Ending the longest jury deliberation in California history, jurors in the year long corruption trial of three former Oakland cops delivered verdicts of not guilty on 8 counts. They were unable to reach a verdict on 27 remaining counts and a mistrial was declared on those counts. The jury deliberated for four months.

The former officers, who called themselves the "Riders" and worked the night shift in one of Oakland's roughest areas, were charged with beating suspects, wrongfully accusing them of crimes, planting drugs and covering it all up by falsifying police reports.

....Oakland Police Chief Richard Word said jurors were "clearly troubled by the evidence" and stood by his decision to fire the officers.

Nine current and former law enforcement officers were arrested Thursday following sting operations in Illinois aimed at cops who rip off drug dealers. They include,

...two Illinois state parole agents, four police officers, two Cook County sheriff's deputies and a former Seattle police detective.

Here's how it worked:

Typically, an undercover informant led the lawmen to a parked car he identified as that of a drug dealer, and the lawmen would break into it, federal officials said. In most of the stings, the officers would take cash and fake cocaine. The lawmen would keep the cash and the undercover informant kept the bogus cocaine -- preventing those targeted from discovering the drug wasn't real, officials said.

The nine were charged with either attempted robbery of cocaine or attempted possession of cocaine. All will be in jail for the weekend, as bond hearings won't take place until Monday.

Talk about a light sentence...6 months for stealing marijuana from the evidence locker and then giving it to a female drug defendant in exchange for sex. And to boot, this is from a judge in the state that so proudly champions the Ten Commandments.

If you haven't been following the discrimination lawsuit by hispanic federal customs agents against the agency , you should be. Here's the latest from the San Antionio Business Journal.

The St. Petersberg Times takes the Tampa police force to task for driving around in cars seized from drug dealers and other offenders:

It is disappointing that neither Tampa's mayor nor police chief recognize how unbecoming it is for police brass to drive confiscated cars. The purpose of property seizure laws is to strip criminals of their illegal gains; they're not intended to be a honey pot so the chief and his staff can tool around in luxury cars.

When police agencies benefit directly from the properties they seize, it doesn't pass the smell test. There's a conflict of interest. When the fruits of the seizure can be used to buy new high tech equipment and other perks for the police, the temptation is just too great to seize the cash by breaking the rules.

Columnist Robyn Blummer also criticizes the practice :

Civil asset forfeiture is the most infamous game in law enforcement. While in its pure form, seizing the luxury cars, boats, homes and cash of drug dealers can be a useful tool in taking profit out of crime, in the real world far too many police and sheriffs offices use it to finance and enrich their operations, leading to startling abuses.

Blummer also touts our favorite investigative series on law enforcement abuses in forfeiture cases--one by Karen Dillon that appeared in the Kansas City Star in 2000, and yes, it's still on line.

No, this isn't an article from 1972, but a new revelation. Ex- Nixon aide Jeb Magruder, who went to prison for his part in the Watergate scandal, is breaking his silence after 30 years.

In a new PBS documentary to be broadcast this coming Wednesday, Magruder says Nixon directed former Attorney General John Mitchell to proceed with the break-in.

Mr. Magruder, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and perjury charges stemming from the break-in and spent seven months in prison, explained his three decades of silence about Nixon's culpability by saying, "Nobody ever asked me a question about that."

John Dean, former White House aide and co-conspirator in the plan, says that while he is surprised by the revelation,

"I have no reason to doubt that it happened as he describes it, but I have never seen a scintilla of evidence that Nixon knew about the plans for the Watergate break-in."

Here's a factoid for you: In all, 25 people served jail terms for the break-in and its cover-up.

Attorneys for a group of Hispanic special agents are accusing U.S. Customs officials of destroying evidence to bolster the government’s position in a pending class-action discrimination lawsuit.

The charges are raised in recent pleadings in the case, which is pending in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The class-action litigation alleges that the government has engaged in a pattern of racial discrimination against its Hispanic Customs agents nationwide.

We have been remiss in not writing before about Jesselyn Radack. Ms. Radack was a Government Ethics Advisor at the Department of Justice during the John Walker Lindh case. She disagreed with the Government's tactics, revealed misconduct by DOJ officials in the questioning of John Walker Lindh and told her bosses about evidence that should have been turned over to the defense to assist in trial preparation, but was not.

