Let's not forget prisoner abuse begins at home.

It's called Area 2. And for nearly two decades beginning in 1971, it was the epicenter for what has been described as the systematic torture of dozens of African-American males by Chicago police officers. In total, more than 135 people say they were subjected to abuse including having guns forced into their mouths, bags places over their heads, and electric shocks inflicted to their genitals. Four men have been released from death row after government investigators concluded torture led to their wrongful convictions.

Yet the case around Area 2 is nowhere near a resolution -- to date, not one Chicago police officer has been charged with any crime.

An investigation has been ongoing for four years and last week police officers blocked the release of the proseuctors' report. They filed a motion to suppress the report because it contains their names and they haven't been indicted. The Judge has the motion under advisement.

by TChris

Andrew Gauthier, a police officer in Flint, Michigan, has been charged with assault after a video camera on a school bus showed Gauthier striking a 15 year old boy. According to Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton, the video also "shows Gauthier grabbing the teen's head and pushing the youth's head against a window."

Gauthier (not to be confused with Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Denis Gauthier, recently suspended for two games for similarly violent behavior, albeit on-ice) was fired last week.

by TChris

As TalkLeft noted here, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft was convicted of four misdemeanors for failing to report gifts (primarily golf outings) on his financial disclosure statements. The Ohio Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel today filed a disciplinary complaint that could affect Taft's license to practice law.

In today's complaint, Disciplinary Counsel Jonathan E. Coughlan wrote, "Improper conduct on the part of an attorney in government service is more likely to harm the entire system of government in terms of public trust.'' Coughlan said Taft was aware of Ohio disclosure laws and their requirements

by TChris

Kenneth Junious was the only eyewitness who (supposedly) placed Surgio Johnson at the scene of Melvin Jackson Jr.'s murder. That made Junious a vital witness. When Junious expressed reservations about testifying, prosecutor Barry Disney crossed a line:

The judge said Disney made a false threat of criminal charges and additional jail time to coerce Junious into testifying.

That attempt to coerce a witness prompted Sedgwick County District Judge David Kaufman to exclude Junious' testimony. The district attorney's office appealed the ruling, but its appellate office abandoned the appeal, undoubtedly concluding that it was fighting a losing battle. Perhaps the DA's office worried that an appellate court might ask unpleasant questions about its failiure to charge one of its own with intimidating a witness.

by TChris

A couple of months ago, TalkLeft wrote about a lawsuit against R. Lindley DeVecchio, an FBI agent who allegedly ended surveillance of Nicholas Grancio at the request of an informant so that Grancio could be killed by the Colombo crime family. The lawsuit has become the least of DeVecchio's worries.

DeVecchio was indicted today for conspiring with members of organized crime who committed four murders.

"This is the most stunning example of official corruption I have ever seen," [District Attorney Charles J. Hynes of Brooklyn] said in a statement. He said a federal agent whose job is to protect lives instead assisted in murder.

by TChris

Minority Report -- the movie about police officers who arrested criminals before they committed their crimes -- seemed like science fiction. Who knew the New York police would take it seriously?

In five internal reports made public yesterday as part of a lawsuit, New York City police commanders candidly discuss how they had successfully used "proactive arrests," covert surveillance and psychological tactics at political demonstrations in 2002, and recommend that those approaches be employed at future gatherings. Among the most effective strategies, one police captain wrote, was the seizure of demonstrators on Fifth Avenue who were described as "obviously potential rioters."

If we can proactively invade countries we deem "potential threats," we might as well proactively arrest individuals who look like "potential criminals."

Other tactics revealed by the memoranda are equally repulsive:

The Dallas Morning News takes Sen. John Cornyn and the Senate Judiciary Committee to task for dragging their feet in this rather remarkable investigation. You have to read the details -- it's up there in the "you can't make this stuff up" department.

It's been two years since Dallas Morning News reporter Alfredo Corchado first reported that officials in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in El Paso knew their paid informant was doing more than helping them crack a Mexican drug cartel. While on ICE's payroll, Guillermo Eduardo Ramírez Peyro, a.k.a. Lalo, was also orchestrating cartel-ordered assassinations, which he referred to as carne asadas, or barbecues. One of those victims was a U.S. citizen.

by TChris

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Washington County District Attorney John Pettit is being investigated by the FBI.

The FBI's questioning appears to be centered on allegations that Mr. Pettit has, as one source put it, provided "special treatment for special people," and that he has given preferential legal treatment to a 30-year-old woman with a record of drugs and prostitution. The FBI is trying to determine if they had a personal relationship.

Unless that sort of evidence exists, it would usually be difficult to establish that a prosecutor didn't have a legitimate reason for giving a defendant a break. The article raises more serious questions about Pettit that are unrelated to the FBI's interest in him.

by TChris

Given the president's belief that he can wiretap at will, it isn't surprising that the FBI has followed that lead. In the last two years, the FBI has increasingly exceeded its intelligence gathering authority.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation found apparent violations of its own wiretapping and other intelligence-gathering procedures more than 100 times in the last two years, and problems appear to have grown more frequent in some crucial respects, a Justice Department report released Wednesday said.

FBI agents have exceeded court-imposed limits on wiretaps, sometimes eavesdropping for months after warrants expire.

by Last Night in Little Rock

An Allegany Co. NY ADA was fired Thursday for attending a white supremacist meeting in Northern Virginia according to AP last night.

[ADA] Michael Regan was dismissed after officials learned he had attended a meeting of the New Century Foundation last week in northern Virginia. Allegany County District Attorney Terrence Parker said Regan's "recent activities will continue to significantly disrupt and impair his effectiveness as an assistant district attorney and the operations of the entire district attorney's office."

Mere attendance may not have been the issue; he was quoted in last Saturday's Washington Post:

by Last Night in Little Rock

The Police Chief and an officer in small Troup, TX were arrested on drug and evidence tampering charges, and the small department was shut down, according to AP this morning. The case was investigated by the FBI and the local DA. The Chief made bond, the officer hasn't yet. To add to ignomy, "The department's equipment was seized by officers from other law-enforcement agencies."

by TChris

As TalkLeft reported here, a videotape captured a police officer's shooting of Elio Carrion as the unarmed Carrion, an Air Force policeman who recently returned from Iraq, tried to comply with the officer's orders. Carl Jeffers writes about the follow up -- or lack thereof -- in cases like Carrion's.

The Carrion family is outraged that Officer Webb himself has not been arrested and criminally prosecuted for his actions. As for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's department, they have accorded Webb the same prerogatives that are always accorded police officers in these situations - and that's the first problem I have with this event. I never agree with any of these prerogatives. Officer Webb has been placed on paid administrative leave, and he was given the standard 48 to sometimes 72 hours to relax, collect himself, and get his story together for his written report. And when there is a video tape involved, the Department spokesmen and top officers immediately hold press conferences to assert that the officer was acting fully within Department guidelines, was responding to an immediate threat, and then warn that what we see on the tape doesn't show the entire picture and cannot be relied on to portray the actual events. BULL! ...