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

DPD reports it is “investigating” portions of 16 criminal case files including physical evidence found in the home of retired Sgt. Olie Millian, Jr. Feb. 7

 Says it is also investigating other cases from 1997 to 2008; nothing said about other decades of missing files, including juvenile lifers 

DBOPC called for a meeting to decide discipline of officers re:  Snapchat video of young Black woman ticketed, evicted from car in freezing temp

 Snapchat officer Steele later fired, implicated in racial animosity in 6th Pct.

By Diane Bukowski 

March 22, 2019 

Olie McMillian Jr. as shown in YouTube PAL video.

DETROIT – The Voice of Detroit has filed a Freedom of Information Act request related to the discovery of official Detroit police homicide files and evidence in the home of retired DPD Detective Olie McMillian, Jr. on Feb. 7. The items were discovered by individuals hired by the landlord to clean out the place, during an eviction proceeding.

VOD is asking for “a detailed list of each case involved, with copies of all files and their contents including case numbers and defendants’ names, and photographs of all physical evidence discovered.”  For full request, see http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/FOIA-Law-Dept-Police-evidence-2.pdf

Chris Graveline, Director of Professional Standards and Constitutional Policing, described what was found during a Feb. 14 community meeting of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners. He did not provide names of the defendants or  case numbers. He reported that materials police officials took out of a dumpster and the residence included:

• Portions of case files and evidence relating to 16 criminal cases from 1997 to approximately 2008, when McMillian worked in the DPD homicide division.
• Physical evidence including clothing, cell phones, and a handgun.

He said the DPD is sorting through the files and evidence to determine whether the cases are still open or closed, or have gone to trial, among other matters, then will turn them over to the Wayne County Prosecutor.

Atty. David A. Robinson

“I fail to reconcile first of all why department evidence related to a crime would be in the personal possession of any officer,” Atty. David A. Robinson told VOD earlier. “That breaks the chain of custody and compromises the case of whoever is being investigated. You have to question the officer’s motive. It goes beyond sloppiness since officers certainly are trained in the significance of the integrity of evidence. And it begs the question of motive. There have been many cases where Brady violations have occurred where officers have hidden evidence in favor of a suspect’s claim of innocence.”

Robinson said if VOD’s FOIA request is denied, he will pursue a lawsuit in court.

During the Feb. 14 meeting, District 7 Police Commissioner William Davis asked, “As it relates to officers in the past having access and taking custody of evidence, is there an investigation to make sure there’s not lots of other evidence out there that could adversely affect our citizens?”

Deputy Police Chief  Todd Bettison responded, “We have procedures in place right now that Chief [James] Craig started that it’s a checklist that before a member retires, we get to find out what [cases] he’s on, they have to turn that evidence in.

William Davis, 7th District Detroit Police Commissioner

“It’s not about taking [it] home period or anything like that—that’s completely a violation of department policy,” Bettison continued.  “In regards to every possible thing that could have happened in the past, because we’re not aware of this, we are looking at it. Since Chief [James] Craig has been there, we are confident that it hasn’t happened. With this being a new development, we’re going to look at all avenues to make sure that there weren’t any other members during that time that participated in that crisis.”

Former Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr appointed Craig to that position July 1, 2013, while the city was under “emergency management” by the State of Michigan. Craig previously spent 28 years with the Los Angeles PD and served on an internal panel that whitewashed crimes committed by LAPD cops in the “Ramparts” Precinct.

Deputy Chief Bettison’s version of the investigation leaves out any cases other than those from 1997 to 2008. It is now more than 11 years afterwards, not to mention the years prior to 1997, during which many defendants have been serving decades in the MDOC.

Numerous Michigan Department of Corrections prisoners are asking about their own case files in the wake of this news. Private investigator Scott Lewis earlier told VOD that he estimates at least 30 percent of Michigan prisoners are innocent.

The late Atty. Sarah E. Hunter, who passed in 2017.

Exposes of hidden evidence and missing criminal case files have come to light periodically, most notably in the “miscellaneous files” travesty of 1996. Atty. Sarah E. Hunter exposed police practices of keeping  files, records and evidence favoring the defendant hidden from both prosecution and defense. Hunter, a long-time advocate for prisoners, died in 2017.

Read her stunning affidavit at http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Sarah.Hunter.Affidavit-re-miscellaneous-files-1.pdf

As Michigan juvenile lifers face extremely tardy re-sentencings pursuant to two U.S. Supreme Court rulings in 2012 and 2016, many attorneys have told VOD that they have discovered that at least portions of court files and other records required for mitigation hearings are missing. Many of these juvenile lifers have spent decades in prison

For example. Charles Lewis, now 59, who has been incarcerated since 1977, has heard three years of testimony by Wayne County Clerk’s office representatives that five boxes of physical files in his case went missing sometime before his case started re-sentencing hearings in front of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Qiana Lillard in 2016. Additionally, entries on his Register of Actions, the official record of the case, are completely missing from 1997 to 2000.

