Although White MA Cops Were Looking for 1 White Man, They had His Photo and He was Right In Front of Them, They Attacked a Black Man, Put a Knee on His Neck and Searched and Detained Him. Suit Filed

From [HERE] A suburban Boston police officer who was pursuing a white suspect pinned a 20-year-old Black man to the ground as he was walking home and placed a knee on the man's neck despite having no evidence that he was involved in any crime, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Donovan Johnson was minutes away from home after leaving work in February 2021 when a white officer who had been chasing the white suspect ran up to Johnson, drew his gun and threw him to the snow-covered ground face first, the lawsuit filed against the town of Arlington, Massachusetts, and three of its officers alleges.

The lawsuit says that the officer at one point pinned Johnson to the ground by placing a knee on Johnson's neck. The complaint says Johnson yelled “I can't breathe!”, but the officer “continued to pin Mr. Johnson to the ground with his knee,” while the white suspect police had been pursuing “was left unattended.”

The lawsuit filed in Boston federal court alleges that police violated Johnson's constitutional rights when they stopped him, searched him, handcuffed him and placed him in the back of a cruiser before releasing him with no charges.

Johnson said in an interview that the incident took such an emotional toll on him that he struggled to manage his daily life to the point that he almost lost his job as a grants administrator for a hospital.

“I was wrongfully arrested and wrongfully searched just because of the fact that he thought I was the person that he was chasing down,” Johnson said.

Arlington Police Chief Julie Flaherty said in an email that police couldn't comment as neither police nor the town had yet been served the lawsuit.

Johnson's lawyers say an internal investigation found that the officers violated several department policies and procedures. One of Johnson's attorneys, Mirian Albert of Lawyers for Civil Rights, said they hope the case brings systematic changes to eradicate racial profiling practices in the department.

Police went to the room to investigate, but the man escaped and they began to chase him, according to the lawsuit. Johnson, who was almost to his Somerville home, saw the man jog past him before Conroy approached and yelled at both men to “get the (expletive) on the floor.”

The white suspect got on his knees, but Johnson stayed standing, the lawsuit says. After that, Johnson says Conroy drew his gun, threw him to the ground and pinned him down with a knee on his neck.

Another officer who arrived in a cruiser recognized the white man and put him in handcuffs, and the suspect told the officer he didn't know Johnson, according to the lawsuit. A third officer who arrived “immediately jumped on” Johnson to help Conroy hold him down, according to the complaint.

Lawyers for Johnson say the officers had no reason to believe Johnson was involved in any crime: Police had a photo of the white suspect they were looking for, Johnson and the other man both told officers they didn’t know each other and “nothing in the investigation indicated that there was more than one male suspect involved,” the lawsuit says.

The complaint says Johnson was released at the hotel after its staff told officers they had never seen him before. Police left him to find his own way home, the lawsuit says.

Quality of Black Citizenship Low in Liberal Chicago: Data Shows Cops Target Black Drivers, Search Their Cars and Conceal Data About It. So-Called 4th Amendment Right to Freedom Of Movement is Myth

From [HERE] West Sider Shelbert Ramsey never thought a simple traffic stop could leave him in a desperate legal fight to stay out of prison.

Ramsey, 37, was driving through West Garfield Park one afternoon last summer when he saw an old friend and pulled over briefly to say hello, he said. When he pulled away a few seconds later, he saw police lights flashing behind him.

“Their reason for pulling me over was for obstruction of traffic. There was no one behind me, no one around me. There was no traffic at all,” Ramsey said. “I feel they pulled me over illegally, and they were making up excuses [to search me].”

Ramsey said the officers asked him to get out of the car and searched the vehicle after claiming they had seen him buy heroin. But the arrest report makes no mention of an alleged drug buy and says no drugs were found.

Ramsey had a gun under his seat, which he said he carried for protection when he did overnight custodial work in a rough part of the West Side. He had a valid Firearm Owner Identification card that he had recently renewed, though his Concealed Carry License had been revoked without his knowledge when his FOID card had briefly lapsed during the pandemic, he said.

Officers found the lapsed concealed carry license when they ran Ramsey’s driver’s license and arrested him after they found the gun. He was jailed for three days and charged with unauthorized use of a weapon, a felony that carries a penalty of up to three years in prison. Prosecutors eventually dropped the case against Ramsey. But he said it was traumatizing to be arrested and incarcerated after a traffic stop that he felt happened only because he is Black.

“It’s terrible … because you’ve got these people who can really play with your life, take you from your family, your job and throw you in jail for nothing. Then when you get out of jail, you don’t have anything. You’ve got a record, and you can’t get anything,” Ramsey said.

According to data the Chicago Police Department is required to report to state regulators, traffic stops like this are extremely rare. The Police Department reported in 2021 that officers searched drivers in only about 1 percent of all traffic stops, and found weapons in one-tenth of 1 percent of those stops.

But Ramsey’s traffic stop and gun arrest weren’t reported to the state — and neither were thousands of other traffic stops that ended in gun possession arrests since 2014, according to an analysis by Block Club Chicago and Injustice Watch.

CPD reported finding weapons in only 388 traffic stops in 2021, according to data reported to the state as part of the Illinois Traffic Stop Study. But our analysis of gun arrests that year found that more than 2,300 people were arrested on gun charges and also cited for a minor traffic violation during the same encounter, indicating that the arrest likely started with a traffic stop.

Chicago police officials did not respond to specific questions about the data discrepancies sent on multiple occasions over the past several months. A Police Department spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement that the “Chicago Police Department is continuously working to strengthen its data collection and analysis. By improving our data collection, we can identify patterns that can help inform training and department policy development.”

The data discrepancies are coming to light at a time when the total number of traffic stops Chicago police reported to the state has risen exponentially, from just 85,000 in 2015 to more than 600,000 in 2019, before dipping again to about 350,000 per year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Black drivers were pulled over at five times the rate of white drivers in 2021, according to the traffic stop study data.

