Danielle Willard, who was murdered by Utah police in November 2012

For a third time since she was killed almost three months ago, friends, family, and concerned residents will be gathering outside the West Valley, Utah police station to demand answers.  This protest is scheduled for January 22nd, which would have been Danielle’s 22nd birthday. Instead it has become a grim reminder of death November 2nd 2012 at the hands of detectives working for the West Valley Police Department, which is located in the Salt Lake City area.

Details from the Facebook event invite:

Please join us on 1/22 at 3:00 pm as we gather together in honor of Danielle Willard and celebrate her birthday she would have been 22. West Valley Police shot and killed Danielle on Nov 2nd while she sat in her car unarmed and still have refused to give any sort of explanation as to why.

In spite of the two previous protests and considerable questions being raised about why a physically small, unarmed young woman was shot, police have been extremely secretive about any of the reasons or justifications behind the case. More information regarding the circumstances surrounding her death can be found in this previous post here on NVCopBlock.org: Why was Danielle Willard Murdered by Utah Police?

Thanks for reading. Update: Third “Justice for Danielle Willard” Protest Planned for Jan. 22nd is a post from Nevada CopBlock

R.I.P. Bubba, Unnecessarily Killed by a Metro Cop

After yet another unnecessary shooting by police of a family pet, something that is beginning to become routine nationwide, Las Vegas residents and “Nevada Voters For Animals,” an animal advocacy group, have organized demonstrations to bring attention to the problem and demand answers from Las Vegas Police.

Bubba, a six year old pit bull was shot Sunday, January 6th by Sgt William Wilson, of LVMPD, while in his own backyard in what many contend was at best an avoidable act and violation of the owner’s Fourth Amendment rights against warrantless searches.

Metro’s version of what happened is that Wilson was investigating a disturbance at another residence (over a block away) when he heard a gunshot. According to Wilson, he also heard “yelling or moaning” coming from the back yard where Bubba was prompting him to enter the gate. This, of course, would negate Fourth Amendment requirements because of the possibility that a badly injured person was in grave danger. During the process of searching for the potential injured person (who has never been found), Bubba ran toward Sgt. Wilson, who felt threatened and responded by shooting him.

Bubba who was killed by Sgt. William Wilson of LVMPD

However, the likelihood of someone being able to pinpoint the exact location of a gunshot from that distance as well as Las Vegas Police’s tendency to lie even when they don’t need to has lead to a lot of second guessing or even outright disbelief regarding the official story. Among those doubters is Allen Lichtenstein, ACLU of Nevada General Counsel:

“Lichtenstein said the police account raises a lot of questions, such as how Wilson knew with certainty which house the gunshot and screaming were coming from while he was a street over. And did police investigate other homes to determine where the yelling or moaning originated?

Lichtenstein said a gunshot heard from a nearby street does not amount to a legitimate circumstance allowing police access to a private backyard without permission.”

The first rally for Bubba, which took place the “Welcome” sign

Other counterarguments about the need to shoot Bubba include, the fact that the owner was home and therefore could have been told to put Bubba in the house, the gate was clearly marked with a “Beware of Dog” sign, and the seeming lack of any sort of investigation or questioning among the owner’s neighbors after the shooting, which would tend to invalidate the claim that they were concerned about someone in the area having been shot.

A previous rally by those skeptical of the circumstances behind the shooting of Bubba was held on Thursday Jan. 10th in front of the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, which greets tourists at the end of the Strip. The upcoming rally, scheduled for Saturday Jan. 12th, will take place outside the new headquarters of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, located at 400 South Martin Luther King BLVD.:

“This will be the second protest to demand Justice for Bubba on behalf of Nevada Voters For Animals. The senseless and unjustifiable shootings of animals needs to stop. THE POLICE NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE! Bring Loud but tasteful signs. This protest is being held in front of the Las Vegas Metro Police Headquarters.”

Nevada Cop Block strongly encourages anyone that cares about animals and the larger issue of police accountability and the propensity of Las Vegas area police to view gunfire as a first option to attend this and any future rallies.

Thanks for reading. “Justice for Bubba” Rally for Dog Shot by Las Vegas Police – January 12th at LVMPD Offices is a post from Nevada CopBlock

Why are Las Vegas area police so afraid of transparency and accountability?

Tomorrow, Dec. 4th, beginning at 9:30 AM the Clark County Commission is scheduled to vote on proposed reforms to the Coroner’s Inquest process in which killings by Las Vegas area police are reviewed and facts surrounding them are made public.

If you have any desire to see transparency in cases where police shoot people and accountability for those innocent people amongst that rapidly growing number you should do everything you can to attend that meeting and let your feelings be known. (See map below.)

Reportedly, with the exception of Chris Giunchigliani, the commission is preparing to vote against the proposed reforms, which would effectively end the Coroner’s Inquests.

As has been well documented, the original Coroner’s Inquests served more as a dog and pony show where the official cover story was pushed and contradictory evidence and witnesses were minimized or outright withheld. All of which only served to exonerate police when they murdered innocent people rather than as a true fact finding investigation.

The inevitable criticisms and lack of confidence in such an obviously orchestrated and dishonest process led to demands for reforms from the families of people killed by Las Vegas police under suspicious circumstances, several communitty organizations, as well as both the NAACP and ACLU on behalf of victims. The resulting reforms, while not a perfect solution provided for several changes in the Coroner’s Inquest process to bring more transparency and increase the chance for true accountability, such as the ability for the victims to be represented by a lawyer that would have the ability to question witnesses. This in and of itself was an important step forward, since the District Attorney, who controls all the evidence and witnesses presented during the Coroner’s Inquest, has demonstrated a bias toward the police officers involved.

