Posts Tagged With: Prosecutorial misconduct

Montana Parole Board Flex Their Muscles Denying Parole For The Incarcerated Montana Fireman, Allen Whetstone

The Incarcerated Montana Fireman

The Incarcerated Montana Fireman

Many have asked what has happened with the Incarcerated Montana Fireman, Allen Whetstone.  With so many stories happening right now with Barry Beach being returned back to prison, the 10 year old boy that was arrested and given a $500,000 bond and many other stories flooding in, we have not had the chance to bring you up to date.  Yes, he has been brought up in the newspaper.  But, only in the way that they wanted it to be presented.  So, let’s break it down correctly.

Here is a petition that was requesting his parole as per the court judgement given by Judge Loren Tucker.   Allen Whetstone complied with everything within that court order.  This petition is still active.  Petition For Allen Whetstone

Let us first give you the version of the media, and I don’t blame the media.  They were only reporting what they heard and were being told.  The parole hearing was like a court hearing without any defense present and no one was allowed any form of rebuttal.   They are the court of law now, a parole board and county attorneys placing themselves higher than the Montana Judges.  This is why they had the legislature pass a law back in 1997 that they could have the power to do this and answer to no one.   They have disrespect for the judges of Montana, they have been caught in lies, issuing threats and terrorizing citizens like any other terrorist.

According to the Independent Record:

DEER LODGE — Allen Whetstone, in prison for the sexual assault of a client under his care at the Montana Developmental Center, was denied parole during a hearing Thursday.

During what was at times an emotionally charged proceeding, Whetstone denied ever touching the woman, who was in her 20s at the time of the assault but has the mental capacity of a 6- to 9-year-old. He said he only pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault because he felt “backed into a corner” and was facing up to 100 years in prison. In exchange for his guilty plea, four counts involving two other developmentally disabled women at MDC were dropped.

“I can’t handle the pressure. I have learned to just give people what they want to hear because I feel it’s easier to do,” Whetstone said, trying to explain why he pleaded guilty and admitted to a friend and a co-worker that he sexually assaulted the client.

Whetstone twisted his clasped hands as he sat in a chair before the Montana Board of Parole and Pardons in a small conference room filled with his family members, supporters and those who wanted him to remain behind bars. He added that he was molested as a child by a hired hand at their ranch, which is why he says now he would never do that to anyone else.

“I kept it a secret. I didn’t want people to think I had done something to cause that to happen,” Whetstone said. “Being the victim of sexual molestation as a child, I know the impact of how it makes a person feel.”

Cody Danielson listened to Whetstone deny assaulting the woman with a look of disbelief on his face. Danielson is a criminal investigator for the Montana Department of Justice, and he painstakingly looked into the 2010 allegations. Earlier in the parole board hearing Danielson said they had “incontrovertible evidence” that Whetstone committed not just the one sexual assault but also at least two others, and he asked the board to keep Whetstone locked up as a public-safety measure.

Whetstone was employed at MDC on May 24, 2010, when he took the victim into an empty room and sexually assaulted her. He then gave her Skittles candy and warned her not to tell anyone. An employee saw her with the candy, and asked where she got it. The MDC client, identified in court papers as T.R., said Whetstone had given it to her in exchange for sex.

The state of Montana, which operates MDC, has paid a $350,000 settlement to the victim’s family and spent another $21,000 on an outside attorney.

“The victim’s statements about the sexual assault were clear, consistent and matched the evidence of the crime,” Danielson said. “Our investigation clearly showed that Mr. Whetstone had sexually assaulted one other victim on at least two occasions. Evidence also clearly showed Mr. Whetstone had been involved in the physical assault, attempted sexual assault and ‘grooming’ of another victim at MDC.”

He added that the DNA from semen found in the room where the assault occurred had a “one in 10 quintillion, 130 quadrillion — that is the number 1-0-1-3-0 with 15 zero’s after it” that the semen wasn’t Whetstone’s.

“ … I believe it is necessary to not forget who Mr. Whetstone sexually assaulted,” Danielson said. “As a law enforcement officer, I cannot conceive of a more vulnerable population than the mentally disabled.

“In my opinion, if you are willing to take advantage of this portion of society, you are a rare breed of predator … If rehabilitation is an option — and that’s completely up to Mr. Whetstone — he will have to take personal responsibility for the heinous crimes he has committed.”

Along with Danielson, Jefferson County Attorney Matt Johnson, and Sheriff Craig Doolittle urged the board to keep Whetstone locked up for the publics’ safety.

Allen WhetstonePhoto Purchased – Allen Whetstone

Let me interrupt here and explain some things and then we will continue with the rest of the article.  (Little side note, everyone has commented on the smirk on the ladies face in the background of this photo.  Yes, she works for the parole board.  This is how they behave in hearings and in hearings in front of the legislators.)

Cody Danielson listened to Whetstone deny assaulting the woman with a look of disbelief on his face. Danielson is a criminal investigator for the Montana Department of Justice, and he painstakingly looked into the 2010 allegations. Earlier in the parole board hearing Danielson said they had “incontrovertible evidence” that Whetstone committed not just the one sexual assault but also at least two others, and he asked the board to keep Whetstone locked up as a public-safety measure.”

The tons of documentation that we have shows that Cody Danielson did not “painstakingly” look into the 2010 allegations. It was all over the media how his department botched up the investigation and documentation was sued for by Disability Rights.  He outright lied stating they had “incontrovertible evidence” concerning any of these allegations.  They botched up the investigation, they tampered with evidence, the room was contaminated before they even arrived there…and according to the medical doctor’s statement, the rape they charged him with did not happen, the 29 year old woman was still a virgin.

Danielson went on the statements of two of her best friends who were also alleged victims in the trumped up charges. One is in there for murdering her sister and she had also went after Allen Whetstones girlfriend, who worked there at the time, by trying to stab her in the neck.  The other alleged victim had an obsession with the other Allen that had charges pressed against him also, that had worked there at the same time.  This other “so called victim” had such an obsession that she went to the bathroom in her pants and rubbed it all on the MDC staffers truck.  She was known to jump on male staff that worked there.  Danielson and the investigation stated that the “girls were parroting each other.”  The ladies did not even know which Allen they were talking about as there were three Allens.  This sounds like a joke or a bad comedy movie, but this is the truth of what happened.  This is your Montana Department of Justice at work.

It was stated from the very beginning that he did not give her any candy. This is another way they have twisted the story to suit their needs.  She had the candy and he did not make her turn it in, TR did not say that Whetstone gave it to her in exchange for sex.  He allowed her to keep what she already had before she saw him.  Staff gives them things all the time, it has been in the newspapers before on other staff members, including female staff.  Now the staff are stricter and parents are upset that their loved ones are not allowed anything like a soda or some candy.  So, it’s pretty much damned if you do and damned if you don’t.   If Danielson really did his job he would have found all this out, besides the fact that the other alleged victims were having sex with others and asking everyone for something.  The clients that live there have sex with one another, one of them being named Allen.

The Montana public defender Kristina Neal stated many times that they did not have one shred of evidence, they only had a confession that another staff worker coerced from Allen, this co-worker stating that they had evidence and a bunch of other nonsense.  Noting that this guy would not even allow his fingerprints to be taken and has bragged of physically abusing clients.  This was told to the public defender and nothing ever happened with that information although there were witnesses that heard the bragging.   So, either Cody Danielson and Matt Johnson are lying or Kristina Neal is lying.   But the evidence stacks against Cody Danielson and Matt Johnson.

Let’s read some more of the article.

Johnson said while they initially charged Whetstone in the other alleged assaults, his office agreed to a plea bargain because testifying would be difficult on the developmentally disabled women. He added that one of the charges involved exposing one of the women to a sexually transmitted disease.

Johnson also noted that they sought a 10-year prison term, but the sentence handed down in October 2011 was five years in prison and five suspended, meaning Whetstone has only served one year and four months. He’s completed one sex offender program, but Johnson said he believes Whetstone needs more help.

“He deserves that punishment and the victim demands that punishment,” Johnson said. “What we have to risk is that he may violate other victims and that needs to be considered by the board as a reason why to not let him out. There are other victims; they just have a difficult time speaking for themselves.”

Doolittle said the high-profile case has negatively impacted not just the victim, but also citizens of Boulder. He noted that a bill was introduced in the legislature calling for the closure of MDC, in part because of Whetstone’s actions, and said the former volunteer firefighter and search and rescue team member violated the trust of the community.

“I believe that the community is going to remember this and MDC and the woman he violated would remember this for a long time into the future, and that warrants him spending more time at Montana State Prison,” Doolittle said.

Let me interrupt again at this point.

They did not realize that Allen Whetstone had such a lengthy credible background back in 2010.  They thought they had a regular patsy that they could use and sweep all the other investigations concerning other staff members and victims under the rug.  They had to have a patsy quick, so they could get their millions of dollars of medicaid from federal funding. They have lost this funding almost six times. They had to show that they had their guy.  That next statement from Sheriff Dolittle is ludicrous.  Nothing was said from any of these departments before on Allen’s history until we brought it up.  Now they are trying to use it for their own gain, what a bunch of jokers

Let’s not forget, a dedicated Firefighter, served in the Navy, a member of the VA.  A member of Search and Rescue, CERT certified, Safety Trainer, certified Life Guard.  Passed both exams for Montana State Troopers.  Maintains a CDL LicenseForklift Operators Permit. AFSCME Council 9 Local 917 Vice President 1 year, AFSCME Council 9 Local 971 Trustee 2 years.   Blue ribbon winner in both Handcrafted Furniture and Dancing Competitions. Involved in Rodeos, Singing, and a great father. Worked in the field for 20 years of Caregiving. Excellent work record and history, others have always spoke highly of him.

Sheriff Doolittle, Matt Johnson, if you did your homework, you would have known that Allen Whetstone and his wife were a part in helping with that bill for the closure of MDC.  His wife giving some of the investigation documents to Disability Rights, even testifying before the legislative committee herself to close it down.  Both Allen and his wife offering their services of their testimonies and access to ALL of the internal investigative documents.  You both know that this facility has had problems for well over two or more decades.  You know that you swept things under the rug…You KNOW it!  Allen Whetstone violated the trust of the community?  How about the system violating the trust of the Whetstones, their families, the community and the state of Montana?

Let’s get honest here, it is about a lot of jobs that ride on this institution and that’s okay.  What is not okay is to make a man like this your patsy and for you to continue to lie to justify what you did for the millions of dollars.   And if what Matt Johnson is stating is true, that “these women had a hard time talking for themselves so that is why they did not want to go to trial.”  Well, how in the hell did they get that “the alleged victim was consistent in her statements that matched the evidence of the crime.”  When the hospital doctor stated that there was no crime.  Did the staff at MDC or did DOJ coach the woman into saying what they wanted?  Because they are not making sense by their own admission!  They said the other two kept parroting each other.  Kristina Neal stated at the time that Matt Johnson did not want to go to court and it look like a circus.  Because he had no evidence…none!   He would have looked like an idiot, but because the system is the way that it is Allen was told he would not get a fair trial.

