US Anti-Police Protests and Riots Thread III

[Vassenor]

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signs new laws to prevent cities from defunding police

The party of Smaller Government, ladies and gentlemen.

[Shrillland]

Illinois passes law, now at governor's desk, that would send out mental health professionals instead of police when mental breakdowns are reported

[Galloism]

Illinois passes law, now at governor's desk, that would send out mental health professionals instead of police when mental breakdowns are reported

A good law.

Both for the citizens and the police, incidentally. Good for the citizens because they'll get what they really need, and police because they won't be shoved into situations they are ill prepared to handle.

[Kowani]

Illinois passes law, now at governor's desk, that would send out mental health professionals instead of police when mental breakdowns are reported

not bad, illinois

[Atheris]

Illinois passes law, now at governor's desk, that would send out mental health professionals instead of police when mental breakdowns are reported

nationwide when?

[Kowani]

Missouri Supreme Court rules that a $3 court fee charged in municipal courts to raise money for rural sheriffs' retirement is unconstitutional, while the Nevada Legislature approves bill to end the practice of suspending an individual’s driver’s license when they can’t afford to pay fines and fees from a minor traffic ticket as well as decriminalizing traffic tickets

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Missouri Supreme Court rules that a $3 court fee charged in municipal courts to raise money for rural sheriffs' retirement is unconstitutional, while the Nevada Legislature approves bill to end the practice of suspending an individual’s driver’s license when they can’t afford to pay fines and fees from a minor traffic ticket as well as decriminalizing traffic tickets

I think we should criminalize traffic tickets. Any officer who pulls me over for racing should face 100 years inside jail.

[Atheris]

Missouri Supreme Court rules that a $3 court fee charged in municipal courts to raise money for rural sheriffs' retirement is unconstitutional, while the Nevada Legislature approves bill to end the practice of suspending an individual’s driver’s license when they can’t afford to pay fines and fees from a minor traffic ticket as well as decriminalizing traffic tickets

I think we should criminalize traffic tickets. Any officer who pulls me over for racing should face 100 years inside jail.

hot take but intentionally endangering the lives of not just people in your car but people all over the road should cost you a bit more than like $2,000 or whatever a ticket is cost

[Galloism]

I think we should criminalize traffic tickets. Any officer who pulls me over for racing should face 100 years inside jail.

hot take but intentionally endangering the lives of not just people in your car but people all over the road should cost you a bit more than like $2,000 or whatever a ticket is cost

So, as an FYI, speeding doesn't really have a positive link to increased accidents - in fact going faster is generally correlated with lower amounts of accidents (with some caveats) - but they are more destructive when they occur because physics.

The real "endangering lives" part is people who run lights/stop signs, drunk driving, drowsy driving, distracted driving, and people who don't use their freaking blinker.

[Page]

hot take but intentionally endangering the lives of not just people in your car but people all over the road should cost you a bit more than like $2,000 or whatever a ticket is cost

So, as an FYI, speeding doesn't really have a positive link to increased accidents - in fact going faster is generally correlated with lower amounts of accidents (with some caveats) - but they are more destructive when they occur because physics.

The real "endangering lives" part is people who run lights/stop signs, drunk driving, drowsy driving, distracted driving, and people who don't use their freaking blinker.

Also police car chases, those endanger hella lives too. It's one thing to chase a murderer on the loose but that's usually not the case, they are usually chasing people over outstanding warrants for trivial crimes. I do not appreciate the idea that my life as a driver and innocent bystander is worth less to the police than putting someone in jail.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

So, as an FYI, speeding doesn't really have a positive link to increased accidents - in fact going faster is generally correlated with lower amounts of accidents (with some caveats) - but they are more destructive when they occur because physics.

The real "endangering lives" part is people who run lights/stop signs, drunk driving, drowsy driving, distracted driving, and people who don't use their freaking blinker.

Also police car chases, those endanger hella lives too. It's one thing to chase a murderer on the loose but that's usually not the case, they are usually chasing people over outstanding warrants for trivial crimes. I do not appreciate the idea that my life as a driver and innocent bystander is worth less to the police than putting someone in jail.

Welcome to the prison industrial complex.

[Kowani]

Pittsburg DA emails prosecutors in his office, tells them to make no plea offers to any clients of a specific defense lawyer because the lawyer called his office systemically racist

Five days after well-known Black attorney Milton Raiford spoke out against racism in the criminal justice system, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. emailed all of his deputy prosecutors forbidding them from offering any plea deals to Raiford or his clients.