An all too common in the Las Vegas area lately.

Not surprisingly, the police and in particular the Las Vegas Police Protective Association (LVPPA) have very little interest in a transparent process that might expose the murders their colleagues have committed. The LVPPA in it’s misguided attempts to “protect” police regardless of how glaringly wrong individual cops might be in a case or how negatively that affects the ability of other cops to do their job, has advised police not to cooperate with the new inquest should it be implemented. They also attempted to have the reforms thrown out as unconstitutional via a lawsuit that failed, but required that some minor procedural alterations be made to who was in charge of the inquest proceedings.

Unfortunately, largely because of that refusal to participate by local police, the County Commissioners are reportedly ready to buckle to pressure and scrap the Coroner’s Inquest process altogether. This would be bad for many reasons, not the least of which are that the alternatives are dramatically worse than the already inadequate original version of the Coroner’s Inquest was.

In most cases since the Coroner’s Inquests were put on hold, District Attorney Steve Wolfson has been issuing statements to explain his lack of desire to hold officers accountable for their actions. The fact that he recently stated that Henderson police are actually trained to kick defenseless people in the head repeatedly as a reason for not punishing a police officer in one of those statements doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence in that as a viable substitute.

Nor does the use of grand juries as the other apparent option hold much hope for a fair outcome. As was pointed out on this site a while back, grand juries are highly secretive and in pretty much every other respect, including the DA’s exclusive control over witnesses and evidence, have all the same flaws that the previous Coroner’s Inquest process contained.

The lack of accountability for their actions up to and including outright murder has lead to a shoot first mentality amongst the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and other area police. It’s actually getting to the point where it is hard to keep track of the instances of police involved shooting because they happen so often. Recently approved reforms are the only way to ensure transparency and justice for the families of the victims of questionable shooting by local police.

Further Info and Reasons to Support Coroner’s Inquest Reforms:

Erik Scott was murdered by Las Vegas Metro police on July 10, 2010. The obvious problems with the Coroner’s Inquest proceeding in his case were likely the final straw that lead to the current reforms.

Statement (via Facebook post) from Bill Scott, Eric Scott‘s father:

Per Lisa’s appeal (below), please consider being at the County Commissioners’ meeting on 4 Dec.

Potential Outcome 1: If the commissioners cave in to the PPA (police union), only the District Attorney will be deciding whether officer-involved shootings were justified. As DA Steve Wolfson has demonstrated, to date, he NEVER finds fault with Metro shootings, because he relies completely on Metro’s flawed “investigations” of OISs.

In a recent case, Wolfson “chose” to not review high-definition security-system video evidence that clearly proved Metro officers shot and killed a young man for no reason (the Olivas murder). If the DA can’t be bothered to look at indisputable data/evidence that counters Metro’s cover-up narrative, how will 1) victims’ families know the facts surrounding their loved ones’ death, and 2) rogue/bad police officers be held accountable for shooting innocents?

Potential Outcome 2: If the county commissioners decide to eliminate the NEW coroner’s inquest process and go back to the long-ago-discredited grand jury process, reviews of OISs will be a secret, closed-door process. The grand jury would be stacked with “citizens” who are cop-friendly, and, again, rogue/bad cops would be routinely exonerated. That outcome is virtually guaranteed, because appointments to the grand jury would be carefully controlled by those friendly to Metro and beholden to intransigent obstructionists, the PPA union.

If the community is to have any hope of holding its police force accountable, getting rid of dangerous “cowboy cops,” and stopping the epidemic of senseless, deadly OISs, it’s imperative that county commissioners modify the NEW coroner’s inquest ordinance to ensure it complies with the recent Nevada Supreme Court ruling.

That’s a simple change to the existing ordinance, but the PPA union is fighting reinstatement of inquest hearings under the new procedures, and any other credible means for “civilians” to hold police officers accountable for their deadly behavior.

Unless hundreds of Las Vegas-area citizens show up on 4 Dec. and explain to the commissioners that murders-by-cops will NOT be tolerated, the PPA will prevail, and the commissioners will cave to union and DA pressure. And killer-cops will never again be deterred from shooting, when less-than-lethal alternatives would be more appropriate.

As you think about whether to expend the time and effort to attend the 4 Dec. meeting, please consider: If Officer Wm. Mosher had been TRULY held accountable for his 2006 shooting, he might have been either in prison, or fired from the Metro police force and not on the streets of Las Vegas on July 10, 2010. And my son, Erik, would be alive today.

Letting PPA union thugs run roughshod over county commissioners and a community has deadly consequences. Erik paid for Metro/PPA thuggery with his life. Who will be the next killer-cops’ victims?

Thanks for your kind support of this vital campaign to restore justice.

Regards,
Bill Scott

The post referencedby Bill Scott in his statement:

When the Government Prosecutes one of Its Own, the Scales of justice are Tipped Heavily Against the Common Citizen

STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW.