Charles K.K. Lamont Lewis

According to U.S. and Michigan Supreme Court precedents, Lewis’ case should have been promptly dismissed. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Qiana Lillard heard testimony about the loss of the files in 2016, but has insisted on holding a mitigation hearing without actual records of jury convictions in his case. 

She claimed an April 3, 2000 order in which former Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Gershwin Drain dismissed the case and conviction, which was discovered lost in another file, was forged by Lewis. No proof of such a forgery or charges were ever brought.

Lewis gave a detailed statement in court regarding the discovery of the document by court clerk personnel, the case was not further investigated. Instead, all Lewis’ physical case files from 1977 through 1999 went missing, and his Register of Actions for the same period was wiped out.

In 2007, this writer and the now defunct Michigan Citizen won a ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court in the case of Diane Bukowski v. The City of Detroit, which forced the Detroit Police Department to disclose the factual findings in the Shoulders Report, an internal investigation into the killings of three individuals and shootings of six others by Detroit police officer Eugene Brown, in separate incidents over five years. The DPD had repeatedly refused to do so.

The case of Eugene Brown roused hundreds of people in the City of Detroit to protest against police brutality and killings for many years afterwards, beginning in 2000, with the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality in the forefront. Also killed by Detroit police in 2000 without cause were a deaf man with a rack, who could not hear officers’ orders to put the rake down, and an autoworker firing at a dangerous dog from his front porch.

Killer cop Eugene Brown in 2011

The high court remanded the Brown case back to the trial court of Judge Wendy Baxter for an opinion consistent with their ruling. Baxter released the Report, with some redactions. It rrecommended among other matters that Brown should have been charged and/or disciplined in those cases. See MSC ruling at  http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/BUKOWSKI-v-CITY-OF-DETROIT-MSC.pdf.

The MSC wrote, “It is the public policy of this state that all persons, except those persons incarcerated in state or local correctional facilities, are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and public employees, consistent with this act.  The people shall be informed so that they may fully participate in the democratic process.”

Family members of people murdered by Eugene Brown, as well as his injured victims, gathered outside Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s office to demand that Brown be charged after his civil trial and release of the “Shoulders Report.” Worthy refused. 

The families and friends of Brown’s victims, including the late Arnetta Grable, Herman Vallery, Cornell Squires, and others massed outside the Frank Murphy Hall as Grable and others went to the office of Prosecutor Kym Worthy to demand action against Brown on murder charges, which have no statute of limitations. They were told Worthy had always had this report and had no plans to act on it.

Brown was instead promoted to Sergeant and continued working in the Detroit Police Department until his retirement.

CRAIG: DPD HAS ‘STRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH CITIZENS:”–REALLY?

In 2016, Chief Craig told CNN, “In my tenure . . .rarely do you hear [an] outcry if it’s a black officer that’s involved in a shooting and the suspect is black. It’s always the reverse.”

He said later, “I made the statement (on CNN) because it’s true from a national perspective. In Detroit, we’ve had police-involved shootings by both black and white officers and there’s been no outcry.

That’s because we have a strong relationship with our citizens. . . . Eugene Brown predates me, and I can’t speak to that.”

March on April 28, 2015 for Terrance Kellom, 19, killed by police April 19. Uprisings in Baltimore against the police murder of Freddie Gray were taking place at same time.

In fact, during Craig’s tenure, police murders of young father Terrance Kellom, 18, on April 19, 2015 and Kevin Matthews, 35, who was autistic, occasioned mass marches in Detroit and Dearborn. 

TERRANCE KELLOM, 18 and a young father expecting his second child, was shot multiple times and killed after a seven-member multi-jurisdictional, multi-racial Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Task Force (D-FAT) invaded his father Kevin Kellom’s home with an armed robbery arrest warrant, but no search warrant.

Police identified the shooter as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) agent MITCHELL QUINN, a former Detroit police officer with a record of previous shootings. They said he fired because Kellom threatened him with a hammer, statements contradicted by family eyewitnesses. During a press conference, Worthy admitted there were no fingerprints on the hammer, which police alleged Kellom had used to chop a hole in an upstairs closet and drop to the first floor. She never brought charges.

March against Dearborn police murder of Kevin Matthews: Dearborn cop tells marcher leader Rev. Chas. WIlliams of NAN what the route will be. There still has been no justice in his case.

Kevin Matthews

DECEMBER 23, 2015: KEVIN MATTHEWS, 35, who suffered from mental illness but was nonviolent, was shot multiple times and killed by a white Dearborn cop, still unidentified by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who has had the case on her desk since January, 2016 without taking action. The cop chased on foot out of range of his car’s dashcam video, to a backyard in Detroit, where he shot him multiple times as a neighbor heard him begging, “Don’t shoot.” No action was taken by Detroit police or the prosecutor re: this invasion of Detroit’s borderline.

APRIL 2, 2013: MATTHEW JOSEPH, 23, killed by a multi-agency task force at the corner of Linwood and Hooker after a short chase, shot at least 50 times. Detroit police officer Patrick Hill later died of wounds police admitted were “friendly fire,” first blaming Joseph. Neighborhood witnesses said Joseph had never moved out of the driver’s st of his car and never fired on police as they alleged.

