Some things are in fact global.
The mother of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence has said police are still failing the families of black murder victims, 10 years after a landmark report blamed institutional racism within Scotland Yard for helping her son's killers escape justice.
Doreen Lawrence accused the police of giving black Britons a second-rate service and said the country has still not stamped out racial injustice.
She spoke to the Guardian to mark next week's anniversary of the publication of the Macpherson report, which blamed "professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership" for the blunders in the investigation of her son's racist murder.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/21/doreen-lawrence-police-racism
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Billy Joe Johnson Update
You remember the story about Billy Joe Johnson, star running back for George County High, Mississippi, who died on a December morning in deep Mississippi alleged by a "self-inflicted" gunshot wound during a traffic stop.
As reported by NCAA Foot Ball Fan House Billey Joe Johnson was considered one of the top high school football recruits in Mississippi, as well as the country, until his shocking death early Monday morning.
Johnson, hailing from Jackson, Miss., rushed for more than 1,500 yards his last season, totaling over 4,000 for his career, and received scholarship offers from a number of major schools including Alabama, LSU and Mississippi as a top-rated recruit by both Scout and Rivals.
Johnson died of a (possibly self-inflicted) gun wound early Monday after being pulled by a sheriff's deputy. (UPDATE: The NCAAP, in an independent investigation, has ruled out suicide as the cause of death.)
It's not clear why 17-year-old Billey Joe Johnson was stopped in Lucedale, but authorities say the junior tailback shot himself with a shotgun after the deputy walked back to the patrol car to run a license check.
"The deputy was sitting in his patrol vehicle ... when he heard a gunshot and saw the victim laying on the ground by the driver's side door of the vehicle that Johnson was driving. A shotgun was lying on the victim," according to a statement from the George County Sheriff's Department.
Authorities would not immediately say whether they believed the shooting was a suicide or an accident.
The last portion of that quote is particularly perplexing, because it is hard to believe that Johnson would have attempted to pull a shotgun on police officers ...although equally confounding is the notion that Johnson would kill himself at what, according to all current reports, appears to be a basic traffic stop.
Nothing is ever certain, but this story appears to be so odd, at least in the manner of death, that it would be even more shocking if further details didn't at least emerge as to why the young man apparently panicked and pulled a gun that resulted in the tragic and early end to his life. More MORE
Many in the black community suspect foul play.
Billey Joe Johnson Sr. has a difficult time accepting the police department’s explanation of his son’s death. “They must have tortured my baby,” he says.
(Dan Wetzel/Yahoo! Sports)
As reported by yahoo sports local authorities stopped Billey Joe for a traffic iolation on the morning of Dec. 8, and they say the truck is simply the site of a terrible tragedy. But to the elder Johnson, it’s a crime scene. Nearly two months later, only one fact is certain: Instead of running out of George County as a football hero, Billey Joe was buried beneath it at the age of 17.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The George County Sheriff’s Department claims that on that fateful morning, Billey Joe attempted to break into the home of an on-again, off-again girlfriend in the nearby city of Lucedale. According to the sheriff’s department, he left the scene and ran a red light at 5:34 a.m. After a 1½-mile pursuit, Billey Joe got out of his truck, met sheriff’s deputy Joe Sullivan and handed over his license. Then Billey Joe returned to his truck, put a 12-gauge shotgun he used to target deer to his head and committed suicide. It was 5:40 a.m.
Sullivan’s patrol car was not equipped with a camera, and his is the only account of the event. Billey Joe’s friends and family don’t believe the story.
Billey Joe was black. Sullivan is white. The case, as such, is shrouded by race in this small community in the Deep South. Everyone wants answers. No one is getting them. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the local district attorney – the two bodies in charge of the case – have issued neither a ruling nor many pertinent details.
Tony Lawrence, the district attorney running the state’s investigation, met with the family Dec. 19 and urged patience.
“I have said from the beginning that this investigation will be exhaustive and not based on any timeline other than that which leads to the truth,” Lawrence said at the time. His office declined further comment this week.
With no answers and a state investigation that is dragging on, the region has descended into a cauldron of speculation, suspicion and conspiracy. Theories are easy to find, the truth all but impossible.
Johnson fixates on the truck that is stained with what is left of his son. The day after the incident, police returned it to the family as is. Rather than wash it, junk it or sell it, Johnson keeps it in a garage, driving it out to re-examine. He stares at it. He imagines his son.
