'Rape' Cop 'Confession'

'Rape' cop in 'confession'

The New York Post by Brad Hamilton - February 20, 2011

An NYPD patrolman accused of raping a drunken woman in her apartment made a chilling confession, apologizing to the victim for "getting really crazy" the night of the alleged 2008 attack, a former Manhattan prosecutor said. A few days after she was allegedly assaulted, the victim secretly recorded East Village cop Kenneth Moreno in a face-to-face encounter on the street in front of the 9th Precinct station house where Moreno worked, the source said. "He tries to deny they had sex, but eventually he admits to it," said the ex-prosecutor, referring to the meeting orchestrated by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. "He says, 'It wasn't done intentionally. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just got caught up. I'm sorry.' " The tape will play a key role in the case against Moreno, 43, and his partner, Franklin Mata, 28, who go on trial next week for rape, burglary and official misconduct and face up to 25 years in prison. While Mata sat nearby, Moreno allegedly forced himself on the passed-out fashion executive, whom the two officers helped up to her apartment on East 13th Street after she got blitzed partying with pals in December 2008. The victim called the Manhattan DA's sex-crimes office, which launched an investigation in conjunction with the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau. She wore a wire and confronted Moreno about what he did. She told him she recalled waking up on her bathroom floor, then being in her bed as the cop stripped off her clothes and had his way with her. His explanation: "It turned from us trying to help you to getting really crazy." But after Moreno says he's sorry, he offers to date her. "If you stop drinking, I'll be your boyfriend," he says. Sources familiar with the charges say the trial could last several weeks and involve a slew of witnesses -- people who saw the cops and the victim that night and forensic experts expected to testify about the effects of intoxication as a drunk person can't legally consent to sex. The defense is expected to argue that the sex was consensual and will likely attack the credibility of the cops' accuser, a stunning brunette and successful fashion designer who had recently moved from San Francisco. Moreno and Mata met her about 1 a.m. on Dec. 7, 2008, when a cabdriver called 911 and said his passenger was drunk, had vomited in his taxi and needed help getting into her East 13th Street apartment. Driver Kofi Owusu had picked up the woman in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where she and her friends were partying at music venue Southpaw. She had consumed too much vodka, and her friends sent her off in the cab.

Moreno, then a 17-year veteran, and Mata, with three years on the force, arrived and assisted the woman into the building and up the stairs of the five-story walk-up. The three walked in at 1:10 a.m., according to videotape from a ground-floor bar, Heathers, two doors down, and spent seven minutes inside, during which she continued to vomit. They left, promising to return later to check on her condition. They returned at 1:56 a.m. and were let in by another resident, whom they told they were investigating a noise complaint. They stayed for 17 minutes before being forced to leave to handle a traffic accident at 13th Street and First Avenue. After dealing with the crash, one of them allegedly used a pay phone at the scene to make a 911 call, claiming to be "John Edward." The caller said a homeless man was lurking at an East 13th Street building close to the woman's. A police dispatcher sent them to that location. The two entered the woman's building at 2:59 a.m., using her key, which they'd taken from her earlier, and stayed until 3:33 a.m., according to the bar's video. The footage shows them shielding their faces from a camera they spotted during the second trip. They didn't realize a second camera captured the effort to conceal their identities. Once inside the apartment, Moreno removed the woman's clothing, including her boots and tights, as she floated in and out of consciousness, sources said. Prosecutors say Moreno put on a condom and had sex with the woman as she lay face-down on her bed while Mata sat on a couch in the living room. Later that morning, the victim reached out to friends in the building and to Heather Mill stone, who owns the bar that captured video of the officers. "I've been raped," she told her, according to Millstone. "It was the police." The friends convinced her to seek treatment at Beth Israel Hospital and to contact the Manhattan DA's Office. Investigators uncovered incriminating evidence, including a red Bic lighter that the victim found under her bed and didn't recognize. A search of Moreno's police locker turned up three of the same lighters. Investigators suspect the Bic fell from his pocket while he was assaulting the victim. They also found a packet of heroin in the locker, which Moreno claimed he'd taken from a drug suspect and forgot to voucher, and credit cards and personal IDs of several other women. They later determined that Moreno somehow got the cards but never contacted the women. Prosecutors say the cops also stole the woman's BlackBerry and called her mother and brother in a bid to scare her into keeping quiet. In the taped conversation with the woman, Moreno denies stealing the phone. Prosecutors have been going over the evidence with Moreno's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, and Mata's attorney, Edward Mandery, laying out the bulk of their case. "I'm very confident my client will be acquitted," Tacopina said. Prosecution sources said Mata at one point offered to cooperate and testify against his partner in exchange for a lesser charge -- an offer that was rejected, they said. Mandery denied there was ever any offer to cooperate. Both suspects are free on $175,000 bond. The victim, who has moved back to San Francisco, is trying to rebuild her life, concentrating on a promising career in the fashion trade and getting support from her family. The attack "is always in her mind," said a person who knows her. "But she's strong-willed and very capable, and she's put a lot of time into [her work] while this is pending."

Incriminating words

At the request of investigators, the woman who claims she was raped by cops met with officer Kenneth Moreno outside his Ninth Precinct station house in the East Village a few days after the alleged assault. Here are a few samples of the secretly recorded confrontation, according to a former prosecutor familiar with the case:

Woman: “I woke up and you guys were taking advantage of me.”
Moreno: “Nobody took advantage of you.”
Woman: “You were having sex with me. I was violated.”
Moreno: “No you weren’t — nothing happened.”
Woman: “You’re lying.”
Moreno: “OK. It turned from us trying to help you to getting really crazy.”
Moreno: “What do you remember?”
Woman: “I remember getting up the stairs and waking up on the bathrooom floor. The next thing I know, I’m in my bed, you’re taking off my clothes and having sex with me.”
Moreno: “OK”
Woman: “OK?”
Moreno: “It wasn’t done intentionally. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just got caught up. I’m sorry.”
Woman: “I need to know if I’m OK. Did you wear a condom — yes or no?”
Moreno: “Yes, I did. You don’t have to worry about any diseases or getting pregnant.”
Woman: “Was it only you?”
Moreno: “It was only me.”
Moreno: “If you stop drinking, I’ll be your boyfriend. I’m not a bad man. I’m a good friend to have.”

----- brad.hamilton@nypost.com

'Rape' Cops Still Collect Salaries

'Rape' cops still collect salaries
The New York Post by BRAD HAMILTON - February 20, 2011

The cops who allegedly raped a drunken women were slammed by Commissioner Ray Kelly for "outrageous" conduct that was "dispiriting" to the department, but they continue to collect their salaries -- and don't do any work for the money. The two were suspended briefly after being arrested in December 2008, but they've been getting full-time pay since -- about $150,000 for Kenneth Moreno and approximately $110,000 for Franklin Mata over the last two years. All for doing nothing. A source familiar with their situation said they check in each morning at One Police Plaza, then leave. "The PD is so disgusted, they don't want them anywhere near a police facility," the source said. "They're collecting a check, getting paid full-time. They do nothing." The NYPD did not respond to a request to confirm the officers' pay.

What's Wrong with Pennsylvania's State Police?

What's Wrong with Pennsylvania's State Police?

Yahoo Associated Content by Marlin Bressi - February 19, 2011

Over 150 Pennsylvania State Troopers Have Been Arrested Since 1994

Despite three separate incidents in February involving disgraced Pennsylvania state troopers, the public outrage has been minimal. While these troopers are not the first to run afoul of the law in the Keystone State, the short time span between these incidents, as well as several other high-profile incidents in recent years, suggests that there is something most definitely wrong with our state's police force. The PSP's latest woes began on Wednesday, Feb. 2, when the body of suspended state trooper David Alan Lynch was found in a wooded area in Conyngham Township, Columbia County. Lynch's death, which was ruled accidental, took place during the week in which the suspended trooper was scheduled to go on trial for resisting arrest, and a DUI (driving under the influence) charge stemming from a domestic disturbance in 2009. (Shamokin News-Item, Feb. 9, 2011) On the same day, a Cumberland County jury found Trooper Barry Tangert, Jr. guilty of obstructing a child molestation investigation. Tangert is scheduled to be sentenced in March. (Associated Press, Feb. 2, 2011) On Feb. 15, Pennsylvania State Trooper Douglas N. Sversko, of Lewisburg, was arrested after allegedly sending sexually explicit videos to an undercover agent from the Child Predator Unit posing as a 13-year-old girl. Sversko faces at least two felony counts. (Shamokin News-Item, Feb. 17, 2011) The conditions surrounding Sversko's arrest are nearly identical to an incident involving another Pennsylvania state trooper which took place in Delaware County in 2008. Pennsylvania State Trooper Albert Silvari was arrested and convicted of criminal solicitation to rape, statutory sexual assault, and other charges. Silvari was caught in a sting while attempting to solicit two girls, aged 8 and 10. Other incidents involving Pennsylvania troopers include the 2010 arrest of Daniel Freeman, a Washington County trooper involved in an arson plot, and the 2010 arrest of Christopher Miller, a Pennsylvania State Trooper who was caught on tape assaulting a 72-year old man near Greensburg. In 2009, trooper Kevin Foley was arrested and subsequently found guilty of killing a dentist in Blairsville, PA. Shawn Dillard, a state trooper in Harrisburg, was convicted in 2009 for aiding and abetting a child prostitution ring. In 2008, a state trooper named Kevin Coleman faced federal charges for protecting the very same child prostitution ring near Harrisburg. A Philadelphia-area state trooper named John Travis Lane was charged in 2003 with a string of burglaries in Chester County. Lane's arrest in 2003 came a week after a state police report indicated that nearly 100 Pennsylvania state troopers had been arrested over the past decade for crimes ranging from incest to rape. According to the state police study completed in 2003, a whopping 82 state troopers were arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges since 1994. The same report also revealed another 25 state troopers arrested for summary offenses such as disorderly conduct and harassment. After the release of the 2002 report, then-governor Ed Rendell vowed to fix the problem. Perhaps 2011 will be the year current governor Tom Corbett makes the same empty promise. In the meantime, residents of the Keystone State will be left to fend for themselves against the uniformed menace sworn to protect us.

