Courts

From traffic court to the 9th Circuit, and everything in between.

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November 16, 2011 | 11:53 AM | By

Protests impacting Oakland Police work, may impact federal oversight

Ali Winston

A protester reminds Oakland Police of the department's federal oversight on November 14, 2011

Occupy Oakland made a a peaceful return to Frank Ogawa Plaza last night following a march by several hundred from the Public Library on 14th and Madison to City Hall. Despite holding a packed General Assembly in the amphitheater, dozens of Oakland Police positioned throughout the plaza and the surrounding streets deterred any attempts to set up tents or permanently retake the plaza.

Dealing with Occupy Oakland over the past month and a half has been a costly affair for OPD. Aside from the $2.4 million in police overtime and mutual aid payments, the hundreds of excessive force complaints following the use of tear gas and less-lethal projectiles against demonstrators on October 25th and a lawsuit alleging violations of crowd control policy, the protests are draining manpower from street patrols. And Oakland’s violent year shows no sign of letting up. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Courts, Judge Thelton Henderson, murder rate, Negotiated Settlement Agreement, Oakland, Oakland Police Department
November 15, 2011 | 4:47 PM | By

Financial fraud prosecutions continue to decline

Either financial fraud is less common than it was five, ten, and twenty years ago, or it’s dropped in importance on the long list of priorities for federal prosecutors. That’s according to a report released this week by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. According to federal data, criminal prosecutions for financial fraud continue to drop, despite the mortgage and financial crises of the past several years. According to the report, “ during the first eleven months of FY 2011 the government reported 1,251 new prosecutions were filed. If this activity continues at the same pace, the annual total of prosecutions will be 1,365 for this fiscal year, down 28.6 percent from their numbers of just five years ago and less than half the level prevalent a decade ago.”

FILED UNDER: Courts, White Collar Crime
November 14, 2011 | 4:00 PM | By

Oakland Police sued for violating crowd control policies – again

Ali Winston

A tear gas canister in the middle of 14th and Broadway

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the National Lawyers’ Guild filed a federal civil rights suit against the Oakland Police Department today alleging repeated violations of OPD’s own crowd control policies and asking for an emergency temporary restraining order against Oakland Police.

District Court Judge Richard Seeborg has issued an order requiring the city of Oakland to respond to the lawsuit by 5 PM tomorrow.

The suit was filed on behalf of five plaintiffs, including Scott Campbell, a videographer who was shot with a less-lethal projectile while filming a police line during civil disturbances following the November 2nd general strike.

“I was filming police activity at Occupy Oakland because police should be accountable,” said Campbell. “Now I’m worried about my safety from police violence and about retaliation because I’ve been outspoken.”

The lawsuit, which can be viewed after the jump, alleges that OPD and agencies under their control during mutual aid callouts used indiscriminate and excessive force by targeting demonstrators with flash bang grenades, tear gas and less lethal projectiles on the nights of October 25th and November 2nd. It also charges OPD with intentionally targeting videographers like Campbell with less-lethal projectiles. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Courts, ACLU of Northern California, crowd control, mutual aid, Oakland, Oakland Police Department, Occupy Oakland
October 28, 2011 | 1:31 PM | By

Q&A: Candidates for district attorney, Part V

One of the more important and most overlooked races going on in San Francisco right now is the campaign to be the city’s next district attorney. When Kamala Harris left the post for state office last year, outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed then-Police Chief George Gascon to take her place. Now, Gascon is running for a full four-year term, but faces stiff competition from four other candidates. Previously, we spoke with Bill Fazio, David Onek, Sharmin Bock and George Gascon. Today, in our final interview, we speak with Vu Trinh, a longtime public defender and current member of the Board of Legal Specialization.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Courts
October 20, 2011 | 12:11 PM | By

Oakland settles for $1.7 with family of man fatally beaten by OPD, attorneys call for federal probe

Henderson Images

On Tuesday evening, the Oakland City Council voted unanimously to pay $1.7 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by relatives of a man who died from injuries inflicted by several plainclothes police over a decade ago.

Jerry Amaro, 35, was arrested on March 23, 2000 for trying to buy drugs from a team of undercover Oakland Police officers AT 73rd Avenue and Holly Street in East Oakland. According to the civil complaint filed by Amaro’s family, Amaro was beaten and kicked by a group of OPD officers, resulting in five broken ribs and a punctured left lung. Although medical records indicate Amaro repeatedly complained of pain while being held at North County Jail, he did not receive medical treatment. The 35-year-old, who did not have medical insurance, died on April 21, 2000 from pneumonia caused by his fractured ribs.

Despite of the settlement, the family’s attorneys do not believe justice will be served until Northern California U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag investigates what they allege is a department-wide cover-up of Amaro’s death that involves several officers, including a former head of the Internal Affairs Division, Captain Edward Poulson. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Courts, in-custody death, Jerry Amaro, Oakland, Oakland Police Department
October 7, 2011 | 9:04 AM | By

The Blotter: Friday, October 7th

Amayzun

Without sentencing reform, many county jails will likely face overcrowding problems.

Former L.A. County Sheriff Deputy claims supervisor forced him to beat mentally ill detainee. Former honor recruit’s allegations come on top of federal investigation into beatings at L.A. jails. (Los Angeles Times)

Man arrested after robbing, shooting woman in East Oakland. Suspect chased woman through traffic in the Laurel neighborhood; woman suffered non-life threatening wounds. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Calif. U.S. Attorneys are cracking down on marijuana dispensaries, growers. New tactics target property owners leasing to growers or dispensaries, advocates fear for industry’s future. (CA Watch)

Occupy Sacramento protesters rally today despite 19 arrests on Thursday. Capitol demonstration is the latest of dozens of similar protests around California – Occupy Oakland to begin on Monday. (Sacramento Bee)

32 found murdered in Veracruz as Mexico’s drug war rages on. Discovery comes only two weeks after 35 bodies were dumped on a freeway during rush hour in the same city. (The Guardian)

FILED UNDER: Courts
September 30, 2011 | 10:00 AM | By

The Blotter: Friday, September 30

Oaklanders facing gang injunctions Paint mural of their stories. (Colorlines)

New book on Mexican Drug War Shows why the media usually gets it wrong. (Riverfront Times)

Los Angeles is really, really unhappy About prison realignment. (NPR)

What is a rape? After years of criticism, FBI may finally change its definition. (The Crime Report)

Judge hears prison privatization case In Florida, where 29 prisons are slated to go private. (Associated Press)

Shootout with police, suspect gets away Manhunt for suspect in Fort Bragg councilman murder continues. (Oakland Tribune)

 

FILED UNDER: Courts
September 22, 2011 | 6:05 PM | By

Oakland still digging itself out of eight-year-old police corruption scandal

Henderson Images

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan got her first look up close at the Oakland Police Department’s long-running federal oversight, as U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson yet again criticized OPD for its failure to fully comply with court-mandated reforms. In 2003, OPD entered into a consent decree with attorneys John Burris and Jim Chanin, who represented over one hundred plaintiffs alleging civil rights abuse by four corrupt West Oakland officers known as the Riders.

The Negotiated Settlement Agreement, as it is known, has been extended twice since it was originally set to expire in 2008. In his remarks to the court this morning, Judge Henderson blamed the department for an “attitude of resistance” to the NSA and said that OPD’s standards and practices lag behind those of modern police departments.

“Despite eight years of monitoring, during the first two years absolutely nothing was done,” Judge Henderson said, adding that the systemic problems the NSA was designed to address have yet to be resolved.

“There is going to be ramped-up participation of this court,” Henderson said. The Judge did not specify what form that intervention would take: the court already receives multiple reports per month from the Independent Monitoring Team that audits OPD’s actions. In the past, Judge Henderson has threatened contempt of court proceedings and federal receivership for OPD. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Courts, Chief Anthony Batts, Judge Thelton Henderson, Mayor Jean Quan, Negotiated Settlement Agreement, Oakland, Oakland Police Department