UPDATE JULY 12, 2024: JURY DEADLOCKED. CBS News legal expert Rick Convertino, who predicted a quick acquittal, still calls the prosecution’s case “the weakest” he’s ever seen (above.)

 CBS NEWS DEFENSE EXPERT PREVIOUSLY PREDICTED ACQUITTAL

DEFENSE ATTY. BRIAN BROWN’S BRILLIANT CLOSING ARGUMENTS 

DEFENSE PLAYS ATTY.-CLIENT JAIL CONVERSATION FOR JURY (below)

VOD was not able to cover this trial in person due to time constraints, but is publishing key videos from other media, focusing on defense presentations

Mainstream media has covered prosecution’s case in detail; go to YouTube (Search “Samantha Woll trial”) to watch those portions of the trial

Why did Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy bring this case on such scant evidence against a poor Black man after a well-to-do white man confessed?

Police officers who took stand included Stephen Kue, fully exposed as a liar by Channel 7 Investigator Ross Jones

Police claimed Jackson-Bolanos never said he accidentally came upon and touched Woll’s body; but DPD officer tells atty. he DID tell him that

CROSS-EXAM OF WOLL’S EX-BOYFRIEND JEFFREY HERBSTMAN

DPD OFFICER: Jackson-Bolanos DID tell him he saw, touched Woll’s body

Samantha Woll, Pres. Isaac Agree Synagogue

GUEST EDITORIAL By Roberto Guzman, with Diane Bukowski

With her family and community, VOD mourns the tragic loss of Samantha Woll, a beautiful vibrant young woman and Isaac Agree Synagogue president. We call on police and prosecutors to target the real perpetrator of her brutal, horrific murder.

July 12, 2024

Marvin Cotton’s mother Ms. Fortune with paralegal Roberto Guzman at 2016 press conference on Davontae Sanford’s release. VOD photo.

Detroit — At a time when all the party balloons, awards dinners, and media frenzy have taken hold with proclamations of the “re-birth” of Detroit, and as officials herald the move of Wayne County courts and prisons to a new Criminal Justice Center and a “new era,”  the case of Michael Jackson-Bolanos proves that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

There before us in real time is another wrongful conviction unfolding right before our eyes, in the wake of dozens of exonerations of men and women in Wayne County who were railroaded by the Detroit Police Department in league with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office. Like Larry “Butter” Smith, who just won an $8.9 million settlement from the city after spending 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, nearly 40 exonerees spent many decades in prison.

Michael Jackson-Bolanos and his atty. Brian Brown as the jury begins  deliberations July 10.

There are thousands more remaining in Michigan’s prisons who were similarly railroaded. Private Investigator Scott Lewis estimates that up to thirty percent of the state’s prisoners are likely innocent. During the period of the 1990’s and the “Ring of Snitches,” estimates of wrongful convictions go up to eighty percent.

But now unfolding before us in real time is another wrongful conviction, that of Michael Jackson-Bolanos. We must not let this happen as a result of our neglect and complacency. If this was happening in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the community would be rising up in anger and horror. Here again, another innocent Black man finds himself tangling with a powerhouse of corrupt and deceitful police and prosecutors intent on framing him for the murder of Samantha Woll, synagogue director and leader in the Jewish community.

This is nothing but an effort to appease public pressure to bring someone to justice. Anyone. Just do it. Make Michael Jackson-Bolanos the scapegoat, their sacrificial lamb, handed over on a silver platter.

Poster from 2020 Victoria-Burton Harris campaign for Wayne County Prosecutor.

But where is their evidence? Other than their belief that his color and presence in the area of the victim’s home made him a likely suspect in the minds of overzealous cops and prosecutors? They found two specks of blood on the sleeve of his jacket, invisible to the naked eye, and pounced on that. This is despite the fact that there was a common-sense innocent explanation for it as exposed by his testimony and defense attorney Brian Brown’s brilliant presentation of his case.

Namely, that in the course of committing petty vehicular crimes in the area, Jackson-Bolanos stumbled upon the dead victim, and obviously concerned for her safety, checked her vitals and got those specks of blood on his jacket. This was enough for cops and prosecutors to pounce, deapite the fact that the apartment where Samantha Woll was brutally attacked and stabbed eight times to to death while fighting for her life, was covered in blood, as was her body.

Two specks of blood don’t fit the facts. Even to an average citizen. But unfortunately, police and prosecutors aren’t just average citizens. They are power-tripping arrogant egotistical maniacs who care nothing about innocence, and especially not a Black man’s innocence.

Inset: Davontae Sanford with mother Taminko on his release in 2016; Background: Roberto Guzman (l) with Sanford ‘s family after a 2012 appeals court hearing. The COA ruled in his favor, but Worthy appealed again and the Mich. Supreme Court reversed it, leaving this child to suffer more years in prison. VOD photo.

In the case of Michael Jackson-Bolanos, we are reminded again of the rushes to judgment that have typified the career of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who many people are hailing as a hero with a heart for justice. But she is just the opposite of that. She rushed to file false murder charges against yet another innocent young Black man without questioning the scant evidence presented to her by the Detroit Police Department, with its shameful history of framing hundreds of others over the years.

Davontae Sanford was a 14-year-old child when he was  snatched from his mother and similarly framed by Detroit Police in league with Prosecutor Kym Worthy in 2008. He was charged with the murders of four adults in an alleged drug house.