More Than Police Policy Failure

Fruitland Park's Police Department needs to get its house in order
The Orlando Sentinal by Lauren Ritchie - COMMENTARY - February 20, 2011

An audit of the Fruitland Park Police Department's evidence and operations released last week evoked this response: Wooo-hooo! Ride 'em cowboy!

The very politely worded report revealed:

•A full third of the cash used for several years to buy drugs and pay informants — $2,319.65 — is unaccounted for.
•A variety of items, including marijuana and $2,261, were missing from the evidence closet.
•A theft report accusing a secretary of stealing the cash from the evidence closet was dismissed with an explanation equivalent of "Oh, well. It's gone." It seems that a whole bunch of keys to the evidence closet had been issued and some were missing. Anybody or his brother could have been into the evidence.
•And speaking of brothers, the late brother of the former police chief, who owned a towing service, got all the vehicle-seizure business from the department.
•The department's major, who was in charge of evidence, keeps a 4-foot bong filled with flowers in his office. Really? He reported that it wasn't "evidence" anymore, but he had no documentation to prove it. Let's all sniff the daisies and be happy.
•Eight guns around the evidence locker came from, well, someplace. There wasn't any paperwork.
•One of the items in evidence originally thought to be missing was a Sony PlayStation and two controllers. Found! The guys at the fire station were playing with it.

Mount Dora theft case

Dear reader, have you heard enough? It's as if the chimps are handling the banana inventory, and everybody in the jungle is hungry. Years ago, sloppy procedures in handling evidence and cronyism were rampant, and Lake County had its share. But theft? That was a different matter. In 1982, the late Mount Dora police Chief Bobby Locke was arrested on charges of stealing $4,500 from the city department's evidence locker. His four top officers turned him in. The department had taken $4,570 from the body of a 76-year-old man involved in an unrelated criminal case. Lt. Earl Gooden, who later became the city's chief, noticed in the handwritten evidence record that the first two numbers of the sum were blacked, indicating only $70 had been taken into evidence rather than the larger sum. Gooden noticed this because it was his name that had been penciled in as the officer who verified the discrepancy. Locke later told his commanders that he'd returned the money to the dead man's family. Of course, family members said no such thing happened. At the time, the 36-year-old chief was among the most respected lawmen in Lake for his efforts to make law enforcement more professional. He attracted and recruited the most promising young officers of the time. He preached anti-corruption and ethics; he encouraged them to go to college. His colleagues were stunned by his arrest. Locke served a year in the Lake County Jail, mostly working seven days a week at a junkyard in Fruitland Park. A judge ordered him to pay $7 a day of his earnings to defray the cost of his keep in the jail and to remit almost all of the rest to his family.

More than just a 'policy failure'

Compare that to the reaction today in Fruitland Park to news that evidence has mysteriously gone missing. It's way too cavalier. Former police Chief Mark Isom, who retired after it became clear that he lied about having college degrees, conducted an "investigation" in October 2008 when he received a phone call accusing a secretary of having stolen the money. Cash was, indeed, missing. But nothing was done, and the case was closed as a "policy failure." Say what? Policies don't steal cash. People do. Time to start the roundup. The city manager in Fruitland Park has called in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the missing money. Being a law-enforcement officer still ought to bring with it an extra expectation of honesty and a heightened responsibility to fulfill the public trust. If you can't trust the cops, who can you trust? Using the excuse that Fruitland Park is a typical small town doesn't wash. Stealing is still wrong, regardless of whether it's here or Miami. Computer software that tracks inventory is available everywhere, and it is idiot-simple to apply it to keeping track of evidence. There aren't any excuses for the behavior and there aren't any for the city's breezy, unconcerned attitude about missing evidence and money. If Fruitland Park cannot run its own little department without making a mess of it, city officials should consider shutting down its operations and contracting with a larger, more professional police agency to regain the trust of its residents. Lritchie@tribune.com. Her blog is online: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/laurenonlake

Corrupt Ex-Cop Gets 40 Years

Corrupt ex-NYPD Officer Jerry Bowens gets 40 years for killing gal pal
The New York Daily News by Oren Yaniv - February 16, 2011

A corrupt ex-cop who admitted gunning down his girlfriend and wounding her pal got 40 years to life in prison on Tuesday - the sentence his victim's heartbroken relatives had demanded.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus handed down the maximum sentence allowed under a plea deal Jerry Bowens, 45, made for murdering Catherine D'Onofrio, 28, and shooting Melissa Simmons nearly two years ago. "In 28 years of being a judge, this is one of the easiest decisions I've had to make," Marrus said before the sentencing. Brooklyn prosecutor Michelle Kaminsky said the disgraced narcotics officer killed his estranged girlfriend by tricking her into coming to her friend's home, locking the two women in the bathroom and shooting them. " [D'Onofrio] was lying on the floor in her own blood with a hole in her head," a sobbing Simmons told the judge. "I had to sit there with her because I didn't want her to die alone."

Judge Denies Motion to Expunge Records from Police Misconduct

Judge denies motion to expunge case records linked to grand jury police investigation
The Tulsa World by Omer Gillham - February 17, 2011

A federal judge has denied a request by a Tulsa man to have his court record expunged even though the court had previously thrown out his life sentences due to alleged police corruption, records show. DeMarco Deon Williams, 35, was freed from federal prison April 30 as part of a grand jury investigation of police misconduct. Court records show Williams was convicted April 25, 2008, in a federal court in Tulsa of cocaine possession with intent to distribute. Williams received two life sentences in a trial presided over by U.S. Chief District Judge Claire Eagan, of the Northern District. Before being freed, Williams spent about six years in federal prison or in jail awaiting trial. He is represented by attorney Randy Lynn. On Jan. 11, Williams filed a motion in federal court to have his court records expunged involving his federal convictions, records show. Williams said that the convictions, even though thrown out, had subjected him to a social stigmatism. Williams' motion stated that "he has experienced extreme difficulty in finding employment and in generally establishing a life and identity for himself because of the unconstitutional conviction at issue in the case." Eagan denied Williams' request, stating that the court has a competing interest in keeping the records in place so they can be accessible for the criminal trials expected to occur during the prosecution of five Tulsa police officers. Williams also may need the records for a civil suit he is expected to file in the case, Eagan wrote. Eagan also noted that the government states that Williams has three previous convictions in Tulsa County District Court that remain in the record. Jane W. Duke, the U.S. attorney for eastern Arkansas, is a special prosecutor overseeing the grand jury investigation of police corruption. The investigation became public Nov. 1, 2009. The World reported that federal prosecutors were investigating alleged police misconduct involving stolen drugs and money, falsified search warrants, nonexistent informants and perjury. Six former and current police officers have been charged in the federal investigation. Thirty-one people have been freed from prison, had charges dismissed or sentences reduced. Omer Gillham 581-8301 - omer.gillham@tulsaworld.com

Officer Indicted for Theft

Officer indicted for theft

The Times-Journal by Mark Harrison - February 15, 2011

A DeKalb County grand jury indicted a former Powell police officer for theft. Neal Sparks, 36 of Fort Payne, is charged with second-degree theft of property. Sparks turned himself in to deputies Monday. DeKalb County District Attorney Mike O'Dell said a grand jury returned an indictment against Sparks last week. O'Dell said Sparks is accused of stealing a laptop computer from an unnamed person's vehicle during a traffic stop Sparks carried out while working as a police officer in Crossville. In addition to formerly working in Crossville and Collinsville, Sparks was also previously employed as Ider's police chief. It was during Sparks' tenure there that an Ider officer allegedly used a Taser on one of the town's councilmen. The Ider Town Council unanimously voted to fire Sparks from the job last March, following an executive session lasting more than an hour. The Ider council had placed Sparks on administrative leave prior to that after an earlier vote to fire him failed. During the earlier attempt, "citizen complaints" were cited as the reason he should be fired in Ider. Sparks was released Monday on $5,000 bond.

Federal Lawsuit Alleges Misconduct by Prosecutors

Lawsuit Alleges Misconduct by Brooklyn Prosecutors

The Wall Street Journal by Sean Gardiner - February 16, 2011

A man who spent 16 years in prison for the murder of a Brooklyn rabbi has filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit alleging “blatantly illegal investigative tactics” were used by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office to secure his conviction. Last June, Jabbar Collins was released from prison when prosecutors told a federal court judge that they were abandoning their efforts to retry him for the 1994 murder of Rabbi Abram Pollack. The district attorney vacated the murder conviction in May when evidence surfaced that one of the witnesses who implicated Collins had temporarily recanted, and prosecutors failed to inform Collins’s trial lawyer of it. The story of how Collins managed to overturn his murder conviction while in prison was the subject of a front-page Wall Street Journal article in December [SEE BELOW]. On Wednesday, Collins and his attorney, Joel Rudin, filed the lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court naming the city, Brooklyn prosecutor Michael Vecchione and eight other prosecutors and detectives as defendants. Jerry Schmetterer, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, declined to comment. Vecchione led the prosecution during the original Collins murder trial in 1995. Much of the lawsuit concerns Vecchione’s alleged conduct during the murder investigation and that trial. At a hearing in 2010 on a possible retrial for Collins, a witness testified that Vecchione threatened to hit him over the head with a coffee table when he refused to cooperate. Among a long list of allegations of misconduct is a new charge that several notarized or sworn affirmations and affidavits purportedly signed by Vecchione were forged by a paralegal. Vecchione denied at Collins’s state appeal in 2006 that any witness ever recanted or “had to be threatened or forced to testify.” He also swore that claims authorities had either coerced witnesses or failed to turn over potentially exculpatory information “are, without exception, untrue.” At that time, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said, “Michael Vecchione is not guilty of any misconduct.”

