Justice stalks LA’s “killer police”

By Andrew Gumbel

Los Angeles, California, Oct. 8— Sonia Flores had no illusions about her policeman boyfriend. Not only did she know he was dealing drugs on the side, she frequently volunteered to act as a cocaine courier for him. She knew he was involved in other bad stuff -- after all, he was a member of a high-profile anti-gang unit in Los Angeles’ Rampart Division, which held rowdy celebration parties every time a suspect was shot and whose officers sported skull tattoos as a mark of prowess at hunting their prey.

But nothing quite prepared her for the evening six years ago when -- according to her account -- she accompanied her boyfriend, Rafael Perez, and another officer on a drug deal that quickly went sour. The man they went to see, whom she knew only by his code name Chino, did not have the money he was supposed to produce and an argument broke out.

At length, Perez pushed him to the floor and shot him first in the shoulder, then in the head. Chino’s mother, who witnessed the whole thing, broke down in unconsolable sobbing until Perez’s partner, David Mack, killed her too with a handgun fitted with a silencer.

Flores was sitting on a couch just a few feet away and was splattered with blood. The officers told her to get a plastic bag from the kitchen and wrap it around the woman’s head to stop blood spilling on the floor. The officers then rolled both bodies in carpeting, sealed them with masking tape and took them to their car.

According to testimony that Flores has given both to investigators and reporters from the Los Angeles Times, she was told that if she ever talked about what she had seen, she would be killed.

But that was not the end of it. A couple of months later, she went on a trip across the Mexican border with Perez and Mack, only to learn half-way there that there was a body in the boot -- the body of Mack’s girlfriend. They were on their way to bury her in the same place the two previous victims were buried -- on a rubbish-strewn hillside above the border town of Tijuana.

Flores says she had been too afraid to come forward (Perez and Mack are now both behind bars for other crimes), but her testimony could prove to be the most explosive chapter yet in Los Angeles’ ever-widening police corruption scandal.

In the next few days, investigators will travel south to Tijuana to try to find the bodies, according to her description of where she saw their burial mounds. In the meantime, publicity surrounding her as yet unconfirmed revelations is causing a furor in the courts and in the corridors of power.

Not only has she given one of the most graphic accounts of police brutality in the Rampart Division, she has also severely undermined the credibility of the public prosecutor’s star informer. Rafael Perez has been singing like a canary ever since his conviction on cocaine-dealing charges last year -- hoping that by naming fellow officers he could escape further prosecution. His testimony has triggered investigations into 70 officers, five of whom have just gone on trial in the past few days, and caused more than 100 convictions in gang-related cases to be overturned.

The snag is that Perez was supposed to give a full confession of his crimes as a condition of his plea bargain. Now, even before Sonia Flores’ story has been verified, apologists for the Police Department are jumping all over his credibility, calling him a “monster” and a “sociopathic serial perjurer” who has dragged the maximum number of colleagues down into the mud with him.

Perez’s lawyer, meanwhile, has counter-attacked, calling Flores’ allegations “a desperate plea for attention.”

It is impossible to overstate how high the stakes are in this terrifying game of allegation and counter-allegation. The corruption scandal already appears to have felled the career of the Los Angeles district attorney, Gil Garcetti, who is almost certain to be voted out of office next month.

The future of police chief Bernard Parks is in doubt. He was recently forced to relinquish control over the LAPD to a special oversight commission from the federal Justice Department. And the scandal is also sure to cast a long shadow over next April’s mayoral election, in which the incumbent, Richard Riordan, is barred from running again.

The just-opened trial of four officers accused of framing numerous suspects in 1996 has become fraught with tension even during the jury selection phase. While the defense has been hurling invective at Rafael Perez, the prosecution has accused the LAPD of withholding documents and tipping off officers whose houses were to be searched.

