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Two Wrongly Imprisoned Settle For $2 Million (Version In 'The Oregonian')
The Oregonian
letters to editor:
letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Web: http://www.oregonlive.com/
05-08-98
2 wrongly imprisoned settle for $2 million
* The city of Springfield and police admit no wrongdoing in the mistaken
murder convictions
By Ashbel S. Green
and Janet Filips
for The Oregonian
Two men who spent about eight years in prison for a murder they did not
commit have settled a lawsuit against the city of Springfield and two police
officers for $2 million.
Eric A. Proctor, 33, and Christopher B. Boots, 34, said Thursday that they
finally feel vindicated after serving time for the 1983 execution-style
killing of Raymond Oliver, a Springfield convenience store clerk.
"No amount of money can ever give us back what we lost," Proctor and Boots
said in a statement. "We have always maintained our complete innocence, and
now that the defendants have settled with us, we can really try to start our
lives over again. We want this nightmare for ourselves and our families to
be over with forever."
As part of the settlement, the city and the officers named in the suit
admitted no wrongdoing.
Greg Shaver, president of the Springfield City Council, said the council
continues to have confidence in the police department. "I base that on the
quality of the individuals that we have hired, the procedures that we use
and the integrity and record of our force," he said.
The suit was set to go to trial Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Eugene.
Separate juries convicted Proctor in 1986 and Boots in 1987 and sentenced
them to life in prison for Oliver's murder. But in 1994, an informant told
police that Ricky Kuppenswas the killer.
A new investigation found the gun that was used to kill Oliver, and police
used informants to tape Kuppens admitting he pulled the trigger.
But before police could arrest him, Kuppens committed suicide.
Police discovered that a mystery fingerprint on tape used to bind Oliver
matched Kuppens'. Prison officials released Proctor and Boots in November
1994, and a few months later, a judge dismissed the charges.
A year later, Proctor and Boots filed a $42 million federal civil rights
lawsuit. The suit named the police department and officers Jerry Smith and
Donald Bond, accusing them of pressuring witnesses to lie and hiding
evidence that would have helped them.
The lawsuit also named a state criminologist, the state and the Lane County
district attorney, but a judge later removed them as defendants.
Boots and Proctor went to the Springfield 7-Eleven on June 7, 1983 -- the
night of the murder -- but left after finding no one in the store. After
dropping off Proctor at home, however, Boots returned to the store and
discovered Oliver's body in the walk-in cooler.
Oliver's hands were bound by tape, and he'd been shot three times in the
head with a .22-caliber handgun.
Boots called 9-1-1, but he and Proctor quickly became suspects. Police
arrested them a few weeks later but released them after J. Pat Horton, then
Lane County district attorney, decided evidence was not sufficient to
convict them.
In 1984, Boots filed a lawsuit for false arrest. This lawsuit was not the
same suit that led to the settlement.
EldenM. Rosenthal, one of their attorneys, said the prosecution of Boots and
Proctor was in retaliation.
"We alleged that filing that lawsuit caused the police to reinvigorate that
investigation, and we claim that it in fact led them to suborn perjury,"
Rosenthal said.
DouglassHarcleroad, Horton's successor, took up the case, and in 1986, a
Lane County grand jury indicted Boots and Proctor.
Rosenthal said that at least two of the six witnesses in the criminal trials
subsequently said under oath that the police had pressured them into
implicating Proctor and Boots.
Also, DNA testing that was not available at the time of the murder later
supported Boots' claim that he was innocent, Rosenthal said.
"What this case should teach everyone is that horrible mistakes can happen
in the criminal justice system unless everyone -- the police, the
prosecutor, the judge and the jury -- do their jobs well," Rosenthal said in
a statement. "We should be thankful we live in a country where mistakes can
be eventually undone, and that we have a legal system that allows persons
who are wronged to fight back and receive fair compensation for their injuries."
One of the two police officers, Smith, is now a captain with the Springfield
Police Department. Bond left "years ago," for reasons unrelated to the Boots
and Proctor case, said Shaver, who continued to defend the city's actions.
"Two separate juries convicted them, based on the evidence that was
available and presented, and with the competent defense of the two
suspects," he said.
Claudia Page, Boots' mother, said no amount of money could compensate for
what her son and Proctor went through. "It's been 16 years in hell," she
said. "I don't want any mother to see her son come to his father's funeral
in chains. I never want to see two boys come out of prison without
counseling. My husband died, but thank God I lived long enough to see Chris
out. Every day I had to say a prayer and wonder if I'd see the truth."
Proctor, who has been a sheetrock worker in Portland since his release,
declined to comment Thursday. Boots, who until recently worked in a sawmill
in Cottage Grove, thanked one of his attorneys.
Peter Farrell of The Oregonian staff contributed to this report.
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Boston Police Officer And Three Associates Indicted On Charges
Of Participating In Armed Home Invasions And Witness Tampering
('Business Wire' Version)
Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 09:38:43 -0300
From: Keith Alan
To: "mattalk@islandnet.com"
Subject: Boston Police Officer Indicted On Charges
Boston Police Officer and Three Associates
Indicted On Charges of Participating in
Armed Home Invasions and Witness
Tampering
May 8, 1998
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE) via NewsEdge
Corporation -- A Police Officer in the Boston
Police Department was indicted today for
participating in three armed home invasions
in the Boston area and for attempting to
tamper with two witnesses. Three others
who allegedly were involved with him in
armed home invasions were also charged.
United States Attorney Donald K. Stern,
Barry W. Mawn, Special Agent In Charge of
the Boston Office of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and Commissioner Paul Evans
of the Boston Police Department announced
that an Indictment was returned today
charging ADALBERTO BONILLA, also known
as "Eddie", 35, of 733 American Legion
Highway, Roslindale, Massachusetts, with
one count of conspiracy to interfere with
interstate commerce by robbery, one count
of conspiracy to possess with intent to
distribute cocaine, two counts of using and
carrying a firearm during and in relation to a
crime of violence and a drug trafficking
crime, and two counts of witness tampering.
BONILLA has been a member of the Boston
Police Department since November 27, 1989.
The Indictment also charges the following
defendants:
ANGELO PERKINS, 26, of 48 Elm Hill Avenue,
Dorchester, Massachusetts, with one count
of conspiracy to interfere with interstate
commerce by robbery, one count of
conspiracy to possess with intent to
distribute cocaine and three counts of using
and carrying a firearm during and in relation
to a crime of violence and a drug trafficking
crime;
RAYMOND L. BARTON, 20, of 1355 Clinton
Street, Columbus, Ohio, with one count of
conspiracy to interfere with interstate
commerce by robbery, one count of
conspiracy to possess with intent to
distribute cocaine and three counts of using
and carrying a firearm during and in relation
to a crime of violence and a drug trafficking
crime; and
SHUNDALE A. WILSON, 22, of 94 Woodhaven
Street, Apt. H., Mattapan, Massachusetts,
with one count of conspiracy to interfere
with interstate commerce by robbery, one
count of conspiracy to possess with intent
to distribute cocaine and one count of using
and carrying a firearm during and in relation
to a crime of violence and a drug trafficking
crime.
