Category: Police Misconduct

Obstruction of Justice-Does It Matter?

On September 22, 2016

Obstruction of Justice-Does It Matter?

On Friday, September 23, 2016, the first Oakland police officer in our “crisis of corruption” goes to Court. Brian J. Bunton, who allegedly abused his power as an officer of the law will be arraigned on several charges, including felony obstruction of justice. As we finally move forward in the continuing saga of abuse of power by police officials, the question looms, does obstruction of justice really matter? Is obstruction of justice a “victimless crime?”

What is Obstruction of Justice?

“Obstruction may consist of any attempt to hinder the discovery, apprehension, conviction or punishment of anyone who has committed a crime. The acts by which justice is obstructed may include bribery, murder, intimidation, and the use of physical force against witnesses, law enforcement officers or court officials.”

For anyone who is tempted to think that obstruction of justice is a “victimless crime,” I offer the story of prosecutorial misconduct in Bakersfield, California. There, Kern County Deputy District Attorney Robert Murray admits to falsifying a confession transcript that he provided to a defense attorney. Murray gave it to the defense attorney during plea negotiations when Murray knew defense counsel was trying to persuade the defendant to take a deal. Murray claims he was joking, but only after he was caught. Murray still works for the Kern County District Attorney.

The trial judge threw out the charges when the faked confession was exposed. The case involved alleged sexual abuse of a ten year-old girl. The defendant could have been sent away for life if convicted. As a result of Murray’s misconduct and the dismissal of the charges, the defendant, a sexual predator, is freed. He is later arrested and charged with having sex with a minor under fourteen. Prosecutors believe he impregnated the girl when she was thirteen. In effect, because the prosecutor decided to “obstruct justice,” a sexual predator got away with sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl and went free to victimize another 13-year-old girl. So I ask, the parents of which one of these girls thinks that obstruction of justice is “a victimless crime?”

Closer to Home

Closer to home, in July 2010, the Oakland City Council approved a $6.5 million settlement in a case which exposed the routine use of false or misleading information for search warrants. There, OPD’s own records allegedly showed that more than 57% of all search warrants in drug cases involving a confidential informant between 2001 and 2008 were based on false information. Eleven officers are fired. Most are later reinstated. None of the officers accused of creating false police reports are ever prosecuted. Some of them still work for Oakland police. The number of people sent to jail based on false information remains unknown.

In October 2011, Oakland agreed to pay $1.7 million to the family of Jerry Amaro. Oakland police beat Mr. Amaro while arresting him on suspicion of trying to buy drugs from undercover police officers. They broke five of his ribs and lacerated one of his lungs. He died a month later of pneumonia caused by his fractured ribs. None of the officers involved documented the use of force. OPD told his heartbroken mother that her son “died in the street” following a gang dispute over drugs. None of the officers accused of filing false police reports to conceal Amaro’s beating were ever prosecuted. Some of them still work for Oakland police.

The Tip of the Iceberg?

Officer Brian Bunton, facing felony charges for obstruction of justice, appears to be the tip of the iceberg in Oakland. In our case, it appears that many people went to great lengths to conceal ongoing widespread criminal activity. We know that OPD investigators received a suicide note from Officer Brendan O’Brien in September 2015. We know that OPD investigators looked into Jasmine’s cell phone with all of its incriminating text messages and recorded calls. We also know that access and information to Jasmine’s Facebook page was publicly available.

Police chiefs in both Richmond and Oakland were allegedly her Facebook friends. And yet, every one of the local District Attorneys staunchly maintains that she or he did not even know about the suicide note or the OPD investigation until she or he read about it in the East Bay Express Newspaper.

Clearly, higher officials than Brian Bunton obstructed justice in this case. We are all victims of the obstruction of justice because we have to live with the fallout. Public safety requires public trust! Who can we believe – the Mayors, the DAs, the Chiefs? I’m not sure that any of them has any credibility left. Where were they for nine months? Who else should be charged with obstruction of justice? What do you think? Feel free to post your comment here or at my Facebook page.

Jasmine Is Free!

By pypriceesq

On September 14, 2016

In Justice Reform, Juvenile Justice, Police Misconduct

JASMINE.V2 JASMINE IS FREE! Since May 2016, citizens of the Bay Area have been shocked and appalled by revelations of abuse of power by police officers in 6 different law enforcement agencies. The central figure caught in the eye of the storm is a teenage girl, who says that she has lived in the Bay Area’s commercial sexual exploitation marketplace since she was 12. This is who she really is and how she looked when she was just 13 years old.

On August 29, this young victim was shipped to a so-called “rehab” facility in Florida where she was promptly arrested, charged with a felony and carted off to jail.

jaz-free-v3 Today the Martin County State Attorney David Lustgarden dropped all felony charges against Jasmine. The Court accepted a “no contest” plea to a misdemeanor simple battery, with a stipulation to withhold adjudication. That means Jasmine will not have a criminal record and will eventually be restored to her crime free criminal record status.

“CELESTE GUAP” Exists No More

“Celeste Guap” is dead”! “You have 187’ed Celeste”[1]! I am going to become a veterinarian and work to free other girls,” Jasmine told her attorneys from her jail cell dressed in her felony pumpkin orange prison clothes. Jasmine is eager to pursue her chosen career goals. She expresses gratitude for all who are supporting her and she says “other girls as young as 12, like I was, are out on the street. I want to help them. I will work to free them.”

Jasmine Is Not The Only One

Her attorneys, Charles A. Bonner and Pamela Y. Price, express their fear about the lasting effect this trauma will have on Jasmine, emphasizing that “Celeste Guap” was only the tip of the iceberg of children bought, traded, coerced, and passed around as a sex toy for men in power. Jasmine’s victimization by cops in uniform who have raised their right hands and swore to uphold the United States’ Constitution, and to protect and serve is particularly disturbing. And yet these police officers betrayed the trust of the communities who pay their salaries by abusing again and again young vulnerable minor girls in our community. “Outrageous!! This case is the story of Slavery, Crimes, Cops and the exploitation of our Children. Why do we as a society allow child sex slavery to exist in our communities?” says Attorney Charles Bonner. “We all must act now to protect these girls; protect the children. Stand up or Sit Down in Protest! Every little bit helps.”

Attorney Pamela Price declared that “public safety requires public trust.” Officers of the law betrayed the public trust and undermine the safety of every Bay Area citizen. Human trafficking is a Billion dollar business that thrives mainly on the sex trafficking of women and children. We will not knowingly allow paid servants of the law to participate in the violence, intimidation and commercial sex exploitation of our children. Now we know because one very brave very young woman has the courage and the will to do the right thing.

The Jasmine Freedom Trust Fund is established and administered under the non-profit Bracelet Charitable Freedom Fund. All donations are tax-deductible.

[1] (California Penal Code 187 means killed or homicide)

The Jasmine Freedom Trust Fund

By pypriceesq

On September 7, 2016

In Justice Reform, Juvenile Justice, Police Misconduct

JASMINE.V2 Since May 2016, the citizens of the Bay Area have been shocked and appalled by revelations of the abuse of power by Bay Area police officers. The accused officers are in 6 different law enforcement agencies. The central figure caught in the eye of the storm is a teenage girl. She says that she has worked in the Bay Area’s commercial sexual exploitation marketplace since she was 12.

On September 1, 2016, we learned that this young victim had been shipped to a so-called “rehab” facility in Florida where she was promptly arrested, charged with a felony and carted off to jail.

Three horrifying truths have emerged in this crisis of corruption: (1) her sexual exploitation was cultivated, condoned and encouraged by law enforcement officials; (2) she is not the only child caught up in the Bay Area’s network of police sexual predators; and (3) her swift transformation from rape victim to felony assailant sends a clear message to all commercially sexually exploited youth in the Bay Area that you best not say anything to anybody.

Say Goodbye to “Celeste Guap”

For months, the teenage girl who was raped and exploited by police officers was the highlight of the news. “Celeste Guap” was everywhere – from CNN to Youtube. Some reporters demanded answers from police officials and focused on the lack of accountability and the pervasiveness of the problem. Others elevated “Celeste Guap” to a Kardashian-like celebrity status. Almost every interviewer seemed to ignore the obvious facts that she was a victim who was robbed of her childhood and that she needed a lawyer bad. The obvious came crashing into everyone’s reality with her arrest in Florida. While some of us were standing in front of the Richmond Police Department demanding transparency and accountability in her case, her carefully orchestrated transition from victim to felon had already taken place. As part of her criminalization, her real name, Jasmine, was revealed as well as her home address, details about her medical treatment, her arrest and her transport to the jailhouse with her hands and feet shackled together in a hobble, a device that ties a suspect’s hands to their legs.

Was It A Set-Up?