“The Rampart investigation has documented how difficult it is for a law enforcement agency to police itself,” Brian Schirn, the prosecuting attorney, said last week. “Many of these investigators from the LAPD have relationships, even friendships, with some of the individuals under investigation. Accordingly, it is not surprising that there are some LAPD investigators who have difficulty conducting a thorough investigation of the police agency to which they belong.”

Flores has offered to take a polygraph test. “What reason do I have to lie?” she said. “Mack and Perez are smart people. The only stupid thing they did was having me around when they did this stuff.”

Source: The Independent (UK)

Palestinian rights rally in Times Square draws thousands

By Jennifer Zacharia

New York, New York, Oct. 9— A few thousand demonstrators poured into Times Square Friday evening for a rally protesting the Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the clashes currently raging in the Middle East.

Protesters carried Palestinian flags and banners saying “Stop The Israeli Massacre of Palestinian Children” and “Stop the Bloodshed” as they chanted, “End the Occupation Now.”

Palestinians and Israelis have been fighting for the last nine days throughout Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The conflicts have left 77 dead, and more than 1,900 injured, most of them Palestinian.

“I’m here because I’m an anti-racist,” said Shiko Bihar, a Jewish Israeli graduate student at Columbia University. “This is state terror. In every situation, I identify who the victim and who the oppressor is, and I stand always with the victim, no matter where we are.”

The violence in the Middle East began after a Sept. 28 visit by Ariel Sharon, the leader of the hard-line opposition Likud party, to the Jerusalem site called Noble Sanctuary by Muslims and Temple Mount by Jews. He visited the site to protest the government’s proposals to share sovereignty of the sanctuary with Muslims. That sparked rioting the next day, and police stormed the site, killing four protesters.

Rally organizers called for the establishment of an international commission of inquiry into the violence. They accuse the Israeli troops of using excessive force against the Palestinians.

“All week long I’ve been mourning the loss,” said Amahl Bishara, a student at New York University. “I’m appalled by the excessive use of force by Israeli occupying forces.”

“We’re asking for the protection of all Palestinian people,” said Samera Esmeir of Al-Awda, a coalition that supports the right of return for Palestinians who were displaced with the creation of Israel.

The presence of the massive crowd had police shutting the area down to vehicle traffic during the evening commute. Hundreds of officers lined the streets, and put up barricades to keep the demonstrators within one street lane.

The rally was overall extremely peaceful. But at one point, a handful of young men carrying a coffin draped with a Palestinian flag began chanting “All Jews Must Die.”

They were immediately chastised by those around them.

“That’s not our message,” said Noera Ayaz, 24, a Columbia student. “What we want is to work for peace with the Jewish people, not against them.”

Two people were arrested for disorderly conduct, and two police officers suffered slight injuries, said Detective John Giammarino, a police spokesman.

Source: Associated Press

Black mothers secretly marked for drug testing

By Katherine Stapp

New York, New York, Oct. 5 (IPS)— In an important test for privacy rights, the US Supreme Court is reviewing the claims of a group of 10 mostly African-American women that a public hospital committed a flagrant abuse of its authority when it singled them out without their knowledge for drug tests during routine prenatal exams.

In all, some 30 women -- 29 of whom were African-American -- were arrested and put in jail after testing positive under the anti-drug policy, which was jointly developed in 1989 by a South Carolina public hospital and local police and prosecutors. The women were charged with crimes like drug possession, child neglect and distribution of drugs to a minor -- meaning the unborn fetus, which, if viable outside the womb, is considered a person under South Carolina law.

“The doctors in this case worked directly with the police to arrest women right out of their hospital beds,’’ said the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, Priscilla Smith. “We agree with the American Medical Association that this was a shocking abuse of police and governmental power.’’

In addition to the broad privacy issues raised by the case known as Ferguson v. City of Charleston, the plaintiffs argued that surreptitious drug testing only serves to discourage women from seeking medical care when they are expecting a child.

