Saturday, November 16, 2013

Police Murder Cover-up Settled: $1.7m

Jerry Amaro, III
  
CONGRATULATIONS to attorneys John Burris and Jim Chanin for successfully representing the mother and sister of Jerry Amaro III, 35. Amaro died a month after he was brutally beaten by police officers. Amaro's mother, Geraldine Montoya, and his sister, Stephanie Montoya, both of San Leandro, sued the Oakland Police Department regarding Amaro's wrongful death. The coroner's office reported that Amaro died of pneumonia caused by fractured ribs in April 2000. The city asked the courts to dismiss the Montoya's lawsuit, saying the statute of limitations had expired. However, the courts ruled that the lawsuit would have been filed timely if the police had not initiated a cover-up. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

2. The city of Oakland agreed Tuesday to pay $1.7 million to the family of a man who died after being arrested by Oakland police officers in 2000, a case that a federal appeals court said led to misrepresentations and stonewalling by the Police Department. During the arrest, several officers, including now-Capt. Ed Poulson, used excessive force, breaking five of Amaro's ribs and lacerating his left lung, said the family's suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

3. In July, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco concluded that a homicide sergeant had withheld critical facts that could have substantiated the family's belief that Amaro [died of injuries sustained during his police beatdown]. Geraldine Montoya said the sergeant had told her that Amaro had "died in the street" following a gang dispute over drugs.

******
4. CONGRATULATIONS to the Montoya family and their attorneys on this legal victory. Congratulations to justices in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for their righteous judgement!

5.   John L. Burris formed the Law Offices of John L. Burris in 1985, after several years in private practice with the firm Harris, Alexander, and Burris in Oakland, California. He earned a law degree from UC Berkeley School of Law - Boalt Hall and MBA from UC Berkeley Graduate School of Business. He is best known for his work in the area of plaintiff's civil rights over the last 25 plus years and as a legal analyst on Fox, MSNBC, Court TV, CNN and many local television and radio stations. His primary areas of focus for his practice include cases involving police misconduct, employment discrimination and criminal defense. His initial participation with police misconduct issues occurred in April 1979 when he was hired by the Mayor and the City Council of Oakland to conduct an independent investigation into the fatal police shooting of 15-year-old Melvin Black and the entry into the Oakland office of the NAACP by Oakland police officers. He is the author of the book "BLUE vs. BLACK: Let's End the Conflict between Police and Minorities." John Burris has offices at 7677 Oakport St, Oakland, CA 94621. Phone (510) 839-5200. He his online contact form http://www.johnburrislaw.com/CM/Custom/Contact.asp

6.   Jim Chanin is a nationally prominent attorney who specializes in Civil Rights, Police Misconduct, Personal Injury and Business Litigation. Jim Chanin’s interest in police misconduct began over thirty-five years ago when he was part of a group that successfully established a Police Review Commission (PRC) for the City of Berkeley. He served on the first Commission starting in 1973 and was twice elected Chairperson of the Commission. He helped establish the PRC’s complaint procedures and assisted in crafting several important policy decisions relating to the Hostage Negotiation Team, Mutual Aid and the meaningful integration of the Berkeley Police Department. Mr. Chanin’s growing interest in civil rights and police issues led him to pursue a legal career and he became a lawyer in 1977. Less than two months later, he began representing a variety of clients including victims of civil rights abuse and police misconduct, as well as a variety of people injured by automobile driver negligence and other negligent conduct by third parties. Contact him at The Law Offices of James B. Chanin, Esq., 3050 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705. Phone 510-848-4752 ext.2. Email him at info@jimchanin.com


7.   THIS IS EXTRAORDINARY 

8.   Jerry Amaro's family was able to prevail in court because it was proved that police misconduct (withholding information about the cause of Amaro's death) prevented the family from filing lawsuit timely. In the case of the secret arrest and wrongful death of Larry Neal, my mentally, physically disabled brother, no lawsuit was filed timely because of collusion to defraud Larry's family by The (Johnnie) Cochran Firm and Memphis Shelby County Jail/Government in 2003. The demonic attorneys used U.S. Mail fraud to lie to my family about a nonexistent wrongful death case regarding Larry Neal's kidnapping by police and his murder by means that have never been disclosed to his survivors. Police refused to divulge information about Larry's secret arrest and death, and the Shelby County Attorney refused to answer a federal subpoena for records and information.

9.   The managing partner of the Memphis office of The Cochran Firm in Memphis, Julian Bolton, was himself a long-standing member of the Shelby County Commission, which owns and operates the jail where Larry was secretly incarcerated for 18 days and killed. Therefore, The Cochran Firm signed contract to represent the Neals with no intention of actually bringing suit against Shelby County Jail for wrongful death nor against the State of Tennessee and Larry's final care home for negligence. The unethical lawyers kept hope alive until the end of Tennessee's statute of limitations, then confessed their conflict of interest and their inactivity on our cases. Hopefully, since police withholding information on Amaro's cause of death was sufficient reason to extend the statute of limitations for filing a wrongful death lawsuit against Oakland Police Department, the conspiracy to cover-up Larry's death in custody and deny due process of law will also be considered sufficient reason to allow the Neals to proceed with a long overdue lawsuit against Shelby County Jail/Government. 


10.  Maybe that is why this writer has been censored, stalked, and terrorized for years. Before reading this article, I believed the Neals would need to file lawsuit against The Cochran Firm and Shelby County Government, et al. under the RICO Act, which has a significantly longer statute of limitations than personal injury cases do. See in this "Legal Victories" blog an article announcing that RICO Act lawsuits against police departments were ruled permissible by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess, entitled "RICO Lawsuits OK Against Racketeering Police"
http://legalvictories.blogspot.com/2013/10/rico-lawsuits-ok-against-racketeering.html


11.  This would be much more exciting news if every court was as honest as the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco was in the Amaro case. However, Larry Neal was murdered in Tennessee, the state where the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms hosted its whites-only annual event, the "Good Ol' Boys Roundup," where vendors sold "Federal Licenses to Kill Niggers" until 1996. My mother and I live in Georgia, a state where some high school children went to racially segregated proms as late as 2011, and where a federal judge dismissed our lawsuit against The Cochran Firm frauds, ruling that the lawyers' fraud against the Neals was "immaterial" (because as an African American psychiatric patient, Larry was "immaterial").

12.  Read the entire San Francisco Chronicle article about the Jerry Amaro case:
"Oakland to pay $1.7 million to Jerry Amaro family"  
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-to-pay-1-7-million-to-Jerry-Amaro-family-2326180.php
by Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.




"Nigger Hunting License" sold at "The Good Ol' Boys Roundup," 
an event sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms 

Paragraph 1 repeated (or stalkers may code this article to skip it on cellphone view. Four urls, three email links, twelve numbered paragraphs, five photos (with descriptions) are in this article).CONGRATULATIONS to attorneys John Burris and Jim Chanin for successfully representing the mother and sister of Jerry Amaro III, 35. Amaro died a month after he was brutally beaten by police officers. Amaro's mother, Geraldine Montoya, and his sister, Stephanie Montoya, both of San Leandro, sued the Oakland Police Department regarding Amaro's wrongful death. The coroner's office reported that Amaro died of pneumonia caused by fractured ribs in April 2000. The city asked the courts to dismiss the Montoya's lawsuit, saying the statute of limitations had expired. However, the courts ruled that the lawsuit would have been filed timely if the police had not initiated a cover-up. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:



Call or write with information about legal victories you wish to highlight
MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com or (678) 531.0262.
Hurry. Once my justice quest ends, so does my advocacy work.
Messages will be responded to within 24 hours unless they are cyberstalked.
.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Free Advertising for Attorneys!


Free advertising for attorneys!
Write a statement of 250 words or less on either of the six topics below and include at least one citation, and I will read your statement and credit you and/or your law firm on a broadcast at one of the Blogtalkradio shows where I am a member, listed at the link below:


~Censorship
~Mass Incarceration
~African American Inmates
~Unequal Justice
~Decriminalizing Mental Illness and/or Drug Addiction
~Government Spying


New Human Rights Blogtalkradio Broadcasts
http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-human-rights-blogtalkradio.html



Legal Victory - BATES v. STATE BAR of ARIZONA

Until 1977, lawyers were generally barred from public advertising. John Bates, Esq. changed that. Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld the right of lawyers to advertise their services. In holding that lawyer advertising was commercial speech entitled to protection under the First Amendment (incorporated against the States through the Fourteenth Amendment), the Court upset the tradition against advertising by lawyers, rejecting it as an antiquated rule of etiquette.

The Court emphasized the benefits of the information that flows to consumers through advertising, positing that lawyer advertising would make legal services more accessible to the general public and improve the overall administration of justice.


Although legal advertising in phone books still remains the most popular and prominent in our society, new forms of advertising have emerged. Television advertisements are a relatively new form of advertising and are becoming increasingly more popular. The newest form of advertising by law firms and lawyers is over the internet. Internet advertising helps victims find a lawyer to represent their case. (Wikipedia)

*****
Congratulations, attorneys, for gaining protection for your free speech rights through the United States Supreme Court. Things have certainly Changed since 1977. Wikipedia reports, "In the top 75 television markets nationwide, 2,000 lawyers advertise on television and spend close to $200 million collectively on advertising." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_advertising_in_the_United_States

Until advertising was legalized for attorneys, law firms relied on referrals. Being applauded in my Legal Victories blog for cases you won, or allowing me to read your opinions and findings about legal issues on Blogtalkradio before large audiences, combine two forms of advertising: third-party word-of-mouth advertising on the Internet - and this is free. Many people are seeking your services, and I want everyone with civil or criminal case to have adequate legal representation. Let's make it happen.

More ideas for advertising your services are offered in "Justice Gagged" blog at an article entitled "Free Legal Services Advertising: Pro Bono" at
http://justicegagged.blogspot.com/2013/11/free-legal-advertising-pro-bono.html

Call or write with information about legal victories you wish to highlight
MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com or (678) 531.0262
Messages will be responded to within 24 hours unless they are cyberstalked.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Legal Victory Overturned re Stop & Frisk, Then We Won!

Judge Scheindlin

***Victorious January 2014 update is below***

Unfortunately, one of the legal victories reported in this blog has been overturned on appeal. The NY Court of Appeals ruled Stop & Frisk racial profiling is A-OK! Furthermore, Judge Scheindlin, who ruled the practice unconstitutional, was removed.

"Of course it is acceptable to harass blacks and Latinos in New York. Carry on." 

(Reuters, Oct. 31, 2013) - A U.S. appeals court froze court-ordered reforms to the New York City Police Department's controversial stop-and-frisk program and removed the judge who found the police tactic unconstitutional, alleging that she "ran afoul" of the judicial code of conduct.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/31/us-usa-newyork-stopandfrisk-ruling-idUSBRE99U1A120131031

We congratulate Judge Scheindlin for trying to right a tremendous wrong. We further congratulate litigants who sued to end racial profiling and police officers who helped to expose how oppressive Stop & Frisk is. One such police officer speaks on a YouTube video at http://youtu.be/tt4O62_VXs4  (embedded below). He revealed that the quota for police officers in New York is one 1 arrest, 20 summons, and 5 stop and frisks. The police officer said, "This is not what I became a cop for - this is not what I want to do."


Legal Victories reported the ruling by Judge Scheindin in an article published in August entitled "Ruling Against Stop & Frisk - American Apartheid."
http://legalvictories.blogspot.com/2013/08/ruling-against-stop-frisk-laws-american.html

UPDATE

Mayor de Blasio announces New York's stop-and-frisk appeal is on hold
Mayor Bloomberg’s administration had sought to appeal Judge Shira Scheindlin’s ruling, which stated the NYPD had abused its power. But de Blasio is working to settle the case out of court.

"We believe these steps will make everyone safer," de Blasio told a Brooklyn news conference. "This will be one city where everyone rises together, where everyone’s rights are protected."
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/new-york-stop-fighting-stop-and-frisk-article-1.1596610#ixzz2ubS9PY9J

Mayor Says New York City Will Settle Suits on Stop-and-Frisk Tactics
“We’re here today to turn the page on one of the most divisive problems in our city,” Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference. “We believe in ending the overuse of stop-and-frisk that has unfairly targeted young African-American and Latino men.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/nyregion/de-blasio-stop-and-frisk.html

Bill de Blasio's Video Announcement with Commentary by Al Sharpton
http://youtu.be/LKV6tnEDwK4

Congratulations, New York!
  
Call or write with information about legal victories you wish to highlight
MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com or (678) 531.0262
Messages will be responded to within 24 hours unless they are cyberstalked.
If you receive no response within 24 hours, please try again.
My First Amendment rights are trampled to prevent my human rights advocacy
Thanks!