It was only after his mother led a determined battle to free her child that the truth of his innocence finally came out; but he had spent nine years in adult prisons subjected to torture and abuse by prison personnel.

New Wayne Co. Criminal INJUSTICE Center?

The Michigan State Police cited Detr0it police reports from the night of the crime in which eyewitnesses described another man who did not fit Sanford’s description. That man, Vincent Smothers, later confessed. Charges against Sanford should have been dismissed WITH PREJUDICE, but Worthy would agree only to dismissal WITHOUT prejudice, according to Attorney Julie Hurwitz. To this day, Worthy will not admit Sanford is innocent.

Today, Worthy’s supporters continue to praise her and urge the public to trust her. Their lies, and their fanciful claims of a new day in Wayne County courts have only emboldened her arrogant power to do as she pleases. Today Jackson-Bolanos stands falsely accused of murder. Hopefully, the jury will acquit him, deadlock, or at least hang with only one juror who like me knows and feels what innocence is when we see it. Only then will  justice ring true. Jackson-Bolanos’ story will be the one worth telling. Not the lies. Not the praise for abuse of power. Hopefully, Jackson-Bolanos will not have to wait years for his exoneration as did Davontae Sanford.

RELATED:

DETROIT PAYS $2 MILLION TO SETTLE COMPLAINT VS. DPD’S STEPHEN KUE, ALREADY HIT WITH 85 COMPLAINTS

https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/detroit-pays-2m-to-settle-latest-lawsuit-against-troubled-sgt-hit-with-85-complaints

RAILROAD OF MICHAEL JACKSON-BOLANOS IN SAMANTHA WOLL MURDER? DEFENSE: INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. In addition to quarterly web hosting charge. other expenses include P.O. box fee of $226.00/yr., costs including utility and internet bills, costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

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CASH APP 313-825-6126 MDianeBukowski

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Previously incarcerated men and women are introduced for panel discussion on Michigan prisons and coming home, at Returning Citizens Day June 23, 2024. (L to R) : Kimball Gaskin-El, Machelle Pearson, emcee Zsa Zsa C. Hubbard, LaToya Perry, Larry D. Smith (exonerated in 2021.

Adeyemi Dance Academy members at Returning Citizens Day June 23, 2024 See https://adeyemidanceacademy.com/ for info on the Academy.

For more information on Returning Citizens Day and continued organizing efforts for victims of criminal injustice, call:

Larry Darnell Smith, Jr.: (313)677-2354; larrydarnellsmithjr@gmail.com

Shirletha Gaskins: 1-626-658-7887; s.gaskin@justicenow.org (20+) Facebook

RICKY RIMMER

THIS FLIER UPDATING RICKY RIMMER’S CASE WAS DISTRIBUTED AT RETURNING CITIZENS DAY TO THE MANY INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS PARTICIPATING; Emcee Zsa Zsa C. Hubbard called out from the stage: FREE RICKY RIMMER!

VOD RR Articles: RIMMER CASE: JUDGE’S DAD, DPD SGT. MICHAEL BLOUNT, & SGT. JAMES HARRIS BOTH ON S.T.R.E.S.S., MAYOR’S SQUAD | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

JUNE CUNNINGHAM

The passing of Robert “June” Cunningham only months after he was paroled from a lifer sentence was also announced from the stage. A profoundly moving memorial was held July 5, 2024 (see obituary below). Numerous men who had served time with him paid tribute to him. They noted the unbreakable b0nds they had formed with members of their prison family during decades of oppression in the system.

Perry J. Scott wrote in his printed tribute:

“. . .in spite of being pressed against vicious walls of injustice for 50 years, he took his crusade for justice to the source and clamored for fair treatment with defiant methods of creative protest for his freedom. Robert JR Cunningham was an upright learned man, strong, pragmatic Brother of change who struggled endlessly to liberate himself from the unpromising limitations of prison life, a corrupt System  filled to its capacity.”

Some of those who attended June Cunningham’s wake July 5, 2024. Photo: Abner Hines

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URGENT. Funds  regularly needed for quarterly web hosting charge of $465.00  or VOD and 13 years of its stories will be taken off the web.  VOD is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON  NATION and POLICE STATE.

VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. In addition to quarterly web hosting charge. other expenses include P.O. box fee of $226.00/yr., costs including utility and internet bills, costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

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CASH APP 313-825-6126 MDianeBukowski

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DPD’s James Harris lauded killer unit in
“Detroit Under S.T.R.E.S.S.” film, after 20 yrs. in prison  on drug charges.

Judge Christopher Michael Blount’s father, ret. DPD Sgt. Michael Blount,  a “charter member” of S.T.R.E.S.S. along with DPD Sgt. James Harris, chief witness against Ricky Rimmer in 1976 trial

Both continue to praise killer cop unit — “Best police work of my career,” “made streets safer.”

Mayor Coleman Young put Blount and Harris on his security squad in 1974, after disbanding S.T.R.E.S.S.

