ALBANY -- Legalizing marijuana for medical use, which would produce millions of dollars in revenue for New York, continues to be part of negotiations on the state budget, which is now more than 80 days late, officials said Monday. "To me the reason for enacting it is treating patients with serious conditions fairly, but the revenue is certainly a reason to make it part of the budget. So, all of those issues are very much up in the air," said Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, who is sponsoring the bill. [continues 656 words]
For many Democrats in Albany, it was a landmark achievement: the long-sought overhaul of New York's strict Rockefeller-era drug laws, repealing mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders that critics said disproportionately and unfairly fell on blacks and Latinos. But that legislative victory last year has emerged as a litmus test in the increasingly bitter five-way Democratic primary battle for attorney general. One candidate, Kathleen A. Rice, the Nassau County district attorney, who many believe is the favored candidate of Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, the Democratic candidate for governor, says she has always supported the drug law overhaul. Two other candidates, Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky of Westchester County and State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, who represents parts of Manhattan and the Bronx, have assailed her in recent weeks, saying that Ms. Rice had opposed the overhaul last year and had changed her views only recently, after she decided to run for higher office. [continues 1068 words]
John Monte (letter, June 16) claims that he can't get an answer to his question of what is the treatment for a drug dealer. I have an answer: legalization. If drugs were legalized, taxed and regulated, the black market where drug dealers operate would be eliminated. Unfortunately, so would Mr. Monte's police career of arresting and filling our jails with low-level drug dealers. Maybe he can explain how these drug dealers are so quickly replaced when he puts one of them away. [continues 137 words]
The Obama administration shares Buffalo News columnist Doug Turner's belief that drug use and its consequences pose a serious threat to public health and public safety ("Someone tell Obama, the war on drugs is real," June 7), and President Obama has been unwavering in his support for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. In my first interview after accepting the job of director of National Drug Control Policy, I told the Wall Street Journal that it was time to retire the phrase "war on drugs." I said then, and continue to believe, that a continual war footing unnecessarily limits the tools we have available to confront this complex issue, and given the prevalence of addiction in the United States, feeds perceptions that the country is at war with its own citizens. [continues 295 words]
Coming soon to a neighborhood near you: Out-of-control marijuana sales authorized by state lawmakers - key among them Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and state Sen. Tom Duane. These two have engineered a supposed medical marijuana law that would, in fact, be a license for legalized pot-dealing, potentially in thousands of storefronts across the city. Under their bill, even podiatrists and midwives could prescribe dope to practically any patient with virtually any health complaint - who would then be able to stop by the local storefront joint joint without fear of arrest. [continues 438 words]
First published in print: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 The Drug Policy Alliance lacks credibility and its arguments don't stand the test of reason ("Substance abuse is a health issue," letter, June 5). I have for the last several years questioned this organization and the tenets of its position. I have never received an answer to this fundamental question: What is the treatment for a drug dealer? No one argues that a drug user should receive treatment and not incarceration, not the cops, district attorneys, defense lawyers or medical professionals. The question remains: What do we do with the drug dealers, who are a drug addict's worst enemy, who prey on these afflicted people and often use treatment centers as locations to distribute their product? Yet, the Drug Policy Alliance continues to support drug dealers, often stating that the so-called war on drugs is a failure, because drugs are still being sold. Which begs to ask if we should give up the war on murder, robbery and rape as these crimes are still being committed as well? I would rather call the war on drugs, simply, fighting crime. That's what selling drugs is. Why would a group that allegedly advocates for drug users also advocate for their worst enemy? John Monte Albany The writer is an Albany detective. [end]
