind in the history of the country. Detroit’s CFO Sean Werdlow under Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pushed for the loan then took a job with one of the lenders and is still with them today. The police were called out to force those Council members to the table who did not want a quorum present to vote on it.” 

Former Detroit CFO Sean Werdlow, Bill Doherty of SBS, Joe O’Keefe of Fitch Ratings, Steven Murphy of Standard and Poor’s, and former Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams press for POC loan deal at City Council table Jan. 31, 2005/Photo by Diane Bukowski

Under PA 436, the Council has seven days to propose an alternative to the plan. 

“This loan makes the banks richer and the retirees and the city poorer,” Councilwoman Brenda Jones said. “It is setting the city up for failure. Neither PA 436 nor Orr’s Executive Order #17 [on the Barclay’s loan] are helping our city. The alternative is to vote NO with a strong resolution.” 

Councilwoman Brenda Jones.

Watson added, “The alternative is also to pay nothing, and call for litigation to force them to pay back [the 2oo5 deal]. These are the same folks who got paid by destroying Detroit with foreclosures and are refusing to let $500 million in Hardest Hit Funds come to Detroit.” 

Noting that Chase Bank has just been forced to pay a record $15 billion fine for fraudulent mortgages and foreclosures, attorney Jerome Goldberg of Moratorium NOW! said, “This is horrendous. Even in Jefferson County, Alabama, Chase had to give up 75 percent of money owed to it. It is only here in Detroit, the hardest hit city in the country, that we are paying the banks instead of them paying us.” 

The terms of the Barclay’s loan would GIVE  75 cents on the dollar to UBS AG and BOA. 

“The Wall Street Journal is reporting that there has been an increase in municipal bankruptcies now, with 20 filings in 2013,” Cindy Darrah, who was recently brutalized by Council police, noted. “Barclay’s is from England. Orr might as well go there too with the King of England because he thinks he’s the king here. This deal means we’ll have the Emergency Manager forever!” 

Brandon Jessup of Michigan Forward testifies as city retirees Cecily McClellan and Cheryl Labash await their turn.

Brandon Jessup, CEO of the Michigan Forward Urban Affairs Group, said, “Since 2008, Detroit has sent nearly $800 million in unnecessary payments to Wall Street banks, including a $550 million pay-out just last year. Executive Order No. 17 puts big banks in front of our seniors and city retirees, costing them up to 90 percent of their income to secure hundreds of millions in predatory Wall Street lending.” 

Barclay’s CEO Bob Diamond was forced to step down in wake of LIBOR scandal.

Jessup led the historic and successful referendum drive to put Public Act 4, the predecessor to PA 436, on the ballot, where Michigan voters trounced it by 53 percent last November, with 82 out of 86 counties voting “No.” 

A briefing published by Michigan Forward says, “The loan repayments would have priority over all other post-petition claims, according to an analysis by Crain’s. And in addition to an undisclosed ‘commitment fee’ Barclay’s would get, the loan carries an interest rate based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus 2%, plus a 1% LIBOR floor, translating into an effective rate of 3.5%. If the city defaults, the spread rises by another 200 basis points.” (Click on MI Forward on Barclay deal for full document.)

(L to r) Saqib Batti, Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellerman, Atty. Tom Stephens testify against deal.

Saquib Batti, a fellow with the National Cummings Foundation, told the Council, “This is just another example of big banks pushing predatory deals onto cash-strapped cities. The purpose of this special financing deal is to ensure that Bank of America and UBS can cash out on their swap deals with the city before a penny goes to city services. These swap agreements are a gold mine for Wall Street.” 

Abiyomi Azikiwe of Moratorium Now added, “Barclay’s CEO was forced to resign in 2012 after their role in rigging interest rates in the LIBOR scandal was exposed. It is time to stand up against the banks and their racist government lackeys including Kevyn Orr.” 

(L to r) Atty. Vanessa Fluker, Abiyomi Azikiwe, and Atty. Jerome Goldberg testify against deal.

