Riverside: The city of the lights?
"We'll always have Paris."
---Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca
They say Paris is the "City of the Lights" but Riverside will be adopting that title the day after Thanksgiving during its ceremony to switch on the electrical lights at the Mission Inn Hotel. But Paris is Paris and Riverside, well some say it's something different altogether but no one can seem to decide exactly what from one week or even one day to the next. Last week, Riverside was the "City of the Arts" after all.
Tens of thousands of people from all over will come out to celebrate the kickoff for the annual Festival of Lights which will among other things, include an ice skating rink smack in the middle of the downtown pedestrian mall. Actually, the mall was scheduled to be torn up and reconstructed but whether that will actually take place remains to be seen in light of the results of Election 2007 which hopefully will be finalized by the end of the year.
Elsewhere, it looks like there will be two ward contests where the votes cast will be recounted, beginning on Monday at the tune of $400 each day per candidate. Councilman Dom Betro who was to oversee the reconstruction of the downtown pedestrian mall is instead ordering a recount of the ballots in Ward One, charging by email if not in person that there were some problems with the election process not to mention hoping that he'll still win the election.
Ward Seven candidate, Terry Frizzel will be asking for a recount after all, according to the Press Enterprise. She lost by a scant 13 votes and her margin was narrowing since the preliminary election results were given on the night of the election.
(excerpt)
"There were too many things that went wrong from the beginning," Frizzel said by phone.
For example, she said, inexperienced poll workers sent people home instead of allowing them to cast provisional ballots, which are used when a voter's eligibility is unclear.
She herself took one voter to several polling places in the voter's neighborhood but she could not find the voter's name on the rolls, Frizzel said.
And when she went to the registrar's office after the counting was all done, they had the incorrect election totals in documents the public could view, Frizzel said.
"Never have I seen anything go on like this," she said.
Adams said if he were in Frizzel's position he would not seek a recount.
"If she feels she wants to do it, then she has a right to do this and good luck," he said.
Oh of course Adams would ask for a recount. With $2 billion at stake in connection with Riverside Renaissance, his development contributors would probably push him to do so as well.
By the way, you can watch the recount at the Voters’ Registrar office on 2724 Gateway Drive if you are interested in seeing it done in person.
Back in Riverside, was Jackson Daniels, who will be tried again for the capital murders of two Riverside Police Department officers in 1982, according to the Press Enterprise.
During his first trial, Daniels had been convicted and sentenced to death, but both the penalty phase and then later the guilt phase were thrown out by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals several years ago in two separate court decisions in 2002 and 2005.
(excerpt)
Prosecutor Kevin Ruddy and attorney John G. Cotsirilos, who handled Daniels' appeals, requested the hearing be continued to Dec. 7 so both sides can work out some procedural details, including who would represent Daniels in his new trial.
Judge Helios Hernandez asked Daniels if he agreed to the delay, prompting the defendant to bellow, "No food!"
Daniels then agreed to the continuance.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in November 2005 that Daniels' right to a fair trial in 1984 was violated because he had ineffective counsel, the trial judge knew it and did nothing about it.
Daniels was convicted of the May 13, 1982, killings of officers Dennis C. Doty, 35, and Philip N. Trust, 36, who came to arrest him on a sentencing warrant for a 1980 bank robbery.
Daniels was wounded during a shootout with police following that robbery. A bullet severed his spinal cord and he was undergoing physical therapy while on appeal.
Evidence at trial said Doty and Trust allowed the partially clothed Daniels to dress, and when he was handed a pair of trousers, he grabbed a gun hidden between his legs and fatally shot the officers.
The appellate court overturned the convictions and sentence even as its judges said, "It is clear in this case that Daniels shot the two officers and is guilty of some kind of unlawful killing."
The trial date is scheduled for next month but in reality, is probably at least a year away, given that a trial attorney or attorneys has not been assigned to defend Daniels yet. That's the purpose of the court hearing in December. Considering how crowded the Riverside County Superior Court is with its growing backlog of felony cases, it's probably going to take longer than that to get it in front of a judge and jury.
Sexual misconduct under the color of authority has apparently reared its ugly head in Portland, Oregon but sexual abuse charges weren't filed in a case where a police officer there had sex on several occasions with a woman after responding to a call at her house.
(excerpt)
A key factor in the grand jury's deliberations rested on whether the woman, described as autistic and emotionally challenged, was capable of consenting to the sex or is considered mentally incapacitated. The grand jury considered the charge of second-degree sexual abuse, which occurs when someone subjects another person to sex and the victim does not consent.
"I believe they found she was able to consent, and did so," said Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Christine Mascal.
Faulk, a Central Precinct night shift officer, was placed on paid leave Sept. 11 after the woman filed a complaint with police. He already has pleaded not guilty to two counts of official misconduct, charges that the district attorney's office filed before the grand jury had heard all testimony.
The district attorney's office went ahead with charges because prosecutors wanted Faulk under court supervision. The court ordered he possess no firearms, have no contact with the woman, allow his home to be searched and undergo continual mental health care.
KGW News said that Officer Jason Faulk had used his uniform to intimidate the woman and that gets to the part of the incident which isn't mentioned in the article about the grand jury's decision on the charges that were included in the indictment.
(excerpt)
According to the 28-year-old autistic woman's attorney, Faulk showed up at her home after she called police about her son last June. The woman said Faulk kept returning to the home at night and had sex with the woman once in July and again in August.
The lawyer says officer Faulk was always in uniform and the woman felt she had no choice.
"I think in any case where you have an officer making sexual advances towards a woman who has the challenges she has, there's going to be an element of her feeling coerced," Attorney Beth Creighton said.
Creighton said surveillance video at a local drug store caught the officer buying the morning after pill for the woman.
"There's no doubt in my mind that she is a very vulnerable individual. She's very fragile. And if that fragility and vulnerability was taken advantage of by this officer, its a huge issue," Creighton said.
The grand jury didn't file second degree sexual abuse charges because it believed that the woman was able to give her consent and was not what it called, "mentally incapacitated". There shouldn't be any assumption made whether she was or wasn't simply because she's autistic or emotionally challenged but she should be evaluated as an individual. However, that's not the only issue to analyze and address when dealing with the issue of consent in a case like this one. A critical question to ask and try to answer is whether a woman when faced with a police officer in uniform and purportedly exercising his duties as a police officer can truly "consent" to sex without a feeling of coercion or force involved.
In many police departments, a uniformed officer is considered to be the lowest level of force on the continuum which is part and parcel of a written policy that defines how much force that can be utilized by police officers in a given law enforcement agency. So does that like Creighton say, factor into a feeling that a woman is coerced in a situation like this one? Is a woman like Creighton's client going to see the uniform and feel like she has no choice, given that a uniformed officer is essentially exercising the initial level of force just by being there?
Verbal communication is another level of force in terms of when officers are giving orders. Diane Wetendorf who's an expert on police-related domestic violence talks about how these levels of the force continuum are used by officers against women in these situations.
(excerpt)
Authoritative Presence
Police officers establish their authority through their appearance. Their uniform, badge and gun are the symbols of power that set them apart from others. The mere presence of an officer intimidates people. (Ask people how they react when they see a patrol car driving behind them.)
Officers learn that body language has the power to intimidate and manipulate people. Simply moving or standing a certain way, or getting in someone's space can elicit trust or fear.
Police are trained to use their voice to gain control of people. Different tones of voice convey increasing levels of control: from a polite request, to an order, to an ultimatum or a threat. As with body language, a voice can solicit trust or inspire fear.
What about in cases with more minor and not illegal misconduct that occurs for example if an officer in a uniform tells you a sexual joke? Engages in sexual banter? Engages in using sexual gestures? Would a person, male or female, in that situation be able to express discomfort or distaste in the situation as they might if the person wasn't a law enforcement officer wearing a badge and a uniform? Would they be more inclined to go along with a banter or joke that made them feel uncomfortable?
The woman's lawyer seems to be addressing this aspect of what happened to her, that the uniformed presence of the officer factored heavily into the issue of consent as much as her "fragile" state, in the statement that Faulk was always in a uniform. That might have been his weapon of choice, so to speak.
Attorneys think that Bolingbrook Police Department Sgt. Drew Peterson’s appearances on television aren’t good strategy on his part.
(excerpt)
He really couldn't have done anything worse short of saying, `Yeah, I killed her, so what?'" said Tacopina, a lawyer not involved in the Peterson case whose clients have included a suspect in the 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba.
Peterson, who is on the cover of PEOPLE magazine this week, hired his own investigators who have said that what happened with his third and fourth wives are unrelated, according to the Chicago Tribune.
His pension might also be in trouble.
(excerpt)
Dobrich said that during the investigation, detectives discovered unrelated evidence that Drew Peterson may have violated Bolingbrook Police Department policies.
"We're investigating [the alleged violations]," he said.
Dobrich would not describe the alleged violations, but said they were serious enough to potentially trigger the loss of Drew Peterson's $6,000 monthly pension. Under state law, a police officer's pension may be denied or revoked only if the officer is convicted of a job-related felony.
The evidence was forwarded to the Bolingbrook Police Department, which suspended Drew Peterson without pay and launched an internal investigation. Drew Peterson tendered a letter of resignation Nov. 12, a day before he was supposed to meet with internal affairs investigators, and the village's Police Commission Tuesday said it was required by law to accept his resignation.
The grand jury convening on the cases surrounding Peterson is still hearing testimony from witnesses including a male friend of Stacey Peterson’s.
(excerpt)
A special grand jury convened exclusively for the Savio and Stacy Peterson investigations met for the first time Wednesday and heard testimony from Scott Rossetto, a friend of Stacy Peterson.
Police contacted Rossetto after finding phone records that connected him to Stacy Peterson.
Rossetto's brother dated her briefly in 2001, but he said they had not talked in years. She recently found his phone number and in the three-and-a-half weeks prior to her disappearance, they exchanged frequent text messages and had numerous phone conversations, he said.
He said that when Stacy Peterson met him and a group of friends at a local Denny's restaurant for dinner Oct. 19, they were soon joined unexpectedly by Drew Peterson.
"He just showed up," Rossetto said. "He was actually driving around in a squad car. He drove around the building a couple of times."
He said Stacy Peterson had argued with her husband about her plans to meet Rossetto and the others at the restaurant.
Drew Peterson was quiet when he sat down at their table, Rossetto said.
"He asked me how I would feel if my wife went off with another guy, and I told him," Rossetto said. "I was like, 'Honestly, I would trust her until she gave me a reason not to.' He didn't respond to [me]. He just kept staring at her. He sat with us for a good 15, 20 minutes."
He has also told PEOPLE he’s prepared to be arrested at any time for the disappearance of his fourth wife. But what happens next, is not known at this time.
On the first anniversary of Kathryn Johnson's murder at the hands of Atlanta Police Department officers, her family has filed a law suit according to Fox News.
Johnston, 92, was shot to death after narcotics detectives raided her home after falsifying information on a search warrant signed by a judge.
(excerpt)
The suit accuses officers who raided the home of violating Johnston's constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures and the use of unreasonable and excessive deadly force. It cites witness tampering in its racketeering accusation.
Prosecutors charged three officers involved in the raid. Jason R. Smith and Gregg Junnier pleaded guilty to state manslaughter and federal civil rights charges. They have left the police force. A judge Tuesday ordered the two to turn themselves in by Dec. 3. No sentencing date has been set.
A third officer, Arthur Tesler, who is on administrative leave, faces charges of violating the oath of a public officer, making false statements and false imprisonment under color of legal process. His attorney has said Tesler expects to go to trial.
All three are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
"I am thankful my aunt's innocence has been proven," Dozier said in a statement read to reporters. "I am deeply saddened that the city of Atlanta and its chief of police have refused to admit responsibility for unconstitutional policies, lack of supervision and inadequate training of police officers that ultimately killed her."
Family members and local activists held a quiet candlelight vigil in memory of the woman who was killed by those she depended on to serve and protect her, but instead shot her. The Atlanta Police Department is being investigated by federal agencies who said earlier this year it was rife with corruption.
---Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca
They say Paris is the "City of the Lights" but Riverside will be adopting that title the day after Thanksgiving during its ceremony to switch on the electrical lights at the Mission Inn Hotel. But Paris is Paris and Riverside, well some say it's something different altogether but no one can seem to decide exactly what from one week or even one day to the next. Last week, Riverside was the "City of the Arts" after all.
Tens of thousands of people from all over will come out to celebrate the kickoff for the annual Festival of Lights which will among other things, include an ice skating rink smack in the middle of the downtown pedestrian mall. Actually, the mall was scheduled to be torn up and reconstructed but whether that will actually take place remains to be seen in light of the results of Election 2007 which hopefully will be finalized by the end of the year.
Elsewhere, it looks like there will be two ward contests where the votes cast will be recounted, beginning on Monday at the tune of $400 each day per candidate. Councilman Dom Betro who was to oversee the reconstruction of the downtown pedestrian mall is instead ordering a recount of the ballots in Ward One, charging by email if not in person that there were some problems with the election process not to mention hoping that he'll still win the election.
Ward Seven candidate, Terry Frizzel will be asking for a recount after all, according to the Press Enterprise. She lost by a scant 13 votes and her margin was narrowing since the preliminary election results were given on the night of the election.
(excerpt)
"There were too many things that went wrong from the beginning," Frizzel said by phone.
For example, she said, inexperienced poll workers sent people home instead of allowing them to cast provisional ballots, which are used when a voter's eligibility is unclear.
She herself took one voter to several polling places in the voter's neighborhood but she could not find the voter's name on the rolls, Frizzel said.
And when she went to the registrar's office after the counting was all done, they had the incorrect election totals in documents the public could view, Frizzel said.
"Never have I seen anything go on like this," she said.
Adams said if he were in Frizzel's position he would not seek a recount.
"If she feels she wants to do it, then she has a right to do this and good luck," he said.
Oh of course Adams would ask for a recount. With $2 billion at stake in connection with Riverside Renaissance, his development contributors would probably push him to do so as well.
By the way, you can watch the recount at the Voters’ Registrar office on 2724 Gateway Drive if you are interested in seeing it done in person.
Back in Riverside, was Jackson Daniels, who will be tried again for the capital murders of two Riverside Police Department officers in 1982, according to the Press Enterprise.
During his first trial, Daniels had been convicted and sentenced to death, but both the penalty phase and then later the guilt phase were thrown out by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals several years ago in two separate court decisions in 2002 and 2005.
(excerpt)
Prosecutor Kevin Ruddy and attorney John G. Cotsirilos, who handled Daniels' appeals, requested the hearing be continued to Dec. 7 so both sides can work out some procedural details, including who would represent Daniels in his new trial.
Judge Helios Hernandez asked Daniels if he agreed to the delay, prompting the defendant to bellow, "No food!"
Daniels then agreed to the continuance.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in November 2005 that Daniels' right to a fair trial in 1984 was violated because he had ineffective counsel, the trial judge knew it and did nothing about it.
Daniels was convicted of the May 13, 1982, killings of officers Dennis C. Doty, 35, and Philip N. Trust, 36, who came to arrest him on a sentencing warrant for a 1980 bank robbery.
Daniels was wounded during a shootout with police following that robbery. A bullet severed his spinal cord and he was undergoing physical therapy while on appeal.
Evidence at trial said Doty and Trust allowed the partially clothed Daniels to dress, and when he was handed a pair of trousers, he grabbed a gun hidden between his legs and fatally shot the officers.
The appellate court overturned the convictions and sentence even as its judges said, "It is clear in this case that Daniels shot the two officers and is guilty of some kind of unlawful killing."
The trial date is scheduled for next month but in reality, is probably at least a year away, given that a trial attorney or attorneys has not been assigned to defend Daniels yet. That's the purpose of the court hearing in December. Considering how crowded the Riverside County Superior Court is with its growing backlog of felony cases, it's probably going to take longer than that to get it in front of a judge and jury.
Sexual misconduct under the color of authority has apparently reared its ugly head in Portland, Oregon but sexual abuse charges weren't filed in a case where a police officer there had sex on several occasions with a woman after responding to a call at her house.
(excerpt)
A key factor in the grand jury's deliberations rested on whether the woman, described as autistic and emotionally challenged, was capable of consenting to the sex or is considered mentally incapacitated. The grand jury considered the charge of second-degree sexual abuse, which occurs when someone subjects another person to sex and the victim does not consent.
"I believe they found she was able to consent, and did so," said Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Christine Mascal.
Faulk, a Central Precinct night shift officer, was placed on paid leave Sept. 11 after the woman filed a complaint with police. He already has pleaded not guilty to two counts of official misconduct, charges that the district attorney's office filed before the grand jury had heard all testimony.
The district attorney's office went ahead with charges because prosecutors wanted Faulk under court supervision. The court ordered he possess no firearms, have no contact with the woman, allow his home to be searched and undergo continual mental health care.
KGW News said that Officer Jason Faulk had used his uniform to intimidate the woman and that gets to the part of the incident which isn't mentioned in the article about the grand jury's decision on the charges that were included in the indictment.
(excerpt)
According to the 28-year-old autistic woman's attorney, Faulk showed up at her home after she called police about her son last June. The woman said Faulk kept returning to the home at night and had sex with the woman once in July and again in August.
The lawyer says officer Faulk was always in uniform and the woman felt she had no choice.
"I think in any case where you have an officer making sexual advances towards a woman who has the challenges she has, there's going to be an element of her feeling coerced," Attorney Beth Creighton said.
Creighton said surveillance video at a local drug store caught the officer buying the morning after pill for the woman.
"There's no doubt in my mind that she is a very vulnerable individual. She's very fragile. And if that fragility and vulnerability was taken advantage of by this officer, its a huge issue," Creighton said.
The grand jury didn't file second degree sexual abuse charges because it believed that the woman was able to give her consent and was not what it called, "mentally incapacitated". There shouldn't be any assumption made whether she was or wasn't simply because she's autistic or emotionally challenged but she should be evaluated as an individual. However, that's not the only issue to analyze and address when dealing with the issue of consent in a case like this one. A critical question to ask and try to answer is whether a woman when faced with a police officer in uniform and purportedly exercising his duties as a police officer can truly "consent" to sex without a feeling of coercion or force involved.
In many police departments, a uniformed officer is considered to be the lowest level of force on the continuum which is part and parcel of a written policy that defines how much force that can be utilized by police officers in a given law enforcement agency. So does that like Creighton say, factor into a feeling that a woman is coerced in a situation like this one? Is a woman like Creighton's client going to see the uniform and feel like she has no choice, given that a uniformed officer is essentially exercising the initial level of force just by being there?
Verbal communication is another level of force in terms of when officers are giving orders. Diane Wetendorf who's an expert on police-related domestic violence talks about how these levels of the force continuum are used by officers against women in these situations.
(excerpt)
Authoritative Presence
Police officers establish their authority through their appearance. Their uniform, badge and gun are the symbols of power that set them apart from others. The mere presence of an officer intimidates people. (Ask people how they react when they see a patrol car driving behind them.)
Officers learn that body language has the power to intimidate and manipulate people. Simply moving or standing a certain way, or getting in someone's space can elicit trust or fear.
Police are trained to use their voice to gain control of people. Different tones of voice convey increasing levels of control: from a polite request, to an order, to an ultimatum or a threat. As with body language, a voice can solicit trust or inspire fear.
What about in cases with more minor and not illegal misconduct that occurs for example if an officer in a uniform tells you a sexual joke? Engages in sexual banter? Engages in using sexual gestures? Would a person, male or female, in that situation be able to express discomfort or distaste in the situation as they might if the person wasn't a law enforcement officer wearing a badge and a uniform? Would they be more inclined to go along with a banter or joke that made them feel uncomfortable?
The woman's lawyer seems to be addressing this aspect of what happened to her, that the uniformed presence of the officer factored heavily into the issue of consent as much as her "fragile" state, in the statement that Faulk was always in a uniform. That might have been his weapon of choice, so to speak.
