andrew emett

Not Immune: Sheriff’s Captain Convicted of Civil Rights Violation

Originally published on January 31, 2015, at NationofChange.org

A former captain with the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office has been convicted on charges of violating the civil rights of an arrestee, obstruction of justice, and making false statements in a federal investigation. Abusing his power and authority, Captain James “Jim” Corder stole $1,785 from a handcuffed suspect during an arrest and failed to log the money into evidence. Although witnesses saw Capt. Corder steal the cash, Corder later lied to the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) agents investigating the theft.

In July 2013, William “Billy” Easterwood and his wife Amy were arrested on suspected burglary charges. As Capt. Corder placed Billy Easterwood in the back of a sheriff’s car, Billy asked his mother to take the money from his pocket. A day before the Easterwoods’ arrest, the couple had sold their dog and their camper for $1,785 in cash.

With his hands cuffed behind his back, Billy could not physically give the money to his mother. According to Billy’s mother, Corder took the cash from Billy’s pocket claiming it was for restitution. Instead of logging the $1,785 into evidence, Corder kept the money and refused to return it to Billy.

Depicting Corder as a crooked cop who routinely took liberty with arrestees’ property, Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Rhew-Miller told jurors, “When Jim Corder gets a hold of a prisoner’s property, he does whatever he wants with it.”

Continue reading →

0 CommentsLeave a comment

CIA Whistleblower Faces 100 Years in Prison for Talking to NY Times Reporter

Originally published on January 29, 2015, at NationofChange.org

A former CIA case officer has been convicted for telling a New York Times reporter details concerning a reckless CIA operation that potentially sped up Iran’s nuclear advancement. Although the case against the CIA whistleblower was largely circumstantial and lacking evidence, former case officer Jeffrey Sterling faces a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison for speaking to New York Times reporter James Risen. Under threat of arrest, Risen tenaciously refused to reveal his sources to the government.

After joining the CIA on May 14, 1993, Sterling eventually rose to the rank of case officer and began working with the agency’s Iran Task Force. Between November 1998 and May 2000, Sterling had been assigned to a mission conspiring to deliver flawed nuclear blueprints to the Iranian government codenamed Operation Merlin. Unaware of the design flaws, the Iranian government would waste years devising a nuclear weapon that could not detonate.

The CIA planned to use a Russian nuclear engineer codenamed Merlin to transport the nuclear blueprints to the Iranians. In a luxurious hotel room in San Francisco, Sterling and a senior CIA officer gave the blueprints to Merlin, who immediately identified a flaw even though he had not been debriefed. Instead of aborting the mission because the design flaw was too obvious, the senior CIA officer went ahead with the operation.

Continue reading →

0 CommentsLeave a comment

FBI Arrests Cop on Charges of Police Brutality and Falsifying Records

Originally published on January 28, 2015, at NationofChange.org

The FBI arrested a New Jersey police officer on Friday after a federal grand jury charged him with violating a defendant’s civil rights by using excessive force during an arrest and falsifying records in an attempt to conceal the alleged crime. According to a lawsuit filed by the victim and his family against the Bayonne Police Department, Officer Domenico Lillo repeatedly struck the handcuffed victim in the face with a metal flashlight knocking out most of his front teeth. In 2011, the City of Bayonne paid roughly $100,000 to settle a previous suit accusing Lillo and other officers of conspiracy, deliberate indifference, deprivation of due process, deprivation of property, excessive force, failure to intervene, malicious prosecution, and wrongful arrest.

On the evening of December 27, 2013, Bayonne police officers Domenico Lillo, Francis Styles, and James Wade responded to Kathy Walsh’s residence to execute an arrest warrant for her son, Brandon. According to police, Brandon Walsh answered the door but refused to step outside with the officers. Pushing one of them back, Walsh allegedly attempted to force the door closed when one of the officers grabbed the front of his shirt. Walsh reportedly struck the cop on the side of the face and the top of the head before they restrained him with handcuffs.

But according to a federal lawsuit against the police department, officers Lillo, Styles, and Wade had stormed into the residence pepper spraying Walsh and throwing him to the ground. As they continued to assault Walsh on the floor, the officers also doused his mother’s face with pepper spray when she asked why they were attacking her son. Suffering from the noxious fumes of the pepper spray, Kathy Walsh, her children, and her grandchildren watched as the police handcuffed Walsh and escorted him down the front steps.

The police claim Walsh cut his forehead when he tried to pull away, causing an officer to fall onto of him. In contrast, Walsh’s family asserts Walsh had accidentally fallen down the stairs. After getting up off the ground, the officers continued escorting Walsh to their patrol car when Lillo pulled a metal flashlight from his belt and repeatedly beat Walsh across the face while Walsh’s hands were cuffed behind his back.

