D.C. is considering giving more prisoners a chance for early release. Prosecutors are pushing back.
I was a prosecutor. Too many of them don’t get it: children and young adults, whose brains aren’t fully mature, should not receive adult punishments of decades in prison. Prison sure as hell is not helping them nor helping society! You DON’T want to get me started – see many articles on this website.
Moreover, a judge still must ok the release.
Excerpts from the Article:
Legislation proposed by a member of the D.C. Council that could result in the early release of some prisoners convicted of violent crimes is being praised by criminal justice reform advocates but has faced criticism from the District’s top prosecutor and has left many victims and their families angry and concerned.
The proposal, which could come up for a vote in the fall, would allow certain inmates — including those who committed murder, sexual assault and child sex abuse — to be set free before they have completed their original sentence.
The new effort would further amend the Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act of 2016. That law now gives people who committed serious crimes as children, and have served at least 15 years in prison, a chance to have their punishment reduced.
The latest amendment — which was introduced in February — would expand the pool of potentially eligible inmates to those who committed crimes when they were between the ages of 18 and 24. It would still require a D.C. Superior Court judge to consider if the inmate has taken responsibility for their crime, stayed out of trouble in prison, participated in education and vocational programs and “demonstrated maturity, rehabilitation, and a fitness to reenter society.”
The idea behind the legislation is that children and young adults, whose brains aren’t fully mature, should not receive adult punishments of decades in prison.
“They have to show significant rehabilitation, have shown that they have been an ideal inmate and show that they want to earn to have this right to have their sentence reviewed,” said D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), the author of the legislation. The push for sentencing changes come as many jurisdictions nationwide are looking at whether some inmates should be given a second chance, particularly those who were younger when they offended.
Since the original D.C. resentencing act became law two years ago, 17 people have been released or had their sentences reduced, all over prosecutors’ objections. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office said 13 of them had been convicted of murder, two convicted of rape, one of armed robbery and one of armed kidnapping.
Both Allen and prosecutors say none of those released have been rearrested. Allen said some are employed, others are seeking jobs and many are involved with youth groups to deter violence in the city.
“They now want to come home and repair the harm they caused,” Allen said. “That type of action and that type of work can lead to not only a just and fair city, but also a safer city.”
But Jessie K. Liu, the U.S. Attorney for the District, said the laws and amendments were being passed too quickly and did not give enough time to determine how well those who have been released were adjusting to life outside prison. More importantly, she said, there has not been enough time to determine if they will reoffend. Liu said it takes about three years to determine if a person will recidivate. “What concerns me is we don’t have any data on how this is working. How are the released inmates performing when they return to the community?” Liu said. “We need more time to study this. Why is the Council in such a rush to expand this?”
According to statistics from the U.S. attorney’s office, 583 prison inmates would qualify to seek the sentence reduction solely based on their age at time of the crime in D.C. and their years in prison. Some 85 percent of those inmates, Liu said, were convicted of murder, voluntary manslaughter, first-degree sex abuse and child sex abuse.
When inmates petition for resentencing, a judge can order their release, reduce their sentence, or reject the petition.
One point of contention — or confusion — between Allen and Liu is whether judges are to consider the actual crime itself in deciding whether someone should be resentenced.
Liu said the legislation does not call for judges to consider the gravity or details of the inmate’s crime. But Allen insists judges can consider the crime, hear from the victims and their families and review letters from prosecutors and mental health experts involved in the case. What the judge should not do, Allen said, is determine if the crime was too heinous to warrant a resentencing.
“Many of these individuals who were convicted of crimes were very young, but we can’t lose sight of the fact that punishment includes opportunity for rehabilitation,” he said.
Anyone released, Liu said, would likely return to neighborhoods where their victim or victim’s family members live and where crime is already high.
Allen said he was “surprised” Liu’s office is against the resentencings. Prosecutors, Allen said, are supposed to seek accountability and rehabilitation. Anyone who is resentenced, he said, will have had both.
“They have been found guilty and have been serving time,” Allen said. “The question being asked now is, have they gone through successful rehabilitation, and do they have something positive to offer the community.”