Equity is an elusive legal concept that occasionally allows some leeway in applying the rules of the law and is often unappreciated by judges who insist the law means only what it says. That was clear in 2008 when the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit refused to allow federal courts to consider a death-penalty conviction of Albert Holland because his lawyer had inexcusably let the filing deadline pass. Fortunately, seven members of the Supreme Court proved less rigid in their thinking on Monday and reversed that blinkered decision. [continues 386 words]
NORWICH - Last week the New York Court of Appeals ruled that police can not subject a person or their vehicle to a canine drug search unless the officer develops a "founded suspicion" that criminal activity is taking place. "New York State has a long history of restricting police authority and power compared to other states or the federal government," said Norwich Police Chief Joseph Angelino, whose department added a canine officer last year. "It used to be that the air was 'free' and the dogs were free to sniff it and free to follow it. But that's no longer the case as New York has now taken even federal mandates one step further in saying police need to have a suspicion of criminal activity prior to letting police canines sniff the air." [continues 230 words]
ON March 19, 1928, eight years into the reign of constitutional Prohibition, Pierre S. du Pont wrote a letter to William P. Smith, one of the very few people he ever addressed by first name. Du Pont was among the wealthiest men in the world, chairman of both his family's chemical colossus and the du Pont-controlled General Motors Corporation. Smith worked for a less well-known enterprise that Pierre du Pont also dominated: the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment. [continues 1245 words]
A bit of the fog is beginning to lift on the work and thinking of Elena Kagan, President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court. An initial perusal of thousands of pages of documents from her years in the Clinton White House show her to be an adept centrist -- much like her old boss -- who tried to remain thoughtful while shielding President Bill Clinton from ideological extremes. It is hard to find anything in the 90,000-odd pages of papers released so far that shows whether Ms. Kagan will be an effective restraint on the Roberts Court's aggressive march to the right. She was, after all, a mid-to senior-level bureaucrat in the 1990s, working for a White House that could twist itself into knots trying to find the midpoint on every issue. Her job often required her to become a contortionist, searching for principled positions that would not inflame a newly Republican Congress or a generally conservative Supreme Court. [continues 348 words]
First published in print: Saturday, June 5, 2010 I sympathize with Rhonda Swan's sentiments lamenting the Obama administration's failure to extensively change the prevailing policies that drive the drug war ("Obama prolongs failed war," commentary, June 1). I, too, have been disappointed with the Obama administration's failure to match its promising rhetoric with reality. Click here to find out more! However, is it realistic to expect that a 40-year-old war can be completely dismantled by a president 16 months into his term? The war on drugs supports bloated law enforcement agencies, the $68-billion-a-year prison industry, the arms industry and a thriving drug-testing industry -- not to mention drug lords worldwide. [continues 146 words]
Gov. David Paterson of New York made a brave -- and startling -- move on Monday to create a board to consider pardons for immigrant New Yorkers who are on a fast-track to deportation because of old or minor criminal convictions. He said he wanted to inject fairness into an "embarrassingly and wrongly inflexible" system that expels immigrants without discretion, without considering the circumstances of a person's life or family, or even holding hearings to consider the possibility that deportation might be unwise or unjust. [continues 353 words]
With Advocates Energized and the Tide of Public and Scientific Opinion Turning in Their Favor, New York State Considers Legislation to Legalize Medical Marijuana It was snowing on the evening of March 9, 2001, as Dave Lawson was driving his band's GM Astro to a gig in Vermont. Carrying the instruments and one other band member, Lawson was going a cautious 40 miles in Troy when another vehicle pulled into the intersection directly in front of him. Unable to stop on the slick road, Lawson says that he hit the car on the passenger side. Everything that happened directly after that is fuzzy. Mostly what Lawson remembers are the years of rehabilitation and persistent pain that followed. [continues 3678 words]
High Arrest Rate, Tense Relations Mark Borough; 'Let the Guy Walk' Bronx jurors in felony cases found defendants guilty only 43% of the time last year, the lowest conviction rate in New York City since the state began tracking such data 22 years ago. The Bronx stands in stark contrast to the other boroughs, all of which had felony conviction rates of 70% or higher last year, according to the New York State Unified Court System, which tracks the data. For the first two months of 2010, the latest data available, the Bronx conviction rate was 48%. High arrest rates may have contributed to the low conviction rate. [continues 734 words]
This is a strange time for U.S.-Mexico relations. The Mexican government just issued a travel advisory warning Mexicans about going to Arizona -- where they could get arrested by the police for no reason -- and the U.S. government just issued a travel advisory warning Americans about going to northern Mexico -- where they could get shot by drug dealers for no reason. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart de Mexico is expected to open 300 new stores in Mexico this year, thanks to growing Mexican demand for consumer goods. And Mexico's drug cartels will probably open just as many new smuggling routes into America thanks to our growing demand for marijuana, cocaine and crystal meth. [continues 736 words]
Based on my 18 years of police experience, I think the drug smugglers are cheering Sen. Charles Schumer's continued support for drug prohibition ("Schumer: Funds needed to fight drug war," April 22). Without this modern prohibition, they would not be making billions. After 40 years and $1.1 trillion tax dollars spent, one would hope that Senator Schumer would admit what we all know; Prohibition is a failure, again. Want to rid New York of all drug dealers and smuggling? Legalize/regulate and tax the drugs. Howard Wooldridge Adamstown, Md. howardwoolridge @gmail.com [end]
To the Editor: "With Cars as Meth Labs, Evidence Litters Roads" (news article, April 15) did an excellent job of illustrating the difficult job law enforcement officials face in combating illegal methamphetamine use and production. While you correctly point out that meth production is growing throughout most of the country, I would like to point out that Oregon is seeing dramatic results in its war on the illegal substance. Oregon's law enforcement officials credit their success to a 2006 law that requires a prescription to buy pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient needed to manufacture meth. Before the law was established, more than 500 meth labs a year were found in Oregon. Last year, there were only 10. [continues 92 words]
SARATOGA SPRINGS - What began as four high school students meeting after practice in 1971 to look for a rumored plot of marijuana plants grew into a celebration now ubiquitous among cannabis consumers across the nation as "4-20." At 4:20 p.m. on April 20, college students across the country light up the illicit substance, whether rolled into cigarettes, packed into pipes, or in at least one case, contained within a large, pink, paper-mache octopus. The latter was seen near Skidmore College's Haupt Pond last year as some students smoked in plain sight of faculty and campus safety officials. Outrage over reports of their behavior prompted the school to take action and hold a series of meetings with officials from the Saratoga Springs Police Department, the Saratoga Springs City School District, the Saratoga County Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Council and Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III. [continues 863 words]
The voters of trendsetting California may well decide this November to legalize marijuana -- there's a ballot referendum, and 56 percent of Californians are in favor -- and no doubt this would be great news for the munchie industry, the bootleggers of Grateful Dead music, and the millions of stoners who have long yearned for an era of reefer gladness. Seriously, this is a story about how desperate times require desperate measures. Legalization advocates, including many ex-cops and ex-prosecutors, have long contended that it's nuts to keep criminalizing otherwise law-abiding citizens while wasting $8 billion a year in law enforcement costs. That argument has never worked. But the new argument, cleverly synced to the recession mind-set, may well herald a new chapter in the history of pot prohibition. [continues 842 words]
First of a Two-Part News Series: Arresting a Street Dealer Removes a Big Fish, but Overall Problem Persists The sun was just coming up on May 4, 2006, when the cops put the hammer down on Frank "Fat Frank" Battaglia, the drug kingpin in the Lovejoy section of Buffalo. About 20 heavily armed Buffalo police officers and federal agents stormed into his apartment on Willett Street. They arrested the corpulent dealer in his bedroom - festooned with posters of Tony Montana, the homicidal drug kingpin from the movie "Scarface." [continues 1895 words]
Failures of Prohibition Put Focus on New Steps Every 18 seconds, on average, someone in the United States is arrested for a drug crime. The nation's jails and prisons are teeming with drug offenders. Despite a drug war that costs taxpayers billions of dollars every year, drug abuse continues to be a serious problem. That is why some people -- including some former cops -- believe that the nation needs to take a serious look at legalizing certain drugs. "Prohibition of drugs isn't working," said Peter J. Christ, a retired Town of Tonawanda police captain who is one of the founders of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an organization of ex-cops who advocate legalizing drugs. [continues 1235 words]
(April 1, 2010) No, this is not an April Fool's column. It is as serious as I usually am when I talk about New York State government. I've been watching the jokers in Albany for so long that perhaps I'm beginning to think like them. It's like this: the Dems in control -- my party -- have started focusing on a series of "revenuers" to fix what's broken in the budget. Now we all know what's broken. The folks in Albany spend lots more than they take in -- it's that simple. All they have to do is stop spending what they don't have and bingo: a balanced budget. [continues 952 words]
Pain can saturate one's entire being. This hit home recently when my mother endured bouts of chemotherapy for stomach cancer. Drugs to relieve her relentless nausea offered little benefit. As with countless other patients, her medicine made matters worse. For patients in intractable pain, time is not on their side. Therefore, for supporters, New York's pending legalization of the medical provision and use of marijuana is timely. Meanwhile, the debate continues. Good ethics requires good facts, as in accurate, relevant and evidence-based. Clearly, cannabis' history of illegal use and association with lethal drugs has overshadowed its supposed therapeutic value in alleviating chemotherapy-induced nausea, reducing glaucoma's intraocular pressure, mitigating AIDS symptoms and relieving chronic pain. Furthermore, its psychoactive component spawns fears of dependency and abuse, although authorized stimulants, antidepressants and analgesics also produce highs and lows. [continues 505 words]
Another reason to stop caging sick humans for using the relatively safe, God-given plant cannabis (marijuana) that doesn't get mentioned ("The Case For Legal, Medical Marijuana," letter, March 20) is because it is biblically correct since Christ God our Father, the Ecologician, indicates He created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good, on literally the very first page (Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). The only biblical restriction placed on cannabis is that it is to be accepted with thankfulness (see 1 Timothy 4:1-5). And, "But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (see 1 John 3:17). Jesus Christ risked jail to heal the sick. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
New York's highest court ruled on Thursday that police departments cannot use general warrants that apply to a specific location to search every person they find there unless there is probable cause to believe that a particular person is involved in criminal activity. While the decision, which was unanimous, arose from a case in Syracuse, the ruling could have broad implications because "all-persons-present" warrants are so often used by the police. Asked about the decision, Paul J. Browne, the New York Police Department's chief spokesman, said, "We're waiting for the department lawyers to review it, to see what the implications may be for the Police Department." [continues 559 words]
When noncitizens are convicted of aggravated felonies, federal law makes it relatively easy to remove them from the country - and it should. But the law is not a weapon for overzealous immigration officials who want to deny immigrants fair deportation hearings. The Supreme Court hears arguments on Wednesday about the removal of one such immigrant, who committed a couple of minor drug offenses but was treated as if he had committed an aggravated drug felony. The court should use the case of Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder to put an end to this unfair practice. [continues 384 words]
NOGALES, Mexico - RESEARCH on a book brought me to this border city about 60 miles south of Tucson the other day, and by my rough count, there were about a dozen of us Americans on the sunny downtown streets. A few years ago, there would have been thousands. History shows that it takes a lot to sink the indomitable Mexican spirit, but a year's worth of drug-war mayhem (and the resulting publicity) in the towns on the border with the United States has certainly has done a good job of it. The downtown restaurants that weren't already boarded up were mostly empty. Shopkeepers seemed dazed. [continues 645 words]
Regarding Samuel Blackstone's March 23rd column, if health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. [continues 70 words]
I recently read about Joseph Casias being terminated from Wal-mart in Michigan. In 2008 he was "associate of the year," and shortly thereafter was diagnosed with sinus cancer and a brain tumor. His doctors prescribed medical marijuana -- legal in Michigan -- as part of his treatment for the pain. When he tested positive for marijuana during a drug test, Wal-mart terminated him under their drug policy. Such intolerance toward medical marijuana patients is reprehensible. More than 80 percent of Americans now support medical use of pot to treat pain. In fact, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, said "it was unconscionable that the federal government had previously sought to not only deny but arrest and prosecute medical marijuana patients who are using the drug in accordance with state law to relieve pain and nausea." Thank you, Congressman Hinchey, for your efforts in Congress to mandate such a policy regarding medical marijuana. Gloria Whitmore Owego [end]
To the Editor: "Fearful of Alienating Afghans, U.S. Turns Blind Eye to Opium" (front page, March 21) highlights the dilemma: should Afghan farmers grow poppies or should poppy fields be eradicated, jeopardizing livelihoods but eliminating the opium that destroys lives? The United States faced a similar dilemma in the 1970s when Turkey was the principal source of imported heroin via laboratories in Marseille - -- the "French connection." Turkey limited cultivation and built a factory to convert opium poppy heads into "poppy straw," convertible into the legal medicines morphine and codeine. The Turkish government outlawed growing of opium poppies in all but seven provinces that were traditional growing areas. [continues 171 words]
To the Editor: I find it intriguing that United States military commanders in Afghanistan are now rejecting opium eradication efforts. Surely even those who are implacably opposed to drug legalization cannot escape the implication that, when such pragmatic leaders take the stance that the "war" on drugs is counterproductive, perhaps it is time to reconsider the effects this endless "war" is having closer to home. If we ended drug prohibition and instead regulated opium, we could cut out a major source of funding for terrorist organizations and drug cartels while winning over the rural populations in Afghanistan. This is equally true of other illegal drugs, which finance vicious gangs, crime syndicates and cartels in the United States and abroad. Jonathan Kolber Denver [end]
To the Editor: The United States is turning a blind eye to illegal Afghan poppy production to avoid alienating farmers by destroying their main cash crop. This policy is immoral, unethical and militarily counterproductive. Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium and a key supplier to international crime and drug syndicates. This drug is also the main financial support for Taliban insurgents and a main cause of government corruption, and destroys numerous lives worldwide. The solution: provide alternative staple crops and livelihoods for the Afghans. Initially the United States government could purchase and destroy the poppy crop. It could then provide cash payments for interim family support until alternative crops can be planted, plus seeds, plants, fertilizers, drip irrigation tubing and other equipment and technical assistance, provided that poppy planting will cease. [continues 77 words]
To the Editor: Rather than turn a blind eye, the United States government should simply purchase the region's entire poppy crop directly from its farmers. We could then sell this raw material to legitimate pharmaceutical companies worldwide for the manufacture of morphine and related opiates, destroying any excess still in our possession. Direct purchase of the region's poppy crops by the United States would prevent drug-related profits from flowing to the Taliban, all but eliminate local corruption surrounding the drug trade and allow local farmers to make a living doing what they are good at -- growing poppies. We, in turn, would establish an American presence that actually benefits the people of the region. John Karol Orford, N.H. [end]
Port Dickinson Resident Attends Unveiling Of Binghamton Billboard BINGHAMTON -- Rhonda Holmes admitted to some nervousness as she stood in front of the billboard in a parking lot at Front and Clinton streets. The 42-year-old Port Dickinson woman said she is breaking the law by using marijuana to ease the effects of multiple sclerosis, which she has battled for seven years. That's something she wants to help change. Holmes was at the unveiling of a billboard put up by NY Patients First, a medical marijuana patient advocacy group. [continues 385 words]
What was once only a dream shared by potheads throughout America may soon become somewhat of a reality. States across the country are debating policy changes concerning the legality of medical marijuana. This year alone, 14 states will consider legalizing marijuana for medical purposes or reducing the penalties for possessing small amounts for personal use or both. On top of that, 14 states have already relaxed their marijuana laws. I am opposed to the legalization of marijuana. While many state that the legalization of medical marijuana will help bring us out of the economic recession, I think there are alternative routes. [continues 567 words]
But Assembly Leader Doubts Budget Will Include Measure ALBANY ? The Senate is making a renewed push to legalize medical marijuana in New York, hoping to make it the 16th state to legalize the drug for patients with serious, debilitating or life-threatening illnesses. The Assembly passed a medical-marijuana bill twice in recent years, but the Senate did not. Legislation that would legalize its use passed a key Senate committee Tuesday, and the same bill is making its way through the Assembly committee process. [continues 697 words]
Editor: Twin bills (A. 9016 and S. 4041-B) are currently waiting in the New York State Legislature for the allotment of safe access to medical marijuana through state-registered and regulated entities. Legalized medical marijuana will not only provide comfort to patients with life-threatening illnesses with minimal side effects, it has the potential to raise our State's tax revenues with little opposition. Marijuana reduces pain related to specific medical conditions (such as Fibromyalgia and HIV/AIDS). In fact, a study published in Neurology (2007) showed that 52 percent of patients with HIV-associated sensory neuropathy who smoked marijuana had a greater than 30 percent reduction in chronic pain. Additionally, marijuana is gauged to be as or even less addictive than caffeine with significantly fewer side effects than most chemically manufactured prescription drugs. [continues 129 words]
Congress is trying to undo some of the damage it inflicted more than two decades ago with its frenzied mandating of longer prison sentences for abusers of crack cocaine than for those who abuse the powder version. The result has been disproportionately harsher punishment for crack offenders in black neigborhoods. The law is built on a scientifically indefensible 100-to-1 ratio, which means the same prison term (a minimum of five years) for 5 ounces of crack as for 500 ounces of the powder kind. [continues 239 words]
Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano and Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey were joined by Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence's (LICADD) Executive Director Jeffrey Reynolds at a press conference where they announced the implementation of the "Too Good for Drugs Program," which was created in 1978 by the Mendez Foundation. "Too Good for Drugs" (TGFD) is a school-based prevention program for kindergarten through 12th grade. It builds on students' resiliency by teaching them how to be socially competent and autonomous problem solvers. TGFD K-8 has a separate, developmentally appropriate curriculum for each grade level, which includes emotional competency skills, social and resistance skills, goal-setting and decision-making skills. [continues 508 words]
If medical marijuana becomes legal, it will be a disappointment to many. The proposed law would not require any doctor to prescribe medical marijuana, just as New York doesn't require education in pain care or enforce the prohibition against cruel and degrading treatment. So as state Sen. Kemp Hannon has indicated, it is likely marijuana would be used for conditions for which it has no or little benefit and not be used for conditions where it is of benefit. The law would leave too much to the discretion of physicians, given that New York is rated among the six worst states in the nation for pain management by the Pain and Policy Studies Group. Unlike 26 other states, New York has no state pain management initiative and it has never done a statewide study of pain, though many other states have. It is naive to believe that legalization of medical marijuana will do much in New York to help people with cancer, arthritis and other illnesses. David Becker Bronx [end]
The federal law that mandates harsher prison terms for people arrested with crack cocaine than for those caught with cocaine powder is scientifically and morally indefensible. Bills to end the disparity are pending in both the House and Senate. Democrats who worry about being pegged as "soft on crime" will have to find their backbones and push the legislation through. Congress passed the law during the crack hysteria of the 1980s when it was widely and wrongly believed that crack - cocaine cooked in baking soda - was more addictive and led to more drug violence than the chemically identical powdered form. These myths were soon disproved. But by then, Congress had locked the courts into a policy under which minority drug addicts arrested with small amounts of crack were being sent to prison for far longer terms than white drug users caught with a satchel full of powder. [continues 163 words]
A Brooklyn jury found three police officers not guilty on Monday of abusing a suspect in the Prospect Park subway station during a 2008 arrest, in a case that recalled some of the city's most notorious police brutality episodes but never generated as much public outcry or departmental change. Acquitting all three men on all counts, the jurors rejected Michael Mineo's claims that Officer Richard Kern had attacked him and repeatedly rammed a baton between his buttocks, thereby making the charges against the two other officers -- that they had helped cover up the abuse -- irrelevant. [continues 1092 words]
A juror who told others on the panel that a police officer accused of sexually abusing Michael Mineo had been previously accused of brutality was dismissed Friday morning, more than a day after the jury had started deliberating. Justice Alan D. Marrus replaced the juror, a young woman, with an alternate, a traffic enforcement agent. Then he called the reconstituted panel into the courtroom and told jurors that the officer, Richard Kern, had never been charged with any previous crime and that they would have to start their deliberations anew. [continues 180 words]
A Brooklyn judge halted deliberations Thursday in a police brutality trial after one of the jurors told the others that Officer Richard Kern, the main defendant, had previously been accused of misconduct -- allegations that were not introduced during the trial and that the judge described as "misinformation." The judge, Justice Alan D. Marrus of State Supreme Court, acted after jurors sent him a note about 4:40 p.m., as he prepared to dismiss them for the day. "One of the jurors just told the jury that Officer Kern had been prosecuted or convicted of police brutality two times prior to this trial," the note said. "Many of the jury is very uncomfortable with this and don't know how to proceed." [continues 387 words]
The prosecutor grabbed a baton, the symbol of the police brutality case that has unfolded over the past month in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, to show how quickly Michael Mineo could have been sodomized, as he said he was in the Prospect Park subway station on Oct. 15, 2008. Four times, the prosecutor, Charles Guria, jabbed the baton into a folding table in front of the jury box, and for a few seconds the sound of steel hitting the wood filled the courtroom. "It doesn't take very long," Mr. Guria said, responding to a defense lawyer's suggestion that Mr. Mineo's arrest, for smoking marijuana outside the station, happened too quickly for the abuse to have occurred. [continues 702 words]
Howard Lotsof was 19, addicted to heroin and searching for a new high in 1962 when he swallowed a bitter-tasting white powder taken from an exotic West African shrub. “The next thing I knew,” he told The New York Times in 1994, “I was straight.” The substance was ibogaine, an extract of Tabernanthe iboga, a perennial rain-forest plant found primarily in Gabon. In the Bwiti religion it is used in puberty initiation rites, inducing a powerful altered state for at least 48 hours during which young people are said to come into contact with a universal ancestor. [continues 681 words]
Lawyers defending three police officers accused in a brutality case sought on Tuesday to blunt damage done by a fellow officer who had testified that he saw Officer Richard Kern jab a baton between the buttocks of Michael Mineo, a 24-year-old body piercer who had been smoking marijuana outside a Brooklyn subway station. Mr. Kern's lawyer, John D. Patten, said that prosecutors might as well have supplied the words used by the key prosecution witness, Officer Kevin Maloney. "It's not Maloney testifying," Mr. Patten said during closing arguments in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn as he turned and pointed at Charles Guria, the lead prosecutor. "It's this gentleman here testifying." [continues 738 words]
Citing insufficient evidence, federal authorities said Tuesday that they would not bring a civil rights case against the New York City police officers involved in the killing of Sean Bell, a 23-year-old black man who was shot by the police outside a strip club in Queens on his wedding day. The decision by the Justice Department came after prosecutors and federal agents reviewed the case, in which five police officers fired 50 shots into the Nissan Altima that Mr. Bell was driving. The car struck a detective in the leg and hit a police van just before the officers began firing their weapons. [continues 726 words]
The nation's criminal justice system is in need of an overhaul. This is particularly true of its incarceration policies. Too many people are being put behind bars who do not need to be there, at great cost to the states, and not enough attention is being paid to helping released prisoners re-enter society. The Senate Judiciary Committee recently voted to create a blue-ribbon commission to study the justice system and offer reforms. The bill's main sponsor was Jim Webb, a Democrat of Virginia who is one of the Senate's more thoughtful voices on crime and punishment. [continues 237 words]
Inside New York