Sharon Feldman said, “I’m horrified and shocked at this deal negotiated by Jones Day, who also represents these banks. This is destructive to the youth of Detroit and to everybody. We don’t feel you are behind us. We cannot be left adrift without any support in the state from our officials.” 

Karen Hammer pointed out, “Only four percent of the city’s debt is money owed in pensions. Ninety-six percent is owed to the banks. But you have enshrined using our tax dollars to pay law firms to get them more money.

Crowd applauds City Council vote Oct. 21, 2013; their tune may change Oct. 23.

A few related VOD articles:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/10/18/protest-orrs-350-million-loan-deal-to-pay-off-banks-with-assets-income-and-casino-taxes-mon-oct-21-1-pm-caymc-wed-oct-23-8-am-fed-bldg/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/09/11/dennis-archer-former-consultant-to-detroit-lender-ubs-ag-meets-with-top-obama-aides-execs/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/08/20/detroit-bankruptcy-objections-raise-possible-bank-crimes-related-to-poc-debt-and-casino-tax-deal-hundreds-protest-banks-in-downtown-detroit/. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Protesters march outside Frank Murphy Hall in downtown Detroit Oct. 21, 2013.

Families display signs outside courthouse (l to r) Gabrielle and Dominique Harrison, Oct. 22 protester, Khalid Fareed, Roberto Guzman, unnamed, Gary of Oct. 22nd, Herman Vallery, Cornell Squires, unnamed, daughter of Taminko-Sanford-Tilmon at her left, Jermaine Tilmon, with grandson Omari.

Cases of Aiyana Jones, Davontae Sanford, Lamar Grable, Cornell Squires, Gary Doppelberger highlighted in first protest under new police chief

Craig’s promotions, endorsements of LAPD, Cincinnati cops, Stop/Frisk questioned 

October 22, 2013 

Aiyana’s cousin Rafael Jones (center) got his high school in Warren to devote a whole page in its yearbook to her.

DETROIT – The families of Aiyana Jones, Davontae Sanford, Lamar Grable, Cornell Squires, Gary Doppelberger, and other victims of Detroit police sent a message to newly-appointed Police Chief James Craig, his “All-Star Team,” and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy Oct. 21, chanting:  “You are not worthy—no police state!” 

Over 50 people rallied outside the Frank Murphy Hall in downtown Detroit to call for freedom for Aiyana’s father Charles Jones, whose trial was set to begin that day, and to observe the October 22^nd National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality.  Jury selection in Jones’ trial was re-set for Tues. Oct 29, with that of Chauncey Owens re-scheduled for Mon. Oct. 28.

J. Cole shows his love and support for Dominika Jones, Aiyana’s mother, during Detroit concert Oct. 10, 2013.

Aiyana Jones, 7, was shot to death by an MP-5 submachine gun wielded by Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley during a horrific military-style raid on her home May 16, 2010. 

Aiyana’s mother Dominika Stanley, grandmother Mertilla Jones, aunt Krystal Jones, and numerous other family members attended the rally to call for justice for Aiyana and freedom for Charles, who they say was framed up in the killing of Je’Rean Blake, 17, two days earlier. Questions remain as to Owens’ guilt in that case as well. 

Aiyana’s cousin Rafael Jones, who attends Lincoln High School in Warren, said, “I got my school to dedicate a whole page of their yearbook to Aiyana.”

Hundreds of young metro Detroiters attended a concert by J. Cole Oct. 10 at the Masonic Temple in Detroit. Cole has dedicated a video, “Crooked Smile,” to Aiyana and met with her mother and others during the concert.

Mark Robinson (l) with Aiyana’s father Charles Jones, classmate Diamond Hardy, showing her photo, on morning of her death May 16, 2010. Mark lost his own grandmother, JoAnn Robinson, present during the raid as well, not long after due to her traumatized state.

Aiyana’s cousin Mark Robinson, a key witness in the Weekley trial, which has been re-set to December 4 after a mistrial was declared earlier, was recently caught up in a series of what her family says are retaliatory frame-ups. He faces a court hearing Wed. Oct. 23 in 36^th District Court. Robinson testified at Weekley’s trial that he warned the raid team there were children in the home after they threw him to the ground outside the house. 

