Month: May 2018

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An innocent man exonerated in Louisiana. Two innocent men exonerated in Pennsylvania. An innocent man exonerated in Wisconsin. Plus literal-dozens of other stories of criminal justice f*ckery.

#Law140 will return next week! Until then, remember to check out our Patreon page for exclusive patron-only content, including a special #Law140 on conflicts of interest!

Join the conversation by following @fsckemall on Twitter, and tweet us your comments and questions using the hashtag #fsck!

*THANK YOU* to this week’s Show Note Sponsors (Trey Benfield, Melanie Greenan, Judi Kane, Colleen Mahaney, and Eric Robinson) and our #Law140 Lovers (Damien Boyd, Matthew Boyer, Tyler Kiley, Byron Mobley, Andrew Murphy, Erica Phillips, Helen Poston, David Ross, Joe Sevits, and Michael VanOrder)!

Show Notes:

• Fifth Circuit: Qualified immunity for all doctors, nurses in CBP-coordinated roadside rape (5th Circ COA)
• SDNY: Federal judge rules Papaya POTUS can’t block people on Twitter (NY Times)
  • PDF of the opinion in Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump
  • Our #Law140 on this case (Fsck #9)
• Federal prison director quits over “turf war” between Attorney General Beauregard, Jared Kushner (NY Times)
• Your federal government snatches hundreds of children from their parents at border crossings… (NY Times)
• …then “loses” 1,475 of them… (NY Times)
• …and now wants permission to destroy its records (ACLU)
• FBI triple-counts number of mobile phones that law enforcement can’t unlock (The Verge)
• ARIZONA: Bodycam footage released of Mesa PD tackling 84-year-old woman to the ground for sport (Arizona Republic)
• CALIFORNIA: Oakland “Kale Not Jail” urban farming nonprofit helps former prisoners re-enter society (NY TImes)
• CALIFORNIA: Black journalist records neo-Nazi rally, gets stabbed for it; police accuse him of violating Nazis’ rights (UK Guardian)
• CALIFORNIA: San Diego County deputy Timothy Wilson Jr. arrested for groping 14-year-old, using work computer 44 times to check investigation (KNBC 4)
• CALIFORNIA: San Francisco police union pushes ballot initiative to let police tase unarmed civilians (Salon)
• FLORIDA: Miami judge Stephen Millan facing suspension for using racial slur toward black defendant (NY Post)
• FLORIDA: Orlando PD using Amazon’s real-time facial recognition technology in policing (NPR)
• GEORGIA: DeKalb County killer cop Robert Olsen claims naked man he killed had “superhuman strength” and was “impervious to pain” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
  • Our earlier episode on Olsen’s murder of Anthony Hill (Fsck #33)
• GEORGIA: Doraville gloats about using police to balance town budget, gets sued (Reason)
• GEORGIA: Video shows Dunwoody EMT beating restrained 17-year-old black boy (WSB 2)
• GEORGIA: Several Lawrenceville teens remain jailed without trial for 2+ years in case with no prosecuting witness (WSB 2)
• GEORGIA: Surveillance video shows Polk County deputy Harry Battle repeatedly tasing restrained inmate (WAGA 5)
• ILLINOIS: State Department of Corrections routinely keeps disabled inmates locked up past their release dates (WBEZ)
• ILLINOIS: Chicago PD cop William Whitley pleads guilty to federal charges of sex-trafficking children (Kansas City Star)
• ILLINOIS: Chicago PD killer cop Robert Rialmo charged with assaulting 2 people at a bar (Chicago Times)
  • Our episode on Rialmo killing Quintonio LaGrier and Bettie Jones (Fsck #39)
  • And our episode with follow-up developments (Fsck #42)
• KANSAS: Winfield PD Officer Sean Skov on video pulling over black man for “vegetation” on car windshield (Wichita Eagle)
• LOUISIANA: 36-year-old black man Corey Williams released after serving over 20 years for murder he didn’t commit (Washington Post)
• MARYLAND: Brentwood PD officer Ilia Cole charged with assaulting Hispanic man over parking ticket (Washington Post)
• MASSACHUSETTS: Boston PD arrests homeless black man Emory Ellis for buying food with “counterfeit” $10 bill that was real (Mother Jones)
• MICHIGAN: Detroit PD officers Timothy Leach and Frederick Person charged with felony assault, lying to investigators (WJBK 2)
• MICHIGAN: Video released in Taylor PD beating of Cody Meredith for not using turn signal outside his own home (WDIV 4)