The lawsuit claims that Vecchione’s case against Collins began to “evaporate” in the beginning of 1995: One witness recanted his statement; another said he saw Collins running from the shooting and called 911 but there was no recording of that call; and the third witness had fled to Puerto Rico in violation of his probation, according to the complaint. According to the lawsuit, Vecchione employed illegal tactics to coerce his witnesses to give false statements and testify. The lawsuit claims that one of Vecchione’s forged sworn statements was used to gain an order that allowed him to force a witness to be taken to his office against his will. It alleges that the witness was jailed as way to coerce him into making false statements and giving false testimony. The lawsuit claims that Collins subsequent attempts to obtain records were improperly blocked by the Brooklyn Attorney’s office. Collins, who became well versed in public records laws while incarcerated, obtained exculpatory evidence — in one instance by admittedly posing as a prosecutor’s investigator during a recorded phone call. The lawsuit also accuses Hynes, the Brooklyn D.A., of failing to provide proper training and failing to discipline prosecutors who withheld evidence potentially favorable to the defense. “His deliberate indifference to such violations created an ‘anything goes’ atmosphere that caused such violations to continue, including in (Collins’) case,” the lawsuit states.

********************************BACKGROUND/RELATED STORY:

A Solitary Jailhouse Lawyer Argues His Way Out of Prison

The Wall Street Journal by Sean Gardiner - December 24, 2010

Each morning for 5,546 days, Jabbar Collins knew exactly what he'd wear when he awoke: a dark-green shirt with matching dark-green pants. The prison greenies of a convicted murderer, he says, were "overly starched in the beginning, but as time wore on, and after repeated washes, they were worn and dull, like so many other things on the inside." Today, Jabbar Collins works as a paralegal at the Law Offices of Joel B. Rudin in Manhattan. But for 15 years, he sat in prison, convicted of the 1994 murder of Rabbi Abraham Pollack. Mr. Collins, who maintained his innocence, spent much of those 15 years in a computerless prison law library. For most of those 15 years, Mr. Collins, who maintained his innocence, knew the only way his wardrobe would change was if he did something that's indescribably rare. He'd have to lawyer himself out of jail. There was no crusading journalist, no nonprofit group taking up his cause, just Inmate 95A2646, a high-school dropout from Brooklyn, alone in a computerless prison law library. "'Needle in a haystack' doesn't communicate it exactly. Is it more like lightning striking your house?" says Adele Bernard, who runs the Post-Conviction Project at Pace Law School in New York, which investigates claims of wrongful conviction. "It's so unbelievably hard…that it's almost impossible to come up with something that captures that." Mr. Collins pried documents from wary prosecutors, tracked down reluctant witnesses and persuaded them, at least once through trickery, to reveal what allegedly went on before and at the trial where he was convicted of the high-profile 1994 murder of Rabbi Abraham Pollack. The improbable result of that decade-and-a-half struggle was evident on a recent morning in a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper. Mr. Collins sat in a small office he now shares, wearing one of the eight dark suits he owns, a white shirt with French cuffs, a blue-and-gray striped tie and a pair of expensive wingtips. "Every day is beautiful" now, he said, smiling. "I don't have a bad day anymore. I think that my worst bad day out of prison will be better than my greatest good day in prison."


After more than 15 years behind bars and now free after getting his murder conviction overturned, Jabbar Collins starts his day like so many other New Yorkers: He takes the subway to his job in Manhattan. WSJ's Jason Bellini reports. On March 13, 1995, as Mr. Collins was led by officers through a side door of a Brooklyn courtroom to a holding cell, his mother let loose a wailing sound that he'd "never heard before or since." Her son had just been convicted of murder. He was 22, a father of three and facing at least 34 2/3 years behind bars. Three witnesses had implicated him in the midday shooting of Mr. Pollack as the rabbi collected rent in a building at 126 Graham Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Mr. Collins said he was home getting a haircut at the time. To that point in his life, Mr. Collins had been drifting. His father died when he was 12 and his mother worked two jobs while also studying nursing. Under-supervised, he skipped school often, smoked a lot of pot and fathered the first of his children when he was 15. When he was 16, he was arrested for a robbery. He says he was just waiting outside the store where a robbery took place. Mr. Collins accepted a youthful-offender adjudication under which he got probation and the arrest could eventually be purged. Mr. Collins later obtained a general-equivalency diploma and took some classes at Long Island University. He was trying to transfer to John Jay College of Criminal Justice when he was arrested for Mr. Pollack's murder. During his trial, Mr. Collins recalls being mystified. "I felt like a child," he says, "everyone talking over my head." But hearing his mother wailing as he was taken away suddenly cleared his head. "You have a life of misery ahead of you," he remembers telling himself. "The only way you're going to get out is to become your own lawyer."

On returning to Rikers Island, the city jail complex, Mr. Collins headed to the law library. There and later at Green Haven prison north of the city, he spent most of his free time in law libraries, pouring himself into legal books: "Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure," "McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York," "The Legal Research Manual." A thick text for paralegals called "Case Analysis and Fundamentals of Legal Writing" became his bible. He devoted two months to mastering the intricacies of federal and state law on access to public records. Jabbar Collins achieved the rare feat of lawyering himself out of prison, 15 years after he was convicted of murdering a rabbi in Brooklyn, N.Y. Here are some of those involved. Michael Vecchione denied any witnesses were rewarded or pressured. Adrian Diaz testified at trial he saw Collins with a gun. When Collins much later called him, posing as a D.A. investigator, Diaz talked about his route to becoming a witness. Edwin Oliva testified at trial that Collins had said he planned to rob the rabbi. When Collins wrote to Oliva years later, Oliva wrote back describing what lay behind his testimony. Angel Santos testified at trial he had called 911 and said he saw Collins run past. His voice didn't seem to Collins to match any voices on the 911 tape. Joel Rudin helped Collins after his own 10-year legal effort. His first request for trial records under New York's Freedom of Information Law, in July 1995, was denied. He would go on to file six more requests, five more appeals and a lawsuit before a judge gave him some of the records over two years later. Finally succeeding in a request, gaining 239 pages of documents and 94 audio tapes, emboldened him. "It kind of refilled the tanks," he says, "gave me the confidence to fight on."

Over time, Mr. Collins would file a dizzying number of records requests. If they were denied, he appealed. If he lost, he'd add his requests to those he prepared for other inmates. "The mosaic of intelligence gathering," Mr. Collins calls this. "You collect one item at a time and you add to the picture piece by piece until you create what is a stunning mosaic of what really happened." He picked away at his case for eight years, but by the fall of 2003 he had hit a wall. That's when he carried out a ruse to trick Adrian Diaz, who had testified to seeing Mr. Collins tuck a gun in his waistband after the murder, into talking to him. "I became Kevin Beekman, district attorney's investigator, for about 25 minutes," Mr. Collins says. The fictitious Mr. Beekman said he needed to recreate documents lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack. When Mr. Diaz agreed to talk about his testimony, Mr. Collins routed the call through a phone in his mother's home so it could be recorded. Mr. Diaz said that before the trial, he had gone to Puerto Rico, in violation of his probation for marijuana possession. He agreed to return and testify against Mr. Collins, he said, only after prosecutors promised they would make sure his probation wasn't revoked. That account, which Mr. Diaz later attested to in a signed affidavit, wasn't provided by prosecutors to Mr. Collins's defense counsel, who could have used it to undermine the witness by showing he was given an incentive to testify.

In 2005 Mr. Collins wrote to another witness, Edwin Oliva, who had testified that before the murder, Mr. Collins said he was going to rob the rabbi. "I really need to know what happened between you and the District Attorney's Office," Mr. Collins wrote. "I always knew I was going to hear from you sooner or later," Mr. Oliva wrote back. "And to tell you the truth, I am glad you wrote, now once and for all I can settle the record." Mr. Oliva wrote that he had been arrested a few weeks after the Pollack murder for a robbery he pulled in the building. He said the police asked about the rabbi's killing and he told them all he knew was that Mr. Collins had been arrested. Detectives threatened to charge Mr. Oliva as an accessory, he wrote, and then made up a statement implicating Mr. Collins. Mr. Oliva wrote that he was so strung out and sleepy from a month-long run of "smoking & sniffin' dope" that he signed the statement, adding he "didn't even know what...I was signing." But now, Mr. Oliva added, he wanted to help Mr. Collins, "because I know you got a rotten deal." Mr. Oliva granted access to his records. They included a Legal Aid document that referenced, without elaborating, a "deal" being discussed between the judge, a prosecutor and Mr. Oliva's attorney. Mr. Oliva was allowed to plead to a lesser felony than he had been indicted for. He received a sentence of up to three years. The other charge could have kept him in prison longer.