But the underreported stops, searches and gun arrests suggest the impact of traffic stops is weighing even more heavily on Black drivers than the traffic stop study data suggest. About 85 percent of the adults arrested on gun possession charges and cited for a traffic violation in 2021 were Black.

Rickey Hendon, a former state senator who helped write the traffic stop study legislation, said the data discrepancies dangerously shroud the true racial disparities of the Chicago Police Department’s tactics.

“The purpose of [the study] was so we can see what was happening, and, if there’s a negative pattern that was unconstitutional, we could change it,” Hendon said. “How can regulators fix anything if they’re getting incorrect reports from the Chicago Police Department?”

Other police reform advocates warned the steep jump in traffic stops and the concurrent rise in traffic-stop-related gun arrests suggest Chicago police could be using pretextual traffic stops as a strategy to search people’s cars to crack down on guns, a practice with murky constitutional legitimacy that is obscured by the misrepresentations in the data of how officers are interacting with drivers, they said.

“What is clear is that some of these traffic stops are being used as nothing but a predicate to have contact with young men of color,” said Illinois ACLU spokesperson Ed Yohnka. 

Since 2015, the ACLU has closely followed the surge in traffic stops, which is widely thought to be an unintended result of a landmark ACLU settlement with the city that year that required more detailed reporting about pedestrian stops, which led to a decrease in those stops, also known as “stop-and-frisk.” But if officers are reporting only a small fraction of traffic stop arrests, it also means Chicago police leadership may be making strategic decisions based on wildly inaccurate data, Yohnka said. 

“If officers can seize guns in a traffic stop and then never report the traffic stop, the leadership has no way to form strategies to influence public safety because they have no idea what’s actually going on,” Yohnka said. The inaccurate data is “a missed opportunity of police management to see what’s going on the street and also a missed opportunity for the public to understand how they’re policed,” he said.

Traffic Stops And Gun Arrests Both Up Sharply

At the same time the number of traffic stops by Chicago police has spiked, so has the number of gun possession arrests. In 2014, Chicago police arrested about 2,500 adults on gun possession charges. By 2020, gun arrests had more than doubled to over 5,500, with the vast majority of those considered nonviolent gun cases by prosecutors since the gun was never fired.

An increasing proportion of those arrests stem from traffic stops, according to our analysis of gun possession arrests with an accompanying traffic citation. This analysis likely understates how many people are arrested on gun charges after a traffic stop, since many drivers, including Ramsey, are never cited for the alleged traffic violation that prompted the stop. The stops and arrests disproportionately occur on the South and West sides.

“In my perspective, doing this job, there is a very, very clear pattern of selective [traffic] enforcement,” said Margaret Armalas, an assistant Cook County public defender who recently co-wrote an opinion piece criticizing Chicago police for their gun arrest strategy. ​”These are traffic stops that are only being enforced in communities of color. Nobody is getting pulled over in Lincoln Park because they didn’t use a turn signal. This isn’t about safety.” [MORE]

Black Votary Sleeps as IsrAliens Try to [s]Elect its Leaders: In a Detroit Congressional Race AIPAC Put $4M Behind a Coin-Operated Negro Aspiring to be the Next BOHICAN Puppetician for Israel

ISRAEL’S BOY. THE WHITE LIBERALS AT NEWSWEEK STATE “Detroit May Not Elect a Black Person to Congress for First Time in 70 Years.” But what exactly makes Adam Hollier “Black” besides his chromosomes? Does Black politics have any substantive meaning anymore? Is it just ‘please police don’t kill us’ and whatever Dems say? To Democrats we know that “Blackness” simply means 1) Black skin and 2) not Republican, but what else? Newsweek didn’t bother to mention that Hollier’s campaign has been completely paid for by IsrAliens. It would seem then that if it came down to doing whats necessary for Black lives or IsrAliens’ in fascist Israel, he would choose his customers/pimp. FUNKTIONARY explains, “They call them token Negroes because they are coin-operated. If you put money in them they will dispense (‘espew’—espouse and spew) the view, vision, wishes, ideas, thoughtforms, ideology, hopes and dreams of the customer.”

From [HERE] and [HERE] State Rep. Shri Thanedar won the Democratic primary for the open seat representing most of Detroit, where the issue has been raised of what kind of minority candidate should represent the predominantly Black city.

In the 13th Congressional District, Thanedar was leading with 28%, followed by state Sen. Adam Hollier with 24% and Focus: HOPE CEO and attorney Portia Roberson with 17%, with 99% of votes counted. The Associated Press called the race shortly before 11 a.m.

John Conyers III, son of the late U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., followed with 8.6% and former state Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo with 8.2%.

In the 13th district, where a redrawing of district lines has created an open race between several Democrats, AIPAC’s new political arm, The United Democracy Project, has surprised many observers by spending more than $4 million to support a relatively unknown state senator named Adam Hollier.

Hollier, 36, an army veteran who was elected to the state senate in 2018, was more surprised than anyone to find out that AIPAC’s recently created SuperPAC was putting millions into television ads to support him. In an interview with Haaretz this week, he said he was “super grateful” for the massive spending, despite being totally blindsided about it.

Hollier’s main rival in the primary is Shri Thanedar, a member of the Michigan House of Representatives and a successful businessman who has donated his own campaign millions of dollars in recent months. That money could have been enough to make him the favorite in the race, until UDP started spending heavily to support Hollier. “I’ve never seen in Detroit a congressional race having this kind of outside money,” Jonathan Kinloch, chair of the district’s Democratic Party, told The Detroit News.

Hollier told Haaretz how he found out that the pro-Israeli organization was supporting him: “I woke up one day and my TV-buy people were like ‘… hey,’" he recalls. “There was never an announcement from UDP — they just started spending money. You don’t know if it’s going to be for a few weeks or how much money they’ll spend or what they’re going to say. I went home and immediately started DVR’ing the news because I knew this was going to be impactful,” Hollier says.

Nearly $2.8 million of the UDP spending has been in support of Hollier, while more than $1.4 million has funded anti-Thanedar attack ads.