Herman Vallery, father of Lamar Grable, killed by three-time killer cop Eugene Brown in 1996, and Lamar’s mother Arnetta Grable initiated the protest after learning that Brown’s partner during the killing, Vicki Yost, was just promoted to Deputy Chief by Chief Craig, selected by Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr with no input from Mayor Dave Bing. 

“I feel that Vicki Yost had a little more to do with my son’s death than what was testified to,” Vallery said. “As Deputy Chief, she will be more out for the cops than for the people. This is part of a broader plan for how police are going to be handling people in Detroit in the days to come.” 

Herman Vallery, father of Lamar Grable, with Cornell Squires during protest.

Lamar Grable’s family won a $4 million jury verdict against Brown after a lengthy civil trial during which renowned forensic pathologist Werner Spitz testified that Grable, 20, was literally “executed” by Brown. Yost was promoted several times after the killing. Multiple brutality lawsuits, including one filed by the Michigan ACLU, were later brought against her in other cases. 

“It seems like all the cops who are violating people’s rights are being promoted,” said Cornell Squires, whose son was framed by new-promoted Deputy Chief David LeValley and his partner at the time, notorious William “Robocop” Melendez.  LeValley has been sued in federal court in multiple instances for brutality and misconduct. 

“This is consistent with Detroit Police Department practice,” Squires explained. “The worse you are, the better promotions you get. Being a bad cop does pay.” 

Melendez and 17 other southwest side cops were indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2003 in an L.A. “Ramparts” style scandal involving brutality, frame-ups, perjury and other allegations. Chief Craig spent 28 years with the LAPD and served on the internal police review board that whitewashed the Ramparts cops, many of whom went to prison while their victims were released. The LAPD came out from under a USDOJ consent decree after 13 years in June. 

Steve Baratta holds a photo of 19-month-old Suzie Pena, who was killed by LAPD SWAT in 2005. Baratta says Pena’s death was very emotional for him and further galvanized him in fighting police brutality. (Dan Bluemel / LA Activist)

But news articles show that police brutality in LA continued unabated after the Ramparts scandal subsided, while Craig was in command positions, until and after his 2009 retirement.  One incident in 2005 involved LA’s own Aiyana Jones, Suzie Pena, 19 months old when she was killed by an LA SWAT team. (See LA related articles at end of story.)

Craig lauded both the Los Angeles and Cincinnati Police Departments during his announcement of 43 promotions Oct. 8. Cincinnati cops also spent eight years under federal oversight after the police murders of 14 Black men. The murder of Timothy Thomas, 18, in 2001, sparked three days of rebellion in the Black community there. 

One of many NYC protests that led to judgment against Stop and Frisk.

Khalid Fareed expressed concern about Craig’s announcement that he will step up “Stop and Frisk” policies in Detroit, which have already been rampant on the streets of Detroit for at least the last two decades. In 2000, Squires confronted two cops who had stopped his son to frisk him and a cousin, and was beaten as a result. Attorneys in the city told this reporter, who was hearing numerous other such reports then, that each case had to be handled “on an individual basis.” 

“Stop and Frisk was just declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in New York,” Fareed said, referring to a class action lawsuit.  “It should be held as unconstitutional here as well.” (See: http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/08/13/an-end-to-nypds-racist-stop-and-frisk-what-you-need-to-know-about-landmark-ruling/,) 

Roberto Guzman leads chants during march.

The Rev. Richard Johnson El-Bey told VOD recently that he witnessed a crew of two white “skinhead” undercover cops stop a young Black man walking down the street in the Wyoming/Curtis area to make him show his ID and tell them where he was going. Shortly afterwards, Rev. Johnson El-Bey said, the same cops stopped a man who was unloading his truck in his own driveway, demanding his ID as well. 

Roberto Guzman, a paralegal who has provided support to numerous prisoners and their families, led chants during the march and called for the resignation of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy over the case of Davontae Sanford, 14 when Detroit police elicited a false confession from him to four drug-house murders in 2007. 