The indictment states that BONILLA
provided information to PERKINS, BARTON,
WILSON and others that a source or sources
of information informed him of locations
where drugs and drug money could be
found. Thereafter, BONILLA conspired with
PERKINS, BARTON, WILSON and others to
commit armed home invasions at those
locations and split the proceeds of the
robberies among themselves. On March 13,
1998, PERKINS and BARTON forced their way
into 62 Elm Hill Avenue, Dorchester,
Massachusetts brandishing a .380 caliber
semi-automatic pistol, and carrying
handcuffs and mace. On March 16, 1998,
PERKINS and BARTON forced their way into
12 Sonoma Street, Dorchester,
Massachusetts brandishing firearms and
yelling "police" and "FBI ". On March 18,
1998, PERKINS, BARTON and WILSON forced
their way into 18 Monson Street, Mattapan,
Massachusetts brandishing firearms and
carrying handcuffs.
The indictment further charges that after
BONILLA became aware of the federal grand
jury investigation involving the armed home
invasions, he engaged in witness tampering
by telling two people to lie and misrepresent
to federal investigators their knowledge of
and involvement in the robberies.
U.S. Attorney Stern stated, "The
involvement of a member of the law
enforcement community in this scheme is
particularly reprehensible. We will prosecute
this case to the fullest extent of the law."
Commissioner Evans stated, "This indictment
began with an investigation by district
detectives in Mattapan working a series of
home invasions in mid-March. Their diligence
in bringing essential information immediately
to our Anti-Corruption Unit initiated a
full-scale joint BPD/FBI criminal investigation,
culminating in these charges in just two
months. I would like to commend the
detectives for their hard work, and the
members of the Anti-Corruption Unit and the
FBI who took a dangerous gang and a
corrupt officer off the streets."
Special Agent in Charge Mawn stated, "This
joint investigation has resulted in the
indictment of a corrupt cop. This is yet
another example of effective law
enforcement at its best."
If convicted, all four defendants face up to
20 years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine
on the conspiracy to interfere with
interstate commerce by robbery, and
between 5 and 40 years' imprisonment and a
$2 million fine on the narcotics count.
Additionally, BONILLA faces 25 years'
imprisonment consecutive to the prior
sentences if convicted of the two counts
charging him with using and carrying a
firearm during and in relation to a crime of
violence or a drug trafficking crime. PERKINS
and BARTON face 45 years' imprisonment
consecutive to the prior sentences if
convicted of the three counts charging them
with using and carrying a firearm during and
in relation to a crime of violence or a drug
trafficking crime. WILSON faces 5 years'
imprisonment consecutive to the prior
sentences if convicted of the one count
charging him with using and carrying a
firearm during and in relation to a crime of
violence or a drug trafficking crime.
BONILLA also faces up to 10 years'
imprisonment and a $250,000 fine on each of
the two witness tampering counts.
A detention hearing for each of the
defendants is scheduled for Monday, May
11, 1998, at 12:00 p.m., before U.S.
Magistrate Judge Robert B. Collings.
The case was investigated by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and by Detectives of
the Anti-Corruption Unit, Internal Affairs
Division of the Boston Police Department,
with the assistance of Mattapan District
Detectives of the Boston Police Department.
It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S.
Attorneys Brien T. O'Connor, Chief of Stern's
Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions
Unit, and Amy B. Lederer, a member of the
unit.
CONTACT: U.S. Attorney's Office | Amy
Rindskopf, (617) 223-9445
Copyright 1998, Business Wire
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Another Police Raid On A Home Yields No Drugs, But Much Trauma
('New York Times' Says A Retired Baker In Brooklyn Will Sue New York City
For $200 Million After Police Broke Down The Door Of His Family's Apartment
With Guns Drawn, Tossed A Stun Grenade Into The Front Hall
And Handcuffed Everyone, Including A Mentally Retarded 18-Year-Old Girl
Taking A Shower)
Date: Fri, 08 May 1998 23:16:54 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NY: Another Police Raid On A Home Yields No Drugs,
But Much Trauma
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: kevzeese@laser.net (kevin b. zeese)
Source: New York Times (NY)
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 08 May 1998
Author: Michael Cooper
ANOTHER POLICE RAID ON A HOME YIELDS NO DRUGS, BUT MUCH TRAUMA
NEW YORK -- Police officers broke down the door of a Brooklyn apartment,
guns drawn, tossed a stun grenade into the front hall and handcuffed
everyone inside, including a mentally retarded 18-year-old girl who was
taking a shower. They were looking for guns and drugs. They found only a
terrified family.
"I thought America was invaded, that some force, a foreign force, came to
kill us," said Basil Shorter, 62, a retired baker, describing the police
raid of his Crown Heights apartment May 1 that turned his family's morning
routine into a harrowing confrontation. "My family was helpless. I was
helpless."
Police officials insisted Thursday that the officers had done nothing wrong
and that the raid was done by the book. They said a confidential informant
told them that drugs and guns were being sold from the Shorter apartment
and from another apartment on the third floor of the building, at 1602
Union St., and that a judge authorized and signed a search warrant for
both. A gun and small amounts of drugs were found in the third floor
apartment, they said.
But the raid on the Shorter residence was the fourth in a series of
high-profile cases since late February in which search warrants either
failed to yield any contraband or were carried out at the wrong location.
As drug dealing has increasingly moved inside from the streets, narcotics
officers have come to rely more and more on the search warrants in their
efforts to stamp out the drug trade.
Critics contend that some no-knock search warrants -- in which officials
rely on the word of a confidential informant to obtain the warrant --
violate people's constitutional right against unreasonable searches and
seizures. The warrants authorize police to break down doors with battering
rams in their search for drugs.
And they worry that cases like the Shorters', in which a family is
traumatized but no drugs are found, could make the city liable to pay
millions of dollars in damages in civil suits.
"These types of aggressive actions hold the potential for enormous
recoveries from the city from future administrations," said City Councilman
Sheldon Leffler, who chairs the council's public safety committee. "It's
the next regime that will have to pay the piper. I think there is a need
for tightening up the procedures."
The Shorter family retained a lawyer, Harvey Weitz, who has won a number of
multi-million dollar jury verdicts in the past. Weitz said Thursday that he
would sue for $200 million in damages.
"Something's wrong with police procedures if families like the Shorters go
through this kind of terror," Weitz said.
According to police and the Shorters, the raid took place at 6:15 a.m.
Shorter had just bathed and his daughter Phebi, 18, was in the shower. His
wife, Cecelia, 47, a home health attendant, and younger daughter, Isis, 14,
were also in the apartment.
Suddenly, the door burst open and police threw in a stun grenade, which
exploded. Police use such a grenade to disorient the apartment's occupants.
In this case, their informant had told them that the apartment was watched
by armed guards 24 hours a day.
Mrs. Shorter said that she was worried that Phebi, who is mentally
retarded, would misunderstand orders and get shot. "I said, 'She's mentally
retarded, please don't shoot, please don't shoot,' Mrs. Shorter recalled
Thursday.