• MISSISSIPPI: 2 unnamed Laurel PD police officers fired for brutalizing unarmed black man James Barnett for sport (ABC News)
• MONTANA: Unnamed CBP agent detains two Americans for heinous crime of speaking Spanish (Washington Post)
• NEW JERSEY: Washington Township PD officer Jim Vernon performs emergency C-section on dying deer, saves fawn (BBC News)
• NEW JERSEY: Unnamed Wildwood police officer beats, chokes 20-year-old white girl for heinous crime of underage drinking (NJ Advance Media)
• NEW YORK: NYPD officers on security camera video deliberately running over bicyclist (Bicycling Magazine)
• NORTH CAROLINA: Asheville City Council votes to require police to use signed forms when claiming consent to search (Asheville Citizen Times)
  • The police union is now threatening to sue to block the changes (Asheville Citizen Times)
  • The move happened after APD covered up the beating of Johnnie Rush (Fsck #58)
• NORTH CAROLINA: In-depth profile on Jesse McCoy and preventing evictions in Durham (Politico)
• NORTH CAROLINA: State trooper Samuel Bullard crashes, dies in needless high-speed chase from checkpoint (Winston-Salem Journal)
  • From our deadly-police-chase archives:
    • Arizona (Fsck #50)
    • California (Fsck #59)
    • 71-year-old in Florida (Fsck #11)
    • 12-year-old in Louisiana (Fsck #7)
    • Michigan (Fsck #54)
    • 9-year-old in Missouri (Fsck #16)
    • 5 different people in North Carolina (Fsck #31)
• NORTH CAROLINA: Judge orders video footage released in assault trial of Wake County deputy Cameron Broadwell, state troopers Michael Blake & Tabithia Davis (News & Observer)
• OHIO: Bodycam footage released of unnamed Canton PD officer siccing police dog on driver for refusing to answer questions (WKYC 3)
• OHIO: Hamilton County corrections officer Joshua Yeager arrested for kiddie porn (WCPO 9)
• OHIO: Hamilton County corrections officer Jason Mize federally indicted for shoving 61-year-old inmate head-first into concrete wall (WCPO 9)
• OREGON: Judge orders 15-year-old to pay $36,000,000.00+ in restitution for fire (Willamette Week)
• OREGON: North Bend school cop Jason Griggs fired for harassing LGBT students (Willamette Week)
• PENNSYLVANIA: 28-year-old Dontia Patterson released after spending 11 years for murder he didn’t commit (NY Times)
• PENNSYLVANIA: DNA evidence prompts judge to vacate conviction of John Kunco, who spent 27 years in prison for rape he didn’t commit (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
• SOUTH CAROLINA: Myrtle Beach police routinely raided homes without announcing themselves (My Horry News)
• TENNESSEE: Matthew Charles, reformed drug offender whose early release was overturned by an appellate court, is back in prison (Nashville Public Radio)
  • Our episode on the Government announcing it wanted Charles back in prison (Fsck #46)
  • Our episode on the court ruling ordering Charles back to prison (Fsck #59)
• TENNESSEE: Nashville judge Casey Moreland pleads guilty to federal charges of witness tampering, obstruction (Nashville Tennessean)
  • Our episode on Moreland’s indictment (Fsck #57)
• TEXAS: Houston PD officer tells black woman to raise her hands, “pretend we’re going to shoot you” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
• TEXAS: Customs & Border Patrol summarily executes Guatemalan woman at border, changes story about what happened (CNN)
• VIRGINIA: Chesterfield PD police tase, arrest 19-year-old Elkanah Odembo over broken brake light… in his own driveway (WTVR 6)
• WISCONSIN: Bodycam footage released in tasing, arrest of Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
  • Police brutalize NFL players too (Fsck #61)
• WISCONSIN: Richard Beranek exonerated after spending 27 years in prison for rape he didn’t commit (Wisconsin Watch)

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Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms listening in! Join us this week as T. Greg rants about Yankees who “aren’t from ’round here,” plus an in-depth look at the Palantir “predictive policing” software, Illinois policing insisting they’ll kill their dogs if politicians legalize weed, and nearly a dozen stories about white folks weaponizing the police against minorities in white spaces.