Leda Reed with son Anthony Clark Reed.

Matthew Joseph, 23

March 30, 2015: ANTHONY CLARK REED, 24, died during a traffic stop by Detroit police on the city’s southwest side.

“They said they pulled him over because it looked like he was doing something under his seat,” his father Pastor Anthony-Reed Clark said. “I asked, don’t you realize he was probably looking for his inhaler because he has asthma? The first thing he said was ‘I can’t breathe.’ They yanked him out of the car, shortened his breath more, and increased his heart rate. That’s why he died.” Pastor Clark said there were at least six police cars at the scene afterwards. The medical examiner found no drugs, alleged by police, in his stomach.

Michaelangelo and Makiah Jackson, 6 and 3

June 25, 2015: MAKIAH and MICHAELANGELO JACKSON, 3 and 6 YEARS old, killed during Reckless chase of Lorenzo Harris by Detroit Special Ops officers Steven Feltz, Richard Billingslea, and Hakeem Patterson. The children were killed on Nottingham near Frankfort, N. of E. Warren.

“The police tried to ram the car at the corner of Nottingham and Brunswick [one block north of Mack] and nearly hit my kids, 14 and 11,” a resident living near that location said. “He [Harris] almost jumped that curb over there where there were other little kids. You’d think the police would have backed off the chase at that point, but they were going 80 to 90 mph right on his bumper. If he would have tapped his brake, they would have hit him.”

January 27, 2016: Detroiter JANET WILSON, 31, was shot to death by Dearborn and Detroit cops after leaving Fairlane Mall Jan. 27, 2016 after a verbal dispute with store employees. Police jammed her car into a roadblock. They claimed she had tried to run them down, then fired multiple rounds into her car, killing her.

December 7, 2016: Unidentified Detroit cop fatally struck a bicyclist on the street in Highland Park.

DPD COP STEELE FIRED FOR RACIST SNAPCHAT POST

The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners noted that they have the power to carry out disciplinary actions during their Feb. 14 meeting. On Feb. 28, Officer Gary Steele was allegedly ‘fired’ by Chief James Craig for his racist “Snapchat” post about a young Black woman he and his partner ticketed for expired plates, and then forced to walk home in freezing weather. Two members of the DBOPC, who are elected, spoke at Craig’s press conference on the matter.

RELATED:

HOUSE WITH OLD HOMICIDE EVIDENCE BELONGED TO RETIRED DPD DETECTIVE OLIE MCMILLIAN, JR.

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/DETROITERS-KILLED-BY-POLICE-SINCE-1992-edited.pdf

 PROTESTS SPARKED BY NATIONAL FUEL TAX INCREASES, WAR OF RICH V. POOR IN FRANCE

 Jannat Jalil

March 16, 2019

French President Emmanuel Macron

Paris — Anti-government protesters hurled rocks and paving slabs at police, looted boutiques, smashed up a luxury restaurant on Paris’s famed Champs-Elysées and set a bank on fire on Saturday.

A mother and her baby trapped on the second floor of the building, as flames surged up from the bank branch on the ground floor, were rescued by firefighters. The bank offices were gutted and 11 people were slightly injured, including two police officers.

Smoke and tear gas shrouded the Champs-Elysées and at least 109 people were arrested in the worst outbreak of violence on the fringes of a “yellow vest” demonstration in Paris for several weeks.

President Emmanuel Macron has cut short his skiing holiday to return to Paris to chair an emergency meeting over what the authorities are describing as “intolerable violence and damage”.  

Christophe Castaner, the interior minister, tweeted that those who set the bank on fire “are neither demonstrators nor troublemakers: they are killers.” 

Grinning “yellow vest” protesters posed for photographs in front of the shattered facade of Le Fouquet’s, a restaurant that earned Nicolas Sarkozy the nickname of “President Bling-bling” when he celebrated his 2007 election victory there.

A Yellow Vest protester destroys a shop window during clashes with riot police forces on the Champs-Elysees Credit: AFP 

Much of the violence on the 18th consecutive Saturday of protests against President Macron’s economic reforms was blamed on anarchists, far-Right and ultra-leftist agitators rather than the “yellow vests” themselves. 

Police estimated the number of demonstrators at about 32,000 across France. About 5,000 police officers were deployed in Paris alone. The numbers of protesters have dwindled since the “yellow vest” movement began in November, amid growing anger over income inequality and a lack of public services in rural areas and small towns. 

More took to the streets on Saturday compared with recent weeks, following social media calls for a strong turnout to mark the four-month anniversary of the movement’s launch.

President Macron wrapped up a “great debate” consultation exercise on Friday to allow people to vent their grievances, which has helped him to regain some of the popularity lost since his election. Some “yellow vests” have dismissed the exercise as a campaign ploy ahead of European elections in May.

WHAT SPARKED THE YELLOW VEST PROTESTS? 

Yellow vest protesters march from Arc de Triomphe as smoke rises in back from battles in the streets. Getty Images

As part of his environmental policy strategy, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a green tax on fuel last month to go into effect Jan. 1. The move set off nearly a month of protests around France. The French Interior Ministry estimates 136,000 protesters turned out across the country after Jan. 1, in addition to 280,000 in previous weeks.

France Freezes Fuel Tax Hike In Face Of ‘Yellow Vest’ Protests

Nicknamed for the safety vests worn by protesters, known as gilets jaunes, the yellow vest movement has sparked a political crisis for the French government. The protests started in the French provinces but spread to Paris, where demonstrations turned into riots over the weekend and scenes of violent civil unrest played out along the city’s famous Avenue des Champs Élysées.

Who are the members of the yellow vest movement and how did it emerge?

Originally, the yellow vest protesters were people from rural areas who have to drive long distances as part of their daily life. They said they couldn’t afford the hike in fuel prices. Protests appeared in pockets around France to denounce Macron’s green tax and then quickly grew into a larger movement that includes members of the working and middle classes who are expressing their frustration about slipping standards of living.

They say their incomes are too high to qualify for social welfare benefits but too low to make ends meet. The movement has no official leadership and was organized initially through social media groups.

The protesters focus on Macron as the source of their problems. Along with his early reforms to loosen labor laws and slash France’s famous wealth tax, the fuel tax reinforces protesters’ image of him as a president of the rich.

French President Holds Security Meeting On Yellow Vest Protests

How did these protests turn violent?

Most yellow vests at blockades around France are peaceful protesters. Violent protests erupted over the weekend in Paris, where rioters defaced the Arc de Triomphe and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, looted shops, vandalized buildings and even attacked police. French authorities note that most of the violence and vandalism were incited by anarchists known as “casseurs” — rioters, thugs from the ultraleft and ultraright. Paris police held 380 people in custody after Saturday’s riots. The city estimates total damages at $3.4 million.

Michigan Gov.. Gretchen Whitmer announced plans for a 45 cent increase in the state’s gas tax to fund repair of roads. Perhaps she had better think again.

What do the protesters want?

Their initial demand was to repeal the green tax on diesel. Now, others want the current minimum wage (about $1,350 per month after taxes) to be raised. There have also been calls to dissolve the National Assembly and hold new elections. There have even been chants of “Macron resign!”

Why do they wear yellow vests?

All French motorists are required by law to carry yellow roadside safety vests in their vehicles. Protesting drivers donned their obligatory yellow vests and created roadblocks around France. Now anyone joining the protests wears the yellow vest, regardless of whether they are motorists. 

The “yellow vest” protests began last month. Large demonstrations turned violent in Paris over the weekend.

What’s the public reaction?

According to a poll conducted Sunday by Harris Interactive for French media, 72 percent of French people support the yellow vests, even after Saturday’s riots. But 85 percent responded they are against the violence. Four people have now died since the protests began three weeks ago. Three were killed in separate traffic accidents caused by roadblocks set up by yellow vests, and an 80-year-old woman in Marseille died from injuries she received when a tear gas grenade hit her in the face as she closed her apartment windows to protests below.

Political leaders such as Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally (formerly the National Front), and Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the far-left France Unbowed have tried without success to latch on to the yellow vests. The inability of these two parties, which usually do well with groups who feel marginalized, signals that the yellow vest protesters are fed up with all figures of the political establishment.

How is the government responding?

Macron was in Buenos Aires for the G-20 summit over the weekend when protests turned into riots. He denounced the violence from Argentina and said those responsible for the chaos would be found and punished. After he returned to Paris Sunday morning, he went straight to the Arc de Triomphe and then held a crisis meeting with top ministers. The interior minister has said the government is considering declaring a state of emergency.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe met today with leaders of political parties holding seats in France’s Parliament to discuss possible solutions to the crisis.

Philippe was scheduled to meet with a delegation of yellow vests on Tuesday, but the representatives canceled, G-20 Summit Argentina; Macron at Trump’s right     personal security concerns after receiving anonymous death threats. The government had already invited yellow vest protesters to talks last week, before Saturday’s riots, but the delegation abandoned the meeting when they learned the discussions wouldn’t be filmed or broadcast.

The government will also hold debates in Parliament on reforms and possible solutions but will not not necessarily hold a vote on proposals. The prime minister said he would announce new measures later this week in response to the crisis.

What are the implications of this crisis for Macron?

Depending on what measures the government announces this week, the French government’s top priority is preventing more riots and making sure proper security is in place in the event of more protests. Macron has previously said he won’t back down on the fuel tax. Since he took office 18 months ago, the French president has seen public pushback on almost every one of his reforms, especially liberalizing the labor market. However, this is the biggest political crisis he has faced so far, and it could determine the rest of his presidency.

By Ricardo Ferrell

March 1, 2019

Ricardo Ferrell, VOD staff writer

In December 2008, after continuous efforts to get the Youth Deterrent Program up and running, officials at the Michigan Department of Corrections would finally give a group of prisoners approval and the green light to move forward with their initiative to deter at-risk youth from going down the path of destruction, death or prison.

