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Stockton city worker leaves city hall in Feb. 2013. His pension and those of thousands of public retirees is under attack by banking and corporate creditors during Stockton bankruptcy battle.

Bankruptcy Court Signals That Public Pension Obligations Could Be Impaired in Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Along With Other Creditors 

Client Alert by Latham & Watkins Finance Department

April 5, 2013

STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA

U.S. Chief Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein, California

 On April 1, 2013, Judge Christopher Klein, Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California, ruled that the City of Stockton, California, could proceed with its chapter 9 bankruptcy filing. Judge Klein’s decision affirmed Stockton’s status as the largest US city (population 300,000) to have successfully sought bankruptcy protection and proceed with bankruptcy.

Judge Klein’s comments on the record may also signal that the resolution of Stockton’s chapter 9 will require the impairment of the city’s pension obligations. Such a result would mark new territory in chapter 9 cases — although Congress provided the right to impair such pension  obligations under chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code, no municipality to date has successfully taken this approach in a bankruptcy case.

CalPERS offices.

Stockton must now develop a plan of adjustment to restructure its obligations. If Judge Klein’s comments empower Stockton to successfully compel a restructuring of pension obligations over the objection of the powerful California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), that precedent could open the floodgates for other cities across  California and the United States to file bankruptcy and seek similar concessions.

The City of Stockton, 80 miles east of San Francisco, filed for chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in June, 2012.3 At the time of filing, Stockton reported that its financial crisis left it with no other options available. The city had $800 million in unfunded liabilities, a $26 million budget shortfall and a 22 percent unemployment rate, and more than half of its residents’ homes were worth less than their mortgages. Stockton’s initial plan to emerge from bankruptcy included cuts of $197.5 million in bond debt, as well as other concessions from creditors.

California retirees protest cuts.

CalPERS, the largest creditor, held claims of $147.5 million against Stockton, but Stockton’s initial plan provided for payment in full of CalPERS’ claims. The release of Stockton’s Restructuring Proposal in July, 2012 triggered a legal battle from bondholders and other creditors, who challenged the favorable treatment provided to CalPERS and argued that CalPERS should be treated on a pari passu basis with other creditors. The bondholders and other senior creditors (the Capital Markets Creditors) argued that Stockton was targeting the Capital Markets Creditors for unfair discriminatory treatment and had not filed its bankruptcy petition in good faith because the city sought concessions from Capital Markets Creditors without also seeking comparable concessions from CalPERS.

Judge Klein rejected the Capital Markets Creditors’ claims, including the claim that Stockton was required to negotiate for concessions with CalPERS. Judge Klein found sufficient evidence that Stockton had negotiated in good faith, including documentation of over 90 days of meetings and negotiations with creditors. He also ruled that the city had no requirement under the law to attempt to negotiate with CalPERS as a precondition to be eligible for chapter 9. Despite that ruling, Judge Klein’s comments on the record portend a potentially different outcome for CalPERS later in the process to confirm a plan of adjustment necessary for Stockton’s exit from chapter 9.

According to Judge Klein, “[i]t’s no secret [creditors] have CalPERS in the crosshairs of the dispute.”6 and that, absent impairment of CalPERS claims, “the City is going to have a difficult time confirming a plan over an objection and claim of unfair discrimination” by other creditors. Judge Klein’s remarks are significant because they suggest that CalPERS  may no longer hold a privileged position as a relatively untouchable creditor. While retirees have recently had their rights impaired under bankruptcy, other municipal debtors — such as in the high-profile case involving the City of Vallejo — have been reluctant to impair pension obligations, often believing that such pension plans are necessary to incentivize and retain the remaining downsized workforce.  

CITY OF VALLEJO, CA.

When the City of Vallejo, 70 miles west of Stockton, filed for bankruptcy in 2008, the issues of retiree benefits and pension obligations were also contested by unions and interest groups. Certain public sector unions challenged Vallejo’s authority to cancel retirees’ health coverage and collective bargaining agreements as being in violation of California’s labor laws. Bankruptcy Judge Michael S. McManus found that under bankruptcy law, the city could impair such rights, and US District Judge John A. Mendez affirmed. On appeal, Judge Mendez determined if a state permits its  municipalities to opt into chapter 9 federal law in the first place the state cannot impose other state provisions that later conflict with the federal law.

According to Judge Mendez, “[i]f California had desired to restrict the ability of its municipalities to reject public employee contracts in light of state labor law, it could have done so as a pre-condition to seeking relief under Chapter 9.”  In August, 2011, Vallejo confirmed its plan of adjustment, which paid unsecured creditors, including retirees, between 5 and 20 cents on the dollar. However, the City of Vallejo classified the pension obligations to CalPERS separately as unimpaired obligations unaffected by the Chapter 9 Plan of Adjustment.10

CITY OF SAN BERNADINO

San Bernandino

The city of San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles, filed for chapter 9 bankruptcy in August, 2012, claiming a “fiscal emergency” and citing a $45 million deficit and more than $1 billion of debts.11 While previous bankrupt cities in California (e.g. Vallejo and Stockton) continued to pay their CalPERS pension obligations while in bankruptcy, San Bernardino suspended all payments to creditors at the outset of its chapter 9 case, including CalPERS, while it crafted its restructuring plan.

CalPERS objected, challenging San Bernardino’s eligibility for bankruptcy and seeking permission from the Bankruptcy Court to authorize CalPERS to collect a $7 million bill in state court. CalPERS argued that an exemption in bankruptcy law permits states to enforce their police power and that under California law, pension obligations to CalPERS are senior to other unsecured debts and must be paid first.Bondholders objected.The issue is still pending before the bankruptcy court and like Stockton, will bring a battle between CalPERS (the world’s sixth largest pension fund) and the major bondholders and creditors.

STATE PENSIONS V. FEDERAL BANKRUPTCY LAW

Judge Klein’s comments on the record signal that bankruptcy courts may push municipalities to level the playing field and not give preferential treatment to state pension institutions over bondholders and other senior creditors. As Judge Klein wrote in the previous Stockton proceedings, “even if the plaintiffs’ benefits are vested property interests, the shield of the Contracts Clause crumbles in the bankruptcy arena.”14

The willingness and ability for municipalities to restructure pension obligations would make the powerful set of rights under chapter 9 — including the ability to restructure collective bargaining agreements and retiree medical benefits —even more attractive. Currently, approximately 27 states permit some or all of their municipalities to file for bankruptcy, although some of these states impose certain restrictions. Yet despite the benefits available to municipalities, cities have been reluctant to seek chapter 9 protection, citing the cost of filing and political unwillingness as key factors.

However, if the bankruptcy judges deciding Stockton  and San Bernardino’s fate decide that pension institutions like CalPERS must sit at the negotiating table with other general unsecured creditors, the precedent would be significant. Other cities across the country, desperate for solutions to their financial problems, may follow Stockton and San Bernardino into bankruptcy court.