It was prosecutorial misconduct pure and simple and still is.  He used misconduct on calling Andy Larsen, and Chris Quiqley to change their recommendations on the PSI at the last minute.   We still want to know where they got this DNA because our records show that the “alleged victim” was not even in the room, there was no DNA of Allen Whetstone on her if he had even touched her sexually.  Not even a skin cell.  And if he had exposed himself there was not a hair to be found anywhere.   Yet, they found someone else’s DNA….we would like to know whose that is.   Besides that, this was not the plea bargain that was agreed to in court.  We have the court transcripts that shows what the plea bargain was and Matt Johnson has lied about that.  Just as they lied to Mr.Whetstone and his family about having to register as a sex offender, this is not even mandated by the law.  Again, they think they are above the law and above the judges.   I don’t know why Montana has any legislators or judges as the Montana Department of Justice and the Montana Parole Board does not think that either group have the brains to use what God has gifted them with.

Let’s continue and finish the article.

Yet Whetstone’s wife, who sat next to Jefferson County resident Sen. Terry Murphy during the hearing, continued to protest her husband’s innocence. She called his conviction and imprisonment a “miscarriage of justice” and said he has been a “model prisoner” who has a job and home waiting for him in her home state of Florida.

“Claims are in the process of being filed against both the prosecuting attorney and the public defender at this time for prosecutorial misconduct and for not telling the truth,” she wrote in a petition she gave to the parole board. “Allen Whetstone would serve the community better by being a productive tax paying citizen rather than to be a burden on the taxpayers.”

Parole board member John Ward recused himself from the proceedings based on a previous conversation with Jordan that he said was misinterpreted. The two remaining board members, Mike McKee and Sam Lemaich, told Whetstone that while he has taken one of three sex offender treatment programs offered at the prison, at a minimum he needs to participate in a second program to lessen the chance of recidivism.

McKee noted that the second-level sexual offender program takes four to 24 months, depending on the motivation and desire of the inmate, and he recommended Whetstone return before the board after completing it. Lemaich concurred, based upon the severity of the offense and Whetstone’s statements that he wasn’t guilty.

“This was an egregious crime and there are concerns to me at this point over your lack of culpability,” Lemaich said.

Florida is not only his wife’s home state but is Allen Whetstone’s home state also.  Parole Officer Andy Larsen and Public Defender Kristina Neal told Allen to get his permanent residency in Florida while he was there for almost half a year on bond.   If Allen Whetstone was such a monster, predator, groomer as they portrayed him to be, why in the world did they think he was safe enough to travel 2500 miles across country and live there for half a year.  If Allen was as bad as they portrayed, he could have ran, but he did not because it would be wrong and because he naively trusted the system. They knew he was the honorable type man to keep his word and would not break the law.  They never once got a confession from him, not verbally or written.  They got a second hand so called confession from a co-worker that had beaten others himself and bragged about it.  Did the system bargain with this co-worker to get Allen to admit under duress so he would not be charged with something?

Parole board member John Ward did threaten Allen Whetstone’s wife.  There was no misunderstanding.  There were others around that heard, she went back into the Law and Justice room crying, it would be on their video records and she told one of the staff, that works at the Capitol, who then proceeded to go out and confront John Ward.  He admitted that he did wrong.  The threat?  John Ward angrily stated that “if she did not quit testifying before the Law and Justice about the Montana Parole Board and the Montana Department of Corrections that she was only making it harder for her husband when he came before them for his hearing.”  After telling her to “shut up” several times.  He was so angry that he had to stand on the other side of the hall after Fern Osler, the Executive Director of the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole, had put her hand on his shoulder to get his attention to calm down.  Besides people standing around, if there are cameras in the Capitol, it would show this on surveillance.

Yes, they indeed made it hard on Allen Whetstone and his wife at the hearing.  Asking his wife many questions about her own life that had nothing to do with the hearing.  Questioning her about her advocacy work and the parole board.   Matt  Johnson stated that after the initial sentencing hearing that she was ranting afterwards.  Excuse me?  The whole family was upset and crying.  What kind of  person expects families and spouses not to be upset when they see an injustice done and know that’s the last time they are going to see their loved one in the free world for a very long time.   When even the staff at MDC apologize for what just happened in the courtroom.  Only a monster that preys on people to gain a political status or recognition would say what Matt Johnson stated at that parole hearing.  He should be held accountable for his misconduct.  John Ward committed “official misconduct”, that is a felony.  But what is the state of Montana doing about it?   These departments protect each other.  It is sickening.

Montana, stand up and be a voice.  Quit letting these officials keep getting away with these injustices.  You know deep down what we are saying is true, only those in the good ole boy club are protected and those that have money to buy their way out. Yes, there are inmates that need to be in prison and those that need to never be released. But you also have fellow Montanans that need your help!   They put Barry Beach back in prison without letting him have a trial.  They followed through on their threat to Allen Whetstone who was up for parole, who had completed what Judge Tucker ordered and was only wanting to be able to help work on his case.   A parole hearing that is worse than a court hearing.  They are the judge and the jury and you are not allowed to defend yourself at all.  They are now retaliating against Allen Whetstone and putting his life in jeopardy.