The woman, now 43, said she was more angry that she was not notified of the legislation than she was of the possibility of the two being released. “If they have truly changed and become better people and used the time in prison in a positive way to turn their life around, I’m a huge advocate of that,” she said.
Police departments join with community for National Night Out Tuesday
POLICE DEPARTMENTS IN EVERY JURISDICTION SHOULD DO MUCH MORE OF THIS.
The benefits of closer police/community relations are numerous.
Excerpts from the Article:
For a two-member police department in a town of roughly 1,650, it’s hugely successful by any measure. For a couple of hours nationwide, National Night Out brings communities and law enforcement together in a relaxed, informal setting. This year’s event is on Tuesday. Wyoming’s get-together runs from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Tre Sorelle Dolce Ice Cream & Italian Ice shop at 27 S. Railroad Ave. Cool treats will be provided at no charge.
The first gathering drew 300 folks in 2016, followed by 600 and 1,000 the next two years. “I got it started and it’s not going to stop,” Wyoming Police Chief Martin Willey said. “It’s a chance for the public to meet us, talk to us, we can do one-on-ones. We have a small town and outreach goes a long way.
“By just talking to people you’d be surprised how much you can learn. It’s a way to keep my finger on the pulse of the community and hopefully help people here better understand where we’re coming from. “Most of all this is about strengthening relationships and showing residents here how much I appreciate them.”
Free food and drink donated by local businesses are available, along with two or three bouncy houses and other kid-friendly activities.
Harrington Police are scheduled to conduct a K-9 demonstration, and Clayton will present its motorcycle unit. The Camden-Wyoming Fire Company’s ladder truck is slated to provide rides, and antique police cars will be displayed.
Delaware Justice Information System information will be available, along with the Delaware Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A DJ is slated and Bikers Club for Christ will cook hot dogs. Deep Water Church members will create balloon animals.
Chief Willey is striving to add one community event a year until there is one each month.
In Dover, attendance could range from 1,200 to 2,500.
They’ll be met by roughly 12 Dover Police officers and up to 40 first responders or more from other agencies. This year’s event is from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Dover Mall at 1365 N. DuPont Highway. Personal document shredding coordinated by WSFS Bank is available beginning at 5 p.m. Food and drink are available while supplies last in a family-friendly, relaxed environment. Mobile Cloud Video is providing entertainment.
Besides Dover PD, law enforcement, emergency agencies and military personnel will attend, along with:
• McGruff the Crime Dog
• Dover Air Force Base
• Delaware State University Police
• Delaware State Fire School
• Little Creek and Dover fire departments
• DNREC Police.
It’s the fifth consecutive year for the Dover event.
“We don’t necessarily track numbers, but attendance has steadily grown over time,” spokesman Master Cpl. Mark Hoffman said.
“With that, we have seen an increase in public and private agencies and businesses wishing to be a part of the event.” The K-9 demonstrations are typically a large crowd pleaser, Cpl. Hoffman said. Specialized units engage attendees with equipment demonstrations and by providing information on services, all with the aim of building more positive relationships.
Campaigning political candidates are not invited. Other police departments
According to Cheswold Police Chief Christopher Workman, officers will join other gatherings when available.
Smyrna and Harrington PDs hold events in October and may be joined by other law enforcement officers nearby.
While Delaware State Police don’t host their own event, troopers typically attend the municipal events.
Milford’s night will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Bicentennial Park.
“This is our 25th year,” Sgt. Robert Masten said. “It initially got started as a small event at the library amphitheater. At the time, there was a national movement for national night out, and it fit right in with the community policing initiative that we were working on at the time.”
Dagsboro’s second annual event partners police with the town, Dagsboro Business Alliance and fire departments.
Dagsboro Police Chief Floyd Toomey, who is retiring later in August, has been extra busy lining up demonstrations and attractions.
“I have really put a lot of effort into it,” Chief Toomey said. “We had such a turnout last year that I want to make it that much better and that much grander. I really did a lot of research on what was available, who was available.”