"Adam Hollier is an Army veteran who has a deep understanding of security issues in the Middle East and will be a pro-Israel member of Congress. Shri Thanedar sponsored some horrific anti-Israel legislation in the state legislature. The contrast is clear," UDP spokesperson Patrick Dorton says.

AIPAC’s interest in defeating Thanadar is based off his May 2021 co-sponsored resolution in the Michigan house describing Israel as an “apartheid state” that committed “countless human rights violations,” and calling to halt U.S. military aid to Israel – positions that are similar to those of Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who is running in the nearby 12th Congressional district.

Thanedar, an Indian immigrant and successful entrepreneur, removed his co-sponsorship after announcing his candidacy and has since adopted more moderate positions on Israel. Thanedar unsuccessfully attempted to run for governor in 2018 after contributing $10.6 million of his own money to his campaign.

“Pro-Israel groups like AIPAC and UDP are supporting me because they don’t want to see my opponent win. It’s hard to manage this moment where the self-funder moves into the district and complains about outside money, while all his money is outside money,” Hollier says. “I’m working to do everything I can to compete in the district where I was raised. For folks to paint it like these outside entities are parachuting in is crazy to me,” he adds.

“I’ve raised more under $50, $100, $250 than anyone in this race. I’ve raised more in Michigan and in district. I just also happen to be the beneficiary of more extra support — but not more than Shri Thanedar,” he explains.

Despite UDP’s unexpected mass investment in his campaign, Hollier’s engagement with the pro-Israel community didn’t happen overnight.

“The Jewish community is very intertwined in the work I do in my community, it’s not like there was a moment I decided to flip a switch,” he says. Prominent pro-Israel in donors further consolidated behind Hollier once the Legacy Committee for Unified Leadership rallied around him as the consensus Black candidate.

Hollier also defends UDP from criticism that it is using Republican donations to sway the outcome of Democratic primaries. “Critics don’t call AIPAC or UDP a pro-Israel group, they call it a Republican group, but Republican groups don’t support Nancy Pelosi or Jim Clyburn or majority Congressional Black Caucus members,” he says.

Hollier is also aware of the criticism that much of UDP’s donations come from Republican megadonors such as Paul Singer and Bernard Marcus, as well as Ed Levy Jr. — perhaps the most impactful Republican donor in Michigan who donated $250,000.

“Ed Levy is a Republican donor, but all the money he spent in UDP goes to Democratic candidates — he doesn't get to say where they're going to spend it,” Hollier says. “That’s a guy who cares about pro-Israel candidates getting elected to Congress and understands it's important to have them on both sides of the aisle.” [MORE]

CHD Survey Finds that After Getting a COVID Shot 15% of US Adults Have Been Diagnosed with a New Health Condition - 21% of Blacks and 32% of Latinos

From [CHD] More than two years after Operation Warp Speed began, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) commissioned John Zogby Strategies to conduct two surveys (see here and here) about attitudes and the overall health of American adults.

Key highlights from the survey of 1,038 adults

The survey found that 67% of respondents received one or more COVID-19 vaccines, while 33% are unvaccinated. Furthermore, among those vaccinated, 6% received one dose, 28% received two doses, 21% received three doses, and 12% took four or more.

Of those receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, 15% say they’ve been diagnosed by a medical practitioner with a new condition within a matter of weeks to several months after taking the vaccine.

“The fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports more than 232 million Americans ages 18-65 have taken at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 15% of those surveyed report a newly diagnosed condition is concerning and needs further study,” said Children’s Health Defense (CHD) executive director Laura Bono. “The mRNA vaccine technology is new and clinical trials naturally have no long-term data. CHD believes this survey points to the need for further study.”

Other key demographics of newly diagnosed medical conditions after COVID-19 vaccines show:

• 17% of those receiving two doses

• 13% of respondents had three shots

• 30% of those ages 18-29

• 23% of those ages 30-49

• 6% of those ages 50-64

• 4% of those older than 65

• 7% of whites

• 21% of African-Americans

• 32% of Hispanics

• 15% of liberals

• 14% of moderates

• 8% of conservatives

A follow-up question provided a list of medical conditions and asked diagnosed respondents to “select all that apply.” Among those who were medically diagnosed with a new condition within a matter of weeks to several months, the top five cited conditions were:

• 21% blood clots

• 19% heart attack

• 18% liver damage

• 17% leg clots/lung clots

• 15% stroke

Overall, 67% reported that getting the vaccine was a good decision, 24% were neutral and 10% regret it.

Survey participants were then asked if someone they personally know had been medically diagnosed with a new medical condition within the same time frame. Overall, 26% reported yes, while 63% reported no.

Looking at age cohorts:

• 34% of those ages 18-29 say they know someone who was diagnosed, as did

• 30% of those ages 30-49,

• 21% of those ages 50-64,

• and 18% of those older than 65

Again, respondents were offered the same list of conditions and asked to “select all that apply.” The top five cited conditions were:****

• 28 % blood clots

• 20% stroke

• 19% autoimmune

• 16% lung clots

• 15% heart attack

Key highlights from the survey of 829 adults ages 18-49

Among those under age 50 – 62% report receiving a COVID-19 vaccine vs. 38% who have had none.

Among those receiving any COVID-19 vaccine, almost one quarter — 22% — report being medically diagnosed within a matter of weeks to several months after taking a shot.

The top five cited new conditions include:

• 21% autoimmune

• 20% blood clots

• 19% stroke/lung clots

• 17% liver damage/leg clots/heart attack

• 15% disrupted menstrual cycle/Guillain-Barré/Bell’s palsy

Regarding describing the conditions, 47% report mild, 43% report serious and 10% report severe/still recovering.

Describing their experience with taking one or more COVID-19 vaccines, 58% report it was a good decision, 28% are neutral and 14% regret it.

Finally, 30% of those ages 18-49 report knowing someone else who has been medically diagnosed within a matter of weeks to several months after taking a COVID-19 vaccine.