The YDP proposal went to the governor’s office in early 2007 for consideration. Former Governor Jennifer Granholm sought the expert opinion and evaluation of Dr. Carl Taylor, a Criminologist and Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University, who visited the Ryan Correctional Facility in Detroit to get a first-hand look at the proposed Youth Deterrent Program and its facilitators.

Immediately after seeing what the YDP Committee was proposing he (Prof. Taylor) forwarded his conclusions and report to Gov. Granholm which included rave reviews and a recommendation to move forward with the program. Gov. Granholm soon after gave her approval and forwarded the report to MDOC director Patricia Caruso.

In the meantime all 12 prisoner facilitators were receiving specialized training from Bishop Mbiyu Chui, the Pastor at the Shrine of the Black Madonna. They were learning effective communication and active listening skills, including a year-long extensive training in Reality Therapy and Choice Theory. The Detroit Free Press ran a story covering the program finally being approved by the department.

The excitement and enthusiasm shared among the Youth Deterrent Program Committee, especially, that of Darryl Woods Sr., who actually initiated the original proposal to get the program started, was evident by how hard we all continued working to see the program become a success. Learning that the program would soon be starting was like a dream come true because we all knew our efforts had finally paid off and we would soon be working to save the lives of youth and young adults who struggle to find their way out of a maze inclusive of dysfunction, disadvantage and disenfranchisement, which often leads to bad choices, poor decision-making and a path toward criminality.

Pastor Mbiya Chui

The first group consisted of teens ages 14-18 from Detroit, Saginaw and Port Huron. Most, if not all, already had experienced brushes with the juvenile justice system, in that, they were either facing charges ranging from theft, selling drugs, carrying guns, or attempted murder; some had been adjudicated and were on probation.

Since its inception, the Youth Deterrent Program has taken in at-risk youth from as far away as the State of Ohio, although there was a pause in allowing teens to come to the Detroit facility due to the misinterpretation of a current law in Ohio. The office of Gov. John Kasich got involved as did other Ohio officials.

Former Detroit Free Press columnist Jeff Gerritt, who had covered the Youth Deterrent Program from the beginning wrote a piece in the Toledo Blade Newspaper where he currently writes. He gave credence to the program’s legitimacy and clarified the misconstrued notion that the Ohio teens were being exposed within the Ryan facility. That wasn’t accurate because NO YOUTH has ever been allowed inside the actual facility where adult prisoners are housed, they are ONLY are allowed in the visiting room.

Over the past ten years the Youth Deterrent Program has helped hundreds, if not well over a thousand troubled at-risk teens avoid the pitfalls associated with indulging in criminal thinking and/or activities. We took on the motto of No Youth Left Behind and vigorously worked on saving the lives of so-called at-risk youth by providing them with viable alternatives rather than the indulgence in criminality.

The Youth Deterrent Program has had the backing and support of a plethora of individuals, such as, Gov. Granholm; Gov. Snyder; Gov. Kasich; MDOC directors Caruso, Heyns and Washington; Former Mayors of Detroit and City Officials; Chief Judge Faye Harrison; Judge Frank Szymanski; a Michigan Supreme Court Justice; numerous Church Leaders; Bishop Mbiyu Chui; Warden Raymond Booker; Warden Anthony Stewart; YDP Facilitator Jeffrey Allison; the Detroit Free Press; Saginaw News; Toledo Blade; Rochelle Riley; Felicia Tyson; Alan Sedghi; John Wisely; and a host of others.

The men who have participated month after month and year after year over the last decade in this remarkable life changing program for today’s youth need to continuously be recognized and commended for their efforts in making a difference in the lives of our kids. The Youth Deterrent Committee vows to keep being our brother’s keeper by deterring teens from destructive paths and lifestyles.

Related stories:

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/12/15/prison-lifers-tell-teens-what-facing-you/89533816/

By Tara Golshan

March 12, 2019

President Donald Trump’s 2020 budget breaks one of his biggest campaign promises to voters: that he would leave Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare untouched.

“I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,” Trump told the Daily Signal, a conservative publication affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, in 2015.

Republican candidate Donald Trump focused June 19, 2016 in Arizona on his economic platform: Cut taxes and regulations across the board while also saving Social Security, Medicare, and other government safety-net programs. Breitbart said: “Trump rolls out winning program.”

Over the next 10 years, Trump’s 2020 budget proposal aims to spend $1.5 trillion less on Medicaid — instead allocating $1.2 trillion in a block-grant program to states — $25 billion less on Social Security, and $845 billion less on Medicare (some of that is reclassified to a different department). Their intentions are to cut benefits under Medicaid and Social Security. The impact on Medicare is more complicated, which I’ll get into a bit later.

Over time, the Trump administration tried to whittle down the president’s promise to just Social Security and Medicare. Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Russ Vought said Monday, March 11, that Trump is “keeping his commitment to Americans by not making changes to Medicare and Social Security.” But even that is not true.

Like “every other Republican,” Trump has repeatedly proposed and supported cutting these programs. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

How Trump is proposing changing Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security

When it comes to Medicare, the White House has been very clear: “He’s not cutting Medicare in this budget,” Vought said. “What we are doing is putting forward reforms that lower drug prices. Because Medicare pays a very large [share] of drug prices in this country, [that] has the impact of finding savings. We are also finding waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Rally demands “Medicare for All,” not cuts.

Here’s what’s actually happening: This budget proposes finding $845 billion in savings over 10 years from Medicare as we know it. But $269 billion of that figure is reclassified under the Department of Health and Human Services, bringing the Medicare cuts to $575 billion. As Vox explained, the administration says it will achieve these cost reductions by targeting wasteful spending and provider payments and lowering prescription drug costs.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which advocates for fiscal responsibility, estimates that 85 percent of these cuts will come from reductions in provider payments, 5 percent would come from policies around medical malpractice, and 11 percent would come from reducing drug costs through the Medicare Part D program. Medicare Part D is the only area of these reforms that could raise out-of-pocket drug prices for some while lowering it for others. Otherwise, premiums, deductibles, and copays would largely be left unaffected.

Unsurprisingly, the Federation of American Hospitals is not a fan of this part of Trump’s budget proposal. In a statement, they called the reforms “devastating for seniors.” More surprisingly, as Axios’ Sam Baker points out, these reforms are pretty similar to policies Barack Obama proposed in 2012 that Republicans panned.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – SEPTEMBER 21: Protestors carry signs as they demonstrate against proposed cuts to Medical and Medicare outside San Francisco city hall on September 21, 2011 in San Francisco, California. Dozens of disabled people staged a protest against proposed cuts to Medical, Medicare and Medicaid programs. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

But when it comes to Trump’s proposed changes to Medicaid and Social Security, the intent is unambiguous: These are cuts to benefits.

The 2020 budget’s Medicaid reforms include adding work requirements and repealing Medicaid expansion and one of the most successful policies within the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid expansion reduced the uninsured rate by more than 6 percent in states that enacted the policy; it continues to show better health outcomes and is popular in conservative states.

But Trump is envisioning changing Medicaid altogether; his budget proposes transforming the current pay-as-needed system to a block grant, where states are given a capped lump-sum fund that doesn’t grow with increased need or rising costs. The budget proposes a $1.2 trillion “Market-Based Health Care Grant.”

In isolation, the Medicaid budget cuts amount to $1.5 trillion over 10 years, but looked at in the context of the new block grant as well the work requirements and ACA cuts, the cuts round out to about $777 billion — which could leave millions more uninsured.

The budget also continues an attack on Social Security, including to a program which gives assistance to those who have disabilities that prevent them from being in the workforce. In all, the cuts to Social Security amount to $25 billion over the next 10 years, cutting roughly $10 billion from the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program, which the administration says will be found through cutting down on fraud — a common conservative talking point.

Trump broke this promise from the beginning. See Tweet below.

Donald J. Trump

•  

  @realDonaldTrump

   I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. Huckabee copied me.

Trump’s budgets — and the policies he has supported around health care — and government spending in Congress reflect the opposite. Some of this can be attributed to Trump’s appointed budget chief Mick Mulvaney; the former congressman who was part of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus has long rallied for cutting Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid.

In fact, Mulvaney once bragged to a Politico reporter that he tricked Trump into accepting a proposal to cut Social Security by calling SSDI just disability insurance — spinning it to the president as general welfare reform. The idea has been in every single one of Trump’s budget proposals to Congress since the president came to office.

Schoolchildren celebrate 75th anniversary of Social Security in U.S.

Then there was the Republican Obamacare repeal push; every bill proposed massive cuts to Medicaid in order to pay for tax cuts elsewhere. Trump supported every iteration of Republicans’ Obamacare repeal-and-replace bills. He even held a party for House Republicans in the White House Rose Garden when the lower chamber of Congress narrowly passed a proposal that slashed more than $800 billion from Medicaid over 10 years.

Republican lawmakers have long argued that spending around mandatory programs that make up 70 percent of the federal budget — like Medicare and Social Security — needs to be reined in in order to tackle the national debt. Trump drew red tape around those programs, as well as Medicaid, on the campaign trail in 2015 because they are extremely popular federal programs.

Now, his policy positions around those programs break from that promise.

Occupy Oakland marches in California; cancel the debt, don’t cut programs for the people.

People hold Venezuela’s national flag during a pro-government rally at the border between Venezuela and Brazil. Photograph: Bruno Kelly/Reuters

Guardian readers Dr Kevin Bannon and Martin Quinn share their perspectives on Venezuela

Letters

Mon 25 Feb 2019  

A principal foreign participant in the US-led campaign to topple the Maduro government is neighbouring Colombia, which has become a crucial hub for Venezuela’s opposition abroad – hence the US secretary of state’s meetings in Bogota (Guaidó’s plea for international support raises fear of military intervention in Venezuela, 25 February).

