by TChris

Milwaukee Police Officer Jon Bartlett has been charged with "terrorizing Frank Jude Jr. with a knife and kicking him so hard in the head that bones crackled." But this isn't the first time that Bartlett has been accused of using needless violence against a black suspect. Bartlett "had been accused of using excessive force three times against other black men - one of them fatally - in his five years with Milwaukee police, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Sunday."

How Bartlett got hired for the job is a mystery.

Before Bartlett was hired by Milwaukee police in 1999, he was convicted of trying to escape from police and got less-than-positive reviews from two employers, including a demotion from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Police Department.

Also charged with beating Jude is Officer Daniel Masarik ... and yes, you know where this is going. Masarik also has a checkered record, having "used a stun gun on six suspects in 11 weeks last year, the newspaper reported."

Five male prison guards at a privately run female jail in Brush, Colorado are about to be charged with having sex with inmates and introducing contraband. I wrote about it on 5280.

Interesting that authorities have concluded the claims of sexual assault were false, and the sex was consensual. What's consensual in a situation like this?

by TChris

Bill Hill has had some problems during his six years as Dallas County's district attorney.

•Fake drugs: He and the DA's office continue to struggle with the fallout from the 2001 scandal in which police informants planted fake drugs on innocent people. Prosecutors were slow to recognize that the criminal cases were based on bogus evidence. Two plea deals were accepted even though prosecutors knew the evidence was fake.

•Fruitless investigation: A long investigation into a jailhouse contract awarded by former Sheriff Jim Bowles resulted in several indictments, but all were legally flawed and eventually were dropped or dismissed.

•Delayed justice: A judge twice dismissed charges against notorious child molester David Wayne Jones because the district attorney's office violated his right to a speedy trial. The prosecutor in the case said he was too busy working on other cases.

Hill's remedy for this dysfunctional office? Hire a spokesperson!

Does former Texas Panhandle District Attorney Rick Roach deserve compassion now? The New York Times has a long article on the meth-addicted but zealous prosecutor who's headed to jail.

Even as he was hounding drug offenders into jail, it turned out, Mr. Roach was sinking into his own hell of drug addiction, by his own account stealing methamphetamine and other drugs from police seizures to cope with depression and sexual impotence. Equally astonishing was that his taste for drugs was hardly a secret: it had come to light in two election campaigns.

We wrote up his story here and here.

In an interview reported in the Times article,

by TChris

A former Atlanta police officer, once honored as "Officer of the Year," admitted in federal court that he was a lieutenant in the Diablos gang -- and that he assisted the gang with crimes such as robbery and drug trafficking -- while working as a cop. David Freeman entered a guilty plea to a federal civil rights violation that was based in part on his misuse of police authority "to help in the abduction of a rival gang member who was severely beaten."

by TChris

Theodore White spent five years behind bars before he finally heard those two beautiful words: Not Guilty. And then he heard them twelve times.

White was charged with counts that included statutory rape and statutory sodomy for alleged sex acts from 1995 to 1998 with his stepdaughter. ... Six years ago, a jury found White guilty on all 12 counts but was not informed that his estranged wife, the mother of the alleged victim, had had an affair with the lead detective in the case.

White fled before he was sentenced, but was apprehended and returned to court, where the judge imposed a 50 year sentence. The outrageous decision to conceal evidence of the affair resulted in a new trial, where 11 jurors voted to acquit. The lone holdout juror caused a mistrial, prompting prosecutors to try again, rather than accepting reality. The third jury needed only two hours to acquit.

There was no dispute in closing arguments that White's then-estranged wife had a sexual relationship with the lead Lee's Summit detective, and no dispute that the detective did little to explore evidence of innocence.

Some members of the second jury attended the third trial to show support for White. The Kansas businessman now faces the difficult task of rebuilding his life.

With all the talk of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, it's important to remember that abuse occurs here as well. SK Bubba has the details of a Tennessee case in which four sheriff's deputies have been indicted by the feds, and the transcript of an audio tape on which it is established that they brutally beat a drug suspect into signing a consent to search his home. The news article is here.

