Cop Kills Deaf Man For Not Responding to Shouted Commands

Yet another trigger happy Cop murder of a brown man.

‘He Can’t Hear You!’: Deaf Man Shot Dead by Oklahoma City Police as Neighbors Scream in Horror

A deaf man carrying a metal pipe was fatally shot by Oklahoma City police on Tuesday night as neighbors frantically tried to tell officers that he couldn’t hear their commands.

Magdiel Sanchez, 35, was shot and Tasered on a porch on Tuesday around 8:15 p.m. after he allegedly advanced toward officers following a hit-and-run involving his father, Police Capt. Bo Mathews said Wednesday.

The Victim, Magdiel Sanchez

The encounter unfolded after witnesses called police to report the hit-and-run, and said the driver, Sanchez’s father, had fled the scene and driven to the residence. Mathews did not know if anyone was injured in the crash, but said the car hadn’t struck anyone. Sanchez was not in the car at the time of the hit-and-run and had no criminal history, officials said.

Upon arriving at the house to investigate the accident, Lt. Matthew Lindsey saw Sanchez on the porch, holding a 2-foot-long metal pipe “wrapped in some type of material” with a small leather loop on the end of it, Mathews said.

A neighbor, Jolie Guebara, later told The Associated Press that Sanchez often carried the pipe to fend off stray dogs when he went for walks at night.

The lieutenant perceived the pipe as a weapon and called for backup. Sgt. Chris Barnes arrived.

“When the other unit arrived, verbal commands were being given to this individual to drop the weapon and get on the ground,” Mathews said.

Instead of doing that, Sanchez kept moving toward officers, Mathews said. Lindsey and Barnes ordered him to “drop the weapon and get on the ground.”

That’s when witnesses started yelling “he can’t hear you,” according to Mathews.

“The witnesses were yelling that this person, Mr. Sanchez, was deaf, and could not hear,” he said. “The officers did not know this as the time.”

Mathews did not know whether the officers heard the witnesses’ screams.

He said Lindsey then deployed his Taser and Barnes fired a gun when Sanchez had got about 15 feet away from them.

Both struck him. Sanchez was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sanchez’s father, who was not named, confirmed to police that his son was deaf.

Barnes is being put on paid administrative leave. It wasn’t known how many shots he fired, but it was “more than one,” Mathews said, adding that the case was being investigated as a homicide.

The officers who shot and Tasered Sanchez did not have body cameras on — the department is in the process of getting them — and Mathews said he did not know why they didn’t respond to neighbors’ warnings that Sanchez was deaf.

“When you have a weapon out, you can get what they call tunnel vision,” he said, “or you can lock into just the person who has the weapon, the threat against you.”

 

Terrence Crutcher Killer Gets a Walk

Yet another odd one from the courts. This one in my view, definitely falls under “The New Jim Crow”.  I am not familiar with the statutes in the State relative to murder, so this could be an issue of “overcharging” – but I cannot understand why this murderer wasn’t held culpable. At least under a lesser charge.

Tulsa police officer found not guilty in shooting of Terence Crutcher

Officer Shelby was acquitted by a jury in the shooting of unarmed black man Terence Crutcher

Tulsa police officer Betty Jo Shelby was acquitted of first-degree manslaughter after shooting and killing unarmed black man Terence Crutcher last year. The jury of nine white people and three were black people acquitted Shelby after nine hours of deliberation on Wednesday night, according to NPR.

The shooting took place last September and was captured on video which shows Crutcher with his hands above his head as he walks towards his vehicle that is stalled in the middle of the road. Aerial footage of the shooting was also taken by Shelby’s husband, a Tulsa police officer who was operating the department’s helicopter that evening.

Shelby said that she used lethal force because she feared for her life as she believed Crutcher attempted to reach into a car to, presumably, grab a weapon. The officer arrived at the scene where Crutcher’s car was stalled in the middle of the road, and a witness who dialed 911 claimed a man was running away from the vehicle delivering warnings that it may explode, according to CNN. Shelby testified that Crutcher was not complying with her commands to make his hands visible and that she had acted only as she was trained to. Shelby also said Crutcher was sweating and claimed that she had smelled PCP.

