Gregory 2, RPD 0
Daxius Gregory is an African-American man who lives with his family in the Eastside community of Riverside. As a resident of the Eastside, he is property of the Riverside Police Department, to be subjected to search and seizure at their whim. And there's been a lot of whim on the part of several of RPD's finest.
Last week, Gregory, who has a propensity for serving as his own lawyer in court, took his second criminal case filed by the RPD to trial, and within 43 minutes of when the jury began deliberating over his case behind closed doors, he was acquitted of the misdemeanor charge of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana.
This incident stemmed from a Jan. 8 traffic stop conducted by Traffic Officer and RPOA board member Brian C. Smith. Smith had stopped his car behind that driven by Gregory's friend Jemal Lilly, and stated in his report that he had witnessed Lilly turning left in a "no left turn zone" on Lemon Street towards University Ave in downtown Riverside. The way the street is designed, is that since it is a one-way street, there are two left-turn lanes and one straight lane. Smith followed Lilly's car until it crossed Market Street, then pulled it over.
Immediately, he focused his attention on Gregory who he said was trying to hide something in his shoe. He asked Gregory to get out of the car, so he could search his shoe. First, he handcuffed Gregory for the duration of the search. Smith then told Lilly he would search the car for marijuana and he allegedly found 0.5 gram of the stuff inside a small bag underneath one of the seats.
Interestingly enough, Smith said in the statement which accompanied a motion filed by the Riverside County DA's office, that he identified Gregory, yet he does not explain how. Gregory did not say anything. Lilly was asked to produce a license to ID himself, the details of that process outlined by Smith, yet nothing on Gregory. Even more interesting, Gregory had recently changed his name to Ankhenaten Ra El in honor of his Moorish roots.
Smith cited Gregory for PC11357(b) and released him.
When he was being sentenced for his PC 148 conviction on the earlier case with the RPD, Judge Robert Spitzer asked him if he wanted to toss in a guilty plea to the marijuana case alongside it. Gregory said no, he intended to fight the case.
It turned out to be the right decision for Gregory, once again...
More about Gregory:
racial profiling at Bordwall Park
Gregory 1, RPD 1
Gregory picks jail over probation on COC charge
Last week, Gregory, who has a propensity for serving as his own lawyer in court, took his second criminal case filed by the RPD to trial, and within 43 minutes of when the jury began deliberating over his case behind closed doors, he was acquitted of the misdemeanor charge of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana.
This incident stemmed from a Jan. 8 traffic stop conducted by Traffic Officer and RPOA board member Brian C. Smith. Smith had stopped his car behind that driven by Gregory's friend Jemal Lilly, and stated in his report that he had witnessed Lilly turning left in a "no left turn zone" on Lemon Street towards University Ave in downtown Riverside. The way the street is designed, is that since it is a one-way street, there are two left-turn lanes and one straight lane. Smith followed Lilly's car until it crossed Market Street, then pulled it over.
Immediately, he focused his attention on Gregory who he said was trying to hide something in his shoe. He asked Gregory to get out of the car, so he could search his shoe. First, he handcuffed Gregory for the duration of the search. Smith then told Lilly he would search the car for marijuana and he allegedly found 0.5 gram of the stuff inside a small bag underneath one of the seats.
Interestingly enough, Smith said in the statement which accompanied a motion filed by the Riverside County DA's office, that he identified Gregory, yet he does not explain how. Gregory did not say anything. Lilly was asked to produce a license to ID himself, the details of that process outlined by Smith, yet nothing on Gregory. Even more interesting, Gregory had recently changed his name to Ankhenaten Ra El in honor of his Moorish roots.
Smith cited Gregory for PC11357(b) and released him.
When he was being sentenced for his PC 148 conviction on the earlier case with the RPD, Judge Robert Spitzer asked him if he wanted to toss in a guilty plea to the marijuana case alongside it. Gregory said no, he intended to fight the case.
It turned out to be the right decision for Gregory, once again...
More about Gregory:
racial profiling at Bordwall Park
Gregory 1, RPD 1
Gregory picks jail over probation on COC charge
posted by Five Before Midnight | 3:20 PM
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