He’s convinced someone forced Billey Joe on his knees, shoved the shotgun barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
“They must’ve tortured my baby,” Johnson says.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is what the police say about Billey Joe’s death: During a routine traffic stop, Billey Joe Johnson Jr. shot himself in the head.
He woke at 4:30 a.m. that day, a school day, at his parents’ trailer and took a shower. His dad thought he was going hunting. Instead, he drove 15 miles to Lucedale, the 2,700-person county seat and location of both his high school and a girlfriend.
Billey Joe’s truck had notes from multiple female admirers, and his friends said he enjoyed the attention offered to a star athlete. He’d already run for 4,000 yards in his high school career and helped make George County a state powerhouse. Everyone knew him. Many wanted to be with him.
One girl, whom Yahoo! Sports will not name since she is a minor, had been around the longest. It was a typical high school relationship – “they’d break up every day and then get back together,” said one of his friends, Drew Bradley. The fact that she was white bothered some people.
“It’s George County, it’s a little Southern town,” said Bradley, who is white. “You’ve got a bunch of racist people down here. You have people who hated on them because it was black and white.”
Timeline
The alleged timeline of events on Monday, Dec. 8, 2008, leading up to the death of Billey Joe Johnson:
4:30 a.m. – Billey Joe Johnson Sr. hears his son showering and preparing to leave the family’s Benndale, Miss. residence. He believes his son plans to go hunting before heading to school.
5:34 a.m. – George County Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Sullivan witnesses Billey Joe Johnson’s maroon Chevy Silverado run a red light at the corner of Church Street and Winter Street. He pursues the truck with his blue lights flashing and witnesses the truck running a stop sign at the 4-way stop of Winter Street and Old Highway 63.
5:37 a.m. – The Lucedale Police Department receives a 911 call from Esther Parker, who says her daughter called her and informed her that someone was attempting to break into a trailer where her daughter and ex-husband were living. Parker informs the LPD that her daughter is home alone.
5:39 a.m. – After a pursuit of nearly 1½ miles, Sheriff’s Deputy Sullivan witnesses the truck pulling into a service entrance near Benndale Carpet. Billey Joe Johnson exits the truck and informs Deputy Sullivan that he was on the way home “because his mother was sick”. Deputy Sullivan takes his license and instructs Johnson to return to his vehicle.
5:40 a.m. – While attempting to call in the license number, Deputy Sullivan informs dispatch that Johnson has shot himself and requests assistance.
5:40 a.m. – LPD Sgt. James O’Neal arrives at the trailer and secures the perimeter. He makes contact with Parker’s daughter, who informs him that the person who attempted to enter the residence was Billey Joe Johnson Jr. She says Johnson left before police arrived, but that she would like to go to the police station and “sign charges” against him.
5:48 a.m. – LPD Sgt. O’Neal departs for the police department, following Parker and her daughter in a separate vehicle. While in transit, he is informed by dispatch that Johnson had shot himself at service road near Benndale Carpet.
5:50 a.m. – LPD Sgt. O’Neal arrives at Benndale Carpet, where he observes the vehicle of deputy Sullivan as well as Johnson’s maroon Silverado, which is parked with the door open. As he pulls forward to make room for the pending arrival of an ambulance, O’Neal observes Johnson lying on his back on the ground, with his head pointed away from the open door of vehicle. Sgt. O’Neal observes a shotgun on top of Johnson’s body, and blood on the ground around his head.
5:55 a.m. – Paramedics arrive on scene. Dispatch is informed that Johnson is DOA.
More HERE
UPDATE: Get this, A grand jury has ruled that his death was accidental. Many in the black community, including this AAPP still suspect foul play. What do you think?
As reported by NCAA Foot Ball Fan House Billey Joe Johnson was considered one of the top high school football recruits in Mississippi, as well as the country, until his shocking death early Monday morning.
Johnson, hailing from Jackson, Miss., rushed for more than 1,500 yards his last season, totaling over 4,000 for his career, and received scholarship offers from a number of major schools including Alabama, LSU and Mississippi as a top-rated recruit by both Scout and Rivals.
Johnson died of a (possibly self-inflicted) gun wound early Monday after being pulled by a sheriff's deputy. (UPDATE: The NCAAP, in an independent investigation, has ruled out suicide as the cause of death.)