“On May 13, we experienced another issue of unprofessional conduct in the courtroom of Judge (Anthony) Mariani, this one involving Attorney Milt Raiford,” the May 18 email began. “The transcript will evidence what is presently considered a convoluted critical diatribe. You are being advised of what actions will be taken.”

Zappala’s email, obtained by the Tribune-Review, went on to say that effective immediately, “no plea offers are to be made.

“The cases may proceed on the information as filed, whether by general plea, nonjury or jury trial. Withdrawal of any charges must be approved by the front office.”

A legal ethics expert said that Zappala’s action is unethical and punishes Raiford’s clients for him expressing his own opinions. Local defense attorneys agreed.

“It’s wrong on so many levels and potentially sanctionable,” said Bruce Green, a law professor at Fordham University. He runs its Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics.

Zappala declined to comment on Tuesday.

Raiford, who learned about the email from a reporter, was stunned.

“It’s numbing. It’s a vindictive thing to do. There’s no reason for it,” Raiford said. “I don’t know why he’s making my clients suffer because of something I said.

“That just shows you where we’re at.”

According to Raiford, the comments he made on May 13 in Judge Anthony Mariani’s courtroom came as a result of frustration with what he sees as systemic racism in Pittsburgh.

“The winds of change are blowing in our country,” he said in an interview. “Where district attorneys across the country are finding ways of lessening the numbers of Black men in custody, it’s short-sighted for our DA not to make a statement of steps he’s going to take.”

Raiford, who is 65, and grew up in Homewood, said his hurt goes beyond just the prosecutor’s office. He practices law in Western Pennsylvania.

“I can’t tell you the depth of hurt in my spirit that our courthouse has been silent on it,” he said. “They’re not doing anything to assure our community of color that things are going to change. They won’t even acknowledge that things need to change.”

On May 13, Raiford was in Mariani’s courtroom for a hearing in which his client pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in a 2019 stabbing. At the end of hearing, which, according to the transcript, proceeded normally, Raiford asked the judge if he could put something on the record.

He then went on for what amounted to 20 transcribed pages — sometimes rambling — about racism in the courts, the pandemic, and how the court has responded to it.

“I just want to say that it is very disheartening that in this county, that we had no comment from the district attorney’s office, no comment from our administrative judge at this division, no comment from the supreme court, who seems like they are totally ignoring which way the wind is blowing nationally, that all of these people are being shot for nothing, all of these people are dying for nothing,” Raiford said, according to the transcript. “And we’re trying to get back to normal.”

At one point during the discussion, the judge asked Raiford if he believed that his clients of color were offered worse plea deals because of their race.

Raiford responded, “Your honor, I think the DA’s office is systematically racist. And I think that the criminal justice system is systematically racist.”

Raiford specifically noted, though, that he was not accusing the individual prosecutors on his current case of doing anything inappropriate.

In an interview about Zappala’s email, Raiford said he has asked — weeks and months before he made his comments in Mariani’s courtroom — to meet with Zappala to talk to him about these issues. He said he got no response.

“I’d think he’d know my heart by now — particularly since I’ve never done anything but support him.”

Still, Raiford, who once served as headmaster for Imani Christian Academy in Pittsburgh, cited multiple studies that show that Black people in Pittsburgh have worse outcomes in terms of health and earning potential, he said, and many Black people are moving away because of it.

“The worst part of it is the criminal justice system,” Raiford said.

By refusing to negotiate in good faith with Raiford, Zappala is punishing his clients, Green, the Fordham law professor, said.

“It’s not equal treatment,” he said. “It’s undeniably harming the lawyer and their livelihood and deprives the clients of their right to counsel.”

There is precedent for a prosecutor being sanctioned for refusing to plea bargain with 15 separate defendants because he didn’t like their two defense attorneys.

The case, from 1976, resulted in the Oregon Supreme Court finding the behavior unethical and issuing a reprimand for the prosecutor.

“For the most part, you don’t hear of prosecutors doing this because they realize it’s unfair and unethical,” Green said.

Zappala could be subject to sanctions, and so, too, could any of the line prosecutors under him who follow his orders, he continued.

“If I were (Raiford), and I had a case, I would tell the judge no offer was made,” Green said. “I would move to disqualify the prosecutor’s office on the ground it was abusing its discretion.”

Allegheny County Criminal Court Administrative Judge Jill E. Rangos said she was unaware of Zappala’s email and could not comment on what Raiford said. Mariani also said he could not discuss the issue since Raiford’s comments were made as part of a case before him.

Frank Walker, a part of the Pittsburgh Black Lawyers Alliance, said that Raiford’s criticism of the DA’s office is not wrong.

“There’s been no response from that office at all. There’s been movement in social justice across the country.”

But for Zappala to respond by stopping plea offers to Raiford’s clients, Walker said, is “terribly disappointing,” “totally unprofessional” and “cowardly.”

“It shows the arrogance of his office that he can unilaterally take away due process.”

He said it also showed a lack of leadership.

“You’re going to take away the rights of someone simply because you don’t like their lawyer?” Walker asked. “Your job is to seek justice as a prosecutor.

“This is not your office. The office belongs to the people of Allegheny County.”

Pittsburgh attorney Turahn Jenkins, who ran against Zappala for district attorney in the 2019 Democratic primary, said that Allegheny County has fallen woefully short in systemic reform.

“There’s been no advancement whatsoever.”

But, he continued, Zappala should not have taken Raiford’s comments so personally.

“Justice shouldn’t be predicated on your dislike for a particular individual,” Jenkins said. “A lot of times, people take these conversations as a personal attack, but we’re just trying to shine a light on systemic problems that have existed for years.”

Instead of focusing on what people say, he said, it’s important to focus on where they’re coming from.

“Put yourself in the shoes of Milt’s clients — how do you think they feel?” Jenkins said. “All of us who are practitioners should take exception to that memo.”

[Salandriagado]

hot take but intentionally endangering the lives of not just people in your car but people all over the road should cost you a bit more than like $2,000 or whatever a ticket is cost

So, as an FYI, speeding doesn't really have a positive link to increased accidents - in fact going faster is generally correlated with lower amounts of accidents (with some caveats) - but they are more destructive when they occur because physics.

The real "endangering lives" part is people who run lights/stop signs, drunk driving, drowsy driving, distracted driving, and people who don't use their freaking blinker.

OK, alternative option: being fined/etc. for any of those should also come with a requirement to re-do your driving test before driving again (this, of course, requires that you have a driving test that's an actual test, which I'm aware is far from consistent in the US).

[Kowani]

Oakland Police Chief Armstrong says at press conference that his claims that protesters were preparing Molotov cocktails at last year’s 6/1 George Floyd protest were wrong. Police weren’t justified in using tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters.

who could have seen that coming

holy shit 33 sustained complaints

[Gravlen]

Oakland Police Chief Armstrong says at press conference that his claims that protesters were preparing Molotov cocktails at last year’s 6/1 George Floyd protest were wrong. Police weren’t justified in using tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters.

who could have seen that coming

holy shit 33 sustained complaints

Only took them a year...

[Postauthoritarian America]

Pittsburg DA emails prosecutors in his office, tells them to make no plea offers to any clients of a specific defense lawyer because the lawyer called his office systemically racist

Five days after well-known Black attorney Milton Raiford spoke out against racism in the criminal justice system, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. emailed all of his deputy prosecutors forbidding them from offering any plea deals to Raiford or his clients.

“On May 13, we experienced another issue of unprofessional conduct in the courtroom of Judge (Anthony) Mariani, this one involving Attorney Milt Raiford,” the May 18 email began. “The transcript will evidence what is presently considered a convoluted critical diatribe. You are being advised of what actions will be taken.”

Zappala’s email, obtained by the Tribune-Review, went on to say that effective immediately, “no plea offers are to be made.

“The cases may proceed on the information as filed, whether by general plea, nonjury or jury trial. Withdrawal of any charges must be approved by the front office.”

A legal ethics expert said that Zappala’s action is unethical and punishes Raiford’s clients for him expressing his own opinions. Local defense attorneys agreed.

“It’s wrong on so many levels and potentially sanctionable,” said Bruce Green, a law professor at Fordham University. He runs its Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics.

Zappala declined to comment on Tuesday.

Raiford, who learned about the email from a reporter, was stunned.

“It’s numbing. It’s a vindictive thing to do. There’s no reason for it,” Raiford said. “I don’t know why he’s making my clients suffer because of something I said.

“That just shows you where we’re at.”

According to Raiford, the comments he made on May 13 in Judge Anthony Mariani’s courtroom came as a result of frustration with what he sees as systemic racism in Pittsburgh.

“The winds of change are blowing in our country,” he said in an interview. “Where district attorneys across the country are finding ways of lessening the numbers of Black men in custody, it’s short-sighted for our DA not to make a statement of steps he’s going to take.”

Raiford, who is 65, and grew up in Homewood, said his hurt goes beyond just the prosecutor’s office. He practices law in Western Pennsylvania.

“I can’t tell you the depth of hurt in my spirit that our courthouse has been silent on it,” he said. “They’re not doing anything to assure our community of color that things are going to change. They won’t even acknowledge that things need to change.”

On May 13, Raiford was in Mariani’s courtroom for a hearing in which his client pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in a 2019 stabbing. At the end of hearing, which, according to the transcript, proceeded normally, Raiford asked the judge if he could put something on the record.

He then went on for what amounted to 20 transcribed pages — sometimes rambling — about racism in the courts, the pandemic, and how the court has responded to it.

“I just want to say that it is very disheartening that in this county, that we had no comment from the district attorney’s office, no comment from our administrative judge at this division, no comment from the supreme court, who seems like they are totally ignoring which way the wind is blowing nationally, that all of these people are being shot for nothing, all of these people are dying for nothing,” Raiford said, according to the transcript. “And we’re trying to get back to normal.”

At one point during the discussion, the judge asked Raiford if he believed that his clients of color were offered worse plea deals because of their race.

Raiford responded, “Your honor, I think the DA’s office is systematically racist. And I think that the criminal justice system is systematically racist.”

Raiford specifically noted, though, that he was not accusing the individual prosecutors on his current case of doing anything inappropriate.

In an interview about Zappala’s email, Raiford said he has asked — weeks and months before he made his comments in Mariani’s courtroom — to meet with Zappala to talk to him about these issues. He said he got no response.

“I’d think he’d know my heart by now — particularly since I’ve never done anything but support him.”

Still, Raiford, who once served as headmaster for Imani Christian Academy in Pittsburgh, cited multiple studies that show that Black people in Pittsburgh have worse outcomes in terms of health and earning potential, he said, and many Black people are moving away because of it.

“The worst part of it is the criminal justice system,” Raiford said.

By refusing to negotiate in good faith with Raiford, Zappala is punishing his clients, Green, the Fordham law professor, said.

“It’s not equal treatment,” he said. “It’s undeniably harming the lawyer and their livelihood and deprives the clients of their right to counsel.”

There is precedent for a prosecutor being sanctioned for refusing to plea bargain with 15 separate defendants because he didn’t like their two defense attorneys.

The case, from 1976, resulted in the Oregon Supreme Court finding the behavior unethical and issuing a reprimand for the prosecutor.

“For the most part, you don’t hear of prosecutors doing this because they realize it’s unfair and unethical,” Green said.

Zappala could be subject to sanctions, and so, too, could any of the line prosecutors under him who follow his orders, he continued.

“If I were (Raiford), and I had a case, I would tell the judge no offer was made,” Green said. “I would move to disqualify the prosecutor’s office on the ground it was abusing its discretion.”

Allegheny County Criminal Court Administrative Judge Jill E. Rangos said she was unaware of Zappala’s email and could not comment on what Raiford said. Mariani also said he could not discuss the issue since Raiford’s comments were made as part of a case before him.

Frank Walker, a part of the Pittsburgh Black Lawyers Alliance, said that Raiford’s criticism of the DA’s office is not wrong.

“There’s been no response from that office at all. There’s been movement in social justice across the country.”

But for Zappala to respond by stopping plea offers to Raiford’s clients, Walker said, is “terribly disappointing,” “totally unprofessional” and “cowardly.”

“It shows the arrogance of his office that he can unilaterally take away due process.”

He said it also showed a lack of leadership.

“You’re going to take away the rights of someone simply because you don’t like their lawyer?” Walker asked. “Your job is to seek justice as a prosecutor.

“This is not your office. The office belongs to the people of Allegheny County.”

Pittsburgh attorney Turahn Jenkins, who ran against Zappala for district attorney in the 2019 Democratic primary, said that Allegheny County has fallen woefully short in systemic reform.

“There’s been no advancement whatsoever.”

But, he continued, Zappala should not have taken Raiford’s comments so personally.

“Justice shouldn’t be predicated on your dislike for a particular individual,” Jenkins said. “A lot of times, people take these conversations as a personal attack, but we’re just trying to shine a light on systemic problems that have existed for years.”

Instead of focusing on what people say, he said, it’s important to focus on where they’re coming from.

“Put yourself in the shoes of Milt’s clients — how do you think they feel?” Jenkins said. “All of us who are practitioners should take exception to that memo.”

Doubling down on the racism. Zappala would have a great future in the Republican Party if it weren't for the inconvenience of his being a Democrat. He's not up for election until 2023 and can't be recalled, only impeached or removed by the Governor after a hearing and a 2/3 vote in the state Senate. But at least one judge has rejected his plea deals in response and will do so until he reverses himself.

[The Rich Port]

"I'll be systemically corrupt and prejudicial in order to show this cryhard how not systematically corrupt and prejudicial our office is!"

[Kowani]

Parents in Pasco County, Florida, sue sheriff over program that predicts if their kids will become criminals

[Galloism]

Parents in Pasco County, Florida, sue sheriff over program that predicts if their kids will become criminals

Oh that sounds like something that will come out with absolutely race and sex neutral results.

[Postauthoritarian America]

Parents in Pasco County, Florida, sue sheriff over program that predicts if their kids will become criminals

just in case you were wondering about that sheriff:

he worked as a deputy chief of staff to Marco Rubio, then the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives

or the (elected!) superintendent of the school district who hands him the legally-protected, confidential data on kids "for official law enforcement purposes:"

Superintendent Browning served as Florida’s Secretary of State under both Governor Rick Scott and Governor Charlie Crist.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Parents in Pasco County, Florida, sue sheriff over program that predicts if their kids will become criminals

just in case you were wondering about that sheriff:

he worked as a deputy chief of staff to Marco Rubio, then the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives

or the (elected!) superintendent of the school district who hands him the legally-protected, confidential data on kids "for official law enforcement purposes:"

Superintendent Browning served as Florida’s Secretary of State under both Governor Rick Scott and Governor Charlie Crist.

I have a feeling the likeliest criminals in their pre crime report will be poor, teenaged, black, and live in an urban area. This is some dystopian shit.

[Postauthoritarian America]

In Minneapolis tonight a small, diverse group of protesters has gathered around a fire in the middle of Lake St. near Hennepin Ave. near where cops shot and killed a man alleged to be a felon in possession of a gun earlier. The intersection is not far from the 4th Precinct that was the scene of protests last year after the George Floyd murder. Unicorn Riot is live on the scene and reports police may be gathering nearby. The victim is being named by those on the scene, some of whom say they knew friends of his, as Winston Smith.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.

[Salus Maior]

he worked as a deputy chief of staff to Marco Rubio, then the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives

Well, it sounds like he knows exactly what he's doing.

[Postauthoritarian America]

In Minneapolis tonight a small, diverse group of protesters has gathered around a fire in the middle of Lake St. near Hennepin Ave. near where cops shot and killed a man alleged to be a felon in possession of a gun earlier. The intersection is not far from the 4th Precinct that was the scene of protests last year after the George Floyd murder. Unicorn Riot is live on the scene and reports police may be gathering nearby. The victim is being named by those on the scene, some of whom say they knew friends of his, as Winston Smith.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.

Cops now confronting protesters, moving crowd down the street, lasers and flash bangs deployed, protesters confronting cops at Lake and Hennepin

[Greater Miami Shores]

In Minneapolis tonight a small, diverse group of protesters has gathered around a fire in the middle of Lake St. near Hennepin Ave. near where cops shot and killed a man alleged to be a felon in possession of a gun earlier. The intersection is not far from the 4th Precinct that was the scene of protests last year after the George Floyd murder. Unicorn Riot is live on the scene and reports police may be gathering nearby. The victim is being named by those on the scene, some of whom say they knew friends of his, as Winston Smith.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.

Cops now confronting protesters, moving crowd down the street, lasers and flash bangs deployed

I strongly condemn any violence by the cops, like my good Cuban Cousin Police officer Cop if he were to commit any acts of violence like on black African American citizen George Floyd and other Black American citizens of the USA. I strongly condemn any acts of violence by any persons against any cops. Do you condemn all sides violence like I have and do many times, do any of you do?