Police departments join with community for National Night Out Tuesday
$21 Million Settlement for Wrongfully Convicted Man Released After 39 Years in Prison
This is just a tiny fraction of the money – YOUR tax money – being wasted because our criminal justice system is such a train wreck! It’s not clear whether the detective involved was just sloppy, or was malevolent. Either way it’s bad news.
Excerpts from the Article:
Simi Valley, California, and a wrongfully convicted man who spent nearly four decades in prison have reached a $21 million settlement.
Craig Coley was convicted of the 1978 murders of Rhonda Wicht and her 4-year-old son Donald. Wicht had been raped. Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but the then 31-year-old Coley was sentenced to life without parole.
Former California Governor Jerry Brown pardoned Coley in 2017 after at least three law enforcement officers opined that a detective had “mishandled” the case. Investigators in Simi Valley, about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, discovered biological samples from the case in a laboratory. The trial court had ordered the samples destroyed, but a private firm purchased the laboratory and stored the samples. DNA testing of key pieces of evidence used at the trial — a bed sheet and one of Donald’s tee-shirts — revealed someone other than Coley committed the crimes.
This case was unusual in that all concerned government officials — including the police department and current prosecuting attorney — agreed that the now 71-year-old Coley was wrongfully convicted and deserved the $21 million in compensation.
“While no amount of money can make up for what happened to Mr. Coley,” said Simi Valley City Manager Eric Levitt, “settling this is the right thing to do for Mr. Coley and our community.”
The city said 39 years was the longest prison term overturned in California.
Three Florida Prison Guards Face Charges After Leaked Video of Inmate Beating – HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE! – kra
Florida’s “professional” corrections officers at their finest! READ Why the Massive Indifference is a Massive Mistake!
Prison Abuse – Why Massive Indifference is a Massive Mistake
This crap goes on frequently in America’s prisons for one reason: too few abusive guards are prosecuted and imprisoned.
Three are facing charges? Every single one involved should be charged! Hell, I was a prosecutor, and I’d have them convicted in an hour!
Excerpts from the Article:
Authorities say three Florida prison guards are facing charges after a video taken by an inmate using a smuggled cellphone shows several guards beating another prisoner.
The Florida Department of Corrections announced the charges Wednesday against Captain Milton Gass and correctional officers Hunter Lingo and Joshua Petersilge. Lingo and Petersilge have been charged with battery, while Gass is accused of falsifying reports.
Investigators say the attack occurred July 8 at Lake Correctional Institution in Clermont.
An unnamed inmate gave commentary on a five-minute video as the beating was happening. He shot the video through a cell window and sent it to another person, who uploaded it to YouTube on July 13.
Officials say an investigation is ongoing and more arrests or administrative sanctions are possible.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the guards had attorneys.
Here is the shocking video of the beating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bx6G8gdYMA
Federal Court Overturns $4 Million Verdict Against Wisconsin County Over Jail Sexual Assaults
This is an awful decision. Here we see some idiot judges who do not see the folly of their decision to allow a county to avoid liability for its employees. At least one judge spoke out in dissent.
In a stunning reversal, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month tossed a $4 million jury verdict imposed on Polk County, Wisconsin for failing to prevent—despite prior warning— the repeated sexual assaults of two female inmates by one of
The Seventh Circuit’s ruling hinges on Monell v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York, a controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision, which declared that municipalities cannot be held accountable for the unconstitutional acts of their employees. Monell did leave some room for accountability by permitting lawsuits directly against municipalities if their policies or customs subjected or “caused to be subjected…the deprivation of any federally protected rights.”
The High Court later clarified that a municipality’s failure to adequately train its employees could be proof that it was “deliberately indifferent,” which would be “the functional equivalent of a decision by the [county] itself to violate the Constitution.”
In overturning the jury verdict against Polk County, the Seventh Circuit claimed there was “no connection between the assaults and any county policy,” as the county explicitly banned sexual harassment, as well as any sex between inmates and guards, in its written materials.
But “policies cannot exist on paper alone,” Judge Michael Scudder shot back in a scathing dissent. As the judge recounted, there was no evidence presented to the jury that the county took steps “to train guards to hold each other accountable to the county’s bright-line prohibition on any intimate contact with inmates” or “monitored its employees’ compliance with its policies.”