McKee noted that the second-level sexual offender program takes four to 24 months, depending on the motivation and desire of the inmate, and he recommended Whetstone return before the board after completing it. Lemaich concurred, based upon the severity of the offense and Whetstone’s statements that he wasn’t guilty.

“This was an egregious crime and there are concerns to me at this point over your lack of culpability,” Lemaich said.

Everyone has told Allen Whetstone not to admit to anything that he is not guilty of.  We were very proud of him, not letting them break him, because they tried every which way they could to break him. The whole hearing was a joke and you could tell it was staged from the beginning.  Everyone that was there on behalf of Whetstone said they could tell it.   Mr. Lemaich, it concerns us of the egregious crimes that are being committed within state departments and the lack of culpability from anyone that works within them.  This seems to be normal business and that is very scary and unacceptable.

Other Related Stories

The Incarcerated MT Fireman-Allen Whetstone

Allen Whetstone – Another Injustice

Allen Whetstone-Montana State Prison Setup

Allen Whetstone The Incarcerated Montana Fireman Threatened

Allen Whetstone More To The Story To Question

Allen Whetstone-MDOC And MBOPP

Montana Fireman Blogspot

Categories: Allen Whetstone, Montana BOPP | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Who’s Getting Rich off the Prison-Industrial Complex?

Reblogged from Prisonmovement's Weblog:

Click to visit the original post

This is definitely worth a blog post and some thought people.....

By Ray Downs

You likely already know how overcrowded and abusive the US prison system is, and you probably are also aware that the US has more people in prison than even China or Russia. In this age of privatization, of course, it’s also not surprising that many of the…

Read more… 1,228 more words

Officials of Montana stated "they have to keep inmates in their private prisons and prisons, that's how they get paid" and "it's about business, it's dollars and cents." With that kind of mindset, do you think your officials really care about you and your family? Do you think they really care if you are innocent or not or if a citizen has received an unfair sentence or if they ever receive a fair parole? You are just a dollar sign that pays some good salaries, unless you have some money to get out of it or if you know someone in the good ole boys club.  You know deep down inside what I'm saying is true.  Sure there are those that need to be in prison and those that need to never get out. But on the whole, Montana...start looking at your incarceration rates and start researching your criminal system.
Categories: Montana DOC/BOPP, Montana DOJ, Montana Politics, Prison Corruption | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Ignorance Scale

Ignorance

This site is about educating the Montanan citizens and the American citizens on what is happening within our judicial system.  There are those that want to post comments that are clearly showing their ignorance or that they work within the system or have a loved one that works within the system.  Yes, criminals belong in prison, but not all that are there belong there.  Prison is the punishment, torturing is not suppose to be the punishment.  Prison is not suppose to be for political gain or for profits to pad some pockets.  Let’s smarten up on this subject before it becomes too late.

Categories: MT Speaks Up | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Wrongfully Convicted Man To Be Paid $8.5 Million

Edwin Chandler

Written by
Andrew Wolfson
The Courier-Journal

Louisville metro government agreed to pay $8.5 million Thursday to settle a federal lawsuit filed by Edwin Chandler, who spent nine years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder.

The settlement was disclosed by Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell and confirmed by two of Chandler’s lawyers, Nick Brustin and Larry Simon.

“He is very, very satisfied, and also very relieved,” Simon said.

Brustin, Chandler’s lead counsel, said: “We are pleased that the settlement recognizes that this was not just an innocent mistake but was the result of very serious misconduct.”

Brustin also said the city has “done the right things in taking responsibility for a terrible act by one of its employees.”

The settlement was reached after federal court-ordered mediation and covers metro government and two police officers who were defendants.

Brustin said that one of them, former Detective Mark Handy, first coerced Chandler into confessing by threatening to arrest his sister for harboring a fugitive and take away her children. Then Handy misrepresented that Chandler had volunteered facts about the crime when all of those facts came from Handy, Brustin said.

Chandler claimed evidence of his innocence was ignored for years because of “a veritable perfect storm of misconduct” by investigators, according to his suit filed in 2010.

He alleged that detectives and officers coerced and fabricated a false confession from him, pressured witness statements, concealed and destroyed evidence of his innocence, and covered up repeated misconduct.

Another lawyer for Chandler, Debi Cornwall, a partner in the New York firm of Neufeld Sheck & Brustin, said when the suit was filed that it was “one of the worst cases of systemic police misconduct I’ve seen in the entire country.”

The same law firm negotiated a settlement of nearly $4 million with the city in a wrongful-arrest lawsuit filed in 2001 on behalf of William Gregory, who was also wrongly convicted and imprisoned.

To Continue Reading: 
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20121004/NEWS01/310040091/Louisville-pay-wrongfully-convicted-man-8-5-million

  • Does the money really cover someone losing his or her life while being in prison wrongfully convicted?  It devastates not only the inmate but hundreds of others in their circle, family and friends.   So many have been wrongfully convicted and more are still sitting in American prisons.  What about those that contribute to these wrongful convictions by misconduct? Only awarding lawsuits  might start preventing this from continually happening but until we start holding county attorneys, police officers or judges being bribed we won’t see any major decrease.  We need to hold them accountable when there is misconduct.  Plain and Simple! 

