Search Results for: node/It takes a good prosecutor to convict a guilty man

SSCC #380 & #381 – Tacoma

KIRO TV’s investigative unit has discovered Tacoma police used force to arrest and handcuff an innocent deaf woman after she called 911 for their help.

Instead of an apology, she ended up bloody and in jail for  early three days without an interpreter before a prosecutor declined to press charges.  

This whole incident is all sorts of fail and can easily be broken down as an officer was quick to resort to his taser without using his brain.  Then after screwing the pooch on that front they doubled down on stupid.

 State law on the employment of ASL interpreters for deaf suspects is clear. 

RCW 2.42.120 (4)requires law enforcement agencies conducting an investigation to “appoint and pay for a qualified interpreter throughout the investigation.”

RCW 2.42.120 (5) states “If a hearing impaired person is arrested for an alleged violation of a criminal law, the arresting officer or the officer’s supervisor shall, at the earliest possible time, procure and arrange payment for a qualified interpreter for any notification of rights, warning, interrogation, or taking of a statement. No employee of the law enforcement agency who has responsibilities other than interpreting may be appointed as a qualified interpreter.”

Basically these officers played the game of CYA and ended up violating more laws because of it.  There’s a reason the prosecutor didn’t file charges, no jury in the world would convict.  Further she probably saw the civil suit writing on the wall.  This ends up in the full count because of the following:

White said despite her repeated requests to police for a certified ASL interpreter, one was never provided.

The story is complex and the officers at the scene clearly had a different point of view.  KIRO 7 Investigators have tried to get their explanation for six weeks and while we’ve talked to Tacoma Police on the phone they would not respond to the allegations.  We’ve also sent them emails and left several messages. 

If Tacoma police want to explain their side of the story, we’ll have a follow-up. 

There is no doubt that the Tacoma Police will not be punishing the officers involved and will do nothing to mediate or resolve the situation they have created.  This is a textbook case of the state sponsoring its own criminals.

State Sponsored Criminal #380: Ryan Koskovich

#381: Michael Young

Because you immediately jump to the taser when you know there is a deaf woman involved.  Further, after finding out you tasered an innocent, you charge her with a crime and hold her against the law without an interpreter or informing your supervisor she’s deaf.  Because the police don’t have to follow the law, they are the law.

SSCC #13–TSA Takes Teens $100 Gift

Now it seems that TSA agents have found a more subtle score: stealing $100 that was a gift to a 16-year-old honor student from his grandmother. The boy’s mother tells the Post that the theft was "disgusting and a violation of my son’s trust."

The TSA has not terminated this individual involved as it is still under investigation.  Despite the claims of zero tolerance, I doubt anything is going to come from this as how can they prove he swiped 100 bucks.  It’s not as if he swiped 20 grand worth of jewelry and pawned it.

A Security Theater has proven worthless and nothing more than a den for thieves and perverts.

State Sponsored Criminal Count: 13

Because nothing says free like representatives of the state stealing a kids lunch money gift from his grandmother.  I mean where else have we ever seen this kind bullying before?

SSCC #253–Milwaukee

By far this is the worst instance I have seen.  The story is down right disturbing.

A young woman in Milwaukee called the cops when someone threw a brick through her window. One of the cops who came to help raped her.

As if that alone wasn’t bad enough.

She took her story to the Milwaukee District Attorney’s office. A prosecutor subsequently wrote, “While I did find the victim’s version of events credible, I did not believe that her testimony would be strong enough to successfully prosecute Officer Cates.”

Eventually the victim got the feds involved.  The federal prosecutor immediately found enough to prosecute. 

As the case headed for trial, Gina Barton of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Cates had been investigated for illegal behavior on five previous occasions, three of them involving sexual misconduct. Two of those were with prisoners. The third was with a 16 year-old and that case had been referred to the Milwaukee district attorney’s office, which declined to prosecute. The priors came as no surprise to the 19-year-old who was now accusing him of raping her while he somehow remained employed as a cop.

Especially since there was a history with this officer as well.  Except that history couldn’t be used in the trial.  This is by no means hearsay or dragging a good man’s name through the gutter because a jury of his peers convicted him. 

A jury on Wednesday found fired Milwaukee police officer Ladmarald Cates guilty of violating a woman’s civil rights by raping her after he responded to her 911 call in July 2010.

Anything less than life in prison is too dang short.  This predator went into law enforcement to seek out victims.  Local law enforcement protected him and did their best to stop victims from pursuing action against this monster.  I’m not one to wish ill or harm to others, but that’s one individual I wouldn’t mind seeing get some serious special treatment in the shower.

State Sponsored Criminal Count 253:  Lamarald Cates

Because when a woman calls for help what’s she’s really doing is asking you to rape her, at least according to Milwaukee PD.

h/t Uncle, and Jennifer says something about it here.

*I may take a few days off the criminal count.  This one made me unbelievably angry, upset, and even physically ill.  That such a monster like that could 1) serve, 2) be protected by his fellow officers, and 3) be protected by the local prosecutorial authorities is down right sickening.  Every last one of them shares responsibility.

SSCC #457 – Pinellas Park

Try to stop the flames of a fire from reaching your house because the fire department still hasn’t arrived, the police will tase you for it.

But after a few minutes passed without firefighters arriving, a frustrated Jensen stepped forward and leaned down to grab the skinny gray garden hose once again.

That’s when he heard the order.

“Hit ’em! Take him down! Tase him!”

The claim is that by attempting to defend his house from the fire he was endangering the officers and supposedly himself.

Well if the officers don’t want to get dirty, stay the hell back.  Second there was 10 feet between the fire and his house, plenty of room to maneuver.  My personal favorite though is this claim by the department.

Pinellas Park Capt. Sanfield Forseth told the Tampa Bay Times authorities could have even charged Jensen with obstruction, but decided against it.

Uhh, listen sparky, I can tell you exactly why the prosecutor, not your deputies, refused to press charges.  No jury in the world would convict or sympathize because what he was doing does not fit the legal definition of obstruction.  Tell me, how was he interfering with officers of the court?  Was he attempting to lie, give false information, or otherwise inhibit the investigation of a crime?

At best you could attempt to hold him for contempt of cop except honestly your officers didn’t have authority there either.  Personally if this guy is married, his wife should have grabbed the AR and shot every last one of them.  Seriously, that was uncalled for and unnecessary.

Personally had I been an officer there I would have helped keep the fire from his house, since if it spreads fighting it gets a lot worse.  This is what happens when you create monkeys who only know how to pull a trigger and are trained not to think.

What really pisses me off:

He said that when they arrived on the scene, they told him to back off and let insurance take care of it. He did for a few minutes but grew impatient and irate. He picked up the hose again because he thought firefighters weren’t getting there soon enough.

Hey assholes, some things are irreplaceable and there’s still this thing called a deductible   But it’s not your money right?

State Sponsored Criminal #457: Officer John Doe

Because a man attempting to prevent loosing his house to fire is an immediate threat to the public and requires the use of force to a level of which involves incapacitating him and could still be lethal.*

*It’s less lethal, not non-lethal there idiots.

h/t Uncle

When One Fight Ends…

When one fight ends another one is surely to follow.  HB 1016, the suppressor bill, was finally signed into law yesterday.  Under the table however within the past couple days, one of only 4 people who didn’t support the bill has introduced new legislation.

Representative Ross Hunter, who amazingly enough is the chair of the Ways and Means committee, has introduced legislation to repeal one of the most beneficial self-defense laws Washington State has.  He want’s to repeal RCW 9A.16.110, which allows for reimbursement of legal defense costs when a person is acquitted of a crime on the basis of self-defense.

Why he is attacking this law specifically is unclear, however it most likely pertains to attempting to balance the budget.  This however is not how one goes about balancing the budget.  One does not throw law abiding citizens who have been wrongly brought before the bar because of an act of self defense to be bankrupted by the state.  They were a victim in the crime committed against them or their family and then they are further victimized by overzealous prosecutors who then give bonuses for convictions

The prosecutor has discretion regarding whether to bring a case before the bar, as such if you want to save the state money, make him responsible for the reimbursement of legal costs.  If someone is found not guilty by reason of self-defense, the prosecutors office is then responsible for paying the legal fees.  Employees in the office are not paid until the reimbursement is settled.  If the office is no longer able to prosecute cases so be it.  Prosecuting someone for defending themselves, family, or another innocent should seriously hurt.  Making the prosecutor liable for the costs would certainly help.  This will actually cut costs doubly since prosecutors wont be paying for court fees either in cases that should never appear before the bar.

Please contact the members of the House Ways and Means Committee and make your voice heard.  This is completely unacceptable and does nothing more than allow our law abiding citizens to be victimized twice.  Once by the criminal and again by the state.

Update: It appears that it may have been already pulled from the agenda for tomorrow. I’m going with trust but verify. I am writing an email to my rep who’s on the committee to verify. I will keep you all posted.

Update 2:I just got an email from Joe Schmick:

The bill has been pulled from the agenda. We will have to wait and see if it indeed stays off the agenda for the remainder of the week.

I have received numerous calls and emails on this topic over the last few days. Not one person has contacted me in support of the bill. I am hearing loud and clear to oppose the bill.

Due to the concern of it appearing on the agenda again, contact your reps if you have not already.

SSCC #530–Brooklyn

MICHAEL JACCARINO, THE BOOZY BROOKLYN PROSECUTOR who nearly killed an FDNY EMT last November was sentenced to 10 grueling days of community service yesterday (Wednesday) after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor reckless assault charge for assaulting EMT Theresa Soler in the back of an ambulance while she was attempting to treat him.  At a pre-settled plea bargaining agreement, the sentencing hearing yesterday was perfunctory as the judge ordered Jaccarino to perform the community service, complete an alcohol program and submit a dna sample.

Ambulance Driver puts it better than I possibly could.