The top five cited medically diagnosed conditions of the person known by those under age 50 are:

• 30% blood clots

• 23% stroke

• 20% autoimmune

• 18% leg clots/lung clots

• 17% heart attack

In other findings:

Regarding trust in the government to handle future pandemics among the all-adults survey — 23% say it has increased, 34% say it has decreased, 32% say it has remained the same, the rest were unsure.

The surveys included 1,038 American adults of all ages (MOE +/- 3.1) and 829 18-49-year-olds (MOE +/- 3.5) Both polls were fielded July 22-24, and data sets were pre-stratified and weighted to be representative of their respective populations. Error margins are higher for subgroups.

For questions, wording and full results, see ALL ADULTS and 18-49.

Reckless Indifference to Life by Govt: Video Shows the Moments After Brianna Grier Fell Out of Moving Cop Car. GA Cops Push and Pull On Black Womans Lifeless, Handcuffed Body. Reason for Arrest Secret

From [HERE] Newly released police body camera footage raised questions about the death of a young Georgia mother who fell out of a moving police car after a back door wasn't closed, and her family demanded answers.

Brianna Grier, 28, fell out of the patrol car July 15. She was pronounced dead about a week later at an Atlanta hospital, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. 

Grier, a Black woman, was arrested after the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home in Sparta, Georgia, a city about 70 miles east of Atlanta. The GBI did not say why deputies were called to the home or why Grier was arrested.

Grier was in a coma for six days before she died, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Friday at a news conference. 

Crump, who represents her family, questioned why Grier was arrested, saying the incident was "not a criminal matter but a mental health issue." He said Grier had a history of mental health crises and her family had called police several times regarding mental health concerns. Grier's mother said her daughter was having a crisis before the incident last month, Crump said.

"Just because you're Black and having a mental health crisis does not mean that should equate to a death sentence," Crump said.

Grier's father, Marvin, demanded justice for his daughter alongside other family members Friday.

"We ain't here trying to start no problem," he said with tears in his eyes, "but we're going to start a problem because we want to know what happened. ... That was my child."

Investigators conclude patrol car door wasn't closed

After reviewing body camera footage and conducting interviews, GBI investigators concluded that the patrol car's rear passenger-side door, where Grier was sitting, wasn't closed, according to a statement released Saturday. Agents found that Grier was handcuffed and placed in the car with no seatbelt.

Automotive experts helped determine whether there were mechanical malfunctions with the door, the GBI said.

Authorities release body camera footage

Body camera footage shows Grier repeatedly telling police officers that she was not drunk and asking deputies to give her a breathalyzer test.

Officers placed Grier in handcuffs and attempted to put her in a squad car. The video shows Grier crying on the ground, asking officers to "get off me."

The GBI said Grier refused to get in the patrol car. According to the agency, she said she was going to harm herself.

The footage shows a deputy taking out his taser as Grier yelled, "You can tase me. I don't care." The deputy told Grier he was not going to tase her before he put it away and walked out of view.

Another deputy lifted Grier off the ground and put her in the back seat of the patrol car.

The body camera footage does not show officers opening or closing the rear passenger-side door. The GBI said the deputy thought he had closed the door.

Grier's family demands justice

Grier's family chanted, "Justice for Brianna Grier" Friday at the news conference. They remembered the mother of 3-year-old twin daughters as a loving, caring person.

"We loved her regardless, unconditionally," Marvin Grier said. "Now we (have) to raise these kids and tell them a story, and I'm not planning on telling no lie(s). I want to tell them the truth."

Crump said Grier's daughters have asked every day where their mother is.

"Shame on us if we don't get answers for those babies," Crump said.

"Yet again we have another African American citizen killed in just an unbelievable way while in the custody of the police," he said.

Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, called on local and state authorities to address Georgia's "police accountability and police brutality problem."

"To the Hancock County sheriff, it’s time to be transparent," he said. "It’s time to be accountable. To the GBI, it’s time for y’all to meet with this family. To the governor, it’s time for you to recognize, again, that Georgia has a police accountability problem."

Despite Strong Evidence of Innocence, Racist Suspect Judges and Authorities 'Pass the Buck' Keeping Toforest Johnson on Alabama's Death Row

From [DPIC] The innocence case of Alabama death-row prisoner Toforest Johnson (pictured, center) has drawn substantial support from former judges, jurors, prosecutors, and state bar presidents, but disinterest by current Alabama officials has left Johnson languishing on death row. So argues journalist Radley Balko in his Washington Post column on July 28, 2022.

Balko’s column revisits Johnson’s case and details the evidence that strongly points towards his innocence. Advocating for a new trial, Balko argues that Johnson remains on death row because the responsible parties who could do justice in his case have instead abdicated their responsibility. “[T]he courts pass the buck to the politicians,” Balko writes, ”while politicians … claim that if prisoners like Johnson were really innocent, the courts would have freed them.”

Balko first wrote about Johnson’s possible innocence in 2019, and since that time, judges, prosecutors, and state bar presidents, including the former lead prosecutor on his case, have taken up his cause. Three of the jurors who voted to convict and condemn Johnson have urged the state to grant him a new trial. In his July 2022 article, Balko notes that Alabama officials who can help Johnson, like Governor Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall, have shown no interest in doing so.

In May 2022, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals denied Johnson’s post-conviction petition, which alleged that prosecutors violated his constitutional rights. Based on this decision, Attorney General Marshall asserted that “[m]uch of the narrative that we see those that are advocating on behalf of this defendant were disproven in court.” Balko exposed this statement as false, explaining that the court’s decision did not decide the facts of Johnson’s innocence claim but addressed only one “narrow question” relating to whether the state’s failure to turn over evidence that a prosecution witness had been paid reward money for her testimony against Johnson violated his constitutional rights.

Balko argues that strict court post-conviction standards are premised on the idea that most post-conviction claims of miscarriage of justice “are better handled by the political process — by appealing to attorneys general to drop charges, or to governors to grant clemency.” However, state officials can act as they have in Johnson’s case, using court decisions as “cover to brush aside the very real possibility that the state is preparing to execute an innocent man.”