“No one wants a pregnant woman to do anything that is harmful to herself or her fetus, but the one thing we know about drug addiction is that punitive policies do more harm than good,’’ Smith said, noting that virtually every major US medical association opposes such testing as “counter- productive.’’

But far worse than the testing itself, she argues, is the fact that the results were promptly disclosed to the police. Amicus briefs have been filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and numerous medical and reproductive rights groups.

Under close questioning from the Court’s nine justices, respondents’ attorney Robert Hood insisted that the policy was not intended to punish, but rather to “stop a woman from doing irreparable, major harm to her child in utero.’’

Hood told the court that the testing was in response to an emergency “epidemic’’ of crack-addicted mothers, and therefore justified the intrusion.

Working with lawyers from the New York-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP), the women first sued the hospital and city of Charleston in 1993, alleging that the drug tests constituted a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution.

A trial court affirmed the policy (which had been abandoned by the hospital in 1994), and a federal appeals court also ruled against the plaintiffs, finding that the drug testing fell within the “special needs’’ exception to the protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

For example, while the doctor-patient relationship enjoys broad confidentiality guarantees in the United States, medical personnel are required to report a gunshot wound to authorities because a crime may have been committed.

The Supreme Court, located in Washington DC, accepted an appeal from the plaintiffs last year. It is expected to issue a ruling by next July.

Although the race of the women has been largely downplayed in the media, some have noted that not only were the vast majority of the women black, but the hospital -- the Medical University of South Carolina -- was the only one in town serving low-income minority patients, and the only one to institute a “Search and Arrest’’ policy.

Prof. Susan Herman of Brooklyn Law School, who participated in a moot court rehearsal of the issues at a Virginia university on Monday, termed it a case of “pregnant while black’’ -- a reference to the racial criteria used by some police officers to pull over motorists that has come to be known, ironically, as “driving while black.’’

Testimony from the plaintiffs on the CRLP web site paints a grim picture of the policy’s implementation. Some of the women were arrested just hours after delivering their babies, and one had her ankle shackled to the bed during labor.

“After I got dressed, three policemen came in, put handcuffs and shackles on me and told me I was under arrest for distribution of cocaine to a minor,’’ recalled Lori Griffin, who had two other young children at home when she was handed over to the police by a hospital nurse in October 1989. “I will never trust a doctor again...they tormented me.’’

When Sandra Powell was arrested that same year, she was still bleeding from giving birth and was wearing only a hospital gown, open at the back.

“I said please, what could I do to stop this,’’ she testified. “Could you help me... what is going on?’’

“I just had a baby, I was still in pain,’’ Powell said. “Before that day was over, I was in jail...I felt so ashamed because I (didn’t) know what I had done for them to treat me like that.’’

In 1990, the hospital started offering women drug treatment in lieu of prison. However, those who refused were subject to arrest. The case has wide ramifications for civil and women’s rights in general, lawyers say.

“Once that justification (of fetal or maternal health) is accepted as the basis for stripping rights away, there is no logical stopping point,’’ says the ACLU’s amicus brief.

“Many things men and women do before and after conception can affect the health of future children, from smoking to drinking to bad dietary habits,’’ the group notes.

“If the state can drug test pregnant women based on criteria that have more to do with poverty than with actual drug use, there is no reason why the state could not claim an equivalent right to...monitor the behavior of women more generally throughout their pregnancies.’’

California’s Prop 36 could start war on drug laws

San Francisco, California, Oct. 6— A group of wealthy philanthropists who disagree with the US government’s drug policy are mounting a national campaign to change it — and they are using California to lead the charge.

Proposition 36 — a November ballot initiative that would send drug offenders to treatment instead of prison — is just one of the steps the high-powered group, which includes billionaire George Soros, is using to slowly change the nation’s drug laws.

“The California proposition is regarded as the high profile anchor of a broader campaign to advance our drug policy,” said Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Lindesmith Center, a foundation established to “broaden the drug policy debate.” Although the center is not directly involved in the proposition, it is Soros’ creation and Nadelmann is an adviser to the campaign.

Starting with California’s Proposition 215 — which legalized medical marijuana — Soros and others have carefully used their money to go directly to voters on issues surrounding the nation’s drug war.

Nadelmann denies that the campaign is radical or that its ultimate goal is drug legalization.

“For too long, drug policy has been based on ignorance, fear, prejudice, and profit,” he said. “We support a policy based on common sense, human rights, science, and public health.”

Favoring rehabilitation

The practical effect of the group’s policy would mean legalized marijuana for medical purposes, access to methadone for heroin addicts and rehabilitation instead of prison, Nadelmann said.

But opponents of Proposition 36 don’t buy that.

“This is not about treatment; it’s an effort to legalize drugs,” said Jean Munoz, a spokeswoman for the No on 36 campaign. “Everybody in our coalition believes in treatment, but it has to be effective.”

That coalition includes judges, parole officers, law enforcement groups and some health care professionals.

“Proponents frame the issue around treatment. It’s not about treatment; it’s about the decriminalization of hard-core drugs. It will undermine effective treatment programs,” Munoz said.

Supporters of California’s proposition say it focuses on treating drug addiction as a health problem instead of a crime. The drug-treatment initiative would ban prison time for nonviolent first- and second-time drug offenders not charged with the sale, production or manufacturing of drugs.

About 19,700 of the state’s 162,000 prisoners are locked up for drug crimes, according to the state Department of Corrections.

Many drug users return again and again to jails and prisons. Drugs are considered to be the leading cause of the state’s high recidivism rate among prisoners, which reached 67 percent in 1999, according to state documents.

But opponents of the measure, including many law enforcement groups, argue that judges should be allowed to decide who are the best risks for probation and drug-treatment plans.

“With drug courts there are consequences and accountability,” said Munoz. “There is no money for drug testing in their initiative. There is no immediate sanction to compel them to get clean.”

A nonpartisan legislative analyst says that within several years the proposition would result in a savings of between $200 million and $250 million a year for the prison system.

The state would have to allocate $120 million a year to support the treatment programs.

California is a natural place to anchor the campaign, Nadelmann said.

“California is a leader in many respects,” he said. “And it has an active ballot initiative process, which others don’t have.”

Four other states also have ballot initiatives in November on drug decriminalization — Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah and Nevada — and Soros has given nearly $900,000 to those efforts.

The group uses ballot initiatives to go directly to voters, who Nadelmann said are more open to change.

“We know a lot of things cannot move forward in legislation,” he said. “There is too much political cowardice and dependence on drug war politics.”

Soros and the two other contributors — Peter Lewis, CEO of the Progressive Corp. and John Sperling, CEO of the Apollo Group, gave more than $1 million to the Proposition 36 campaign as of June 30.

Other supporters of the measure include San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, the California Nurses Association and state Senate President Pro Tem John Burton of San Francisco.

These elected leaders, along with others around the country, mean that Nadelmann’s efforts are also starting to take hold through laws and local ordinances. The Hawaiian Legislature was recently the first to pass a medical marijuana law, and New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, a Republican, is working to make drug abuse problems fall under the health department instead of the state police

. Public opinion is starting to sway elected officials, Nadelmann said.

“People are saying enough is enough,” he said. “They are fed up with the rhetoric. Coercing people is not the way to get them better.”

Philly protesters reject fine, seek trials

By Linda K. Harris

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oct. 6— In a spirited display of solidarity yesterday in Municipal Court, 54 protesters arrested during the Republican National Convention refused the district attorney’s offer of probation, a fine, and a clean record -- and opted instead to go to trial.

Before accepting his trial date, John Harris, 32, a high school history teacher from Los Angeles, read a page-long group statement to the court, presided over by Trial Commissioner Charles J. Abbonizio.