Nor were there any accounts of the county “ensuring or reinforcing that inmates had access to a safe and confidential channel through which to report inappropriate sexual conduct by jail guards,” as inmates are especially vulnerable to sexual assault.
In fact, before the guard’s abuse came to light in 2014, the county already had evidence that its written policy was “insufficient.” Two years earlier, a female inmate alleged that another guard repeatedly engaged in predatory behavior, including “inappropriate touching.” This guard only got a written reprimand, while Polk County “took no action to reinforce its sexual assault policies with all other male guards.”
With this in mind, Judge Scudder argued that “a reasonable jury could have found that Polk County acted with deliberate indifference to the need for more training and monitoring to prevent the sexual assault of female inmates by male guards and in doing so caused the injuries suffered by plaintiffs.” After all, a “reasonable jury” already determined that Polk County should be held liable, which is why it imposed $4 million in damages against the county.
According to Scudder, the majority’s decision is not just “mistaken,” it’s “dangerous.” Thanks to the court’s ruling for Polk County, “municipalities may conclude that there is not much to be done to stop a rogue guard from engaging in secretive and heinous conduct,” even though under the Eighth Amendment, “cities and counties have a meaningful responsibility and role to play in preventing the sexual abuse of inmates in their custody by the guards they employ.”
Attorneys for both the inmates and the county declined to comment.
“If the panel’s decision stands,” the Institute for Justice warned in its amicus brief, “municipalities in this circuit will be able to skirt liability for constitutional infringements simply by promulgating policies they have no intention of ever enforcing.” This could have “perverse effects:” Cities and counties would “conclude that the work of monitoring and deterring violations of their paper policies is unnecessary,” while inmates would have “less incentive to report their abuse.” Without proper accountability, this would make constitutional violations even “more likely.” Local governments must pay the price when they fail to uphold the Constitution.
CPI Calls on Barr to Be Fair and Impartial
Below we see that our friends at the Center for Prosecutor Integrity are calling on A G Barr to change some unfair DOJ practices.
I just don’t get it – how some prosecutors think! I was one for 5 years, and from day 1 I knew that my job was to be fair, not just to convict!
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Rebecca Stewart
Telephone: 513-479-3335
Email: info@prosecutorintegrity.org
CPI Calls on Attorney General Barr to Cease Promotion of ‘Trauma-Informed’ and ‘Start By Believing’ Methods
WASHINGTON / August 1, 2019 – Today the Center for Prosecutor Integrity is sending a letter to Attorney General Barr regarding the Department of Justice’s support of investigative methods that openly bias the investigative process. The letter was occasioned by the recent complaint of former Virginia governor Douglas Wilder, who claimed a sexual misconduct investigation launched by Virginia Commonwealth University against him was “unsound, biased and violates due process.”
The CPI letter charges the DOJ has “aggressively” promoted such “victim-centered” investigative methods in recent years.
On May 29, 2019 the DOJ Office for Victims of Crime sponsored a webinar titled, “Law Enforcement Response: Approaching Your Work with a Trauma–Informed Lens.” The program instructed attendees to take a “conviction-oriented approach,” which is at odds with the dictum that investigations need to be impartial, fair, and free of bias. The presenter insisted that the main focus of courtroom testimony should be on eliciting the feelings of the “victim” – not to elucidate the evidence and facts pertaining to the incident.
Likewise, the DOJ has awarded millions of dollars in grants to a group known as End Violence Against Women International, which has trained thousands of criminal justice detectives and campus investigators in guilt-presuming Start By Believing ideology.
The CPI letter highlights an investigative report issued by FACE titled, “Trauma-Informed Theories Disguised as Evidence,” and a letter signed by members of Congress calling on AG Barr to “stop funding organizations that don’t recognize the presumption of innocence.”
The letter to AG Barr is available online: http://www.prosecutorintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Letter-to-AG-Barr-8.1.2019-2.pdf
The mission of the Center for Prosecutor Integrity is to strengthen prosecutorial ethics, restore the presumption of innocence, and end wrongful convictions.