It's not clear why 17-year-old Billey Joe Johnson was stopped in Lucedale, but authorities say the junior tailback shot himself with a shotgun after the deputy walked back to the patrol car to run a license check.
"The deputy was sitting in his patrol vehicle ... when he heard a gunshot and saw the victim laying on the ground by the driver's side door of the vehicle that Johnson was driving. A shotgun was lying on the victim," according to a statement from the George County Sheriff's Department.
Authorities would not immediately say whether they believed the shooting was a suicide or an accident.
The last portion of that quote is particularly perplexing, because it is hard to believe that Johnson would have attempted to pull a shotgun on police officers ...although equally confounding is the notion that Johnson would kill himself at what, according to all current reports, appears to be a basic traffic stop.
Nothing is ever certain, but this story appears to be so odd, at least in the manner of death, that it would be even more shocking if further details didn't at least emerge as to why the young man apparently panicked and pulled a gun that resulted in the tragic and early end to his life. More MORE
Many in the black community suspect foul play.
Billey Joe Johnson Sr. has a difficult time accepting the police department’s explanation of his son’s death. “They must have tortured my baby,” he says.
(Dan Wetzel/Yahoo! Sports)
As reported by yahoo sports local authorities stopped Billey Joe for a traffic iolation on the morning of Dec. 8, and they say the truck is simply the site of a terrible tragedy. But to the elder Johnson, it’s a crime scene. Nearly two months later, only one fact is certain: Instead of running out of George County as a football hero, Billey Joe was buried beneath it at the age of 17.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The George County Sheriff’s Department claims that on that fateful morning, Billey Joe attempted to break into the home of an on-again, off-again girlfriend in the nearby city of Lucedale. According to the sheriff’s department, he left the scene and ran a red light at 5:34 a.m. After a 1½-mile pursuit, Billey Joe got out of his truck, met sheriff’s deputy Joe Sullivan and handed over his license. Then Billey Joe returned to his truck, put a 12-gauge shotgun he used to target deer to his head and committed suicide. It was 5:40 a.m.
Sullivan’s patrol car was not equipped with a camera, and his is the only account of the event. Billey Joe’s friends and family don’t believe the story.
Billey Joe was black. Sullivan is white. The case, as such, is shrouded by race in this small community in the Deep South. Everyone wants answers. No one is getting them. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the local district attorney – the two bodies in charge of the case – have issued neither a ruling nor many pertinent details.
Tony Lawrence, the district attorney running the state’s investigation, met with the family Dec. 19 and urged patience.
“I have said from the beginning that this investigation will be exhaustive and not based on any timeline other than that which leads to the truth,” Lawrence said at the time. His office declined further comment this week.
With no answers and a state investigation that is dragging on, the region has descended into a cauldron of speculation, suspicion and conspiracy. Theories are easy to find, the truth all but impossible.
Johnson fixates on the truck that is stained with what is left of his son. The day after the incident, police returned it to the family as is. Rather than wash it, junk it or sell it, Johnson keeps it in a garage, driving it out to re-examine. He stares at it. He imagines his son.
He’s convinced someone forced Billey Joe on his knees, shoved the shotgun barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
“They must’ve tortured my baby,” Johnson says.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is what the police say about Billey Joe’s death: During a routine traffic stop, Billey Joe Johnson Jr. shot himself in the head.
He woke at 4:30 a.m. that day, a school day, at his parents’ trailer and took a shower. His dad thought he was going hunting. Instead, he drove 15 miles to Lucedale, the 2,700-person county seat and location of both his high school and a girlfriend.
Billey Joe’s truck had notes from multiple female admirers, and his friends said he enjoyed the attention offered to a star athlete. He’d already run for 4,000 yards in his high school career and helped make George County a state powerhouse. Everyone knew him. Many wanted to be with him.
One girl, whom Yahoo! Sports will not name since she is a minor, had been around the longest. It was a typical high school relationship – “they’d break up every day and then get back together,” said one of his friends, Drew Bradley. The fact that she was white bothered some people.
“It’s George County, it’s a little Southern town,” said Bradley, who is white. “You’ve got a bunch of racist people down here. You have people who hated on them because it was black and white.”
Timeline
The alleged timeline of events on Monday, Dec. 8, 2008, leading up to the death of Billey Joe Johnson:
4:30 a.m. – Billey Joe Johnson Sr. hears his son showering and preparing to leave the family’s Benndale, Miss. residence. He believes his son plans to go hunting before heading to school.
5:34 a.m. – George County Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Sullivan witnesses Billey Joe Johnson’s maroon Chevy Silverado run a red light at the corner of Church Street and Winter Street. He pursues the truck with his blue lights flashing and witnesses the truck running a stop sign at the 4-way stop of Winter Street and Old Highway 63.
5:37 a.m. – The Lucedale Police Department receives a 911 call from Esther Parker, who says her daughter called her and informed her that someone was attempting to break into a trailer where her daughter and ex-husband were living. Parker informs the LPD that her daughter is home alone.
5:39 a.m. – After a pursuit of nearly 1½ miles, Sheriff’s Deputy Sullivan witnesses the truck pulling into a service entrance near Benndale Carpet. Billey Joe Johnson exits the truck and informs Deputy Sullivan that he was on the way home “because his mother was sick”. Deputy Sullivan takes his license and instructs Johnson to return to his vehicle.
5:40 a.m. – While attempting to call in the license number, Deputy Sullivan informs dispatch that Johnson has shot himself and requests assistance.
5:40 a.m. – LPD Sgt. James O’Neal arrives at the trailer and secures the perimeter. He makes contact with Parker’s daughter, who informs him that the person who attempted to enter the residence was Billey Joe Johnson Jr. She says Johnson left before police arrived, but that she would like to go to the police station and “sign charges” against him.
5:48 a.m. – LPD Sgt. O’Neal departs for the police department, following Parker and her daughter in a separate vehicle. While in transit, he is informed by dispatch that Johnson had shot himself at service road near Benndale Carpet.
5:50 a.m. – LPD Sgt. O’Neal arrives at Benndale Carpet, where he observes the vehicle of deputy Sullivan as well as Johnson’s maroon Silverado, which is parked with the door open. As he pulls forward to make room for the pending arrival of an ambulance, O’Neal observes Johnson lying on his back on the ground, with his head pointed away from the open door of vehicle. Sgt. O’Neal observes a shotgun on top of Johnson’s body, and blood on the ground around his head.
5:55 a.m. – Paramedics arrive on scene. Dispatch is informed that Johnson is DOA.
More HERE
UPDATE: Get this, A grand jury has ruled that his death was accidental. Many in the black community, including this AAPP still suspect foul play. What do you think?
Corrupt judges facing prison; Luzerne pair admit to $2.67M kickback scheme
BY DAVE JANOSKI
AND MICHAEL R. SISAK
The two judges who led the Luzerne County Court for the last seven years took $2.67 million in payoffs for helping a private juvenile detention center reap millions from county contracts, with one of the judges going so far as to sentence children to detention over the objections of juvenile probation officers to benefit the center, federal prosecutors alleged Monday
President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and his predecessor, Michael T. Conahan, will serve 87 months in federal prison, resign from the bench and bar, and pay restitution if plea agreements released Monday are approved after a hearing before a federal judge. Their pensions could also be in jeopardy, as state law bars retirement benefits to judges convicted of a felony while in office or removed for conduct that “brings the judicial office into disrepute.”
Judges Ciavarella and Conahan, who were instrumental in closing a county-owned center in 2003 and directing business to the private Pennsylvania Child Care LLC center in Pittston Twp., accepted payments from one of the center’s owners and the contractor who built the center, according to U.S. Attorney Martin C. Carlson. The judges falsified business records and financial disclosure forms filed with the state Supreme Court and made rulings that benefited the center without disclosing their financial interests, prosecutors allege.
“I think for everyone who serves in our justice system, everyone who serves in our courts, everyone who serves the public, that this is a sad event when individuals who took an oath violate that oath and violate the law,” Mr. Carlson said.
The two individuals who allegedly paid the judges were not named in court documents. But information in the documents indicates they are Robert J. Powell, a Butler Twp. attorney who was co-owner of Pennsylvania Child Care until June, and Robert S. Mericle, owner and president of Mericle Construction Inc.
It’s unclear if those individuals, called “Participant 1” and “Participant 2” in the documents, will be charged.
Mr. Carlson said the charges against the judges were “the first developments in an ongoing investigation” that began about two years ago, but he declined to comment on additional arrests or say if Judges Ciavarella and Conahan would cooperate in the investigation. Their plea agreements do not address such cooperation.
