Protesters demanding “Stop the War on Black America” gather outside courthouse after mistrial declared Dec. 16, 2015.

First Baltimore policeman’s trial in death of black man ends in hung jury

Reuters

By Ian Simpson and Donna Owens

 December 16, 2015

VOD: The first pictures and videos of Freddie Gray’s arrest appeared to show him already severely wounded after a beating. He grimaced in pain and at first appeared unable to stand, as he was tossed into the van. Were the right cops charged? The cops involved in his arrest were all white. Three of the six cops standing trial, mostly those inside the van, are Black. Has the prosecution deliberately thrown this trial as the medical examiner  claimed Florida prosecutors did in the death of Trayvon Martin? And as the prosecution did in the case of Aiyana Jones’ murder by Joseph Weekley?

Freddie Gray, Jr.

BALTIMORE (Reuters) – A mistrial was declared on Wednesday in the case of a Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray, a Black man whose killing while in custody sparked riots [rebellions] last April, and the city’s mayor appealed for calm.

The judge dismissed the jury in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Officer William Porter – the first of six officers to be tried in Gray’s death – after 16 hours of deliberations during which it was unable to reach a verdict on any of the charges against the policeman.

“I do declare a mistrial,” Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams said.

The judge said an administrative judge would schedule a new trial as early as Thursday.

Within minutes of his ruling, a phalanx of uniformed officers surrounded the courthouse. They pushed back a group of a few dozen protesters and arrested at least two people, one of whom appeared to swing at an officer. Large numbers of police have been stationed around Baltimore over the past few days.

Freddie Gray appeared severely, possibly mortally wounded, during his arrest by white officers before being put into van.

Porter, 26, was the first of six officers to be tried in Gray’s death from a broken neck suffered while he was transported in the back of a police van.

The panel of five men and seven women had said on Tuesday that it was deadlocked, but Williams had told the jurors to keep trying to reach a verdict.

Porter, who like Gray is black, was charged for having put Gray in the back of the van without seat-belting him and with being too slow to pass on his request for medical assistance.

His attorneys had argued that he may have been unaware of department policy mandating that detainees be seat-belted, which was put into place shortly before Gray’s arrest.

Gray’s death triggered protests, rioting and arson in the majority-black city of 620,000 people, and intensified a U.S. debate on police treatment of minorities. It followed the police killings of black men in cities including Ferguson, Missouri, and New York, which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.

CALLS FOR CALM

Freddie Gray tossed into van, clearly already severely injured.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake urged people to remain calm about the ruling. “We must respect the outcome of the judicial process,” she said in a statement.

Officials in Baltimore had come under heavy criticism for a restrained initial response to April’s riots, which some observers contended allowed arson and looting to spiral out of control.

“I urge everyone to remember that collectively, our reaction needs to be one of respect for our neighborhoods,” Rawlings-Blake said. “In the case of any disturbance in the city we are prepared to respond.”

Porter had been charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. The charges against the other officers range from second-degree murder for the van’s driver, to misconduct.

Warren Brown, a Baltimore defense lawyer who was in the courtroom, said of the decision, “I am not surprised at all. I think you will have the same scenario with the other trials.”

He said he wanted to see if the jury broke down on racial lines. Seven of the jurors are black and five are white.

Protester confronts sheriffs in front of courthouse.

Gray was arrested after fleeing from police. He was put in a transport van, shackled and handcuffed, but was not secured by a seat belt, in violation of department policy. He died a week later.

Porter testified Gray told him he needed medical aid. Porter told the van’s driver and a supervisor that Gray had asked for aid but none was summoned, according to testimony.

The defense argued that Porter did not believe Gray was seriously injured until the van’s final stop. His lawyers have said that Porter acted as any reasonable officer would have.

“In some ways, a hung jury might be better than an acquittal,” Deray McKesson, a prominent U.S. civil rights activist, said on Twitter.

One legal expert said he was surprised to see a mistrial declared on just the third day of deliberations.

