by Bill Barton
The May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd under the left knee of Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis served as the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back” when it came to spurring widespread public outcry over the seemingly endless list of Black Americans killed by police across ...
by Bill Barton
In 2018, the MacArthur Justice Center filed a class-action lawsuit against the city of Chicago, former Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, and the city’s police officers, challenging the city’s gang database. The suit was filed on behalf of several community groups and four specifically named plaintiffs who are ...
by Bill Barton
Few people realize that Phoenix police regularly “purge” the disciplinary records of police, an Arizona Republic investigation uncovered. And it’s been going on for two decades.
The Republic uncovered “more than 600 acts of wrongdoing” committed by 525 cops (out of nearly 3,000 sworn employees) in just ...
by Bill Barton
Mass shootings in the U.S. “have claimed the lives of 339 people since 2015,” which, while certainly egregious, is a mere drop in the bucket compared to the 4,355 citizens killed by police during the same timeframe, according to thefreethoughtproject.com.
There is no question that some ...
by Bill Barton
According to a recent Collateral Consequences Resource Center report, “While police in 12 states are prevented by law from accessing records of arrests that did not result in a conviction, officers in New York and elsewhere can look up such files if they get permission from a ...
by Bill Barton
Steven Mark Chaney was convicted of a 1987 murder based partially on the testimony of forensic scientists, which linked him to the crime by a bite mark found on the victim’s skin. The court heard that Chaney’s teeth were a “perfect match,” and that there was a ...
by Bill Barton
At about 6 a.m., August 19, 2018, Orange County police officer Michael Devitt yanked Mohamed Sayem from his Jeep and punched him several times in the face and stomach, an incident captured on Devitt’s dashboard camera.
Devitt and fellow officer Eric Ota had awakened the apparently intoxicated ...
by Bill Barton
Before the murder charge against him was finally dropped, Richard Phillips had the decidedly dubious distinction of being locked up longer than any other eventually exonerated prisoner—he was incarcerated for 45 years, convicted of a crime he did not commit.
According to a report from the ...
by Bill Barton
Anthony Blas Yepez, in October 2012, beat to death the 75-year-old boyfriend of his girlfriend’s mother in a drunken dispute. Charged with first-degree murder, Yepez said he could not remember much of the incident and didn’t know why his reaction was so violent. Public defender Ian Loyd, ...
by Bill Barton
Richard Phillips, a Michigan man who was wrongfully incarcerated for 46 years before being exonerated in spring 2018, will receive a settlement of $1.5 million from the state, more than a year after he was released without even as much as a bus ticket. Phillips is the ...