WAYNE COUNTY JUDGE REMOVES DUGGAN FROM AUGUST 6TH BALLOT

JUNE 11, 2013

• Barrow Calls on Detroit City Clerk Winfrey to Immediately Resign

CONTACT: Tom Barrow, 313-922-7769 – Option 4

TEXT: Keyword “BARROW” to 313131  www.BarrowForMayor.Com 

Removal of Mike Duggan leaves Mayoral candidates Tom Barrow and Krystal Crittendon with greatly increased opportunities in their campaigns. Here, Barrow (l) and Crittendon (r), take part in a rally against the appointment of EM Kevyn Orr held at the Erma J. Henderson Auditorium. Barrow, a long-time CPA, spoke as a financial expert on the City’s economic condition, while Atty. Krystal Crittendon addressed the legal case against an EM. Both disparaged the Financial Review Team’s report on Detroit’s finances.

DETROIT (June 11) –In a stunning rebuke to the Detroit Election Commission and the Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Deputy Judge Lita Mashini Popke today ruled that Tom Barrow’s complaint seeking to remove mayoral candidate Mike Duggan was valid. Judge Popke also issued an immediate Mandamus Order requiring the Detroit Election Commission to remove Mike Duggan’s name from the August 6th Primary Ballot. She also awarded Barrow his fees and costs for the litigation. 

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Lita Popke

Mayoral candidate Tom Barrow told a stunned courtroom, “The People of Detroit witnessed the re-establishing of the rule of law in Detroit when this Judge upheld the plain language of the new Detroit City Charter. Contrary to those who would belittle us, Detroiters are wise,” said Barrow.

“Detroiters inserted a residency requirement for common sense reasons so as to prevent another outsider from moving in to become a false Messiah.” he explained. “Mr. Duggan arrogantly ignored our Charter and disobeyed our law and the court said no. The good people of Detroit applaud Judge Popke on making a courageous but accurate interpretation of the law.” 

Barrow’s original complaint to the Detroit City Clerk on May 14, 2013, alleged that Mike Duggan did not meet the voter registration requirement that a candidate for elective office be a registered Detroit voter for one year “at the time of filing.” Duggan moved to Detroit from Livonia and registered to vote at his new Detroit address on April 16, 2012, but submitted his nominating petitions on April 2, 2013, fully two-weeks before his one year anniversary on April 16, 2013. 

Mike Dugan celebrating takeover of DMC by for-profit Vanguard Health Care, 70 percent owned by a Wall Street hedge fund. Duggan ducked out of the DMC as Vanguard was laying off hundreds of workers there.

Barrow, 64, continued, “Now that we finally have a mayoral race for Detroiters with Detroit candidates, we can focus on solutions for the future and creating a new paradigm for our city. We wish Mr. Duggan good luck in his future endeavors and that he continues to make a contribution to his adopted home.” 

However, the remaining and bigger issue is the arrogance and incompetence of the Detroit City Clerk, Janice Winfrey. This complaint was a routine matter which became political when, despite being in a clear “conflict herself,”  she refused to recuse herself and completely ignored the clear language of our city Charter and placed Mike Duggan on the ballot. The rationale was a facetious legal analysis by an equally “conflicted” Corporation Counsel, [Edward Keelean] who himself voted for Duggan.  

City Clerk Janice Winfrey discussed election rules in 2009 at forum on Prop S ($ half-billion school bond), as Theo Broughton of Hood Research listened disapprovingly.

“The City Clerk’s staff in 2009 was caught trying to fraudulently create a list of second ballot box seals which led to the Wayne County Board of Canvassers final ruling that some 59,961 ballots could not be recounted, including 100% of the 41,215 Absentee Ballots in a contest here only 9,501 would have seen the removal of Dave Bing” said Barrow. 

“But as importantly, just recently we have uncovered more evidence of incompetence within the voter rolls right now. We have uncovered massive irregularities and discrepancies including 137,000 voters who have not voted in over 15 years, 14,000 voters who registered on January 1, 1900 making them some 133 years old, some 87,137 voters who registered to vote on October 10, 2000 as well as multiple dead voters and duplicate registrants, all making for a fraudulent and unreliable election.” he said. 

“Ms. Winfrey has demonstrated a biased, political and mismanaged administration of the objective City’s elections operations and must resign immediately for the good of the city. Her resignation is especially warranted in the wake of this important ruling against her department and her poor judgment.”

Call ’em Out conducted a sit-in at Janice Winfrey’s office March 22, 2010 to demand her resignation over election irregularities, including Tom Barrow’s revelation of the fact that nearly 60 percent of the ballots in the election were invalid, considered “unrecountable” by the Wayne County Elections Commission. The Commission nonetheless certified the election of Dave Bing, an admitted ally of Gov. Snyder. Bing’s “election” has now resulted in the appointment of EM Kevyn Orr.

See EM Orr’s letter to creditors, sent from JONES DAY!

Visit DetroitDebtMoratorium.org to view articles and documents on how the banks destroyed Detroit. Call today to have a speaker give a presentation to your church, union or community organization on “How the Banks Robbed Detroit.”

PROTEST HELD AT FIRST MEETING THURS. JUNE 6; ORR DIDN’T SHOW

Cynthis Johnson cries out, Detroit is under attack! outside towers of Greater Grace Temple during June 6 protest against EM Orr and banks.

PROTESTERS TELL ORR: MAKE THE BANKS, NOT THE PEOPLE PAY! 

By Diane Bukowski 

May 9, 2013 

Baxter Jones, center, a former DPS worker who is losing his home, spoke out against the greed of the banks.

DETROIT – Chants of “Orr is the tool of the bankers’ rule” and “Too big to fail, they’re not too big to jail,” rang out outside Greater Grace Temple in northwest Detroit as protesters turned out by the dozens May 6. Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, however, failed to show as scheduled, opting instead to hold his required public meeting in the tiny auditorium of Wayne State University’s Law School June 10. 

Baxter Jones showed up in his wheelchair, holding a sign calling on Detroit to cancel its debt payments to resolve the city’s crisis. Protesters said that must be done instead of preying on city pensions, public assets, jobs and services. 

Protesters lined the streets as passersby honked their horns.

“Emergency Manager Robert Bobb fired me from my job at the Detroit Public Schools and denied me my pension in 2010,” Jones said. Jones said DPS hired him in 1983. He is now living on paltry federal SSI benefits of about $700 a month and is in poor health. 

“Now I’m facing eviction by Freddie Mae,” he said. “They’re holding up the judgment until Aug. 4 because I have a bankruptcy stay, but they’ve been trying to get me out since 2002. It’s not fair that they can build up the banks and give them all the money, then turn around and show me no mercy. It’s nothing but greed going on, and it’s not right.” 

Cynthia Johnson took the bullhorn to declare repeatedly, “Detroit is under attack.” 

Atty. Jerry Goldberg of Moratorium NOW! addresses rally.

“It’s not by mistake that we have all these properties foreclosed on and razed,” she said. “The banks don’t want your property, they want our land. Do not allow the banks, Kevyn Orr, Rick Snyder and the other big business agents to take your property. Do not walk away from your properties. Do not allow your children watch you give up on the city of Detroit. Don’t give up, stand up!” 

Apostle Linda said, “Kevyn Orr is another finger on the hand of the banks and Rick Snyder. If he cared about the people, he wouldn’t have bailed out like he did today. He came to our house, now we want to go to his.” 