“The vast majority of RNC defendants . . . demand our rights to a full trial because good-faith negotiations have not been made for the reduction of charges of all RNC accused felons and high-level misdemeanors,” Harris read.

“Over 70 people were arrested in a warehouse for being in the vicinity of puppets and banners that never saw the light of day,” he said. When he finished, the filled courtroom erupted in applause, cheers and whistles, which the bailiff quickly quieted. Among those who chose to go to trial yesterday was Matthew Hart, 28, of Grays Ferry. Hart, a puppeteer, was arrested in the warehouse at 4100 Haverford Ave., the so-called puppet warehouse, along with 75 other people. He was charged with nine misdemeanors.

“I chose to go to trial because I’m totally innocent, and puppetry is not a crime,” Hart said.

Shawn Nolan of the public defender’s office is handling many of the protesters’ cases. He said he would file for additional discovery information before the trials.

“With the puppet cases, we think we’re entitled to the identities of the infiltrators -- who were apparently state police -- any reports they generated, and any surveillance that they did,” Nolan said.

In other protester hearings, Assistant District Attorney David E. Disiderio revealed Thursday that the FBI had surveillance tapes that he hoped to use in the case of Kate Sorensen, originally held on $1 million bail. Krasner, who is also representing Sorensen, said, “this is a war on dissent.”

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Texas settles in suit against Bush

Austin, Texas, Oct. 5— State officials have agreed to pay $99,000 to settle a lawsuit against Gov. George W. Bush and the Department of Public Safety by a group of environmentalists who were arrested for protesting on the sidewalk around the Governor’s Mansion.

The lawsuit, filed last year and alleging that Bush and DPS violated the protesters’ free speech rights, accused Bush of giving state troopers “unbridled discretion” to target them.

The arrests occurred four times in March, April and May of 1999 when the environmentalists were protesting Bush’s ties to big business. Each time, charges of blocking an entry were later dropped.

The lawsuit claimed that previous governors of both parties allowed picketing on the sidewalk in front of the mansion, but that the rules changed when Bush decided to run for president.

The lawsuit also claims that while environmentalists protesting Bush were arrested his supporters were allowed to continue their demonstrations.

The settlement does not list Bush, the Republican presidential candidate, as a party, although he was named in the lawsuit. The settlement also will not be finalized until he signs off on it.

Source: Associated Press

NAACP leader decries racism

Lincoln, Nebraska, Oct. 5— The leader of the nation’s largest black civil rights organization told about 250 college students they need to become active participants in ending racism and other forms of injustice.

Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told University of Nebraska students Thursday that throughout history, social change has always been started by ordinary men and women.

Young people have the collective power to make real changes in society but he said today’s students are too passive to participate.

“You’re considered chumps” by politicians, he said. “Why? Because you don’t participate.”

He told them being a student is not a joyride. They instead should spend these years closing the gap between what they say and what they do.

Mfume said racism still dominates every aspect of life in America.

Source: Associated Press

23 arrests in space weapons protest


Military police arrest Martin Sheen

Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, Oct. 8— Authorities arrested 23 peace activists, including actor Martin Sheen, during a protest Saturday against military space technology.

The 23 people arrested were cited for misdemeanor trespassing and failure to disperse, warned in writing not to return to the base for at least one year, then released, said sheriff’s Lt. Mike Burridge.

Vandenberg Action Coalition, an alliance of peace organizations, sponsored the “Stop Star Wars” rally outside Vandenberg Air Force Base’s main gate. Sheen and Green Party US Senate candidate Medea Benjamin spoke at the event, which drew about 200 demonstrators, said Lawrence Turk of Greenpeace USA.

The event was part of an international day to speak out against military space technology. Protests were being held in 16 countries and 60 cities, organizers said. In Asheville, peace activists held a vigil and informational picket at Vance Monument.

Source: Associated Press and staff reports