Attorneys think that Bolingbrook Police Department Sgt. Drew Peterson’s appearances on television aren’t good strategy on his part.
(excerpt)
He really couldn't have done anything worse short of saying, `Yeah, I killed her, so what?'" said Tacopina, a lawyer not involved in the Peterson case whose clients have included a suspect in the 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba.
Peterson, who is on the cover of PEOPLE magazine this week, hired his own investigators who have said that what happened with his third and fourth wives are unrelated, according to the Chicago Tribune.
His pension might also be in trouble.
(excerpt)
Dobrich said that during the investigation, detectives discovered unrelated evidence that Drew Peterson may have violated Bolingbrook Police Department policies.
"We're investigating [the alleged violations]," he said.
Dobrich would not describe the alleged violations, but said they were serious enough to potentially trigger the loss of Drew Peterson's $6,000 monthly pension. Under state law, a police officer's pension may be denied or revoked only if the officer is convicted of a job-related felony.
The evidence was forwarded to the Bolingbrook Police Department, which suspended Drew Peterson without pay and launched an internal investigation. Drew Peterson tendered a letter of resignation Nov. 12, a day before he was supposed to meet with internal affairs investigators, and the village's Police Commission Tuesday said it was required by law to accept his resignation.
The grand jury convening on the cases surrounding Peterson is still hearing testimony from witnesses including a male friend of Stacey Peterson’s.
(excerpt)
A special grand jury convened exclusively for the Savio and Stacy Peterson investigations met for the first time Wednesday and heard testimony from Scott Rossetto, a friend of Stacy Peterson.
Police contacted Rossetto after finding phone records that connected him to Stacy Peterson.
Rossetto's brother dated her briefly in 2001, but he said they had not talked in years. She recently found his phone number and in the three-and-a-half weeks prior to her disappearance, they exchanged frequent text messages and had numerous phone conversations, he said.
He said that when Stacy Peterson met him and a group of friends at a local Denny's restaurant for dinner Oct. 19, they were soon joined unexpectedly by Drew Peterson.
"He just showed up," Rossetto said. "He was actually driving around in a squad car. He drove around the building a couple of times."
He said Stacy Peterson had argued with her husband about her plans to meet Rossetto and the others at the restaurant.
Drew Peterson was quiet when he sat down at their table, Rossetto said.
"He asked me how I would feel if my wife went off with another guy, and I told him," Rossetto said. "I was like, 'Honestly, I would trust her until she gave me a reason not to.' He didn't respond to [me]. He just kept staring at her. He sat with us for a good 15, 20 minutes."
He has also told PEOPLE he’s prepared to be arrested at any time for the disappearance of his fourth wife. But what happens next, is not known at this time.
On the first anniversary of Kathryn Johnson's murder at the hands of Atlanta Police Department officers, her family has filed a law suit according to Fox News.
Johnston, 92, was shot to death after narcotics detectives raided her home after falsifying information on a search warrant signed by a judge.
(excerpt)
The suit accuses officers who raided the home of violating Johnston's constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures and the use of unreasonable and excessive deadly force. It cites witness tampering in its racketeering accusation.
Prosecutors charged three officers involved in the raid. Jason R. Smith and Gregg Junnier pleaded guilty to state manslaughter and federal civil rights charges. They have left the police force. A judge Tuesday ordered the two to turn themselves in by Dec. 3. No sentencing date has been set.
A third officer, Arthur Tesler, who is on administrative leave, faces charges of violating the oath of a public officer, making false statements and false imprisonment under color of legal process. His attorney has said Tesler expects to go to trial.
All three are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
"I am thankful my aunt's innocence has been proven," Dozier said in a statement read to reporters. "I am deeply saddened that the city of Atlanta and its chief of police have refused to admit responsibility for unconstitutional policies, lack of supervision and inadequate training of police officers that ultimately killed her."
Family members and local activists held a quiet candlelight vigil in memory of the woman who was killed by those she depended on to serve and protect her, but instead shot her. The Atlanta Police Department is being investigated by federal agencies who said earlier this year it was rife with corruption.
Labels: battering while blue, City elections, officer-involved shootings, public forums in all places, sexism costs
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