“We’re not trained to see what comes out of a car,” she said according to CNN. “We’re trained to stop a threat, and by all indications, he was a threat.” At the same time that Shelby shot Crutcher, another officer next to her deployed his taser.  An autopsy report found that PCP was in Crutcher’s system at the time of the shooting, according to CNN.  However, no weapon was ultimately found on his person or in the vehicle.

When asked if the outcome of the incident was Crutcher’s own fault, Shelby replied, “Yes,” in a “60 Minutes” interview. “I have sorrow that this happened, that this man lost his life. But he caused the situation to occur,” Shelby said “So in the end, he caused his own,” death.

The ruling delivered a devastating blow to the family who believed that Shelby should have faced consequences for her actions. “Let it be known that I believe in my heart that Betty Shelby got away with murder, and I don’t know what was in the mind of that jury,” Crutcher’s father said, according to NPR.

The incident is the latest in a string of shootings of unarmed black men at the hands of law enforcement across the country. Officers have seldom been convicted of crimes. Critics say that Shelby, who is white, overreacted and used unnecessary force. Protesters gathered peacefully outside the courtroom shortly after the verdict, condemning the decision, according to CNN.

“No justice, no peace, no racist police!” the crowd chanted.

Leaders in Tulsa, Oklahoma have urged for peace after the verdict. “This verdict does not alter the course on which we are adamantly set,” Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a news conference, according to the Associated Press.

“It does not change our recognition of the racial disparities that have afflicted Tulsa historically. It does not change our work to institute community policing measures that empower citizens to work side by side with police officers in making our community safer.”

 

Drug Addled Trumpazoids Bring Back Cattle Rustling

Red Zone returning to the days of Cowboys and “Indians” and shootout at the OK Corral!….

The James Gang. Jesse front left, Frank right, Cole and Bob Younger back, l, r

Drug Addicts Are Stealing Cattle. This Guy Works to Stop Them

Special agricultural agents are waging a war against outlaw cowboys in the Heartland.

Having served in law enforcement for four decades, Jerry Flowers has seen a lot of bad behavior. But the last several years he has focused in on one particularly thorny problem: a surging spate of cattle rustling in Oklahoma (Flowers’ efforts are chronicled in the new episode of Explorer, airing on National Geographic channel at 10/9c Monday).

Agriculture is a $40 billion annual business in Oklahoma, and Flowers estimates roughly one percent of the state’s millions of head of cattle are stolen. Worth $1,200 to $1,500 a head, cattle are relatively easy to move and hard to track, making them tempting targets.

Flowers serves as the chief of an elite law enforcement unit of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture that is trying to get a handle on this major source of criminal activity. His nine-member team helps recover thousands of cattle a year, worth $4 to $5 million.

So how does cattle rustling work?

Stealing cattle is a way to make quick money. The only thing you need is a trailer and a truck.

These outlaws drive around out here and look for easy targets. They look for cattle that are penned up near the road, in places with easy access to get on and off the property quickly.

They may steal them in northwest Oklahoma and take them to the southeast to sell them at a market, and by noon they have a check. These outlaws are highly mobile.

How do they offload their stolen animals?

Ninety-nine percent of the time they take them to a legal market to sell them. There are about 50 markets in the state that sell cattle. Most often the thieves bill the cattle in as their own, which is a crime. In some cases, they put them in a pasture for some months so they bulk up, to throw off the descriptions of the stolen animals.

How do you investigate the crimes?

We get calls from livestock owners who go out to find their cattle gone. So we go investigate. We look for any evidence that might be left, everything from a tire track to a cigarette butt.

Once we determine cattle have been stolen we put out a bulletin to all livestock markets, including in neighboring states. We put out info on what to be looking for, what brands or ear tags they might have, description of the cattle, and so on.

Then we often get calls from livestock owners or markets that let us know an individual came through and billed cattle that they are suspicious of. Maybe they are freshly branded. Or they brought them in at the wee hours of the morning. Maybe they didn’t know exactly what they had.