Continue reading →

0 CommentsLeave a comment

NY Assembly Speaker Arrested for Accepting $4 Million in Bribes

Originally published on January 25, 2015, at NationofChange.org

The FBI arrested New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on Thursday charging him with multiple counts of conspiracy, fraud, and extortion. Accused of accepting roughly $4 million in bribes and kickbacks, Silver allegedly abused his position by providing state funding and other benefits to the highest bidders while funneling the dirty money through two corrupt law firms. After Silver convinced Governor Andrew Cuomo to terminate the commission investigating his illegal activities, a lobbyist and close friend of Silver decided to cooperate with the Justice Department by testifying against him.

Elected to the New York State Assembly in 1976, Silver has been Speaker since February 11, 1994. By soliciting and obtaining client referrals worth millions of dollars in exchange for official favors, Silver allegedly abused his power over the real estate industry and healthcare funding. Instead of reporting the bribes, Silver attempted to disguise the money as legitimate income earned from his work at the two law firms accused of laundering his kickbacks.

For steering real estate developers with business before the state legislature to a law firm run by a co-conspirator, Silver received approximately $700,000 in kickbacks. Although Silver had performed no legal work to earn those payments, the law firm Goldberg & Iryami received millions of dollars in legal fees from real estate developers. Goldberg & Iryami reportedly paid Silver to use his official power and influence to refer potential clients to their firm.

Continue reading →

0 CommentsLeave a comment

US Journalist Sentenced to 5 Years and 3 Months for Posting a Link

Originally published on January 24, 2015, at NationofChange.org

Freelance journalist Barrett Brown, whose work has appeared in The Guardian, Vanity Fair, and The Huffington Post, was sentenced to 63 months in prison on Thursday for posting a hyperlink containing stolen credit card information. Initially facing a possible sentence of 105 years, Brown accepted a plea deal after prosecutors agreed to drop most of the charges against him. The judge also ordered Brown to pay $890,250 in restitution to several companies targeted by the hacker collective Anonymous.

In December 2011, Anonymous member Jeremy Hammond hacked into Strategic Forecasting, Inc. or “Stratfor” for short. A private intelligence contractor, Stratfor claims to provide governments and corporations with geopolitical analysis. After extracting Stratfor’s files, Hammond exposed several emails from Stratfor’s former CEO George Friedman revealing that Stratfor had been partnering with Shea Morenz, a former Goldman Sachs managing director, to profit from insider trading. Shea Morenz is now President and CEO of Stratfor.

More disclosures revealed that Dow Chemical hired Stratfor to spy on protestors and victims of the 1984 Bhopal disaster while maintaining surveillance on activist filmmakers, The Yes Men. Other emails exposed that The Coca-Cola Company hired Stratfor to spy on members of PETA during the 2010 Olympics. In a statement, The Coca-Cola Company responded to the emails by saying they “consider it prudent to monitor for protest activities at any major event we sponsor.”

Continue reading →

0 CommentsLeave a comment

New GOP Chairman Suppresses Full CIA Torture Report

Originally published on January 22, 2015, at NationofChange.org

The new Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman sent a letter to the White House and several federal agencies last week demanding the return of every copy of the Committee’s entire classified CIA torture report. The new chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, also intends to return the notorious Panetta Review to the CIA. Critical of the agency’s false statements regarding the reliability of information obtained through torture, the Panetta Review’s release under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has been blocked by the CIA.

On December 9, 2014, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released nearly 500 pages of the heavily redacted Executive Summary of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program. According to the Committee, the CIA lied to Congress, the National Security Council, the Justice Department, and the American public about the severity of torture committed and the effectiveness of information gathered through enhanced interrogations. The Committee also accused former CIA Director Michael Hayden of lying to the Committee regarding prisoners’ deaths, the abusive backgrounds of CIA interrogators, threats against detainees’ family members, and reliability of information acquired through torture.

The CIA claims enhanced interrogation techniques were necessary to determine the secret locations of Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), but the Committee discovered these assertions are false. A CIA detainee provided the agency with information leading to bin Laden’s location before agents subjected him to torture. The detainees who were subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques withheld and fabricated intelligence.

Continue reading →

0 CommentsLeave a comment

3 Sheriff’s Deputies Charged with Beating Suspect on Camera

Originally published on January 18, 2015, at NationofChange.org

A federal grand jury in Cincinnati has charged three sheriff’s deputies with conspiring to deprive, and depriving, an arrestee of civil rights while acting under the color of law. Caught on surveillance video at the Lawrence County Jail, the corrections officers assaulted a handcuffed suspect and attempted to cover up the beating by allegedly falsifying incident reports. The sheriff immediately fired one of his deputies and placed the other two on paid administrative leave before obtaining warrants for their arrest.

According to the federal indictment, the victim identified as “L.K.” had been arrested on a disorderly conduct charge and taken to Lawrence County Jail. Between August 16 and 17, 2014, Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputies Jeremy Hanshaw, Ronald Hatfield, and Jason Mays allegedly assaulted L.K. while he was restrained and not resisting or posing a threat to any officers. Deputies Hanshaw and Hatfield reportedly punched, kicked, and slammed L.K. to the ground restraining him in a chokehold while his hands were cuffed behind his back.