Since then she's lost two jobs -- pushed out of her Justice post and then fired from the firm that had taken her in -- and now finds herself unemployed and in limbo. Her personal challenges are daunting: under criminal investigation, ailing from multiple sclerosis, and expecting a third child in January. But far from singing the victim's song, Radack appears composed and stalwart...

....Her story grows more ominous as new details emerge about how far the government will go in pursuit of one of its own.

Read the story, and this petition written by Ms. Radack that calls on the U.S. Government not to trample civil rights and liberties in responding to terrorism.

The Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press reports here, and Sen. Ted Kennedy wrote a letter to Ashcroft requesting answers to why she was forced out of her job. Kennedy elaborated on Ms. Radeck in his comments to the Judicary Committee concerning the confirmation of Justice Department official Michael Chertoff to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals:

The Center for Public Integrity today has released a report showing a pattern of misconduct by local prosecutors nationwide.

The report is called "Harmful Error," a play on the term "Harmless Error" used by appellate courts when they find that prosecutorial misconduct occurs, but does not prejudice the defendant so acutely that the guilty verdict must be reversed.

"This is the most extensive investigation into prosecutorial conduct that has ever been carried out in this country," said Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center. "The findings in this report will be discussed in legal circles for years to come."

Judges have ruled in at least 2017 cases out of over 11,000 cases reviewed from 1970 through mid-2003 that prosecutors' behavior inside or outside the courtroom prejudiced juries or judges against the defendant. As a result, the judges reversed a guilty verdict, ordered a new trial, or took other actions to correct a wrong. The report also documents cases in which prosecutorial misconduct has played a role in convicting innocent women and men.

The U.S. is expected to announce the indictment of 17 Detroit cops for stealing money from drug dealers and prostitutes. The joint state-federal investigation has been ongoing for a year.

The investigation took so long because of perceived credibility issues with the victims and the firing of Former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown, head of the corruptions unit.

Brown was fired May 9 allegedly for investigating accusations of wrongdoing by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his inner circle.

....Police officials said Wednesday that the indictments all stem from allegations against officers in southwest Detroit, primarily the 3rd (Vernor) and 4th precincts. Brown also said that the cases stem from southwest Detroit.

A 3rd Precinct officer, who also requested anonymity, said Wednesday that at least 20 officers from both precincts testified on the matter before federal grand juries earlier this year.

Last year, three officers from the 5th (Jefferson) Precinct were sentenced in U.S. District Court on similar charges.

Free at last....what a travesty that they were in jail at all. The 13 remaining Tulia, Texas defendants are being released on bail Monday. Their ordeal is not over. They still need either to have their convictions overturned or receive pardons.

While everyone else is applauding the three branches of Texas Government for working together to release the 13 on bail, we'd like to take a moment to applaud their several dedicated, pro bono defense counsel that worked years to see their clients released, particularly Jeff Blackburn:

In the last two years, Jeff Blackburn, a solo practitioner in Amarillo, Texas, has been working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund and a handful of other lawyers to get some of the accused off and others, already convicted, out of jail. It's taken more than 2,000 hours and about $39,000 of his own money.

We started a new archive category today--Misconduct--to cover injustice news related to police and prosecutorial misconduct. Such as the news that the Los Angeles City Council has agreed to pay a $1.3 million settlement in the case of a police officer who raped women while on official duty on three separate occasions.

Former Officer Joseph Evan Robinson, 27, was convicted this year of raping the women while on duty. The former 77th Street Division patrol officer, who had been relieved of duty in April 2002, is serving three consecutive life terms.

In the first case, Robinson and his partner confronted a woman in January 2002 as she sat in a car with her boyfriend at 64th and Figueroa streets. Prosecutors said Robinson determined the woman had an outstanding warrant, then took her to an alley out of sight of his partner and her boyfriend, and raped her, according to a probation report.

Two weeks later, Robinson handcuffed and sexually assaulted a woman in a Figueroa Street motel room after allegedly finding marijuana in the room she shared with a boyfriend, according to a probation report.

A month later, Robinson forced a woman from a bus stop at 47th Street and Figueroa into his patrol car and drove her several blocks away, where he handcuffed and raped her, the report said.

The category will include future posts pertaining to lab fraud, withholding of exculpatory evidence, false forced confessions, etc. Feel free to e-mail tips.