We go out and identify the cattle and launch an investigation. Sometimes we can use DNA evidence. We’ve been very successful intercepting these kinds of transactions.

Colonel Jerry Flowers (center and with firearm) stands with agents of the Investigative Services Unit of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry (ODAFF) Division.

What happens to the rustlers?

If you get caught doing that in Oklahoma, each head of livestock can carry up to 10 years in prison.

In our state, cattle theft became such a problem that a new law also went into effect last November to help victims recoup their losses. Cattle thieves can be made to pay restitution three times the value of the loss the owner sustained. In other words, if someone stole $10,000 worth of cattle they have to pay back $30,000.

Stealing someone’s cow is like stealing a factory. That cow can produce young for up to 10 years. So it’s an important resource for people.

So cattle aren’t microchipped or otherwise tracked?

We rarely see microchips. We have millions of cattle run through the state every year. To an owner running 1,500 head, the cost to put in microchips would be high. And when you are raising cattle you may only have the calves for six or seven months, it’s a constant rotation. Ear tags are useful for owners to ID their cattle but the first thing outlaws do when they steal them is cut them out.

Hot-iron branding is the number one way to ID your cattle and that’s what we recommend. A brand is like your tag on your car. It IDs the head and the owner, as long as the brand is registered. We have thousands of brands in our system.

How do you work with the industry to reduce theft?

We work closely with the Cattlemen’s Association to educate livestock owners and markets about what to look for. The last thing you want to do is spend $50,000 on cattle that turns out to be stolen, because it turns out to be a big mess. Insurance gets involved. But people lose money.

What’s driving the surge in cattle theft?

The majority of individuals we apprehend are involved with narcotics. Especially methamphetamines. They often need that next fix of dope. They are normally repeat offenders. And they think stealing cattle is quick money.

If someone breaks into your home and steals a jewelry box they’ll get pennies on the dollar for it. But cattle are different. They can get the same value at market as if they truly owned them.

What do you think are the solutions to the meth crisis?

Meth is an epidemic here. I wish I could say I had the answer as to what would stop this epidemic but I don’t. And I’ve been doing this for 40 years.

One thing that has to be handled: when these individuals are caught I’d like to see the court make it mandatory that they complete a drug rehab program, with follow-ups to make sure they stay on board with it.

This stuff is so addictive that the desire to use these drugs becomes more important than their own lives or families. It’s a vicious, deadly, dangerous cycle. So I also support actions to prevent narcotics from coming into the country.

Cattle rustling has a long, colorful history right?

Cattle rustling has been around since Moby Dick was a minnow. As soon as cattle were brought into this country, hundreds of years ago, people stole them.

 

Trump Deplorable Busted!

The Chumph’s Deplorables are bad in more ways than one. Yet another get busted for criminal activity.

Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey with Donald Trump, Jr

BUSTED: Trump campaign chair caught in a motel room with an underage boy

Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey is facing numerous charges from Moore police after he was caught in a Super 8 Motel room with a minor boy.

According to KOCO reporter Bret Buganski‏, police are recommending the Republican lawmaker be charged with soliciting prostitution of a minor, prostitution within 1,000 feet of church and transporting purpose of prostitution.

“On March 9 … officers of the Moore Police Department were contacted in reference to a welfare check at a local hotel,” Lt. Kyle Dudley told NewsOK.com. “Responding officers found a juvenile male in a hotel room which was also occupied by an adult male. The circumstances surrounding this incident are currently under investigation and no additional information can be released at this time.”

An employee of the hotel confirmed to KOCO that a man named “Ralph Allen Shortey” checked in at approximately 12:20 a.m. asking for a room with two beds. Just 30 minutes later the police arrived responding to a “welfare check,” though no one has come forward admitting to the call.

No one has been arrested and no charges have been filed, but text messages between the boy and Shortey are being investigated by police. Shortey’s legislative office door was found to have a note saying that he would be gone for the week.

Shortey was the state chair of President Donald Trump’s campaign during the primary elections.

“I am proud and honored to have been tapped as Chairman of the campaign for Oklahoma,” Shortey wrote on his Facebook Sept. 2015, according to The Lost Ogle. “We are very excited for the opportunity to have Mr. Trump here,” he said announcing a rally for Trump at the Oklahoma State Fair.