Davontae Sanford’s mother, her daughter and grandson, and father are at right, as Cornell Squires leads chants.

Admitted hitman Vincent Smothers later confessed to the killings, testifying Sanford had nothing to do with them. An appeals court ruled recently that Smothers and his attorney must be allowed to testify at a hearing to set aside Sanford’s guilty plea. 

Davontae Sanford at 14.

“Kym Worthy has no shame,” Guzman said. “She needs to set Davontae free, not tell us what it costs to run her office. She knows he is innocent.”

Sanford’s mother Taminko Sanford-Tilmon said, “We’re back at the Court of Appeals. Our lawyer has filed a motion to have a private investigator testify that he talked to Smothers as well. The Prosecutor’s office has 56 days to appeal, but we haven’t heard anything from them yet.”

The most recent report from Worthy’s office shows they have filed no appeal. 

Sanford’s stepfather Jermaine Tilmon told VOD, “It is the season for grace. He is coming home. He’s doing all right in prison, but he’s been under constant spiritual attack by the guards there after the news blew about the Appeals Court decision. Everybody needs to know how the prison system really is—brutality from the guards, sexual assaults on young prisoners. They’re targeting all the youngsters, not just those in prison but those outside in the world as well. I just pray the new Chief allows God to use him to make the right decisions.”  

Gabrielle and Stacy Harrison attended rally to protest police inaction in case of their father and fiance Gary Doppelberger.

The daughter and fiancé of Gary Doppelberger attended the rally as well. They say Detroit police have failed to do any real investigation of his death on Christmas Eve, six years ago. 

“He was found in his truck in his underwear,” said daughter Gabrielle Harrison. “The police told us it’s not illegal to dump a dead body in Detroit, and they have found no leads and done no investigation. My dad was silenced, but they are not going to silence us.” 

Her mother Stacy Harrison said, “It’s just really sad how this was handled. I had his cell phone, and the people we think we involved in his murder kept calling it. But the police did nothing. We know we will never get justice for him, but I feel sorry for the other families who are here today for their loved ones.” 

Detroit Police Chief Craig announces executive staff.

Detroit News reporter George Hunter reported regarding Chief Craig’s reaction to the protest, “Detroit Police Sgt. Michael Woody said Craig was willing to talk to Bukowski, but that she declined.  ‘Chief Craig has opened his doors to Ms. Bukowski and her fellow protestors to sit down and have an open discussion about her concerns, however she did not respond to the invitation,’ Woody said.”

 http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131021/METRO01/310210088/1409/METRO/Protesters-call-reforms-DPD-Wayne-Co-criminal-justice-system

In fact, Craig’s comments to VOD are reflected in the earlier article VOD did on his promotions, at http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/10/18/httpvoiceofdetroit-net20131018chief-craig-intensifies-detroit-police-state-march-mon-june-21-9-am-as-trial-of-aiyana-jones-father-opens-in-frank-murphy-to-new-dpd-hq/. VOD did not request a sit-down interview from the department’s official spokesperson Kelly Miner, only specific responses regarding specific allegations about the officers. 

Arnetta Grable said the families involved in the protest discussed an invitation to meet with Craig made by Kelly Miner, but said they were reluctant to do so because their past experience has shown that complaints about police brutality only bring more of the same.

To contact the Original Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, which sponsored this protest, call 313-768-7202.

Aiyana’s grandmother Mertilla Jones leads marchers.

 LA-related articles

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/24/in-los-angeles-questions-of-police-brutality-dog-lapd.html;

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/10/local/la-me-cop-shootings-20120610;

http://www.laactivist.com/2010/10/24/two-days-of-actions-against-police-brutality-reveals-unheard-voices/.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/later/reports.html 

Previous VOD article:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/10/18/httpvoiceofdetroit-net20131018chief-craig-intensifies-detroit-police-state-march-mon-june-21-9-am-as-trial-of-aiyana-jones-father-opens-in-frank-murphy-to-new-dpd-hq/