At the trial, lead prosecutor Michael Vecchione stated that no key witnesses had received anything for testifying. "Oliva's motive is simple," the prosecutor said. "Just like all the rest of the witnesses, he saw something, he heard something, someone asked him about it, and he is telling what he saw and he is telling what he heard. Nothing else." Mr. Vecchione declined requests for comment. Mr. Collins, though a skilled jailhouse lawyer who helped many other inmates, could take his own appeal only so far without help. In late 2005, after 10 years working alone, he contacted Joel Rudin, a civil-rights attorney known for winning what was then the largest wrongful-conviction settlement in New York, $5 million. "I was amazed" at Mr. Collins's file, Mr. Rudin says. "I've never seen anything like this. There was so much documentation." As the lawyer began reworking the appeal, Mr. Collins gathered another piece of his mosaic. He obtained a tape of calls to 911 after the killing. A witness had testified he called 911 and told of seeing Mr. Collins run past. But when Mr. Collins listened to the tape of 911 calls, none of the voices sounded like what he recalled this witness sounding like at the trial. Mr. Collins obtained a tape of a prosecution interview with this witness, Angel Santos. He hired a voice expert to compare the interview tape with the tape of people calling 911. No matches. Mr. Santos and the other two main witnesses, Messrs. Diaz and Oliva, couldn't be reached for comment. Michael Harrison, Mr. Collins's court-appointed trial lawyer, said he couldn't remember whether he ever received the 911 tape because it was so long ago.

In March 2006, Mr. Rudin asked a state judge to overturn Mr. Collins's murder conviction on the grounds of newly discovered information the defense should have been given. Mr. Vecchione, the prosecutor, swore that claims authorities had either coerced witnesses or failed to turn over potentially exculpatory information "are, without exception, untrue." Then the roof crashed down. Learning of Mr. Collins's impersonation of an investigator, state Justice Robert Holdman dismissed the appeal, declaring it to be "wholly without merit, conclusory, incredible, unsubstantiated, and, in significant part, to be predicated on a foundation of fraud." For good measure, he barred Mr. Collins from filing future requests for information. "Just devastating," Mr. Collins says. "This had been my life's work for the last 10 years." He didn't have the luxury of wallowing. State law allows only 30 days to appeal such a ruling. As he wrote his appeal, he couldn't keep out his bitterness, and Mr. Rudin had to redo it. The state appeal failed.

In what amounted to their last shot, they filed a motion in federal court in Brooklyn seeking to overturn the conviction based on prosecutors' "knowing presentation, at trial, of false or misleading testimony" and withholding of evidence that might have been used to discredit the main witnesses. This March, after two years of legal wrangling, federal Judge Dora Irizarry approved Mr. Rudin's request for additional material from prosecutors. Information Mr. Collins had spent more than a decade trying to get his hands on suddenly began pouring in. One document concerned Mr. Oliva, the witness who wrote that under police pressure he signed a statement implicating Mr. Collins in the murder, even though he knew nothing about it. The document suggested that as the murder trial neared, Mr. Oliva had balked at cooperating. It said his work release for a robbery conviction was revoked "after he failed to cooperate with D.A.'s office regarding a homicide." Other newly discovered information suggested Mr. Oliva had briefly recanted his statement implicating Mr. Collins. A prosecutor preparing to fight Mr. Collins's appeal learned this from a retired detective, who said that Mr. Oliva recanted, then changed his mind again and stuck to his statement after the detective and several prosecutors spoke with him at the Brooklyn D.A.'s office. This prosecutor turned that information over to Judge Irizarry, acknowledging it should have been provided to Mr. Collins's murder-trial defense. (Mr. Vecchione had denied at Mr. Collins's state appeal that any witness ever recanted or "had to be threatened or forced to testify.") Four days before a scheduled hearing in Judge Irizarry's federal court, the D.A.'s office offered to reduce the charge against Mr. Collins to manslaughter, allowing his immediate release. Mr. Collins rejected the offer.

Later the same day, prosecutors informed the court that they wouldn't fight Mr. Collins's effort to overturn his conviction, but said they planned to retry him. A retrial would move the case back to state court, a venue where prosecutors had known nothing but success against Mr. Collins. Mr. Rudin, desperate to keep the case in federal court, persuaded Judge Irizarry to hold a rare hearing on whether the D.A. should be barred from retrying Mr. Collins because its misconduct had been so pervasive. The hearing's first witness was Mr. Santos, the man who had testified about making a 911 call after the murder, but whose voice didn't seem to match any of the voices on the 911 tape. Mr. Santos told the hearing that in the period when the murder occurred, he was using drugs "every day. Twenty-four hours." He said that as the murder trial neared a year later, he told Mr. Vecchione he didn't want to testify, but Mr. Vecchione began "yelling at me and telling me he was going to hit me over the head with some coffee table." He said he was threatened with prosecution, then locked up for a week as a material witness. When he agreed to testify, he said, he was taken from jail to a Holiday Inn, which he described as "paradise."

The federal hearing was due to resume a week later with testimony from Mr. Vecchione and other prosecutors. Instead, the D.A.'s office gave up. It said its decision was "based upon the weaknesses that now exist with the witnesses," but added that its "position, then and now, was that we believe in this defendant's guilt." Judge Irizarry was not pleased. "It's really sad that the D.A.'s office persists in standing firm and saying they did nothing wrong here," she said. "It is, indeed, sad." Judge Irizarry declined to be interviewed; the judge who turned down Mr. Collins's state appeal didn't return a call seeking comment. Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes stood firm. "Michael Vecchione is not guilty of any misconduct," Mr. Hynes said at the time. He, Mr. Vecchione—who is now chief of the rackets division—and a spokesman for the D.A.'s office all declined to comment, citing likely litigation by Mr. Collins. Mr. Collins walked out of prison on June 9, to an emotional welcome from his family. He has had many Rip Van Winkle moments. Swipe cards have replaced tokens on the subway; coffee shops called Starbucks are everywhere; there are these devices called iPhones. But some things haven't changed. Mr. Collins is back in a law library. His attorney, Mr. Rudin, has hired him as a paralegal. Mr. Collins is first concentrating on his own case. He has filed "notices of claim" announcing an intention to sue the city and state for $60 million. As a paralegal, he can't give legal advice to the many inmates who have written seeking it. He hopes one day to change that, by becoming an attorney. Write to Sean Gardiner at sean.gardiner@wsj.com

Family of Man Shot Dead Sues Cops and Town

Family of armed man shot dead by Ramapo officer sues cops, town

The Journal News by Steve Lieberman - February 15, 2011

The family of a man armed with a knife who was shot dead by a Ramapo police officer has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the officers involved in the December 2008 shooting that a Rockland grand jury found justifiable. Ramapo's attorney denied the allegations in the federal lawsuit seeking $25 million and will ask U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth M. Karas to dismiss the legal action. William Jackson claims in the lawsuit that Officer Edward Pascocello used excessive force when he shot his son Thomas on Dec. 24, 2008, and the younger Jackson never threatened the officer's life. The contentions accusing the police of negligence are based on Jackson's live-in girlfriend of eight years, Barbara Jean Nesi, who was inside the house at 96 Hempstead Road with Jackson and the two officers. Ramapo is accused of not properly training the officers in the lawsuit filed by Amy Bellantoni, a former Rockland prosecutor who is part of the Westchester law firm of Jonathan Lovett and her husband, Rory Bellantoni. Ramapo Town Attorney Michael Klein said Pascocello and Officer Monika Sitarz acted properly and Pascocello defended himself against a knife attack by Jackson. Nesi called the police and told them that Jackson had locked himself inside the bathroom with a knife and was suicidal, Klein said. Jackson also had a history of substance abuse and mental health issues. Ramapo police Capt. Brad Weidel said Tuesday that the department cannot comment on legal actions. On Christmas Day 2008 after the shooting, Weidel said at a news conference that Jackson "was coming at one of our officers with a knife. The act of shooting we consider an appropriate use of deadly force to defend himself." SLIEBERM@LOHUD.COM

Campus Police Under Investigation for Hiring Local Cops

Morris Brown Campus Police Under Investigation
WSBTV.com - February 8, 2011
Local Police Department Under Investigation

ATLANTA, GA -- The president of Morris Brown College says he's launching a full investigation into alleged wrongdoing uncovered by Channel 2 Action News. Channel 2 Action News has learned that the college's police department is under state investigation, accused of employing officers just to work off-duty jobs. Local Police Department Under Investigation. Channel 2 investigative reporter Jodie Fleischer found many of those officers have troubled pasts, or may not even be real officers at all. The Morris Brown College campus only spans about three blocks and enrollment has dwindled to just 63 students. But according to Georgia’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council, the campus police department employs 27 certified police officers. Fleischer found several more working at the school's police headquarters who are not on that list. “That’s way out of line,” said POST Director Ken Vance. "For 60 something students, they ought to have one walking hand in hand with them from class to class." POST launched an investigation, and Vance said the agency hopes to seek a Cease and Desist Order against the school’s police department. "It's about money. It's about money and using Morris Brown College to run a security agency that operates in metro Atlanta," said Vance. It isn't unusual for officers to work off-duty jobs to supplement their police income. But in most departments, they spend more time working on-duty, protecting the public. POST investigative documents show the school only requires an officer work 16 hours each month to remain on the police roster. That makes them eligible to work lucrative off-duty security jobs. Channel 2 obtained internal e-mails from Cobb County police confirming an investigation into two Morris Brown police officers caught working an off-duty job in Smyrna. Both were in uniform and their cars had blue lights. One had no identification, but told the officer he was Ali Bashir, date of birth 4/20/62. The only Morris Brown officer with that last name and birthday had his police certification revoked a decade ago. Fleischer asked if he could face charges for impersonating an officer. “Absolutely,” said Vance. “And you're going to see some serious looks in that direction." POST investigators are also taking a serious look at three fake identification cards seized while questioning Morris Brown Police Chief Jabir Bashir. They were signed by the current assistant chief, Daymond Langford, before he was demoted from the chief’s job. The cards call his employees "duly sworn police officers" authorized to perform law enforcement duties. But they are not POST certified. “I'm a PSO, public safety officer, not a police officer," said Sgt. Maurice Campbell. One of the three seized cards has Campbell’s Social Security number on it. Fleischer found many of the officers who are properly certified have troubling records also. Of the 27 on the roster, POST has publicly reprimanded, placed on probation, or otherwise investigated 17 of them. "It looks like it's someone that can't get hired anywhere else," said Vance. On three separate days, Fleischer tried to track down Bashir for answers. "He said, 'You could leave a card and he would be available tomorrow,'" said a student and part-time public safety officer. The next day, Fleischer returned. “Yeah, he probably, he will be here today,” said Public Safety Officer Henry Johnson. Johnson called Chief Bashir, who by phone told Fleischer he was out of town for training but would not disclose the nature of the training or the location. He said he would return Monday. On Monday, Fleischer found the doors locked and Public Safety Officer Johnson refused to open them. Investigators from Georgia’s Department of Public Safety also visited the Morris Brown Police Department to revoke the blue light permits from all of its unmarked vehicles. "We opened the case on one afternoon, and retrieved the permits by the close of business the next. It's a very serious matter," said DPS spokesman Gordy Wright. “Something is really, really wrong here,” said Vance. "I wouldn't even classify it as a police agency right now."