Harris charged in 1972 Rochester Street Massacre of Black Deputy Sheriffs, later spent 20 yrs. in federal prison for protecting drug shipments to Detroit

Judge Blount denied Rimmer’s Motions for New Trial and Evidentiary Hearing Feb. 9, no response yet to Motion for Reconsideration

Another case remanded by the Mich. Court of Appeals to Blount’s court on the same issues cited by Rimmer’s atty. surfaces: Sean Darnell Daniels

SOURCE: A History of Violence: The Detroit Police Department, The African American Community and S.T.R.E.S.S. An Army of Occupation or An Army Under Siege. – S.T.R.E.S.S. was responsible for the lowest crime rate in decades…but there were other serious issues attached to it… (dougmerriman.org)

Wayne State University History Dept. Newsletter Fall 2017

By Diane Bukowski

June 19, 2024

Christopher Michael Blount’s campaign ad.

DETROIT– On Feb. 9, Wayne 3rd Circuit Court Judge Christopher Blount unexpectedly denied Detroit lifer Ricky Rimmer’s motions for a new trial and evidentiary hearing. The motions deal largely with the roles two corrupt, racist Detroit cops, James Harris and Leo Haidys, played in concocting his 1976 murder conviction.

VOD has just discovered that              Harris was a close associate of Judge Blount’s father, retired DPD Sgt. Michael Blount. Both were among a select few Black officers who served on the killer cop unit S.T.R.E.S.S.  After 1974, when Detroit Mayor Coleman Young disbanded the unit, both served on the Mayor’s security squad.

In an earlier campaign ad, Judge Blount said his father and other family members in DPD  were among his role models. (Sidebar)

Judge Christopher Blount (campaign photo)

VOD emailed Judge Blount and his Judicial Asst. Evan Ford, asking whether he deems the relationship between his father and Harris, a chief witness against Rimmer, to constitute an “appearance of impropriety.”

Michael Scott, the Court’s Public Information Officer, responded, “In relation to your inquiries earlier to Judge Blount and his office: the Court does not comment on pending litigation and speaks through its written orders.”

Sean Darnell Daniels/ MDOC 

Judge Blount still has not responded to a Motion for Reconsideration of his Order and Opinion, filed March 1 by Rimmer’s attorney Darnell Barton.

The motion notes that the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned Judge Blount’s ruling in the case of Dwayne Ballinger on Feb. 8  on the same issues raised by Barton.

Meanwhile, the case of Sean Darnell Daniels, also remanded to Judge Blount by the Michigan Court of Appeals on July 3, 2023, has surfaced.

There, the COA said  Judge Blount erred by saying Daniels’ successive motion for relief from judgment was 1) procedurally barred under MCR 6.502G;  2) holding wr0ngly that “newly available” evidence is insufficient to grant a new trial; and 3) that newly available impeachment evidence is barred under two rulings that have since been overturned.

In remanding Daniels’ case to Judge Blount, an MCOA panel of Judges Michael J. Riordan, Thomas C.  Cameron and Noah P. Hood cited People v Swain, 499 Mich 920 (2016), (the same ruling Blount scoffed at in Rimmer’s case); People v Rao, 491 Mich 271, 282-283; 815 NW2d 105 (2012), and People v Grissom, 492 Mich 296, 319-320; 821 NW2d 50 (2012). See complete ruling in link below story.

In the Daniels case, the COA ordered, “On remand, the trial court shall do so promptly, reconsidering this matter on the merits in light of this order.” Judge Blount has a July 2, 2024 “post-conviction” date set on Daniels’ case.

VOD’S editor Diane Bukowski and legal analyst Travis Herndon appeared on the Jay Love show, “Turning a Moment into a Movement,” June 14 to discuss Ricky Rimmer’s case and its relevance to all defendants adversely  affected by Michigan’s severely flawed criminal justice system.

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Ricky Rimmer Motion for Reconsideration filed March 1, 2024:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Ricky-Rimmer-MOTION-FOR-RECONSIDERATION-Final-version-Barton-3.pdf

Judge Christopher Blount’s Order and Opinion filed February 9, 2024:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Rimmer-Ricky-Order-and-Opinion-2-Feb-2024-3.pdf

MCOA Order in Sean Darnell Daniels Case July 7, 2023:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/COA-364929-PEOPLE-OF-MI-V-SEAN-DARNELL-DANIELS-ORDER-7_3_2023-Christopher-Blount.pdf

Other documents linked in VOD story published June 5, 2024:                                

JUDGE BLOUNT DENIES RICKY RIMMER’ S MOTIONS FOR NEW TRIAL, HEARING ON RACIST COPS, NEW WITNESSES | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

“MOMMALOVE!” CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF LOVIE MAE RIMMER FEB. 26-27, MOTHER OF RICKY RIMMER-BEY | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

MICH. LIFER RICKY RIMMER CITES RACIST, VIOLENT HISTORY OF DPD COPS HAIDYS, HARRIS IN MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

MICHIGAN LIFER RICKY RIMMER-BEY: CONVICTED DRUG DEALER COP JAMES HARRIS FRAMED ME FOR MURDER | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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URGENT. Funds  regularly needed for quarterly web hosting charge of $465.00  or VOD and 13 years of its stories will be taken off the web.  VOD is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON  NATION and POLICE STATE.

VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. In addition to quarterly web hosting charge. other expenses include P.O. box fee of $226.00/yr., costs including utility and internet bills, costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

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CASH APP 313-825-6126 MDianeBukowski

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DPD officers in Rimmer case were charged in 1968 Vets Memorial white cop mob attack on Black youths (Leo Haidys); and 1972 Rochester St. Massacre of Black Dep. Sheriffs by DPD/S.T.R.E.S.S. (James Harris)

These events played major role in Detroit’s Black civil rights history vs. police abuse.