#Law140 will return in two weeks! Until then, remember to check out our Patreon page for exclusive patron-only content!

Join the conversation by following @fsckemall on Twitter, and tweet us your comments and questions using the hashtag #fsck!

*THANK YOU* to this week’s Show Note Sponsors (Trey Benfield, Melanie Greenan, Judi Kane, Colleen Mahaney, and Eric Robinson) and our #Law140 Lovers (Damien Boyd, Matthew Boyer, Tyler Kiley, Byron Mobley, Andrew Murphy, Erica Phillips, Helen Poston, David Ross, Joe Sevits, and Michael VanOrder)!

Show Notes:

• Rob Smith of Harvard’s Fair Punishment Project is clueless about North Carolina (Twitter)
• Arrogant twit Senator Joel Ford mollywhopped in Democratic primary (Charlotte Observer)
  • Sen. Ford was one of the main cheerleaders for H972, the bill that made all police video a state secret (Twitter)
• Former General and Trump apologist John Kelly is a scumbag, Part 514 (Business Insider)
• In-depth look at Palantir, the “predictive policing” software departs are using to violate your civil rights (Bloomberg)
  • Our episode on Louisiana using Palantir for a secret policing program (Fsck #55)
• ARIZONA: Border Patrol killer cop Lonnie Swartz acquitted of murder in death of Mexican teen; will be retried for manslaughter (Arizona Daily Star)
  • Our episode on Swartz shooting the teenager in the back (Fsck #11)
• CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles PD is using Palantir to create an evergreen list of “probable offenders” (In Justice Today)
• CALIFORNIA: Unnamed Morgan Hill PD officer “accidentally” shoots 14-year-old girl in the eye during traffic stop, given paid vacation (Mercury News)
• COLORADO: White mom summons police on Native American students for wearing heavy metal t-shirts (Inside Higher Ed)
• CONNECTICUT: White Yale student calls police on black Yale student for falling asleep in common room while studying (NY Times)
• DC: Metro PD cop Richard Wince illegally sold guns to murderer (CNN))
• GEORGIA: Cook County police arrest, jail Canadian student for crime of (legally) driving with a Canadian license (CBC)
• ILLINOIS: VP of shopping mall apologizes to black teens who were kicked out of mall for no reason (Chicago Sun Times)
• ILLINOIS: Macon County cop Chad Larner says weed can’t be legalized, or they’ll have to kill all their drug dogs (Reason)
• LOUISIANA: Kevin Smith imprisoned 8 years without trial; when drug charges are dismissed, his parole is revoked over address change (New Orleans Advocate)
• LOUISIANA: Shreveport PD officer Gary Thomas on paid vacation for assaulting black teen over noise complaint (KSLA 12)
• MARYLAND: Carroll County deputy on video blowing away groundhog for blocking traffic (WBAL-TV 11)
• MASSACHUSETTS: State Trooper Alfred Burgos arrested for DWI leaving Irish-American Police party (Springfield Republican)
• MISSOURI: 3 black teens falsely accused of theft at Nordstrom Rack, released without charges (KMOV 4)
• NEW YORK: Entire Galway PD department indicted for falsifying records (The Saratogian)
• NEW YORK: NYPD officers summoned to “burglary” as black man moves into new apartment (Washington Post)
• NORTH CAROLINA: Duke University VP Larry Moneta has coffee shop baristas fired for playing Spotify rap song (Indy Week)
• NORTH CAROLINA: Campaign page for Durham Sheriff Mike Andrews says “Amen!” to racist Facebook rant (Durham Herald Sun)
  • Sheriff Andrews was obliterated in last Tuesday’s primary election (Durham Herald Sun)
• NORTH CAROLINA: Moore County deputy Tracy Carter fired for helping cover up drunk driving of Sheriff Neil Godfrey’s deputy-son Brent (Southern Pines Pilot)
  • Sheriff Godfrey was defeated in last Tuesday’s primary election (Fayetteville Observer)
• NORTH CAROLINA: Moore County deputy Tevin Cadell charged with assault on a female (Fayetteville Observer)
• NORTH CAROLINA: Warsaw PD officer Frank Moss on video beating, choking tuxedoed black man at Waffle House (Fayetteville Observer)
• PENNSYLVANIA: White owners of Grandview Golf Club call police on black women for “golfing too slow” (NY Times)
• PENNSYLVANIA: Black men arrested in Starbucks settle for $1 apiece, expungement, $200K school program (USA Today)
• TEXAS: White elementary school principal Shanna Swearingen “jokes” about fake gun call to police regarding black student (KPRC 2)
• TEXAS: White manager of Sambuca 360 in Plano on video kicking out black diners so white man could have table (WFAA 8)
• TEXAS: Federal judge rules San Antonio police officers Raphael Medel and Sergio Villanueva repeatedly lied in warrantless search of man’s car (DocumentCloud)
• TEXAS: Judge reduces death row inmate’s sentence to life without parole after discovering that prosecuted lied at trial (Texas Tribune)
• VIRGINIA: Maryland Klan leader Richard Preston Jr. found guilty of firing gun at black counterprotestor at Charlottesville rally (The Hill)
  • Our episode when the video of Preston went viral (Fsck #24)
• VIRGINIA: White supremacist Jacob Scott Goodwin found guilty in savage beating of DeAndre Harris at Charlottesville rally (Washington Post)
• VIRGINIA: Customs & Border Patrol killer cop Mark Cochrane charged with felony puppycide (WRC-TV 4)
• WASHINGTON: White manager of Tacoma Fuego store on camera loudly reading shoplifting policies outside black woman’s dressing room, kicks her out (The Grio)
• WISCONSIN: Hennepin County Minnesota deputy Jeffrey Masek charged with child sex crimes (Twin Cities Pioneer Press)
• AUSTRALIA: Mobile phone footage shows officer deliberately running down indigenous teen for sport (NITV)
• UNITED KINGDOM: 9 police officers under investigation for killing mentally ill man during welfare check (UK Guardian)