Judge Ciavarella, 58, and Judge Conahan, 56, who was president judge from 2002-06 and is now a senior judge, were not in their chambers Monday and could not be reached for comment. They remain free until their arraignment, which has yet to be scheduled.
Judge Ciavarella attorney, Albert J. Flora Jr., stressed the charges filed Monday were just “allegations” and the plea agreements are “conditional” on the two judges accepting the facts that will be laid out by federal prosecutors at a plea hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.
Judge Conahan attorney, Philip Gelso, declined comment.
The wire fraud and conspiracy to commit tax fraud charges against each of the judges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
The payments to the judges from “Participant #1” and “Participant #2” began around January 2003, shortly after Judge Conahan announced that juveniles would no longer be sent to a county-owned detention center in Wilkes-Barre, which Judges Conahan and Ciavarella argued was decrepit and unsafe, prosecutors said. Once the private center opened in Pittston Twp. a month later, Judge Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, established new procedures that “created the potential for an increased number of juvenile offenders to be sent to juvenile detention centers” owned by Pennsylvania Child Care, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. Judge Ciavarella also pressured court staffers and probation officers to recommend detention and on “numerous occasions” sent juveniles to the center despite probation officers’ recommendations that detention was not warranted.
The judges also assisted in securing a controversial 20-year, $58 million county lease of the Pennsylvania Child Care facility that was approved by the Luzerne County Commissioners in 2004, according to prosecutors, but the documents do not offer details. The lease was criticized as a “bad deal” for the county by state auditors and the commissioners negotiated their way out of the agreement last year. The company sued to stop the public release of state audit documents and Judge Conahan granted an order sealing the documents and the suit itself, only to be overturned later on appeal.
The documents outlining the federal charges do not name “Participant #1” and “Participant #2,” but say “Participant #2” was the contractor who built the Pennsylvania Child Care Facility in Pittston Twp. and the company’s other detention center in Butler County near Pittsburgh. Both were built by Mericle Construction Inc., one of the region’s largest commercial developers.
Mericle Construction Chief Operating Officer Lewis Sebia released the following statement Monday:
“Neither Rob Mericle nor Mericle Construction has been charged with any offense. Mr. Mericle has cooperated with all authorities with respect to this investigation and will continue to do so in the future without exception. At no time did Rob Mericle or Mericle Construction ever make any payment to influence a decision to secure a contract to build any PA Child Care facility. Mr. Mericle’s participation to construct these facilities was sought out because of his demonstrated expertise in construction and development.”
“Participant #1” is described in court documents as a Luzerne County lawyer who was a partner in Pennsylvania Child Care. Until last June, the company was owned by Mr. Powell, a Butler Twp. attorney, and Gregory Zappala, a Pittsburgh-area investment banker who is now sole owner of the firm.
Efforts to reach Mr. Powell were unsuccessful Monday.
An attorney for Mr. Zappala issued a statement saying his client had no “knowledge whatsoever of the actions described in the indictment” and did not anticipate being charged in the case. Mr. Zappala bought Mr. Powell’s interest in Pennsylvania Child Care and a related management firm in June. About a week later, federal agents seized county records dealing with juveniles detained at the center.
Prosecutors allege “Participant #1” and “Participant #2” tried to mask the payments to the judges by drawing agreements for broker’s and other fees supposedly paid by “Participant #2” to “Participant #1.”
But, prosecutors say, the money actually passed to companies and bank accounts controlled by the judges, most of it going to Pinnacle Group of Jupiter LLC, which owns an exclusive condominium at the Jupiter Yacht Club in Palm Beach County, Fla. Pinnacle Group was owned by the judges’ wives, according to financial disclosure forms the judges filed with the state, but it was actually controlled by the judges, according to prosecutors.
Judges Ciavarella and Conahan tried to conceal the payments to Pinnacle by reporting them on the company’s books as income from rental fees for the condominium and a related boat dock, prosecutors allege.
Pinnacle Group purchased the 2,958-square-foot, three-bedroom, waterfront condominium for $785,000 in February 2004. It has been for sale for several months, with its asking price recently lowered from $1.1 million to $995,000
AND MICHAEL R. SISAK
The two judges who led the Luzerne County Court for the last seven years took $2.67 million in payoffs for helping a private juvenile detention center reap millions from county contracts, with one of the judges going so far as to sentence children to detention over the objections of juvenile probation officers to benefit the center, federal prosecutors alleged Monday
President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and his predecessor, Michael T. Conahan, will serve 87 months in federal prison, resign from the bench and bar, and pay restitution if plea agreements released Monday are approved after a hearing before a federal judge. Their pensions could also be in jeopardy, as state law bars retirement benefits to judges convicted of a felony while in office or removed for conduct that “brings the judicial office into disrepute.”