Judge Blount says  “not guilty” verdicts in those cases negated use for impeachment evidence, flying in face of  Brady, Giglio, People v. Layher, other case law.

On Feb. 8, COA called similar Brady ruling  by Blount’s court in case of  Dwayne Ballinger unconstitutional for “conflating Brady with Cress”

Ricky Rimmer, mother during MDOC visit.

Blount’s Opinion/Order, copied from WCPO 2023 response, cites 2015 COA opinion in People v. Lorinda Swain, overturned by Mich. Supreme Court in sweeping 2016 ruling, 499 Mich 920 (2016)

Blount refuses to hear new testimony from two eyewitnesses to the murder for which Rimmer has spent nearly 50 years in prison.

“Mommalove” Lovie Mae Rimmer died waiting for her son’s evidentiary hearing, during multiple court postponements; Rimmer now 70, was 21 when sentenced to death in prison 

(Complete copies of all court filings cited  in this article are linked at the end of  story.)

By Diane Bukowski

May 30, 2024

Judge  Blount

After multiple postponements since 2021, Wayne 3rd Circuit Court Judge Christopher Blount abruptly denied Detroit lifer Ricky Rimmer’s motions for a new trial and evidentiary hearing under MCL 770.1 and MCR 6.500, on Feb. 9.

He has not responded to a Motion for Reconsideration by the defense filed March 1, or to VOD’s repeated requests for comment.

“I’m 70 now. they can’t keep playing games with my life,” Rimmer told VOD. “My mother  died waiting for this hearing while the Judge took his time. That was a gut shot. I was 21 when I came up in here. This is making me and my family and supporters question the entire judicial system.”

Rimmer has been serving a sentence of death in prison since March 3, 1976, for the murder of Joseph Kratz, a white car dealer on Detroit’s east side in 1975.

Judge Blount  said in part in his Order and Opinion, “Defendant is claiming that the People violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 US 83 (1963) and Giglio United States, 405 US 150 (1972) by failing to advise him that two of the police officers involved in this case were found not guilty in either of these unrelated cases. Defendant clearly does not understand the purpose of Brady and Giglio.”

The evidentiary hearing was to assess Brady disclosure violations involving DPD Sgts. Leo Haidys and James Harris, who masterminded his 1976 conviction. The two have corrupt, violent and racist histories including their participation, respectively, in the 1969 Veterans Memorial Incident and the 1972 Rochester Street Massacre. Both events played a major role in Detroit’s Black history.

Additionally, two direct witnesses to the crime were to testify at the evidentiary hearing that Rimmer did not shoot and kill Joseph Kratz, a white car dealer, in 1975, during a robbery on Detroit’s east side. The hasty ruling cites no “findings of fact or conclusions of law” per MCL 6.508(E).

Rimmer’s attorney Darnell Barton strongly disputed Judge Blount’s findings on numerous legal grounds in a Motion for Reconsideration filed March 1.

Among other precedents, Attorney Blount cited People v. Layher, a 2001 Michigan Supreme Court ruling. The high court said in part:

“We hold, consistent with existing precedent and the Michigan Rules of Evidence, that a trial court may allow inquiry into prior arrests or charges for the purpose of establishing witness bias where, in its sound discretion, the trial court determines that the admission of evidence is consistent with the safeguards of the Michigan Rules of Evidence.

“We conclude that evidence of the witness’ prior arrest without conviction to show the witness’ bias was admissible under MRE 402 and MRE 403. People v. Layher, 464 Mich. 756, 757-56, 621 N.W.2d 281, 282 (2001).

In his ruling, Judge Blount also cited arguments that the Michigan Court of Appeals roundly rejected Feb. 8 in the case of another defendant whose case is in front of Blount, Dwayne Ballinger. (See quote from Ballinger COA ruling in sidebar.)

Dwayne Ballinger 

In Ballinger, the COA ordered, “On remand, the trial court should promptly reconsider this matter in light of both this order and our Supreme Court’s order in Ballinger IL The trial court may hold whatever further proceedings it deems appropriate to that end. This order is to have immediate effect. MCR 7.215(F)(2). We do not retain jurisdiction.”

Ballinger’s Register of Actions shows no action by Blount since the COA order. Neither Judge Blount nor his judicial assistant Evan Ford have responded to VOD’s repeated requests for comment on Rimmer’s case after the dismissal.

BLOUNT, HEBEL WRONGLY USE SWAIN, A CASE WHERE DEFENDANT EXONERATED OF CHILD ABUSE,  TO DENY RELIEF UNDER MCL 770.1

Judge Blount’s Feb. 9 Opinion and Order (excerpt above) wrongly identifies a 2015 Court of Appeals unpublished opinion in People v. Swain,  with the citation 499 Mich 920 (2016). But that is the Michigan Supreme Court ruling that overturned the COA in 2016.