For well over a generation Colombia has seen political corruption in government and mass murder undertaken by its army and by pro-government “death squads” – violence on a far greater scale than is recently purported to exist in Venezuela. There were, however, no US calls for the overthrow of successive Colombian governments. On the contrary, the US supported the Colombians with armaments, finance and goodwill.

There is no puzzle to this blatant hypocrisy; oil, of which Venezuela has the world’s largest reserves, while the greatest oil consumer is the United States.

Dr Kevin Bannon London

UN Special Rapporteur Idris Jazairy with Venezulan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza Dec. 2018

A number of independent experts including UN human rights adviser Idriss Jazairy and Alfred de Zayas, who last year became the first UN rapporteur to visit Venezuela for 21 years, have explicitly said the US is using sanctions as a method of economic warfare against Venezuela and that this is the reason for the economic and humanitarian crisis facing the country.

Earlier this month Mr de Zayas said “this is deliberate homicide, this is murder, this is a crime against humanity, and could be examined under article 7 of the Statute of the ICC”.

However, it is worth noting that despite the devastating impact of US sanctions on Venezuelan society, the most recent (2018) UNDP human development index – which combines measurements of life expectancy at birth, years of schooling and gross national income per capita – ranked Venezuela higher than Brazil and Colombia.

Martin Quinn Tavistock, Devon

Mass rally on Venezuelan side of border Sun. Feb. 24 against U.S. intervention in Venezuela. CNN and other pro-U.S. media showed only the handful of agitators trying to break through from Colombia, to deliver alleged “aid” which was nowhere in evidence.

Darrell Ewing, mother LaSonya Dodson to his right, and sisters.

Hearing granted due to introduction of gang-related social media and internet research in jury deliberations

Panel calls new trial granted to Detroit killer cop Larry Nevers in similar jury deliberation issue an exception 

Ewing: “I’m the ‘super- predator’ who has to go the extra mile, but either way it’s a win, win.” 

Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway would hold hearing at trial level; allowed Facebook evidence at Joseph Weekley trial for death of Aiyana Jones, 7

 By Diane Bukowski

 February 13, 2019

Cincinnati, Ohio – A divided Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled Feb. 5 that Detroiter Darrell Ewing, now 30, convicted in Dec. 2010 of the first-degree murder of J.B. Watson, must be granted an evidentiary hearing originally denied by the trial court.The purpose of the hearing is to determine whether Ewing’s jury was adversely influenced by gang-related social media and other internet research two members introduced into the deliberations.

See full ruling including dissenting opinion at: http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Ewing-6th-CC-2-5-19.pdf

The Sixth Circuit reversed a Nov. 2017 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Page Hood granting Ewing a new trial instead, or that he be released within 90 days if the state did not act to do so. At issue was the length of time since the jury deliberations in 2010, and the balancing of state vs. federal authority in the case. The majority called a previous Sixth Circuit ruling ordering the release of Nevers an exception to the rule that an evidentiary hearing is the proper solution to extraneous influences on the jury

“. . .We reverse and remand to the district court with instructions to issue an amended order conditionally granting habeas relief unless the State takes steps to conduct a proper evidentiary hearing on Ewing’s claim of juror misconduct within a reasonable period set by the district court’s order,” wrote  Judge John Rogers, joined by Judge Eugene Siler. “We leave it for the district court to determine whether the two additional claims presented in Ewing’s petition should be resolved before ordering relief on this claim.”

U.S. District Court Judge Denise Page Hood

Judge Page Hood had declared moot two other issues raised by Ewing. They were detailed confessions by Tyree Washington to the murder, and allegedly improper jury instructions by the trial judge. The jury had told the court it was deadlocked but was told to go back and continue deliberations. Judge Page Hood said it was evident that the extrinsic information brought into jury deliberations, which included citations from Facebook and from internet research on gang “pecking orders,” likely broke the deadlock and resulted in a guilty verdict days later.

See Judge Page Hood’s ruling at http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Darrell-Ewing-habeas-corpus-grant.pdf.

“We are in a great position where victory is certain, as the truth is the truth all day long, and a hearing is what we been asking for from the gate,” Ewing said in a JPay email to VOD. “The crazy thing is the Sixth Circuit was supposed to uphold Judge Hood’s ruling completely, ordering a new trial under the clearly established precedent of Nevers v. Killinger, [one of two Detroit police officers who beat Detroiter Malice Green to death in 1992].

Ewing continued, “But [the Sixth Circuit] candidly said, ‘They were one, either outliers who skated by or two, an exception to the rule.’  The only exception is that they [Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn] were officers of the court, [who] they got through and saved, as opposed to me.  I’m the ‘super- predator’ or deplorable one who has to go the extra mile,but either way it’s a win, win.”

Painting of Malice Green by Bennie White Israel at site of his beating death by Nevers and Budzyn in 1992.

The Sixth Circuit Court ordered the release of Larry Nevers based in part on extraneous information provided to the sequestered jury by the prosecution, including the showing of the movie “X” on the life of Malcolm X to them. The movie begins with a depiction of the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers, also in 1992.