Johnson was sentenced to death in 1998 in Jefferson County, Alabama for the murder of off-duty Sheriff’s deputy William Hardy, despite there being no physical evidence pointing to Johnson. Ten alibi witnesses placed Johnson at a night club on the other side of Birmingham at the time of the murder. Johnson was appointed an attorney who expressed reservations about taking on a capital case. The attorney had limited funds and could only afford to hire an unlicensed investigator, who Johnson’s current attorneys say was an “alcoholic, racist, suicidal” man who had been recently fired from a capital case due to incompetence.

Further, Johnson’s conviction rested on the testimony of a single witness, Violet Ellison, who claimed to have overheard a man who identified himself as “Toforest” confess to the crime, while she eavesdropped on a three-way prison phone call. Ellison, who was a friend of Hardy’s, had never met Johnson and had never heard his voice before. She came forward to police the day after the state announced a $10,000 reward for information in the case. Records revealed that she was later paid $5,000 in reward money for her testimony. Johnson’s post-conviction attorneys argued that this violated Johnson’s constitutional rights because prosecutors withheld information about the reward payment from the defense. However, in May 2022, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals denied Johnson a new trial based on the trial court’s findings that no constitutional violation occurred because the payment was made after trial and the witness did not expect to be rewarded for her testimony. The court did not address the substance of Johnson’s claim of innocence.

Johnson’s pursuit of a new trial has garnered broad support. In a March 2021 Washington Post op-ed, former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley wrote, “[a]s a lifelong defender of the death penalty, I do not lightly say what follows: An innocent man is trapped on Alabama’s death row. … Johnson’s murder trial was so deeply flawed, the evidence presented against him so thin, that no Alabamian should tolerate his incarceration, let alone his execution.” Current Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr also supported Johnson’s request for a new trial. One of the jurors in Johnson’s trial, Monique Hicks said: “When you look back at all the stuff the jury did not know, I feel like we were used like pawns in a chess game, not even knowing we were being used. It is very disturbing to read all this now.” Juror Jay Crane said, “This is supposed to be an honest system. It’s supposed to work, and they (prosecutors) misled us. I am very disappointed. And I feel sad for the victim’s family because they haven’t gotten any justice. They don’t have the right person in prison.”

California City Paying $1.5M to Fired Police Chief After Verdict

From [HERE] The Oakland City Council approved a $1.5 million payout for a former police chief who won her whistleblower claim against the city after she alleged she was fired for calling out unethical behavior by the civilian commission that oversees the police department.

The payout to Anne Kirkpatrick includes roughly $337,000 a federal jury awarded her, which is equivalent to a year’s salary and the severance she was entitled to as part of her employment contract. The remainder consists of legal costs, said Oakland City Attorney Barbara J. Parker in a memo prepared for the council.

Kirkpatrick had sought more than $3 million in damages in her lawsuit. She said that members of the civilian oversight commission wanted special treatment, abused police staff and meddled in daily operations.

“I hope that the agreement in my favor is a signal to all who are witnesses to misconduct, especially those in law enforcement: do not stay silent,” Kirkpatrick said in a statement. “Our system depends on people who will do the right thing, even when it is the hard thing.”

Kirkpatrick was hired in 2017, the first woman to lead the police department for the city of 400,000. At the time, the department was reeling from a sex exploitation scandal involving a young woman.

But her relationship with the civilian oversight commission soured and in 2020, the commission and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf voted to terminate her employment without cause. At the time, they said Kirkpatrick was keeping information from the oversight commission and failing to meet federally mandated court reforms.

The city does not admit to any wrongdoing and denies her allegations, according to the memo.

The vote was unanimous although several council members voiced their displeasure.

“It’s just a waste of money,” said Dan Kalb, a councilmember.

Fed Ct Says Walgreens is Immune from Liability Under the Prep Act: Woman Fell in the Parking Lot after Getting COVID Shot. All who Administer Shots are Immune Unless there was Willful Misconduct

From [HERE] Walgreen Co. is immune from a customer’s suit seeking damages for injuries she suffered in a fall after receiving her Covid-19 vaccine, a federal court in New Mexico said.

The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act provides an exclusive, administrative remedy for “any claim for loss that has a causal relationship with the administration to or use by an individual of a covered countermeasure” such as a vaccine, the US District Court for the District of New Mexico said.

Suzanne Storment’s injuries directly related to Walgreens’ administration of the vaccine, and therefore weren’t actionable, the court said.

Storment received her first Covid-19 vaccination at a Walgreens store in Albuquerque in February 2021. There were no chairs to sit on while waiting to see if there were any untoward effects, so Storment went out to the parking lot to sit in her car.

Once in the parking lot, Storment felt dizzy and fell to the pavement, fracturing her elbow in multiple places. She sued Walgreens for damages.

Congress, in the PREP Act, “plainly provided immunity under both federal and state law with respect to all claims for loss” arising from the administration of the vaccine, the court said.

The PREP Act's cause of action permits suits only for “willful misconduct.” 42 U.S.C. § 247d-6d(d)(1). The Act defines “willful misconduct” as “an act or omission that is taken-(i) intentionally to achieve a wrongful purpose; (ii) knowingly without legal or factual justification; and (iii) in disregard of a known or obvious risk that is so great as to make it highly probable that the harm will outweigh the benefit.” Id. § 247d-6d(c)(1)(A). The Act further specifies that willful misconduct “shall be construed as establishing a standard for liability that is more stringent than a standard of negligence in any form or recklessness.” Id. § 247d-6d(c)(1)(B).

Storment’s injury “is unfortunate and certainly deserving of a remedy,” the court said. But it can’t be divorced from the administration of the vaccine. The PREP Act therefore applies and provides Walgreens with immunity, Judge Margaret I. Strickland said in Wednesday’s opinion.

Branch Law Firm represents Storment. Modrall Sperling represents Walgreens.

The case is Storment v. Walgreen Co., 2022 BL 261083, D.N.M., No. 1:21-cv-898, 7/27/22.