Cop Suspended After Being Accused of Rape While On Duty

Cop suspended after being accused of rape
Fox5SanDiego - February 7, 2011

EL CAJON, Calif. -- A San Diego police officer was on compulsory unpaid leave Monday as detectives investigated a woman's accusation that he raped her at an East County home. "The El Cajon Police Department notified us on Thursday that they were investigating a case," said San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne. "It was my decision to place that officer on unpaid administrative leave and remove his police powers by taking away his badge and his weapon." Late last Wednesday, a woman being treated at a hospital told a physician that the officer and a woman had sexually assaulted her at a residence in El Cajon earlier that evening, and medical staffers then notified the police, El Cajon Police Department Lt. Mark Coit said. There have been no arrests in the case, according to Coit. "If the person is in law enforcement and he's been listed as a suspect, he's gonna be treated the same as we would any other investigation," Coit said. The officer, who was off duty at the time of the alleged assault, has not been named. The alleged assailants and victim are acquaintances, the lieutenant said.

Video Shows Cops Punching Student While Being Placed Under Arrest

YouTube video shows cops punching unruly Rutgers University student while trying to arrest him
The New York Daily News by Bill Hutchinson - February 8, 2011

Video shows Elliott Marx, 20, of Lindenhurst being punched as five New Brunswick, N.J., police arrest him.

A YouTube video showing cops punching an unruly Rutgers University student from Long Island was burning up the Internet on Monday night. The minute and 43 second video, taken by a witness viewing the incident from a perch above the scene, shows Elliott Marx, 20, of Lindenhurst being punched as five New Brunswick, N.J., police arrest him. Police officials said the incident stemmed from a parking lot fight early Saturday morning near the New Brunswick campus. Lt. J.T. Miller told MyCentralJersey.com that Marx was one of up 50 people involved in the 1 a.m. brawl. "Stop resisting! Give me your hand!" one cop is heard shouting at Marx in the video. When Marx continued to resist, an officer is seen punching the suspect at least four times. Marx, a Rutgers sophomore, was arrested on charges of resisting arrest, obstruction, aggravated assault and having a fake ID. Miller said Marx jumped on an officer's back before he was arrested. Defense attorney John Koufos said Marx suffered cuts and bruises to his face. Marx claimed that his friend was jumped when they tried to get into a house party. He was trying to help his friend when people attacked him. He claimed he didn't realized he was struggling with cops until they ordered him to stop resisting, Koufos told the news web site. New Brunswick Police Director Peter Mangarella said Internal Affairs has launched an investigators. "My first take is that I see somebody resisting arrest," Mangarella said. "Was the force justified? That's what our guys are trying to determine."

Park Police Sergeant Accused of Sexually Abusing Teen Girl

Park police sergeant accused of sexually abusing teen girl
The Democrat and Chronicle by Victoria E. Freile - February 10, 2011

A sergeant with the New York State Park Police has been accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl in Greece. Todd M. Johnson, 41, of Mount Vernon, Westchester County, was charged Tuesday with one count of endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of third-degree sexual abuse, both misdemeanors, Greece Police Capt. Steve Chatterton said today. Greece police officers started investigating the case last month after they learned of the alleged sexual abuse ,which reportedly occurred in Greece late last year, Chatterton said. The victim is younger than 16. Further details of the incident were not released. While investigating the case, officers learned that Johnson is a state park police sergeant downstate. Chatterton said Johnson was not on duty when the alleged abuse occurred. Greece Police said the arrest was not related to Johnson’s job. Johnson was suspended without pay from his job as of Tuesday, said Dan Keefe, spokesman for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Keefe said Johnson is facing disciplinary action, but declined to say where in the state park system Johnson was stationed, or how long he worked as a parks patrol officer. Johnson pleaded not guilty in Greece Town Court and was remanded to the Monroe County Jail. He posted $1,000 bail and is scheduled return to court on at 1 p.m. Feb. 23. VFREILE@DemocratandChronicle.com

Trooper Charged With Sex Assault

Trooper charged with sex assault

The Journal Sentinel by Don Behm - February 6, 2011
Attacks on teenage girl continued over 2 years, complaint alleges

A 48-year-old Wisconsin state patrolman has been charged in Green County Circuit Court with three felony counts of sexual assault of a child who was placed in his Town of Clarno home for foster care in November 2008, a criminal complaint says. James M. Norquay was suspended without pay indefinitely, pending an independent administrative investigation of the allegations, State Patrol Capt. Charles Teasdale said. Norquay is a trooper with the patrol's Southwest Region. The child was 15 years old at the time of the first assault, according to the criminal complaint filed by special prosecutor Dennis Krueger, an assistant attorney general. She is now 18. The assaults continued until the child was removed from the home on Jan. 2 of this year, the complaint says. Norquay is scheduled to make an initial appearance Monday on the charges in Green County Circuit Court, according to a news release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 40 years' imprisonment and a fine of $100,000. The charges against Norquay resulted from an investigation by the Justice Department's Division of Criminal Investigation. "Investigation and prosecution of cases involving those who prey on children are a high priority of the Department of Justice and we will continue to assist local law enforcement and prosecutors in child maltreatment investigations," Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said in the release. Individuals with information about this case can contact agent Lourdes Fernandez of the Division of Criminal Investigation at (608) 266-1671.

Former Sheriff's Deputy Pleads Guilty to Extortion Charges

Former sheriff's deputy pleads guilty to extortion charges
The Houston Chronicle by James Pinkerton - February 7, 2011

A former Harris County sheriff’s deputy suspected of using his badge and gun to stop drug dealers and steal their loads pleaded guilty Monday to federal extortion charges. Richard Bryan Nutt Jr., 43, entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore on Monday, admitting his role in an undercover sting set up in December by Houston police and FBI agents. Nutt, wearing his sheriff’s uniform and carrying his gun, and four Houston men were arrested Dec. 15 after Nutt followed an SUV driven by an HPD officer posing as a Mexican drug courier. One of the men, Nathaniel House, 37, entered the SUV and retrieved a package containing a 2-kilogram load of fake cocaine. The HPD undercover officer left the SUV and walked into a sporting store. Nutt and two other men were stopped as they left with the contraband. Houston police set up the undercover sting operation after obtaining "information that members of law enforcement were robbing shipments of narcotics,’’ according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Nutt, who is free on bond, faces up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, and a $250,000 fine. A co-defendant in the case, House, also pleaded guilty and is set to be sentenced with Nutt in June. The former lawman’s attorney, Mark Thering, said Nutt was told the courier would be carrying $500,000 in drug proceeds — not drugs. The officer’s cut was supposed to be $100,000. Thering said Nutt regrets his behavior. "This is the first time he’s done this," Thering said. "Others can differ with that, but there has to be a first time for everyone and this truly was Mr. Nutt’s first time to engage in any criminal activity." Thering said Nutt did not know any of the four men he was arrested with, adding the ex-deputy was recruited by a man he met while working security at a local nightclub. "Why does any law-abiding citizen delve into criminal activity — I’m thinking it’s a question of easy money,’’ Thering said. "I don’t want to trivialize what he did, because he broke the law and expects to go to prison. He regrets with every fiber of his being making that decision. He’s disappointed his family, and put a black mark on the quality of people who work for the sheriff department.’’ Nutt was separated from his wife at the time of his arrest, and was under financial strain, Thering said. "He hadn’t done it before and this was going to be the proceeds of money, and money only. But when he got down to it he ended up sitting on two kilos of cocaine,’’ Thering said. Thering said his client elected to plead relatively quickly because of the videotaped evidence against him, as well getting favorable consideration at sentencing for taking early responsibility for his crime. "Sheriff Garcia and his almost 4,000 employees have worked hard to restore public trust in the Harris County Sheriff’s Office," said Alan Bernstein, director of public affairs for Sheriff Adrian Garcia. "In the thankfully rare cases where that effort involves holding current and former employees responsible for breaking the law, the justice system at multiple levels is once more demonstrating that it works. In addition, Mr. Nutt was dismissed from his job as a deputy soon after charges were filed against him." james.pinkerton@chron.com

Ex-Girlfriend of Cop Recalls Terror of Gun Threat

Ex-girlfriend of Albany cop recalls terror of gun threat
The Albany Times Union by Brendan J. Lyons - February 9, 2011

