Category: Law Enforcement Misconduct

Special Prosecutor in US Attorney Gate a Coverup

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Here is an interesting tidbit on Mukasey assigning a special prosecutor to look at the US Attorney firing scandal: “

Because of the litany of public corruption cases Dannehy, 47, has prosecuted, she has a reputation as a pitbull, say attorneys. But in actuality, they say, she’s merely meticulous, hard-working and dedicated to her job. To that end, lawyers involved in cases with her know she sometimes calls meetings on Sunday evenings. And given Mukasey’s request for a report in 60 days, Nora might well log some weekend work between now and Thanksgiving

Enough time so that nothing comes out before the election, but not enough to send it to the next administration, clever, Mukasey, clever.

I have to believe that Mukasey’s actions have gone beyond mere hypocrisy. He is actively obstructing justice, and needs to be criminally investigated too.

H/T Emptywheel

Sarah Palin Hates Rape Victims

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In a new twist of Troopergate, the McCain campaign is saying that Palin fired public safety commissioner Walt Monegan because he was “insubordinate” over budget issues:

On May 7 of this year, Randy Ruaro, the governor’s deputy chief of staff, complained in an e-mail to Rehfeld, the budget director, that Monegan’s department “is constantly going off the reservation.”

“The last straw” leading up to Monegan’s firing, Van Flein wrote, was Monegan’s planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn’t yet approved.

So, not only did she sign off regarding charging rape victims for rape kits, she is now saying that fired her public security director because he was looking for money to help rape victims.

Remember, Alaska has the highest per capita rape rate in the nation, and it appears that Palin is determined to punish the victims.

This is repugnant.

Oh I Give Up! Let’s Just Call it the Sarah Palin Clown Show

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I’m sick and tired of coming up with new medical sounding names, OK? It takes more time than it does to write the articles, because this sh%$ really writes itself.

First, it appears that Palin is taking a week or so, the nominal explation is that she is spending time with her son before he ships out to Iraq, but the real reason is that she is taking time off to “get ready”, and you have to love the snark from Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo

Isn’t Palin supposed to move to Cheney’s undisclosed location after she gets elected, not before?

The good Mr. Marshall owes me a screen cleaner…big time.

Howard Finemannotes that senior McCain officials have said that they are using the time to bring her up to speed, and Todd Harris, who is working with the McCain campaign admits that she is not ready, and probably needs two weeks to get her act together, explaining that, “If she goes out and makes a mistake, that is something that [voters will] care about, and that’s something that will haunt [McCain] for awhile, so I think this is a smart move.”

Jed, or the Jed Report has even created a “where’s Sarah” widget for inclusion in your web site.

On earmarks, even the Moonie Times is calling out Palin on her double-talk on earmarks….And when you’ve lost the Washington Times on this issue…….Well, you’ve lost the Moonie Times.

And we still have the gift that keeps on given, Troopergate, we have

CREW saying that Palin is attempting to subvert the investigation of her through back door channels, the Anchorage Daily News says that she is stonewalling the investigation, and Newsweek is reporting that John McCain allies are throwing up roadblocks into the investigation too.

Meanwhile, it appears that the bipartisan committee investigating the matter will push up the date of its report from October 31 to around October 10, which is not an unreasonable response to stonewalling.

Additionally, Alaska lawmakers will plan to issue subpoenas to seven witnesses, though not to Palin, because the seven canceled interviews with the investigator, reportedly after, “Ms. Palin’s lawyer, Thomas V. Van Flein, had forbidden members of her administration to have any contact with the investigator.”

We also have the State Police Union filing a formal complaint that Palin and Her Evil Minions&trade improperly released information from Wooten’s (the guy she wanted fired) private personnel records.

Finally, Mikew Wooten has finally gone public in this matter, talking to CNN and giving a brief interview.

Charges in Taser Death

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A jury has indicted former Winnfield police officer Scott Nugent for manslaughter. He tasered Baron “Scooter” Pikes 9 times after he was subdued and handcuffed.

Considering that there had been 14 uses of the taser by the Winnfield department, and Nugent had used it 10 of those times, he was clearly a problem before this.

Had I been the prosecutor, I would have put felony murder on the table, because he was committing a felony, aggravated assault and battery, when the death occurred.

I’m sure that Nugent will get the best defense that Taser, International can buy, because they don’t want this to be a precedent in product liability cases.

Background here and here.

Michael Mukasey is a Completely Corrupt Bastard

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The US Civil Service was created because a disgruntled federal job seeker shot a president (Garfield), but in the matter of Bush Administration Minions using political appointees, Michael Mukasey won’t pursue any charges.

He says that it is just a “civil” violation, not a “criminal” one.

That is crap. They committed criminal conspiracy, just as surely as the thousands of wives and girlfriends who are in jail now because their guy dealt dope, and they took a phone message or two.

He will not prosecute because there is a real chance that folks like Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson might flip on folks higher up, and work their way up the chain, to the White House.

He won’t because if he did, some of the people would flip on higher ups. Thanks a lot, Charles Schumer, for vouching for this bit of human excrement.

FBI Used Abusive Tactics That Might Have Caused Ivin’s Death

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Just lovely. It appears that he was in counseling, and was briefly hospitalized, as a direct result of abusive FBI tactics, which included pressuring his children to turn on him, telling his son that he could get the $2.5 million dollar reward and buy a sports car, and showing his daughter gruesome pictures of the Anthrax victims, and told her, “Your father did this.”

The FBI has noted his access to a lyophilyser, a freeze drying maching that, “could be used to dry wet anthrax into powder,” but would not have produced weaponized anthrax.