In People v. Swain, No. 314564, 2015 WL 52163 (2015), the COA held that the trial judge’s finding that “justice had not been done” pursuant to MCL 770.1, was error and reversed the grant of a new trial. However, on May 18, 2016, the Michigan Supreme Court, in  People v. Swain, 499 Mich 920 (2016) remanded the case for a finding not inconsistent with the trial court’s findings under MCL 770.1. Michigan Radio celebrated the ruling at  Lorinda Swain, once convicted of child abuse, is free (michiganpublic.org).
______________________________________________________

NEWLY PRESENTED WITNESS TESTIMONY 

Old DPD HQ 1300 Beaubien

“Defendant provides two affidavits which mostly consists of inadmissible hearsay,” Judge Blount, copying from AP Hebel, says in his ruling. “The only portion of those that would be potentially admissible is the 45-year late assertation of-two of his Co-conspirators that he was not involved in the murder. These witnesses are incredible. The delay is incredible. They are choreographed affidavits that are inadmissible.”

Defense filings say the affidavits contain new testimony that Rimmer did not shoot Kratz. They say that Sgt. James Harris put the two, along with another man, all under arrest, into a room together at Police Headquarters, 1300 Beaubien. Then he told the three to “get your stories together” to finger Rimmer, who was arrested the next day.

One was later charged as a co-defendant but never testified at trial (invoking his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent), then sat next to Rimmer at trial as a co-defendant. Sgt. Harris was then allowed to read the co-defendant’s statement, manufactured after Harris ordered the three men to ‘get your stories together,” to Rimmer’s jury. The second man took the stand at trial. His alleged police statement was read to the jury, but he denied on the stand that he told police that Rimmer was the shooter.

The third man later recanted in front of  trial judge Henry Heading, with the jury excused, but on the record. He said he lied at the preliminary exam because Harris told him falsely that Rimmer had murdered his brother. But Judge Heading then declared him “unavailable” and had his false testimony read to the jury by AP Timothy Kenny.

HAIDYS, HARRIS IN 1969 VETERANS MEMORIAL COP ATTACK ON BLACK YOUTHS, 1972 ROCHESTER STREET MASSACRE OF BLACK DEP. SHERIFFS

Judge Blount was born in June, 1978, after what he calls “unrelated” cases involving DPD Sgts. Leo Haidys and James Harris:  the Veterans’ Memorial Incident of 1968 and the Rochester Street Massacre of 1972, involving DPD’s killer S.T.R.E.S.S. unit.

Rimmer’s motions contend that then Asst. Prosecutor Timothy Kenny should have made Rimmer and his jury aware of those histories when the two testified during his trial.

Haidys was tried on charges stemming from the notorious Veterans Memorial Incident of 1968 during which armed white cops, shouting the N word, chased, shot at, pistol-whipped and beat Black youths attending a church dance at the building. Haidys was singled out by Jimmie Evans as the cop who smashed him in the face with his gun. After an uproar in the Black community, a police panel ordered him charged, but he was acquitted by a white jury after a change of venue to to Mason, Michigan to avoid Black Detroit jurors. (DFP 11/26/1968 graphic: white cops attack Black youths in car, drag them out to beat them.)

See: https://policing.umhistorylabs.lsa.umich.edu/s/detroitunderfire/page/veteran-s-memorial-incident

One of hundreds of anti-STRESS protests in Detroit, this one at DPD headquarters in 1973.

Harris was charged in the Rochester Street Massacre of 1972, during which he and two other cops with the notorious  S.T.R.E.S.S. killer decoy unit, abetted by two white DPD officers, invaded an apartment, guns blazing, where Black Wayne Co. Deputy Sheriffs were playing cards on a pretext. One Deputy Sheriff, Henry Henderson was killed, Deputy Sheriff James Jenkins was disabled for life.

Wayne County Prosecutor William Cahalan charged Harris and  the other S.T.R.E.S.S. cops with murder, attempted murder, felonious assault, and felony firearm with intent to commit murder.

Massive rally against STRESS including Black Panthers.

But he did not charge the white DPD officer who shot Henry  Henderson six times, killing him. The Wayne County Sheriff’s office did an independent investigation of the case, concluding that Harris and four other DPD officers fired on the Deputy Sheriffs without cause.

The case was a prominent factor in the massive community movement against S.T.R.E.S.S. that developed as the cops killed 22 Black men and women over the years. It led to the election of Detroit’s first Black Mayor, Coleman a. Young, who ran against Police Commissioner John Nichols in 1074.   https://policing.umhistorylabs.lsa.umich.edu/s/detroitunderfire/page/rochester-incident

‘MOMMALOVE’ RIMMER DIES WAITING FOR SON’S COURT HEARING

Rimmer’s mother Lovie Mae Rimmer, born in Kosciusko, Mississippi in 1937, died Feb. 13, 2023, after Judge Blount ordered an indefinite stay on proceedings. requested by the Wayne Co. Conviction Integrity Unit, with no notice to Rimmer or his attorney. Judge Blount later rescinded the stay, but kept adjourning hearings for the next two years, allegedly for “further research.”

Rimmer remembered his mother in a tribute published by VOD.

“In preparation of this missive for my mother, this is the hardest communication I have had to address due to the fact my emotions are RAW,” he said in part. “With MOMMALOVE, I could talk about any subject and she would always give me her honest opinion. When I would call home, before hanging up, she would always ask me, “RICKY, when are you coming home?” I would tell her about the filing of my case, and that I would be home soon.”

Rimmer told VOD.”My mother’s death was a gut shot. Me and my mother had plans go to the Detroit Zoo. I’d never been to the zoo, and I used to watch TV stories on the Bronx Zoo in prison. I wanted to sit down and pick Mommalove’s brain about how it was growing up in Mississippi.”