State Sponsored Criminal #530: Michael Jaccarino

Because when you’re a member of the state and a prosecutor, you can do whatever the hell you want to whoever the hell you want and overall, no one is really going to stop you.*

*No wonder the legislators and law-enforcement of New York want to disarm it’s citizens.

ATF and Bureaucracy

Anyone who is familiar with firearms and the bureaucracy associated with them also recognize the ATF as the bunch of bastards that have thrown some into jail because of putting a ‘Y’ instead of “Yes” on their 4473s.

Well in an article released by the DOJ yesterday it was found that they themselves cannot even adhere to their own bureaucracy.

Not only did they lose a total of 418 laptops over a 59 month period, but a total of 76 weapons were lost as well. How in the hell do you LOSE a weapon. Then again when it appears that the weapon may in fact prove someone’s innocence it’s probably easier for them to disappear the weapon and then make up the results.

“274 ATF laptops were identified as missing during periodic inventories. These losses represent approximately 66 percent of all lost, stolen, or missing ATF computers… The primary reason was that managers believed the computers were returned to the supplier, exchanged for newer models, or donated to schools after becoming obsolete. However, managers could not demonstrate that this had occurred, because they could not produce the required documentation for such returns, exchanges, or donations.”

Also:

Of the 76 weapons, 35 were reported stolen, 19 lost and 12 missing from inventories, investigators found. Of the 418 missing laptops, 50 were stolen, 8 lost and 274 could not be found during inventory. Another 86 laptops were unaccounted for because ATF had either destroyed or lost documents showing where they were, the audit concluded.

Two weapons reported stolen were used to commit crimes. In one instance, a gun was stolen from an ATF car parked outside the agent’s home and later used to shoot through the window of another residence, the audit found. In the other, a stolen ATF gun was taken from a burglary suspect.

Additionally, ATF employees did not report 13 of the 76 lost weapons, or 365 of the 418 missing laptops, to internal affairs as required. ATF officials also did not report much of the lost equipment to the Justice Department.

So let me get this straight, they will prosecute and convict someone over placing a ‘Y’ instead of “Yes” but when it comes to following their own procedures they’re above the law. If there was ever any evidence that an agency is too high on its own power, this definitely takes the cake. Not to mention that Mayor Bloomberg was going after gun stores for selling weapons used in crimes. The ATF seemed to have facilitated it, but he seems to love them. Oh that’s right bigots usually see eye to eye, and another bigot could do no wrong!

Radio, Radio, and More Radio

Saturday ended up considerably busier than expected.  Initially I had just planned to help with the ARES exercise, but it ended up they were making a trip up to the Kamiak radio site.  I went along to help since I hadn’t seen the radio site.

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That’s the tower with the KABARA Repeater Antennas, as well as the packet system we were up there to work on.  Next to it is that tower is KWSU.

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Inside the radio shack was some impressive equipment for the KABARA system, more specifically a pair of duplexers for the 6-meter repeater.

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After a quick tour we then got down to why were were there.  Someone was going to have to climb the tower for recon for an upcoming antenna installation.

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He wanted proof that he climbed the tower.  I have other pictures while he was at the top, none however provide proof that it was actually him climbing.

It appears the recon was successful, the hardline we were planning on using is currently at the location where we are planning on installing the antenna.  We just need to coordinate with some of the other antennas owners when we go to actually install it.

The antenna is going to be hooked into this.

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Which is the packet node on top of Kamiak, the recon was because the owner is planning on adding a 70cm link if I remember correctly.  It was pointed out to me though how wind can be a royal bitch up on the tower.

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The wind was light that day, the antenna is either caught in the tower, or permanently deformed from wind and ice loading.  That particular antenna however was no longer in use.

After that we headed back down the hill with one quick stop right after we got out of the trees so I could do this today.

Kamiak_Butte_Panoramic_thumb

After that K7LL helped me test an mobile amp I have.  It works, but nowhere near as effective as it should be.  It is now sitting on my workbench awaiting disassembly.  An upshot a coworker and fellow ham drove by and I paid him a visit.  I must say his ham shack is by no means a shack, and is actually quite nice.  He actually had a spare 2m/70cm base and it’s now sitting on my desk.  He also has a spare HF rig but it needs some repair work.  Electrolytic capacitors don’t last for ever.

From there I went and picked up a sign for the lodge.  The sign was vandalized and I picked it up to take it home to attempt to clean it.  Attempt one removed some of the paint but next on the list is acetone.  From there I headed over the Moscow to W7UQ to kill some time before going over to a friends house for dinner and helping him with some homework.

While sitting at W7UQ one of the members showed up and I then preceded to spend the next 2 hours discussing antenna design, radiation patterns, and methods to solve some issues they are having with their current project.  Including moving from just telemetry based information to adding command and control.  I gave him my contact information so they can come to me with questions and help with the project.

Lastly I had dinner over with some friends.  I finally headed out from their place at 0130 after helping him with a programming assignment.  Overall it was a busy, educational, and productive day.