by TChris

Tommy Riley, sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, is on trial for official misconduct. Riley released Sheila Kirk from her sentence before it ended. A deputy, Johnny Carter, admitted that he brought Kirk cigarettes and drugs and that he had sex with her while she was in jail. The prosecution contends that Carter persuaded Riley to release Kirk so she could get an abortion, and that Riley let her stay out after Kirk’s mother threatened to expose the scandal if her daughter returned to jail. Riley says he released Kirk so that taxpayers wouldn’t have to fund her abortion.

[Special Agent Scott Lott] testified that when he came to arrest Riley following his indictment last October, his first reaction was, "Does this mean I can't be sheriff anymore?"

Riley’s first trial ended with a hung jury. Most of the original charges have been dropped as prosecutors focus on the misconduct charge.

by TChris

George Curry writes about a panel he moderated in Texas on the topic of police misconduct. One of the panelists, Travis County Sheriff Gregory Hamilton, observed that firing abusive officers is “the only way to get rid of the problem.” Another panelist, Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, acknowledged the obvious roadblock to that solution:

But that is made difficult, Valdez said, because cops subscribe to a code of silence. "Cops don't rat on other cops," she explained.

Without a video of abusive conduct (like the New Orleans incident discussed here), whether misconduct occurred often comes down to a citizen’s word against an officer’s -- or several officers, if they all stick together. Curry suggests, however, that the “problem is even deeper.”

by TChris

Initial accounts of this beating of a man by police officers in New Orleans reported that the man was drunk and resisting arrest. His lawyer disputes both assertions:

The man, a retired elementary school teacher, had returned to New Orleans only to check on property he owns in the storm-ravaged city, and was out looking to buy cigarettes when he was arrested Saturday night in the French Quarter, the lawyer and the man's father said.

What the police described as resistance may have been a natural response to being beaten.

[Update: (TL)] The three officers have been arrested, charged with battery and released pending further court proceedings.

Update: Crooks and Liars has the video.

*****
by TChris

Police officers in New Orleans were recently caught on tape beating an intoxicated man.

The APTN tape shows an officer hitting the man at least four times in the head Saturday night as he stood outside a bar near Bourbon Street. The suspect, Robert Davis, appeared to resist, twisting and flailing as he was dragged to the ground by four officers. Another of the four officers then kneed Davis and punched him twice. Davis was face-down on the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into the gutter.

by Last Night in Little Rock

On July 10th, the LAPD SWAT team shot and killed a toddler in the arms of an armed man as noted here.

CNN.com reports today that the family of the toddler has filed a notice of claim against the LAPD. A notice of claim is a prelude to filing suit.

by TChris

Fred Black, the acting U.S. Attorney in Guam, advised the public integrity section of the Justice Department in November 2002 that he had opened an investigation of Jack Abramoff. Days later, Black was demoted. His new boss then prohibited him from pursuing public corruption cases. Coincidence?

Colleagues of Mr. Black, who had run the federal prosecutor's office in Guam for 12 years, ... said F.B.I. agents questioned several people in Guam and Washington this summer about whether Mr. Abramoff or his friends in the Bush administration had pushed for Mr. Black's removal. Mr. Abramoff's internal e-mail messages show that he boasted to clients about what he described as his close ties to John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, and others at the department.

by TChris

This is Sen. Bill Frist, explaining why he had no conflict of interest in voting for or against health care legislation despite his ownership of stock in the hospital chain, HCA Inc., that his family founded:

Asked in a television interview in January 2003 whether he should sell his HCA stock, [Frist] responded, "Well, I think really for our viewers it should be understood that I put this into a blind trust. So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock"

Frist, referring to his trust and those of his family, also said in the interview, "I have no control. It is illegal right now for me to know what the composition of those trusts are. So I have no idea."

Recently disclosed facts are inconsistent with Frist's insistence that he had no idea whether he owned HCA stock:

by TChris

David Safavian barely had time to resign from his White House position before he was arrested. This article asks how many other "leading figures in the Republican hierarchy that dominates Washington" are threatened by their association (nefarious or otherwise) with Jack Abramoff.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who once called Abramoff "one of my closest and dearest friends," already figures prominently in the investigation of the lobbyist's links to Republicans. The probe may singe other lawmakers with ties to Abramoff, such as Republican Senator Conrad Burns of Montana, as well as [Ohio Rep. Robert] Ney.

Other names mentioned: Republican strategists Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed.

by TChris

When Martha Stewart sold some stock before its price fell, suspicions of insider trading led to an investigation that led to a criminal conviction (although not of insider trading). What will happen to Bill Frist, who sold his stock in HCA, the hospital company that his family founded, just before its shares began to plummet in value?

Sen. Frist says he sold the stock to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest as the Senate considers health care legislation. Funny that he never troubled to disinvest himself of that conflict before. Could Frist have dumped the stock because he had inside knowledge of an upcoming announcement of poor second-quarter earnings that would cause its value to decline? Will federal investigators come knocking on his door, as they did with Martha?

by TChris

Violating the law is virtually stress-free when your buddy is the governor. No need to hire a lawyer or confront charges or contend with a trial that might expose messy facts to public scrutiny. Just ask your pal for a pardon.

Claiming that criminal charges against his appointees were "paralyzing their ability to serve," Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher declared an "amnesty" for appointees accused of illegally replacing state employees with Republican loyalists. At this point, at least, the governor hasn't pardoned himself, but he proudly announced that he'll take the Fifth when he's called before a grand jury on Tuesday.

by TChris

Twenty years of experience with government procurement taught Bunnatine Greenhouse to recognize a bad deal. Her experience didn't prepare her for the consequences of asking questions that the Bush adminsitration expected to remain unvoiced.

A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompetitive contract with the Halliburton Company for work in Iraq was demoted Saturday for what the Army called poor job performance.

Greenhouse rejected a pointed suggestion to take early retirement, and her lawyer says the Army secretary's approval of her demotion violates a commitment to wait until the inspector general had finished his investigation.

Mr. Kohn said that when he telephoned Dan Meyer, director of civilian reprisal investigations in the inspector general's office, on Aug. 24, Mr. Meyer was "shocked" to learn that the corps had proceeded against Ms. Greenhouse. Mr. Meyer said that he was immediately opening a "civilian reprisal" investigation and faxed forms to Mr. Kohn to initiate the process, Mr. Kohn said.

It's events like this that make me wonder whether this country has gone completely mad in its perverse love affair with law and order. Read what happened at a rave concert in Utah as told by a Daily Kos diarist who was on stage playing in the band when it happened- "Helicopters, assault rifles, tear gas, camoflauge-wearing soldiers.... why? Was that really necessary?" He says the event was entirely legal and every permit had been obtained.

And if you have a blog, please publicize the Utah event. When the cops start acting like terrorists to attack our kids, it's time to say enough.

Some snippets: