Cook Co. (ECWd) –
Although I disagreed with the method of teaching being used to curb violence in the city, as outlined in my July 2014 article, it does appear that the counselor may have very well spoken some serious truth in light of all the cop shootings being exposed in Chicago recently.
An opinion from the US District Court today appears to confirm, the Chicago Police have a serious problem on their hands and by all indications they have created it!
- Mosqueda claims he heard the description of the Aurora over his police-car radio
- At various times before and during this litigation, Mosqueda has claimed that the OEMC call, which he heard over the police-car’s “Zone” radio, warned that the Aurora was wanted for a shooting or that there might have been a gun in the car
“The officers opened fire, killing Pinex”
- A recording was available. But Plaintiffs did not get it.
- Documents identifying the location of the recording were also available. But Plaintiffs did not get those either.
- The discovery responses that they did get led them to believe that no recording of the call or documents were available.
“Plaintiffs reasonably concluded that Mosqueda was lying—that is, he actually had heard nothing, and the officers executed an overly aggressive traffic stop for their own reasons or no reason at all.”
- The actual recording did not mention that the Aurora had a gun or that the car was wanted for a shooting
- First, it has shown that Jordan Marsh, one of the City Law Department lawyers representing the officers and the City of Chicago, learned about the OEMC record before trial and knew that the recording might still be available
- The Court has no choice but to conclude, based on the record evidence, that Marsh intentionally withheld this information from the Court, from Plaintiffs, and even from his own co-counsel
- Second, post-trial discovery has shown that, in response to Plaintiffs’ discovery request seeking the recording and related documents, Thomas Aumann, another Law Department lawyer for the officers and the City of Chicago, failed to make a reasonable inquiry, as required by the discovery rules, to search for the recording and responsive documents.
“Because of the recording’s untimely disclosure, the first trial was unfair and Plaintiffs’ trial presentation was hurt beyond repair by the surprise.”
“And because Marsh’s and Aumann’s misconduct thwarted Plaintiffs’ trial preparation and trial efforts, Plaintiffs are awarded their attorneys’ fees and costs expended on preparing for the first trial, conducting the trial itself, and conducting the post-trial discovery and briefing.”
If the details in this Federal Judge’s opinion does not end up with city officials facing criminal charges then there is little hope of ever fixing the wrongs citizens of Chicago are facing in my opinion.
The people of Chicago deserve better!
[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/PINEX-Opinion-Santions-New-Trial.pdf”]
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5 Comments
Chris M. Gaines
Posted at 11:11h, 06 JanuaryImpunity arises from a failure of the State to meet their obligations to investigate criminal or civil violations to the law; to take appropriate measures in respect of the perpetrators, particularly in the area of justice, by ensuring that those suspected of criminal or civil responsibility are prosecuted, tried and duly punished; to provide victims with effective remedies and to ensure that they receive reparation for the injuries suffered; to ensure the inalienable right to know the truth about violations; and to take other necessary steps to prevent a recurrence of violations. Please consider this in this case before you arrive at a conclusion. Thank you. Have a nice day.
Chris M. Gaines
Posted at 09:23h, 05 JanuaryVan Dyke’s history “also shows what happens when the police department consistently chooses not to look at patterns of abuse complaints when investigating misconduct charges,” he adds. This failure “is one of the reasons an officer like Van Dyke has an opportunity to execute a 17-year-old kid.” Rather than acknowledging the systemic failures, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is now trying to frame the issue as the action of one bad officer, as the Tribune reports. “One individual needs to be held accountable,” he said Monday. Kalven calls Emanuel’s “reframing” of the narrative “essentially false.” He points out that “everything we know now, the city knew from Day One. They had the officers on the scene. They knew there were witnesses. They had the autopsy, they had the video…. They maintained a false narrative about those events, and they did it for a year, when it could have been corrected almost immediately….They spent a year stonewalling any calls for transparency, any information about the case.”
Chris M. Gaines
Posted at 09:20h, 05 JanuaryIn complementary quotes to The Chicago Reporter, Jamie Kalven of the Invisible Institute and Craig Futterman of the University of Chicago Law School sum things up aptly. “The real issue here is, this terrible thing happened, how did our governmental institutions respond?” Kalven said. “And from everything we’ve learned, compulsively at every level, from the cops on the scene to the highest levels of government, they responded by circling the wagons and by fabricating a narrative that they knew was completely false.” Said Futterman, “This case shows the operation of the code of silence in the Chicago Police Department. From the very start you have officers and detectives conspiring to cover up the story.”Officer Van Dyke ought to be punished. But if he is alone in held accountable for this unjust killing, it will be a sure sign that many derelictions of duty that led to it persist. The elected officials, bureaucrats, and police union officials who’ve played a roll in abjectly failing to properly discipline and purge bad cops should be apologizing profusely for their role in this needless death, and most likely, many others. And until they implement sweeping reforms, whether by choice or to placate a federal civil-rights probe that is more than warranted, protests should continue.
Chris M. Gaines
Posted at 08:30h, 05 Januaryhttp://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-85483371/
Quote from article: Steve Greenberg, an attorney who represents the family of the man who was killed, said the ruling raises questions about the Law Department’s role in perpetuating a code-of-silence police culture in which officers believe they can act with impunity. If the city’s attorneys appear willing to cover up wrongdoing, the officers will feel empowered to behave in any manner they deem fit, he said.”There’s just a total disregard for the truth, and it runs to the highest levels,” Greenberg said. “There is a culture to cover up and win at all costs.”
ECWDogs
Posted at 17:27h, 04 JanuaryCity of Chicago Police Department slammed in Judges opinion! https://t.co/imzLemk852