Van Jones and the Tamir Rice Murder Coverup

Activist Laura Cowan –

 

CNN contributor Van Jones slammed Cuyahoga County, Ohio Prosecutor Timothy McGinty on Monday for what he called his office’s failure to find any reason to charge two police officers in connection with the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice last November.

“That is completely preposterous on its face,” Jones said. “And yet, this prosecutor went above and beyond the call of duty to spend extra money and took extra time to get these cops off. Prosecutors do not act this way under ordinary circumstances. Usually, they throw the book at you and then they tell you, ‘You explain to a judge and jury why you’re innocent. This particular prosecutor did the opposite of most prosecutors in this case.”

McGinty announced on Monday that a grand jury decided not to indict officers Frank Garmback and Timothy Loehmann, who drove close to the boy as he wielded an air pellet gun. Video of the incident shows Loehmann shooting and killing Rice almost instantly after jumping out of his patrol car.

However, Jones said, McGinty brought experts in to testify to the jury on behalf of the officers, a marked departure from the norm.

“To say that nothing happened here, nothing happened that should go to a jury — how about this: no medical aid after the kid is killed? How about criminal medical neglect?” Jones asked. “How about the fact that, under ordinary circumstances, a police officer would never put themselves in peril and then shoot their way out? The fact that the police officer drove into peril and then shot his way out — there’s not a traffic ticket you could issue? There’s not a misdemeanor here?”

 

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby Takes Heat From Former Prosecutor

Baltimore Burning…

Baltimore’s leadership takes another hit from the public. This time the ire is directed towards the City Attorney General, Marilyn Mosby.

Former Baltimore State’s Attorney Blames Marilyn Mosby For Violent Crime Spike

A veteran Baltimore prosecutor is blaming state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby for contributing to the dramatic spike in violent crime that has gripped the city in the aftermath of the Freddie Gray case.

Baltimore City AG, Marilyn Mosby

In a scathing op-ed for The Baltimore Sun, Roya Hanna, who left the state’s attorney’s office in April, says that Mosby’s actions during her short time in office have contributed to the more than 200 murders that the city has seen so far this year. In the past several years, Baltimore hasn’t reached that level of murders until November.

“Having been a prosecutor in this city for 12 years, four in the Homicide Division, I can no longer stand idly by and watch State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby avoid taking responsibility for her role in the increase in violence,” Hanna writes in the op-ed.

She points out that of the 200-plus killings, charges have been filed against only 28 assailants in 30 cases. Five defendants were released earlier this year under Mosby’s watch,according to Hanna.

“Had these cases been handled differently, had her office worked more effectively with police or made stronger arguments in court, perhaps the victims would still be alive,” writes Hanna, who now works in private practice.

Hanna faults Mosby for how she’s publicly handled the Gray case. On May 1, Mosby announced charges against the six Baltimore cops involved in the 25-year-old’s April 12 arrest and transport. She was accused of vilifying the officers and using activist rhetoric.

“Ms. Mosby’s press conference announcing her decision to indict the officers involved in the Freddie Gray arrest had a chilling effect on the Baltimore Police Department,” Hanna claims, arguing that Baltimore cops were unsure after Mosby’s announcement of when they had probable cause to conduct an arrest.

During her May 1 speech, Mosby said that Gray’s arrest was illegal. She cited a knife found on Gray that day which she said was legal under Maryland law. However, it later came out that the spring-loaded weapon was illegal in Baltimore.…More…

So…Let’s back that up…Does this mean Roya Hanna is responsible for the record numbers of Homicides in the City over the last 10 years,,,On his watch?

Per Capita Murder Rates for Selected Cities – showing Baltimore’s Murder rate per capita has been the highest of the selected cities since 1990

 
Just Asking…

 

Running On Empty – Republicans Support Failed Garner Prosecutor to Run For Office

Racism isn’t just a problem in the South – it seems to be a problem wherever Republicans congregate. Daniel Donovan whose most recent “failure to prosecute” in the Eric Garner choking death, has propelled his image with Republicans in NY as “their man” to defend the white right. Strong support, especially from loudmouth racists like Rudi Guliani recalls an earlier time when politicians joined the KKK as a sign to racist voters they were “true patriots”. These folks will support, encourage and defend murder…As long as the victim is black and the murderer is white through any means necessary including ripping up the law. Donovan, like his counterpart in the Ferguson case, plotted and intended to throw the case… And for that Republicans in his area are willing to defend him.

Daniel Donovan, Prosecutor Who Failed To Indict Eric Garner’s Killer, Running For Congress

Accessory to murder…

Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, who gained national attention for failing to bring an indictment against the police officer who killed Eric Garner, said Friday that he will run for Congress to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.).

In a statement, Donovan said that since he first announced that he was “seriously considering” a congressional bid in the 11th District, he has received an outpouring of support.