Destroying People: Movie “mRNA ‘Vaccine’ Genocide” Interviews Victims of COVID Injections. Media Keeps Concealing Reality that COVID Shots are The Most Dangerous Drug in History of Modern Medicine

The Following List of Vaccine Makers, Providers and Hospitals Stand-behind Their COVID Shots and Have Waived Government Granted Immunity from Liability for Injuries or Death Caused: NONE

Dr Fleming says 'There is No Benefit to COVID Shots. Vax is a Bioweapon Making the Vaccinated Susceptible to Disease and Death. Companies Must Be Held Accountable, Gain of Function Research Stopped'

From [HERE] Dr Richard Fleming is an American Medical Doctor, specialising in cardiology and has a law degree. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the American Society of Internal Medicine, he is a medical patent expert, has authored between 400 and 500 medical papers, and has sat on review boards of medical journals.

In March this year, he testified that:

1. SARS-CoV-2 is a lab-engineered bio-weapon, funded by the US government, the result of gain-of-function research on the spike protein, making it more infectious.

2. Safe and Effective treatments for the virus were suppressed by the US health regulatory agencies.

3. Quarantining of healthy people is completely ineffective.

4. The mRNA/RNA “vaccines” produced by Pfizer, Moderna and Janssen are bio-weapons delivering the same toxic spike protein as the virus but in loads up to 5 million times higher.

5. The vaccinated are responsible for pressure-selecting variants (alpha, delta, omicron, etc.), prolonging the epidemic.

6. The “vaccine” disrupts the natural immune system, making the vaccinated more susceptible to infection and disease.

7. The “vaccine” damages red-blood cells and causes hyper-inflammatory and clotting that cause disease and death in its own right.

CDC Official Used Purposefully Flawed Data to Justify COVID Shots for Infants and Children Analysis Shows

From [CHD] An official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used data from a flawed preprint study that exaggerated the risk of death for children from COVID-19 in her presentations to CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisors who were responsible for recommending Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines for infants and young children.

The study, first published May 25 on the medRxiv preprint server, was authored by a group of U.K. researchers. On June 28, the authors published a revised version of the study, after critics questioned some of their original findings.

“It’s really disturbing that data this poor made its way into the meetings to discuss childhood COVID and that it took me less than a few minutes to find a major flaw (and then I found many more as I looked deeper),” said Kelley K, who was the first to point out some of the study’s flaws on her website COVID-Georgia.com.

After learning of Kelley’s analysis, The Defender reviewed the original preprint, confirmed Kelley’s findings and uncovered additional flaws in the original preprint and also in the June 28 revised version.

Study falsely claimed COVID was leading cause of death in U.S. children

During a June 17 meeting of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to discuss pediatric COVID-19 vaccines in children under 5, Dr. Katherine Fleming-Dutra, a pediatrician and pediatric emergency medicine physician with the CDC, presented a table that falsely claimed COVID-19 was a leading cause of death in U.S. children.

Fleming-Dutra earlier that week presented the same table during the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee meeting, along with other slides from the original U.K. study that also falsely claimedCOVID-19 as a “top 5 cause of death” in children.

The table, which was sourced from the U.K. study, was disseminated widely by physicians on Twitter who claimed the data “made the case” for vaccinating children under 5.

Under the Guise of Transparency Sharon Hill (PA) Releases Heavily Redacted Report in Police Murder of Fanta Bility. 8 Yr Old Black Girl Shot Dead by Cops who Fired Wildly Into a Crowd Exiting a Game

From [HERE] Sharon Hill Borough Council released its report Friday on the policies and procedures surrounding the police shooting death of 8-year-old Fanta Bility. The report was made by a law firm hired by the Council.

The new report is heavily redacted, with many of its findings and recommendations not visible to the public.

Borough Solicitor Courtney Richardson said the redactions are to protect the purist of justice as cases are still pending.

She said the Borough wants to create policies and procedures so that this never happens again. Bruce Castor, the attorney representing Bility's family called the report "unacceptable."

"The undated and redacted report made public today by Sharon Hill Borough is an insult to the memory of Fanta and completely unacceptable in any society that values the truth and the Rule of Law. The heavily edited report raises more questions in the minds of the family and the public than it answers," he said in a statement.

On Friday night, members of the Delaware County Black Caucus and other community members express similar concerns.

"We need to know what it is that Sharon Hill Borough Council and the police department are hiding," said Arnold Jones, chair of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Committee.

Richardson said she does not have a time frame on if and when officials will be able to release an unredacted version of the report.

"The borough is not hiding anything. I want to be very clear the borough did not have to release this report at all. And it did because it said listen we want to share as much as we can given the circumstances because the community has a right to know something," said Richardson.

Bility was shot in August 2021 as she walked with her mother following a football game at Academy Park High School.

Three officers, identified as Brian Devaney, Sean Dolan, and Devon Smith, fired their weapons as the game was letting out in response to gunfire they heard in the vicinity that was unrelated to the football game.

They fired 25 shots at a black Chevy Impala, which they believed was where the shots were coming from.

That vehicle was passing the exiting crowd, which included Bility. Each officer was charged with 10 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter, according the to the charging documents.

Last week, the defense filed a motion to drop voluntary and involuntary manslaughter charges against Devaney, Dolan, and Smith.

Liberals in Philly Talk About 'A Return to Stop and Frisk' as if Black People's 4th Amendment Rights Can Be Turned On and Off or Are Just Favors Given and Taken Away by Master in a Free Range Prison

The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board says, The rise in gun violence has prompted some City Council members to call for the Police Department to reexamine its stop-and-frisk policy. While the idea is well intended, it should be a nonstarter.

The Philadelphia Police Department has a long history of racial discrimination and brutality aimed at the Black and Latino communities.

…..In other words, stop-and-frisk doesn’t work, and only fosters the illegal practice of racial profiling. We need new ideas to address crime in Philadelphia.