Former girlfriend of Albany cop recalls terror of gun threat

ALBANY, NY -- The former girlfriend of an Albany police officer testified Tuesday that he held her face down on the floor of his Albany residence two years ago and threatened to kill her while grinding the barrel of a loaded handgun against her skull. Barbara Waters said her former boyfriend, Officer Robert L. Schunk, later threatened in a voicemail message to kill her and her young son if she told anyone about the incident or jeopardized his job. Waters cried while recounting the alleged assault during the first day of testimony at Schunk's criminal trial in Albany County Court. Schunk, 39, a 12-year veteran of the Albany police force, is on trial for felony and misdemeanor charges as the department seeks to fire him. He is accused of assaulting Waters with his departmental handgun, holding her against her will and shoving her down a flight of stairs as she tried to end their relationship on Jan. 4, 2009. Waters, 37, said Schunk held her on the floor with his knee in her back and she prayed for help from her father, who had recently died. "He told me he was going to kill me," she said. "He kept calling me whore, bitch .... I don't even know if I could hear what he was completely saying the whole time. I was praying to my dad to stop him." Schunk sat motionless at the defense table as Waters spoke. His neck and head flushed bright red as Waters' voice cracked and she described a terrifying ordeal that she said lasted about 90 minutes. The encounter turned violent, Waters said, when Schunk shoved her down a flight of stairs as she started to leave without the belongings she had gone to his residence to retrieve. She had gone there to break up with Schunk as a result of his jealousy and rage, she said. Schunk's attorney, Cheryl Coleman, during a grueling cross-examination that lasted almost two hours, questioned Waters about why she had waited more than a year to report the incident, and only after her own arrest in Albany last April on charges she "trashed" Schunk's residence. Coleman, through questioning, suggested Waters and her estranged husband, Steven, had concocted the story so Waters could get out of her criminal case. But Waters corrected Coleman when the defense attorney noted Waters had never told police about the incident until last year. Waters said a female Glenville police officer came to her home a couple days after the 2009 incident and that Waters told her what happened. The Glenville officer responded to the residence after Steven Waters called 911 in a panic because his wife, who was in a bath, would not answer the telephone. Waters testified that she and Schunk reunited after the gun incident and entered therapy. "I loved him," she testified.

Steven Waters, the last of five witnesses called by special prosecutor Lyn A. Murphy, testified that his wife called him on her cell phone minutes after she bolted from Schunk's house the night of the incident and that she was extremely distraught. When Waters arrived home, he said, "she was shaking, kind of in a rocking motion. ... I felt on her right side of her head, slightly towards the back, a lump." He said his wife's legs and arms were covered with bruises. Ten days later, Waters went to a doctor's office and reported her injuries and what happened to a physician's assistant, Karen Kasarda, who testified about treating Waters for the injuries. Waters testified that at one point during the incident she fled into the bedroom of Schunk's daughter, who was not home, and tried to escape out a window while screaming for help. Schunk pulled her back, she said, and placed his handgun, which was loaded, on the daughter's dresser. "I was petrified," she testified. "I thought he was going to kill me. ... He just kept saying you're never going to leave me." Officer Christian Mesley, president of the Albany Police Officers Union, testified that he drove Schunk home to meet with Waters the night of the incident. Mesley said that before leaving, and while Schunk and Waters argued in a car outside, he took Schunk's loaded service weapon off a kitchen counter and disabled it by removing internal parts. Mesley said he put the magazine back in the weapon, with 11 rounds inside, and placed the gun back on the counter after hiding the gun parts in the house. Schunk did not know the weapon was inoperable when he held it to Waters' head, the prosecutor said. Murphy, a Saratoga County assistant district attorney, told jurors in her opening statement to listen carefully to Waters' testimony about how Schunk allegedly looked curiously at the weapon before "putting it back to her head." "Draw your own conclusions as to what was going on there," Murphy told the panel. "The defendant let Ms. Waters up and said do what you got to do. She fled for her life." Judge Stephen W. Herrick is presiding. Coleman, the defense attorney, said she will call several Albany officers to testify Wednesday. Three of the officers were involved in arresting Waters last April. Herrick has not allowed the jury to hear evidence about other documented domestic violence incidents involving Schunk. That includes criminal charges filed against him last April for allegations he attacked Waters at her Halfmoon apartment in a jealous rage. Hours later, Waters was arrested in Albany after breaking into Schunk's residence to retrieve belongings and allegedly damaging his property. James Lyman, a former Albany detective and executive director of Council 82, which is the umbrella union for the Albany police union, also testified Tuesday. Lyman said he went to Mesley's house the night of the incident when Schunk showed up there emotionally distressed and that he had been drinking. Lyman said he and Mesley drove Schunk home and that he saw Mesley disable Schunk's gun before they left as the couple argued. Brendan J. Lyons can be reached at 454-5547 or by e-mail at blyons@timesunion.com.

Judge Denies Request to Release Jailed Officers

Judge denies request to release jailed Tulsa officers
The Tulsa World by Omer Gillham - February 7, 2011

Grand jury investigates police corruption: Read all of the stories, view a timeline and read key documents. A federal judge has denied a request by two suspended Tulsa police officers to release them from jail while they await trial on numerous counts in a police corruption case. U.S. District Judge Bruce Black of New Mexico denied the request to release officers Jeff Henderson and Bill Yelton following a hearing today. Former federal agent Brandon McFadden testified during the hearing about threats that Henderson and Yelton had made against him. McFadden is a key witness in the case. Henderson and Yelton have been jailed since July 20, the day five Tulsa police officers were indicted on alleged civil rights violations, perjury and other various crimes. The other officers have been released on bond. McFadden testified that Henderson and Yelton allegedly threatened him on three different occasions, with the first incident allegedly occurring during the fall of 2007. During one alleged incident in the summer of 2008, McFadden said Henderson and Yelton threatened him at a waste water treatment plant in Tulsa. During the alleged incident, while the three were sitting in Henderson’s car with McFadden in the back seat, Yelton removed his gun from the holster and racked the slide. The gun ejected what appeared to be a bullet, which hit against a window or another part of the interior of the car, he said. Yelton allegedly said, “Get back to Lubbock and keep your mouth shut,” McFadden testified. McFadden testified about another incident in which he said Yelton showed him the state Department of Corrections mugshot of a former Tulsa police officer convicted in a crossbow killing. In that case, former officer Jimmie Dean Stohler was convicted in the 1982 contract killing death of Michelle Powers. Under cross examination by defense attorney Stephen Jones, McFadden said he told no one of the alleged threats by Henderson and Yelton. McFadden said he had not seen Yelton pull his gun out at the waste water treatment plant. Yet, he reaffirmed he heard what he believed to be a gun and a round of ammunition being ejected. Questioned by U.S. Assistant Attorney Pat Harris, McFadden said he told no one about the alleged threats because to do so would implicate him. McFadden said he, Henderson and Yelton were involved in stealing money and falsifying search warrants, and he had witnessed Henderson and Yelton allegedly beating and assaulting drug defendants. “I took the threats seriously from them,” McFadden said. “These guys are pretty smart. They don’t mess around.” Henderson took the stand in his own defense and denied ever threatening McFadden and said Yelton also did not threaten him.

Cop Charged with Felony Theft

Officer Charged with Felony Theft

MyFoxHouston.com by Damali Keieth - February 7, 2011

HOUSTON, TX - An area police officer is finding himself on the wrong side of the law. The Stafford Police Officer is now indicted on two felony counts. Paul Kevin Germany worked for the Stafford Police Department for 19.5 years. A department spokesperson says Germany was in charge of the property room since 1994. Germany is now accused of stealing more than $14,000 from the very evidence room he was supposed to guard. "He was the only person that actually maintained custody and preservation of the evidence that was submitted during the course of all the investigations," Fort Bend County Deputy District Attorney Scott Carpenter said. The veteran police officer has been indicted on charges of theft by a public servant and abuse of office. They are third-degree felonies. "It's totally unacceptable as far as law enforcement is concerned. It's totally unacceptable for the citizens of Fort Bend County," Carpenter said about Germany's alleged wrongdoing. Carpenter, who is prosecuting the case against Germany, said the officer was stealing from the property room from 2005 to 2010. The prosecutor said Germany was only caught after he accidentally shot himself in the leg at the shooting range last summer and had to miss work. Germany recovered from the injury. Those missed days, however, seemed to have killed Germany's career after Carpenter says another officer discovered the missing money. "We're, kind of, really somewhat surprised that it went criminal," a member of Germany's legal team, David Donahue, said. "Yes we definitely feel Paul is not guilty on this." Defense attorneys plan to prove what they call possible mismanagement in the property room. "Paul's been an outstanding law enforcement officer. He's highly respected in law enforcement and the community and it's really been hard on him that this has happened. It's really been hard on him and his family," Donahue said. If convicted of the charges Paul Germany faces two to ten years behind bars and a $10,000 fine. Germany has been fired from the Stafford Police Department.

Anger Over Police Corruption Takes Off

Anger and a Facebook Page That Gave It Voice

The New York Times by Jennifer Preston - February 5, 2011
If there is a face to the revolt that has sprouted in Egypt, it may be the face of Khaled Said.

Mr. Said, a 28-year-old Egyptian businessman, was pulled from an Internet cafe in Alexandria last June by two plainclothes police officers, who witnesses say then beat him to death in the lobby of a residential building. Human rights advocates said he was killed because he had evidence of police corruption. The Egyptian police and security services have a well-earned reputation for brutality and snuffing out political opposition. But in Mr. Said, they unwittingly chose the wrong target. Within five days of his death, an anonymous human rights activist created a Facebook page — We Are All Khaled Said — that posted cellphone photos from the morgue of his battered and bloodied face, and YouTube videos played up contrasting pictures of him happy and smiling with the graphic images from the morgue. By mid-June, 130,000 people joined the page to get and share updates about the case.