She said police covered Phebi with a robe and handcuffed her but did not
heed her warning that her daughter was menstruating and needed a sanitary
pad. She said they only gave her one after she was visibly bleeding.
At 7:30, police freed the Shorters when they did not find any drugs. They
left the apartment and asked the building superintendent to fix the door at
police expense.
"This is the fourth case in recent months that I know of," Weitz said. "And
I've never once seen or heard anything from the City of New York which says
we're going to re-evaluate how we execute these warrants."
The other recent cases include:
-- On Feb. 27 police raided the Bronx apartment of Ellis Elliot. Elliot,
who thought he was being robbed when his door was opened, took a gun and
fired a shot. Police then sprayed at least 26 bullets into the room. No one
was injured; no drugs were found. Officials later said that that they had
hit the wrong apartment.
-- That same day the police broke down the door of another Bronx apartment
only to find an 18-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant napping
with her two children. No drugs were found. Police officials later said
that they had hit the right apartment, but believed the drugs had been moved.
-- On March 18 the police raided the apartment of a family in Brooklyn only
to find a grandmother watching television with her daughter and grandson.
Police officials later acknowledged that it was the wrong apartment: the
officers had apparently misunderstood the directions from undercover
detectives.
Chief Martin O'Boyle of the Organized Crime Control Bureau defended both
police procedures and the raid on the Shorter house. He said that as drug
dealing has moved indoors, his bureau has increased the number of search
warrants it executes, to 2,900 last year.
In the past, he said, a year in which 500 warrants were executed was
considered busy. And in about 85 percent of the raids last year, O'Boyle
said, police found what they were looking for.
In some cases, the police send undercover officers to make what they call
"controlled buys" after receiving tips about drug and gun selling from
confidential informants. They did not in this case. They did follow other
procedures, though, including having a sergeant look at the apartment doors
with the informant to make sure they were the correct addresses.
Talking of the information supplied by the confidential informant in the
Shorter case, O'Boyle said: "What we believe at this point is that the
information was good. Why would our source give us bad information on one
apartment and good information on the second apartment in the same building?"
And privately, several investigators said that drug dealers sometimes
figure out ways to operate from the apartments of the most unlikely people,
sometimes without their knowledge.
Shorter, who was born in Jamaica and lived in England before he became a
U.S. citizen, wept as he recalled the sense of shame of seeing his
neighbors watch a police raid in his home. "I was so embarrassed," he said.
"Everyone passed in the hallway, looking at my house."
His daughter Phebi, who talked and sang to herself during the news
conference, looked up at her father and said, "He's crying."
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Shooting Inquiry Centers On Claim Of 'Profiling' By Troopers
('New York Times' Examines The War-On-Some-Drugs Inspired Tactic
Also Known As DWB - Driving While Black - And Its Alleged Role
In A Recent Incident On The New Jersey Turnpike, When State Troopers
Fired 11 Shots Into A Van Carrying Four Young Men
On Their Way To A College Basketball Clinic)
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 16:15:18 -0400
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NJ: NYT: Shooting Inquiry Centers on Claim of 'Profiling' by
Troopers
To: DrugSense News Service
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: kevzeese@laser.net (kevin b. zeese)
Pubdate: Fri, 08 May 1998
Source: New York Times
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Authors: John Kifner and David M. Herszenhorn
SHOOTING INQUIRY CENTERS ON CLAIM OF 'PROFILING' BY TROOPERS
The police, among themselves, call it "profiling," making a traffic stop of
someone they believe likely to be involved in the drug trade.
African-Americans give it another name, "D.W.B." -- Driving While
Black.
The practice, the subject of growing debate in courts around the country,
appears to be central to the inquiry into an incident in New Jersey last
month in which state troopers pulled over four young men on their way to a
college basketball clinic. Before the incident was over, the troopers had
fired 11 shots into the van, wounding three of the passengers, two
seriously.
For years, there have been accusations that troopers along the New Jersey
Turnpike -- where virtually everyone drives over the 55-mile-per-hour limit
-- were pulling over black or Hispanic drivers solely based on race, in hope
of making drug arrests.
Citing a "stark" disparity in which black drivers were 4.85 times as likely
as white drivers to be pulled over by troopers, a state court judge ruled in
1996 that the police had a policy of "selective enforcement" by "targeting
blacks for investigation and arrest."
The judge, Robert E. Francis of Superior Court in Gloucester County, added
that "the utter failure of the state police hierarchy to monitor and control
a crackdown program" or to "investigate the many claims of institutional
discrimination, manifests its indifference if not acceptance."
"The eradication of illegal drugs from our state is an obviously worthy
goal," Judge Francis wrote, "but not at the expense of individual rights."
Despite the court ruling, one of the troopers involved in the latest
incident, John Hogan, has made at least 19 arrests as a result of traffic
stops that defense lawyers have contended were based on racial profiling of
Hispanic or black drivers.
And the New Jersey State Police itself has a long history of accusations of
racism. Indeed, only last March 24, a Federal District Court judge ruled
that a trooper of Filipino origin had suffered racial discrimination and a
hostile work environment. The judge wrote that her decision was based on
testimony that white officers used a racial epithet to refer to a station
with a number of black troopers. She wrote that troopers used racial
profiles in traffic stops and that a trooper told a black driver in one
instance that he could avoid a ticket if he tap-danced on the side of the
road. A supervisor named in testimony as one of the Filipino trooper's main
tormentors, Sgt. Ronald Franz, is now a captain in command of Troop D, which
patrols the turnpike.
Among the issues that lawyers and law enforcement officials have raised
about the shooting, which is being investigated by a special state
prosecutor, are the following:
- Did the state troopers really stop the van because it was speeding or
simply because it contained young black and Latino men?
- With sharp discrepancies between the accounts of the troopers and those of
the young men and a witness, who is telling the truth?
- Was the use of deadly force by the troopers justified?
Around 11 o'clock on the night of April 23, two New Jersey State Police
officers, Trooper Hogan and Trooper James Kenna, stopped a 1997 Dodge
Caravan with New York plates on the turnpike in Washington Township.
In the van were four New York City men: Danny Reyes, 20; Keshon L. Moore,
22, the driver; Rayshawn Brown, 20, and Leroy Grant, 23. Mr. Reyes was shot
four times and remains hospitalized in Camden, N.J., with serious injuries
to his right arm and wounds in his torso. Mr. Grant was shot in the knee and
was released from the hospital Wednesday. Mr. Brown was grazed by a bullet.
Beyond that, nobody agrees on much of anything.
The initial press release issued the next day by Col. Carl A. Williams, the
State Police Superintendent, said that the incident began when the two
troopers "obtained a speed reading from radar" that clocked the van
"traveling at 74 m.p.h. in the turnpike's 55 m.p.h. speed zone."
It turned out, however, that the two troopers were not equipped with radar,
according to lawyers in the case. This discrepancy could be important in
light of a finding by Judge Francis in the Gloucester County case that
troopers using their own discretion stopped vastly higher percentages of
black drivers than troopers using radar, who stopped black drivers in line
with their proportion among all turnpike drivers.