Judges Ciavarella and Conahan, who were instrumental in closing a county-owned center in 2003 and directing business to the private Pennsylvania Child Care LLC center in Pittston Twp., accepted payments from one of the center’s owners and the contractor who built the center, according to U.S. Attorney Martin C. Carlson. The judges falsified business records and financial disclosure forms filed with the state Supreme Court and made rulings that benefited the center without disclosing their financial interests, prosecutors allege.
“I think for everyone who serves in our justice system, everyone who serves in our courts, everyone who serves the public, that this is a sad event when individuals who took an oath violate that oath and violate the law,” Mr. Carlson said.
The two individuals who allegedly paid the judges were not named in court documents. But information in the documents indicates they are Robert J. Powell, a Butler Twp. attorney who was co-owner of Pennsylvania Child Care until June, and Robert S. Mericle, owner and president of Mericle Construction Inc.
It’s unclear if those individuals, called “Participant 1” and “Participant 2” in the documents, will be charged.
Mr. Carlson said the charges against the judges were “the first developments in an ongoing investigation” that began about two years ago, but he declined to comment on additional arrests or say if Judges Ciavarella and Conahan would cooperate in the investigation. Their plea agreements do not address such cooperation.
Judge Ciavarella, 58, and Judge Conahan, 56, who was president judge from 2002-06 and is now a senior judge, were not in their chambers Monday and could not be reached for comment. They remain free until their arraignment, which has yet to be scheduled.
Judge Ciavarella attorney, Albert J. Flora Jr., stressed the charges filed Monday were just “allegations” and the plea agreements are “conditional” on the two judges accepting the facts that will be laid out by federal prosecutors at a plea hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.
Judge Conahan attorney, Philip Gelso, declined comment.
The wire fraud and conspiracy to commit tax fraud charges against each of the judges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
The payments to the judges from “Participant #1” and “Participant #2” began around January 2003, shortly after Judge Conahan announced that juveniles would no longer be sent to a county-owned detention center in Wilkes-Barre, which Judges Conahan and Ciavarella argued was decrepit and unsafe, prosecutors said. Once the private center opened in Pittston Twp. a month later, Judge Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, established new procedures that “created the potential for an increased number of juvenile offenders to be sent to juvenile detention centers” owned by Pennsylvania Child Care, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. Judge Ciavarella also pressured court staffers and probation officers to recommend detention and on “numerous occasions” sent juveniles to the center despite probation officers’ recommendations that detention was not warranted.
The judges also assisted in securing a controversial 20-year, $58 million county lease of the Pennsylvania Child Care facility that was approved by the Luzerne County Commissioners in 2004, according to prosecutors, but the documents do not offer details. The lease was criticized as a “bad deal” for the county by state auditors and the commissioners negotiated their way out of the agreement last year. The company sued to stop the public release of state audit documents and Judge Conahan granted an order sealing the documents and the suit itself, only to be overturned later on appeal.
The documents outlining the federal charges do not name “Participant #1” and “Participant #2,” but say “Participant #2” was the contractor who built the Pennsylvania Child Care Facility in Pittston Twp. and the company’s other detention center in Butler County near Pittsburgh. Both were built by Mericle Construction Inc., one of the region’s largest commercial developers.
Mericle Construction Chief Operating Officer Lewis Sebia released the following statement Monday:
“Neither Rob Mericle nor Mericle Construction has been charged with any offense. Mr. Mericle has cooperated with all authorities with respect to this investigation and will continue to do so in the future without exception. At no time did Rob Mericle or Mericle Construction ever make any payment to influence a decision to secure a contract to build any PA Child Care facility. Mr. Mericle’s participation to construct these facilities was sought out because of his demonstrated expertise in construction and development.”
“Participant #1” is described in court documents as a Luzerne County lawyer who was a partner in Pennsylvania Child Care. Until last June, the company was owned by Mr. Powell, a Butler Twp. attorney, and Gregory Zappala, a Pittsburgh-area investment banker who is now sole owner of the firm.