Cecily McClellan on bullhorn addresses Orr’s takeover of the city’s HUD funds under towers of Greater Grace.

Cecily McClellan, a laid-off City of Detroit worker who is vice-president of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees (APTE), announced that Orr just issued Executive Order #7, which seizes all funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and puts it under his control. 

The order says, “The City’s Housing and Urban Development grant and guarantee programs, including but not limited to, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME, and Neighborhood Stabilization (NSP) . . . .and related actions . . . .will not be valid or approved by the Emergency Manager or his designee in writing.” (Click on Kevyn Orr Executive Order 7 to read order.) 

McClellan said, “This will include Section 8 and money for entrepreneurs to build low-income housing. This has nothing to do with the city’s debt. Instead, they’re going to use federal funds to tear down properties. Kevyn Orr is nothing but a vampire.” 

She added, “We’ve got to let the churches now that they’re not going to be allowed in our communities if they allow Orr the dictator to come into them. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would never ever have allowed this.” 

Protest against Chase in Birmingham Alabama.

Attorney Jerry Goldberg of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, which called the protest, said Orr has the authority under the new Emergency Manager law to take criminal action against banks which have defrauded the city. 

“In the Jefferson County, Alabama bankruptcy, of its debt payments because it was involved in criminal activity,” Goldberg said. “Orr must go after the banks, not the people. We know he’s not going to do it, so we the people must do it. Make the banks pay!’ 

Abiyomi Azikiwe, also of Moratorium NOW!, said “The banks destroyed the City of Detroit by foreclosing over 150,000 families in seven years. They wreaked havoc and destroyed our tax base and our neighborhoods. We must have the complete elimination of fraudulent bank deals with the City. We don’t have decent buses, street lights and streets. Our schools are closed. The future holds nothing but more austerity and destruction. We built this city. We must demand no more payments to the banks.”

Related:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/06/08/chase-gives-up-70-percent-of-fraudulent-jefferson-county-ala-debt-in-bankruptcy-deal/

Toys in front yard, cousin’s warning ignored

Take-down team did not arrest target of raid when he left house earlier

Testimony raises questions about Blake killing

 June 8, 2013

 By Diane Bukowski

Aiyana Jones and her three little brothers were sleeping at their grandmother’s home when police raided, killing her with a shot to the head from an MP5 machine gun.

DETROIT – Testimony continued June 5 and 6 in the trial of Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley, charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a firearm resulting in the death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7, in 2010. Once again, both Prosecutor Robert Moran and Weekley’s defense attorney Steve Fishman ignored the central issue in the case—the military use of police against poor Black Detroiters, which was bound eventually to result in such a tragedy. 

At one point, Special Response Team (SRT) Sgt. Tim “Malibu” Dollinger called the post-midnight raid on the Jones home, where four little children were sleeping, a “mission.” The term recalled civilian killings by U.S. military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Aiyana’s cousins Mark Robinson and Vincent Ellis and her aunt LaKrystal Sanders took the stand to describe the horrific raid. Her grandmother Mertilla Jones, who was sleeping on the couch with Aiyana when Weekley shot the child through the head using an MP5 submachine gun, is set to testify Mon. June 10. 

Expert depiction of Aiyana’s killing by Weekley, as presented by family’s attorney Geoffrey Fieger.

It is likely that Fishman will grill her about his primary defense of Weekley,  that she bumped into his gun or otherwise interfered with him. Most raid team members  so far have testified that when they entered the home, Mertilla Jones was on the far end of the couch, a significant distance away from Weekley. 

On June 5, Robinson, 22, said he had gone outside to get his two puppies back into their pen after Ellis woke him shortly after midnight June 16, 2010. 

“I turned around and I see like a big metal tank truck with lights all over it, and officers get out dressed in black,” Robinson said. “They come up to me and had guns in my face, made me get on the ground, and put a big foot in my back. Next thing I see cops running up to the house. I was yelling to them, ‘There’s kids in the house.’  They ignored me. They continued to bum rush the house. They threw the flash bang through the window and it went off with a boom. Then I heard a sound like a gunshot.” 

Aiyana’s family members during Fieger press conference May 18, 2010. L to r, Mark Robinson, Dominika Stanley, Charles Jones, Fieger, Mertilla Jones and LaKrystal Sanders. Photo by Diane Bukowski

 His voice trembling, Robinson continued, “At that moment, I hear my auntie screaming, ‘You killed my baby, you killed Aiyana.’ Then one cop ran out of the house with Aiyana over his arm, carrying her like a rag, with her head slumped one way and her feet the other way.” 

SRT raid team member Kata Ante Taylor.

Artell Dickerson, killed by Taylor.

He said afterwards he saw the police bring his aunt, Mertilla Jones, out of the house in handcuffs and take her away in in a police car.

The officer who carried the child out, according to police testimony, was Kata’Ante Taylor. He executed 18-year-old Artrell Dickerson with two gunshots to the back as he lay on the ground in 2008, according to eyewitnesses. Dickerson’s family won a $1.5 million settlement against the City of Detroit in that case. 

On cross-exam, Fishman grilled Robinson on his testimony that he heard the gunshot come from the porch. Robinson clarified, “It came from on the porch in the doorway.” 

JeRean Blake

Fishman asked whether Robinson knew and told family members that Chauncey Owens, who lived in the upstairs flat with LaKrystal Sanders, was involved in the killing of Je’Rean Blake, 17, on May 14, 2010, the motive for the raid. 

Robinson said he suspected Owens or Owens’ brother Sherron Heard, known as “Chinaman,” might have been involved because they had a moped, cited in TV reports as present at the scene of the Motor City Marketplace liquor store where Blake died. 

But, he said, he did not know if that was the case and never told others in the family of his thoughts. He said the killing did not fit Owens’ personality. 

“It was not my place to ask him,” he said. He testified he had never seen Owens with a gun. Earlier,  police testified that no weapons were found in the house after Aiyana was killed. 

Prosecutor Robert Moran (seated) at preliminary exam of Aiyana’s father Charles Jones as Jones’ attorney Leon Weiss speaks, Jan. 26, 2012. Photo by Diane Bukowski

Moran is also prosecuting Owens and Aiyana’s father Charles Jones in the Blake case in what many have called a conflict of interest. Both he and Fishman elicited testimony from police officers that they “heard” Owens had a handgun and an AK 47. However, the officers never specified who gave them the information or whether they had seen the weapons.

Neither Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway, who is hearing the case, nor the prosecution has objected to such presentation of “facts not in evidence,” although Hathaway at one point objected to “hearsay” but did not rule it out. 

Police on the stand and in an A & E videotape have said but not substantiated that Lillibridge, the street where the Jones family lived, was a hot-bed of drug dealing, and that Owens dealt drugs. They appear to be playing to the sentiments of the jury, which is all-white except for one Black member. 

Owens has no drug-related convictions on his record. 

Toys in front yard of Aiyana’s home in photo taken May 16, 2010 are the same ones seen in evidence photo shown to police and jury in Weekley trial. Photo by Diane Bukowski.