Shortey has been in office since 2010 and is most known for a bill he proposed to ban fetuses in food. NewsOK reports Shortey has been married to his high school sweetheart since 2002 and that he studied at Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City in preparation for mission work in Uganda. A direct mail piece sent to Shortey’s constituents show that he was also endorsed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio for his opposition to immigration and immigrants and by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) for his “conservative principles.” Beth and Dog the Bounty Hunter hosted a rally for Shortey’s election in 2014.

“The Oklahoma Republican Party takes all accusations against elected officials seriously, especially when the welfare of a minor is involved,” Pam Pollard of the Oklahoma Republican Party said in a statement. “We have reached out to Senator Shortey for comment and have not heard back from him at this time. We await the report from law enforcement on whether charges will be filed.”

 

A Modern Dillinger Wannabe

Otherwise known as the brain-rotting properties of social media…Dores this clown really believe he is some kind of hero?

Report: Okla. double murder suspect posts Facebook Live videos while on run

A man suspected of killing two people and shooting two Oklahoma police officers before leading police on a manhunt posted videos using Facebook Live Sunday, reports CBS affiliate KOTV.

Michael Vance is accused of shooting two Wellston, Oklahoma police officers Sunday evening. Both officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Vance, who was shot at least twice, got into a patrol pickup and drove to a nearby mobile home park, where he carjacked a woman and shot her, police say. The woman refused treatment at the scene. Authorities said they found two bodies in a home near the Redbud Energy Facility in Luther. They later confirmed the two were Vance’s family members. They weren’t immediately identified.

Vance is considered a suspect in their murders, according to the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s office.

“This is more intense than I thought it was going to be, to say the least,” Vance said in one video, posted to his Facebook account Sunday.

Then later, after saying he loved his sister, but pledging to not answer her calls, he ended the broadcast by saying he was getting ready to steal another car.

“This truck is about dead. I needed it to get out of the road because I am about to steal another car like right now. This (expletive) is going to be intense,” Vance said.

Police said the suspect fired at the two Wellston officers about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, hitting one officer in the foot and the other in the leg.

Two people fled the scene in the Wellston area, which is about 35 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, but one person was quickly taken into custody.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol and The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation were helping with the search and case.

Residents were warned that Vance should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Investigators think the suspect has an AK-47.

 

Another Cop Murder of An Unarmed Black Man in Tulsa

Here we go again…Another BS situation…Another cop murder of a unarmed innocent man.

 

Oklahoma Officer Fatally Shoots Unarmed Black Man In Alarming Video

The man appears to be walking with his hands above his head.

The Tulsa, Oklahoma, police department on Monday released several videos showing last week’s fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white female officer.

Terence Crutcher, 40, was shot and killed Friday after officers responding to an unrelated call spotted his vehicle stalled in the middle of the roadway, Tulsa World reports. The police department earlier said Crutcher refused orders to put up his hands, but the footage appears to show him walking toward his vehicle with his hands above his head.

The officer who fired the fatal shot has been identified as Betty Shelby. A second officer, Tyler Turnbough, deployed a stun gun, the Associated Press reports.

During a press conference on Monday, Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan called the video footage “very disturbing — it’s very difficult to watch.” He said there was no gun found on Crutcher or in his vehicle.

“I will just make this promise to you: We will achieve justice in this case,” Jordan said. “I want to assure our community and I want to assure all of you and people across the nation who are going to be looking at this: We will achieve justice ― period.”

At a separate news conference, Damario Solomon-Simmons, an attorney for Crutcher’s family, said the department’s claim that Crutcher died at the hospital was not true.

“Terence died on that street in his own blood, without any help,” the lawyer said.

“We saw that Terence did not have any weapon,” Solomon-Simmons said. “We saw that Terence did not make any sudden movements. We saw that Terence was not being belligerent. We did not see Terence reach into the car. We did not see Terence attacking the officers.”

As seen in the video, more than two minutes go by before officers begin administering aid to Crutcher after he was shot.