The city’s recent $5.8 billion budget includes $155 million for violence prevention programs. While better than nothing, it is beyond underwhelming given the stakes. [MORE]

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects the people against unjustified detentions by the government. The Amendment reads: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

In order for the police to stop you the Supreme Court has ruled that police must have reasonable articulable suspicion that there is criminal activity afoot and that you are involved in the activity. Police may not act on on the basis of an inchoate or unclear and unparticularized suspicion or a hunch - there must be some specific articulable facts along with reasonable inferences from those facts to justify the intrusion.

In order to frisk you the Supreme Court has ruled that the police must have independent reasonable articulable suspicion that the person is armed and dangerous before they may touch you or put their hands on you (a cursory patdown for weapons). Police may not act on on the basis of an unclear and unparticularized suspicion or a hunch - there must be some specific, actual & articulable facts along with reasonable inferences from those facts to justify the intrusion.

However, legal truths must give way to reality. In real life, Brazen cops so frequently abuse their power that no Black shopper, pedestrian, motorist, juvenile, adult or Black professional of any kind—could make a compelling argument that so-called constitutional rights provide Black people any real protection from cops or the government in general.

The only thing upholding the 4th Amendment is your belief in it. You only have rights if an authority says that you do. Your possession of "rights” given to you by a magical government, which functions as your master, is cult belief. Rights are myths. As stated by Dr. Blynd, “There is no freedom in the presence of so-called authority.” The belief in “authority,” which includes all belief in “government,” is irrational and self-contradictory; it is contrary to civilization and morality, and constitutes the most dangerous, destructive superstition that has ever existed. Rather than being a force for order and justice, the belief in “authority” is the arch-enemy of humanity.” [MORE]

FUNKTIONARY explains,

adherent rights – privileges disguised as so-called “rights” created by men via deceptive word-manipulation in written form called “symbolaeography,” and legal documents. 2) privileges granted by an apparent or putative authority at the expense of one's inherent or unalienable ‘rights.’ (See: Inherent Rights & Rights)

inherent rights – unalienable and unassailable rights. Inherent rights have never been codified into law, so if you’re from a phfree family, you’ll know how to assert and defend them), and if not, you won’t. (See: Adherent Rights)

“rights” – useful fictions declared in order to make agents of another type of fiction (“government”) have to play along in their deadly theatrical (tragicomedy) game. 2) mere fictions, the contemplation of which leads only to a progressive social, personal, racial and jurisprudential separation from reality. Discussion and debates about “rights” merely evades the FAQ, i.e., the frequently avoided question of who is to enforce any “right” and who will benefit from the pretense. “Rights” are separated into two categories—those flowing from “negative liberties” and those flowing from “positive liberties.” In law, rights are remedies and if a person is without a remedy (as is with citizens of the United States) he is without a right, and only a ‘thing’ is without rights. (See: Negative Liberties, Positive Liberties, Bill of Rights, Liberty, Freedom, Civil Rights, Human Rights, Ma’at & Justice) [MORE]

A White BSO Cop Told a Jury of Sheeple that ‘He Had to Knock a Black Teen Down, Mount Him and Slam His Face Into the Ground to Protect Himself’ and They Believed It b/c They Believe Anything Cops Say

From [HERE] "The defendant is not guilty," a courtroom clerk read. After a three-year legal battle, former BSO Deputy Chris Krickovich is relieved with the not guilty verdict after getting caught committing crimes on camera.

With tears in his eyes, he hugged family and friends in the courtroom.  The jury found him not guilty of battery.

Video shows him slamming a Blcak teenage boy's head into the ground and then punching the teen in the head. one Florida deputy spraying pepper spray in the face of a teen boy. As the teen appears to walk away with his hands on his face, the deputy follows him, grabs him and slams him to the ground.

Another deputy then jumps onto the boy's back, slams his face into the pavement more than once and punches the teen in the head.

In the background, bystanders can be heard yelling "What are you doing?" and "He's bleeding." Such statements are not threats.

Prosecutors say Rolle was in an "give up position" and not resisting, so the head slam and punch showed excessive force.  The jury didn't see it that way.

"It's up the province of the jury.  I put forth a good case, so it's ultimately up to them," said prosecutor Chris Killoran.

In the hallway, retired BSO Capt. Neal Glassman confronted the prosecutor. 

"They have 10 times the courage you'll ever have," said Glassman, regarding the three deputies who were originally charged in this case. 

Killoran is the head of the Public Corruption Unit. He called the confrontation disgusting and unprofessional.

"I'm just doing my job, but apparently captains like to get up in my face and try to intimidate prosecutors.  They should know nobody is above the law and we will continue to prosecute these cases to the fullest of our ability," he said.

Krickovich plans to push to get his job back, along with back pay. 

But Broward Sheriff Gregory was quick to release a statement saying Krickovich won't be wearing a BSO uniform under his watch.

"The Broward Sheriff's Office maintains an unwavering commitment to holding all employees accountable. Under my administration we will never be an organization that finds excessive force tolerable. That standard has been set at the Broward Sheriff's Office and will not change. Independent criminal investigations or convictions of former employees do not supersede BSO's administrative policies, standards, or expectations."

Jury Finds White Euclid Cop Guilty of Misdemeanor Assault for Repeatedly Punching a Black Man and Hitting his Head on the Pavement after a Traffic Stop, Never Had a Chance to Comply

From [HERE] A jury found Euclid police officer Michael Amiott guilty of assaulting a Black motorist during a violent 2017 traffic stop that garnered international attention and thrusted Euclid into the national conversation about police brutality.

Amiott was convicted Friday night in Euclid Municipal Court of one count each of assault and interfering with civil rights of Richard Hubbard III during the Aug. 12, 2017 traffic stop that was captured on cellphone video that went viral, Euclid Municipal Court Clerk Keith Hurley confirmed. He was acquitted of one count of assault.

Amiott faces a potential sentence of up to 360 days in jail on the two first-degree misdemeanors. He is also eligible for probation.

He will be sentenced at a later date. Retired Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Guy Reece presided over the trial after Euclid Municipal Court Judge Patrick Gallagher recused himself from the case.

The jury reached its verdict Friday after deliberating for nearly five hours.

The trial began Monday and included testimony from both Amiott and Hubbard, as well as several other police officers.