After restraining L.K. on a medical gurney, Hanshaw allegedly began choking him while striking the victim’s head with his elbow. Before attempting to block the beating from a surveillance camera, Mays punched L.K. in the neck as Hanshaw and Hatfield slammed the victim to the ground. In order to justify the brutal assault, the deputies reportedly falsified logs and incident reports to cover up their abusive actions.

Continue reading →

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Four Secret Service Assistant Directors Demoted Amid Scandals

Originally published on January 17, 2015, at NationofChange.org

Due to a recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report detailing misconduct and incompetency within the agency, the Secret Service has demoted four assistant directors and asked two more to retire. Although six out of eight assistant directors will be replaced, the acting Director and Deputy Director have no intention of resigning.

Calling for new leadership, taller fences, improved training, and holding agents accountable, a recent DHS report said the Secret Service was “starved for leadership” and recommended hiring an outsider as the new Director. In response, acting Director Joseph Clancy demoted Mark Copanazzi, the assistant director for technology; Paul Morrissey, the assistant director for investigations; Dale Pupillo, the assistant director for protective operations; and Jane Murphy, the assistant director for government and public affairs. Victor Erevia, the assistant director for training; and Gregory Marchio, the assistant director for professional responsibility, announced they are retiring while Faron Paramore, the assistant director for administration; and Craig Magaw, the assistant director for strategic intelligence and information, will remain at their posts.

Clancy has been serving as acting Director ever since former Director Julia Pierson resigned after lying to Congress last year. On September 30, 2014, Pierson testified to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. While reviewing the September 19 break-in at the White House, Rep. Jason Chaffetz discovered Pierson had neglected to inform President Obama about the CDC incident with the armed private contractor three days prior. During a visit to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention three days earlier, President Obama entered an elevator accompanied by an armed private contractor with three convictions for assault and battery.

Continue reading →

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Albuquerque Cops Charged with Murdering Homeless Man

Originally published on January 13, 2015, at NationofChange.org

Two Albuquerque police officers were charged with murder on Monday for the shooting of a mentally ill homeless man captured on video. Accused of committing unjustified and unconstitutional police shootings by a Justice Department investigation, Albuquerque police officers often condone excessive use of force and escalate potentially hazardous situations. Since 2010, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) has been involved in over 40 shootings resulting in 27 deaths; many were people with mental illnesses.

Bypassing the state grand jury process, Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg filed documents on Monday in the Second Judicial Court containing a count of open murder against Albuquerque Police Officers Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez. Authorized by New Mexico state law, Brandenburg filed criminal information records allowing the prosecutor to present charges without an indictment from a grand jury.

“Unlike Ferguson, and unlike in New York City – some recent high profile cases – we’re going to know,” stated Brandenburg. “The public’s going to have that information, you’re all going to have seen the witnesses, heard the arguments, and you’ll understand, hopefully, perhaps why the judge made the decision he or she will make.”

On March 16, 2014, APD officers responded to a report of a homeless man, James Boyd, illegally camping in the Sandia foothills. Diagnosed with schizophrenia and armed with two small pocketknives, Boyd negotiated with police for four hours before agreeing to surrender. According to a helmet camera video released by the APD after the shooting, Boyd had been complying with their orders when an officer fired a flashbang grenade at him.

Continue reading →

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Saudi Government Imposes Sentence of 1,000 Lashes Against Activist Blogger

Originally published on January 11, 2015, at NationofChange.org

Fearing a resurgence of the 2011 Arab Spring upheaval, the government of Saudi Arabia began a series of 1,000 public lashings against an activist blogger for expressing freedom of speech and religion. Sentenced to 10 years in prison for insulting Islam, Raif Badawi must endure 50 lashes a week for 20 weeks and pay a fine of one million riyals (approximately $266,600). Although Saudi Arabia publicly condemned the recent attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Saudi secret police regularly collude with the NSA to commit human rights abuses against activists and bloggers.

According to an eyewitness account, Badawi exited a police van in front of al-Jafali mosque in the coastal city of Jeddah just after midday on Friday. Escorted by eight or nine officers, Badawi stood in the middle of the crowded square handcuffed and shackled. An officer beat Badawi’s back and legs 50 times with a large cane. Badawi remained silent as his face contorted with anguish. After the flogging ended, the officers escorted Badawi back to the van and returned him to prison.

Detained since June 17, 2012, Badawi had initially been charged with apostasy, which carries the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, but a judge dismissed the charge. Accused of cybercrime and disobeying his father, Badawi was convicted of insulting Islam on a liberal online forum that he had created. The Saudi government shut down Badawi’s website and originally sentenced him to seven years and 600 lashes on July 29, 2013.

After reviewing an appeal on May 7, 2014, a judge extended Badawi’s sentence to ten years in prison, 1,000 lashes, a ban from using the internet, and a fine of one million riyals. Following his arrest, Badawi’s wife fled the country with their children and moved to Canada. In July, Badawi’s lawyer Waleed Abul-Khair was sentenced to 15 years in prison and barred from travelling for another 15 years after being convicted of inciting public opinion, insulting the judiciary, and undermining the regime and officials.

Continue reading →

0 CommentsLeave a comment