The output would resemble instant coffee, which would require extensive processing to become inhalable. I used to do routing maintenance on an lyophilyser in an medical lab (1982-3), and I am aware of its capabilities.

A number of his co-workers believe that the FBI singled him out because of history of alcohol problems and other problems, so they figured that they could break him.

FBI Looking to Close Anthrax Case, but the Evidence Seems Thinner Than it Should Be

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It turns out that the evidence pointing toward Bruce Ivins was circumstantial, which does not mean invalid, but is not necessarily definitive.

At least 10 people had access to the flask that is now believed to be the source of the letters, and there is nothing tying Ivins to the postbox from which the Anthrax was mailed.

The envelopes came from post offices in Frederick, but it’s clear that the Anthrax came from Detrick, and it’s clear from the article that the FBI has been a bunch of keystone Cops on this.

What’s more, we now have a report that the White House was pressuring the FBI to finger al Queida on the Anthrax mailings.

Additionally, Glenn Greenwald has a rundown on the person who requested a restraining order against Bruce Ivins, and notes that the order is only 2 weeks old, and the application makes reference to the FBI investigation, which is odd, so I’m wondering if the FBI told her that the guy was under investigation as the Anthrax mailer, or that Ivins, who she was counseling, told her that he was under investigation, and she freaked.

I’m not saying that there is a conspiracy out there, just that the FBI really wants to close this case, and that they might still operating at a Keystone Cops level competence.

More Taser Abuse

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The police come across a 16 year old boy lying on the street, having fallen from an overpass, and having a broken foot and broken back, and it appears that the officers Tasered him 19 times because he ignored their requests to get up, so they tortured him.

And then we have the second death in as many months in the Charlotte jail from Taser Abuse. In the first case, they tasered someone for 37 seconds…but that cop is still on the force.

This won’t change unless/until Tasers are classified as lethal weapons.

Taser Death Heads to Grand Jury

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Well it now appears that the Taser murder investigation is heading toward a grand jury (background here).

I do not expect an indictment. This is a dead black man, and the ex-cop who Tasered him 9 times after he was in handcuffs, Scott Nugent, has little to fear from a Louisiana jury.

Even if it goes to trial, you can expect Taser International to supply tens of thousands of dollars in expert testimony to the defendant saying that a Taser can’t kill, because they know what happens if they get tagged with one death.

So Now We Have the First Murder by Taser

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Former Police Officer Scott Nugent tasered Baron “Scooter” Pikes NINE TIMES after he WAS ALREADY HANDCUFFED, and may face criminal charges, though I doubt it: It’s Winnfield, Louisiana, only 45 miles from Jena, and the victim was black:

Williams, who ruled Pikes’ death a homicide in June after extensive study, said Nugent fired his Taser at Pikes six times in less than three minutes — shots recorded by a computer chip in the weapon’s handle. Then officers put Pikes in the back of a cruiser and drove him to their police station — where Nugent fired a seventh shot, directly against Pikes’ chest.

“After he was given that drive stun to the chest, he was pulled out of the car onto the concrete, ” Williams told CNN. “He was electroshocked two more times, which two officers noted that he had no neuromuscular response to those last two 50,000-volt electroshocks.”

Williams said he had two nationally known forensic pathologists, including former New York city medical examiner Michael Baden, review the case before issuing his conclusions. He said it’s possible Nugent was shocking a dead man the last two times he pulled the trigger.

“This fellow was talking in the back seat of the car prior to shot number seven,” he said. “From that point on, it becomes questionable [if Pikes was still alive].”

Curry said Pikes told officers he suffered from asthma and had been using PCP and crack cocaine. But Williams said he found no sign of drug use in the autopsy, and no record of asthma in Pikes’ medical history.

In the year since Winnfield police received Tasers, officers have used them 14 times, according to police records — with 12 of the instances involving black suspects. Ten of the 14 incidents involved Nugent, who has no public disciplinary record.

(emphasis mine)

Taser, International is claiming that they couldn’t have caused his death….Yeah, sure….whatever.

Nothing to see here….It’s just a n*****…move along.

Dude, We’re In a Hurry, Taze that Octogenarian on the Gurney

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It appears that a man in hospital in Kamloops, B.C., one Frank Lasser, age 82, was disoriented while being treated for pneumonia and and pulled a pocket knife from his pocket. The Mounties were summoned, and they promptly tazed him three times.

“I was laying on the bed by then and the corporal came in, or the sergeant, I forget which it was, and said to the guys, ‘OK, get him because we got more important work to do on the street tonight,'” Lasser said.

They tazed him because they had a crowded schedule.

Un-dirtyword-believable.

Tazers are being abused, and they need to be explicitly classified as lethal weapons under the law.

More Taser Abuse

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Some guy falls down the stairs, gets a head injury, tries to drive home, zones out in the parking lot in his car, and when a disoriented man does not respond to police orders, he is tased repeatedly, then wrestled to the ground, handcuffed, and dies (see here and here).

It’s clear that Tasers should be legally as a lethal weapon, because the police use them irresponsibly and with impunity because, unlike other potentially lethal force, there is no review board following the use, unless there is a death.

Another Day, Another Taser Death

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Well, a few days, and a couple of deaths actually, see here (tasered while in handcuffs), and here.

Let’s be clear on this: as long as Tasers are not designated lethal weapons, they will continue to kill, and as long as the police know that they can use them, and that they do not get automatic review that a peace officer does every time he discharges a weapon, police will continue to abuse this lethal weapon.