According to the National Registry of Exonerations, between January 1, 2023, and January 31, 2024, there were 50 exonerations nationwide in fifteen states and one from the federal system. Illinois led the way with nine exonerations, while New York and…
Category: Police Misconduct
2023
Category: Criminal Justice Reform | Police Brutality | Police Misconduct | Uncategorized
“It is tragic to see a life cut short at 29, with so many milestones unmet, so many words unsaid, and so much potential unfulfilled,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, at…
2023
Category: Criminal Justice Reform | Federal Criminal Law | Police Misconduct
Islam is one of the three Abrahamic religions, just like Christianity and Judaism. None of these religions espouse violence to secure a religious or political objective. But we know that within all religions are fanatical elements that embrace violence and…
2023
Category: Federal Criminal Law | Police Misconduct | terrorism
They became known as the “Newburgh Four”: James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams, and Laquerre Payen. The FBI arrested the four men on May 20, 2009, on terrorism-related offenses involving a plot to attack the Air National Guard in Newburgh,…
2023
Category: Criminal Justice Reform | Police Misconduct | Prosecutorial Misconduct | terrorism
The new Netflix docuseries, American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing, released in anticipation of the first decade anniversary of the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon terrorist bombing by two deranged brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, will undoubtedly reawaken and stoke…
2023
Category: Criminal Justice Reform | Criminal Law | Police Misconduct
Bad prosecutors are not a new phenomenon. They have existed since the Founders envisioned an adversarial judicial process when forming the United States of America. For more than 230 years, bad prosecutors have displayed a propensity to lie, embellish, suppress…
2023
Category: Criminal Justice Reform | Police Brutality | Police Misconduct
On January 11, 2019, a 19-year-old African American teenager named Jacob Harris was gunned down by law enforcement officers with the Phoenix Police Department (PhxPD). Two officers, in particular, repeatedly fired their pistol and an AR-15 assault rifle at the…
2023
Category: Criminal Justice Reform | Police Misconduct
THE LOUISVILLE METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: A ROGUE, OUT-OF-CONTROL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
The circumstances of the tragic March 13, 2020, shooting death of Breonna Taylor by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD) signaled that the department was a rogue, out-of-control law…
2023
Category: Police Misconduct
In September 2018, William Vardeman landed at Houston’s Hobby Airport for a business trip in the city. His family arrived on a later flight, and Vardeman was there to meet them.
As most people do while waiting for family or…
2023
Category: Criminal Justice Reform | Police Brutality | Police Misconduct
The brutal beating and killing of Tyre Nichols on January 7, 2023, by the Scorpion Unit of the Memphis Police Department (“MPD”) reveals the disconnect between law enforcement’s concept of law and order with society’s need to be protected and…