Efforts to reach Mr. Powell were unsuccessful Monday.
An attorney for Mr. Zappala issued a statement saying his client had no “knowledge whatsoever of the actions described in the indictment” and did not anticipate being charged in the case. Mr. Zappala bought Mr. Powell’s interest in Pennsylvania Child Care and a related management firm in June. About a week later, federal agents seized county records dealing with juveniles detained at the center.
Prosecutors allege “Participant #1” and “Participant #2” tried to mask the payments to the judges by drawing agreements for broker’s and other fees supposedly paid by “Participant #2” to “Participant #1.”
But, prosecutors say, the money actually passed to companies and bank accounts controlled by the judges, most of it going to Pinnacle Group of Jupiter LLC, which owns an exclusive condominium at the Jupiter Yacht Club in Palm Beach County, Fla. Pinnacle Group was owned by the judges’ wives, according to financial disclosure forms the judges filed with the state, but it was actually controlled by the judges, according to prosecutors.
Judges Ciavarella and Conahan tried to conceal the payments to Pinnacle by reporting them on the company’s books as income from rental fees for the condominium and a related boat dock, prosecutors allege.
Pinnacle Group purchased the 2,958-square-foot, three-bedroom, waterfront condominium for $785,000 in February 2004. It has been for sale for several months, with its asking price recently lowered from $1.1 million to $995,000
Mother of 10-Year-Old Found Hanging May Seek Second Autopsy
Mother of 10-Year-Old Found Hanging May Seek Second Autopsy
Date: Friday, February 06, 2009, 3:13 pm
By: Tammy Webber, Associated Press
CHICAGO - The mother of a 10-year-old boy found hanged in a bathroom at a suburban Chicago school does not believe her son committed suicide and may seek a second autopsy, her attorney said Thursday.
Attorney Todd Smith said that although Cook County medical examiners found that fifth-grader Aquan Lewis committed suicide, the cause of death "is open to discussion" because the finding was made quickly and before the police investigation was complete.
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/moving_america_news/6568
Date: Friday, February 06, 2009, 3:13 pm
By: Tammy Webber, Associated Press
CHICAGO - The mother of a 10-year-old boy found hanged in a bathroom at a suburban Chicago school does not believe her son committed suicide and may seek a second autopsy, her attorney said Thursday.
Attorney Todd Smith said that although Cook County medical examiners found that fifth-grader Aquan Lewis committed suicide, the cause of death "is open to discussion" because the finding was made quickly and before the police investigation was complete.
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/moving_america_news/6568
Thursday, January 29, 2009
U.S. Deserter 'Having Time of My Life' as He Seeks Asylum in Germany
KARLSRUHE, Germany -- Germany has been very good to Spec. André L. Shepherd since he deserted the U.S. Army.
The 31-year-old former mechanic of the 601st Aviation Support Battalion is enjoying perks that eluded him back home in Ohio: a bed, a bank account, a cellphone and friends.
Best of all from his standpoint, he isn't back in Iraq.
"I'm having the time of my life," says Mr. Shepherd, the only American bunking at a refugee-processing center in southern Germany.
The U.S. deserter enters uncharted legal territory on Wednesday, when Germany begins weighing his request for political asylum. The case will put to the test a 2004 European Union directive requiring member countries to grant asylum to soldiers protesting unlawful wars.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123318899887026687.html
The 31-year-old former mechanic of the 601st Aviation Support Battalion is enjoying perks that eluded him back home in Ohio: a bed, a bank account, a cellphone and friends.
Best of all from his standpoint, he isn't back in Iraq.
"I'm having the time of my life," says Mr. Shepherd, the only American bunking at a refugee-processing center in southern Germany.
The U.S. deserter enters uncharted legal territory on Wednesday, when Germany begins weighing his request for political asylum. The case will put to the test a 2004 European Union directive requiring member countries to grant asylum to soldiers protesting unlawful wars.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123318899887026687.html
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Cops: Dad Ordered to Pay Child Support Kills Son
NEW ORLEANS — A man who initially told police gunmen kidnapped his 2 1/2-year-old son was arrested Saturday, accused of committing an "extremely hideous" murder because he was ordered to pay child support, Police Superintendent Warren Riley said.
Danny Platt confessed, told police where to find the child's body and will be booked with first-degree murder of Ja' Shawn Powell, Riley said at a news conference.