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It’s a special bonus episode for our loyal listeners! Join T. Greg as we welcome back Dave Foxx and James Hankins, for an in-depth discussion of Kanye West and black conservatives, the rise of Nazis, teacher strikes across the country, and much much more!

Remember to check out our Patreon page for exclusive patron-only content!

Join the conversation by following @fsckemall on Twitter, and tweet us your comments and questions using the hashtag #fsck!

*THANK YOU* to this week’s Show Note Sponsors (Trey Benfield, Melanie Greenan, Judi Kane, Colleen Mahaney, and Eric Robinson) and our #Law140 Lovers (Damien Boyd, Matthew Boyer, Tyler Kiley, Byron Mobley, Andrew Murphy, Erica Phillips, Helen Poston, David Ross, Joe Sevits, and Michael VanOrder)!

Show Notes:

• Follow James on Twitter!
• Follow Dave on Twitter!
• Past episodes with Dave and James:
  • Fsck #45
  • Fsck #32 (Our most-listened-to podcast in 2017!)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn

It’s our first episode of Season 2! Join us this week as we talk about police in Ohio and Florida using people’s heads as soccer balls, a Kentucky officer who re-raped a woman raped by a different Kentucky officer (seriously), and some good news out of Texas involving a pit bull!

Then, in our #Law140 section, we answer a question from #Law140 Lover Matthew Boyer: why are mandatory minimum sentences a thing?

Join the conversation by following @fsckemall on Twitter, and tweet us your comments and questions using the hashtag #fsck!

*THANK YOU* to this week’s Show Note Sponsors (Trey Benfield, Melanie Greenan, Judi Kane, Colleen Mahaney, and Eric Robinson) and our #Law140 Lovers (Damien Boyd, Matthew Boyer, Tyler Kiley, Byron Mobley, Andrew Murphy, Erica Phillips, Helen Poston, David Ross, Joe Sevits, and Michael VanOrder)!