The Clark County Commission will be discussing the coroner’s inquest process for officer-involved homicides on December 4, 2012 at 9:30 a.m. We need the Commission to pass a simple housekeeping measure to allow the inquests to proceed. The Commission needs to understand that the public does not want it to abandon or water down the coroner’s inquests for officer-involved homicides. The LVMPD has a very high rate of officer-involved homicides, and the public deserves to know the facts when a member of the community is killed.

Meet outside the County Commission building at 9:15 a.m. on December 4, 2012. We will have free t-shirts so you can tell the Commission: “START THE INQUESTS. WE DESERVE TO KNOW.”

What is the inquest process?
In December of 2010, the coroner’s inquest process was reformed into a transparent, public airing of the facts when the LVMPD kills a member of the public. The 2010 reforms did not make the process adversarial. They replaced the jury and verdict with a panel and neutral factual findings. To help get at the truth and ensure fairness, they also provided for participation by the officers, family members, and the public. The reforms were responsive to widespread concerns from citizens and the product of a democratic process and public input. The Sheriff supported the reforms and they also had broad public support (including from PLAN, the Las Vegas NAACP, NACJ, and the ACLU).

Why haven’t we had any inquests since reforms were passed?
Unfortunately, the Police Protective Association (PPA) has fought the implementation of the new inquest process, trying to avoid transparency. The Nevada Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court of Nevada have both rejected the PPA’s arguments that the process violated their rights, finding that the coroner’s inquest is a fair process. The Nevada Legislature also refused to abolish the inquest.

How can we fix the inquests?
The Nevada Supreme Court recently held that justices of the peace cannot preside over the inquests under current law. The Clark County Commission can easily fix this technical, procedural issue if it has the political will to stand up to the PPA. The issue regarding who should oversee inquests was not part of the 2010 changes. The pre-2007 had hearing master, oversee inquests. Just like justices of the peace, hearing masters are attorneys. They already oversee non-officer homicide inquests and are qualified to preside over inquests into officer-involved homicides.

Why should the inquest be fixed?

Stanley L. Gibson, a disabled Army vet, was murdered by Ofc. Jesus Arevalo on Dec. 12, 2012

The public deserves to know what happens when the LVMPD kills a member of the community, and transparency is needed to restore the trust between the LVMPD and the public. The County has spent significant sums of money and time on the 2010 reform process, to defend the inquest in court, and to lobby at the legislature. That money should not go to waste.

Most importantly, since the 2010 changes were passed, there have been 22 officer-involved homicides. This means that a total of twenty two families now stand in line waiting to learn the facts about how their loved ones were killed. Without an inquest, there is no way for families to get direct access to information about their family members’ deaths. The families and the public that employs police officers want and deserve an open and transparent process in place so they can assess the facts surrounding office-involved homicides themselves.

Is there any reason to wait?
There is no reason to keep delaying. While the PPA has appealed the case it lost in federal court to the Ninth Circuit, there is no stay or injunction in place and nothing stopping the inquest from moving forward. In fact, both the Nevada Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court have already determined that the process adequately protects the rights of officers. Even if the PPA continues to improperly refuse to allow officers to participate regardless of whether the officers have any right to the protection of the Fifth Amendment claim, the inquests can move forward. Enough other evidence—evidence such as dispatch records, other witnesses, reports, and even video in some cases—can tell the story of what happened.

No more excuses. Start the inquests. We deserve to know.

————————————————————————————-

Be there and make your voice heard!

View Larger Map

Thanks for reading. Don’t Let Coroner’s Inquest Reforms Become Yet Another Victim of Police Intimidation is a post from Nevada CopBlock

Danielle Willard, a small, unarmed young woman, was shot and killed Nov. 2, 2012 by West Valley, Ut. police

A rally will be held Saturday, December 1st at the West Valley Police station, which is located within the Salt Lake City area (see end of post for a map), to demand justice for Danielle Willard. Also, a second protest and candlelight vigil be held at the same location Sunday, December 16th. Danielle’s death and the many unanswered questions surrounding it have left her family, friends, and supporters frustrated, saddened and angry.

In addition, the handling of it all by local police has made many people not just in Utah, but all across the country, question how and why such a small, unarmed woman barely out of her teens with no known history of violent behavior ended up becoming the latest in a growing list of “collateral damage” from the government’s disastrous War on Drugs.

Almost a month ago, on Nov. 2, 2012, Danielle Willard was shot and killed by undercover police working for the West Valley, Utah police department. Apparently, she was killed during an attempted drug bust, although even that is a bit speculative at this point because police have yet to confirm much of anything about what happened that day.

“The family of a 21-year-old woman killed in an officer-involved shooting yesterday await answers in her death. So far, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the shooting at this apartment complex.

We still don’t know why officers shot and killed Danielle Willard. Her family says, she wasn’t a violent person but drugs may have been her downfall.

Willard’s mother, who lives in Vancouver, Washington, is anxious for information to come out.

“Everything that keeps going through my mind is speculation,” said Melissa Kennedy. “Did she get back on drugs? Was she really clean? Was it the wrong place at the wrong time?”

Willard was shot Friday and killed by undercover officers in the parking lot of an apartment complex in West Valley. Police used white sheets to cover her body from public view. Authorities aren’t saying what led to the shooting.”

Danielle Willard During “Brighter” Days

In fact, police have refused to even comment officially on such basic things as Danielle’s identity or even whether she is male or female. Purportedly, this silence is due to an ongoing investigation into the shooting and the events surrounding it. However, such rudimentary details have not only already been made public by Danielle’s family and friends, but are hardly something that would interfere with an investigation.