Likewise, Judge Hathaway has not challenged Moran and Fishman’s continued characterization of Owens as a “murderer,” although he has not yet been tried in Blake’s death, and has no other murder-related convictions on his record. 

No arrest warrant was issued for Owens until May 19, 2010, three days after the raid, according to court records.  Instead, officers testified, they obtained a “search warrant” for the two-family flat where the Jones family lived downstairs, running it to 36^th District Court Magistrate Sidney Barthwell’s home for a signature just prior to the raid.    

Barthwell arraigned Maryanne Godboldo nearly a year after Aiyana’s death, after she stood off a similar SRT raid by police who were trying to take her daughter Ariana to medicate her with a dangerous drug in March, 2011. He ordered Godboldo held on a half-million dollar bond, until an outpouring of national support forced her release on personal bond. Later, 36^th District Court Judge Ronald Giles dismissed all charges against Godboldo. 

Maryanne Godboldo

Sidney Barthwell

An SRT officer testified he led a trio of officers in a “take-down team,” which was supposed to arrest Owens if he left the house. He said they were parked on Montclair near Mack, three streets west of Lillibridge, when surveillance officers Raymond Trammell radioed he saw Owens leave the home twice, three hours before the raid, and walk with another man north to the end of the block at E. Canfield, then back to the house. He said his team did not arrest him during what amounted to two four-minute walks because he had not crossed E. Canfield and they could not “cut him off.”

Many community members have contended the SRT team wanted to put on a show with their military gear for the A & E TV cameras, which had been following the investigation all day, by raiding the house instead. 

Sgt. Timothy Dollinger headed raid team.

After ignoring them during the first days of testimony, Moran finally pointed out the numerous brightly-colored toys in the family’s front yard, which are clearly visible in an evidence technician’s photo of the home, shown repeatedly to officers and the jury.  All the officers denied seeing the toys during extensive surveillance before the raid. 

SRT Sergeant Tim “Malibu” Dollinger, who along with Weekley, nicknamed “Brain,” is featured as a star on A & E’s “Detroit SWAT” website, was in charge of the raid team.

After testifying extensively about the line-up of the SRT raid team as it entered the house, and the gear they wore, Dollinger said he was the third or fourth officer inside the home, and immediately saw an entry bullet wound in Aiyana’s head. 

Steve Fishman

He said he directed Officer Taylor to take her out, and continued to search the home on all three levels. 

He testified that he drove by the house beforehand with Weekley and another SRT officer. He denied seeing the toys, and said knowing that children were present would not have changed the team’s plan. 

“Is the fact there are children in the house, does that mean a murder suspect can sit around with children for the next 10 years and the police will never come get them?” Fishman asked. 

“If someone says, ‘Hey be careful there’s kids in there,’ I’m not going to stop and not execute the search warrant,” Dollinger said. “Not that you wouldn’t be careful, it’s important to know so no one gets hurt.  You’re already giving them a lot of trauma because there’s a lot going on.” 

He testified that he and Weekley had participated in at least 250 search warrant raids and about 50 “barricaded gunman” raids. He said SRT officers get a “patch” for their uniforms for each raid. 

Rally for Justice for Aiyana held March 8, 2013. Aunt LaKrystal Sanders is in center.

Dollinger said he was born and raised in Detroit by his grandparents, and that he and his grandfather were both victims of robberies. He said that motivated him to become a policeman. Dollinger currently lives in New Baltimore, Michigan, according to an on-line records search. 

Aiyana’s aunt LaKrystal Sanders, who lived with Chauncey Owens for 17 years at various residences, also testified June 6. Sanders said she and Owens heard the loud noises and came down from the upper flat as police were breaking down their door. Police arrested Owens, who was in his boxer shorts, and took him into the lower flat, she said. 

Chauncey Owens

That action further contaminated what officers earlier testified had become a homicide scene, which needed to be investigated by the unit that deals with officer-related shootings. Owens’ court records in the case show that officers forced him to sit on the bloody couch where Aiyana had been shot, prior to taking him to jail and then making her mother, father and grandmother sit there as well, “for hours.” 

“I heard my mother screaming, ‘They killed Aiyana,’ Sanders said. “She was screaming my name. . . .I asked a sergeant did they let my brother go to hospital. I heard on the police radio different things, including that she was doing all right, or going into surgery, or had an asthma attack, or got burned. . . After a few hours, someone told me ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’” 

Her testimony cast doubt on the prosecution’s case against Owens. 

Fishman quoted testimony she gave to a grand jury regarding the day Blake was killed. 

“You told the grand jury, all of you were sitting outside on the front porch that day and saw Chinaman [nickname for Owens’ brother] fly by. He told you I gotta get rid of this bike and gun. You said Shannon, Lebron, all the kids, you, Charles Jones, Dominique Simpson, McKenzie Robinson, were there.” 

Mertilla Jones with her grandchildren after second police raid on her home in 2012, late the night of a hearing in Weekley’s case.

Sanders said “Chinaman” had only relayed that information to his brother. 

Earlier, Fishman blamed Aiyana’s mother for letting her children stay in the same house with Owens after allegedly hearing of his involvement in the Blake killing.  However, the transcript Fishman read clarified that it was not Dominika Stanley, but Dominique Simpson, the mother of Jones’ other children, allegedly on the porch. Simpson and her children were not in the house during the raid. 

Aiyana’s cousin Vincent Ellis also testified June 6. He said he was in a front befroom when he heard commotion and noise, and started to go into the front room, but fell back into his room when he saw the flash of the grenade. 

He said he heard another loud noise. 

“The next thing I knew I was getting handcuffed,” Ellis said. “They asked where the guns are at.” He said the officers left him in the room. Fishman quizzed him about whether the officers said “guns” or “gun,” saying he told the grand jury they asked him, “Where’s the gun at?” 

Fishman also asked about Ellis’ testimony to the grand  jury that Mertilla Jones told him she was on the couch when Aiyana was shot. 

Aiyana would have been 10 last year. Photo from family’s Facebook page.

Fishman had made an issue of that several times, since Jones on has said she fell to the floor when the grenade, which was found under the cushions of the couch by the evidence unit, went off. 

He likely will grill her June 10 on her differing testimony. Jones was held for several days by police after watching her grandchild shot to death in front of her eyes, has been in poor health, and is likely still suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. 

Members of Aiyana’s large extended family from both her mother’s and father’s side have attended the trial every day and expressed anger about evident attempts to blame the child’s death on people in the family. 

“We want justice and we are going to get justice, and we want peace,” Dominika Stanley’s father Jimmie Stanley said during a break. “Aiyana was our loved one, and she has a very large family. She was my heart. I have her photos all over my house. When she would see me, even if she was with her grandma, she would come running to me.”

Typical SWAT team.

MORE OBSERVERS ASKING IF DETROIT’S ‘PARAMILITARY’ POLICE TACTICS GO TOO FAR 

G.W. Schulz  Homeland Security Reporter

CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING 

Jun 17, 2010

The military-style methods promoted by Detroit’s police chief have come under fire since officers shot and killed a small girl last month during a botched house raid that ignited public outrage. Chief Warren Evans took over the police department there last year and embarked on an aggressive campaign to win back the city from its stubbornly high violent-crime rate by among other things dispatching a so-called Special Response Team for everyday law enforcement activities. Continue reading →

Monica Lewis-Patrick in green at right and Debra Taylor with bullhorn at left rally crowd of 10,000 against PA 4 in Lansing April 13, 2011.

