Showing posts with label Wrongful prosecution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wrongful prosecution. Show all posts

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Combating Wrongful Convictions, Redefining Criminal Defense Investigators and powers.

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Phoenix, AZ—Most of my blog visitors know I’m a longtime criminal defense investigator and have worked on many high profile cases helping the wrongfully accused.  

The defense and prosecution is supposed to have parity and equal treatment in the courts but it’s all just pretend.  There is a huge laundry list of issues that work against the accused before their trial even begins.  
One thing that troubles me is seeing the same prosecutors in large jurisdictions working every day before the same judges.  They literally sometimes even sleep together. When a criminal defense attorney comes to their court he or she is an outsider and often treated that way. 

The police have enormous powers to gather evidence such as the Grand Jury subpoena.  They can arrest those who obstruct investigations, tamper with witnesses and can most importantly obtain search warrants.

Defense investigators should just like cops be able to surreptitiously record conversations with suspects, cops and witnesses. 

Defense investigators need similar powers.  Search warrants enable nearly, always instant cooperation for records, documents and physical evidence.  For defense investigators important evidence they learn about is often destroyed or concealed before it can be seized denying fair trials for those accused of crimes. 

Defense investigators are often at odds with police and cannot rely on their assistance. In some cases police attempt to meddle in the defense investigation and that corrupts witnesses and the evidence itself.  Unfortunately sometimes police officers engage in criminal activity in order to convict the innocent. That goes double when it’s a police officer wrongfully accused of a crime! 

Let me suggest that defense investigators trained and licensed should be given limited police powers to arrest criminal suspects and seize evidence. The courts should provide evidence lockers and laboratory testing away from police crime labs to avoid conflict of interest.

Just my opinion and thoughts.  The benefit is that this simple reform another step to fairness in our deeply flawed criminal justice system. In the end it will save millions in cash and a few lives.  


Monday, February 17, 2014

George Zimmerman and His Dark Future


Sanford, FL—We now know that Travon Martin was a drug abusing, burglar and thug doing all the wrong things.  Young Martin selected the wrong person to bully and assault.  That cost Martin his life.
I’m not going to retry the case that acquitted George Zimmerman but the lies from the Martin family, their lawyers, African-American community organizers and the gun rights hating mainstream media fell apart in court.
Now Zimmerman is absolutely broke, shell-shocked and suffering from what he says is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I believe that Zimmerma’s PTSD is associated not with the incident with Martin but by being terrorized by prosecutors, so-called community leaders and media whores.  That vicious assault on Zimmerman clearly left it’s marks. 
If Zimmerman is correct that he suffers from PTSD he is in a now category of people that have lost their rights under federal law to possess firearms for life.  He may be able to collect Social Security disability payments.
Zimerman’s life is in a shambles despite his acquittal.  That’s not unusual for self-defense shooting survivors.
Zimmerman rightly says he was made a scapegoat by Barak Obama and his Attorney General.  They shamefully used it to advance their Gun Ban agenda.
Zimmerman says he wants to go to law school.  Having a law license is no guarantee he can make a living practicing law.  He says he wants to help people put in cases such as his own.  Those cases are incredibly rare and making a living on them would be nearly impossible.
I don’t know what next for Zimmerman but his future is bleak.  He once wanted to be a cop but that will never happen now.
Zimmerman is a pariah because the vicious political crusade of an over-zealous and racist special prosecutor.  The prosecutor is protected in a great extent by legal immunity for her malicious actions.
Zimmerman has pending litigation but that will be seriously challenged by public misconceptions.  To be compensated for his losses a jury must find him to be a sympathetic victim.
Zimmerman is paying a hefty price for wanting to get involved protecting his community as an unpaid civilian watchman.    






Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Tolerating the Intolerable TSA Thugs

Los Angeles, CA—What to you call a sinking boatload of TSA bureaucrats and screeners?  It’s an excellent beginning!   Do I absolutely abhor the TSA?  That’s an understatement at best.  When I see them in their quasi police costumes I always view them as nasty Nazis.  They are simple minded, poorly trained goons that lack minimal tolerance for anyone or anything. Too many of them are thieves stealing valuable passenger’s property every day.
Factually, the TSA’s totally tyrannical mission is a violation of travelers Civil Rights under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.  The courts have wrongly held that travelers “voluntarily submit” to the searching and that somehow justifies the privacy invasion and seizures of property.
I say there is nothing voluntary about most people traveling by commercial airlines.  Americans must travel in order to earn money to feed themselves and families.  There really is no alternative.  Millions of people do avoid flying whenever they can because of this government tyranny and I’m one of them.  
I’d rather drive up to eight hours each way on highways to avoid the indignity of being X-Rayed, fondled and frisked by these low rent TSA thugs.
My biggest beef with the TSA is the 1,700 times a year or more that they cause the wrongful arrest people that simply forgot they had legal handguns in their carry on bags.
Before you say these forgetful people are stupid or criminal consider the millions of dollars of lotions and potions seized from passengers that forgot they had their expensive liquid cosmetics in carry on bags. 
We all forget especially when we must fly at the last minute and become preoccupied with serious business or personal matters like traveling because of the deaths of loved ones. We are humans and humans forget.
We place our bags on the conveyer belts knowing they will be X-Rayed and inspected.  Nobody would knowingly leave any item in such a bag that would cause distress to fellow passengers or anyone, especially themselves!
Often our bags are shared with or packed by our close family members increasing the likelihood that a gun could be left in some carry on bag.
When the TSA discovers a gun they contact police who are forced to arrest, the poor forgetful soul and what follows is never pretty.  They confiscate the gun that can easily cost upwards of $1,100.00 and then the arrestee is fingerprinted, photographed and jailed until they see a judge and post bail.  They must then hire a lawyer that can cost $10,000 or more.  If they have a business license that face more trouble after they are placed on probation or pay fines.  The criminal record in most jurisdictions is forever.  All for just being forgetful! 
The late actor and retired police detective Dennis Farina was handcuffed and jailed on a Sunday for over eight hours until he could gather $35,000 in cash for bail with the banks being closed!  His record was eventually expunged but he was treated like a common criminal that had committed some dreadful offense.
Celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme, NBA legend Bill Russell, actor Christian Slater and the wife of Rocker Ted Nugent, Shemane Nugent just to name a few more victims were all arrested and manhandled because of the outrageous TSA Zero Tolerance policy.
TSA head, John Pistole (no pun intended) recently conceded to ABC News that people arrested with guns in carry-on luggage are not terrorists or people trying to do harm.  He went on to say that, “ It’s just a matter of people not thinking about what they’re carrying… These are people who have simply forgotten and go through security checks and realize their mistakes.”
If the TSA is well aware that there is no criminal intent than why don’t they simply ask the passengers to remove the guns and place them in checked baggage the proper way? Why subject the forgetful passenger to the horror of jail and criminal prosecution?  Why waste so much taxpayer money on this tyranny?  
Should a few guns turn out to be stolen, have obliterated serial numbers or are being carried by felons, that is an entirely different matter.  Arrests under those circumstances are good public policy. 
In short if the TSA could show simple reasonableness and respect I would not want to see them all on a sinking boat.  They must realize their mission is to protect passengers from actual terrorists.  Instead the TSA itself has become a terrorist organization.  If they ever expect to gain my tolerance and respect they must first learn that forgetful passengers are not America’s enemies.

Monday, July 15, 2013

What’s Next for Zimmerman in the way of Prosecution and Litigation? Real Answers!


Sanford, FL- Media pundits have suggested that George Zimmerman faces a possible federal Civil Rights criminal prosecution and a wrongful death civil lawsuit.   I have to ask, when will the hogwash end?  These are incredibly vicious but hollow threats.
Let’s talk about a criminal Violation of Civil Rights action.  The facts are not there nor have they ever been outside of the wild imagination of the race baiters. The actual code, Title 18, U.S.C., Section 24 is at the bottom of this article.
The case against Zimmerman will not somehow get better with age.  It’s been investigated to death and the only evidence of race related hate came from Trayvon Martin’s own lips when he referred to Zimmerman as a “crappy assed cracker.” A prosecution here cannot begin with thin air but will require evidence.  It’s just not there.  Public opinion can’t rewrite the law to law somehow snag Zimmerman now.
A civil action for a wrongful death under FL state law is barred by a provision that grants immunity to someone using lawful self-defense.   I won’t go so far as to say some lawyer may breech this protection however it’s unlikely. 
If somehow a wrongful death case were allowed to proceed the Martin family would still have to prove their case in court with evidence, granted with a lower burden of proof.  The insurmountable problem for the Martin family is the cost of the suit and the reality that Zimmerman has no assets to attach.  We outlawed Debtor’s Prisons long ago and even a multi-million dollar court judgment would have the value of toilet paper.
George Zimmerman already has a viable action against NBC News for portraying him in a bad light after they maliciously doctored a 911 tape to make Zimmerman appear to be racist.  NBC is in serious trouble here and will wind up paying.  They will be hoping for a jury that will hate Zimmerman and only award him $1 for his trouble.  Frankly a hefty secret settlement is in the cards for Zimmerman here.
I don’t rule out an action against Obama and his henchmen for their outrageous interference and obstruction of justice in the Zimmerman matter.  Next there are the despicable actions of Special Prosecutor Angelia Corey however immunity exists protecting her for all but provable, intentional Civil Rights violations.  The bad news for Zimmerman is this may ultimately be a public relations war.  The malicious smearing of George Zimmerman by politicians and the media is far from over. 
Here s the federal Violation of Civil Rights code:

Sunday, July 14, 2013

George Zimmerman Acquittal Reflections and Lessons Learned


George Zimmerman
Sanford, FL--This sad case began with a tragedy.   Travon Martin was a troubled lad who made terrible choices.  The data recovered from his cell phone and was later unlawfully hidden from George Zmmerman’s defense lawyers by prosecutors showed that Martin was heavily involved with illegal guns, drugs and fighting. 
Judge Debra Nelson later ruled that cell phone evidence inadmissible and that was not at all unusual in our courts.  It may seem unfair to some but that’s what they normally do.
As for Martin he apparently had personal issues with what he called, “crappy assed crackers” and was the one actually profiling Zimmerman clearly by race.  To me it’s logical and believable that Martin caused his own death by assaulting Zimmerman.  However we all must recognize that there are no witnesses or video to establish this fact with absolute 100% certainty.
We must not never lose sight of is the fact that we don’t require accused people to prove their innocence and that burden is the government’s to prove that self-defense was not somehow necessary.  In the Zimmerman case both the government and media led us astray in that regard.
What is certain are the injuries to Zimmerman obviously inflicted by the stronger and faster, Travon Martin.   They’re not serious injuries but they clearly substantiate an attack by an aggressor.  The police carefully investigated the case and there was simply no probable cause to arrest Zimmerman. 
Zimmerman could have avoided his horrible and expensive ride on the Wheel of Misfortune by simply asking for a lawyer rather than cooperating and answering every question put to him by the cops. 
The cops were fair and also the first set of prosecutors however; a special prosecutor shanghaied the case.  In the end the only evidence they had was Zimmerman’s admission that he shot Martin.  His verbal claim to police of self-defense became a confession they used to file the case!
Martin’s parents did not understand or even care about the truth as they sought legal counsel, after all their son was now dead.  Suddenly a public relations campaign was set in motion to incite, inflame and distort the facts of the case.   The media used and misused the information as they sensationalized facts.  NBC NEWS actually went to far as to cleverly edit the 911 tapes to place Zimmerman in a false light as they misled the entire world suggesting that Martin’s death was a hate inspired crime.
Even the Whitehouse and the Attorney General wrongfully got involved.  They used public tax funds to help Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson lead race baiting public demonstrations.  Politicians for purely political reasons hijacked the normal investigation and prosecution procedure.  Zimmerman was quickly charged in a misleading criminal complaint that even bypassed normal Grand Jury review.
God given rights to protect oneself their family and even innocent bystanders is what was threatened by vile and nefarious race baiters inside the Whitehouse and by certain members of the Civil Rights movement.   
We’ve all been given the gift of fear and the instinct for survival.  If not we’d have never survived as a species.  We also have the ability to make tools and weapons for self-defense.  The shameless and unwarranted injection of racial hatred into the Zimmerman case was an intentional campaign to undermine the legitimacy of self-defense rights. 
The self-defense rights of members of every race and religion; are sacred and personal.  Denigrating these rights will land and has landed thousands of innocent people behind bars.  That could happen to you or someone you love.  Tampering with these rights is dangerous to all of us.  There are millions of cases where weapons other than guns are used in self-defense so these laws have nothing to do with the separate issue of gun control. 
In court prosecutors are generally more experienced in ways to subvert justice by hiding evidence and confusing juries.  They have huge budgets for investigators, experts and litigation support that are never equal to public defenders or most private attorneys. 
The George Zimmerman case was nothing less than an exercise in prosecutorial and government tyranny.  Here the government actually created a bogus crisis.   They claimed a hate crime was committed by a racist vigilante, when they knew otherwise. 
Oddly enough here the government further and shamelessly victimized Travon Martin’s parents by the deliberate obstruction of justice in allowing this charade of a show trial to even happen.  In the end the jury saw through the subterfuge and followed the law rather than the tainted emotion and hyped prosecution smokescreen.   Zimmerman’s lawyers proved themselves up to the task of his criminal defense and prevailed.  
Zimmerman will forever be a marked man and a curiosity.  He will be virtually unemployable and if he has any success it will be in some business unrelated to security, law enforcement or private investigation.
As for the reaction of the African-American community to this trial it was surprising to me personally.  There were the many thousands of hateful and scary threat messages plastered all over the Internet.  So far there were only a few scattered related incidents of violence and they were on the West Coast.