The police chief said an investigation of the incident is ongoing. The U.S. Department of Justice will conduct a separate civil rights inquiry into the shooting, AP reports.

“Protests are not a problem,” Jordan said on Monday, but he urged the community to stay peaceful

“Let’s not have any more death over this,” he said.

So far in 2016, 19 people have been killed by police officers in Oklahoma, giving the state the sixth highest per-capita rate of killings by police in the U.S, according to statistics compiled by The Guardian. Last year, Oklahoma ranked No. 4 per capita with 37 killings, the Guardian data showed.

In April, Robert Bates, a former volunteer reserve Tulsa County sheriff’s deputy, was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for the 2015 shooting death of Eric Harris, another unarmed black man.

Like many other states, Oklahoma has a disproportionately high rate of black people being killed by police, according to the website Mapping Police Violence.

 

Rooter-Tooter Oklahoma Ride Along Wannabe Cop Gets 4 Years for Manslaughter

4 Years is a bit light in my view (I was thinking 6-10) – but at 74, this guy might not make it out of prison. And there is no freaking way a “Reserve Deputy” should be carrying a gun/.

Former Oklahoma ‘pay-to-play’ deputy Robert Bates sentenced to four years for manslaughter

A former Oklahoma reserve deputy convicted in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man being subdued by regular deputies last year was sentenced on Tuesday to four years in prison for second-degree manslaughter.

Robert Bates, an insurance executive who volunteered as a reserve sheriff’s deputy in Tulsa County, was found guilty in April of the charge stemming from the 2015 death of Eric Harris.Bates, 74, will receive credit for time already served. He has been held at the Tulsa Jail since his conviction.

Lawyers for Bates said he thought he had a Taser rather than a gun in hand when he fired at Harris, 44. But prosecutors said Bates’ actions were tantamount to professional negligence.

The shooting, captured on video, was one in a series that raised questions of racial bias in U.S. policing. Bates is white and Harris, who was fleeing from deputies in Tulsa during a sting targeting illegal gun sales, was African-American.

 

Cops and Native Americans

Black folks aren’t the only ones who get shot in disproportionate numbers by cops.

Melissa Goodblanket with a portrait of her family at her home in Clinton, Oklahoma, Feb. 13, 2016, with Ma-hi-vist in the rear of the photo.

In Oklahoma, killings of Native Americans raise questions

Noami Barron burst out of her boyfriend Mah-hi-vist Goodblanket’s home and fell to her knees.

“They shot Bird!”

She started to throw up.

Mah-hi-vist, 18, whose name in English translates to Red Bird, has oppositional defiant disorder, a little-understood condition that he controlled with the help of therapy and medication. He’d been in the midst of a mental episode when his father, Wilbur Goodblanket, called 911, worried that his boy was going to hurt himself – but no one else.

The family wanted help from medical personnel and law enforcement calming down Mah-hi-vist. But it did not work out that way. Instead, lawmen shot and killed Red Bird. The young man’s tragic fate highlights a series of deadly Oklahoma incidents in which mentally ill Native Americans encountered law enforcement officers who, campaigners and relatives say, are not trained properly in how to deal with them.

That night Wilbur and Melissa Goodblanket, Mah-hi-vist’s mom, couldn’t believe what they heard.

“Is my son OK? Is he alive?” thought Melissa.

She jumped out of the red Dodge pickup truck where she was keeping warm with her husband and younger son and the family’s German shepherd. She wanted to take a coat to Barron, who was wearing just black stretch pants and a pink pullover on that freezing December night, Dec. 21, 2013, in Custer County, Oklahoma.

Lawmen order Melissa back into the pickup.

From inside the truck, parked in front of the home’s picture window twinkling with white Christmas lights, family members saw officers moving around inside the well-lit living room. They couldn’t see Bird.

Someone started wrapping the front yard in yellow tape. An officer tapped on the hood of the truck and motioned for the family to come out. “Sorry. Your son didn’t make it,” he said.

The Custer County district attorney later ruled the shooting a justifiable homicide.

The Goodblankets call it something else. “Murder,” Melissa said. “They murdered our son.”