They launched the attack with a stunningly simple message. "It's (expletive) over, son."

For two hours, authorities say, that message would be pounded into Lester Eugene Siler's head and body, reinforced with the barrel of a gun and echoed in threats of electrocution.

by TChris

John Hatfield, an LA police officer who beat a suspect with a flashlight -- TalkLeft wrote about the case here and here -- will not be prosecuted. Despite a videotape showing the beating, the DA's office claims the evidence is insufficient to warrant a prosecution.

The tape showed Hatfield, who is Latino, repeatedly striking and kicking at Miller, who is black, after the suspect raised his arms in apparent surrender and was brought to the ground by other officers.

The DA's office says that Hatfield believed that Miller had a gun. If so, it would have been prudent for Hatfield to look for the gun rather than beating the man. Had he done so, he would have discovered that there was, in fact, no gun.

by TChris

Federal prosecutors filed a complaint yesterday charging four Chicago police officers with "shaking down" drug dealers for their cash, drugs, and guns. One of the officers had already been assigned to desk duty while internal affairs investigated a complaint that he helped a suspect avoid capture for a shooting.

The officers' shake-down scheme began to unravel when they tried to take drugs and guns from a snitch who was cooperating with (and under surveillance by) other cops.

Any arrest the officers were involved in could now be called into question, [Chicago Police Supt. Phil] Cline said.

The officers have been suspended without pay pending their termination. TalkLeft reported on similar behavior by Los Angeles police officers here.

by TChris

Lamont Koonce made a mistake when he was pulled over by Petersburg, Virginia police officer Michael Tweedy. Koonce got out of his car and ran. Eventually he surrendered, but what happened next is a far greater crime than Koonce's attempt to evade an arrest.

Koonce ... put his hands in the air. Tweedy then sprayed Koonce with a "substantial" amount of pepper spray, causing Koonce to fall, court papers said. Moments later, Tweedy ran over to a handcuffed Koonce and "forcefully" stomped on his head several times, court papers said. He then returned several times to Koonce and delivered multiple blows to his head.

Koonce was in a coma for more than two months. Yesterday, Tweedy entered a guilty plea to a federal civil rights charge. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed a charge that Tweedy had falsified reports to cover up his misconduct and to shield other officers who played a role in the beating.

Police officers have a duty to let courts determine what punishment, if any, an arrestee deserves. Beating a suspect to send a message about the importance of obeying the police is unacceptable. Tweedy's conviction sends a more important message, as articulated by U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty: "Those who have been sworn to protect the law have a special duty to obey the law."

Only in America. Remember the videotaped beating of the teenager at a gas station outside of LA during the summer of 2002? It almost caused riots, and dominated the news for days. The cop who slammed the kid into the patrol car was charged with assault. He was tried twice and both times the jury deadlocked.

The cop, Jeremy Morse, and his partner sued the city for discrimination saying they had been unfairly "trapped in race situations."

A civil jury has returned a verdict in their favor to the tune of $1.6 million. (Update: This AP report puts the verdict at $2.4 million)

At the time, LA Police Chief Bill Bratton said the officers did not follow departmental policy.

Even the police chief was shocked by the new verdict: Englewood Police Chief Ronald Banks said, "I was shocked at not only the verdict but the size of the awards. It was somewhat ridiculous." The Mayor described the verdict as "inflated and inappropriate," and said the city would decide whether to appeal.

Rick Roach is the elected DA of four counties in the Texas pandhandle. This week he was indicted on federal drugs and weapons charges. He is being detained without bond pending a Tuesday detention hearing. A lawsuit has been filed to remove him from office. The Indictment alleges he is a drug addict.

As an addict, he "knowingly and intentionally" possessed several firearms, including a semi-automatic pistol, according to the indictment.

He is also charged with possession with intent to distribute meth and coke. He was arrested while at the courthouse. His secretary provided a sworn affidavit saying he shot meth twice at an apartment and was about to at the office when she walked out of the room.