(See Rimmer’s full statement on  his mother’s death in VOD link below).

Rimmer’s sister Mary Catherine wrote to Judge Blount after their mother’s death, relaying her request that “Ricky’s case be reviewed with fairness.” (See box at left.)

But Judge Blount ignored Ms. Rimmer’s simple request to give her son a fair hearing and review of his case after nearly 50 years in prison.

VOD interviewed Ms. Rimmer in its first story on this case, during which she told how Sgt. James Harris came to her house and ate dinners she cooked for him, while covertly planning to set her son up.

William Messenger, who grew up in Rimmer’s east side neigborhood, further recalled details of Harris’ history in a sworn affidavit.

William Messenger, MDOC photo.

“In 1975, Detective Harris, who was the head of Squad Seven homicide division, was routinely assigned to patrol our community. It was known to everyone that he was a corrupt dirty cop. He had a reputation for getting street guys to say they saw or heard about someone committing a murder or robbery—people who had nothing to do with the crime. . . I personally told Detective Harris when he stopped me on the streets, and again in the witness room at the Frank Murphy Hall, that Ricky had nothing to do with this crime. His response was, ‘I want Rimmer.’”

Harris was later sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after he was exposed in an FBI sting off the coast of Miami in 1991 accepting a $50,000 bribe to have Detroit Police guard international drug shipments coming to Detroit. He served 20 years of that sentence. ______________________________________________________________

VOD Editorial Note: VOD discovered this photo of Daniel Hebel, the Wayne Co. Asst. Prosecutor who wrote the “Plaintiff’s Response” that Judge Blount virtually copied in his ruling, on the Facebook Page of the “Student Statesmanship Institute.”

SSI’s motto: “Inspiring Teens To Find Their Ultimate Identity In Christ And Their Highest Calling As His Ambassador.”  https://ssionline.org/

“The Student Statesmanship Institute (SSI) in Lansing, Michigan . . .has, since the mid-1990s, staged multi-track,  weeklong summer trainings for conservative Christian high school and homeschooled young people in the basics of legislation, the judiciary, business, media, and election campaigns. The institute touts itself as “Michigan’s Premier Biblical Worldview & Leadership Training Program for high school students” and claims to train 300 students during its annual summer programs. The program is substantially underwritten by the philanthropies of the family of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.” Christian Right | Political Research Associates   The Proselytizers and the Privatizers – The American Prospect. ________________________________________________________

RELATED DOCUMENTS:

Atty Darnell Barton/Ricky Rimmer Defense: MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION March 1, 2024 http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Ricky-Rimmer-MOTION-FOR-RECONSIDERATION-Final-version-Barton-3.pdf

Judge Christopher Blount: ORDER AND OPINION DENYING RECONSIDERATION OF DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM JUDGMENT INCLUDING PROSECUTOR’S RESPONSE Feb. 9, 2024, at: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Rimmer-Ricky-Order-and-Opinion-2-Feb-2024-3.pdf

Asst. Prosecutor Daniel Hebel: PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM JUDGMENT, July 17, 2023, at: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Ricky-Rimmer-Peoples-Response-to-Motion-for-Relief-2.pdf

DEFENDANT’S RESPONSE TO PLAINTIFF’S ANSWER TO MOTION FOR
NEW TRIAL/MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM JUDGMENT (includes Amicus Brief from state and federal prosecutors in Swain, advocating for all Michigan defendants in the use of  Michigan Statute MCL 770.1)  http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Ricky-Rimmer-Defendants-Response-Final.pdf

RICKY RIMMER’S ORIGINAL MOTIONS FOR NEW TRIAL, EVIDENTIARY HEARING http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/RICKY-RIMMER-MOTIONS-FOR-NEW-TRIAL-EVIDENTIARY-HEARING-BRIEF-IN-SUPPORT-ET-AL-2.pdf.

MICH. COURT OF APPEALS IN BALLINGER: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/People-v.-Ballinger-COA-2-9-24.pdf

PEOPLE V. LORINDA SWAIN COURT OF APPEALS OPINION FEB. 5, 2015  http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Lorinda-Swain-COA-opinion-Feb-5-2015.pdf

PEOPLE V. LORINDA SWAIN, MICH. SUPREME COURT May 18, 2016  http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/People-v.-Swain-Michigan-Supreme-Court-2016.pdf

RELATED STORIES:

“MOMMALOVE!” CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF LOVIE MAE RIMMER FEB. 26-27, MOTHER OF RICKY RIMMER-BEY | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

MICH. LIFER RICKY RIMMER CITES RACIST, VIOLENT HISTORY OF DPD COPS HAIDYS, HARRIS IN MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

MICHIGAN LIFER RICKY RIMMER-BEY: CONVICTED DRUG DEALER COP JAMES HARRIS FRAMED ME FOR MURDER | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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URGENT. Funds  needed for quarterly web hosting charge of $465.00 by June 19, 2024 or VOD and 13 years of its stories will be taken off the web.  VOD is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON  NATION and POLICE STATE.

VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. In addition to quarterly web hosting charge. other expenses include P.O. box fee of $226.00/yr., costs including utility and internet bills, costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

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CASH APP 313-825-6126 MDianeBukowski

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VOD UPDATE JUNE 7, 2024: THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES FOR WSU STUDENTS SUPPORTING THE PEOPLE OF GAZA AND PALESTINE.

