The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the death of a man who was stunned with a Taser three times by a local sheriff’s deputy, but the coroner cited other factors as causing his death.
County Coroner Erik Mitchell concluded that Walter E. Haake Jr., who has diabetes and heart problems, died after being held face down by deputies. Mitchell found that the March 30 death at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plant in north Topeka, where Haake worked, was accidental.
Mitchell said when a person with heart problems is held in such a position and his chest is compressed, “Sudden death occasionally results.”
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Saturday, April 12, 2008
U.S.: New domestic spying program set to go into affect
The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.
Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications.
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Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.
Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications.
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New York State: Less crime should not mean fewer prisons
For nearly a decade, one of New York City’s major exports — criminals — has been in decline, a result of less crime. In the alternative universe of state government, this is the textbook definition of catastrophe. A steady supply of criminals is the foundation of the economy of large swaths of New York State, which has 70 prisons that employ about 20,000 people as correction officers.
The prisons are also a source of political power to upstate Republicans because the inmates are counted as permanent residents when legislative districts are drawn — even though they cannot vote and their actual homes may be hundreds of miles away.
In January, the State Department of Correctional Services said that because the state had 9,000 fewer inmates than it did in 1999, it would close four prisons that had space for 1,346. Another agency said the state should close five mostly unused juvenile facilities because even empty beds cost $140,000 to $200,000 each to maintain with staff and other services.
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The prisons are also a source of political power to upstate Republicans because the inmates are counted as permanent residents when legislative districts are drawn — even though they cannot vote and their actual homes may be hundreds of miles away.
In January, the State Department of Correctional Services said that because the state had 9,000 fewer inmates than it did in 1999, it would close four prisons that had space for 1,346. Another agency said the state should close five mostly unused juvenile facilities because even empty beds cost $140,000 to $200,000 each to maintain with staff and other services.
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Liberty City Seven case may reach second mistrial over hung jury; Bush administration still pushing for prison and deportation
Just as in the first trial, jurors hit a stalemate in the case against six men accused of scheming to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago and bomb FBI offices in Miami and elsewhere. They were told to continue deliberating nonetheless.
The jurors said Friday in a terse note issued on their 10th day of deliberations that they could not agree on the guilt or innocence of any of the accused men.
"We are unable to come to a unanimous decision on any of the counts for all of the defendants," the note read.
The first trial in the "Liberty City Seven" case also ended in a mistrial in December because of a hung jury for alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste and the five other defendants. One man was acquitted by the first jury, but the Bush administration intends to deport him to Haiti.
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The jurors said Friday in a terse note issued on their 10th day of deliberations that they could not agree on the guilt or innocence of any of the accused men.
"We are unable to come to a unanimous decision on any of the counts for all of the defendants," the note read.
The first trial in the "Liberty City Seven" case also ended in a mistrial in December because of a hung jury for alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste and the five other defendants. One man was acquitted by the first jury, but the Bush administration intends to deport him to Haiti.
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L.A.: Alteration to law would allow officers to investigate immigration status of "gang members"
Calling it a response to public outrage over gang crime in Los Angeles, Councilman Dennis Zine said Friday he wants to alter the LAPD's long-standing Special Order 40 by allowing officers to question gang members about their immigration status.
Opposed by immigration-rights activists, the amendment would bolster already existing relationships with immigration officials and require police to report gang members who are in the country illegally.
But it would not alter the crux of the 1979 rule that prohibits officers from asking crime victims about their immigration status.
"These are people who are terrorizing their own communities," Zine said. "They are extorting business for protection money. They are victimizing their own communities. We need to give gang officers another tool to deal with the problem."
Still, activists and the LAPD say officers should not be used to enforce immigration laws and argue that authorizing officers to obtain gang members' immigration status would do just that.
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Opposed by immigration-rights activists, the amendment would bolster already existing relationships with immigration officials and require police to report gang members who are in the country illegally.
But it would not alter the crux of the 1979 rule that prohibits officers from asking crime victims about their immigration status.
"These are people who are terrorizing their own communities," Zine said. "They are extorting business for protection money. They are victimizing their own communities. We need to give gang officers another tool to deal with the problem."
Still, activists and the LAPD say officers should not be used to enforce immigration laws and argue that authorizing officers to obtain gang members' immigration status would do just that.
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Canada: Black student group alleges racism was the cause of police action
A group of students from the University of Windsor is filing an application with the Ontario Human Rights Commission this week alleging that racism influenced the city police force's handling of a campus party.
The group Students Against Anti-Black Racism is requesting that the commission conduct an independent investigation into the decision by police to use more than two dozen officers and a K-9 unit to break up a Caribbean-themed dance party held on campus in late January.
Students allege officers responded to a routine call with unusually high numbers of officers and resources and went on to use excessive force when arresting some students.
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The group Students Against Anti-Black Racism is requesting that the commission conduct an independent investigation into the decision by police to use more than two dozen officers and a K-9 unit to break up a Caribbean-themed dance party held on campus in late January.
Students allege officers responded to a routine call with unusually high numbers of officers and resources and went on to use excessive force when arresting some students.
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Indianapolis: Community protests after charges against police officer dropped
The mother of a teen who was kicked by a police officer during last year's Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration said Friday the officer is being treated too leniently.
Fredereka Hill gathered with supporters at Second Baptist Church to protest prosecutors' decision to drop a battery charge against Indianapolis police Officer Adam Chappell.
Hill said she wants the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to fire Chappell.
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Fredereka Hill gathered with supporters at Second Baptist Church to protest prosecutors' decision to drop a battery charge against Indianapolis police Officer Adam Chappell.
Hill said she wants the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to fire Chappell.
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North Carolina: 6 students arrested at ASU after three day sit in against sweatshop products
A sit-in protest about oversight of working conditions in factories that make Appalachian State University-licensed apparel ended last night with the arrest of six students.
The sit-in began Wednesday morning in ASU’s administration building. The number of students has varied over three days, with some students going in and out.
Six students were arrested about 7:30 and taken to the magistrate’s office. They were charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing. The students were booked into jail last night, then released on $300 bonds,organizers said.
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The sit-in began Wednesday morning in ASU’s administration building. The number of students has varied over three days, with some students going in and out.
Six students were arrested about 7:30 and taken to the magistrate’s office. They were charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing. The students were booked into jail last night, then released on $300 bonds,organizers said.
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Canada: Anti-seal hunt protesters say coast guard raided vessel
A conservation group monitoring the annual seal hunt said armed Canadian Coast Guard officers boarded their vessel the Farley Mowat in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Saturday.
Paul Watson, who heads the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said coast guard officers stormed the vessel at 11 a.m. local time. Watson received a call from Albertan Shannon Mann, 35, the onboard communications officer for the protest ship.
"Shannon said that the icebreaker the Des Groseilliers and the (offshore patrol ship) Sir Wifrid Grenfell dispatched four small boats carrying officers and they swarmed the vessel and came on board," said Watson. "They seized everything."
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Paul Watson, who heads the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said coast guard officers stormed the vessel at 11 a.m. local time. Watson received a call from Albertan Shannon Mann, 35, the onboard communications officer for the protest ship.
"Shannon said that the icebreaker the Des Groseilliers and the (offshore patrol ship) Sir Wifrid Grenfell dispatched four small boats carrying officers and they swarmed the vessel and came on board," said Watson. "They seized everything."
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Dr. Al-Arian Placed in Punitive Detention
At 1 a.m. on Saturday, Dr. Sami Al-Arian was moved by hostile prison guards from a regular holding cell at the Howard County Detention Center in Jessup, Maryland, to the "Special Housing Unit." The SHU is an extremely punitive and restrictive section of the prison where inmates are placed in solitary confinement 23 hours a day, usually in freezing temperatures. Prisoners are normally moved there for violating prison rules. However, in the case of Dr. Al-Arian, he has always been placed there without reason or any explanation. In the SHU, prisoners are subjected to continuous, deafening alarm sounds and have little contact with the outside world. With no medical supervision, this is an extremely dangerous place for Dr. Al-Arian to be during his hunger strike, which is on its 41st day. Dr. Al-Arian was also held in solitary confinement for 37 months before and during his trial. This was a deliberate attempt by the government to break him down physically and psychologically and to prevent him from preparing for his trial.
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Mumia Legal Update April 2008
This Legal Update is made on behalf of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who remains on Pennsylvania's death row. Many people have inquired as to our reaction and position concerning recent legal developments, and what will happen now. This should answer many of those questions and alleviate some of the confusion.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia
As widely reported in the media, the U.S. Court of Appeals issued its long-awaited decision on March 27, 2008. (Abu-Jamal v. Horn, Nos. 01-9014, 02-9001, 2008 WL 793877 (3rd Cir. 2008).) Mumia and I had legal conferences that day, and we have been in frequent contact since including a death-row meeting earlier this week and a discussion this evening. We view the opinion of the three-judge panel as a mixed bag with some good, some very wrong, and a remarkable dissenting opinion by a judge on racism that gives us great hope for eventual victory.
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U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia
As widely reported in the media, the U.S. Court of Appeals issued its long-awaited decision on March 27, 2008. (Abu-Jamal v. Horn, Nos. 01-9014, 02-9001, 2008 WL 793877 (3rd Cir. 2008).) Mumia and I had legal conferences that day, and we have been in frequent contact since including a death-row meeting earlier this week and a discussion this evening. We view the opinion of the three-judge panel as a mixed bag with some good, some very wrong, and a remarkable dissenting opinion by a judge on racism that gives us great hope for eventual victory.
Source and full story
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