“I thought the judge would never declare a mistrial absent a fistfight until the jury had been deliberating for six or seven days,” said Jim Cohen, a professor at Fordham Law School in New York. “They chose the wrong defendant to try first.”

(Reporting by Ian Simpson and Donna Owens; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Dan Grebler and Jonathan Oatis)

Related:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/baltimore-police-preparations-ahead-of-freddie-gray-verdict-alarm-activists/ar-BBnDisy?ocid=U348DHP

Tens of thousands of protesters shut down Orioles game at Camden Yards in Baltimore after Freddie Gray’s murder.

Members of the Homrich 9, arrested for blockading water shut-offs trucks.

From: Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management 

December 15, 2015

 Judge Michael Hathaway during hearing on Tigh Croff, who killed a homeless man running away from him.  Hathaway said in chambers  he would have done the same thing and gave the defendant probation. What he will do about Detroiters living without water?

Next court appearance related to the Homrich water shut-off blockade comes this Friday (12/18) at 9am Frank Murphy Hall, 5^th floor in Judge Michael Hathaway’s courtroom.

By proper procedures this case should not be in front of him at all, but this motion is that he should be recused from the case for substantive reasons of pre-judgment and bias. He is the one who stayed the jury from deliberation because, without evidence, notification, or opposition, the head of Duggan’s law department, Butch Hollowell told him that the trial “had gone off the rails.” It is unlikely that this case will get to the jury if the arguments are heard by him. It’s time again to fill the courtroom.

VOD: Diane Bukowski and Cornell Squires of the Voice of Detroit were present at the Dec. 1 hearing during which Hathaway argued with supporters of the Homrich 9 that he had legitimately shut down the 36th District Court jury trial at the request of “Mayor” Duggan’s top aides, including Butch Hollowell. See http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/12/02/judge-michael-hathaway-seizes-water-protest-verdict-from-black-detroit-jury-halts-trial/.

Diane Bukowski under arrest Nov. 6, 2008.

Bukowski was also unjustly convicted of two felonies in front of Hathaway in 2009 for doing her job  as a reporter for the Michigan Citizen under the First Amendment. She was covering the high speed Michigan State Trooper case which killed two Black men, James Willingham and Jeffery Frazier on Detroit’s east side on Nov. 6, 2008, the day of President Barack Obama’s first election.

The troopers were not charged, although they drove at high speeds without lights and siren through a residential neighborhood with three elementary and schools in close proximity, at 3:30 p.m. Judge Hathaway was extremely biased throughout her trial, even granting a prosecution motion to exclude First Amendment consideration. http://freedianebukowski.org/.

THERE IS NO WAY JUDGE MICHAEL HATHAWAY WILL RECUSE HIMSELF FROM THE HOMRICH 9 CASE. WHILE THIS CASE WENDS ITS WAY THOUGH LEGAL BYPATHS, WHAT WILL DETROITERS DO TO SAVE THE THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES WHOSE WATER HAS BEEN SHUT OFF, AND THE THOUSANDS MORE WHO WILL CONTINUE TO BE SHUT OFF, ACCORDING TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF A BLUE RIBBON PANEL?

Rally against Benton Harbor Emergency Manager 2012.

LOOK TO FERGUSON, BALTIMORE, CHICAGO AND ELSEWHERE, FOR A PEOPLE WITHOUT WATER WILL DIE AS SURELY AS THE HUNDREDS NOW BEING KILLED BY POLICE THROUGHOUT THE U.S. THIS IS NOTHING BUT GENOCIDE! FIGHT BACK BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/11/15/detroit-bankruptcy-plan-genocide-in-usas-largest-black-majority-city-rich-get-95-9-poor-get-13-5/

December 13, 2014

Fusillade of bullets pumped into man after already shot by LA Sheriffs

Nicholas Robertson with his daughter, one of three children.

LYNWOOD, Calif. — Two sheriff’s deputies fired their weapons at least 25 times and a man — reportedly wielding a gun — was killed Saturday in Lynwood outside Los Angeles.