Those family and friends are understandably questioning that silence, especially since police normally have no problem releasing information that supports their officers’ version of events. Without any of that information, they are left to try and make sense of why police would need to kill Danielle, which is hard to reconcile with their own memories of her:

“Melissa Kennedy knows her daughter wasn’t perfect.

But she doesn’t understand what it is that her daughter did so wrong that prompted West Valley police to shoot and kill her…

‘…Danielle is a sweetheart. She’s got a big heart. She would give the clothes off her back for anybody. I used to get mad at her because she would use so much gas in our car because someone would want a ride home. She couldn’t tell them no,’ Kennedy said…

‘…She’s never been known to be a violent person. She’s 100 pounds soaking wet. She’s only 21 years old. She’s a tiny little thing. What could she possibly have done, other than having a gun, what could she have done to provoke them to shoot her?…I’ve never ever known her to keep a gun with her or anywhere around here,’ Kennedy said…

‘…Kayleen (Willard) said she admired her older sister.’I always wanted to be like her. She always inspired me, because she was always so happy. She always seemed to be the crowd pleaser. She always seemed to brighten up a room,’ Willard said. ‘She was an inspiration to me, she made me be the person I am today. She made me want to be a better person growing up. She will always be in my thoughts and my heart, and she’s in a better place right now and I’ll see her again some day.’”

In spite of the silent treatment from West Valley police, some details about that day have gotten out. As might be expected, those details don’t paint the undercover cops that killed Danielle in a very good light. Based on independent witnesses that have come forward and the limited admissions that detectives assigned to the case have made themselves several things have been established:

• Danielle was not armed, nor were there any guns found within the vehicle where she was killed. (As confirmed by detectives)
• Danielle was actually a passenger in her own vehicle and was attempting to seek cover by ducking down within the car at the time of the shooting.
• It’s unlikely that Danielle was the target of the ill-fated drug bust. Whether she was in some way involved with drugs again or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time is unknown. However, even if she was that by itself would in no way justify her death.
• An unidentified male, who fled the scene and was probably the one being targeted by the undercover cops, was driving the car. (Detectives Danielle’s mother spoke to actually denied that this person was present, which only raises more questions about why deadly force was necessary.)
• According to the autopsy, Danielle was shot first in the cheek and then fatally in the top of her skull, which supports the witness accounts that she was ducking down at the time she was shot.

Demand Justice for Danielle Willard

The every day abuses and unintended negative consequences of the War on Drugs, as well as the selective nature of that war, should be enough to cause outrage at the unnecessary death of yet another person whose only real “crime” was an act which by itself only harms the person committing that act. No matter what your stance on drug use and its effect on those who become addicted, it should be apparent that the harm caused by drug prohibitions far outweigh any positive effects of such policies.

The bottom line is Danielle Willard should never have been killed in the first place and those who care about her deserve answers for why she was murdered in spite of being unarmed and, by all accounts, not acting in any aggressive manner at all. Unfortunately, police are in no hurry to provide those answers.

There are several ways that you can help seek justice for Danielle:

If you are in or have the ability to travel to West Valley, Ut., join those who will be there at the rallies to support them as they demand that justice in person. Other options to contribute from a distance include donating funds to offset funeral costs and the costs of traveling from Washington, where her family lives, to Utah. This is the link to do that via an online fundraiser. Yet another option is to call the West Valley Police Department at (801) 963-3300 or  (801) 965-5155 and let them know that you want justice for Danielle.

—


View West Valley Police Department 3600 Constitution Blvd in a larger map

Thanks for reading. Why was Danielle Willard Murdered by Utah Police? is a post from Nevada CopBlock

Nevada Police are setting up checkpoints on I-80 in order to randomly stop and harass out of state drivers.

There are about ten unmarked police cars west of Battle Mountain Nv. on I-80 doing illegal random drug searches. They stop you if you have out of state license plates. Be careful! These thugs are out to get us. This is the second time this month (November 2012) they have done this. I will try and get footage next time they do it and post it up.

What are your thoughts on these kind of stops? Do you feel these types of violations of everyone’s rights are warranted in order to potentially catch a small minority of people that might be breaking a law? Do you even feel drug prohibitions should exist considering the inherent Constitutional/personal liberty issues, abuses of authority, and other unintended negative consequences that accompany them?

Feel free to add your answers and/or any other reactions to the comments.

Thanks for reading. I-80 Nevada Random Drug Searches! is a post from Nevada CopBlock

Stanley L. Gibson, a disabled Army vet, was murdered by Ofc. Jesus Arevalo on Dec. 12, 2012

Within the last few days, it’s been reported that Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson is close to reaching a decision regarding the murder of Stanley L. Gibson by a member of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Additionally, reports have stated that Wolfson is “99% sure” that he will seek an indictment against Jesus Arevalo, the officer that fired 7 shots from an AR-15 into the Gibson’s back as he sat unarmed and clearly visible inside his car, which had been pinned and immobilized by several police vehicles. While there has been no official statement regarding what exactly this imminent decision might be or what charges may be sought, informed sources have indicated that within the next sixty days Wolfson will make up his mind whether the case will be put before a grand jury for a possible indictment against Arevalo.