25-year-old Richard Hubbard III was pulled over on E 228th St. just before 10:30 a.m. for "a moving/traffic violation." The video showed the white cop repeatedly punching the black man and hitting his head on pavement appears to show a different sequence of events than police had originally described.

The initial statement from police in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid said Richard Hubbard III, had refused Officer Michael Amiott's orders to "face away" after getting out of his car Aug. 12 and then began resisting. But the video shows Amiott not giving Hubbard a chance to comply.

The video of the incident showed Amiott kneed Hubbard, tackled him to the ground and punched him in the face and body several times. Hubbard was handcuffed and taken to a police cruiser, while his girlfriend screamed at Amiott to stop.

Euclid Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer-Gail fired Amiott in the months after the video went viral. An arbitrator later ruled that he should be reinstated.

Hubbard testified Monday and said Amiott slammed his head on the ground and that he didn’t know why Amiott used such force against him, WKYC reports. Hubbard also testified that he believed he was racially profiled during his arrest, WKYC reports.

Amiott took the stand on Wednesday and accused Hubbard of resisting arrest, WJW Channel 8 reports.

The city paid Hubbard $450,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit.

The white cop has a history of assaulting Black people. Including when he was forced to resign from the Mentor Police Department in 2013 after he lied about why he stopped a driver for a suspended license. Euclid hired him shortly after. [MORE]

Amiott was also accused in 2017 of pepper-spraying a man who started recording Amiott as he searched and handcuffed juveniles. The same year he was accused of throwing a 16-year-old girl to the ground and placed his knee on the girl’s back during an incident at Euclid’s library.

A man sued Amiott in 2017, accusing the officer of kicking him in the face and pepper-spraying him. The city settled that lawsuit for $40,000.

He was also accused of pistol-whipping a driver in 2016 during a traffic stop and received a written reprimand.

Amiott’s legal troubles continued even as he was on trial. A lawsuit filed in federal court in Cleveland accused him of injuring a man he arrested by driving recklessly.

The incident happened during the July 6, 2020 arrest of Tyrez Bowden, 24, according to the lawsuit filed by attorneys Brian Scherf and Sergey Kats of Bedford.

Amiott failed to properly secure Bowden in Amiott’s police vehicle and drove recklessly on the drive to the city jail. He nearly hit a pedestrian, causing Bowden to be “thrown throughout the vehicle.”

The stop and other reckless driving caused Bowden to stuffer several physical and psychological injuries, according to the lawsuit.

Bowden had been arrested on a charge of improperly handling a gun in a car. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Monday to 17 months in prison.

GA Police Claim a Black Woman "Fell from a Moving Patrol Car" and Died. Ben Crump and Parents Demand Answers

From [HERE] The parents of a Black woman who died after she fell from a moving patrol car following her arrest fought back tears on Friday as they demanded answers in their daughter’s death.

Brianna Grier, 28, suffered significant injuries on 15 July and died six days later at an Atlanta hospital. The Georgia bureau of investigation said this week that the deputies who put Grier in the back of a patrol car to take her to the Hancock county sheriff’s office failed to close the rear passenger-side door before driving away.

“We’re trying to get answers of what really happened … We ain’t trying to start no problem,” a tearful Marvin Grier, Brianna’s father, said during a news conference, his voice catching several times. He was joined by Brianna’s mother and sister, Mary and Lottie Grier.

Grier was arrested after Hancock county sheriff’s deputies were called to a home in Sparta, the GBI has said. The deputies put Grier in the back of a patrol car, but she was not wearing a seatbelt, her hands were cuffed in front of her and the rear passenger-side door was never closed, according to GBI investigators.

The GBI has not said why deputies were called to the home or why Grier was arrested. The prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing her family, said Grier was taken into custody after a mental health crisis.

“Yet again we have another African American citizen killed in just an unbelievable way while in the custody of the police,” Crump said at the Friday news conference in downtown Decatur, a suburb of Atlanta.

He addressed Grier’s parents: “We won’t let them sweep your baby daughter’s death under the rug.”

Crump said his team would investigate what failures caused Grier to fall out of the car while it was moving and suffer a brain injury that put her in a coma until she died on 21 July.

The president of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, Gerald Griggs, called on state and county officials for answers.

“To the Hancock county sheriff, it’s time to be transparent,” Griggs said. “It’s time to be accountable. To the GBI, it’s time for y’all to meet with this family. To the governor, it’s time for you to recognize, again, that Georgia has a police accountability problem.”

The GBI has said agents have done interviews, reviewed multiple body camera videos and done mechanical tests on the patrol car as part of the ongoing investigation into Grier’s death.

Federal Judge Convicts 2 Minneapolis Cops of Deliberate Indifference and Failing to Intervene for Doing Nothing as White Cop Murdered George Floyd. Cops Sentenced to Only 3 Years in Prison

From [HERE] Two former Minneapolis police officers were sentenced to about three years in federal prison for violating the civil rights of George Floyd, who was killed in police custody in May 2020, setting off a summer of protests and unrest across the U.S. 

J. Alexander Kueng was sentenced Wednesday in St. Paul, Minn., to three years and Tou Thao was sentenced to 3½ years. They were convicted in February of showing deliberate indifference to Mr. Floyd’s serious medical need and willfully failing to intervene as Mr. Floyd lay handcuffed and face down in the street with former officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck and back for more than nine minutes. 

A third officer, Thomas Lane, was sentenced last week to 2½ years after being convicted of the deliberate indifference charge. 

Mr. Chauvin, who was convicted of second-degree murder in state court, pleaded guilty to federal civil-rights charges and was sentenced earlier this month to more than 20 years in federal prison. 

Mr. Lane has pleaded guilty to state charges of aiding and abetting manslaughter. Mr. Kueng and Mr. Thao are expected to stand trial on aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter charges later this year.

Mr. Lane had been a full-fledged officer for only a few days when he and Mr. Kueng, also a rookie, were called to a convenience store called Cup Foods on a report of someone using a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes.