@Jenna Kandyce Linch
Sunday, 30 January 2011
truth, yourself, and life
@Jenna Kandyce Linch
Advocates for Abandoned Adolescents (A.A.A.) is to bring National awareness to the Juvenile Justice Laws across the USA.
Our mission is to end the practice of wavering/adjudicating, sentencing and incarcerating youth under 18yrs in the adult Criminal Justice System, to put faces and stories to victims of these laws by exposing the truth of what happens to children when they are held to an adult standard in the Court room and sent to adult prisons, eliminating Life Without Parole for children and to reduce the harm caused to children in the adult system by supporting 2nd Look Legislation.
'2nd Look' means youth serving long sentences get their sentences reviewed at some point in their incarceration. Would you consider 2nd look Legislation?
A.A.A. Mission is to introduce concerned citizens to effective ways of which they can contribute to the reformation of the US irresponsible Juvenile Justice Laws.
To create chapters of A.A.A. in every State coast to coast, to have local minds and hearts within every State endeavouring to bring empathy and responsability to Juvenile Justice Laws and to co-ordinate a National march in every States Capital on the very same day and unified under the A.A.A. banner/agenda
As a society we have reached a level of sophistication which permits us to adjudicate, better educate and protect adolescents in a responsible way.
Our Mission is to do better!
ADVOCATES FOR ABANDONED ADOLESCENTS
WE CARE WHEN NO-ONE ELSE DOES! www.advocatesforabandonedadolescents.com
enquiries@advocatesforabandonedadolescents.com
WE CARE WHEN NO-ONE ELSE DOES! www.advocatesforabandonedadolescents.com
enquiries@advocatesforabandonedadolescents.com
Children's Rights Petitions
Children's rights are an international issue. Defend kids around the world by influencing US foreign policy. ... Turn Juvenile Criminal Justice into Restorative Justice ...
www.thepetitionsite.com/Criminal Justice Essays
This paper discusses juvenile homicide in California, touches on it ... System. This paper examines the history and current status of the juvenile justice system ...
www.essays-now.com/Saturday, 29 January 2011
US child appeals against being tried for murder as an adult
This is horrifying. The US is the only country where juveniles serve life without parole sentences.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/25/us-boy-accused-murder-appeals
US child appeals against being tried for murder as an adult
Jordan Brown, who was 11 when he allegedly killed his father's pregnant fiancee, could face life sentence with no parole
- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 25 January 2011 19.00 GMT
- Article history
Judges are to rule on whether Jordan Brown, who has been charged with homicide, should be tried as an adult. Photograph: Ho/AFP/Getty Images The following clarification was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Thursday 27 January 2010
The report about a 13-year-old boy who shot and killed his father's fiancee in Pennsylvania described him as using "his own hunting rifle, a shotgun designed specifically for children". According to court documents the weapon used was a 20-gauge shotgun, which is not a rifle
Lawyers for a child in Pennsylvania who was 11 when he allegedly shot and killed his father's pregnant fiancee attempted today to persuade an appeals court not to try him as an adult under America's harsh system of juvenile justice.
Unless the lawyers for Jordan Brown who is now aged 13, can convince the judges to change tack, he will be tried in adult court and if convicted will serve an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole. He would become the youngest child in US history to be sentenced to be incarcerated forever.
The US is the only country where juveniles are serving life imprisonment without parole under the so-called "life means life" policy. Only the US and Somalia have refused to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which rules out life sentences with no chance of release for crimes committed before the age of 18.
Brown is accused of having killed Kenzie Houk, in February 2009 at her home in the countryside about 35 miles north-west of Pittsburgh. According to the prosecution, Brown shot her through the back of the head as she slept in her bedroom.
He is then alleged to have got on the school bus and gone to his elementary school as usual.
Houk, 26, was just two weeks away from her due date and her unborn child, who would have been called Christopher, died too. Brown has been charged with two counts of homicide.
Brown allegedly carried out the killing using his own hunting rifle, a shotgun designed specifically for children. The prosecution alleges that the killing was premeditated and they found residue from the gun on Brown's shoulder.
When he was first presented to court Brown was made to wear shackles around his wrists and ankles.
Human rights campaigners are protesting the treatment of Brown as an adult. Amnesty International said the move would be a violation of international law. "It is shocking that anyone this young could face life imprisonment without parole, let alone in a country which labels itself as a progressive force for human rights," said Susan Lee, head of the campaign's Americas operation.
The Sentencing Project, a Washington-based campaign, said no other country had juveniles serving life without parole. "That leads to only two conclusions: either kids in the US are far more violent than those in the rest of the world, or the US has developed uniquely harsh sentences."
At a federal level, the US penal system has been inching towards a more lenient approach to juvenile crime. In 2005 the US supreme court abolished the death penalty for under-18s.
Then last May it ruled that juveniles could not be subjected to life without parole for any crime other than homicide.
But that still leaves about 2,400 prisoners facing permanent imprisonment for homicides committed when they were children.
Pennsylvania, where all juveniles are automatically treated as adults unless a judge decides otherwise, heads the league table of 44 states that hand out the sentence, with about 450 cases.
Houk's death has divided the two families involved in their response to Brown's judicial treatment. The boy's father, Chris Brown, protests his son's innocence and says he has no idea what could await him.
"Try to explain to a 12-year-old what the rest of your life means. It's incomprehensible for him," he told ABC News last year.
The victim's mother, Deborah Houk, has pushed for the toughest sentence for the boy. "I can't stand this 'Oh, he's 11,' 'Oh, his clothes don't fit him,'" she told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review soon after her daughter's death. "He knew what he was doing. He killed my baby."
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Patron of Advocates for Abandoned Adolescents
†
THE MOST REVEREND DAVID BELL .OSC. DD. BA. MA. JD. LL.D(Law)FRSA.
HIS EMINENCE the CARDINAL. ARCHBISHOP OF LONDON.
'Irish Gaelic' An Tollamh David Bell C Oirmhinneach an chuid is mó.Cairdinéal. Ard-Easpag Londain.
Honoris Causa 'Professor of Law'
Former Secretary for Doctrine & Faith of the Brazilian Patriarchate. "ICAB". 19.09.2005 - 29.10.2009.
Patron of Advocates for Abandoned Adolescentshttp://advocatesforabandonedadolescents.giving.officelive.com/default.aspx
ADVOCATES FOR ABANDONED ADOLESCENTS WE CARE WHEN NO-ONE ELSE DOES!
- Delaproser -
"Journalism is more powerful then the gun". - Founder Member of Triple A / Advocates for Abandoned Adolescents.
- A human and civil rights advocate. The United Kingdom resident champions causes of the voiceless, the powerless and the weak, particularly in North America. She campaigns for Political Prisoners, petitions on behalf of incarcerated & human trafficking.
ADVOCATES FOR ABANDONED ADOLESCENTS
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Christopher Thrasher - Life without parole sentence at the age of 16
Knightgale Lacross Christopher Thrasher
Advocate for Christopher
Christopher was a child having no financial means, who 16 years ago was locked up at the age of 16 for his alleged involvement in the murder of 2 juveniles. ALL AGREED he did not participate in the murders. Yet he was convicted by complicity to the murders despite a complete lack of "hard evidence" and was sentenced to the hopeless condition of LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE, in a maximum security prison. Section 26-21-1 of State of Alabama Law states: "It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this parental consent provision to further the important and compelling State interests of: (1) protecting minors against their own immaturity and in part (b) The Legislature finds as fact that: (1) immature minors often lack the ability to make fully informed choices that take account of both immediate and long-range consequences...........So, do they automatically mature once they commit a crime? We protect them from getting tattoos but send them to adult prisons to be raped and forgotten! A child is salvageable and deserves a chance to grow up to be an adult in society not behind prison walls. . Go to www.freekelseysmom.com and http://raye-of-hope.com for more on wrongful convictions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX88aPfE5HE
http://www.whoopassforjustice.org/
Monday, 24 January 2011
'Free Davontae Sanford!' By Diane Bukowski Contributing Writer
Family members, supporters say teenager is facing 37-90 years for four drug-related murders, despite confession by another man, and police commander's testimony that youth is innocent.
DETROIT (FinalCall.com) - Davontae Sanford is now 18. He has spent the last four years of his short life in adult prisons, convicted of murdering four people on Runyon Street on Detroit's east side on Sept. 15, 2007, when he was 14. He is 5'6, slightly-built, blind in one eye, and developmentally disabled.
Shortly after Davontae was sentenced to 37 to 90 years in prison in 2008, Vincent Smothers, now 28, of Shelby Township, confessed to the Detroit police on videotape that he and a different man committed the murders as part of a series of drug-related hits.
Highly placed members of the police department have testified they believe Davontae is innocent, including a former chief of homicide who says Davontae was with him at the time of the murders.
“Davontae's a warm, loving person who the kids always said was my favorite,” said his mother Taminko Sanford. “He was born on Thanksgiving Day, and I always felt he was my gift from God.”
Davontae is her first son, the second oldest of five children, and she along with his stepfather and siblings have waged a relentless campaign since his arrest to free him, garnering broad-ranging support.
“Davontae was about to start the ninth grade at Osborn High School the day after his arrest,” Ms. Sanford said. “He loves rap and computers. He is so close to his brother and his three sisters. His brother has all Davontae's letters from prison pasted up all over his bedroom walls, and his little sister has all his childhood photos on hers.”
Davontae has 1,249 Facebook supporters from all over the world, including the United Kingdom and Sweden. He has support from media personalities like Bill Proctor of Detroit's Channel 7, who runs his own Innocence Project. His case has received extensive and generally sympathetic coverage from the Associated Press and Detroit's daily media.
Elish Delaporter of the UK is following his case on her MySpace website, part of her campaign against this country's exclusive practice of sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole. That policy is expressly condemned by the UN Commission on the Rights of the Child.
But in a seemingly never-ending series of evidentiary hearings since July, 2009, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is vigorously fighting Davontae's motion for a new trial, citing what his defense attorney Kim McGinnis calls a “classic false confession.”
During the most recent hearing Jan. 14, in front of Davontae's trial judge Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Brian Sullivan, Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Puleo once again ignored another of Atty. McGinnis' requests that the prosecution grant “use” immunity to Mr. Smothers. That would allow him to testify in court about his role in the murders without fear of having the prosecution use his testimony to charge him in the cases.
Prosecutor Puleo said he is worried about Mr. Smothers' constitutional rights, because he could face life without parole if he admits to the killings.
Mr. Smothers is already serving 50-100 years in maximum security on nine counts of second-degree murder and three counts of assault with intent to commit murder, along with various felony charges, stemming from other cases in which he testified he was a hit man for a drug ring.
Atty. McGinnis called the plea deal for such a number of hit killings “virtually unheard of,” and Mr. Proctor called it “the deal of the century” in news coverage of the sentencing on July 23 of this year.
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Craig Strong, who sentenced Mr. Smothers, even pleaded with him, “You cannot bring back those who were killed but you can correct wrongs for those who were wrongfully convicted of killing people that you killed.”
Mr. Proctor reported that Judge Strong “seemed highly concerned about a pre-sentence report that indicated Smothers had confessed to murders that were not a part of the plea deal. It spelled out in part how Smothers had confessed to the murder of four people on Runyon Street on Detroit's east side and how 16-year-old Davontae Sanford was in prison for those killings.”
A YouTube videotape of portions of the sentencing, along with others related to the Mr. Smothers cases, can be viewed online.
Mr. Smothers is now contending that his confessions were coerced, and has appealed his convictions. Among his contentions is that the police threatened to charge his wife if he did not confess. He is represented by Attorney Mitchell Foster, also of the State Appellate Defenders' Office.
The prosecutor's office does not appear so concerned about Davontae's constitutional rights.
Atty. McGinnis said that during the child's questioning by police, neither his mother nor an attorney was present. Davontae signed and initialed a typewritten document drawn up by a detective, despite being blind in one eye, and according to Atty. McGinnis, reading at a third-grade level. There is no videotaped record of the confession except one in which the detective reads the confession back to him.
“It was a classic false confession,” Atty. McGinnis said. “Davontae saw the police lights after the killings were discovered around the corner from his house, and walked up to the police to find out what was going on. They told him, ‘You know what's going on,' and took him downtown. Twenty hours later, he signed a confession which contained only the details that the police already knew at the time.”
In his confession Davontae claimed he committed the killings with a different weapon than the one used in the killings, Atty. McGinnis said. Ballistics evidence, delayed due to the shutdown of the Detroit police crime lab two years ago, is still to be introduced in upcoming evidentiary hearings.
“Smothers gave a confession that was very detailed and clear and implicated another man, Edward Davis,” Atty. McGinnis said. “The things he says he did are what the police say Davontae did. The woman in the back room who survived said the killer talked to her in a soft voice that was sounded 30-35 years old, but later changed her testimony to say it was an adolescent voice. In his confession, Smothers admitted to going back to speak to her.”
She added, “The prosecutor has spent a lot of energy trying to tie Smothers to Davontae, but has never been able produce any such evidence. It is absurd to think that professional contract killers were going to allow a 14-year-old boy to tag along with them.”
Detroit's retired chief of homicide, Commander William Rice, who spent 25 years on the force, was dating Davontae's great-aunt Cheryl Sanford at the time of the Runyon Street killings. Mr. Rice testified Oct. 28, 2009 that he was with Davontae at her house at the time of the murders, from 8 p.m. to 11:45 p.m., and that he left to take another man home to Mt. Clemens and then take Davontae home.
But during the November hearing, the prosecution challenged Mr. Rice's testimony.
A Detroit police investigator, Arthur Wimmer, testified. He said he is assigned to the Violent Crimes Task Force composed of the DPD, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the MDOC, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, and other agencies at all levels.
Mr. Wimmer said he had 120 hours (three weeks) of specialized training in cell tower forensics conducted by the FBI and private corporations, and was allowed to testify as an expert witness. Michigan currently has no licensing process for such experts.
Mr. Wimmer claimed Mr. Rice's cell phone records showed he was in Mt. Clemens, a city about 30 miles east of Detroit, at 11:18 p.m. the night of the murders.
Atty. McGinnis challenged cell tower testimony as sometimes inaccurate. She said later that the testimony may have shown that Mr. Rice was off base in his exact estimates of time, but did not discount Davontae's presence with his family for most of the time prior to the killings.
“He would not have had time to prepare, or to hook up with Smothers and get to the site to commit the murders,” Atty. McGinnis said.
A Department of Corrections official also testified about alleged “gang” materials and graffiti found in a search of Davontae's cell in the Thumb Correctional Facility. The official claimed scars on Davontae's arms were remnants of gang tattoos.
“Anything that happened after the night of the murders is not relevant,” Atty. McGinnis objected. But Judge Sullivan allowed the testimony to go on record.
“The tattoos were about the movie ‘Bloodline,' ” Ms. Sanford said. “Both Davontae and his brother had them. They just stand for their connection to each other, nothing else. They were separated from each other for part of their lives.”
In addition to Rice, Detroit Police Department investigator Ira Todd, who helped take Mr. Smothers' confession, signed an affidavit stating he believes Davontae is innocent. Mr. Todd, who was also a member of the Violent Crimes Task Force, has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Detroit's former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
His lawsuit, filed by attorney Michael Stefani, says, “During the continuing investigation, it was determined that Smothers was a killer for hire for a notorious Detroit drug gang that regularly contracted for the murders of members of rival drug gangs as well as dissident members of their own organizations.”
In the lawsuit, Mr. Todd claims he was removed from the task force, demoted and otherwise mistreated because his investigation into the Mr. Smothers' killings led him to Mr. Smothers' alleged accomplice, Ernest Davis, and to Davis' cousin James Davis of Kentucky. Mr. Todd said James Davis claimed to have a “business relationship” with Mayor Kilpatrick, and that when he reported that, his investigation was shut down and he was transferred.
Neither AP's Muscat nor prosecutor Puleo would comment outside of court on the case. Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller, who is chief communications officer for DA Worthy's office, said, “Because the case remains in progress we will not comment on issues directly related to it outside of court. It was appropriate for the APA handling the case to also not comment outside of court. The case is in open court and our assistant prosecutor is responding in court.”
Just prior to Mr. Smothers' sentencing, the jail was locked down after guards discovered that he had been allegedly able to obtain a cell phone while locked up.
Taminko Sanford says she believes that may indicate he had connections with law enforcement officials. One of the people Mr. Smothers confessed to killing was Rose Cobb, wife of Detroit police sergeant David Cobb. Mr. Smothers said Sgt. Cobb hired him to kill his wife outside a CVS pharmacy on E. Jefferson near their home, as she waited in the car while her husband was in the store.
Although the police department arrested Mr. Cobb, District Attorney Worthy never charged him in the murder. Mr. Cobb was later found hanging from a tree, an apparent suicide.
Spokesperson Miller did not respond to a question regarding whether Mr. Smothers may have been a hit man for corrupt police officers.
During the hearing Nov. 23, Davontae appeared polite and happy to see his mother and other family members, but there was an air of quiet desperation about him.
Ms. Sanford said Jan. 12 that she was very worried about Davontae because she had not heard from him for two weeks. He was recently transferred from Michigan's Thumb Correctional Facility, which houses a large number of younger prisoners, to the Michigan Reformatory at Ionia, with Level Four prisoners over the age of 17. In Michigan's prisons, Level Five is the maximum security grade.
“Davontae used to call me every day, sometimes more than once a day,” Ms. Sanford said. “I've been praying to God to let me hear from him so that I know he is OK. It's a new atmosphere for him and I'm so worried because I'm afraid that he is losing hope. He can get very depressed.”
Davontae's next court hearing is tentatively set for January 28 at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.
The Free Davontae Sanford page can be found on Facebook.com.
 Taminko Sanford center, mother of Davontae Sanford, with his family outside court July 29, 2010. Photo: Diane Bukowski |
Shortly after Davontae was sentenced to 37 to 90 years in prison in 2008, Vincent Smothers, now 28, of Shelby Township, confessed to the Detroit police on videotape that he and a different man committed the murders as part of a series of drug-related hits.
Highly placed members of the police department have testified they believe Davontae is innocent, including a former chief of homicide who says Davontae was with him at the time of the murders.
 Davontae Sanford at 14. |
Davontae is her first son, the second oldest of five children, and she along with his stepfather and siblings have waged a relentless campaign since his arrest to free him, garnering broad-ranging support.
“Davontae was about to start the ninth grade at Osborn High School the day after his arrest,” Ms. Sanford said. “He loves rap and computers. He is so close to his brother and his three sisters. His brother has all Davontae's letters from prison pasted up all over his bedroom walls, and his little sister has all his childhood photos on hers.”
Davontae has 1,249 Facebook supporters from all over the world, including the United Kingdom and Sweden. He has support from media personalities like Bill Proctor of Detroit's Channel 7, who runs his own Innocence Project. His case has received extensive and generally sympathetic coverage from the Associated Press and Detroit's daily media.
Elish Delaporter of the UK is following his case on her MySpace website, part of her campaign against this country's exclusive practice of sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole. That policy is expressly condemned by the UN Commission on the Rights of the Child.
But in a seemingly never-ending series of evidentiary hearings since July, 2009, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is vigorously fighting Davontae's motion for a new trial, citing what his defense attorney Kim McGinnis calls a “classic false confession.”
During the most recent hearing Jan. 14, in front of Davontae's trial judge Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Brian Sullivan, Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Puleo once again ignored another of Atty. McGinnis' requests that the prosecution grant “use” immunity to Mr. Smothers. That would allow him to testify in court about his role in the murders without fear of having the prosecution use his testimony to charge him in the cases.
Prosecutor Puleo said he is worried about Mr. Smothers' constitutional rights, because he could face life without parole if he admits to the killings.
Mr. Smothers is already serving 50-100 years in maximum security on nine counts of second-degree murder and three counts of assault with intent to commit murder, along with various felony charges, stemming from other cases in which he testified he was a hit man for a drug ring.
 Davontae Sanford in court June 30, 2010. |
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Craig Strong, who sentenced Mr. Smothers, even pleaded with him, “You cannot bring back those who were killed but you can correct wrongs for those who were wrongfully convicted of killing people that you killed.”
Mr. Proctor reported that Judge Strong “seemed highly concerned about a pre-sentence report that indicated Smothers had confessed to murders that were not a part of the plea deal. It spelled out in part how Smothers had confessed to the murder of four people on Runyon Street on Detroit's east side and how 16-year-old Davontae Sanford was in prison for those killings.”
A YouTube videotape of portions of the sentencing, along with others related to the Mr. Smothers cases, can be viewed online.
Mr. Smothers is now contending that his confessions were coerced, and has appealed his convictions. Among his contentions is that the police threatened to charge his wife if he did not confess. He is represented by Attorney Mitchell Foster, also of the State Appellate Defenders' Office.
The prosecutor's office does not appear so concerned about Davontae's constitutional rights.
Atty. McGinnis said that during the child's questioning by police, neither his mother nor an attorney was present. Davontae signed and initialed a typewritten document drawn up by a detective, despite being blind in one eye, and according to Atty. McGinnis, reading at a third-grade level. There is no videotaped record of the confession except one in which the detective reads the confession back to him.
“It was a classic false confession,” Atty. McGinnis said. “Davontae saw the police lights after the killings were discovered around the corner from his house, and walked up to the police to find out what was going on. They told him, ‘You know what's going on,' and took him downtown. Twenty hours later, he signed a confession which contained only the details that the police already knew at the time.”
In his confession Davontae claimed he committed the killings with a different weapon than the one used in the killings, Atty. McGinnis said. Ballistics evidence, delayed due to the shutdown of the Detroit police crime lab two years ago, is still to be introduced in upcoming evidentiary hearings.
“Smothers gave a confession that was very detailed and clear and implicated another man, Edward Davis,” Atty. McGinnis said. “The things he says he did are what the police say Davontae did. The woman in the back room who survived said the killer talked to her in a soft voice that was sounded 30-35 years old, but later changed her testimony to say it was an adolescent voice. In his confession, Smothers admitted to going back to speak to her.”
She added, “The prosecutor has spent a lot of energy trying to tie Smothers to Davontae, but has never been able produce any such evidence. It is absurd to think that professional contract killers were going to allow a 14-year-old boy to tag along with them.”
Detroit's retired chief of homicide, Commander William Rice, who spent 25 years on the force, was dating Davontae's great-aunt Cheryl Sanford at the time of the Runyon Street killings. Mr. Rice testified Oct. 28, 2009 that he was with Davontae at her house at the time of the murders, from 8 p.m. to 11:45 p.m., and that he left to take another man home to Mt. Clemens and then take Davontae home.
But during the November hearing, the prosecution challenged Mr. Rice's testimony.
A Detroit police investigator, Arthur Wimmer, testified. He said he is assigned to the Violent Crimes Task Force composed of the DPD, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the MDOC, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, and other agencies at all levels.
Mr. Wimmer said he had 120 hours (three weeks) of specialized training in cell tower forensics conducted by the FBI and private corporations, and was allowed to testify as an expert witness. Michigan currently has no licensing process for such experts.
Mr. Wimmer claimed Mr. Rice's cell phone records showed he was in Mt. Clemens, a city about 30 miles east of Detroit, at 11:18 p.m. the night of the murders.
Atty. McGinnis challenged cell tower testimony as sometimes inaccurate. She said later that the testimony may have shown that Mr. Rice was off base in his exact estimates of time, but did not discount Davontae's presence with his family for most of the time prior to the killings.
“He would not have had time to prepare, or to hook up with Smothers and get to the site to commit the murders,” Atty. McGinnis said.
A Department of Corrections official also testified about alleged “gang” materials and graffiti found in a search of Davontae's cell in the Thumb Correctional Facility. The official claimed scars on Davontae's arms were remnants of gang tattoos.
“Anything that happened after the night of the murders is not relevant,” Atty. McGinnis objected. But Judge Sullivan allowed the testimony to go on record.
“The tattoos were about the movie ‘Bloodline,' ” Ms. Sanford said. “Both Davontae and his brother had them. They just stand for their connection to each other, nothing else. They were separated from each other for part of their lives.”
In addition to Rice, Detroit Police Department investigator Ira Todd, who helped take Mr. Smothers' confession, signed an affidavit stating he believes Davontae is innocent. Mr. Todd, who was also a member of the Violent Crimes Task Force, has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Detroit's former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
His lawsuit, filed by attorney Michael Stefani, says, “During the continuing investigation, it was determined that Smothers was a killer for hire for a notorious Detroit drug gang that regularly contracted for the murders of members of rival drug gangs as well as dissident members of their own organizations.”
In the lawsuit, Mr. Todd claims he was removed from the task force, demoted and otherwise mistreated because his investigation into the Mr. Smothers' killings led him to Mr. Smothers' alleged accomplice, Ernest Davis, and to Davis' cousin James Davis of Kentucky. Mr. Todd said James Davis claimed to have a “business relationship” with Mayor Kilpatrick, and that when he reported that, his investigation was shut down and he was transferred.
Neither AP's Muscat nor prosecutor Puleo would comment outside of court on the case. Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller, who is chief communications officer for DA Worthy's office, said, “Because the case remains in progress we will not comment on issues directly related to it outside of court. It was appropriate for the APA handling the case to also not comment outside of court. The case is in open court and our assistant prosecutor is responding in court.”
Just prior to Mr. Smothers' sentencing, the jail was locked down after guards discovered that he had been allegedly able to obtain a cell phone while locked up.
Taminko Sanford says she believes that may indicate he had connections with law enforcement officials. One of the people Mr. Smothers confessed to killing was Rose Cobb, wife of Detroit police sergeant David Cobb. Mr. Smothers said Sgt. Cobb hired him to kill his wife outside a CVS pharmacy on E. Jefferson near their home, as she waited in the car while her husband was in the store.
Although the police department arrested Mr. Cobb, District Attorney Worthy never charged him in the murder. Mr. Cobb was later found hanging from a tree, an apparent suicide.
Spokesperson Miller did not respond to a question regarding whether Mr. Smothers may have been a hit man for corrupt police officers.
During the hearing Nov. 23, Davontae appeared polite and happy to see his mother and other family members, but there was an air of quiet desperation about him.
Ms. Sanford said Jan. 12 that she was very worried about Davontae because she had not heard from him for two weeks. He was recently transferred from Michigan's Thumb Correctional Facility, which houses a large number of younger prisoners, to the Michigan Reformatory at Ionia, with Level Four prisoners over the age of 17. In Michigan's prisons, Level Five is the maximum security grade.
“Davontae used to call me every day, sometimes more than once a day,” Ms. Sanford said. “I've been praying to God to let me hear from him so that I know he is OK. It's a new atmosphere for him and I'm so worried because I'm afraid that he is losing hope. He can get very depressed.”
Davontae's next court hearing is tentatively set for January 28 at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.
The Free Davontae Sanford page can be found on Facebook.com.
Tags: http://t.co/9fvLFHs
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Krista McDaniel~~FINAL JUSTICE?? WHEN?? by Knightgale LaCross
Krista McDaniel(16)~~30 yrs w/NO chance of parole/ FINAL JUSTICE? WHEN?
After many, many postponements of a post conviction hearing date, finally!!! scheduled for 21 July'08....In Aug' 08, ruling results the PCR request was denied...Her case was before the S. C. Appeals court, which was also DENIED. This "child" did not deserve 30 yrs w/out parole, for a "mistake" made as a child. JUSTICE was DENIED! No compassion, NO mercy!!
In 2002, Unfortunately like so many "children, she was "tried as an ADULT",(there was NO trial) a child, in wrong place at wrong time, with wrong ADULTS, She did NOT kill anyone, unfortunately caught up in the "injustice" system, sentenced to 30 yrs with NO chance of parole, She had just turned 16. She was so scared she would get the "death penalty", she was "talked into" taking a "plea". This bizarre case reeks of injustice.
For case details, please reference support link at http://www.whoopassforjustice.org/
'Free Davontae Sanford!'
www.finalcall.com
Family members, supporters say teenager is facing 37-90 years for four drug-related murders, despite confession by another man, and police commander's testimony that youth is innocent.
Monday, 17 January 2011
Christopher Thrasher - Life without parole sentence at the age of 16
Christopher was a child having no financial means, who 16 years ago was locked up at the age of 16 for his alleged involvement in the murder of 2 juveniles. ALL AGREED he did not participate in the murders. Yet he was convicted by complicity to the murders despite a complete lack of "hard evidence" and was sentenced to the hopeless condition of LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE, in a maximum security prison. Section 26-21-1 of State of Alabama Law states: "It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this parental consent provision to further the important and compelling State interests of: (1) protecting minors against their own immaturity and in part (b) The Legislature finds as fact that: (1) immature minors often lack the ability to make fully informed choices that take account of both immediate and long-range consequences...........So, do they automatically mature once they commit a crime? We protect them from getting tattoos but send them to adult prisons to be raped and forgotten! A child is salvageable and deserves a chance to grow up to be an adult in society not behind prison walls. . Go to www.freekelseysmom.com and http://raye-of-hope.com for more on wrongful convictions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX88aPfE5HE
FREE SARA KRUZEN - CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING - TOGETHER WE STAND TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
"And who is responsible for this appalling child slavery? Everyone." - Mary H. Jones Soldiers As Slaves By Jeff Turner (@respres) It started as disgust. But as time passed and evidence mounted, the pain has worked it's way deeper into my soul. There is no way to fully describe the anguish that comes form watching, listening, or reading reports of the atrocities committed against our world's innocents. Young children are the targets of unthinkable cruelty. They're easier to manipulate, brainwash and abuse. And while the attacks are bad enough, the lingering effects of their abuse are overwhelming. These children will never be the same again. They are forever scarred. Our world is forever scarred.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtqvAwh9btQ
JUVIES - What's happened to me?
A juvenile criminal justice operates according to the principle that adolescence is fundamentally different than grown-ups in terms of responsibility and possibility of rehabilitation. The primary goal of the juvenile justice system is the successful restoration of youth into the society. Juvenile legal systems focus more on rehabilitation rather than on a normal sentence to an adult convict or criminal. This philosophy maintains that youths have a greater chance of being reformed or changed because they are young rather than a developmentally advanced adult. There are age limits that are set by laws for juvenile delinquencies. Most cases in the juvenile court system involve children between ages 10-18. Although many states extend their cut-offs through the age of twenty. Other youthful offenders may be considered or tried as adults depending on the severity of the crime. A child's criminal history and previous arrests are taken into accounts in determining the youthful offender's punishment. Some of these punishments depend on the nature of the crime. In some cases youthful offenders are sentenced to stay at a youth prison center, do community services, and attend a boot camp program. These types of punishments are ways for the offenders to realize their wrong doings or be restored in the society. Since the juvenile criminal justice have the goal of restoration of the youth into society, privacy is implemented in the system proceedings. Juvenile records can be sealed and cannot be viewed by the public. This helps youths avoid the long-term consequences of having a criminal record. This is necessary as a way to keep the focus on rehabilitation. http://brainz.org/what-juvenile-criminal-justice/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vPrhXiAvgs
Teens Doing Adult Time: The Wrongful Interrogation Of Amber Riley
rileyj240.blogspot.com
There are currently 2,574juveniles in the U.S. serving life without the possibility of parole.It is estimated that 26% were convicted of "felony murder".Even if he or she did not personaly or directly cause the death: Over Zealous Da's, uninformed public fueled by media is locking away America's You
good news, bad news
wp.me
Yesterday I was on the phone almost all day digging into the facts that have not been revealed in the media or in court testimony about the truth of why and how 12-year-old Paul Henry Gingerich became involved in Colt Lundy’s plan to murder Lundy’s stepfather on April 20th.
THROUGH MY EYES - 2nd Look Legislation - Kids behind Bars
The Juvenile Justice in the United States is certainly in dire need of America's undivided focus and attention, for far too many children are being led into the adult court system and discarded into the adult prison system unnecessarily. So I commend and applaud your efforts to bring a degree of responsibility to the juvenile justice Laws in the State of Wisconsin. Though I think it's important that America's focus and attention also include the teenagers that were waived and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment in the adult prison system 15/16/17/years ago. I think Justice for these Juvenile offenders would include Liz Ryan, the Director for the campaign for youth justice called the 2nd look Legislation. '2nd Look' means youth serving long sentences get their sentences reviewed at some point in their incarceration. Would you consider 2nd look Legislation? Dante D. Cottingham #259241 Green bay Correctional Institute P.O. Box 19033 Green bay Wisconsin 54307-9033
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMKUtH-ap8M
Sunday, 16 January 2011
VOICE OF DETROIT
voiceofdetroit.net
Serving 37-90 years since age 14 for four drug-related murders, despite confession by another man, police testimony that he is innocent
Friday, 14 January 2011
Afraid. Angry Confused Dazed Denial Depressed Lost.
It is heartbreaking to look into their eyes and see what i see, and i am constantly reminded that their eyes used to belong to me A fact that affords me ability to thoroughly comprehend to how deep of an emotional and psycological hole they are in. For thrd the natureough the use of hindsight i can intimatley understand the nature of these words that perpetually tortures them
Though i am certain that its the world that needs to better understand what the eyes of these children reflect, cause unfortunatley far to few people(ie.legislators, judges, prosecuters) have sought to uncover the true impact that adult prisons have on the emotional and psycoligical deelopment of children. For a closer look into their eyes would reveal that they are AFRAID of being beaten up by correctional officers or other inmates and of being sexually assaulted by the penitentiary predators, that they are AFRAID of being exploited by the gangs that thrive in the prison enviornment, and that they are AFRAID of the oppressive loneliness that is created when a child is so far away from home/parents. A closer look would reveal that they are ANGRY about being born into an era that so easily and quickly strips them of their personal value, rendering thier talents irrelevant, so readily gives ip on them, and so prematurely deems them incorrigible. ANGRY for not being blessed with the powerful role model that could have guided them through the mindfield of adolescence, ANGRY because of their inability to suffficiently articulate their pains and frustrations. ANGRY because they live in the world that so angrily detest and reject them. A closer look into their eyes would reveal that they are CONFUSED about why the judge held them to an adult standard when they are clearly chidren and about why the judge gave them such severe and life destroying sentences. CONFUSED about how to deal with themselves and about how to conduct themselves in this "new" world. It would reveal that they are DAZED by the harsh realities of prison, by the shock of the solitude, the cruelty of the atmosphere. DAZED by the force of adult situations and the weight of adult sophistication,It would reveal that they are in DENIAL about the fact that they will literally spend the next ten, twenty, thirty or even forty years in prison. that the combingin factors of their circumstances has left them chronically DEPRESSED and some with suicidal ideations. A closer look into thier eyes would reveal that they are LOST within a concrete jungle and not knowing how to get onto the path that leads to their maximal development emotionally and intellectually , nor o the places where their talents have matured and their purpose on earth is discovered.
What i see within their eyes of these teenagers make it abundantly clear that the adult prison system is destroying every significant peice of them. Its clear that this prison is poisoning their spirits, and mudering their futures. Its clear that they should be in a maximum secirity prison.
When i look into the eyes of the teenagers that they share this maxmum security prison with me i clearly see them frantically, urgently and dreadfully screaming............
HELP!!!!!
Dante D. Cottingham @copyright Dante2011
Thursday, 13 January 2011
children’s hope
t.co
Apparently the Indiana Department of Corrections has a better grasp on reality than Judge Rex Reed, who wanted 12-year-old Paul Gingerich to begin serving his 25-year sentence in adult prison.
http://t.co/BY2DgC9
CANCELLED!
Davontae's court hearing originally scheduled for 9am this coming Tuesday has now been CANCELLED!
Onc...e again the court system fails. Once again the right to freedom of an innocent young man is put on hold. How long will truth be put on hold?
WILL JUSTICE EVER BE DONE?!
WILL THE TRUTH EVER COME OUT?!
OR WILL THE PROSECUTORS CONTINUE TO COVER-UP?!
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
The Juvenile Justice in the United States
The Juvenile Justice in the United States is certainly in dire need of America's undivided focus and attention, for far too many children are being led into the adult court system and discarded into the adult prison system unnecessarily.
So I commend and applaud your efforts to bring a degree of responsibility to the juvenile justice Laws in the State of Wisconsin.
Though I think it's important that America's focus and attention also include the teenagers that were waived and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment in the adult prison system 15/16/17/years ago.
I think Justice for these Juvenile offenders would include Liz Ryan, the Director for the campaign for youth justice called the 2nd look Legislation. '2nd Look' means youth serving long sentences get their sentences reviewed at some point in their incarceration.
Would you consider 2nd look Legislation?
Dante D. Cottingham @copyright Dante2011
MIRANDA RIGHTS/ CARRY A COPY~~PLEASE NOTE TO "PARENTS" By Knightgale LaCross
LOOKING OUT, BUT NO ONE LOOKING IN
COMPASSION, KINDNESS AND MERCY IS ALWAYS “FREE”!
It is long overdue, for America to take back their children, they do deserve a “chance”, INNOCENCE UNTIL “PROVEN” GUILTY.
IF GUILTY, along with punishment AS A CHILD, rehabilitative efforts to help them become “productive members of society”. NOT to “destroy” but to “help” them, guide them is so necessary/imperative in their young growing years. The present day laws governing “children”, literally “destroys” yet, another life, those acts of law is “state sanctioned murder”……..
The statistics of the devastation of our nation’s youth is staggering. How did our youth become what they are today and what they are doing? Who’s responsibility is it, when “children” go astray? When a child gets into trouble, tho many adults in this child’s life, the child is the only one that ever gets punished, tho many adults are indeed as guilty. Children are a product of their surroundings, their environment, they learn what they see and hear from others. How can officials, in all honesty and justice, ONLY punish the child, when so many others are the reason, that child is now under arrest, and facing possibly long prison terms. What happen to the family units? Where is the “love and hugs”?, these children need so desperately? What happened to the teaching of manners ,etiquette and discipline of our nation’s youth? Yet, we can find churches just about on every corner in every town in America, and more are being built. The daily exposure of violence on TV, in videos, on the internet, arcade games, etc, exposes the young brain to many things to ward them off to the unreal. Children have no understanding of the “reality” of death, can’t even comprehend it. America’s society must wake up to these atrocities against our nation’s youth, become involved in juvenile issues, for the sake and safety of their own children. Children are being held at a zero tolerance level in schools and every where they go and everything they do, for the smallest infraction/mistake, they could face arrest and prison time, for mistakes made as a child. Officials are holding higher/ more strict guidelines for “children” and receive much harsher sentencing, than their adult counterparts. Many children are literally thrown away and forgotten by society and officials, many never had a chance since birth, in their very young lives. Many come from broken families, with parents who are alcoholics or drug users, many are child abusers, and many murder their own children. So many children are destined to a very dim and short future. If 100% guilty, punishment is warranted, but in a “juvenile court of law, along with rehabilitation efforts, counseling, discipline, guidance to assist them in becoming “productive” members of society. A “chance” NEVER offered by officials, with NO compassion, NO mercy, many never “got” since their birth.
Prisons and juvenile detention centers are full of wayward children. How did they get there? What happened in their young lives? Many were sentenced to LIFE, and LIFE WITH “NO” CHANCE OF PAROLE, again, how many adults were in that child’s life, and how many were, indeed, responsible for that child? They are looking out now, with NO one looking in, forgotten, and destined to die in prison, for mistakes made as a “child”. Many were just around the wrong people, so vulnerable, so easily influenced, yearning to be accepted and loved by someone, anyone that would give them attention and care, they so desperately seek. Many languish in prison daily, with NO mail, NO visitors, NO canteen funds, NO nothing, many abandoned by their own families AND society AND officials. Many classified as “first time offenders”, many did not murder or rob or rape anyone, just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people, many of them attempt or commit suicide behind bars, feeling so hopeless and totally abandoned. What has happened to “compassion and mercy”? Who will be our leaders of this country tomorrow, when our nation’s youth are all locked away and forgotten?? JUSTICE must be “tempered” with compassion and mercy!!
When will YOU speak out for a child?
“They” are still “looking out” but few are “looking in.”
LET'S ALL MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN 2011!!!
JUSTICE WINDS
http://justicewinds.blogspot.com/
http://www.whoopassforjustice.org/
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
SENTENCED TO DIE IN PRISON - SUPPORT 2ND CHANCE LEGISLATION
To: U.S. Government In March 2005, in the case of Roper V. Simmons, 125 S.Ct. 1183 (2005) the US Supreme Court ruled that juveniles possessed a diminished culpability, and therefore could not be executed. This was made to apply retroactively, thus removing juveniles from death row in the United States. This same reasoning applies to life without parole (LWOP). In June 2006, the U.N. admonished the United States - one of only two countries in the world that permits LWOP for juveniles - for violating Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states: "Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without the possibility of release shall be imposed for offenses committed by persons below eighteen years of age." Article 24 of the covenant (Articles 7 and 24) states in part, "The State party should ensure that no such child offender is sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, and should adopt all appropriate measures to review the situation of persons already serving such sentence." The U.S. has 2,228 juvenile lifers (in a 2004 estimate), compared with TWELVE juvenile lifers in the rest of the world. The U.S. government needs to enact change now and heed the advice of the U.N., as well as applying the studies from Roper toward LWOP and stop throwing away our children. LWOP has no number, a juvenile sentenced to LWOP will spend the rest of his or her natural life in prison, making it no different than a sentence of death. Sincerely, The Undersigned
ELUTHERIA (Freedom) - Support 2nd chance Law for Juveniles
It's time we take heed to the cutting edge science and use it within the construction of a system that is dedicated to helping children reach their maximal development, use it to construct a legal foundation that outlaws the waiver of children into the Adult Judicial System and making it a requirement for Judges to consider age (of Juveniles) at sentencing.
When a Child is Too Young to Realize All Rights Are Being Violated - Amb...
Amber Riley was a normal teenage girl who had just turned 16. She was working part time, attending school and just hanging out with her friends and dog Burkage. She states her nightmare began when a friend of hers, Jason Lamar Harris murdered another friend of hers, Terry Ray Taylor in a brutal stabbing back in 2003, in Perris Hill in San Bernardino, California. Amber was also charged with the murder of Taylor. Prison activist and advocate, Carol Leonard, founder and owner of The Prison Reform Movement has authored a petition to help free Amber, please take a moment of your time to sign this petition @change: At Age 16 She Faced Life In Prison http://chn.ge/hqiZMp
Wrongful Conviction of Youth - Devontae Sanford
False confessions by dysfunctional people are a fact of life. Sanford's confession is about as probative as those given under torture during the Spanish Inquisition, so what gave it enough legs to land Sanford in prison on a guilty plea? The sorry answer is that it made things easy for the criminal justice system.
Dant'e Cottingham At The Age Of Seventeen !
At the age of seventeen I was charge with one count of party to the crime of frist degree intentional homicide, and two counts of which are counts that do not reflect the true extent of my involvement in the case.
Though pursuant to wisconsin law I was automatically waived into the jurisdiction of the adult court system for adjudication.
Where my adolescent brain was instantly held to an adult standard, and I was expected to make coherent and strategic adult decisions while facing a maximum tear of life plus ninety years of inprisonment.
During the process of my adjudication I attended many different court proceedings.
Hearing the words of my attorney, the D.A. and the judge, yet incapable of understanding the situation of the court room furniture.
But what's absent in my memory of those court appearances are actual spoken sentences.
I remember nothing of what the D.A. said,I remember nothing that my attorney said,and the only thing that I remember the judge saying was "The Court finds you guilty of party to the crime of frist degree intentional homicide, and I sentence you to the crime of frist degree intentional homicide, and I sententence you to life imprisonment and I set your parole eligibility for the year 2020."
The words that they were useing,the legal concepts that dictated their strategies were squares and my adolescent brain was a circle, a natural unfit.
The frist institution that I was sent to was the GreenBay Corr Inst, a maximum prison .
I was treated like an adult immediately. I was thrust into a cold, dark world that's full of the states most sophisticated predators.
My childish disposition gave me utterly no chance at avoding the many pitfalls nor the mental and physical abuse.
There was no system in place to cultivate my mind nor to help me guide my emotions.
It was like dropping a child in the middle of a dark forest that's full of wolves and then telling him to feed him self, clothe himself and to find his own way out.
I remember spending my frist year of incarseration waiting for my Mom.
For some reason I believed that my Mom and the Judge had united in an elaborate scheme to scare me straight.
I truly, truly belived that once they thought that I had learned my lesson they'd call me back into the court room and then the judge would release me to my Mom.
I fantsized about that day, I dreamed about It, and waited and I waited .
Dant'e Cottingham copyrights
DADDY, HOW COULD YOU??
BEWARE, YOUR child "could" be next, to face such atrocities. Encourage ALL parents/guardians to get educated and involved in juvenile LAW REFORM"
NEVER THERE, DADDY HOW COULD YOU??
Daddy, how could you? Why would you? Leave me by myself, sitting here all alone. Forced to grow up on my own, Do you feel the feelings that I feel? or are you so cold?, to not see that my feelings are real.
How could you leave me, and let your light go on?
I'm your daughter, don't you know it's wrong?
I've cried for you my 21 years on earth, Even the day my mother gave birth. Didn't you hear? or do you even care?
I know now, nothing is fair.
If you're out there listening somewhere, I want you to know, I've loved you regardless.
No matter now, many times, you were never there!
Written by Krista Lynn McDaniel (c)
Age 23(now)-Leah Correctional Facility
Greenwood, SC.
http://www.whoopassforjustice.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1008
I continue my "justice fight" for Krista, and ALL of our nation's youth!!!
When a Child is Too Young to Realize All Rights Are Being Violated
Amber Riley was a normal teenage girl who had just turned 16. She was
working part time, attending school and just hanging out with her friends
and dog
Burkage. She states her nightmare began when a friend of hers, JasonLamar Harris murdered another friend of hers, Terry Ray Taylor in a brutal
stabbing back in 2003, in Perris Hill in San Bernardino, California. Amber
was also charged with the murder of Taylor.
It was a gruesome murder that received much media attention due to the fact
that the two allegedly recited the words of a song by heavy metal band,
SlipKnot called "Disasterpiece" which has lyrics
Amber stated she never liked this kind of music and that Jason was the one who
listened to SlipKnot.
Amber claims she had no part in the murder and that her codefendant Harris,
who has already been sentenced to 50 years acted solely alone. She claims
her being interrogated for long hours, alone without a lawyer, or her
parents present landed her in prison awaiting trial for nearly six years.
She was coerced into signing away her rights for a speedy trial she states.
The interrogating police
lied, coerced,
frightened, induced sleep
depravation and
hunger all to get a confession, whether it be true or not.. The Doctors
stated at one point to Amber's parents that "she was not capable of murder"
and one detective told her parents "that he knew this was not her crime
but that she will
now have to convince a jury"
Amber's mother states that her and her husband were never allowed to see
her, and were never given details about why their daughter was being
detained and arrested for murder. They were told they should go home,
despite the fact that Amber had asked for her parents throughout the
interrogation. Both parents were detained in their own living room and not
allowed to place or receive phone
calls keeping them
separated from Amber while she was interrogated for hours. According to page
5 of the police a
report the interrogating officer stated that at 6:08 PM Amber said "she felt
like killing herself.." He stated "she is a danger to herself and others,
and is a gravely disabled minor," and thinking this he had her sign a
Miranda waiver at 7:10 PM, just one hour later.
Amber's mother claims that after 8 hours of interrogation Amber was then
admitted to Ward B at Arrowhead Medical center where she was then handcuffed
to a chair in the hallway, and left there all night and denied the use of a
phone
to call her
parents, according to her mother. She was diagnosed with Post Traumatic
Stress
disorder
and in shock. She was then placed in San Bernardino Juvenile hall without
the knowledge of her parents. Her father searched for her and found her 3
days later. Amber's mother stated an intake worker told her and her husband
"she entered juvenile hall in worse shape of any kid they have ever seen."
Amber was given what her mother calls "dangerous psychotic drugs" that
caused her to have nightmares and hallucinate.
Amber's parents have compiled a list of violations and injustices about
their daughters case and she forwarded them to me. The list is lengthy and I
have included links to further understand the violations. Amber's rights
were clearly violated, and she should never have signed away her rights to a
speedy trial. Her ignorance of the law, and manipulation by her
interrogators have changed her life into a six year nightmare. Our hopes are
that someone will read her story and help her in her fight for freedom.
According to Amber's mother, when Amber was first picked up by the police,
and taken into custody
she was never
allowed her two completed phone
calls, within an
hour. (seeCalifornia Welfare & Institutions Code 627
Her 14th Amendment
Rights were violated when she was denied counsel during questioning. ( See
Welfare & Institutions Code 30.23
Other issues
include her mental condition was very important, since Amber had a history
of depression
and "separation anxiety" from her parents. A young scared girl was alone
with adult male police
detectives which
infringed on her 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments of the Constitution
concerning due process.
Amber's mother also states that failure of telling Amber that her father was
at the place of interrogation was a direct violation of The Welfare &
Institutions Code 30.11
Other violations
include she was deprived of rights and privileges and US Code 1414la was
violated.
Amber's mother also claims that when Amber could not understand the DA the
Judge would not allow him to be replaced which was a violation of rule #1.14
in the rules of professional conduct, but one month later the DA was asked
to be taken off the case due to a conflict of interest that was never
explained to them. She states that Amber was tried as an adult with no
psychological witnesses, no juvenile hall witnesses, no defense witnesses,
and no character witnesses. Amber was asked by the DA to sign papers she did
not understand, and her parents never saw.
Minors are not allowed to sign legal contracts and documents, yet a young
girls legal rights were taken away from her in a matter of hours. She is a
loving and caring young woman who will always be scarred by the events that
happened in her life. She has already served six years for a crime
she maintains she
never committed.
Prison activist and advocate, Carol Leonard, founder and owner of The
PrisonReformMovement
has authored a petition to help free Amber, please take a moment of your
time to sign this petition
@change: At Age 16 She Faced Life In Prison http://chn.ge/hqiZMp
,
SlipKnot called "Disasterpiece" which has lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFW997qJSUE
Sara Kruzan
She was raised in Riverside by her abusive, drug-addicted mother. Sara met her father only three times in her life because he was in prison.
Since the age of 9, Sara suffered from severe depression for which she was hospitalized several times. At the age of 11, she met a 31-year-old man named G.G. who molested her and began grooming her to become a prostitute. At age 13, she began working as a child prostitute for G.G. and was repeatedly molested by him. At age 16, Sara was convicted of killing him. She was sentenced to prison for the rest of her life despite her background and a finding by the California Youth Authority that she was amendable to treatment offered in the juvenile system. This year after years of work by many parties Sara's sentence was commuted by Governor Schwarzenegger from Life in prison without the possibility of parole to 25 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole....and so our fight continues until Sara is served the justice and freedom that has eluded her throughout her entire life.
http://www.freesarakruzan.org
http://www.twitter.com/freesarakruzan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)