At first glance, putting things in the hands of a grand jury would seem to be a step forward, in that it at least presents a possibility of Ofc. Arevalo being held accountable for his actions that day. Las Vegas police have a long and storied history of avoiding any sort of consequences for their heavy-handed tactics, no matter how blatant and deadly they have been. Steve Wolfson himself hasn’t exactly risen to the occasion when given the opportunity to make Las Vegas area law enforcement pay for their misdeeds.

A large part of the blame for this lack of accountability can be attributed to the long standing practice of determining whether police shootings were justified through the quasi-judicial Coroner’s Inquest process. Badly weighted in favor of exonerating the police rather than investigating the circumstances involved, the Coroner’s Inquests functioned more as a dog and pony show to construct a cover story than a fact finding  effort. As such, it should come as no surprise that only one single police killing was ever found to be unjustified (the DA still declined to prosecute the cops involved). The sheer odds of that being true over the course of 40+ years, including 378 shootings since 1990 alone, attest to the imbalance inherent in such a system.

William Mosher testifies during Coroner Inquest into the shooting of Erik Scott

Accelerating rates of officer involved shootings, many resulting in killings, along with outrage generated by the subsequent questionable exoneration of the police, led to demands to amend the Coroner’s Inquest. An overhaul of the Coroner’s Inquest was approved by county commissioners, including provisions to have victims represented by independent council in order to make the process more fair. However, this revised system of investigating shootings has never been implemented, due to the union representing Las Vegas area police (who not coincidentally believe Arevalo did nothing wrong) has advised them not to participate in Coroner’s Inquest proceedings because of their “adversarial nature.”

However, many of the original flaws within the Coroner’s Inquest system continue to exist and in some cases are even worse when grand juries are used to determine whether police and other officials should be prosecuted for questionable actions. Like the Coroner’s inquest, grand jury proceedings are conducted exclusively by the District Attorney’s office, who works closely with, and is often dependent on the cooperation of, police officers in order to secure convictions in cases they bring to trial. It is entirely up to them what evidence will be presented, who is called to testify, and how those witnesses  are questioned. In the past, prosecutors have often displayed a tendency to construct their cases in such a way so as to paint police in a favorable light. This conflict of interest was one of the most cited issues with the Coroner’s Inquest.

When the Government Prosecutes One of Its Own, the Scales of Justice are Tipped Heavily Against the Truth Coming Out

Even worse is the secrecy of grand juries. Nevada conducts their grand jury proceedings under what amounts to a full gag order. Nobody involved in a grand jury may  publicly disclose any of the evidence presented to the jury, information obtained by the jury, events or statements occurring in front of the jury, or even the results of an investigation by the grand jury. The lone exception to this is individual witnesses, who are limited to discussing their own personal testimony. Breaking these restrictions is a criminal act.

What this effectively means is that the DA’s office and the courts have complete control over what information goes before the jury and what is disclosed to the public afterwards. As lopsided as the Coroner’s inquest was, at least it was a public spectacle that was available to be scrutinized by the community at large. No such transparency exists with grand juries. Basically, a prosecutor can call only sympathetic or unconvincing witnesses and do a half-hearted  effort while questioning them to ensure the jury doesn’t find enough evidence to support a criminal charge and then hold their failure to issue an indictment up as  proof that a shooting was justified. Nobody outside of the grand jury room would be able to refute this assertion since everything took place behind closed doors and none of them are allowed to speak about what they saw.

Fact is, using a grand jury to determine whether police shootings should be prosecuted violates pretty much every aspect of the proposed reforms (from the Nevada ACLU) for the Coroner’s Inquest:

• Allow the attorneys for both the officers and the victims to participate directly in the process and ask questions during the inquest;
• Have a neutral presenter of facts that is not the District Attorney’s Office;
• Be limited to relevant questions about the decedent and the involved officers;
• Make determinations of fact and leave decisions about whether criminal charges should proceed to the District Attorney;
• Follow the same Rules of Evidence used in courtrooms (this is one singular exception); and
• Be fully transparent and open to the public.

Historically, indictments of police through the grand jury have been hard to come by. In general, bringing cases before the grand jury are the exception rather than the rule and there’s a reason for that. As stated by the attorney for the family of a man murdered by police in White Plains, NY after the grand jury decided not to indict the cops:

“…the grand jury is often used to cover politically for a figure, for a district attorney. So if the grand jury indicts, it’s not the district attorney’s fault. They simply presented the evidence, and the grand jury indicted. If the grand jury chooses not to indict, well, then the grand jury essentially is blamed, but that’s an anonymous group of 23 individuals.”

Nor is the idea that grand juries might be used as a smoke screen to protect rather than punish police a new concept. Just a few months ago Albuquerque, NM. suspended the use of grand juries to investigate police shootings after criticism of their use and the fact that (like Vegas) not one single shooting has ever been ruled unjustified:

For more than two decades, police officials have countered criticism of dozens of officer-involved shootings in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County by noting that every case is reviewed by a grand jury…

No one involved in the process can recall a single “unjustified” finding since the process was put in place in the late 1980s in response to criticism of police shootings at the time — even in a case in which the officer was fired and the city paid big bucks to settle a civil lawsuit.

Critics say that’s by design.

“It looks to me like a device that’s designed to give police a pass on shootings,” said Ray Twohig, a longtime civil rights attorney. “The public should have no confidence whatsoever in this process — there’s no independent investigation … The goal is: ‘Let’s not indict any cops…’ ”

Attorney Shannon Kennedy said…it is designed to treat officers differently from ordinary citizens.

“They are basically operating above the law,” she said. “Officers in APD know about this process; they know they will be exonerated. This contributes to more and more police shootings, because there is this culture of no accountability.”

District Attorney Wolfson himself hasn’t exactly inspired a lot of faith that he will do the right thing in cases of police abuse. In “DA statements” that have taken the place of the Coroner’s Inquest since they were put on hold, Wolfson has determined that cops shouldn’t be punished for kicking a restrained man suffering from diabetic shock in the head first because it “wouldn’t be in the community’s best interest” and later because Henderson cops are trained to kick people in the head while arresting them.

That there is enough evidence to support charges shouldn’t be in doubt being that there is a video of the shooting clearly showing that Stanley Gibson didn’t represent an imminent threat and statements by sources within LVMPD have confirmed that Jesus Arevalo knew about the plan to force Gibson from the car without using deadly force. If there was a video of anyone else unnecessarily shooting an unarmed person, that person would be sitting in jail awaiting a trial, not sitting at home on paid vacation like Jesus Arevalo is right now.

To ensure that there isn’t even the appearance of any sort of official favoritism being extended to police officers (or other government employees) Wolfson needs to do the right thing by charging Arevalo directly and placing this case in the hands of a trial jury, rather than gambling on a grand jury issuing an indictment first. A gamble that members of this community aren’t so sure he is willing to go “all in” on. Furthermore, any charges brought should include charge of murder, since that’s what truly happened that day.

Thanks for reading. Justice for Stanley Gibson or Just an End-Around Coroner’s Inquest Reforms? is a post from Nevada CopBlock

A member of the Henderson police Department was caught on video kicking a man in the head while he is held by three other cops. It was later determined that this man was suffering from diabetic shock instead of driving drunk as cops originally suspected.

While that surprise isn’t unfounded, the simple reason that this hasn’t been posted on NvCopBlock.org previously is that it predates the launch of this site. However, I very much agree that it should be included and am taking this opportunity to rectify that discrepancy by posting the submission along with a few updates.

This story, along with it’s eventual “resolution,” is actually very indicative of the lack of accountability within police departments in the Las Vegas area:

“A Nevada city will pay a diabetic man $158,500 (it actually totals close to $300k once the state settlements are factored in) after police beat him while he was in diabetic shock, thinking he was a drunken driver…

The incident was caught by the dash cam of a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper present during the incident, which began as a chase in the early morning hours of Oct. 29, 2010. Police suspected the man was driving drunk…

The video showed that once the car was pulled over, police officers swarmed the driver and began kicking him.

‘Stop resisting motherfucker. Stop resisting motherfucker,’ an officer yelled as the man lay on the ground.

However, the man was not drunk – he was suffering a diabetic episode. Insulin shock can mimic the symptoms of intoxication…

An officer seen in the video kicking the diabetic motorist is Sgt. Brett Seekatz, who has been with the Henderson Police Department since August 2002, ABC 13 reported. Officials wouldn’t specify how or if Seekatz was disciplined over the incident, saying the information is a personnel matter and will not be released. He remains a member of the Henderson Police Department.”

Once the video surfaced, the people in the community were understandably outraged by the obviously unnecessary nature of the beating inflicted on a visibly restrained man. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson saw it differently, though. In his initial review of the case, he came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be “in the community’s best interest” to punish Sgt. Seekatz (who has a history of complaints being filed against him predating this case) or any of the other officers because two years had passed since the incident happened.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson

Not surprisingly, that assessment was met with outrage by the community prompting Wolfson to take yet another look at the case and try to come up with a better sounding rationalization for not punishing Seekatz. Unfortunately, he didn’t do a very good job in that effort. Once again, Wolfson chose not to hold anyone accountable for their actions that day, essentially stating that Henderson police are trained to kick people in the head while making arrests and therefore they couldn’t be punished for doing so.

Not exactly the sort of thing that makes you feel real confident that you won’t become yet another victim of the police departments in and around Las Vegas, but honestly not something that is a shock to anyone that has dealt with them before. Knowing that you won’t get punished for abusing and even killing someone, tends to embolden those in positions of authority over others to abuse that authority. Including it in their training, tends to make those abuses inevitable.

And if you’re a taxpaying resident of Clark County, NV., that $6,514,918 that the LVMPD alone has payed out to its victims since 2009 , including almost $2 million already in 2012 (amounts via the Clark County Criminal Cops site), is coming straight out of your paycheck.

Thanks for reading. After Henderson Police Beat Man in Diabetic Shock, NV Residents Pay for It (via submission) is a post from Nevada CopBlock

Three months in jail, plus probation, for requesting accountability? – photo courtesy of Donald Rilea

Earlier this week, New Hampshire’s government, which famously wasted a bunch of money and effort trying to jail a man for covering the state’s motto “Live Free or Die” on his license plate, once again displayed their preference toward the second option within that phrase. Ademo Freeman, a local activist and founder of the main Cop Block site, was charged, convicted, and is currently sitting in jail in what can only be described as an attempt to intimidate and censor someone who has made it one of his life’s purposes to highlight and oppose abuses and corruption by police and other governmental officials.

Although the official charge was wiretapping, the real intent isn’t hard to discern. This case revolves around an incident in which a 17 year old high school student in Manchester, NH was arrested for what amounts to a silly prank and, in the process of being arrested, was violently  assaulted unnecessarily by a member of the school’s police unit. This was brought to the attention of Ademo and other members of Cop Block by another student, who filmed the incident and subsequently forwarded that footage to CopBlock.org.

The extent of Ademo’s “crimes” consist of him recording and later posting online calls he made to three members of the school requesting official statements about the incident and inquiring about what might be done to hold the officer, who was caught on tape doing to a child what would result in an arrest for child abuse if his own parents did the same thing to him, accountable for his actions. There should be little doubt that this was not the intended purpose of rules against wiretapping, nor should there be much of a mystery to the real reason that it was used in this manner against Ademo.

This is nothing more nor less than an obvious and blatant attempt to discourage people from opposing the official power structures within the government and prevent exposure of misconduct by its employees. Furthermore, it’s an attempt to push back against personal attempts by Ademo and others within the Cop Block network to publicize law enforcement and governmental abuses. In essence, Manchester wants to ensure that the old axiom “you can’t fight city hall” holds true, even if they have to fight dirty in order to do so.

As incidents of police abuse become more and more commonplace and public opinion of law enforcement erodes, the importance of holding bad police accountable should be obvious even to their supporters and the police themselves. Covering up those abuses does nothing but reinforce the appearance that the entire police force is corrupt and only makes it that much harder for those genuine good cops, that we are constantly told comprise the majority of cops, to do their job. Going so far as to imprison someone for exposing official abuses, is an affront and not so subtle threat to everyone.

Regardless of how you feel about the police, Cop Block, or even Ademo personally, everyone should be able to grasp the larger issues involved in all of this. If governments and their officials are allowed to twist and bend the intentions of laws in order to attack and censor individuals they dislike and/or are inconvenienced by, then all of us are a little less safe should that target ever be placed on our chest. As Martin Luther King once stated, “an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Even more dangerous is the notion that governmental officials should be able to hold themselves above the laws that everyone else is expected to follow by doing so, especially when the underlying issue involves violence against defenseless people, including school children.

Parents deserve better from the officials that have been entrusted to safeguard their children and a peaceful society based on true freedom demands better to ensure its continued existence.

If you value liberty and freedom support Ademo however you can. (see below)

If you’d like to help, here are some suggestions:

-Become active at CopBlock.org

-Move to the Shire

-Donate to Ademo/CopBlock.org

-Write Ademo in jail

Adam Mueller

445 Willow Street 03103

Manchester, NH 

-Send liberty-orientated stories to Ademo’s roommates

In addition you can contact the public officials that were involved in the case and tell them what you think of their attempts to use the judicial system as a tool for censorship:

Michael G. Valentine – (603) 627-5605
(DA arguing that Ademo deserves to be caged for 21-years)
Hillsborough County Attorney’s Offices, 300 Chestnut Street, Manchester, NH 03101

Michael Delaney – (603) 271-3658
(attorney general who failed to bring charges against Duchesne, Jajuga, Buckley, and Goodno)
NH Department of Justice, 33 Capitol Street, Concord, NH 03301

Jonathan Duchesne, Matt Jajuga, Michael Buckley, David Mara – (603) 668-8711
(first three involved in beating of Chris Micklovich, fourth is “chief”)
Manchester Police Department, 351 Chestnut Street, Manchester, NH 03101-2294

MaryEllen McGorry – (603) 624-6384
(principal, from whom one of Ademo’s wiretapping threats stems)
West High School
9 Notre Dame Ave
Manchester, NH 03102

Ted Gatsas, Thomas R. Clark – (603) 624.6500
(mayor and city solicitor who failed to bring charges against Duchesne, Jajuga, Buckley, and Goodno)
Manchester City Hall, 1045 Elm Street, Manchester, NH 03101

Thanks for reading. #FreeAdemo – Institutionalized Censorship in the “Live Free or Die” State is a post from Nevada CopBlock

Open Carry is Completely Legal and Unrestricted in Nevada

This was recently received, via the submission form, from an open carry advocate in Reno who wishes to remain anonymous. It recounts his encounter with a member of the Reno Sheriff’s Department during a traffic stop. More importantly, it addresses some questions that arose by the fact that this particular police officer was under the impression that openly carrying a gun in Reno is illegal (spoiler: it’s very legal). Additional comments and reaction is included below.

I’ve made some spelling, grammar, and punctuation corrections, as well as adding links throughout for informational purposes, but in terms of content, this is the story in it’s entirety as received:

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I moved here about a year ago and have been open carrying in Reno, Nevada since I arrived, never had much trouble had a lot of people come up to me and ask about it.

So, today I decided to register and post (on NVCopBlock.org) because on the way home from moving stuff out of storage we got pulled over by a sheriff on a motorcycle. He gave us a ticket for my derpy friend not having his registration on him, but otherwise everything went fine.

We immediately told him we were both armed and open carrying. He didn’t even draw or look to worried, just told us to put our hands on the dash. Then 3 seconds later, told us to get out and switch the license plates around because he had the registration sticker on the front plates not the back so we did that while he was issuing the ticket.

Afterwards, he gave us the ticket and asked us why were open carrying and then proceeded to laugh when we told him it was our right and its for our own protection etc., etc…He mocked us and said we should just relax and enjoy life sometimes…(Whatever that means?)

Artist Rendering of the Person who Submitted this Story

I then replied, ”well we cant exactly carry you around with us 24 hours a day and 7 days a week sir.”

