Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Judge sentences 6 to prison in Sheriff's Department corruption probe

Sentencing Took Place In The Trial Of The Convicted Six LA Deputies (& More Trials Will Follow).

The six Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies found guilty of obstruction of justice were sentenced to prison terms today.  The LA Times article covering the story is here.  http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sentencing-la-county-sheriffs-officials-20140923-story.html.  I anticipate that these sentences (which are appropriate but short) will be reduced should the deputies assist the DOJ in other prosecutions.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Disturbing Study Reveals Frequency Of False Rape Allegations, And The Need To Address Them

Rape is clearly among the most heinous crimes imaginable.  But allegations in a rape case need to be subject to the same scrutiny as any crime, and pretending that false allegations don’t exist can do far more damage than good.  According to an article in “Slate”, 2% of these claims could be unfounded.  The author, Cathy Young, states that “False rape accusations are a lightning rod for a variety of reasons. Rape is a repugnant crime—and one for which the evidence often relies on one person’s word against another’s. Moreover, in the not-so-distant past, the belief that women routinely make up rape charges often led to appalling treatment of victims. However, in challenging what author and law professor Susan Estrich has called “the myth of the lying woman,” feminists have been creating their own counter-myth: that of the woman who never lies….More than a quarter-century ago, feminist legal theorist Catharine MacKinnon wrote that “feminism is built on believing women’s accounts of sexual use and abuse by men”; today, Jessica Valenti urges us to “believe victims en masse,” because only then will we recognize the true prevalence of sexual assault. But a de facto presumption of guilt in alleged sexual offenses is as dangerous as a presumption of guilt in any crime, and for the same reasons: It upends the foundations on which our system of justice rests and creates a risk of ruining innocent lives.”


And the results of such false allegations can be devastating.  The article states that “Two years ago former California high school football star Brian Banks, who had spent five years in prison for raping his classmate Wanetta Gibson, was exonerated after Gibson contacted him to apologize and admitted making up the attack. In 2009, New Yorker William McCaffrey was released after serving four years of a 20-year prison sentence for a rape his friend Biurny Peguero had made up to explain her injuries from a fight with several women. In 2012 a Michigan man, James Grissom, was freed after nearly 10 years in prison when the woman who accused him, Sara Ylen, was caught making another false allegation (and faking cancer to bilk money from insurance companies and sympathetic donors). Even without a wrongful conviction, the consequences of a false accusation can be devastating—from a terrifying middle-of-the-night arrest to lengthy pretrial detention.”   The full article is here:  http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/09/false_rape_accusations_why_must_be_pretend_they_never_happen.single.html

NFL Has A History Of Lenience In Domestic Violence Cases


According to an article in the NY Times, “Players charged with domestic violence routinely received considerably lighter punishments than players accused of other offenses, like drug use or drunken driving. Often, they were not punished at all.”  The full story is here.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/sports/football/in-domestic-violence-cases-nfl-has-a-history-of-lenience.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

Court Finds State Negligent For Correction Officer’s Rape (and impregnating) of Inmate


According to a story on the New York Law Journal, the state failed to take corrective action following many disturbing accounts of repeated sexual assault claims of a corrections officer.  The entire story can be read here:  http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/home/id=1202670803576/Court-Finds-State-Negligent-for-Rape-of-Inmate-by-Guard?mcode=1202617075062&curindex=0&slreturn=20140821132125

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Another Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy Convicted By Jury In Case Of Hiding Inmate-FBI-Informant Anthony Brown From The FBI

After only two hours of deliberation, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy James Sexton became the seventh Sheriff’s Deputy convicted of obstruction of justice in the case of FBI Informant Anthony Brown.  The Los Angeles Times Article is here: 


Sexton is the SEVENTH deputy to be convicted in this scandal.  Approximately 21 deputies have been indicted, with the trials of 14 to come, in addition to the trials of any other members of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department who will be indicted in the future based on information gained as part of cooperation agreements made with those who have been found guilty.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Federal Prosecutors Launch Conviction Integrity Unit To Identify Wrongful Convictions

 Federal prosecutors in the District said Thursday that they will launch the first conviction integrity unit within a U.S. attorney’s office to identify potential wrongful convictions, responding to a series of exonerations in the past five years stemming from flawed FBI forensic evidence and testimony.  The full article in the Washington Post is here:  

Wallach on Law, Fire & Gasoline, Part II --When The Mentally Ill Meet Police – The Need For CIT Training. Featuring Ret. Maj. C. Samuel Cochran, Dameion Perkins, Nathanial Hamilton, and Maria Hamilton


Wallach on Law, Fire & Gasoline, Part II -- When The Mentally Ill Meet Police – The Need For CIT Training. Featuring Ret. Maj. C. Samuel Cochran, Dameion Perkins, Nathanial Hamilton, and Maria Hamilton. 

In the wake of the shootings of Ezell Ford and Dontre Hamilton, we look for answers as to how to train officers to identify and respond to the needs of those challenged by Mental Illness. We speak with Ret. Maj. C. Samuel Cochran of the University of Memphis Crisis Intervention Team program about how officers can be trained to respond to a crisis involving one afflicted with mental illness and what those programs do. And to discuss why we need to implement changes, we speak with the family of Dontre Hamilton, who was killed by an officer in Red Arrow Park in Milwaukee, and learn about him, and the Milwaukee Police Department’s response to his killing.  “Wallach On Law” airs on Saturdays at 1:00 pm Eastern Time on AM radio stations and the episode  is available on iTunes and YouTube and can be also heard here:   http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wallachlaw/2014/09/11/wallach-on-law-fire-gasoline-part-ii--when-the-mentally-ill-meet-police