Supreme Court’s Stealth Revolution in Civil Procedure = Bad News for Plaintiffs Seeking Justice – kra
The U.S. Supreme Court steadily and without fanfare has been revolutionizing multiple areas of civil procedure to provide litigants with a battleplan to win their cases. The stealth procedural weapons include personal jurisdiction, venue forum selection clauses, gatekeeping rules for pleadings, arbitration protections for businesses and placement of limits on class actions.
I could not print out the article, but it spells bad news for individuals in many civil cases and for nearly all class action cases!
A red “FAIR” and “UNFAIR” sit on opposite ends of a gray board balanced on a gray question mark. Isolated on white.
DRUG TREATMENT IS REACHING MORE PRISONS AND JAILS – What they mean is: “More and more contractors are getting rich off the system”! – kra
What they mean is: “More and more contractors are getting rich off the system”! Many of these “treatment programs” are useless; the companies providing the drugs routinely “run out of medicine” [they are not really out, they just delay delivery of the meds to thousands of inmates in scores of facilities, to save money!] The companies make millions of $$$$$$$$$ and the inmates gain nothing.
Excerpts from the Article:
Her father sold her drugs. Her sister was strung out. Friends died around her. “I shouldn’t have lived,” Brenda Smith, 35, testified in a Maine courtroom in February. “I have had some pretty close people, like close to me, die of a drug overdose.” But Smith did live, thanks in part to a drug called buprenorphine, better known by its brand name, Suboxone. Along with therapy, she said, it has helped keep her clean since 2009. “It just makes me feel normal,” Smith testified. “Like when I was 17, before I started using drugs.”
That’s why she was determined not to go off it when was she was sentenced in 2018 to 40 days in the Aroostook County jail in northern Maine for swiping $40 cash from a Walmart self-checkout.
From a previous stay in jail, Smith knew that going back meant discontinuing buprenorphine, effectively forcing her to detox from it, increasing her risk of relapse and death from overdose after her release. So before her sentence was scheduled to begin, she sued the county and Sheriff Shawn D. Gillen to continue taking the medication under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“I don’t want to lose everything I have worked so hard to achieve in nine years just blown away,” Smith testified.
Like most county jails and state prisons in America, the Aroostook County jail prohibits not just buprenorphine but also methadone and naltrexone, the other two pharmaceuticals approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the medication-assisted treatment of opioid use disorder.
Sheriff Gillen did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But in response to Smith’s suit, Craig Clossey, the jail’s administrator, testified that buprenorphine was prohibited because of its high potential for abuse.
In an April 30 decision, the First Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower federal court that the Americans with Disabilities Act did indeed require that Smith be allowed to continue taking buprenorphine while incarcerated. The decision joined a November ruling from a federal judge in Massachusetts in Pesce v. Coppinger. As in Smith’s case, the judge in the Pesce case held that denying medication-assisted treatment to an opioid-dependent prisoner likely violates the ADA.
The ruling in Smith’s case prompted officials in Aroostook County to convert her sentence to a $100 fine, which she paid. She was able to continue taking her medication under the care of her doctor, according to attorneys at the ACLU of Maine, which represented Smith.
Together, the rulings in the Smith and Pesce cases are helping to expand prisoners’ access to drug treatment. The decisions are “a shot over the bow to all jails and prisons across the nation,” said Steven S. Seitchik, who coordinates medication-assisted treatment for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
Lauranne Howard, substance use coordinator for the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, agreed. “This movement is happening across the country,” she told The Appeal. “Inmates have a right to be provided medical care, and that includes appropriate medication.”
Drug overdoses killed more than 702,000 people between 1999 and 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. The epidemic killed more than 70,000 people in 2017 alone, according to the CDC, a sixfold increase from 1999. Two out of every three overdose deaths are caused by opioids. President Trump declared opioids a national emergency in August 2017.
Substance use is also closely linked to incarceration. Drug-related offenses were a fifth of all reported crimes from 2007 to 2009, and “more than half of state prisoners and two-thirds of sentenced jail detainees met the DSM-IV criteria for drug dependence or abuse,” a 2017 Department of Justice report found.