We bantered back-n-forth a bit and then, when we were about to leave, he said ” If I really wanted to be an ass, I could cite you for open carrying in Reno, because the Reno city ordinance overrides the state law about open carrying in the state of Nevada.” He then went on to tell us we should look it up and probably not open carry anymore and kept saying ”he was pretty sure it overrides the state ordinance.”

When he said that it came off VERY threatening and I wanted to start an argument right then and there, but that probably wouldn’t of been the best idea…

I got his name and badge id…if I can do anything with it…

So I started googling….and I’ve researched the laws here A LOT before I even started open carrying…every time I hear something I always look it up…but for a sheriff to bring some BS city of Reno code that overrides the constitution and state law made me research some more…and that’s how I found this thread and I’ve since printed up 10 of your excellent pamphlets! Thanks!

I’m 99.99% certain that he is incorrect…and please correct me if I’m wrong…but how do police, cops, sheriffs, whatever not know the law? This is mind boggling….

ALSO what should I do with a officer who DOESN’T know the law and tries to do something about me legally carrying ?

I wish I would of recorded the whole ordeal…isn’t there like a hotline I can call and it records my stuff? and then I can download the call on my computer?

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As stated earlier, it is very much legal to open carry in Nevada, which of course includes Reno. I regards to Reno law taking precedence over state laws, nothing could be further from the truth. The first problem with that idea is that there aren’t any Reno statutes prohibiting open carrying of firearms. The second flaw (and the reason for the first one) is that the State of Nevada specifically restricts local jurisdictions from passing gun laws that impose more severe restrictions on gun rights than those imposed by state law.

NRS 244.364, NRS 268.418, and NRS 269.222 state that the legislature reserves to itself the right to regulate the transfer, sale, purchase, possession, ownership, transportation, registration and licensing of firearms and ammunition in Nevada, and that no county, city or town respectively may infringe upon these rights. (emphasis added)

In relation to the Constitution, we’re unfortunately at the mercy of whoever is interpreting it and in the case of gun laws the Supreme Court interpreted it to mean that states have a right to restrict how and where citizens may exercise the Second Amendment . Which is why there are varying degrees of legality for openly carrying firearms throughout the different states.

Fortunately for those of us living in Nevada though, our state has one of the most liberal (in the literal sense) applications of gun laws. In fact, with the exception of the requirement to register guns in Clark County, there are no restrictions on open carry within Nevada.

However, less fortunate for us is the reality that it really isn’t that unusual for “police, cops, sherriffs, whatever” to not know the laws that they are planning to enforce and often there’s little or nothing we can do about it. In answer to the question of what you should do when confronted with a heavily armed government employee that doesn’t understand gun laws, my advice would be to assert your rights, while attempting to avoid a confrontation that could go very wrong. When in doubt, the safest bet is to wait it out and then file a complaint after the fact (that’s where that name and badge number come into play). Sometimes it can actually make a difference.

And of course, we advocate always recording any interaction that you have for police to create a unbiased record of exactly what happened and why. I’m not personally aware of any service that records  downloadable audio, but Qik.com has put out a great app that allows you to record and stream live video from your cell phone that is instantly posted to the internets and therefore can’t be erased or tampered with if the phone is confiscated.

Then get that video to us…

Thanks for reading. Sheriff Claims Open Carry is Illegal in Reno (Anonymous Submission) is a post from Nevada CopBlock

Details of the vigil (via FaceBook):

Date:Tuesday June 12, 2012

Time: 6:30pm-7:30pm

Location: 2541 N. Rainbow (the back gate area of the Alondra Apts)

Rondha Gibson will host a candlelight vigil in honor of her husband Stan L. Gibson, who was murdered on 12/12/11 by  LVMPD. This event is open to all that want to join in our moment of silence for our fallen husband, brother, son, friend, soldier, etc. Our motto is and always will be “NEVER FORGET.’ Some day we may forgive, but we will never forget. The vigil will consist of those who knew and loved Stanley speaking about his life and what he meant to them and a call for accountability from LVMPD and those responsible for his killing to be brought to justice.

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Stanley Gibson was killed while looking for his apartment in the early hours of December 12, 2011. At the time, he was suffering from PTSD and cancer and had been unable to get medication he was supposed to be taking due to bureaucratic roadblocks within the VA hospital. He had become confused and was likely suffering a panic attack, which resulted in him ending up at the wrong apartment complex. after responding to a report of someone trying to break into an apartment, police confronted Stanley and eventually blocked his car with two police cruisers, immobilizing it.

During a resulting standoff, in which Stanley was unresponsive to commands to exit the vehicle, cops on the scene devised a plan to force him out by firing a shotgun loaded with a beanbag round through his back window and then following up with tear gas. In spite of knowing about this plan, Jesus Arevalo reacted to the shooting of the beanbag round by firing seven rounds of live ammo into Stanley’s back with a AR-15 automatic assault rifle. The entire time leading up to the deadly shots being fired Stanley was fully visible, his vehicle was immobilized, and he was unarmed.

Six months later, many questions persist regarding the necessity of an armed response to the situation, the use of military grade weapons by police, and why Ofc. Arevalo has been sitting at home essentially on paid vacation, rather than being punished for his actions that day.

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Thanks for reading. Stanley L. Gibson Candlight Vigil: June 12, 2012 is a post from Nevada CopBlock