The New Black Panther Party thugs put their silly costumes on and came to Sanford to openly incite a riot in violation of existing federal laws.  Attorney General Eric Holder will never prosecute his panther pals in a million years.  This was very similar to the crap we saw that  the Ku Klux Klan got away with in America’s dark past.  Apparently as a nation we never outgrew this kind of hateful activity. 
The Panther’s shrill cries landed on deaf ears and millions of disappointed African-Americans went home peaceably.  Perhaps they understood how they were being used and ultimately that violence would prove nothing at all.
As a nation we saw what happened here and we can pull together where government has pulled us apart.  Those improvised African-Americans must begin to recognize that the way to real wealth is through education and achievement not government handouts.  They need to adapt to a culture free of drugs, crime and a sense of entitlement.
If Americans could pull together we could once again be the greatest nation on earth. Instead of cursing each other, helping each other is a beginning.   We need to strengthen not weaken the laws protecting self-defense rights.  It’s actually the poorest people in the ghettos of America's large cities that are in real danger of criminal attack.  They need gun rights and the ability to defend themselves, their families and neighbors. 
As a criminal defense investigator I recognize that if we don’t protect the self-defense rights of every minority we lose our own rights.  We must stand up to the right of self-defense for everyone everywhere.  That is, the strongest most meaningful message by far we can ever send to those cowardly thugs, thieves, rapists and killers.
As Americans we must end bullying and avoid conflicts rather than to create them.  Bullying is in our blood.  That’s what done in every government on earth.  That is why humans have courts, armies and holocausts.  As for lovers of law and government muscle we must remember that everything Adolph Hitler and Josef Stalin did was perfectly legal.
When we must use deadly force we must never forget George Zimmerman and refuse to answer questions or cooperate with the police.  In the video below I explain how to deal with the government authorities after a self-defense event.  This is about your rights.



Sunday, June 30, 2013

Will Unprecedented Social Media Threats of Violence Derail the Zimmerman Jury?

Judge Debra Nelson will have a target on her back wherever she goes...
Sanford, FL—The explosive and racially charged trial of George Zimmerman has generated massive hateful and threatening chatter on the Internet.  That venom has intensified as prosecutors have floundered.  We’ve watched every witness prosecutors call deliver significantly more evidence favorable to the accused. 
The remaining state’s witnesses such as the medical examiner are not going to change the reality that Travon Martin was an athletic, young, racist thug.  Martin senselessly attacked, disfigured and attempted to murder Zimmerman by bashing his head into a sidewalk.  That placed Zimmerman in legitimate fear of his life and justified the use of deadly force.  This evidence was established without the defense calling a single witness.  
This failure by prosecutors to deliver to the jury what they promised has not gone unnoticed by African-American trial watchers. Many of them are about to explode with hate and anger.
Unless prosecutors can offer something substantial this cases is headed for a directed verdict, meaning the judge not the jury will find Zimmerman Not Guilty without the jury deliberating or rendering a verdict.   Should that happen the defense would not be required to put on any evidence and Zimmerman will be cleared. 
In the state of Florida they have an unusual policy to pay a maximum amount of $50,000.00 to anyone found not guilty at a trial.  That won’t cover but a small percentage of what Zimmerman actually paid to his lawyers.
The media “evidence” presented against Zimmerman included doctored 911 tapes and a bogus profile of Zimmerman as a racist predatory vigilante.  The conduct of Zimmerman related to his duties on the Block Watch Program was somehow turned into the “Black Watch Program.”
This sensationalism went World Wide getting huge play in Europe.  Zimmerman was castigated as evil personified by the world’s press.  I have many friends in Europe that scolded me for living in a nation that allows for “this blatant racism.” 
The propagandized anti-gun rights publicity led by Barack Obama and Eric Holder has colored the perception of millions of African-Americans that believe that all of the bogus hype was true.  The monster specter of Social Media has echoed the hate and hype dividing the nation.  
The threats of riot, murder and total violence are the worst any of us have ever seen.  I Googled the term “Kill Zimmerman” and learned there ate 79,000 hits!  I grabbed the screen and you can see for yourself what came up!  It’s beyond shocking.
The jury has not yet been sequestered and they are being exposed to this screaming and vile chatter unless they place themselves in a soundproof booth every night.  Can these six gentle ladies deliberate fairly when they know they will be targeted for violence should they acquit Zimmerman?  I say the challenge facing these women is beyond what they could possibly endure.  That goes double for the single African-American woman on the jury that must return to her neighborhood.
Judge Debra Nelson will not be immune to the threats against her and her family members.  She has some protection but webcast, broadcast and newspaper images of her have already placed a target on her back!  Would Judge Nelson be able to fairly rule on the expected defense motion for a directed verdict?  I think we all know the answer.
Imagine for a moment you were on the Zimmerman jury?  What would you be thinking?  If you had the guts to find Zimmerman how would you be able to protect yourself and your children from the very real threat over the coming months? 
It’s the prosecutors that brought this frivolous and malicious prosecution.  They are the ones that should man up and Motion the court to dismiss this case.  It is the right thing to do and it would remove the judge and jury from danger.   We all know that evidence of murder or even a lesser offense has just not materialized.