The shooting occurred about 11 a.m. in the area of Long Beach Boulevard and Magnolia Avenue, Deputy Sara Rodriguez of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Information Bureau told CBS Los Angeles.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

At a press conference on Sunday, officials said the suspect’s name is Nicholas Robertson, a 28-year-old from Compton. Relatives told CBS Los Angeles he is a father of three.

Officials said at the press conference would only say Robertson had “prior contact with the judicial system,” but declined to provide details.

Nicholas Robertson crawling as cops pump bullets into him.

The incident was on the motel-lined commercial street, about seven blocks south of the 105 Freeway.

Authorities said deputies were dispatched to the area following reports of a “man with a gun” and “shots fired” call. Robertson is accused of shooting his gun into the air and acting erratically.

A graphic cellphone video of the incident appears to show two officers firing as many as 33 times at the suspect, reports CBS News’ Chris Martinez.

Early in their confrontation, Robertson falls to the ground and after a short interval he is seen crawling on his stomach as he is repeatedly struck by additional gunfire from police.

The suspect was described by various callers as a black male wearing a checkered shirt.

Deputies approached the suspect in front of a busy Arco station. They said the suspect refused multiple orders to drop his gun.

Authorities also said the suspect pointed his weapon — a loaded .45 — at deputies.

At their Sunday afternoon press conference, Los Angeles officials say video shows the suspect had his gun on him during the entirety of the incident.

Earl Ofari Hutchison

Community activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson and other civil rights activists on Saturday accused police of using excessive force. They also asked for a fast-track investigation into the shooting by L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey.

“The shooting of Robertson comes on the heels of the Chicago Police videotaped release of the shooting of Jacquan McDonald and is eerily similar,” Hutchison said, “You have a suspect that’s on the ground and subdued yet officers still keep pumping bullets into him. This is both reckless and excessive use of force. And given tension in the community over these types of shootings it makes it even more urgent that Lacey conduct a full, fast and impartial investigation and quickly release her findings.”

CBS Los Angeles spoke to Robertson’s friends and family at the scene.

“They shot him in his shoulder, and he was crawling to this gas station,” said Pamela Brown, Robertson’s mother-in-law.

She doesn’t believe Robertson had a gun and she doesn’t understand why deputies fired so many rounds.

A makeshift memorial set up Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015, for a man who was shot and killed by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies Saturday near a gasoline station, in Lynwood, Calif.

“He left three kids behind,” she said, “Two daughters and a son. What? They could have Tased him, or anything.”

Several people gathered at the scene calling the shooting unjustified and accusing the deputies of excessive force.

In a statement. LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said, “I want to assure the public that the Sheriff’s Department takes deputy-involved shootings very seriously and this investigation will be handled with the utmost professionalism and integrity. In this modern age of cellphone video and instant analysis on the internet I would ask that we keep in mind that a thorough and comprehensive investigation is detailed and time intensive. Our number one priority is public safety.”

Meanwhile, Brown said even though it won’t bring her son-in-law back, she wants answers.

“I’m not mad at them,” she said, “but you should have handled this in a different way.”

© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

InfoWars:  U.S. created ISIS, Russia dominates effort to defeat it

Associated Press (unless identified as AP, photos and videos in this story have been added from various sources by VOD).

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

December 9, 2015

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad greets Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2006.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has unleashed another barrage of airstrikes against [ISIS] targets in Syria, including the first combat launch of a new cruise missile from a Russian submarine in the Mediterranean Sea, the country’s defense minister said Tuesday.

The Kalibr cruise missiles launched by the Rostov-on-Don submarine successfully hit the designated targets in Raqqa, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to President Vladimir Putin. The submarine was in a submerged position during the launch, he added.

Putin noted that the new cruise missile can be equipped with both conventional and nuclear warheads, adding he hopes that the latter “will never be needed.”

Shoigu said Tu-22 bombers flying from their base in Russia also took part in the latest raids, performing 60 combat sorties in the last three days.

© AP Photo/ Russian Defense Ministry Press Service In this photo made from the footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry official web site on Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 an aerial image of what they purport shows an airstrike on an automobile caravan.

He said the targets destroyed in the latest wave of Russian airstrikes included a munitions depot, a factory manufacturing mortar rounds and oil facilities belonging to “terrorists.”

Shoigu said the Russian military had informed Israel and the United States about the airstrikes before launching them. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly, confirmed that Russia notified the U.S. in advance.

The U.S. official said at least 10 cruise missiles were launched from Russian surface ships in the Caspian Sea and at least one missile was fired by a Russian submarine in the eastern Mediterranean.

Above: Earlier footage from InfoWars on Russian airstrikes on ISIS; U.S. role in creating ISIS and Russia’s dominant role in defeating it.

Russia has carried out its air campaign in Syria since Sept. 30, using warplanes at an air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, as well as navy ships and long-range bombers flying from their bases in Russia. While Moscow said its action has been focused on the Islamic State group, the U.S. and its allies have criticized Moscow for also striking moderate rebel groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Downing of Russian SU 24 over Syria by Turkey.

Shoigu told Putin that Syrian army forces had overtaken the area near the border with Turkey where a Turkish jet shot down a Russian warplane on Nov 24. He showed Putin the plane’s flight recorder, which he said Syrian and Russian troops had recovered from the crash site.

Putin ordered the flight recorder to be studied in the presence of foreign experts, adding that the data will show the plane’s flight path.

Moscow’s relations with Ankara have been badly strained over the downing. Turkey said it shot down the aircraft after it violated Turkey’s airspace for 17 seconds despite

AP Photo/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service In this photo made from the footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry official web site on Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 an aerial image of what they purport shows an airstrike.

Turkey denounced the incident as a provocation and summoned the Russian ambassador to protest.

Russia has insisted the warplane had stayed in Syria’s airspace, and responded by deploying long-range air defense missiles at its air base in Syria and introducing a slew of economic sanctions against Turkey.

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan

“We had treated Turkey not only as a friendly country, but as an ally in the fight against terrorism, and we couldn’t expect such a mean, treacherous stab in the back,” Putin said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed Turkey’s complaint about a sailor on a Russian navy vessel pictured on its deck with a portable air-defense missile while the ship was cruising across the Bosporus.

Zakharova responded Tuesday by saying the Russian crew had the right to protect its vessel and insisted that the action didn’t contradict the Montreux Convention, which sets international rules for using the Turkish straits.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry also voiced concern Tuesday about the reported bombing of a Syrian army camp without addressing the U.S. claim that Russia was responsible for the bombing.

Above: commentary on Deir el-Zour bombing; Russia says U.S. responsible

The Syrian government blamed aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition for targeting the army camp in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour on Sunday night, killing three Syrian soldiers and wounding 13. The U.S. denied the claim, and a senior U.S. official military said Washington was “certain” it was a Russian airstrike that had hit the camp. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the issue publicly.

U.S. Pres. Barack Obama leads western coalition attacking Syria, which supports anti-Assad rebels.

Without commenting on the U.S. claim, Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it has “serious concerns” about reports of the coalition strike in Deir el-Zour. It said the incident was rooted in the U.S.-led coalition’s reluctance to coordinate with Damascus on its campaign against the Islamic State group.

The ministry also mentioned a coalition strike in Syria’s province of Hassake that reportedly involved civilian casualties.

“These incidents show that the situation on the front against IS in Syria and Iraq is getting more tense,” the ministry said, adding that the Turkish military’s deployment to a base near Mosul in Iraq without Iraqi government sanction has added to the tensions.

Map shows Syria’s key location.

“We consider such presence unacceptable,” the ministry said.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said Washington expects Turkey to operate in coordination with the Iraqi government.

“We have urged political dialogue between the Iraqi government and that in Turkey,” Power said. “Our belief is that just as we operate in close coordination with and with the consent of the Iraqi government that all countries should do that.”

She voiced hope that the Turkish deployment could “be done in that manner where a sovereign government is making judgments about which capabilities are deployed and making sure that it has visibility into everything going on in its country.”

Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, said that while Russia so far has said ‘no’ to Iraq’s request for help in fighting IS, that attitude may change. He added that the arsenal Russia has put on the ground in Syria signals Moscow’s intention to have a lasting military presence.

“It’s not going to be a short operation, it’s not going to be a short war,” Trenin said. “Russia is there for a long haul.”

AP National Security Writer Robert Burns in Washington, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Kate de Pury in Moscow contributed to this report.

Related:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/09/30/russia-confirms-start-of-anti-isis-airstrikes-in-syria/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/02/19/the-u-s-empire-and-isis-a-tale-of-two-death-cults/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/02/09/the-covert-origins-of-isis-united-states-cia-in-libya-syria-iraq-afghanistan/

AP Photo/Don Schanche/ Bounkham Phonesavanh, center,  known as Baby Bou Bou, with mother Alecia Phonesavanh, and father, also named Bounkham Phonesavanh, on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015.

Raid similar to that in which Detroit’s Aiyana Jones, 7, was killed

DECEMBER 7, 2015

From multiple sources

Flash-bang grenade landed in “Baby Bou Bou’s” crib.

ATLANTA — Nikki Autry, former Habersham County deputy sheriff and special agent of the Mountain Judicial Circuit Criminal Investigation and Suppression Team (“NCIS”), faces trial today on charges that she used false information to get a warrant for a “no-knock” drug raid that severely injured a toddler when a flash grenade detonated in his playpen, in May, 2014.

The grenade blew 19-month-old Bounkham Phonesavanh’s chest and face open, burning him and causing possible brain damage. He has had multiple surgeries since the raid.

The boy’s mother, Alecia Phonesavanh, said Autrey “ruined our family’s life by not doing her job properly.”

Autry, who has since resigned from the sheriff’s office, pled not guilty. Her attorney said she never “intentionally” misled the judge.

In an indictment July 22, 2015, federal prosecutors said Autry relied on untested informants who purchased crystal meth from an unknown person outside the house where Bou Bou and his family were living temporarily. One informant claimed there was unusual foot traffic around the house, a claim which prosecutors said was never verified.

Bou Bou Phonesavah in hospital after firebang explosion in his crib.

The indictment said in part, ” . . . .a brand new NCIS informant and two of his associates—his wife and a roommate—went to a residence located in Cornelia, Georgia. The informant’s roommate, who was not officially working with NCIS, approached the residence and allegedly purchased a small quantity of methamphetamine from an individual unknown to him who was standing outside the residence. There was no police surveillance to verify the purchase. Shortly afterwards, Autry presented an affidavit to a Habersham County magistrate judge falsely swearing that the NCIS informant made the purchase and that the NCIS informant was ‘a true and reliable informant who has provided information in the past that has led to criminal charges on individuals selling narcotics in Habersham County.'” (Full document at Former Habersham County Deputy Sheriff Charged for Her Role in Flash Bang Grenade Incident.)

Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn said, “Without [Autry’s] false statements, there was no probable cause to search the premises for drugs or to make the arrest. And in this case, the consequences of the unlawful search were tragic.”

The toddler’s family has so far been awarded $964,000 in a settlement with Habersham County’s Board of Commissioners. Lawsuits are still pending against other counties that took part in the multi-agency task force raid.

Marchers in Detroit in June, 2010, including Jewel Allison and her daughter Honesti, of New York City,  protested the police no-knock raid killing of 7-year-old Aiyana Jones on May 16, 2010, at the home where she, her grandmother and great-aunt, mother, father, two baby brothers, and cousins were staying. She was shot in the head immediately after a flash-bang grenade was thrown on top of the couch where she and her grandmother Mertilla Jones were sleeping. Detroit cop Joseph Weekley was charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a firearm. He eventually walked free after several mistrials orchestrated by the prosecution, defense and Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway, former wife of Judge Michael Hathaway. Photo: Herb Boyd