The state police account said that the two troopers got out of their marked
patrol car and approached the van. Then, the police said, the van went into
reverse and began moving toward Trooper Hogan. As he tried to get out of the
way, the police said, he was struck on the right leg and fell.
Trooper Kenna, the police said, having lost sight of Trooper Hogan and
fearing that he had been hit by the van, fired at the rear of the moving
vehicle.
The van continued to back up, according to the police, striking the front of
the police car and pushing it back.
"Still moving in reverse, the Caravan crossed the southbound lanes of the
Turnpike and was struck by a 1988 Honda Accord," the police press release
said, adding that the force of the impact drove the Honda into the road
divider, causing it to burst into flames, slightly injuring the occupants.
"After striking the Honda, the Caravan continued to move forward at troopers
Kenna and Hogan," the press release said next, although this would appear to
indicate that the van had changed direction.
"The troopers fired several rounds from their service weapons at the
approaching vehicle," the police version said.
"Continuing to move forward, the vehicle crossed the travel lanes of the
roadway, finally coming to rest at the edge of the right shoulder."
But David G. Ironman, the lawyer for Mr. Reyes, said that when his
investigator examined the van and the police car, he found only minimal
damage to both rather than the dents to be expected from a forceful
collision.
Further, Mr. Ironman said, the windows shattered by gunfire were at the back
and sides of the van rather than the windshield, as might be expected from
police shooting at an oncoming vehicle.
A search of the van, Mr. Ironman said turned up, among other things, an
English paper graded "C" from Mr. Reyes's course at New York Technical
College, a volume of short stories by John Steinbeck, a Bible and the young
men's gym clothes for the clinic at North Carolina Central University, but
no drugs or other contraband.
"I believe it was a profile stop," Mr. Ironman said.
"But, of course, these New Jersey State Police cannot admit to it because
they know it's illegal.
I want to have the question answered by somebody: what was my client accused
of doing?"
Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., the high-profile defense lawyer, took over the case
last week and has instructed his clients not to talk to the news media.
But in earlier interviews with The Daily News, Mr. Reyes, who was in the
front passenger seat, said that one of the officers -- apparently Trooper
Kenna -- broke the side window of the van with his baton and fired inside.
Mr. Reyes said that the car was accidentally put into reverse, and that the
police kept firing, ignoring his shouts to stop.
A witness who drove by the scene has come forward with a description sharply
at odds with the police version of events and more consistent with that of
Mr. Reyes.
Juan Polk, an engineer with the Voice of America in New York, said in a
telephone interview that he was coming forward, after worrying for
days,because the initial news stories about the incident "didn't sound
anything like what I saw."
Mr. Polk said he was driving home along the turnpike that night --
carefully, he noted, because as a black man he was wary of the police. The
cruise control on his car was set at around 60 m.p.h. when he saw a state
police patrol car parked by the side of the parkway, lights off.
He had noticed a van traveling with him at about the same speed for a few
miles, he said.
In his rear view mirror, he saw the police car turn on its flashing lights
and pull onto the highway.
"He took off and started burning toward us," said Mr. Polk, who first gave
his account to Jim Dwyer, a columnist for The Daily News.
"I thought, 'Damn, I hope he's not coming for me.' The cops whizzed past me.
I thought they were going to whiz past the van, too."
Mr. Polk lost sight of the other vehicles around a curve and a hill. When he
saw them again, he said, "it was all flashing lights and motion." The van
was off the side of the road, he said, with two state troopers firing at it
from the back.
As he slowed to watch, he said, the van lurched forward, then rolled slowly
down into a kind of gully or ravine as the police continued shooting.
"They were blasting away," Mr. Polk said.
"I heard, like, four shots, then a pause, then they opened up. The van
lurches forward, goes maybe 10 or 15 feet out of control, then drives down
into the ditch.
"They were shooting at the back windows, shooting down into the car. It was
going forward; the backup lights never came on.
There wasn't much damage to the minivan, just the windows.
You could hear the popping sound and the glass exploding."
Although the police say that only one police car was involved in the initial
stop, Mr. Polk says he believes that he saw two cars parked behind the
stopped van, with a trooper taking shelter behind a door of each car while
firing.
Mr. Polk said that while he was in the area he saw no sign of a Honda
bursting into flames.
"It was like everything went into slow motion," said Mr. Polk, who initially
feared he might be shot himself if people were firing from inside the van.
"It seemed like it was happening for 15 minutes, but it could only have been
a few seconds."
After news surfaced of the van shooting, several public defenders and other
lawyers came forward to say they were familiar with Trooper Hogan because
they had accused him in court of making profile stops or planned to do so in
pending cases.
One lawyer, John L. Weichsel of Hackensack, said he had identified a pattern
of eight cases since 1995 in which Trooper Hogan pulled over Hispanic van
drivers for traffic infractions and later conducted searches resulting in
drug arrests. The cases all involved companies providing van service between
New York and Philadelphia.
Mr. Weichsel is representing Ishmael C. Ramirez, who was arrested by Trooper
Hogan on Aug. 9, 1997, and charged with cocaine possession after the van he
had been riding in was pulled over on the turnpike in Edison Township. In
his report, Trooper Hogan said he had paced the van at 75 to 79 m.p.h.
A list of the cases provided to Mr. Weichsel by the Middlesex County
Prosecutor's office shows that all involved Dodge vans, the same make as the
van involved in the shooting. In every case, the van had out-of-state
license plates, the driver had a Hispanic surname and heroin or cocaine was
seized.
"We would use the information to show a pattern of illegal stops and
searches based on the fact that the trooper lacked probable cause," Mr.
Weichsel said. "It raises the question in my mind of the trooper's
motivation and the reason why he's pulling all these vans over. All I know
is that over a relatively brief period of time, there were at least 11 van
stops in Middlesex County and 8 of them were by Hogan."
It is not unusual for lawyers defending minority clients to seek the
suppression of evidence by accusing officers of illegal stops and searches.
But several lawyers said they had encountered Trooper Hogan in a remarkable
number of such cases.
"At least a half-dozen cases when I was with the public defender's office
and two pending now," said Robin Kay Lord, a former public defender in
Mercer County who is now in private practice, recounting the times she
represented minority clients pulled over by Trooper Hogan.
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe Inquiry On Smuggled Cigarettes Seeks US Aid ('New York Times'
Notes European Governments That Have Imposed Prohibitionist Taxes On Tobacco
Are Increasingly Frustrated By The Rising Volume Of American Cigarettes
Smuggled Into Europe, And Have Decided To Turn To Washington For Help
In Investigating The Suspected Involvement Of American Tobacco Companies,
Starting With RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company)
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: "MN"
Subject: MN: US NY: Europe Inquiry on Smuggled Cigarettes Seeks U.S. Aid
Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 13:04:51 -0500
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: emr@javanet.com (Dick Evans)
Pubdate: Fri, 8 May 1998
Source: New York Times (NY)
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Raymond Bonner
EUROPE INQUIRY ON SMUGGLED CIGARETTES SEEKS U.S. AID
European governments, increasingly frustrated by the rising volume of
American cigarettes smuggled into Europe, have decided to turn to Washington
for help in investigating the suspected involvement of American tobacco
companies, starting with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., a senior European Union
official said Thursday.
