[EMAIL PROTECTED] (William J. Foristal) writes:
HI Sue,
Too bad there wasn't a video tape of THIS beating.
Bill
On Tue, 05 May 1998 14:18:18 -0700 Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
>Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
>
>Beating verdict was predictable
>
> Tuesday, May 5, 1998
>
> By Sylvester Brown Jr.
> One year ago, Gregory Bell, a mentally retarded young
>man, was severely
> beaten by the police in his home in the 3400 block of
>Oregon. As many as
> 12 police officers were in his home during the
>beating,
>which included five
> blows to the head with an ASP baton.
> To many people in St. Louis, Bell's case offered
>irrefutable proof that, when
> it comes to African-Americans, the use of deadly
>force
>is not a last resort but
> the force of choice. Despite the fact that neighbors,
>white and black, came
> forward to tell the police and the media of the
>horrors
>they had witnessed
> (the slapping of high-fives among officers once Bell
>was outside his home, for
> instance), only one officer, police Sgt. Thomas
>Moran,
>was charged with a
> crime.
> On Friday, he was acquitted of all charges.
> There has been no justice in the Bell beating case.
>It
>was the usual system of
> coverups that allows police officers to act without
>fear of punishment. The
> Police Department's code of silence, the circuit
>attorney's insulting pre-trial
> antics and the judge's in-your-face rulings against
>the
>prosecution made
> Moran's case the clearest example of how ill-equipped
>(and uninterested) St.
> Louis is in handling police brutality cases.
> The outcome of the case against Moran was
>predictable.
>No one could have
> been so foolish as to believe that the Police
>Department would find evidence
> powerful enough to withstand reasonable doubt against
>one of its own
> decorated veteran officers. Such faith would be
>better
>placed elsewhere - but
> not in St. Louis Circuit Attorney Dee Joyce-Hayes,
>either.
> Media watchers have become accustomed to prosecutors
>who act out their
> disgust, pain and anger on behalf of victims of
>crime.
>That was not the case
> for victim Bell. In an interview with my magazine
>last
>year, Joyce-Hayes said
> of Bell's injuries, "They weren't that severe. I mean
>they look horrible when
> that happens, but there was no permanent, long-term
>injuries."
> It is clear that Joyce-Hayes' office was, at best,
>ill-prepared to proceed in the
> case against Moran. An internal memo leaked to the
>media from within her
> office disclosed that one of her own assistants,
>Douglas Pribble, believed
> there were far too many inconsistencies in the case
>to
>proceed to trial.
> Pribble's "concerns" about the strength of the
>people's
>case against Moran
> offers the only possible explanation for his sudden
>incompetence earlier in the
> case when he failed to oppose Moran's defense motion
>for a change in
> venue. The "error" resulted in the trial being moved
>to
>Kansas City, where it
> was heard before an all-white jury.
> Moran seems to have friends in high places. His
>strongest ally, however,
> seems to have been seated on the bench. Retired
>Circuit
>Judge Jack Koehr
> ruled that Bell's mental retardation could not be a
>matter brought before the
> jury. In essence, the ruling tied the prosecutor's
>hands. No victim profile
> could be offered nor could an explanation be made for
>why Bell could not
> take the stand to tell his story. Comments about
>Bell's
>sweetness, childlike
> innocence and inability to understand what was
>happening during the April
> 14, 1997, police incident could not be made because
>those characteristics
> are intricately connected to his retardation.
> In stark contrast, officers were allowed to testify
>as
>to Bell's behavior and
> comments at the time of the beating. Most astonishing
>is that one officer,
> Richard Booker, testified that while trying to subdue
>Bell, Bell said, "You're
> making me mad" and "I'm not going to jail!" The jury
>wasn't told that a
> retarded young man opened the door to the police,
>dressed in only jogging
> pants, dog at his side; and that a melee ensued.
> If the jury believed that this was just another young
>black suspect refusing to
> cooperate with the police, instead of a frightened
>retarded youth, there was
> no allowable testimony to refute it.
> Some day St. Louis is going to have to face the fact
>that there is a serious
> problem in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police
>Department. In recent years,
> there have been an adequate number of cases to
>substantiate the cries and
> complaints of many in the African-American community
>regarding police
> brutality and misconduct. A reluctance to prosecute
>police officers on the
> part of the circuit attorney's office, the code of
>silence within the Police
> Department and secret grand jury hearings all work
>together to provide
> police officers immunity from conviction in each and
>every police misconduct
> case in St. Louis.
> The city had an opportunity to make an example of all
>the officers involved in
> the beating of Gregory Bell. It could have advocated
>for a 19-year-old
> mentally challenged man who was savagely beaten by
>the
>police and worked
> to correct a system that has gone miserably awry.
>What
>Bell, his family and
> the entire community got instead was St. Louis' own
>unique brand of
> retarded justice.
>--
>Two rules in life:
>
>1. Don't tell people everything you know.
>2.
>
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