At a time law enforcement agencies are re-examining training procedures and policies and outfitting officers with body cameras to address questionable police shooting and in-custody deaths in urban areas like Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, the Goodblankets believe their son’s death is a glaring example of inadequate training in rural Oklahoma law enforcement agencies that routinely encounter the mentally ill.

In their search for answers, the Goodblankets discovered their ordeal was not unique to Custer County, whose namesake, Gen. George Armstrong Custer, carried out the slaughter of a peaceful band of Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal members only 60 miles west of the Goodblanket home. Nor is it unique to Oklahoma, home to 39 federally recognized tribes.

Benjamin Whiteshield, 34, was in the midst of a delusional episode and convinced he was being followed when his grandmother and mother drove him to the Clinton Police Department on June 27, 2012. He had a condition that caused seizures, and he sometimes had a paranoid or delusional episode before one occurred, Sara Whiteshield, his sister, said. When he got out of the family’s vehicle, he had a wrench in his hand. A Clinton police officer shot him in the mouth. He later died.

Similar scenarios have played out elsewhere in western Oklahoma.

Ninety miles south of Clinton, in Lawton, Christina Tahhahwah, 37, was staying with her grandparents on Nov. 13, 2014, when her relatives called 911. She was bipolar and was in the middle of a mental episode, throwing objects around the house. Her family members wanted help getting her back on her medication and to a hospital for a medical assessment.

Police instead arrested her for trespassing and took her to jail, according to an account in The Lawton Constitution. On Nov. 14, she was found unresponsive in her cell. Family members attended a Lawton City Council meeting at which, they said, witnesses reported officers repeatedly used a stun gun on her after she refused to stop singing in jail. She died at a hospital on Nov. 17….Read the Rest Here…

 

Oklahoma Cop Convicted of Rapes of Black Women

In something of a surprise, Daniel Holtzclaw, former OKC Cop was convicted of at least some of the counts against him…

Former Oklahoma police officer found guilty of multiple rapes

It is unclear whether the counts will run concurrently or sequentially from the video.

A former Oklahoma City police officer has been convicted of sexually assaulting women he preyed upon in a low-income neighborhood he patrolled.

A jury convicted Daniel Holtzclaw of four charges of first-degree rape and 14 other counts. He sobbed while hearing the verdicts Thursday on his 29th birthday. He could spend the rest of his life in prison, based on the jury’s recommendation he serve 263 years.

The mother of his youngest accuser, who was 17, said the case should demonstrate the problem of sexual misconduct by officers isn’t limited to one police department.

“It’s a problem for the nation,” the mother told The Associated Press...Read Further Details Here…

 

Serial Rapist Policeman Could Get Away With It in Oklahoma

Any normal jury would follow the “Bill Cosby Rule” where the perp’s protestations of innocence get rather thin when victim after victim comes forward with the same story.

Have there been a few cases where women lied about being raped? Absolutely. However that number is so statistically small, and get’s vanishingly small when there are multiple complaints compared to the number of actual rapes reported. It would seem to be about the same as the number of cops who shoot themselves or their cars and declare the “bad” (re: Black) criminals did it.

This guy needs to be convicted and put in prison for a long, long time. Race, racism, and the “Blue Wall” again play a more important role in the administration of justice than evidence of the crime.

Did This White Cop Rape 13 Black Women?

It’s a travesty that Daniel Holtzclaw, who could be let off by an all-white jury after allegedly rampaging through Oklahoma City assaulting poor black women, isn’t headline news.

Daniel Holtzclaw should be a household name. He should be on the front page of every newspaper in the country. His criminal trial should be featured in the A-blocks of national news broadcasts.

We should be able recognize him on sight. We should be able to number and name the horrendous crimes he allegedly committed. Should he ever walk the streets again, he should enjoy not a single moment of anonymity.

Holtzclaw, a 28-year-old former Oklahoma City police officer, is an alleged sexual predator who prosecutors say used his badge to rape at least 13 women over a seven-month period. The alleged victims of his increasingly brazen pattern of attacks, prosecutors say, included an underage girl and a grandmother. Ranging in age from 17 to 57, all but one are black and all live in the same poverty-stricken, predominantly African-American neighborhood in the northeast section of the city.