It became and remains the biggest dissident Facebook page in Egypt, even as protests continue to sweep the country, with more than 473,000 users, and it has helped spread the word about the demonstrations in Egypt, which were ignited after a revolt in neighboring Tunisia toppled the government there. “There were many catalysts of the uprising,” said Ahmed Zidan, an online political activist marching toward Tahrir Square for a protest last week. “The first was the brutal murder of Khalid Said.” The Tunisian rebellion was set off after a fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, burned himself to death after being humiliated by the police. His desperate act led to protests, which were recorded on mobile phones, posted on the Internet, shared on Facebook and eventually broadcast by Al Jazeera. But Mr. Said’s death may be the starkest example yet of the special power of social networking tools like Facebook even — or especially — in a police state. The Facebook page set up around his death offered Egyptians a rare forum to bond over their outrage about government abuses. “Prior to the murder of Khaled Said, there were blogs and YouTube videos that existed about police torture, but there wasn’t a strong community around them,” said Jillian C. York, the project coordinator for the OpenNet Initiative of the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society at Harvard University. “This case changed that.” While it is almost impossible to isolate the impact of social media tools from the general swirl of events that set off the popular uprisings across the Middle East, there is little doubt that they provided a new means for ordinary people to connect with human rights advocates trying to amass support against police abuse, torture and the Mubarak government’s permanent emergency laws allowing people to be jailed without charges.

Facebook and YouTube also offered a way for the discontented to organize and mobilize — and allowed secular-minded young people to seize the momentum from Egypt’s relatively neutered, organized opposition. Far more decentralized than political parties, the strength and agility of the networks clearly caught Egyptian authorities — and American intelligence analysts — by surprise, even as the Egyptian government quickly attempted to shut them down. Mr. Said, who was from a middle-class family and worked in the import-export business, was not an activist or involved in politics. But human rights advocates said he was killed because the local police believed he had shot a video showing officers with illegal drugs. Such a video did eventually show up on YouTube. The police had told Mr. Said’s family that he was involved in drugs and died of asphyxiation from swallowing a package of marijuana while in police custody. But witnesses denied that account, telling their stories in YouTube videos. “What made this case different is that Khaled Said was just an ordinary person,” said Gamal Eid, 47, a lawyer and executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information in Cairo. “He was just a guy who found evidence of corruption and he published it. Then when people learned what happened to him, when people saw pictures of his face, people got very angry.” Mr. Eid said that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and cellphones made it easy for human rights advocates to get out the news and for people to spread and discuss their outrage about Mr. Said’s death in a country where freedom of speech and the right to assemble were limited and the government monitored newspapers and state television. “He is a big part of our revolution,” said Hudaifa Nabawi, a 20-year-old student in Tahrir Square on Saturday. “Khalid Said was a special case. He didn’t belong to any faction, and he didn’t do anything wrong. He became the way to focus our perceptions around the oppression that all the youth all face. You can consider him a symbol.”

Facebook has been the social networking tool of choice for human rights activists in Egypt. There are five million Facebook users in Egypt, the highest number in any Middle Eastern or North African country. Its power and importance has been building for years. In 2008, the April 6 Youth Movement used Facebook to gain more than 70,000 supporters to help raise awareness for striking workers in Mahalla al-Kobra, Egypt. In the last two years, that movement and other human rights advocates have also turned to Twitter and to YouTube, the third most visited Web site in Egypt after Google and Facebook. YouTube, which human rights advocates have used to upload dozens of videos showing Egyptian police torture and abuse, has evolved as an enormously powerful social media tool as more people have been able to capture and share video on cellphones. When video of the corrupt police officers with drugs attributed to Mr. Said was uploaded on YouTube on June 11, 2010, a member of the April 6 Youth Movement left a message in Arabic on the video that said: “We are Khaled. Each one of us can be Khaled.” The message urged people to stand up against police abuse and torture and say no to “bullying police.” This single video has been viewed more than 500,000 times since June and spawned dozens more videos about Mr. Said, including rap songs and more solemn presentations with haunting music. Last June, besides providing regular Facebook updates about the stalled police investigation into Mr. Said’s death, the anonymous administrator of the Facebook page began posting invitations to join street protests and silent protests in Alexandria and Cairo, which spread to nine other cities. Mohamed ElBaradei, the former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was among thousands attending the protest in Alexandria. With the conversation on social networks translating into street protests — and with the well-documented evidence of the police abuse posted online for hundreds of thousands to see — prosecutors were forced to arrest the two police officers in early July in connection with Mr. Said’s death. But the case remains unresolved. Other Egyptians died at the hands of the police last summer. The protests continued, first every week or so, and then sporadically last fall, until Tunisia fell and then the April 6 Youth Movement Facebook group and the We Are All Khaled Said Facebook page began inviting Egyptians to a protest on Jan. 25. Signaling the Mubarak government’s growing awareness about the powerful role that social media are playing in Egypt, pro-Mubarak supporters began jumping into the Khaled Said Facebook page’s conversation soon after access to the Internet was restored last week. There are now wall posts and comments on the page, blasting antigovernment supporters, demanding that Mr. Mubarak be given a chance and spreading disinformation, including that the “day of departure” protest on Friday was canceled. But that did little to deter the protesters. “If you think you can go on Facebook and tell the people to go home, it’s too late for that,” said Omar Ghoneim, 32, who walked to Friday’s protest, wearing two bandages on his right hand from, he said, throwing tear gas canisters back at the police. David D. Kirkpatrick, Kareem Fahim and Anthony Shadid contributed reporting from Cairo.

Two Cops Write Bogus Tickets To Real Motorists

Two Staten Island cops write bogus tickets to real, unsuspecting motorists
The New York Daily News by Rocco Parascandola - February 4, 2011

Two Staten Island cops were busted for writing dozens of phony tickets to motorists. Two Staten Island cops are accused of writing motorists more than 40 bogus tickets while assigned to overtime duty, authorities said. The officers - Stephen Gerwer, 39, and Vincent Adinolfi, 40, of the 122nd Precinct - issued moving violation summons to real motorists last May. The accused officers submitted paperwork to their bosses to make it look like they were doing their jobs, but never gave the summonses to the unsuspecting motorists, sources said. And Adinolfi and Gerwer never gave the summons information to the Department of Motor Vehicles, sources said. The scam may have worked, sources said, if the motorists had appeared in court to appeal the summonses. When supervisors realized Adinolfi and Gerwer did not show up at any hearings an investigation was launched, sources said. It was not clear though how the supervisors came to learn the officers had not appeared in court. Adinolfi and Gerwer, who could face three years in prison, were arraigned Thursday and released without bail. Gerwer was charged with 37 counts - one for each ticket - of tampering with public records, offering a false instrument, second-degree falsifying business records and official misconduct. Adinolfi, accused of writing 10 bogus tickets, faces 10 counts each for the same charges. Gerwer, an eight-year veteran, and Adinolfi, a 17-year veteran, were suspended without pay following their arrests. Their lawyer, Stephen Worth, had no comment. rparascandola@nydailynews.com

Cop Gets 3 Years Probation for Arson and Insurance Fraud

Ex-NJ Police Officer Sentenced for Insurance Fraud

The Associated Press - February 4, 2011

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A former East Orange police officer who admitted setting fire to his personal vehicle to defraud his insurance company has been sentenced to three years' probation. Thirty-five-year-old Kareem Spence pleaded guilty in November to one count of insurance fraud. The six-year veteran officer resigned from the force last year after being indicted in the case. Prosecutors said Spence tried to get rid of his 2002 Cadillac De Ville because it had mechanical problems and he still owed $8,000 on it. He was sentenced Friday in state Superior Court in Newark.

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East Orange police officer Kareem Spence arrested for arson and insurance fraud
NewJerseyNewsroom.com - March 31, 2010

East Orange police officer Kareem Spence was arrested Wednesday for arson and insurance fraud. He could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the charges. Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino Wednesday announced the arrest and indictment of Spence, 34, of South Plainfield on charges of arson and insurance fraud. Spence was arrested Wednesday at approximately 10:30 a.m. at East Orange Police Headquarters after a three-count indictment was unsealed on March 30, 2010. Spence was charged with aggravated arson and insurance fraud, both second degree offenses; and attempted theft by deception, a third degree crime. The indictment charges that Spence, who has been with the East Orange Police Department for approximately six years, set his 2002 Cadillac Coupe DeVille on fire on May 2, 2009 at 50 Rich Street in Irvington to collect insurance money. It is alleged that gasoline soaked towels were discovered in the trunk of the vehicle, where the blaze started. Prosecutor Laurino praised Det. Marlin Bullock for leading the investigation that led to the arrest and indictment. The arrest was made by officers from the Prosecutor's Office Professional Standards Bureau Corruption/Bias Unit and the Arson Unit along with the East Orange Police Department Internal Division. If convicted of all the charges, Spence faces up to 25 years in prison. Bail was set at $25,000 by Judge Peter V. Ryan, JSC. Spence is being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility.

State Trooper Convicted Of Obstructing Child Molestation Investigation

Mixed verdict in Pa. trooper meddling allegation
The Associated Press - February 2, 2011

CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — A central Pennsylvania state trooper has been convicted of obstructing the investigation into a child molestation allegation involving a woman the trooper said was his lover. The Cumberland County jury returned a mixed verdict Tuesday, acquitting Trooper Barry Tangert Jr. of improperly influencing a public servant and retaliating against a prosecutor. Prosecutors say Tangert wanted state police to investigate so he could interrogate the alleged victim himself. A former state police official testified that Tangert planned to arrest a county assistant district attorney in retaliation for not doing as he asked. Tangert's lawyer said his client may have violated state police policy but didn't break the law. The prosecutor was never arrested. Sentencing is scheduled for March 29.