 

Categories: The Innocent | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Is Montana “Finally” Realizing The Danger In Their Own Legal System? (A Must Read)

America’s Corrupt Legal System – A Danger to All

October 7, 2012 by  · 1 Comment   From:  PolyMontana

by Dr. Les Sachs

  PolyMontana:  The tragic reality of the world’s biggest corrupt legal system -America’s rigged courts, bribed judges, fake and phony trials, extortion by lawyers, and over 2 million prisoners in the USA gulag.

Why USA “justice” is not like in Hollywood movies, and why YOU could be the next victim on USA territory – innocent and sent to prison, or strapped to a table and put to death; or robbed of your life savings by American lawyers.

Why YOU can be tortured, have your freedom and rights taken away, and why people in America are afraid to help you, or even tell what happened to you.

The recent pattern of American violations of international law are ultimately based in the corruption of the USA domestic legal system. Phony USA courts are very dangerous even for travelers and visitors to America, who can easily wind up among the USA’s more than 2 million prisoners, or lose all their family’s possessions to corrupt American lawyers.

All world citizens should know how the corrupt USA legal system, is a danger to every traveler, visitor, and guest worker from overseas, and to every individual who takes the risky step of entering upon American territory. Just ask the overseas families of prisoners who were put to death inside the USA, with their embassies never even being informed that they were arrested – or the many foreign people serving hugely long prison terms in America, after they were jailed on flimsy tainted “evidence” from criminal snitches.

The reality is that the United States of America, which proclaims itself the “land of freedom”, has the most dishonest, dangerous and crooked legal system of any developed nation.

Legal corruption is covering America like a blanket. The corruption of the USA legal system is well-known, but also well-hidden, by the news services of America’s corporate-owned media. The US media companies are afraid both of reprisal, and of the social revolution that would come from exposing the truth. Here is what the US media companies know, but are afraid to tell you about American “justice”.

Concentration camps with concrete walls.

America has the largest prison gulag in the entire world – yes, right there in the USA, the self-proclaimed “land of freedom”. The starting point for understanding anything about the USA, is to digest the fact that just this one country, the United States of America, has twenty-five percent of ALL of the prisoners in the entire world.

More than 2 million prisoners – more than 1 out of every 150 people in America – are behind bars in the American gulag. This is now the world’s biggest system of what are effectively concentration camps, though most of these prisoners are behind masonry walls and inside prison buildings.

For minorities, the statistics are even more brutal. For example, the USA is now imprisoning about 1 out of every 36 people in its black population. American “justice” is especially focused on jailing young black males.

Quite amazingly, Americans and the American government, continually criticize the legal systems and so-called “political” legal proceedings in other countries such as China, Russia, and even Belgium among many other places. Yet, for example, the proportion of prisoners is 30 times higher in the USA than in China, even though China is a country regularly criticized and denounced by the USA government.

No one imprisons people as readily, or casually, as does America.

As you learn more about America’s horrifying legal system, you find out how easily and carelessly America arrests people, and tosses innocent people into prison. It is estimated that America has at least 100,000 completely innocent people in jail, but the statistics of innocence may well run far higher. The number of people known to be innocent, and yet who were actually sentenced to death in recent years in America, is already running into the hundreds.

The USA jailing of more than 2 million people is also, quite literally, a revival of slavery and slave labor, on a scale not seen since the days of the Nazis. USA business corporations are using these prisoners as a giant slave labor pool. Prisoners are forced to produce goods and products while earning mere pennies per hour, which they sometimes have to pay back to the prison for their own upkeep. The expanding system of USA prison slave labor is not only a major source of business profit, but also a wedge to drive down the wages of workers outside the prison walls.

This USA policy, of using mass casual imprisonment as a way to revive slavery, is targeted particularly at minorities, but ends up affecting all working people. Supervised by malicious judges and corrupt lawyers, this culture of mass prisons and slave labor is sold to the citizens by creating a psychology of fear among USA residents. This climate of fear is nourished in the USA by both the media and the government, who work together with the judges and lawyers to maintain the whole crooked game.

Of America’s more than 2 million prisoners, about 50,000 are known to be foreign citizens.

This proportion might seem small, but remember that 50,000 prisoners is more than the entire prison population of many other countries. It only appears as a small percentage, because of America’s obsession with jailing its own people, who have had more time to get caught in America’s web of legal horror.

The USA is extremely casual about the jailing of foreigners, and not honouring their rights under international law or treaties and agreements. Often, foreign citizens have been sentenced to death, while the USA didn’t even bother to notify the foreign government that their citizens were arrested.

Several other governments are working hard just to try and obtain even the most primitive judicial rights for their own nationals, who have been seized and held in abusive conditions by the USA empire. And yet, the United States of America somehow still brags about its own legal system, while criticizing other countries.

Understanding that America has such a huge percentage of even its own people in prison, is to start to understand the subconscious fear behind much of American life. Before you set foot in America, you should have a clear picture of the terror of America’s legal system – the judges and lawyers and money and bribery, that have made this system of fear so pervasive.

There is not yet enough public media information about America’s domestic legal horrors, horrors which have been rapidly increasing. And the American public, even the victims of its legal system, have a hard time realizing why it is so hard to fight legal corruption there. The situation is so bad, that a social explosion is beginning inside America.

You can read some news stories – about people murdering judges, or attacking the families of judges, or people setting fire to courthouses in the USA – and see the pattern that is emerging, even though the news media are afraid to connect the dots and suggest what might be behind all these events. America is trying to maintain its myths about its legal system, even while the desperate reality of life inside the USA is starting to blow back into escalating social upheaval.

USA torture and illegal jailing overseas, starts with USA domestic torture and illegal jailing at home.

The world press has documented clear violations of human and legal rights by America in its overseas jails, such as the infamous situations in Guantanamo and occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, and the even more secret network of prisons in places like Diego Garcia or on board American ships.

But the problem is much bigger, than America’s legal abuses under its military invasions and “war on terrorism”. These USA violations of international law, are consistent with the corruption in America’s home legal system within its own borders, and have partly evolved from America’s legal abuses against its own citizens and residents.

American prisons are often horrible, with lots of torment of prisoners, like you would expect in some petty dictatorship. Conditions are brutal in USA jails; rape and beatings are common, and there is little help for abused inmates. In addition to the many official USA executions, numerous people are also illegally killed in jail cells, “mysteriously” said to have hanged themselves or “found stabbed to death”.

Scandals of overseas prison abuse, as in the USA-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, have arisen from sources much deeper than America’s foreign policy. These scandals are in part replications of inmate abuse inside of America’s domestic prison gulag. Without diminishing the brutality of the crimes committed by Americans in Iraqi prisons, it is also true that such crimes are consistent with the brutality of prisons inside America.

In the regular functioning of the USA courts, America’s domestic lawyers and judges, threaten people with illegal jailing, and rape, torture and murder in jail, just like the threats used by Americans against Iraqi subjects of the American occupation. America will play the song about “just a few bad apples in the barrel” whenever an abuse scandal gets exposed, either domestically or abroad, but the cover-up of such abuse is more the routine response.

Theoretically, torture and abuse is totally outlawed by America’s Constitution, but some of the nice words in America’s Constitution hold little power anymore, despite how often people quote them. The Americans who still believe the Constitution protects them, are mostly those people who haven’t yet dealt with the judges and lawyers of America’s corrupt legal system.

America’s Constitution and Bill of Rights are nearly dead, not just because the judges will no longer enforce them, but even more because America’s lawyers will not even fight for them. The two American “political parties” are not fighting for them, either, and America’s news media are also very passive. If you look at America in depth, you can see there has been a widespread moral collapse in America’s legal and political structures. This means that America’s legal system has become largely a tool of government terror, and of bribery for the rich and the powerful. The average person is just fodder for the meat-grinder of America’s courts.

America’s lies and sleazy arguments to make excuses for torture, or to deny people the rights of the Geneva convention, or holding people for many years without charges, are also just an extension of the deviousness in America’s domestic legal system. Inside America, neither its laws nor its Constitution nor the facts nor evidence nor anything else, no longer have real authority inside the American courts.

All that’s left is what American lawyers and judges call “the game”.

As part of playing this game, USA lawyers and judges just twist words around, in order to produce any excuse, however flimsy, to achieve their objective, whether that be to jail an innocent person, or give the verdict that was sought by the big company that paid the big bribe through its law firm.

It is an endlessly devious manipulation of words and phrases to get the desired result, just devious falsehood and lies backed by the naked power of the judges. The only “real” part is the power that the judges and lawyers hold in America, to jail you and take away your property. The words of the law don’t protect you in the USA, because American judges and lawyers have no scruples about bending them to mean the opposite of what they say.

America’s lawyers are controlled by the judges, and don’t really work for you – that’s why they sell you out to the government, or to the big companies that pay bribes

There’s some very special aspects about the way American lawyers are controlled by American judges, which is central to why America’s legal corruption is so much worse than any other advanced nation. Even if you are paying an American lawyer huge amounts of money, he or she doesn’t really work for you, and in fact may sell you down the river to the jailhouse.

American lawyers are directly under the thumb of the judges and the government, and must submit to the culture of bribery and perversion of justice, or else face terrifying revenge. Lawyers, just like you, can be instantly jailed by an American judge on flimsy pretexts, and American lawyers can be quickly stripped of their right to practice law, and personally and financially destroyed, if they dare to criticize legal corruption. Lawyers who try to fight the system can find themselves not only dis-barred, but also criminally charged and jailed, and no other lawyer will help them.

It is a horribly crooked system in America.

This is different from other advanced countries, where lawyers are usually a professional guild, whose status and right to practice law, is under the control of only their fellow lawyers. This means that, in other countries, the judges and the government cannot easily ruin or attack the lawyers for purely political reasons. This is also part of why, in other developed countries, outside of America, you really do see brave lawyers fighting for un-popular clients, or challenging the government, and asking for justice.

But in America, it’s different. Over the past century, the American lawyers lost the right to regulate themselves, and instead fell under the power of the judges. So American lawyers are afraid to do things in court, that the judges don’t want them to do. America’s army of nearly 1 million lawyers, is almost totally under the control of a few thousand judges, with their entrenched culture of bribery and fraud and miscarriage of justice.

Some USA lawyers don’t like this, but they are helpless and can’t fight it. Most lawyers in America have, to one degree or another, signed up with the devil, to do things the way the devil wants them done.

That means that any time you hire an American lawyer, he already is in a conflict of interest. He has to make the judge happy first. And if the judge wants to make the government happy, or make somebody else happy who is paying a big bribe, then guess what? You are destroyed.

It doesn’t matter what you paid the lawyer. He works for the judge, first and foremost. So a totally unique factor in USA legal corruption is the amazingly dishonest profession of American lawyers, these lawyers who “play the game” with America’s judges and politicians and police. It is a savage culture of legal fraud, where lawyers work with judges to rob and terrify people, especially minorities, but also foreigners, and above all those who dare to question the system.

People accused of serious crimes have the “right” to a lawyer, but this may mean only a crooked lawyer who is stage-managing the victim to help the government and prosecutors. If the lawyer does not help the government, he can be put out of work and not “assigned” to any more cases, or treated badly the next time he is in a courtroom.

This legal fraud is the core of the danger to those who visit America.

A lawyer who is “representing” you in the USA, whether the government is paying him, or even if you are paying him yourself, may just be a stooge who is helping the prosecutors to put you in jail, even though you are innocent. The judges of America gave every accused criminal the “right” to a lawyer, not because they cared about the rights of the accused, but because it helps stage-manage the victim, with a lawyer who has to do things the judge’s way.

In America, such government-appointed lawyers are the means by which hundreds of thousands of poor people are railroaded into prison. Some of these people were just foreign tourists, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and wound up rotting in an American prison.

Some lawyers are fairly subtle about it, and their victims never realize the lawyer has sold them out to the judge and the government. Most American court cases never go to trial, never see a jury; it is the job of the victim’s lawyer to “sell the deal” that the judge has decided will happen, or else.

This is how people accept a “plea bargain” so they accept going to jail for 3 years even though they are innocent, instead of going to trial before a jury. Because of the corruption of lawyers under the thumb of the judges, there’s a very fake and phony aspect of court proceedings in America. They are really fake “show trials” in many cases, sometimes very obviously so, where both purported “sides” of lawyers are actually working together for the government, or for the big corporation or rich person that is bribing the judge.

You will also find, in the American legal system, that you essentially have no recourse whatsoever against wrongdoing by your own lawyer.

A lawyer can sell you out, betray you, steal your money, engage in malpractice, help out the other side, hide the evidence that proved you were right, or commit felony crime against you, and there is nothing you can do about it, so long as the lawyer made the judge happy, and the judge got his cut of any money the lawyer stole from you.

Innocent and being arrested – they don’t like to admit a mistake in America.

Yes, lots of people live their whole lives in America and never get arrested. And yet, some poor foreign visitor comes to America for a short holiday, gets arrested by mistake, and gets sentenced to death by lethal injection even though he is totally innocent. Well, that’s the lottery of life for those who visit or live in America.

The police and prosecutors in America have no concern at all whether they have arrested someone who is innocent. They just don’t care. When a crime is committed, they try to arrest somebody, anybody, just to say they got the bad guy. And they never like to admit they made a mistake.

Once they arrest you, they will try to make up and plant false evidence, to help try and convict you. A common trick is to take other criminals they know, who are facing jail on other charges, and get those criminals to be false witnesses against you. The cops justify this kind of thing by saying to themselves,

Well, if you didn’t commit this crime, you probably committed some other crime we don’t know about.”

If they do arrest you in America, they like to pile on all sorts of criminal charges. The idea is to charge you with 10 crimes, because it makes you sound bad, and maybe convict you on 3 of them or you will accept a plea bargain on 1 or 2 of them. Any kind of guilty plea, and they call it a success, even though you were totally innocent.

For the police and prosecutors, it’s all a kind of sporting game, so they can bring about their “high conviction rate“. Perhaps part of the reason America has so much crime, even with more than 2 million people in prison, is because the people who actually committed the crimes were never arrested. Also, some poor people may feel that the odds are high they will be arrested someday anyway, so they may as well be criminals and enjoy life in the meantime.

The system is extremely racist, of course, and white people are arrested less than many minorities. But no one is safe. Any innocent person can get railroaded to death in America.

Multi-millionaires and big corporations, vs. everybody else.

The only people who really can get expect some fairness in American courts are multi-millionaires and big corporations. Nobody else really matters to American judges and lawyers.

There is a huge amount of bribery in America, perhaps even more than in the courts of any other country in the world. Even some American ex-judges have admitted the near-universality of bribery there. Nearly all bribes are given to the judges by lawyers; this is considered the safe way to bribe a judge. Bribery is rarely spoken about, just understood.

Rich people pay huge amounts of money to law firms with connections, the lawyers walk around with a certain amount of cash in their jacket, and they pass it to the judges in their quiet moments together. It is mostly all cash of course. Sometimes the bribery is blatantly obvious, because of the other crimes that lawyers and judges commit in broad daylight together. In the courtrooms you can see the judges being extremely friendly to their rich lawyer friends who pay big bribes.

As an average person, there’s no real way to out-bribe a big corporation, regardless of what your lawyer promised you. That’s why the big companies win so often.

American judges are very devious, and use all sorts of techniques to prevent a victim from getting justice. Lots of judges issue gag orders, and bans on freedom of speech, to help prevent other people from finding out what is going on. Judges set up a trial in all sorts of ways, giving orders that all sorts of evidence be hidden from a jury, for example. The judge may declare, for example, that the evidence that proves you are innocent or right, will not be allowed at the trial.

Jury trials are actually very rare in America, unlike what you see in the movies. Most cases are settled through some deal or extortion or intimidation, before there is an actual trial. If there is a jury trial, they tend to stack the jury with un-educated idiots who will tend to believe whatever lies they are told by the judge and the government.

If you are trying to fight a rich person in court, the judge might let the fancy lawyers for the rich person say anything they want, while he tells you to shut up as soon as you start talking. The judges have a thousand ways to rig a legal proceeding, to benefit rich people or the government.