 BY COMMITTEE TO ELECT MONICA LEWIS-PATRICK

MONICA CARES!

Monica Lewis-Patrick is not a politician, but is a public servant. She is also an educator, entrepreneur, activist, mentor, motivational speaker, story teller and the founder of a non-profit. Her family surname is “Lewis” which means – warrior. Ironically, she was born on a military base at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and entered the stage of life being prepared to stand up for, protect and support children, youth, families and the elderly. She has passionately delivered services for families in several states across the country, including communities in Michigan, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia.

She is a divorced-single mother of three, a grandmother, helped to raise her nieces and nephews, and was the primary caregiver for her beloved grandmother, Ollie Mae Alexander (Granny) until her passing. Granny, along with her Mother (Ret. Master Sgt. & Combat Veteran – Sinora Horton Lewis) nurtured Monica during her childhood, which accounts for her love and respect for her “elders.” Nurturing, protecting and fighting for justice and opportunities have always been and are a way of life for Monica. It is who she is! Monica’s family tree also includes her great-uncle, the legendary Detroit Tigers star Willie Horton. Willie Horton is proud of his niece and has pledged to help her “hit it out of the park” in this campaign.

Council Member JoAnn Watson (center) with her staff members (l) Debra Taylor and Monica Patrick, consults with Council Members Brenda Jones and Kwame Kenyatta after the Council’s 5-4 vote for the sell-out Consent Agreement April 4, 2012.

For the past five years she has served and been mentored by the Honorable Council Member JoAnn Watson. Council Member Watson, along with several others, encouraged Monica to run for City Council (At-Large), due to her talent, passion and effectiveness in serving the citizens of the City of Detroit. After much prayer and spiritual counseling, she said “yes” to accepting this monumental task, as she steps up to RESTORE Detroit, RECLAIM Detroit, and REINVIGORATE Detroiters. As she embarks on this road to public service, Monica Lewis-Patrick notes, “It is an honor to be endorsed by such a great and yet humble public servant and icon such as Council Member JoAnn Watson. I do not take this lightly!” In addition, Monica has been endorsed by her. 

Angela Davis speaks in Detroit at rally Monica Lewis-Patrick helped to organize.

As legislative Policy Analyst for Detroit City Council, Monica has written legislation, conducted research, delivered consultant services to hundreds of Detroiters, made presentations at Block Clubs and conferences, and organized dozens of rallies hosting notables such as Angela Davis,  Dr. Maulana Karenga, Dr. Claud Anderson, Kwanzaa, Quality Education  and Economic Empowerment Session, among many others. She was the lead organizer of the largest rally in Detroit against the Emergency Manager Law, hosted at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Detroit, chaired by the Honorable John Conyers and the honorable JoAnn Watson, January 2, 2012.

Chris Griffith, Monica Lewis-Patrick and Sandra Hines celebrate the defeat of Public Act 4 at the polls Nov. 6, 2012.

This rally was instrumental in the referendum against the Emergency Manager Law on November 6, 2012. Monica worked with hundreds of other citizens from around the State of Michigan to collect and deliver over 223,00 signatures to defeat the unconstitutional Emergency Manager Law. Monica has learned her way around “City Hall,” better known by Detroiters as the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.

Pastors speak at rally against PA 4 outside Gov. Rick Snyder’s home on MLK Day, 2012. Rev. Charles Williams II of NAN is at center with (l to r) Rev. David Bullock, speaking, Rev. Charles Williams, Sr. and Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor.

She is a contributor and sometimes host on local talk radio and television, always seeking to enlighten the public about progressive issues related to city, state and governmental issues, citizens’ rights and current events. She also provides weekly policy updates at the National Action Network’s weekly meeting to keep citizens updated on policy issues and information, and is a co-founder of the grassroots organization “We the People of Detroit” which promotes education and self-determination throughout Detroit, while mentoring young people to become tutors, entrepreneurs, and scholars.

Monica Lewis-Patrick speaking at Hands Off Belle Isle rally Sept. 22, 2012, on behalf of Detroit’s children, youth and residents who love their island.

Monica has always managed to handle major multiple tasks well. While raising her family and attending graduate school, she made time to dedicate herself as an activist on behalf of young people, especially those young people who found themselves caught up in the judicial system, many times for petty offenses. She encouraged literally hundreds of parents, civic and business leaders to shine the light on the judicial to shine the light on the judicial system in the South and support their children and others in obtaining justice. After assisting a Michigan youth of 15 years old to obtain his freedom, after almost five years of incarceration from a felony murder charge of 25 years to life with no chance of parole, Monica decided that it was time to be proactive by helping to provide educational and enrichment opportunities to the youth in the states of Tennessee, Virginia and Michigan.

Monica’s Uncle Detroit Tiger hall of famer Willie Horton.

In the 1990’s she founded the non-profit Grand Slam, Inc. which provided supplemental school supplies, clothing, tutorial services, diapers/food, scholarships and college tours for newborns through the college level in two states. Needless to say her activism spans over several decades and continues to this day. It seems that standing up for the people is something that runs in her family. She often comments about how proud she is of her Uncle Willie Horton, because of the stand that he took during the Rebellion of 1967 (aka Detroit Riot). While in his Detroit Tiger uniform, he placed himself in between the tanks in the streets and the citizens of the City of Detroit in order to prevent a catastrophe and possible loss of life.

Monica Lewis-Patrick chaired rally against the appointment of Detroit EM Kevyn Orr in the Erma Henderson Auditorium March 6, 2013. Behind her are Mayoral candidates Tom Barrow and Krystal A. Crittendon.

As a founder of the grassroots organization, We the People of Detroit she played a lead role in the Get Out the Vote (GOTV) initiative and through a collaborative effort, VOTE VIP Slate (Protect Seniors and Working Class Families) was born. Through the VOTE VIP SLATE over 40,000 kicker cards were designed and distributed to help educate the voters around key issues such as: 1) Collective Bargaining 2) Emergency Manager Law 3) City of Detroit Charter Proposal C 4) School Millage, and other key issues. She personally participated in over 85 presentations at churches and block clubs to help educate the community on election issues during the November 2012 election.

Monica Lewis-Patrick speaks against Hantz Farms land grab at Council public hearing attended by over 600 people on Dec. 11, 2012.

She is a firm believer in maintaining and protecting the quality of life for Detroiters, senior citizens, children and those who may not have had the opportunities that she has had in life. As an educator and mental health professional with a background in criminal justice and a small business owners, she is clear that it is vital that all people have access to quality education, training, and employment opportunities. 

GO TO MONICA’S FACEBOOK PAGE & “LIKE” HER @ https://www.facebook.com/monicacares2014. Her website will be up shortly. Meanwhile, her campaign staff can be contacted at debra@monicacares.com; and vincent@monicacares.com .

Protesters in Birmingham Ala. demand Chase pay for county’s economic collapse, due to its fraudulent lending practices.

A County in Alabama Strikes a Bankruptcy Deal

By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH 

DEALBOOK/NY TIMES

June 4, 2013

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/a-county-in-alabama-strikes-a-bankruptcy-deal/

The City of Birmingham, Alabama in Jefferson County.

Jefferson County, Ala., took a big step toward resolving its historic bankruptcy case on Tuesday, saying it had reached an agreement to refinance most of the debt at the heart of its financial breakdown.

The refinancing would save the county hundreds of millions of dollars and position it to emerge from bankruptcy in a matter of months, according to people briefed on the negotiations. But the terms must still be approved by a federal bankruptcy judge, and the county must clear several other hurdles before it can emerge from bankruptcy. Lawyers for the county are scheduled to present details of the agreement in federal bankruptcy court in Birmingham on Wednesday.

Workers at Detroit’s sewage treatment plant struck in Sept. 2012 to make the bankers, not the workers, pay for Detroit debt crisis. DWSD debt results in part from predatory lending and swap deals.

The deal, according to the people briefed on the negotiations, covers about $2.4 billion of Jefferson County’s total $3.078 billion in sewer debt, which was issued to pay for significant repairs needed to bring the county into compliance with federal clean water laws.

The interest due on the sewer debt shot up during the financial turmoil of 2008, and the repayment schedules accelerated sharply, leaving the county unable to pay. The repairs went unfinished as well.

The county also had other debt outstanding when it declared bankruptcy, for a total of $4.2 billion, making it the biggest municipal bankruptcy in United States history.

Governmental bankruptcies are rare and usually involve small single-purpose authorities and districts, not large, complicated counties with a lot of debt. Experts in public finance have been watching Jefferson County closely to see what kind of legal precedent it will set. Some were concerned that the successful application of Chapter 9 bankruptcy rules to municipal debt could cast a pall over the municipal bond market.

Residents of the county, for their part, have worried that they would bear the brunt of the bankruptcy, through lower property values or higher taxes or rates paid for county services.

JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

The refinancing agreement covers debt held by creditors that include JPMorgan Chase, which holds about $1.22 billion of the sewer debt, the biggest block; three bond insurers; and seven hedge funds, according to a term sheet circulated in a meeting of the county commission on Tuesday.

The terms call for these creditors to receive about $1.84 billion for the $2.4 billion of debt they now hold. The concessions were weighted most heavily toward JPMorgan, the term sheet said, “to increase the recovery of other sewer creditors.”

The bank is giving up $842 million, or about 70 percent, of the face value of its debt, according to people briefed on the negotiations. Just before declaring bankruptcy in 2011, the county abruptly rejected a previous package of concessions that called for JPMorgan to give up about $750 million.

Joe O’Keefe of Fitch Ratings and Stephen Murphy of Standard and Poor’s pushed predatory $1.5 billion POC debt to UBS AG and SBS Financial on Detroit in 2005. Then Detroit CFO Sean Werdlow (l) was hired by SBS shortly thereafter. Then Deputy Mayor Anhony Adams is seen at right. Why hasn’t the City of Detroit sued UBS AG and SBS for THIS fraudulent deal?

JPMorgan was widely expected to make big concessions as part of any bankruptcy settlement, because some former officials of the bank were found to have been involved in improprieties in connection with a county debt refinancing in 2002 and 2003. That refinancing involved a complex package of variable-rate bonds and derivatives called interest-rate swaps.

AFSCME Local 207 DWSD workers picketed against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick over privatization there. Kilpatrick is now in prison in a bribery case related to the Synagro sewage sludge deal, but Synagro’s exec is out after serving only 11 months. No other corporate or banking execs involved were ever jailed.

A lawsuit by the county against JPMorgan over the improprieties, still active in state court, would be resolved as part of the proposed agreement. In 2009, JPMorgan agreed to forgive all the termination fees the county owed on the swaps, or about $647 million, to settle a complaint from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The bank also paid the county $75 million under the same settlement.

Despite those concessions, residents of Jefferson County have still often complained that they were treated inequitably because several of their elected officials went to prison as a result of the refinancing, while no one from the bank was convicted of a crime. They have railed in particular against the possibility that their sewer rates would go up to allow the county to pay sewer debt that many now see as illegitimate.

On Wednesday, the federal bankruptcy judge, Thomas B. Bennett, is also scheduled to hear arguments in a lawsuit arguing that much of the debt was issued in violation of the state Constitution and should be voided, not restructured or repaid.

Birmingham residents demand no increase in sewer rates as part of bankruptcy deal.

In addition, the Bank of New York Mellon, as trustee for small creditors, has asked Judge Bennett for a full independent review of the sewer system’s finances, as well as what it has called “poor planning, gross incompetence, waste, graft, corruption or fraud in connection with the construction, repair or rehabilitation” of the sewer system since 1997.

The term sheet indicated that the sewer fees for county residents would indeed rise, by 7.41 percent a year for the first four years of the refinancing deal. After that, they could rise by as much as 3.49 percent a year, depending on variables like inflation and new federal clean-water regulations.

Still, members of the county commission said the new agreement was significantly better than what they could have won without the bankruptcy filing. The five-member commission approved the terms in a 4-to-1 vote.

If the refinancing goes forward, the county’s public creditors on the sewer debt will be offered a choice: either 80 cents for every dollar of sewer debt they now hold, if they relinquish all other claims, or 65 cents on the dollar with the right to pursue their own claims, either against the county or its bond insurers.

Related:

http://4closurefraud.org/2013/03/29/jpmorgan-chase-faces-full-court-press-of-federal-investigations/

Chase CEO Jamie DImon

Posted by 4closureFraud on March 29, 2013

Nation’s strongest bank investigated by eight fed agencies

By JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG and BEN PROTESS  DEALBOOK/NY TIMES.

As the nation’s strongest bank, JPMorgan Chase used to be known for carrying special sway with regulators. Now it increasingly finds itself in the cross hairs of federal authorities.

New York magazine cover: Bernie Madoff, Monster, and the People Who Enabled Him.

At least two board members are worried about the mounting problems, and some top executives fear that the bank’s relationships in Washington have frayed as JPMorgan becomes a focus of federal investigations.

In a previously undisclosed case, prosecutors are examining whether JPMorgan failed to fully alert authorities to suspicions about Bernard L. Madoff, according to several people with direct knowledge of the matter. And nearly a year after reporting a multibillion-dollar trading loss, JPMorgan is facing a criminal inquiry over whether it lied to investors and regulators about the risky wagers, a case that could accelerate when the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other authorities interview top JPMorgan executives in coming weeks.

All told, at least eight federal agencies are investigating the bank, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. in New York are also examining potential wrongdoing at JPMorgan.

A recent misstep points to the growing friction between JPMorgan and regulators as well as to the concerns within the bank. JPMorgan misstated how the bank may have harmed more than 5,000 homeowners in foreclosure, according to several people briefed on the matter. The bank’s primary regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is expected to collect a cash payment from the bank to remedy the flawed review of loans, these people say.

• The London Whale’s Wake

Interactive Timelines

The bank acknowledges its broad regulatory challenges. “We get it, and we are dealing aggressively with these issues,” said Joe Evangelisti, a JPMorgan spokesman.

Chase CEO Jamie Dimon (r) has a close relationship with the Obama administration.

The mortgage errors, while by themselves relatively minor, have heightened concerns within JPMorgan because they come on top of the other investigations. The increased scrutiny presents a challenge for the bank and its influential chief executive, Jamie Dimon, who was widely praised for steering JPMorgan through the 2008 financial crisis, leaving it in far better shape than its rivals. Among some executives at the bank, the worry is that the unwanted attention will undercut Mr. Dimon’s authority in Washington.

“Jamie and other executives feel terrible that the bank’s self-inflicted mistakes have put regulators in an awkward position,” Mr. Evangelisti said. He added, “We are wholly to blame for our errors and are fully cooperating with all authorities to make things right.”

Mr. Dimon has already testified before Congress and apologized for the trading losses. In response to last year’s trading blowup, the bank has also worked to root out the problems, shuffled its top executives, bolstered its risk controls and brought in a new head of compliance.

JPMORGAN CHASE PROFITS BEAT THE S&P 500 in 2013

The bank’s board, which halved Mr. Dimon’s compensation in January, recently reiterated its support for him as both chairman and chief executive. JPMorgan, whose shares have soared in recent months, has recorded record profits for the last three years.

But as JPMorgan seeks to address its legal woes and restore its credibility in Washington, the bungled review of troubled mortgages could present a setback for the bank. The problems stem from January, when JPMorgan and other big banks agreed to a multibillion-dollar settlement over foreclosure abuses. As part of the pact, the bank agreed to comb through each loan file to spot potential errors, a process that the regulators will use to help determine the size of the payouts to homeowners. Continue reading →

Weekley trial testimony, days one and two: 

• Mother, dad, and grandma forced to sit on bloody couch where she died
• Scanty investigation before military raid in poor Black neighborhood
• Videotape shows flash-bang, possibly multiple gunshots
• Presence of children, toys in front yard, disregarded 
• Day three: Aiyana’s grandmother Mertilla Jones expected to testify

June 4, 2013 

By Diane Bukowski 

Detroit SWAT team officers.

DETROIT – The first days of testimony in the trial of Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley for the killing of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7, three years ago, painted a chilling picture of the inhumane militarization of the Detroit Police Department for use in the poor, predominantly Black neighborhoods of the city. 

According to testimony, the raid involved “Special Response Team” officers in full black “battle dress uniform” (BDU),  including flak vests and helmets, bullet-proof shields in one hand and MP5 submachine guns in the other, entering the house after throwing an incendiary grenade through the front window. They had led a procession of police cars to the house in a “Bearcat” armored tank. Only seconds into the raid, Weekley shot Aiyana through the top of her head. 

Aiyana’s father Charles Jones stands by blood-soaked couch where she died, under window shattered by grenade, the morning of her killing.

Aiyana’s mother Dominika Stanley and two officers testified that afterwards, police forced her, Aiyana’s father Charles Jones, and grandmother Mertilla Jones to sit on the blood-soaked couch where Aiyana had been killed, “for hours.”

“They sat me on the couch my baby was killed on,” Stanley said. “They didn’t allow me off the couch until they took me to the hospital. The doctors came and talked to me and told me my baby didn’t make it, three hours later.” 

As Stanley testified, the pink and purple Hannah Montana blanket Aiyana had been sleeping under lay on the floor in front of the witness stand after she identified it. 

At first weeping uncontrollably and covering her face, Stanley said she and Aiyana’s father Charles Jones, with their toddler sons, were sleeping in a back room when she heard loud noises,  screaming, and Charles’ mother Mertilla Jones crying, “They killed Aiyana.” 

Dominika Stanley on stand June 3, 2013.

“I walked out after Charles did,” Stanley testified. “I saw police. They had guns and flashlights all in my face. They didn’t say anything to me. I dropped to the floor.” 

Other testimony identified the loud noises as the sound of a “flash-bang” grenade thrown through the window over which Aiyana and Mertilla were sleeping on the couch, and the discharge of an MP5 submachine gun fired by Weekley. During the audio portion of videotapes taken by A & E’s “First 48” TV crew, which were shown to the jury June 4, the grenade blast and two gunshots can be heard, followed shortly afterwards by what sounds like six more gunshots in rapid succession. 

Aiyana Stanley-Jones

Depiction of MP5 paramilitary machine gun like that used by Weekley.

The technician also testified that he later returned to the house to leave a copy of the search warrant, which had not been done earlier.

During Stanley’s testimony, her father Jimmie Stanley, her uncle, and many others from her side of the family listened in sorrow, later expressing outrage at how she was treated during cross-examination. 

Jones and Stanley family members rally on courthouse steps March 8, 2013.

Weekley’s attorney Steve Fishman grilled her about why she and her children had been staying at Mertilla Jones’ home on Lillibridge, where the SRT raid happened. 

Fishman asked her if she knew Chauncey Owens, who lived in the upstairs flat with Aiyana’s aunt LaKrystal Sanders, if she was told Owens killed Je’Rean Blake, 17, on May 14, and if she knew he had a criminal record. 

Robert Moran

“Would you have let your children stay there if you knew that?” Fishman asked, essentially blaming her for her child’s death.

He then grilled her about her earlier deposition in a civil suit brought by Charles Jones as personal representative of Aiyana, pointing out supposed discrepancies. Depositions of family members in the civil suit were taken by the City of Detroit before Prosecutor Moran intervened, preventing the depositions of officers involved and blocking any further progress on the suit.

After the May 3 hearing, in the hallway, Stanley’s uncle cried out furiously, “Why did any of that matter?  They killed her baby!” 

The family reported that Moran did not go over their pending testimony with them until one and a half weeks prior to the beginning of the trial May 28. They said they had not spoken with anyone from the prosecutor’s office during the years since Aiyana’s death. Several months ago, family members went to the office to ask to speak with Moran, and were promptly thrown out of the building by police. 

Chauncey Owens

Family members said no victim’s advocate has ever been assigned to them, although many clearly still need grief counseling. 

Both Moran and Fishman, in their opening statements and later during testimony, focused extensively on the killing of Je’Rean Blake, as if Chauncey Owens had already been convicted. He is, however, still awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges in the case. 

Both depicted him as a vicious adult murderer with a criminal background who shot an innocent teen-ager to death just for looking at him. They showed a photo of Blake, a student at Southeastern High School, in his ROTC uniform. Fishman said he and his friends had gone to the Motor City Marketplace liquor store at St. Jean and Mack after school to get “candy and ice cream.” 

According to previous court records, however, independent witnesses said a large crowd of about 40 young people was in the parking lot of the store that day. Others from the neighborhood have said that the teens had a habit of challenging older men entering the store. One acquaintance of Blake’s told VOD that he belonged to a gang, although she said that did not justify anyone’s death. 

Joseph Weekley on Detroit SWAT website.

In his opening statement, Moran said Weekley was solely responsible for Aiyana’s killing, but stressed that it was not deliberate. He said SRT officers are extensively trained in raid tactics, including “trigger discipline,” and that Weekley’s gun could not have fired unless he pulled its trigger, which is specially fashioned to require a strong pull. 

He did not give any motive for Weekley’s firing the gun, leaving the floor open for Fishman to contend that Weekley should have been charged with first-degree murder if he deliberately pulled the trigger.  Fishman contended that Mertilla Jones knocked into Weekley’s gun, and that she has given several different versions of how he killed Aiyana, essentially blaming her for Aiyana’s death. 

“Officer Joe Weekley did not walk into that house and shoot Aiyana Stanley-Jones without somebody doing something to that gun,” Fishman said. He said Weekley had just left his own six and eight-year-old daughters prior to engaging in the after midnight raid.‘

Mertilla Jones with photo of Aiyana.

Mertilla Jones is expected to testify June 5, and is likely to face a grueling cross-examination from Fishman. She has been in poor health, and is grieving for the loss of two of her sisters since Aiyana’s death. She has also been suffering what is likely post-traumatic stress syndrome after watching her grandchild shot to death in front of her eyes. 

Detroit Police Homicide Sergeants LaTonya Brooks and  Robert  LaLone testified in detail June 4 about the military operation, which took place only one and a half days after Blake’s death, following a hurried and apparently faulty investigation.  Their testimony was supplemented by portions of the videotape shot by A & E’s “First 48” crew, which was shadowing the squads with the permission of “higher-ups” in the department, according to Brooks. 

The “First 48” had a Detroit crew which specifically targeted situations where homicide suspects are detained in the first 48 hours after the crime. Officer Weekley and other members of what was originally called “Detroit SWAT” are featured as stars on A&E’s website. 

Toys in the front of the porch are also seen in evidence photos shown to jury at trial, but Moran did not point out the toys. Blood stains on the porch and sidewalk were pointed out by an evidence technician in separate testimony. They resulted from SRT officers rushing Aiyana out of the house before her family could see and hold her as she died. Photo taken May 16, 2010 by Diane Bukowski.

A prime topic of discussion during the testimony and during portions of the videotape was whether any children were present in the house.

Brooks already knew Mertilla Jones’ family, having been the officer in charge of the earlier prosecution of Jones’ son Norbert Jones, and likely knew that many children were part of the large extended Jones family. Jones has eight children, and 22 grandchildren, many of whom frequently visit her at her house. 

Brooks was asked, and discussion was held during a videotaped briefing just before the raid, about the presence of children. Brooks denied seeing any during a brief drive-by. 

JoAnn Robinson and her grandson Mark Robinson the morning of Aiyana’s killing. Mark said he told the raid team children were in the house. JoAnn was in the house at the time of the raid, and died a year later partly out of grief.

However, she testified that when homicide and SRT arrived at the house for the raid, she was assigned to take charge of Mark Robinson, a grandson of Mertilla’s sister JoAnn Robinson. 

An officer had thrown him to the ground while he was returning to the house from walking his dogs. Robinson said at a press conference held by Attorney Geoffrey Fieger shortly after Aiyana’s death that he told the officers there were children in the house. 

When officers came out of the house with Aiyana in their arms, Brooks said Robinon told her, “They shot Aiyana.” She told him that had not happened. She also said that a family member, who VOD has found was Aiyana’s aunt, LaKrystal Sanders, came out and tapped her on the shoulder because she knew her from her brother Norbert Jones’ case. Sanders asked if Aiyana was alright.

Brooks said she later discovered Aiyana had been killed, but could not remember who told her. 

SRT member Tim “Malibu”:Dollinger/ photo from A&E website.

During Lalone’s testimony, other portions of the videotape were played including parts of the briefing.  An officer, likely SRT member Timothy Dollinger according to testimony, is asked whether there are any kids in the house. He fails to say yes or no. 

“We don’t know,” he said. “Our people went out there earlier. There was just a mess of people out there. That’s a pretty hot neighborhood.” 

Photos of the house taken during surveillance and shown to the jury showed a tricyle and other toys to the side of the front porch, but neither the prosecution nor the defense pointed out the toys during their exams of the witnesses. The toys were still there later that morning when this reporter went to the scene to interview the family. 

Bearcat style armored vehicle like that used by SRT team in Jones raid.

References are also heard on the videotapes to “baby’s daddy,” and other derogatory, racially-loaded terms about the family and neighborhood during the briefing. 

One officer says they have no arrest warrant yet for Owens, but plan to get it once he is “in custody.” Another says a source says Owens has an AK-47, that the house is owned by the city due to non-payment of taxes (the house was rented), and that it “looks like narcotic activity” is taking place there. 

The officers joke that Owens was supposed to be going to the Motown “Hoedown” that evening, but apparently “ixnayed” that plan. They say he has an “extensive” criminal history, including violent assaults. 

Officer with shield in one hand and submachine gun in the other, as testimony showed Weekley entered the house.

“He had b and e’s (breaking and entering), and contacts with narcotics,” says one officer. There is a reference to “crack.” 

According to court records, charges of assault with intent to kill and operating a chop shop against Owens were dismissed earlier, while other charges from 1998, 2003 and 2005 involve motor vehicle violations for which the defendant received sentences of probation. Owens never served time in the state prison system, as one officer implied, and has no drug charges or b and e’s on his record according to the Third Judicial Circuit Court website. 

SRT officer Raymond Trammell testified that while assigned to direct surveillance of the home, he saw Owens and another man exit the premises and walk a half-block distance to E. Canfield. He said Owens, who was walking in the street, passed directly by his car. He said he did not arrest Owens because he was “not comfortable” since Owens was a murder suspect, and that the job was assigned to another “take-down” unit. 

Throughout the briefing, officers are heard saying “Fuck” this and that. Officer Brooks jokes that “I’ve got my heater in my car” and says “I know these folks.” Another officer says they’re conducting the raid at that hour because by 7 a.m., people like the Jones are “hung over and fucking sleeping.” 

Aiyana’s grieving classmate Diamond Hardy, 7, shows photo as father grieves in front of shattered window Photo by Diane Bukowski

Brooks testified that it was the Homicide Division’s common practice to use SRT as their “enforcers” in executing search warrants. She said that after two witnesses identified Owens as the shooter in the Blake case, activities proceeded with lightning speed. A search warrant was signed by 36^th District Court Judge Sidney Barthwell at his home shortly before the May 16 raid. She and other officers said the search warrant was for both the upper and lower flats at 4054 and 4056 Lillibridge, since Chauncey Owens had been seen coming out of both entrances. 

According to the Brooks, a staging area was established at Wayne County Community College off I-94 and Conner, where both Homicide and SRT members were briefed.

On the videotapes, officers are heard being told at 12:26:19 a.m. May 16 where the nearest hospital, St. John’s, is and how to get there. The raid takes place at 12:43 a.m.

 CLICK ON orr leaflet.052913 FOR FLIER.

GO TO http://www.detroitdebtmoratorium.org or call 313-680-5508 for more information. There is also a Facebook event page at https://www.facebook.com/events/335979213171069/?hc_location=stream

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/05/16/detroit-em-orrs-report-envisions-a-nightmare-future/