Even before the proverbial SH– hit the fan, no one in law enforcement was taking responsibility for “the brilliant idea” to send 19-year-old Jasmine to Florida for “rehab.” The Richmond Police Department has denied any involvement in sending her to Florida. The Alameda County District Attorney’s office responded to inquiries with a “no comment.” The story out of Florida is that Jasmine, at 5 feet, 130 pounds, was being subdued by two security workers, both of whom are described as 6 feet tall and one weighing 230 pounds, and the other at 240 pounds. The 6 foot, 230 pound security officer is identified as the victim of the aggravated battery felony charge. His injury is a bite on the arm. Jasmine was taken from the alleged rehab facility where she was allegedly detoxifying from heroin to jail, where she has been since August 29th. She has no family there or any ties to Florida, or any reason to be there, other than someone in Bay Area law enforcement thought it would be a good idea for her to go there. It will be very interesting to learn who persuaded Jasmine that this was a good idea and what law enforcement agency that person actually works for.

The Bracelet Freedom Fund

BRACELET IMAGE In 2009, Attorney Charles Bonner published a novel called The Bracelet. It is based on a case he handled where at least four young women were kidnapped and held as sex slaves in Syracuse, New York. The case and the story highlights the pervasiveness of sex trafficking in our country and around the world. Jasmine has hired Attorney Charles Bonner to represent her. Attorney Bonner insists that I assist him with the case. Together, we have set up a freedom trust fund for Jasmine’s legal and medical expenses, and to assist any other commercially sexually exploited youth who have been preyed upon by the police or other traffickers. We know that Jasmine is not the only one. We know that her tragic story is not unique or unusual. Indeed, as a former foster child who walked away from an obviously dysfunctional system, I can truly say “there for the grace of God go I!”

And so my heart bleeds for this child. If your heart is touched by her ordeal, please go to the Jasmine Freedom Trust Fund and donate whatever you can for her rescue, recovery and redemption. Help us send a message to the other victims who are still trapped and living in a nightmare of fear, addiction and exploitation that we really will not tolerate sex trafficking in our backyard. Thank you.

The Jasmine Freedom Trust Fund is established and administered under the non-profit Bracelet Charitable Freedom Fund. All donations are tax-deductible.

A Crisis of Corruption – Call to Action

By pypriceesq

On August 31, 2016

In Justice Reform, Juvenile Justice, Police Misconduct

A Crisis of Corruption – Call to Action

A broad coalition of local and state advocates are calling upon Governor Jerry Brown to issue an Executive Order directing Attorney General Kamala Harris to take jurisdiction and control over the investigations of all allegations arising out of the involvement of any member of a law enforcement agency with the rape victim identified as Celeste Guap.

Public Safety Requires Public Trust

We find ourselves in the midst of a crisis in public safety. The very police officers that are charged to protect and serve the public have been exposed as engaging in a conspiracy of sex trafficking. For 8 months, local law enforcement and public officials hid this scandalous behavior from the court-appointed monitor in Oakland and the public, while taking no real action against the officers who violated the public trust. Even today – 11 months later – there has not been a single prosecution of anyone for any violations of law. Officers who have resigned voluntarily remain uncharged. Certainly the list of possible offenses include statutory rape, assault with intent to commit rape, obstruction of justice, interference with a police investigation, perjury, just to name a few.

We believe the reason for the apparent lack of accountability under the law and to the public trust is that our local officials have a conflict of interest. Every District Attorney’s office, every City Attorney’s office and every County Counsel’s office works closely with local law enforcement on a day-to-day basis. To ask or expect these law enforcement agencies to diligently investigate and prosecute their partner law enforcement agencies is like asking the fox to guard the henhouse.

The Call to Action

On September 1, 2016, we will issue a call to action to Governor Jerry Brown. We believe that the alleged conduct of these law enforcement officers involves an abuse of power and a violation of the public trust that is best addressed by a single and independent law enforcement agency rather than each local law enforcement agency. Six different law enforcement agencies have been implicated to date. What appears to a lack of communication between Oakland officials and other local law enforcement agencies is startling. It clearly suggests that our concerns about the human trafficking of our daughters, sons, sisters and brothers across county lines in the Bay Area are not being taken seriously.

Let us be clear that we understand that “Celeste Guap” is not the only victim of this type of police abuse, and we are not calling for increased criminalization of minors, women or men identified as sex workers in our communities. We understand and appreciate that minors and women engaged in sex work in our communities are extremely vulnerable to the abuse of power by our law enforcement agencies and that “blaming the victim” is not an appropriate response to our crisis.

We believe that upon direction by the Governor of California, our Attorney General has the authority to investigate, manage, interpret, prosecute or inquire about any alleged incidents of sexual misconduct by law enforcement officers with “Celeste Guap.” We believe that the Attorney General’s independent investigation of this crisis in our communities is essential to restoring public trust in our law enforcement agencies. We believe that public trust is essential to public safety. We therefore call upon Governor Brown to exercise his authority under Article V, Section 13 of the California Constitution to ensure a comprehensive and independent coordinated investigation of these incidents.

The Signatories:

Attorney Pamela Y. Price, Political Education Chair, Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) Richmond/Contra Costa Chapter, Member Elect, Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee

Kathleen Sullivan, President, Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) Richmond/Contra Costa Chapter

Jerilyn Stapleton, President, California NOW

Cheryl Branch, President, CALIFIA NOW

Sarai Smith-Mazariegos, Co-Founder, MISSSEY, Founder, S.H.A.D.E. Project

Cat Brooks, Co-Founder, the Oakland Anti-Police Terror Project

Leigh Davenport, the Take Back Oakland Coalition

Freddye Davis, President, NAACP Hayward/South County Chapter

Kimberly Thomas Rapp, Executive Director, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area

Mike Katz-LaCabe, the Center for Human Rights and Privacy

Nola Brantley, Founder & Former Executive Director, MISSSEY

Ben Steinberg, Community Activist, Richmond California

Sign The Petition Calling for An Independent Investigation

A Crisis of Corruption: How Long Has It Been Like This!

By pypriceesq

On August 24, 2016

In Justice Reform, Police Misconduct

A Crisis of Corruption: How Long Has it Been Like This!?! We are shocked by the recent news that police officers have engaged in sex trafficking of a teenager across 6 jurisdictions. In fact, the current crisis of corruption is the latest in a history of corruption within the Oakland Police Department. Here are a few examples.

From the Archives

Between 2006 and 2008, Oakland settled two lawsuits brought on behalf of Asian-American women targeted by Oakland police officer Richard Valerga. Officer Valerga would pull women over for traffic misdemeanors and hit on them. Most of the women were recent immigrants. They included teenagers to women in their 40s. In 2006, the City agreed to pay $190,000 to two Asian-American women. In 2008 it agreed to pay an additional $2 million to 16 other Asian-American women targeted by Valerga. Officer Valerga was arrested and charged in 2005. His plea deal in 2006 got him three years probation and six months in jail. Attorney John Burris who represented the plaintiffs called it “a slap on the hand.”

The Oliver Case

In July 2010, the Oakland City Council approved a $6.5 million settlement in a case which exposed the routine use of false or misleading information for search warrants. There, the department’s own records allegedly showed that more than 57% of all search warrants in drug cases involving a confidential informant between 2001 and 2008 were based on false information. Eleven officers were fired. Most were later reinstated. Despite the large payout of our tax dollars, none of the officers accused of creating false police reports were ever prosecuted. Some of them still work for Oakland police.

The Amaro Case

In October 2011, Oakland agreed to pay $1.7 million to the family of Jerry Amaro. Oakland police beat Mr. Amaro while arresting him on suspicion of trying to buy drugs from undercover police officers. They broke five of his ribs and lacerated one of his lungs. He died a month later of pneumonia caused by his fractured ribs. None of the officers involved documented the use of force. His mother was told that her son “died in the street” following a gang dispute over drugs. None of the officers who were accused of concealing the beating by filing false police reports were ever prosecuted. Some of them still work for Oakland police.

The Blueford Case

In June 2014, Oakland agreed to pay $110,000 to the family of Alan Blueford, an 18-year-old Skyline High School student shot by Oakland police officer Miguel Masso. Masso was a former NYPD officer who had been accused of excessive force in New York in 2007 before he was hired in Oakland. Masso and 3 other officers were accused of beating, macing, and tasering Rafael Santiago, a prisoner in a holding cell at the 52nd Precinct station house in the Central Bronx. Medical records confirmed that Santiago had a black eye and six serious burns on his back from the electronic shocks. Santiago was put back in his cell and denied medical attention. NYPD investigators identified Miguel Masso as the officer who refused Santiago’s requests for treatment.

Fast forward to May 2012 in East Oakland. Officer Masso and his partner detain Alan Blueford and two friends. While he is being questioned, Alan gets up and runs away. Oakland police initially said that Alan was shot in an exchange of gunfire with Officer Masso. They later acknowledged that Alan did not fire a gun and admitted that Masso had shot himself in the foot with his own gun. A gun was found at the scene that police claimed belonged to Alan. That gun had not been fired. The District Attorney’s office declined to prosecute Officer Masso. He now works for a different police department.

Do we want to hold police officers accountable for lying under oath and filing false police reports? I believe that public safety requires public trust. What do you think? Feel free to post your comment here or at my Facebook page.