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Pennsylvania State Police trooper accused of trying to obstruct prosecution in Cumberland County child molestation case

The Patriot-News by Chris A. Courogen - December 29, 2009

A Pennsylvania state trooper from Harrisburg was in Cumberland County Prison this afternoon following his arrest on charges he tried to influence how the Cumberland County district attorney's office prosecuted a child-molestation case. Trooper Barry R. Tangert Jr., 45, was arraigned this afternoon in front of District Judge Richard S. Dougherty, who ordered Tangert held in lieu of $5,000 straight bail on charges of threats and other improper influence in official and political matters, obstructing administration of law and criminal attempt to obstruct the administration of law. According to court documents, Tangert, who has been suspended without pay, contacted Cumberland County Assistant District Attorney Jaime Keating on August 4, 2008, saying he had information about a case against three Cumberland County residents accused of molesting a teenage girl. According to court documents, Tangert told Keating he was friends with two of the people charged and that only the third was guilty. Keating said he would not discuss the case, but Tangert asked to interview the victim, according to court documents. The documents allege that Tangert said he'd be able to put pressure on the victim that would get her to recant her story, allowing Keating to dismiss the charges against Tangert's friends. Keating declined the offer, the documents state, but Tangert continued to pressure Keating, saying “I feel like I gotta do something.” “I feel like I have to go to the press or something.” Tangert told his supervisors he had met with Keating and listed what he thought was wrong with the case, according to court documents. Tangert also told his supervisors he planned to file charges against Keating for alleged wiretap violations, obstruction of justice and endangering the welfare of children. Tangert also had personal information about Keating, including his home address, according to court documents. Keating told police he feared for his safety and that the incident was disruptive to his professional and personal life. The case against the three charged in the child molestation was dismissed after the victim did not testify. Tangert's preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday in front of District Judge Jessica Brewbaker in Carlisle.

More Charges In Police Corruption Case

More charges for Castro in police corruption case
February 3, 2011

More charges have been filed against the former captain of Philadelphia's 24th Pollice District. Carlo Daniel Castro faces 120 years in prison and $2.5 million in fines. A superseding indictment issued today by the U.S. Attorney's office charges Castro with offenses related to his initial corruption charges. Originally charged with hiring a debt collector to use force and violence, Castro now is accused of assisting two other defendants in their debt collections. The collector turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.

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Police Inspector Charged With Extortion
Sources: FBI Took Inspector Into Custody Friday

MYFOXPHILLY.COM

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Federal prosecutors announced charges Friday against a Philadelphia police inspector, Carlo Daniel Castro, saying he has been involved in an extortion and bribery scheme. "Danny" Castro works in the traffic division and is known as a rising star in the department. He was there when officers arrested the last of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski's three killers, Eric Floyd. Sources told Fox 29 News the FBI took Castro into custody Friday morning. According to the indictment, Castro invested $90,000 in real estate and when it failed to yield any financial result, he allegedly sought help from a witness cooperating with the FBI to get money back. The document says Castro wanted $150,000 back, instructed the "collector" to use threats of violence and violence, and he was willing to pay a 10 percent fee.

According to a U.S. Attorney's Office news release, "Castro specifically instructed the (cooperating witness) to deal directly with the collector as Castro's representative, and not to disclose his position within the Philadelphia Police Department, telling the CW 'I can't get myself in trouble. I want to be Police Commissioner.'" Prosecutors allege that Castro ultimately accepted three payments totaling more than $21,000, all of which the cooperating witness told them was money "collected" from the former business partner by way of threatening violence or actually using violence. Authorities said Castro, during a subsequent meeting with FBI agents, made several material false statements concerning his efforts to collect the debt. The indictment further alleges that, as part of a bribery scheme, Castro accepted a free 42-inch LCD television from the witness and, in return, conducted a check of a license plate on someone who owed the witness money in law enforcement databases. Castro had a court appearance scheduled for Friday afternoon, but it was not immediately clear if he had an attorney. U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said in the news release, "Police officers committing crimes have a corrosive impact on our system of justice. Along with our law enforcement partners -- in this case, the FBI and the Philadelphia Police Deaprtment -- we will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute police corruption." If convicted, Castro faces a maximum possible sentence of 80 years imprisonment, a $2 million fine, three years of supervised release, and an $800 special assessment, authorities said. The announcement, made Friday, is the latest in an embarrassing string of in-house arrests in recent months. Other cases have included two officers who allegedly robbed a supposed drug dealer of 20 pounds of marijuana and $3,000 cash, and a longtime officer who allegedly stole $825 from a bar where an officer was slain four years ago.

New York Cop Charged With Assault and False Arrest

Yonkers cop charged with assault, false arrest

The Journal News by Rebecca Baker - February 2, 2011

YONKERS, NY — A city police officer is accused of assaulting two people in a bar while on duty last year, then falsely arresting one of them to cover up his actions. Officer Raul Ramirez, 31, surrendered Tuesday to the Yonkers Internal Affairs division, which investigated the case. He had been on modified duty for weeks. He was arraigned in Westchester County Court and pleaded not guilty to all charges, which include felony counts of assault, filing a false instrument and falsifying business records. He is also charged with misdemeanor counts of writing a false statement and official misconduct. Ramirez's gun and badge were taken away after he surrendered. He was released without bail. "We recognize that these are serious charges," said his attorney, Andrew Quinn. "We are not aware of the specific details of the allegations. Until we are, I can't comment further." Ramirez was assigned to the Third Precinct and was working the midnight shift on April 12 when he got a call from his brother at 3:48 a.m. asking him to come to Las Palmas Bar at 59 Yonkers Ave., authorities said. He was not sent there by a police dispatcher.

After arriving, Ramirez allegedly attacked two people in the bar and filed criminal charges against one of them, according to the county District Attorney's Office. Police learned of the incident after a complaint was filed with the District Attorney's Office. Detective Sgt. Patrick McCormack said once the department was notified, it immediately launched an investigation. "We police ourselves on this one," he said. Police Commissioner Edmund Hartnett said the charges against Ramirez were "troubling." "This was a single act by this guy who thought he was going to settle a score for his brother," Hartnett said. "It is really aberrant behavior." Ramirez was in a marked cruiser with a partner that night, Hartnett said. His partner, whose name was not released, is the subject of an Internal Affairs probe. Other officers eventually arrived at the bar, but there is no indication any were involved in any misconduct, Harnett said. Ramirez was suspended for 60 days, the maximum allowed under the police contract. He was hired by Yonkers on Jan. 3, 2008, after serving less than six months with the New York City Police Department. His annual salary is $78,257. He faces up to seven years in prison on the assault charges and possible termination from the department. A pre-trial hearing is set for Feb. 16. "Officer Ramirez betrayed the trust of the citizens of Yonkers and the Yonkers Police Department by putting himself and his own interests above the law," District Attorney Janet DiFiore said in a statement. "Abuse of the public trust is a serious breach, and my office will continue to prosecute and convict any public servant who uses their position for personal gain." Mayor Phil Amicone praised DiFiore's office and the Internal Affairs Unit for their work on the case. "The people of Yonkers should be reassured that if these types of abuses do occur, as in this case, we will find those responsible and hold them accountable," he said in a statement. Ramirez was suspended for 60 days, the maximum allowed under the police contract. He was hired by Yonkers on Jan. 3, 2008, after serving less than six months with the New York City Police Department. His annual salary is $78,257. He faces up to seven years in prison on the assault charges and possible termination from the department. A pre-trial hearing is set for Feb. 16. "Officer Ramirez betrayed the trust of the citizens of Yonkers and the Yonkers Police Department by putting himself and his own interests above the law," District Attorney Janet DiFiore said in a statement. "Abuse of the public trust is a serious breach, and my office will continue to prosecute and convict any public servant who uses their position for personal gain." Mayor Phil Amicone praised DiFiore's office and the Internal Affairs Unit for their work on the case. "The people of Yonkers should be reassured that if these types of abuses do occur, as in this case, we will find those responsible and hold them accountable," he said in a statement. Staff writer Will David contributed to this report.

Judge dismisses case against former officer

Judge dismisses case against former officer

The Tulsa World by Omer Gillham - February 1, 2011

A judge dismissed a misdemeanor assault and battery charge against a former police officer Monday because a key witness in his case failed to appear in court, records show. Eric J. Hill, 32, was charged Sept. 14 in Tulsa County District Court with one misdemeanor count of domestic assault and battery, records show. Hill also is expected to be a federal witness in a police corruption probe. The assault charge was filed by the Rogers County District Attorney's Office after the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office recused itself from the case. The victim, Lindsay Johnson, is a former victims advocate for the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office's Victim-Witness Center. Tulsa County Special District Judge Dawn Moody dismissed Hill's case Friday, citing the failure of a witness to appear, records show. Hill's attorney, Patrick Adams, said Johnson was not interested in being a witness. "From my understanding, the witness wanted no part of the prosecution of Eric Hill," Adams said. "Mr. Hill has maintained his innocence from the start, and he was ready for trial. He is working and moving on with his life." The charge against Hill states that on July 18, he allegedly struck Johnson, whom he had been dating, pulled her into a car by her hair, slammed her head into the dashboard several times and shoved her to the ground. If convicted, Hill could have faced a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. The Tulsa Police Department fired Hill on Aug. 18 after an internal investigation revealed that he admitted during a federal investigation to engaging in criminal activity while on duty, records show. Hill was placed on paid leave June 22 after his name surfaced in a federal grand jury investigation into police corruption. Hill, who joined the Police Department in July 2005, has not been charged in the federal investigation. With prosecutorial immunity, Hill is expected to be a federal witness in a police corruption investigation in which six former and current police officers have been charged and as a result of which 31 people have been freed from prison, had felony cases dismissed or charges reduced or granted a new trial.