They were picked because they were black and poor. They were picked because the perpetrator thought nobody would give a damn. It’s been two days since the jury began its deliberations, and there is a growing unease about the potential for a not-guilty verdict.

On Wednesday morning, eight men and four women filed into an Oklahoma courtroom and began their third day of deliberations. As of this writing, there has been no verdict. If convicted, Holtzclaw could face life in prison for 36 felony charges of rape, forcible oral sodomy, burglary, and sexual battery. It is worth noting that while the city population is nearly 40 percent minority, the jury panel is all white.

Some of the accusers—Buzzfeed documented their testimony on Wednesday—said the officer violated them in their own homes while wearing his department-issued uniform. One woman testified that after Holtzclaw ran her name and found an active warrant, he took her to an abandoned school where he raped her. Another said she was forced to perform sex acts on the side of the road. Another said she was sexually violated while handcuffed to a hospital bed. Investigators said they found DNA, from what some believe is an unknown 14th victim, inside the crotch of his uniform.

The last accuser to testify was only 17 when, she said, Holtzclaw raped her on her mother’s porch just after dark. The officer first told her he needed to search her for drugs, she testified. He first groped her under her clothes before pushing his fingers into her vagina, she said, then he unzipped the fly of his trousers and raped her. The youngest of the accusers—some of them suspected of prostitution or drug possession, others with an active warrant—she wondered out loud: “What kind of police do you call on the police?”

For too many, living on the margins and with no real voice in the system, the answer is: nobody.

At 6-foot-1 and 260 pounds, the former Eastern Michigan football player allegedly used threats of violence and arrest to ensure their silence. Holtzclaw was apparently betting on that. He was apparently betting that, if they ever talked, we wouldn’t care. Once arrested and headed for trial, he had to be banking on at least a majority white jury. Three black men were reportedly struck from the jury panel…More Here…

 

Let a Bad Black Cop rape a white woman…And you best believe Faux News will have 24×7 coverage of it for the next 6 months.

 

All White Jury for White Cop Rapist of 12 Black Women

Kangaroo court, anyone? Looks like the “justice system” in Oklahoma is rigged to let this cop get away with rape.

Critics blast all-white jury for Oklahoma cop accused of raping black women and teens

The trial of the former Oklahoma City police officer accused of a string of sexual assaults against black women began this week with an all-white jury.

Daniel Holtzclaw is alleged to have sexually assaulted 12 women and a 17-year-old girl while on duty. Prosecutors have said he targeted middle-aged black women of limited means who had cause to want to avoid the police, such as outstanding warrants.

Though African Americans make up 16% of the population of Oklahoma County there are no black people among the eight men and four women on the jury.

“We’re very disappointed that we don’t have any minorities on there … We’re not saying justice can’t prevail but we can be suspicious of it being [run] in a manner,” Oklahoma City National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) president Garland Pruitt told KOCO local news, which reported that three black men were not picked from a pool of 24 potential jurors.

The racial composition of juries is attracting national scrutiny. On Monday the supreme court heard a case about alleged racial bias in jury selection during a 1987 murder trial that could impact the way jurors are picked in future; last month a judge in Kentucky dismissed an entire jury because he felt it was not representative of the community.

All-white juries in Oklahoma are “relatively uncommon but certainly not unheard of”, especially outside large urban areas, said Brady Henderson, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oklahoma.

In addition to exclusionary tactics such as peremptory challenges, Henderson said systemic factors risk making Oklahoma juries unrepresentative, especially in federal court where jurors’ names are taken from voter registration lists and a disproportionate number of black people are not registered. In state court, where Holtzclaw is being tried, names are culled from drivers’ licences and ID cards.

Holtzclaw faces 36 charges, including rape, forcible oral sodomy and sexual battery, and could be sentenced to life imprisonment. He has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors contend that Holtzclaw began committing sex crimes in December 2013, when he coerced a hospitalised woman who was high on drugs and handcuffed to a bedrail into performing oral sex, with the promise that the charges would be dropped.