Newly released prisoners, their tolerance lowered by a period of forced abstinence, are particularly vulnerable: They are at least 40 times more likely to die of an opioid overdose than someone in the general population, a 2018 North Carolina study found.
Medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, is the standard of healthcare for opioid use disorder, according to the federal Department of Health and Human Services. “Offering MAT in correctional settings has been shown to reduce recidivism, overdoses, and criminal activity among people who are incarcerated, and help support them in their recovery from substance use disorders,” said Evan Frost, a spokesperson for New York’s Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.
Of the three drugs approved by the FDA for MAT, methadone and buprenorphine are often preferred by treatment professionals to naltrexone because those medications do not require detox to be effective, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. They work by restoring “balance to the brain circuits affected by addiction, allowing the patient’s brain to heal while working toward recovery.” Naltrexone blocks the brain’s opioid receptors, denying users the euphoric effect of opioids.
But the best strategy, according to the FDA, is stocking all three medications. After Rhode Island’s Department of Corrections started making three opioid treatment drugs available in mid-2016, a study found that fewer prisoners died from overdoses after being released.
Since Rhode Island led the way in 2016, correctional systems in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts established MAT programs that include not just naltrexone but methadone and buprenorphine.
New Hampshire launched a MAT program in June, and Maine followed this month. Both include naltrexone and buprenorphine, officials said. Virginia and Delaware recently announced plans to start programs as well.
“Not only are correctional systems very aware of the Smith and Pesce decisions, but so are policy makers. They don’t want to be the next defendant in a lawsuit,” said Sally Friedman, vice president of legal advocacy for the Legal Action Center, a group that pushed for the changes for more than a decade.
Howard, who runs Rhode Island’s MAT program, said she had recently hosted corrections officials from as far away as Oregon interested in establishing their own programs. Besides state prisons, county jails are also establishing programs, according to the National Sheriffs’ Association. Patrick Royal, a spokesperson for the association, told The Appeal that more than 270 jails in 35 states now offer some form of the treatment.
And it could soon become easier. Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Margaret Hassan of New Hampshire introduced the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act on July 10. The MAT Act would expand access to the treatment, including for those incarcerated.
Still there are challenges ahead for those seeking to spread the use of MAT in jails and prisons. For example, many drug counselors who tamed their own substance use disorders before MAT was widely available, still favor abstinence. And there are regulatory, political, and funding hurdles to overcome.
The federal government will offer $1.4 billion in State Opioid Response grants this year. But money alone is not enough when political will is lacking, advocates say.
New York State, for example, has 54 state prisons, but none provide all three FDA-approved MAT drugs, according to November 2018 legislative hearing testimony by prison officials. Instead, the prison system relies almost exclusively on abstinence and naltrexone. Thomas Mailey, spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, declined to comment.
A bill to require jails and prisons to offer all three MAT medications passed New York’s Senate but is stalled in the Assembly.
New York, like many states, lacks a “real plan” for MAT, said Allegra Schorr, president of the Coalition of Medication Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates of New York State.
A real plan is a unified statewide effort that includes all counties, she said. It should say “this is what we’re looking at. This is where we’re going. And this is how we’re going to get there,” Schorr said. “And we don’t have that yet. That’s step one.” In the absence of such a framework, it’s likely “that the courts may step in,” Schorr added. “This is a major epidemic. It’s far, far from over.”
Former Dover officer removed from Greensboro police staff after use of force reports surface- The Bad Cop Shuffle – kra
This is what often happens. A bad cop fired by one department is hired by another department! I read the trial transcript, and if the prosecutor in the case of Webster’s outrageous assault of Mr. Dickerson had not been an idiot, Webster would have been convicted!
AND NO THANK YOU TO THE BAD COPS!
Excerpts from the Article:
Thomas Webster IV, the former Dover police officer involved in the death of a young Eastern Shore man, is no longer an officer in Greensboro, Maryland. Greensboro police Chief Eric Lee confirmed to The News Journal that Webster is not employed by the police force, but declined to comment further. Webster’s conduct had been questioned throughout his tenure with Greensboro police, which began in April 2018, and his previous near decadelong stint as a Dover police officer.
Webster was removed from street duty in January when Maryland State Police launched an investigation into the death of 19-year-old Anton Black, who died after being arrested by Webster and two off-duty officers in September 2018 following a brief chase.
Body cam footage released by the Town of Greensboro shows arrest made by former Dover police officer Thomas Webster IV that resulted in the death of Anton Black. Courtesy of Town of Greensboro, Delaware News Journal
Black’s autopsy concluded there was no evidence his death was caused by his being detained by the Webster and the officers.
Three years earlier, while working as a Dover police officer, Webster was arrested for kicking an unarmed man, Lateef Dickerson, in the head, breaking his jaw. Dickerson, a 33-year-old black man, was getting into a face-down position on the ground at gunpoint on the order of Webster, who is white, while another officer looked on. The 2013 kick was captured on a police dashcam.
Dover announced an agreement with Webster in 2016, who was acquitted of assault charges a year prior, paying him $230,000 over six years to quit. As part of the agreement Webster was banned from ever seeking employment in the city again.
Greensboro Town Manager Jeannette DeLude said in February 2018 when the town made the controversial decision to hire Webster that he was the “best-qualified” applicant.
“Because he was found innocent of everything there is no history,” she said.
But Webster was again called into question in February 2019 when the state of Maryland learned of nearly 30 use of force reports that it was unaware of when Greensboro hired Webster.
The reports, accumulated during Webster’s time in Dover, include multiple examples of aggressive behavior on Webster’s behalf.
Inmates May Have Fled More Than a Day Before Jailers Noticed
Yours truly is not the least bit surprised. Our prisons are a disaster in soooo many ways. I have seen guards walk by cells they were supposed to check without even looking into the cell!
At least the Sheriff admitted the problem! “I’m going to be honest with you, it comes back down to complacency, comes down to just being lazy and not paying attention to what we’re doing. And so at this point, we’re handling that internally with our staff.”
Of course he should FIRE everyone who shirked their duty: it is the only message the others might understand!
Excerpts from the Article:
The leader of a white supreacist gang and another inmate may have escaped from an Arkansas jail more than a day before anyone noticed, authorities say.
Wesley Gullett and Christopher Sanderson were still on the run on Thursday, three days after they were last seen at the Jefferson County Detention Center and a day after jailers realized they were missing, Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr. said.
The men were last seen in the jail at around 8:30 p.m. Monday, but it wasn’t until 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday that officials noticed they were missing, even though Woods told the Pine Bluff Commercial that several other inmates tried to escape Tuesday but were quickly captured after a drone spotted them on the roof.
Maj. Randy Dolphin, the sheriff’s office operations commander, told The Associated Press on Thursday that investigators still don’t know whether the two were gone all day Tuesday from the roughly 300-inmate jail in Pine Bluff, which is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Little Rock.
Dolphin said jailers are supposed to conduct the checks three times every 12-hour shift.
Gullett and Sanderson put padding in their bunks to make it look as if they were asleep, then climbed onto the jail’s roof and over a fence to escape. Jailers doing head counts are supposed to physically confirm that inmates are in their bunks if they don’t see movement, but they didn’t do so, Woods said.
“I’m going to be honest with you, it comes back down to complacency, comes down to just being lazy and not paying attention to what we’re doing. And so at this point, we’re handling that internally with our staff,” Woods told Little Rock television station KATV.
Gullett, 30, is among 54 members of the New Aryan Empire who have been indicted on federal charges and is listed in court documents as the gang’s “outside” president who oversaw all gang activities by members who weren’t in prison. Prosecutors say the gang has about 5,000 members. Sanderson, 34, was being held on federal gun and drug charges.
Gullett is accused of attempting to kill Bruce Wayne Hurley, of Atkins, who told law enforcement about an associate of the gang’s drug dealing. Hurley was shot dead at his home in May 2016, but the indictment doesn’t say who authorities believe killed him.
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