“Last week I announced that I would seriously consider running for the vacant Congressional seat in the 11th Congressional District of New York,” said Donovan. “I made that announcement after a 24 hour period in which my phone never stopped ringing with expressions of enthusiastic support from elected officials, party leaders, and residents of Staten Island and Brooklyn. … In the week since my last announcement the enthusiasm for my candidacy has only broadened and intensified, with expressions of support also from beyond the two boroughs.”

Donovan has received strong public support from New York Republicans, such as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and is considered the frontrunner for the GOP nomination. In response, however, some Republicans began warning that Donovan was an unwise choice, due to his role in the Garner case.

Garner, an unarmed African-American man, died on July 17 in Staten Island after police officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a chokehold and pushed him to the ground in order to arrest him for selling untaxed cigarettes. Garner repeatedly said “I can’t breathe” before he died.

Although the scene was captured on video by a bystander, a Staten Island grand jury decided on Dec. 3 not to indict the police officer, sparking nationwide protests. A significant amount of ire has been directed at Donovan for not pushing harder to get an indictment.

 

For The George Zimmerman Defense…Race

Kind of hard to escape the last few days evisceration of the first prosecution witness in the Trayvon Martin murder case by the media.  And the role race has played in that.

Rachel Jeantel can’t read cursive. That’s the main takeaway from the fourth day of the George Zimmerman trial: Jeantel, the heavyset, snappy prosecution witness who was on the phone with her friend Trayvon Martin minutes before he died, cannot read script handwriting. Defense attorney Don West underlined that fact for the benefit of the jury, the general public, and everyone else looking for an excuse to dismiss her testimony.

Given the extent to which Jeantel’s demeanor was covered on television and in news articles, you’d be excused for thinking—as Jezebel’s Callie Beusman put it—that she was the one on trial. Over the past couple of days, Jeantel has recounted that Martin told her he was being followed by a “creepy-ass cracker” who, it seems, then proceeded to attack him. Pundits, meanwhile, have made snickering observations that have had little to do with the substance of her testimony. They’ve criticized Jeantel’s weight, her attitude, her manner of dress, and her mumbling, inarticulate answers to West’s questions. These observations are generally framed as discussions of her credibility and how she’ll be received by the jury. But they’re also an excuse to point and laugh at a poor, black teenager who comes from an America that we’d rather not acknowledge exists.

The media has consistently treated Jeantel as if she were some sassy alien life-form. TheNew York Daily News story about yesterday’s proceedings focused on Jeantel-as-sideshow, calling the cursive story an “especially cringe-worthy moment,” and noting that, “[a]t one point, the key prosecution witness blurted out, ‘That’s retarded, Sir’ in response to West’s suggestion that Martin attacked Zimmerman.” On Piers Morgan Tonight, Morgan repeated the phrase “creepy-ass cracker” as if it were some inscrutable bit of baby talk. The day before, panelist Jayne Weintraub disdainfully asserted that “it’s really not about this young woman’s … credibility, because her credibility, it’s a wash whatever her testimony is. Yes, she was a difficult witness. She was impossible.”…

Racial and socioeconomic stereotypes play differently in different contexts. The statements and mannerisms that make Jeantel a laughingstock now might have made her a viral video star outside the courtroom. As I was watching Jeantel’s testimony and the subsequent reaction, I couldn’t help thinking about Aisha Harris’ Slate piece from Mayabout the “fairly recent trend of ‘hilarious’ black neighbors, unwitting Internet celebrities whose appeal seems rooted in a ‘colorful’ style that is always immediately recognizable as poor or working-class.” Charles Ramsey, Antoine Dodson, Sweet Brown—these people caught white America’s attention in part because they so blatantly violated normative behavior. If Jeantel would’ve been filmed saying “That’s retarded, sir” to some reporter on the streets outside her house, the Internet might well be singing her praises. Black people are celebrated when they play the fool in the proper setting.

 

Murder She Wrote – George Zimmerman to be Charged

It looks like the accused murderer of Trayvon Martin is going to be charged with something finally. The point being even if he is found innocent after a full investigation, or a trial by jury…

At lease the law enforcement and judicial system have worked the way they should in a case of this seriousness.

Now the game with the lawyers quoting becomes much clearer.

 

Report: Zimmerman to be charged today in Trayvon Martin case

Florida State Attorney Angela Corey will hold a 6 p.m. ET news conference today to “release new information” about the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. The Associated Press is reporting that she will announce charges against George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer who has claimed he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla.

The unidentified law enforcement source who spoke to the AP did not know the exact charge or charges that Corey is expected to announce at the state attorney’s office in Jacksonville. Zimmerman is also expected to be arrested soon, the AP said.

Zimmerman has been in hiding and not spoken publicly since the shooting. Tuesday, two attorneys withdrew as his counsel after they learned he had contacted Corey’s office and news media without their knowledge. They said they had lost contact with him Sunday.

Monday, Zimmerman launched a website to collect donations he said would be used “only for living expenses and legal defense.”