In Nevers v. Killinger, the Sixth Circuit Court delineated the extraneous influences on the the jury:

(1) the jury’s exposure to the film Malcolm X, (2) the jury’s exposure to information that the City of Detroit was bracing for a riot, specifically, mobilization of the National Guard and the closing of freeways, in the event of an acquittal, and (3) the jurors consideration of extrinsic evidence regarding Petitioner’s prior participation in the police unit STRESS, even though there was no evidence concerning this produced at trial. People v. Budzyn, 456 Mich. 77, 90, 566 N.W.2d 229, 235 (1997). 

See full Nevers v. Killinger ruling at http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Nevers-v-Killinger.pdf.

Walter Budzyn and Larry Nevers in 1992, known in community as “Starsky and Hutch.”

The Sixth Circuit ordered Nevers’ release in this opinion. He and Budzyn were later convicted of involuntary manslaughter in new trials, instead of second-degree murder, the original charge brought by the Wayne County Prosecutor.

The State of Michigan agreed at Ewing’s trial level that an evidentiary hearing would be an appropriate resolution of the jury misconduct issue, but trial Judge Carole Youngblood held that such a hearing was not necessary because the information the jury discussed had already been presented at trial.

The Sixth Circuit noted that an affidavit juror Karen Byrnes provided post-trial, “states that the jury learned of and discussed outside information about the defendant, the murder victim, and the activities and internal power-dynamics of gangs. Such information had a clear potential for tainting the jury.” (See affidavit at http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Byrnes-affidavit.compressed-2.pdf )

Dissenting Sixth Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore strongly disagreed with the majority, upholding Judge Hood’s ruling that Ewing should be granted a new trial because of the jury issue.

“This is a case about a district court’s discretion to fashion an equitable remedy,” Judge Moore wrote. “The facts are not complicated: Michigan violated Ewing’s due process rights when it denied him a Remmer [evidentiary] hearing. As to this all agree. The only question that remains is whether the district court’s chosen remedy—a new trial—was proper. The standard of review is abuse of discretion. The district court’s chosen remedy was within its discretion, and so I respectfully dissent.”

Atty. Phillip Komorski with client Michael Powels, after Judge Kelly Ramsey exonerated Powels, dismissing 2nd-degree murder charges Jan. 19, 2019 Photo: Clarence Tabb, Detroit News

She wrote later, “In this case, the district court decided that what law and justice required was a new trial. This is not beyond the pale, nor is it an unnecessary intrusion on state sovereignty. Due process requires a “sound” and “adequate” hearing, and it is entirely appropriate for the district court to have concluded that an evidentiary hearing on highly fact-specific issues conducted seven years later would have been neither sound nor adequate—assuming the necessary parties were available at all.”

Defense Attorney Phillip Comorski, who along with Attorney Byron Pitts appealed Ewing’s case to the U.S. District Court, agreed with Judge Moore’s assessment.

“It would have been better to hold a new trial,” Comorski told VOD. “How in the world can we gather all 12 jurors back together after nine years and expect them to remember what exactly happened during deliberations?  In addition to memory issues with the jurors, there is the problem with locating them, and whether they are all still alive.”

He added that the hearing would be about how what the two jurors did affected the entire jury, “the point being even if it had an effect on one juror,  that cuts into whether a proper unanimous verdict was given.”

Former Michigan AG Bill Schuette

Ewing’s attorneys had hoped former state Attorney General Bill Schuette would not appeal Judge Page Hood’s decision to the Sixth Circuit, but he did so. Schuette was defeated in the 2018 election by Democratic candidate Dana Nessel.

Comorski said he estimates the case will go back to Judge Page Hood in about 30 days. From there, he said, it would be referred to the state trial level for the evidentiary hearing.

Judge Carole Youngblood died unexpectedly of an aneurysm after the trial and post-conviction hearings were held. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway was appointed to take her place.

Judge Gray-Hathaway may have a conflict in handling Ewing’s case. She allowed the defense to introduce Facebook evidence in the trial of Detroit Police Officer Joseph Weekley, accused of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Aiyana Jones, 7, during a horrific 2011 Special Response Team raid on her home.

Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway (l) dismissed all charges against killer cop Joseph Weekley (r) for shooting Aiyana Jones, 7, to death with an MP5 submachine gun in 2010.

That Facebook evidence included undated, unsourced and unrelated Facebook photos of some of Aiyana’s older relatives allegedly brandishing guns and giving gang signs. The defense even contemplated introducing a Facebook photo of Aiyana and her two little brothers giving alleged “gang signs” which signified only “east side,” as opposed to “west side.”

Although Prosecutor Robert Moran objected out of the presence of the jury, Judge Gray Hathaway allowed defense attorney Steve Fishman not only to introduce the photos, but to distribute them to the jurors for their direct viewing.

Weekley walked free after Judge Gray Hathaway granted three mis-trials.

Related: 

FED. JUDGE STRIKES DOWN DARRELL EWING CONVICTION DUE TO JURY DISCUSSION OF ‘GANG’ SOCIAL MEDIA