It will be the first time for the European Union to formally request help
from the U.S. government in combating the illicit cigarette trade, and
arises out of a conviction that the American companies are in complicity,
European officials said. Prosecutors in Europe say that American tobacco
companies have consistently resisted their efforts to obtain the names of
international customers in cases under investigation. Now they are asking
the U.S. government for assistance.
Authorities say they believe that the manufacturers routinely sell American
cigarettes to traders and dealers who immediately resell them into black
markets set up to evade foreign taxes and offer leading brands at a
discount. "We are always puzzled how the cigarette manufacturers are paid
and the only way we can obtain this information is from them," Per Brix
Knudsen, director of the European Union's anti-fraud unit, which is based in
Brussels, said Thursday. "As Reynolds has previously refused any cooperation
whatsoever we intend to take up this issue with the U.S. authorities." A
spokesman for R.J. Reynolds International in Geneva, Axel Gietz, said that
the company does not generally identify its customers but added that it has
"always cooperated with authorities." In an interview Thursday, Gietz also
said that the company was continuing to sell to a trader who told The New
York Times last year that his clients were smugglers. Cigarette smuggling
cost European governments $1.5 billion in lost taxes last year, according to
a report by the European Union's anti-fraud unit released on Wednesday.
Adding to the concern among European governments, the report says that
organized-crime syndicates are running the smuggling operations.
Around the world, the largest tobacco companies are selling billions of
dollars of cigarettes each year into contraband pipelines, say
law-enforcement officials. In the last decade, the volume of smuggling has
nearly tripled, reflecting a general surge in cigarette smoking abroad,
especially of American brands. Experts have estimated that about one-fourth
of the cigarettes sold overseas now pass through smuggling rings. In
Washington, a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department said that the
government had "responded to similar requests from countries in the past"
and that in this case, "we anticipate trying to be as helpful as possible."
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is part of the Treasury
Department.
Two recent seizures of smuggled American cigarettes highlight the problem in
Europe. In one case, more than 80 million cigarettes, primarily Winstons
worth more than $3 million, were loaded by Reynolds, the second-largest
tobacco company in the United states, onto ships in Charleston, S.C. and
Savannah, Ga., and sent to Greece. There they were immediately loaded onto a
single ship belonging to a smuggling operation that took the contraband to
Barcelona, Spain. Spanish customs authorities intercepted the haul last
January. In the other case, Spanish authorities last October seized a ship,
the Sea Princess, carrying more than 120 million Winston cigarettes bound
for the contraband market.
The mastermind of the Sea Princess operation, Spanish and Belgium
investigators said, was Michael Haenggi, one of Europe's biggest cigarette
traders, who says he has been a Reynolds customer for 15 years and has
frequently been a supplier to smugglers who bring Reynolds cigarettes into
Spain. The Reynolds spokesman denied Thursday that the company knowingly
sold to smugglers, but he said that Reynolds had decided to keep Haenggi as
a customer even after Haenggi told The New York Times last summer that he
sold to clients he knew to be smugglers.
The seizure in Barcelona last January now occupies investigators at the
European Union's anti-fraud unit, as well as in Spain and Greece. The huge
cargo ship was stuffed with seven long-haul trucks loaded with American
cigarettes. It was one of the most sophisticated and well-organized
smuggling operations the European authorities have encountered. The shipment
began when two boatloads of Winstons left the United States last November,
aboard the Zim Asia and the Dagmar Maersk. The bills of lading show they
were consigned to a Greek company, in the port city of Piraes, Greece, near
Athens.
Once they arrived in Greece, the seven truck trailers were loaded onto a
single ship bound for Spain. When it reached the east coast of Spain in the
early morning hours of Jan. 2, it lowered its loading ramp, and the trucks
drove off into the dark. The drivers were arrested immediately. "The key to
this case lies with the American authorities," said a Greek official. "They
have to find out who paid Reynolds." Investigators are convinced that
Reynolds knew the cigarettes were destined for the black markets in Spain.
"We intend to prove that," said Carlos Ramos Rubio, chief of the
anti-corruption office in Barcelona, and the prosecutor in the case. He
knows it will not be easy.
"Reynolds is very powerful," he said. "It's not easy to take them on.
Reynolds will say they sold the tobacco legitimately, and it is not their
responsibility to follow what happened to it."
Indeed, Gietz, the Reynolds spokesman, said that Reynolds had sold the
cigarettes to a company with which it had "a longstanding relationship." He
said that company policy did not allow him to reveal the customer's name.
Officials at the European Union find it hard to believe that a company would
sell more than 80 million cigarettes without knowing where they were going.
Gietz said that the company checked on customers before selling to them.
That included Haenggi, he said.
Last August, in an interview published in The Times, Haenggi told of one
instance in which he sold 160 million cigarettes, to a Panamanian company,
which then smuggled them into Spain by ship. Another time, he said, he
supplied 220 million cigarettes, to a company registered in Aruba, which
then smuggled them into Spain aboard planes leased in Ukraine. Gietz said
that after article appeared, Haenggi had been closely questioned by
Reynolds, and that the company had decided to continue its relationship with
him.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Week Online With DRCNet, Issue Number 41
(The Drug Reform Coordination Network's Original News Summary
For Activists Features Such Articles As - Indiana Reporter Arrested
After Exposing Drug Task Force Corruption; Memorial - Wesley Pomeroy,
Law Enforcement Professional, Outspoken Advocate Of Reform;
Dave Herrick Denied Medical Defense In California; Student-Activist Arrested
At RIT; Jurors Outraged At Mandatory Life Without Parole
For Woman After First Offense; Australian Study - Marijuana Decriminalization
Has No Impact On Rates Of Use; Plus An Editorial By Adam J. Smith,
'Substances, Substances')
Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 18:37:36 EDT
Originator: drc-natl@drcnet.org
Sender: drc-natl@drcnet.org
From: DRCNet (manager@drcnet.org)
To: Multiple recipients of list (drc-natl@drcnet.org)
Subject: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #41
THE WEEK ONLINE WITH DRCNet, ISSUE #41 -- MAY 3, 1998
-- PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE --
(To sign off this list, mailto:listproc@drcnet.org with the
line "signoff drc-natl" in the body of the message, or
mailto:drcnet@drcnet.org for assistance. To subscribe to
this list, visit http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html.)
NOTES:
Last week's issue incorrectly identified H. Res. 372, the
"Sense of the House" resolution against medical marijuana,
as H.R. 372, a different bill altogether. In the meantime,
action on House Resolution 372 has been delayed again,
perhaps due to the large response generated by activists.
If you have not done so already, please contact your
Representative and urge him or her to vote NO! Capitol
Switchboard: (202) 225-3121.
Keep the calls flowing in to the bookstores for Mike Gray's
DRUG CRAZY, the book that will blow the lid off of Drug
Prohibition's conspiracy of silence. (See our alert at
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-29.html.) Your phone
calls to bookstores in your area -- whether big chains or
local independent stores -- will make the booksellers look
twice at Drug Crazy and help propel it to the bestseller
list. Just call up, ask them if they have Drug Crazy, from
Random House, and say thank you. (You don't even have to
order a copy, though you may as well, because it's well
worth the price.) Many of you have done this already, and
we think it's having an effect. DRCNet is lauded and
prominently featured in the book's appendix, together with
an Internet directory of drug policy reform and
informational resources, so building up Drug Cray will build
DRCNet and the movement too! Some book chains that may be
in your area: Crown, Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton, Border's,
Doubleday, Brentano's, Scribner's, Waldenbooks -- let us
know if we've missed any, so we can add them to the next
alert. Call, call, call!
Nearly 300 DRCNet members have taken advantage of our offer
for free copies of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts. We are
planning to continue this offer until the end of May, and
then move on. If you want your copy, make sure to send in
$30 or more for membership to: DRCNet, 2000 P St., NW,
Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036, or use our secure
registration form at http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html to
make a credit card donation. Contributions to DRCNet are
not tax-deductible.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Large Swath Of Appalachia Declared High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-8.html#appalachia
2. Federal Marijuana Eradication Program Seizes Nothing but
Ditchweed, State Auditor's Report Says
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-8.html#ditchweed
3. Indiana Reporter Arrested After Exposing Drug Task Force
Corruption
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-8.html#indiana
4. Memorial: Wesley Pomeroy, Law Enforcement Professional,
Outspoken Advocate of Reform
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-8.html#memorial
5. California: Dave Herrick Denied Medical Defense
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-8.html#herrick
6. Student-Activist Arrested at RIT
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-8.html#shea
7. Jurors Outraged at Mandatory Life Without Parole for
Woman after First Offense
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-8.html#jurors
8. Australian Study: Marijuana Decriminalization Has No
Impact on Rates of Use
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-8.html#decrim
9. Editorial: Substances, Substances
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-8.html#editorial
***
1. LARGE SWATH OF APPALACHIA DECLARED HIGH INTENSITY DRUG
TRAFFICKING AREA
65 counties in Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee have
together been declared a "High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Area" by the federal government, making it the 20th region
in the country so designated. The designation, announced
last Wednesday (4/29) means that $6 million in federal money
will be spent on marijuana eradication and enforcement in
the region. Marijuana has for years been considered the
largest cash crop in Appalachia.
Senator Wendel Ford (D-KY) told reporters "If we're going to
get serious about winning the War on Drugs, it's going to
take an innovative, focused effort from all segments of our
law enforcement and governmental agencies."
***
2. FEDERAL MARIJUANA ERADICATION PROGRAM SEIZES NOTHING BUT
DITCHWEED, STATE AUDITOR'S REPORT SAYS
(reprinted with permission from the NORML weekly news,
http://www.norml.org)
May 7, 1998, Washington, DC: Over 99 percent of the
marijuana eradicated by the Drug Enforcement
Administration's federally funded "Cannabis Suppression
Program" is non-psychoactive hemp, reveals a 1998 Vermont
State Auditor's report. "The national total of ditchweed
eradicated compared to the total number of plants seized is
99.28 percent resulting in less than one percent cultivated
indoor and outdoor plant eradication percentage at the
national level," the report concludes. It further notes
that each cultivated plant seized by the DEA costs taxpayers
an average of $3.02. Nationally, the program spent over $9
million for marijuana eradication in all 50 states in 1996.
Wild growing marijuana patches -- known as ditchweed -- are
common throughout the southern and mid-western United
States. Many of the plants are remnants from government-
subsidized plots grown during World War II when low-THC
strains of marijuana were harvested for their fiber content.
This strain of marijuana will not intoxicate users when
smoked.
"The millions of taxpayers dollars spent targeting and
eliminating ditchweed is a prime example of the type of
government waste inherent to the War on Drugs," charged
Allen St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation. "It is further
counterproductive when one considers the economic and
industrial benefits hemp holds as an agricultural crop.
While most Western nations are now encouraging their farmers
to grow hemp, America blindly continues to support efforts
to eliminate this proven worldwide cash crop."
Presently, farmers in over 30 countries -- including Canada,
France, England, Germany, Japan, and Australia -- grow hemp
for industrial purposes.
Vermont state legislator Fred Maslack (R-Poultney), who sits
on the House Agricultural Committee, called the findings
"damning."
"As far as the War on Drugs is concerned, they would be
better off pulling up goldenrod," said Maslack, who
sponsored a successful hemp research bill in 1996. "It is
no wonder the DEA is fighting hemp tooth and nail, because
that is what their whole campaign is against, in the form of
ditchweed. [This] is a great fraud being perpetrated on the
American people ... [and] it is high time to reallocate this
law enforcement money."
According to the Associated Press, however, federal funding
for the eradication program will almost double in 1999.
Recently, members of Congress and Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey
earmarked six million dollars to combat marijuana
cultivation in Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Of
those three states, West Virginia currently spends the most
dollars targeting ditchweed. The Vermont report found that
more than 93 percent of the total plants eradicated there
were hemp.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre
or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.
***
3. INDIANA REPORTER ARRESTED AFTER EXPOSING DRUG TASK FORCE
CORRUPTION
Daniel J. Yovich, a reporter for The Times of Northwest
Indiana, was arrested last week (4/24) on a pair of four
year-old misdemeanor bench warrants by two officers from
Sheriff John Buncich's internal affairs office. For the
past several months, Yovich has been investigating and
reporting on allegations of corruption and mismanagement at
Buncich's federally funded Lake County Drug Task Force.
After the arrest, Sheriff Buncich released a statement
through his office which read, in part, "I have been advised
that congressional funding may not be renewed because of
negative reporting by The Times. I, as your sheriff, along
with other police chiefs throughout Lake County, will not
permit this to happen."
It was Yovich's investigative reporting that brought to
light $11,000 in missing funds which were signed out by an
officer who had been arrested weeks later by the FBI for
attempting to extort $25,000 from a drug dealer. The eleven
thousand was federal money, received by the Task Force as
part of the region's designation as a High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area by the Office of National Drug Control
Policy (ONDCP). According to Yovich's subsequent reporting
on the issue, Sheriff Buncich's office didn't tell federal
officials that the money was unaccounted for until after
Yovich's article was published, more than two weeks after
the officer's arrest.
Ongoing investigation and reporting by Yovich and The Times
has led to a widening federal investigation of mismanagement
and the misappropriation of resources at the Sheriff's task
force, as well as to questions of conflicts of interest in
the state investigation of the matter. Two months ago,
Yovich was searched for a wire by Sheriff's officers, who
indicated that they believed that he was providing
information to federal investigators.
Yovich indicated that he has been asked by his employer not
to comment on the issue, but he did refer us to Times
Executive Editor William Nangle, who told The Week Online,
"There is no doubt in our minds that this is an effort by
the Sheriff's office to intimidate both the reporter and the
publication."
Yovich, 36, previously worked as a foreign correspondent for
UPI in Bosnia from January, 1994 - June 1996, and then for
the Daily Southtown in Chicago. He began working for The
Times in August, 1997.
***
4. MEMORIAL: Wesley Pomeroy, Law Enforcement Professional,
Outspoken Advocate of Reform
- Kevin Zeese, President, Common Sense for Drug Policy
Foundation
I write today to pass along the sad news of the death of one
of our greatest allies -- Wes Pomeroy.
Wes was an outspoken supporter of reform and brought with
him the credibility of being a former police officer. He
was the first recipient of Drug Policy Foundation's annual
achievement award for police officials: The H.B. Spear
Award for Achievement in the Field of Control and
Enforcement. Below is the award statement which was
primarily written by his long-time friend Arnold Trebach,
retired President of the Drug Policy Foundation.
"Wes Pomeroy has had a remarkable career in law enforcement
and government. At the federal level he has served as the
Associate Administrator of the Law Enforcement Assistance
Administration, Special Assistant to the Administrator of
the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Associate Director
of the White House Office of Drug Abuse Policy.
"At the local level, he has served as Undersheriff of San
Mateo County, Chief of Police of Berkeley and Chief of
Security at the Woodstock rock festival. Today, he is the
Executive Director of the Independent Review Panel of
Metropolitan Dade County in Miami. Thus he serves as the
ombudsman for the people of an area much troubled by drug
problems.
"Throughout his career, Wesley Pomeroy has demonstrated that
he is a committed law enforcement professional who was sworn
to uphold the law, including the drug laws. At the same
time, he sought to seek compliance with the law by
emphasizing persuasion and human relations skills. He also
is an advocate of cautious drug law reform through open
dialogue and the democratic process."
Editor's Note: For those who are interested in honoring
Wesley Pomeroy, his family requests that, in lieu of
flowers, donations be made to the following organizations,
earmarked Wesley A.C. Pomeroy:
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP)
P.O. Box 315
Opa Locka, FL 33054
Unrepresented People's Positive Action Council (UP-PAC)
P.O. Box 693117
Miami, FL 33269
***
5. CALIFORNIA: DAVE HERRICK DENIED MEDICAL DEFENSE
- Barrington Daltrey for DRCNet
Causing concerns about his impartiality, Orange County
Superior Court Judge William Froeberg on Thursday, May 7,
1998 refused to allow Dave Herrick to present a medical
defense to charges of "selling" marijuana. Rejecting
Herrick's effort to present a Proposition 215 or medical
necessity defense, the judge sarcastically asked public
defender Sharon Petrosino, "Does he think he's Mother
Theresa?"
Herrick, a former police officer, has been in jail for a
year on charges of selling marijuana in the course of
volunteer work with the Orange County Patient / Doctor /
Nurse Support Group. The volunteers gave away marijuana to
patients with confirmed doctor's recommendations, requesting
a $20.00 donation for the co-op, but providing the marijuana
regardless of whether the donation was made.
Herrick reportedly suffers from chronic back pain due to a
dislocated disc, but has been allowed only four Tylenol a
week during his incarceration. His hearing was attended by
about 30 medical cannabis supporters, who carried signs and
wore buttons supporting the defendants. Canes and crutches
of the participants were taken by the bailiffs, due to
concern that these items could be used as "weapons." The
judge further prohibited the signs and the wearing of the
buttons in the courtroom and the hallways, possibly to avoid
contamination of the jury.
Denied her proposed defense, public defender Sharon
Petrosino indicated she would have no witnesses other than
those called by the prosecution.
Proceedings are still pending for other defendants on
related charges, Marvin Chavez and Jack Shacter.
***
6. STUDENT-ACTIVIST ARRESTED AT RIT
- Troy Dayton for DRCNet
In what some believe was an act of political persecution,
Shea Gunther, President of the Rochester Cannabis Coalition
(RCC) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), was
arrested last Thursday (4/23) on two counts of disorderly
conduct by the Henrietta Police Department, and five counts
of campus policy violations. Gunther was asked to leave an
academic building -- otherwise open to all students -- where
the Board of Trustees was meeting, but refused. He was
dragged out in handcuffs without being arrested and was
later charged. He has been suspended from the University
for one year.
Last month, RIT President Albert Simone denied the RCC
official university recognition even after it was approved
by a student board. In a letter regarding the decision
addressed to Gunther, Simone indicated that recognition of
such a club would "send the wrong message" and that "local
drug dealers" would see the club as a sign that "RIT
students use drugs" and would descend upon the campus
bringing with them increased violence and drug use.
Following that decision, Gunther met with President Simone
and his advisor, Barry Culhane, but got no relief. Next,
Gunther asked if he could speak to the Board of Trustees and
was denied. On Thursday, April 23, the Board of Trustees was
meeting in the building from which Gunther was removed.
According to Gunther, Culhane spotted him on his way in the
building and called Campus Safety. Within minutes, an
officer arrived to warn him not to enter the building.
Gunther asked what would happen if he did and the officer
couldn't produce an answer. Shea entered and was soon
surrounded by five officers. Gunther asked if he was being
arrested and for what. They did not produce an answer and
instead tried to force him out of the building. Gunther
resisted and soon found himself face down on the floor with
five officers forcibly holding him down and cuffing him.
"I knew the meeting was going on but was not planning on
doing anything. I had no literature on me and was wearing
jeans and a T-shirt. If I were planning on interacting with
the Trustees, I certainly would have shown up armed with
information and dressed appropriately," said Gunther.
The Week Online spoke with William McKee, Director of RIT
News Services about the incident. Although the Buckley
Amendment prohibits university officials from releasing
information about student judicial hearings, McKee
did have a statement. "Shea's account is at complete odds
with what was reported by campus officials and Monroe County
Deputy Officials. When asked to leave the building, he
resisted and became violent," said McKee.
Approximately 300 students gathered outside during Gunther's
judicial hearing, where he was given one year's suspension.
When President Albert Simone left the building he was met
with jeers from the protesters.
"RIT students are deeply concerned about the abuse of power.
It's troubling that Barry Culhane would use Campus Safety as
his personal S.S. troops. They are not finished with me.
They have lost. They just don't know it yet," said Gunther.
"I don't care how much a person might hate the idea of
cannabis law reform, to go to these extreme measures to
silence a voice of dissent is un-American. The thing that
gets me is that if we were just approved as an official
club, we might have made the six-o'clock news and they would
have forgotten about us. As it is now, everyone knows about
the Rochester Cannabis Coalition," Shea Gunther told
Marijuana News (http://www.marijuananews.com).
Gunther plans on taking a year off to start a drug policy
reform graphics business and pursue litigation against RIT.
NOTE: Shea Gunther, who has been working closely with
DRCNet throughout the past five months, has limited means
and is attempting to raise $600 to cover the costs of his
criminal defense. If you can help at all, please send (non-
tax deductible) checks to:
Shea Gunther
197 D Perkins Road
Rochester, NY 14623
And send us an e-mail indicating that you did so, and what
amount. Any additional money will be either returned, or
else used for related campus-based organizing, as per your
request. Thanks.
***
7. JURORS OUTRAGED AT MANDATORY LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE FOR
WOMAN AFTER FIRST OFFENSE
Teresa Wilson admits that she sold a 3 oz. vial of a
pharmaceutical morphine solution to an undercover officer
for $150. In fact, she was caught on videotape. But
neither the judge nor the jurors who found her guilty seemed
to believe that the sentence of life without parole was
reasonable for the drug addicted first-time offender.
"In this case the punishment definitely, definitely does not
fit the crime," juror Keith Loftus told the Associated
Press.
Mrs. Wilson, 30, got the prescription drug from a neighbor
whose husband had cancer. She was to receive $80, with the
other $70 for the neighbor. While the amount of morphine
actually contained in the solution was about 0.01 grams,
Alabama state law mandates life without parole for anyone
who sells at least 56 grams (2 ounces) of morphine or a
morphine mixture, as it does for anyone selling 1,000 pounds
of marijuana or 10 kilos of cocaine.
Theo Lawson, the Birmingham D.A. who prosecuted the case,
spoke with The Week Online: "In listening to the tapes, it
was apparent that she had sold drugs before. I have no
problem with the sentence or the jury's unhappiness with it.
What I do have a problem with is the jury's indication that
if they knew the sentence, they wouldn't have followed the
law. That's not a decision for them to make."
Lawson continued, "She (Wilson) did indicate that she had an
addiction problem stemming from some old injury when she was
on painkillers or something, but we have a law in this state
that tacks on five years to any sentence, without
possibility of parole, for anyone selling drugs within three
miles of a school, and an additional five years for being
within three miles of a housing project, on top of a two
year sentence for any distribution. There's nowhere in the
City of Birmingham which falls outside of either of those
conditions, which means that in this city, selling drugs of
any kind is a minimum twelve year sentence. That applies to
marijuana or anything else. She might not have known she
would get life, but we've made it very clear down here that
the penalties are severe. She broke the law. It's that
simple."
Nora Callahan, Director of the November Coalition, told The
Week Online, "This case is a perfect example of the
thoughtlessness and the cruelty to which we have
degenerated. So we put this woman in a cage for the rest of
her life, with no hope and with no reason to contemplate
self-improvement of any sort. And she goes right in next to
hundreds or thousands of others who will also live the rest
of their lives in cages. And we think nothing of this...
absolutely nothing.
"I just received a memo from the US Department of Justice
saying that in the federal prison in Sandstone, Minnesota,
they are now housing people in corridors. We are stacking
them up like so much plywood. My God, my God, what are we
doing? Who have we become? What is the Drug War
accomplishing to justify this? In service to this fruitless
war we have become dehumanizers of people. And in doing so,
we have dehumanized ourselves."
(The November Coalition is an organization of inmates and
their families against the drug war. They do marvelous work
and deserve our support. Check out their web site at
http://www.november.org and tell them DRCNet sent you.)
***
8. AUSTRALIAN STUDY: MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION HAS NO
IMPACT ON RATES OF USE
A two-year study carried out by the Drug and Alcohol Council
of South Australia found that there was no difference in
levels of marijuana use between those states which had harsh
anti-marijuana laws and those which had decriminalized
personal possession of the substance. The study compared
Western Australia, where jail sentences are the norm, with
South Australia, where possession of up to 25 grams, or the
cultivation of a small number of plants for personal
consumption are met with either a warning from police or a
small, on the spot fine.
Dr. Robert Ali, DASC clinical policy director, told The
Australian this week (5/4), "The study showed there was no
evidence that the introduction of expiation (small, non-
criminal fines) for marijuana use has led to any increase in
the prevalence or intensity and frequency of marijuana use."
***
9. EDITORIAL: Substances, Substances
As the twentieth century draws to a close, America finds
itself embroiled in conflict over substances of all kinds.
Newspapers, in fact, are starting to read like pharmacology
textbooks. Ritalin, Prozac, marijuana, caffeine, Viagra,
tobacco, cocaine, Phen-fen, heroin, Valium, methamphetamine,
Thalidomide, MDMA, ginseng, ephedrine, alcohol, and guarana,
to name just a few, have all been recent subjects of bitter
debate: why or why not, how much is too much, who should
have access, and what steps, if any, should be taken to
control their use.
The past hundred years have brought advances in chemistry so
dramatic as to have changed the boundaries of human life
itself, and altered our concepts of health and well being.
The pharmacopoeia has been radically expanded, and even our
understanding of centuries-old substances has been
broadened. But nothing comes without a cost, and just as
each of these substances can have both desired and
undesirable effects, the ability to create more diverse and
more interesting substances has brought with it questions
that we are obviously still struggling to answer.
While it is undoubtedly true that each substance poses its
own unique issues, it is also true that arguing each of
these issues anew, without reference to a common framework,
is a hopeless and a losing battle. The inevitable,
interminable arguments, as we are having today, condemn our
society to a never ending battle over the science and the
details, the risks and the benefits, the hopes, the fears,
the morality, and inevitably, if obsequiously, the money.
New drugs, new analogs, new substances are being conceived
and created at an incredible pace by chemists and mavericks,
in labs both corporate and clandestine, for fun and for
profit, every single day. We have to start asking larger
questions. We have to arrive at more inclusive answers.
There are two basic realities that we must decide to accept,
if we are ever to become as sophisticated in living with our
substances as we are in creating them. The first is that it
is beyond the legitimate power of government to use force to
control what a free adult citizen may ingest. As radical as
that may sound, it is unequivocally true. There is no more
sacred right than the right to control ones' body and mind.
And the freedom to exercise that control only in ways of
which the government approves, is no freedom at all. In
matters of personal health and well-being, the government
may suggest, it may cajole, it may inform, but it must not
demand that individuals maintain themselves in accordance
with its wishes. The right to be human is the right to err,
or to be foolish, or to be stupid.
The second thing that we must come to agreement on is that
the government -- state, federal or local, take your pick --
has the right to demand that the thing that is put into the
marketplace is precisely what it claims to be, and that care
is taken to disclose what it does, and how it does it. And,
in addition, that those who bring new substances into the
marketplace do ample testing and analysis, and make their
best faith effort to be sure that what it says it does is
all that it does, and that there are no horrific surprises.
And that there are strict and certain penalties for anyone
who risks the public health by ignoring these requirements.
And that there is no level of wealth or of corporate power
which can act as a shield against them.
In an age of chemical wonder, and of equally awesome
chemical danger, it is imperative that we as a people come
to a sane and responsible relationship with the substances
we create. That level of responsibility can only be
personal and real, not state-mandated and enforced. It must
be imbued by the family, by the norms of social groups, by
information and by education. It can never be internalized
at the point of a gun.
If a person, a free person, with full information, wants to
trade twenty years of her life for the pleasure of tobacco,
flirt with dependence to unwind with valium, or even risk a
heart attack to party with cocaine, that is her choice. It
is a poor choice perhaps, but a choice nonetheless. And
when we come to agree upon that, then and only then will we
as a people develop a mature relationship with "drugs", only
then will be begin to make better choices, to choose better
substances, or to choose none at all. The power of our
science is wondrous indeed. But if our ancestors could have
foreseen the day when their progeny would have elixirs for
nearly everything, they most certainly would have thought
that we'd have figured out how to deal with them.
Adam J. Smith
Associate Director
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[End]
to 1998 Daily News index for May 7-13