His youngest accuser said she was 17 when he raped her on her mother’s porch after groping her, ostensibly to search for drugs.

A college football standout who became an officer after failing to reach the NFL, Holtzclaw worked a 4pm to 2am shift in northeast Oklahoma City. Detectives used GPS records from his patrol car to place him at the scene of the alleged crimes.

 

Republicans and Welfare

 

Poor people are “animals”…

 

Sharia Stupidity in Oklahoma

Ten Commandments, Part of Sharia Law - Banned?

In quite possibly the stupidest move since the Volstead Act – Oklahoma Republicans managed to pass a referendum banning the State Judicial considering International, or Sharia Law in the decision of any cases.

Why is it stupid? The same nutcase Republicans are arguing that our country was founded on “christian principles” and thus is subject to christian law.

In order to be Constitutional – the Oklahoma proposed Amendment would have to ban ALL Religious Law – not just that of one religion based on conservative racism.

Further – the 10 Commandments are part of Sharia Law – and ARE “International Law” (You didn’t think Moses wandered around in Kansas, did you?).

As to the ban on other aspects of International Law – Oklahoma is landlocked, so nobody gives a flock.

Federal judge keeps Sharia law restriction out of Oklahoma Constitution

An Oklahoma City federal judge Monday ruled against a voter- approved restriction on Islamic law.

In a 15-page order, U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange continued to keep the restriction out of the Oklahoma Constitution. Her ruling was a victory for an Oklahoma City Muslim leader who had complained his constitutional religious rights were in jeopardy.

“While the public has an interest in the will of the voters being carried out … the Court finds that the public has a more profound and long-term interest in upholding an individual’s constitutional rights,” the judge wrote.

At issue was a constitutional amendment that forbids state courts from considering or using international law or Sharia law. The amendment describes Sharia law as Islamic law based on the Quran and the teaching of Mohammed.

Oklahomans on Nov. 2 approved the amendment — in State Question 755 — with 70.08 percent of the vote. Muneer Awad, 27, an American-born Muslim, sued two days later. The judge on Nov. 8 blocked the state Election Board from certifying the SQ 755 results.

The order Monday continues the freeze on those results.

The order is a preliminary injunction, not a permanent one. Still, the state Election Board could appeal now.

The state attorney general’s office was considering its options, a spokesman said. A key supporter of the measure, state Sen. Anthony Sykes, R-Moore, said, “I was disappointed but not surprised. We look forward to working with the AG’s office on it.”

Awad is executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma. “It is another positive step,” he said after the ruling.

“The initial filing of the lawsuit was a rough time,” Awad said, “But we’ve noticed since then a tremendous outpouring of support from Muslims and non-Muslims. We are confident we have supporters who want to see this amendment fail. It’s not just about the Muslim community. It’s about Oklahoma. The nation — the world — is watching.”

Imad Enchassi, president of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, said, “Justice has been served.”

In Monday’s order, the judge wrote that Awad “has made a strong showing that State Question 755’s amendment’s primary effect inhibits religion and that the amendment fosters an excessive government entanglement with religion.”

The judge rejected the state’s argument that the amendment is a broad ban on state courts applying the law of other nations and cultures regardless of what faith they may be based on.

She wrote, “The actual language of the amendment reasonably … may be viewed as specifically singling out Sharia law, conveying a message of disapproval of plaintiff’s faith.”

The judge wrote: “This order addresses issues that go to the very foundation of our country, our (U.S.) Constitution, and particularly, the Bill of Rights. Throughout the course of our country’s history, the will of the ’majority’ has on occasion conflicted with the constitutional rights of individuals, an occurrence which our founders foresaw and provided for through the Bill of Rights.”

Quoting from a 1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision, she wrote, “One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.”

The judge said any harm to the state in delaying certification of the results is minimized because the amendment “was to be a preventative measure and the concern that it seeks to address has yet to occur.”

Legislators called the measure the “Save Our State” amendment. The measure’s principal author, former state Rep. Rex Duncan, a Republican, has called it a “pre-emptive strike … against a growing threat.”

Critics of Sharia law contend it could be used as a defense in state courts to such barbaric practices as marital rape.