Show Notes:

• Our work on Fsck #60 got a shout-out from WUNC! (WUNC)
  • You can listen to that episode here (Fsck #60)
• Analysis: America more integrated overall, but entrenched segregation persists (Washington Post)
• Analysis: Police killings of unarmed people are down, for now (Washington Post)
• Study: Data confirms police engage in retaliatory violence against minorities when criticized on social media (PLOS One)
  • Our episode covering similar results of retaliatory violence after protests (Fsck #46)
• CALIFORNIA: Jumpy Buena Park PD officer thinks man stole pack of Mentos he bought, pulls gun on him (Orange County Register)
• CALIFORNIA: Rialto PD surrounds black women for heinous crime of checking out of AirBnB (The Grio)
• CALIFORNIA: Reserve police officer “accidentally” fires gun in Salinas high school public safety class (USA Today)
• CALIFORNIA: A look at the inherent conflict of interest in San Joaquin County’s “Sheriff-Coroner” position (NPR)
  • Our episode on the resignation of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the former chief forensic pathologist (Fsck #41)
• FLORIDA: Miami PD officer Mario Figueroa takes running start, kicks handcuffed black man in the head for sport (Miami New Times)
• KANSAS: Racist Kansas City firefighter Terrence Jeremy Skeen, who went on “n*gger”-filled rant and spit at 3-year-old, has been reinstated (Kansas City Star)
  • Our episode with this story (Fsck #54)
• KANSAS: Bodycam footage shows Olathe police were warned not to bother arresting mentally-ill Ciara Howard, who they shot dead in her laundry room (Kansas City Star)
• KENTUCKY: Hillview police officer John Nissen indicted for re-raping rape victim (WLKY 32)
• MASSACHUSETTS: Chicopee PD officer Jacek Wanat charged with sex crimes (Springfield Republican)
  • Chicopee PD officer Corey Fournier was suspended on rape charges just a couple weeks ago (Fsck #55)
• MICHIGAN: NRA silent as black Detroit mother sentenced to 2 years in prison for protecting 2-year-old daughter from assailant (Reason)
• MICHIGAN: Unidentified Fowlerville PD officer “accidentally” fires his gun at wrestling match (Lansing State Journal)
• NEW JERSEY: Kenilworth school superintendent Thomas Tramaglini arrested for repeatedly sh*tting on high school football field (NJ Advance Media)
• NORTH CAROLINA: Judge suspends law license of Pitt County ADA Phillip Entzminger for lying to court (WNCT 9)
  • He’s also professor in ECU’s Criminal Justice Department! (ECU)
  • The elected DA – who refuses to fire Entzminger – is running for the General Assembly (Daily Reflector)
• NORTH CAROLINA: Scumbag Florida lawyer Patrick Megaro under investigation for his treatment of two mentally disabled clients (Marshall Project)
• NORTH CAROLINA: High school student suspended, charged for helping break up group beatdown of another student (WTVD 11)
• OHIO: Franklin Township police officer caught on video kicking handcuffed teen in the head for sport (WBNS 10)
• OREGON: State Supreme Court holds appellate hearing in high school auditorium so students can watch (KPTV 12)
• PENNSYLVANIA: Ex-Temple University cops Aaron Wright and Marquis Robinson convicted of beating black woman to death in “diabolical torture chamber” (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• PUERTO RICO: San Juan police brutalize protestors, execute warrantless arrests after protests (NBC News)
• TENNESSEE: Hamblen County man shoots at officers, threatens to kill them, arrested without injury (WATE 6)
• TENNESSEE: Emails confirm Knoxville PD, other police agencies coordinated with Nazis to arrest counterprotestors (The Root)
• TEXAS: “Vicious dog” turns out to be über-friendly, makes friends with Texarkana police (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
• VIRGINIA: Unidentified Alexandria PD officer “accidentally” fires his gun in middle school (WJLA 7)
• WASHINGTON: King County deputy Richard Rowe, caught on video pulling gun on motorcyclist, given 5-day suspension (KGW 8)
  • Our episode when this story first happened (Fsck #25)
• WASHINGTON: Seattle officer who successfully stops ax-weilding man without violence faces discipline (KOMO 4)
• UNITED KINGDOM: Police using Automated Facial Recognition (AFR) despite astronomical error rate (Wired UK)
• Article III of the Constitution (LII)
• The Fifth Amendment (LII)
• The Eighth Amendment (LII)
• In re Winship (Oyez)
• McMillan v Pennsylvania (Oyez)
• Apprendi v New Jersey (Oyez)
• Harris v United States (Oyez)
• Solem v Helm (Oyez)
• Harmelin v Michigan (Oyez)
• Ewing v California (Oyez)
• Excellent overview of case law on Mandatory Minimums (US Sentencing Commission)