"He had said he would kill either his wife or his child before he paid child support," which he recently had been ordered to do, Riley said.
Riley said he did not know the amount of child support and would not describe how the boy was killed, saying the coroner would do that after the autopsy was complete. The coroner's spokesman did not immediately return a call.
"The mother is in a safe place," Riley said.
Although he had visiting rights, Platt, 22, of New Orleans, had never visited the boy until he picked him up Friday, Riley said.
Police put out a notice Saturday asking people to look for the boy and saying his father had told them three men with dreadlocks and AK-47 rifles had piled out of an SUV and kidnapped Ja' Shawn shortly before midnight Friday.
"His story never really added up," Riley said. "He was a suspect from the very beginning."
Riley said Platt eventually confessed and told officers where to find the body.
Platt had only a couple of "very minor" previous arrests, he said.
"How does an individual — because he's ordered to pay child support to take care of a kid ... believe that this is so much pressure that he would face — he would do this hideous act to his own child, or to any child, and think that is a remedy to paying child support?" Riley said. "I mean there are some sick individuals in this society, and this
Danny Platt confessed, told police where to find the child's body and will be booked with first-degree murder of Ja' Shawn Powell, Riley said at a news conference.
"He had said he would kill either his wife or his child before he paid child support," which he recently had been ordered to do, Riley said.
Riley said he did not know the amount of child support and would not describe how the boy was killed, saying the coroner would do that after the autopsy was complete. The coroner's spokesman did not immediately return a call.
"The mother is in a safe place," Riley said.
Although he had visiting rights, Platt, 22, of New Orleans, had never visited the boy until he picked him up Friday, Riley said.
Police put out a notice Saturday asking people to look for the boy and saying his father had told them three men with dreadlocks and AK-47 rifles had piled out of an SUV and kidnapped Ja' Shawn shortly before midnight Friday.
"His story never really added up," Riley said. "He was a suspect from the very beginning."
Riley said Platt eventually confessed and told officers where to find the body.
Platt had only a couple of "very minor" previous arrests, he said.
"How does an individual — because he's ordered to pay child support to take care of a kid ... believe that this is so much pressure that he would face — he would do this hideous act to his own child, or to any child, and think that is a remedy to paying child support?" Riley said. "I mean there are some sick individuals in this society, and this
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Independent autopsy to be performed on Johnson
By MARGARET BAKER - mbbaker@sunherald.com
The head of the George County chapter of the NAACP said this morning that they have found a pathologist to perform an independent autopsy on George County football star Billey Joe Johnson.
The autopsy will be performed some time today or Friday, George County NAACP head Willie Gaines said Thursday, though he said he did not yet want to identify the pathologist scheduled to perform the procedure.
Johnson died at 5:40 a.m. on Dec. 8.
A George County sheriff's deputy had pulled Johnson over near Mississippi 26 for running a red light and stop sign. In the incident report, the officer said that he was at his patrol car checking Johnson's driver's license when he heard a gunshot and breaking glass and then saw Johnson dead outside his truck with a shotgun on top of him.
The sheriff said Johnson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, something Johnson's family and the NAACP are questioning. In fact, the attorney for the Johnson family said that that the wounds on Johnson's body were not consistent with what was reported on the police report.
The head of the George County chapter of the NAACP said this morning that they have found a pathologist to perform an independent autopsy on George County football star Billey Joe Johnson.
The autopsy will be performed some time today or Friday, George County NAACP head Willie Gaines said Thursday, though he said he did not yet want to identify the pathologist scheduled to perform the procedure.
Johnson died at 5:40 a.m. on Dec. 8.
A George County sheriff's deputy had pulled Johnson over near Mississippi 26 for running a red light and stop sign. In the incident report, the officer said that he was at his patrol car checking Johnson's driver's license when he heard a gunshot and breaking glass and then saw Johnson dead outside his truck with a shotgun on top of him.
The sheriff said Johnson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, something Johnson's family and the NAACP are questioning. In fact, the attorney for the Johnson family said that that the wounds on Johnson's body were not consistent with what was reported on the police report.
Three men arrested in gang rape of gay woman
RICHMOND, Calif. - One man and two teens have been arrested on suspicion of gang-raping a woman last month in the San Francisco Bay area while allegedly taunting her for being a lesbian, police said Thursday as they searched for a fourth suspect.
Read the rest of the article here.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28462081/
Read the rest of the article here.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28462081/
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