U.S. REP. RASHIDA TLAIB

VOD is publishing this statement from U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib today, Tues. May 28, 2024. Tlaib spoke May 25 at the WSU Students for Justice in Palestine encampment at Wayne State University. Included are Facebook photos from the encampment. SJP is  calling on the public to support them tonight Tues. May 28 at 6PM as a police assault on the peaceful encampment is likely. Their Facebook page is at: (20+) WSU Students for Justice in Palestine | Facebook.

PRESS RELEASE fr0m the Office of U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib

May 7, 2024 

WSU Students for Justice in Palestine/Facebook photo

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) released the following statement on the Israeli government’s ground invasion of Rafah:

“It’s no coincidence that immediately after our government sent the Israeli apartheid regime over $14 billion with absolutely no conditions on upholding human rights, Netanyahu began a ground invasion of Rafah to continue the genocide of Palestinians—with ammunition and bombs paid for by our tax dollars. Over 1.5 million Palestinian civilians, including over 600,000 children, are trapped in Rafah, living in makeshift tents, without food, clean water, sanitation, medicine, or any form of shelter.

Israeli forces have already killed over 35,000 Palestinians, and the families displaced in Rafah will now face even more unimaginable human suffering. Many of my colleagues are going to express concern and horror at the crimes against humanity that are about to unfold, even though they just voted to send Netanyahu billions more in weapons. Do not be misled, they gave their consent for these atrocities, and our country is actively participating in genocide. For months, Netanyahu made his intent to invade Rafah clear, yet the majority of my colleagues and President Biden sent more weapons to enable the massacre.

WSU SFP FB photo.

“There is nowhere safe in Gaza. Nearly 80% of the civilian infrastructure has been destroyed. There is no feasible evacuation plan, and the Israeli government is only trying to provide a false pretense of safety to try to maintain legal cover at the International Court of Justice. Netanyahu knows that he will only stay in power as long as the fighting continues.

It is now more apparent than ever that we must end all U.S. military funding for the Israeli apartheid regime, and demand that President Biden facilitate an immediate, permanent ceasefire that includes a complete withdraw of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians.

I urge the ICC to swiftly issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials to finally hold them accountable for this genocide, as is obviously warranted by these well-documented violations of the Genocide Convention under international law.”

Supporters of women in the Women’s Huron Valley (WHV) correctional facility gather outside March 16, 2024. Photos: 

This is a message from KRYSTAL CLARK # 435064 (one of plaintiffs in WHV class action lawsuit v. MDOC)

March 16, 2024

Shawanna Vaughn, of “Silent Cry” organized the March 16 WHV rally. Eric Walston of Prisoners Doing the Right Thing is at center (top).

Ypsilanti, Michigan — As you may be aware, in 2019 women prisoners at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility (WHV) in Ypsilanti, Michigan filed a two-count civil rights action against the Michigan Department of Corrections (Case No. 19-13442).

This lawsuit alleged that Women’s Huron Valley, Michigan’s only women’s prison, is riddled with dangerous conditions which include haphazard retrofitting, leaky roofs, inoperable windows, inadequate ventilation, and outdated heating/cooling and ventilation systems which have created a breeding ground for harmful fungi and spore-producing molds such as Ochroconis, Cladosporium, and Chaetomium and that exposure to these molds constitute cruel and inhumane punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Make no mistake, the women in Women’s Huron Valley Correctional facility are suffering from mold exposure. In the lab reports of those women lucky enough to get an off-site medical diagnosis, ” MOLD” is clearly defined as the cause of their ailments.

Fire MDOC staff that has failed to address health concerns.

Mold related symptoms include: constant headaches, nosebleeds, constant fatigue, breathing disorders, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, loss of appetite, weight loss, hair loss, skin rashes, open sores, short term memory loss, neurological disorders, swollen glands, chronic ear, sinus and bronchial infections, and pain in joints and muscles. Because of the substandard healthcare in this prison, women are not receiving the medical care nessesary to address mold-related ailments.

On August 25th, 2023, federal judge Victoria A. Roberts for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan dismissed the lawsuit brought by the women prisoners. What should shock the conscience of every citizen in the State of Michigan is what the attorneys representing the Michigan Department of Corrections stated when they stood before the Court.

Protesters at WHV March 16, 2024.

They said: ” There are no cases establishing a prisoner’s right to be free from these molds  (Ochroconis, Cladosporium and Chaetomium), that it is not clearly established that any type of mold at WHV is sufficiently dangerous to incarcerated people, and EVEN IF IT WERE CLEARLY ESTABLISHED THAT CERTAIN MOLDS WERE DANGEROUS ENOUGH TO IMPLICATE THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT, IT IS NOT CLEARLY ESTABLISHED THAT PRISON OFFICIALS NEED TO TAKE ANY PARTICULAR ACTION TO REMEDIATE THE PRESENCE OF MOLD.”

The women imprisoned at Women’s Huron Valley are somebody’s loved ones. We have families and friends that worry about our health and safety.

The Michigan Department of Corrections DOES NOT share that concern. In their arguments before the Court they expressed NO responsibility or accountability for the mold- contaminated facility women are forced to live in. In other words, women prisoners should just shut up and die a slow, painful death in here from their mold- related illnesses.

By ANY standard of decency, this treatment is inhumane. If you wouldn’t allow a dog to live in such deplorable conditions and suffer the health consequences, how can you in good conscience allow Michigan’s imprisoned women to live this way.

Judge Victoria Roberts

COURT BATTLE NOT OVER, SAYS JUDGE ROBERTS: PLAINTIFFS CAN RE-FILE  EMPHASIZING INADEQUATE VENTILATION

“The Court DISMISSES Plaintiffs’ claim without prejudice and allows them the opportunity to refile. Although the Court concludes there is no clearly established constitutional right in the Sixth Circuit to be free from exposure to mold that poses a serious risk to an incarcerated person’s health or safety, mold can be actionable in a different context.

The presence of mold—to the extent it contributes to inadequate and unhealthy ventilation systems in prisons—could support a claim of unsanitary prison conditions/inadequate ventilation which violates Eighth Amendment rights.“

GROUP PHOTO OF PROTESTERS OUTSIDE WOMEN’S HURON VALLEY PRISON March 16, 2024

Judge Roberts continued, “Defendants were on notice that Plaintiffs may have alleged an inadequate ventilation claim. In the amended complaint, Plaintiffs mention inadequate ventilation at least 22 separate times. . . .(“the prison and its bunkrooms lack proper ventilation, leading to a general moist environment and dampness in most of WHV’s units.

. . .In particular, the facility’s haphazard retrofitting, leaky roofs, inoperable windows, inadequate ventilation, and outdated HVAC systems all contribute to the mold problem at WHV.”) (“Defendants have failed . . . to replace the inadequate and failing HVAC system; instead allowing vents to fill up with mold and electing to use floor fans causing the mold to circulate in the air.”); id. at PageID.1107 (“Defendants have failed to replace the inadequate and failing air handlers, directly contributing to poor ventilation and condensation levels that encourage mold growth.”).

WHV PLAINTIFFS

Defendants even acknowledge the inadequate ventilation allegations in their briefing. See [ECF No. 152, PageID.2837] (articulating that Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges failure to remedy inadequate ventilation). Since the amended complaint already alleges inadequate ventilation, Defendants are on notice of this potential claim and will not be harmed if the Court dismisses this case as pled and allows Plaintiffs to amend the complaint.”

Court records show that a second amended Complaint was filed on behalf of plaintiffs PAULA BAILEY, KRYSTAL CLARK, AND HOPE ZENTZ, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, on September 15, 2023, by attorneys from multiple law firms including MARKO LAW, PLLC (Jonathan Marko), Detroit, MI; NICHOLS KASTER, PLLP (Matthew Morgan, Minneapolis, MN.; PITT MCGEHEE PALMER &RIVERS (Cary S. McGhee), Royal Oak, MI; LAW OFFICES OF DAVID S. STEINGOLD, PLLC, Detroit, MI;
STEINGOLD, PLLC; and EXCOLO LAW, PLLC Solomon M. Radner, Southfield, MI.
See amended complaint at

The complaint is now before USDC Judge Stephen Murphy III, with Elizabeth Stafford remaining as the Magistrate Judge. The Defendants again have filed for Summary Judgment, with the most recent filing on the case dated April 5, 2025.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office represents the Defendants, who are HEIDI WASHINGTON (MDOC Director), JEREMY HOWARD, iSHAWN BREWER, JEREMY BUSH, LIA GULICK,, ED VALLAD, DAVID JOHNSON,  KARRI OSTERHOUT, JOSEPH TREPPA, DAN CARTER, JOEL DREFFS, i
RICHARD BULLARD, and TONI MOORE.

The Defendants are all being sued in their individual and official capacities.

RELATED:

‘VALLEY GIRLS:” TAMERRA WASHINGTON, AT WOMEN’S HURON VALLEY CF, JOINS VOD AS REPORTER/COLUMNIST | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

TAMERRA WASHINGTON: LETTERS FROM A MODERN CELL, HONORING MLK 6OTH ANNIVERSARY OF DETROIT MARCH | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

MDOC EXPERIENCING RISE IN SUICIDES AT TREATMENT PROGRAM; ARE CORRECTIONS OFFICERS RESPONSIBLE? | VOICE OF DETROIT: The city’s independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

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URGENT. Funds  needed for quarterly web hosting charge of $465.00 by June 19, 2024 or VOD and 13 years of its stories will be taken off the web.  VOD is a pro bono newspaper, now devoting itself entirely to stories related to our PRISON  NATION and POLICE STATE.

VOD’s editors and reporters, most of whom live on fixed incomes or are incarcerated, are not paid for their work. In addition to quarterly web hosting charge. other expenses include P.O. box fee of $226.00/yr., costs including utility and internet bills, costs for research including court records and internet fees, office supplies, gas, etc.

Please DONATE TO VOD at:

https://www.gofundme.com/donate-to-vod

CASH APP 313-825-6126 MDianeBukowski

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SUNRISE NOV. 8, 1965     SUNSET MARCH 29, 2024

Vivian Kincaid was a close friend of VOD Editor Diane Bukowski. She was well-known in many circles, from those fighting for justice and freedom for imprisoned family members, to her fellow actors at Enter Stage Right in Port Huron. She was a brilliant, beautiful, courageous woman. She will be sorely missed.

For more information, call Vivian’s aunt Mattie at 313-330-4100 or daughter Lia at 313-815-6453.