It’s no wonder so many innocent people go to prison. With the fundamental brutality and harshness of life in America, American citizens are confused and fearful, and gullible to propaganda. So, a jury in a courtroom, these people who tend to be poorly educated, will tend to go along with any lies presented by government prosecutors. In this environment of fear, the feeling of safety for the jury, comes from following the “strong” government in sending various “suspected criminals” to jail.

Yes, there are appeals courts, but these are just more judges, who are often friends with the lower court judge who originally sold you out. The appeals judges tend to go along with the lower court judge, unless you have suddenly acquired some politically powerful backing on your side.

Americans love to talk about “taking it all the way to the Supreme Court!”, but this is a nearly empty hope. The U.S. Supreme Court simply refuses to consider most cases that are presented to it.

If you are a little helpless nobody, the appeals judges often barely reply to you, and sometimes don’t reply at all. Sometimes people have been strapped to a table and given the lethal poison and put to death in America, with the victim’s appeal never even answered by the judges.

What about when people win millions of dollars in a lawsuit against the big company?

Every now and then, there is worldwide news of how some average person in America has won a lawsuit for $25 million or some other huge sum of money, from some company or other. What’s going on here – if the American legal system is so crooked, how can people be winning such big money?

Such cases are indeed real, but they are actually somewhat rare, numerically – rather like winning the lottery – and it’s important to see why they take place, and how they fit into the big pattern. Such cases are typically after someone has been seriously injured or died due to some defective product or prescription drug or hospital treatment or accident.

These cases have a certain “place” in the American legal framework, accepted by the judges. They are also very important for maintaining the bribery culture. A lot of the money won in such cases goes into the lawyer’s pockets, and is a major source of bribery money for the judges. As regards big companies and the judges, such cases are viewed as a kind of “tax” on the big corporations, part of the cost of doing business in America, part of the price of being able to otherwise make huge profits.

Such cases, as well, have the same function as in a gambling casino, when the casino proudly announces that one customer has just won a huge jackpot. The hype about the one jackpot winner, hides the fact that most everyone else is losing money. The person whose husband died from the defective prescription drug, and won millions of dollars (one-third of that to the lawyer, of course), is the person who is shoved forward to prove that “the legal system works – it’s the greatest legal system in the world!”

The small handful of such personal-injury cases, are intended to distract the public from all the innocent people sentenced to prison, from all the families destroyed by bribed judges in divorce cases, and from all the people whose lives are destroyed by big companies, companies who cheerfully pay bribes to win their routine cases in court.

Big companies know that some big “injury” cases will be lost, in order to supply money for the lawyers and judges who otherwise take good care of the big company’s interests. When you are making hundreds of millions of dollars, the loss of a few million here and there is just another expense of business. In the end, the companies just raise their prices to cover the costs of lawyers and lawsuits. The whole world pays for the millions earned by American lawyers, they are the ultimate parasites.

There are other casualties here, too. America’s health care system has been destroyed from the inside by the legal culture of constant lawsuits against doctors and hospitals, with huge amounts of money being given to the lawyers in these cases, driving up the cost of medical care and putting it out of reach of many people.

America is the only economically advanced nation without a national health plan, with tens of millions of Americans having no health coverage. USA lawyers joke openly about how, when the courts make big money awards to pay a lawyer, the lawyer often gives the judge a bribe by way of gratitude. Some lawyers grow rich, and doctors are afraid to continue  practicing medicine in the US, and many Americans die from lack of health care.

But while America’s lawyers will very casually file legal charges against doctors, hospitals, or ordinary people, for any flimsy reason, to try and squeeze some money from the situation, they are extremely afraid to take any legal action against another lawyer or judge engaged in misconduct. That’s where fear takes over, and lawyers are suddenly too timid to file any lawsuits.

The Hollywood image, versus the grim reality.

Once you have digested the fact that America has the world’s largest prison gulag, another major thing to digest is the USA government, and much of America, is primarily a sales organization, whose chief tool is hype and propaganda and outright lies. America is a culture built on sales and advertising; it focuses on portraying an image, not the reality beneath it.

This is why America was so casual about inventing and selling the lies about “weapons of mass destruction” to help start the Iraq invasion. It was just a question of whatever lies needed to be told, in order to sell the product; there was no concern about afterwards, when the lies were exposed. America just figures it can later send out more salespeople with more lies, in an endless cycle. Tomorrow is just another day, when America will try to sell another product, the “war on terror“, the “spread of freedom“, or whatever.

The selling never stops, in Washington or Hollywood. America sells political lies like Hollywood sells movies. When the USA President talks about “advancing the cause of freedom“, he basically means freedom for big corporations to do business. He’s not really talking about actual personal freedom for real people.

But he grins when he talks about “freedom” because it’s a good word of salesmanship, people hear him and some of them can be duped into believing that America cares about personal or political freedom.

Hollywood movies and American television are a major element of political myth-making. Around the world, people derive an image of America, and its legal system, from these fictional creations on film. America’s propaganda about having “the greatest legal system in the world” is one of those phony stories that Hollywood is helping to sell.

It is also a myth sustained by the few trials about which there is a lot of publicity, like with the celebrity trials of Martha Stewart or Michael Jackson. Judges behave very differently when the cameras are rolling, or the media is reporting everything that goes on, and millions of dollars are being spent on lawyers. But in the 98 percent of court activity that does not have big media coverage, the judges of America provide a bizarre sideshow of horror.

In the Hollywood version, the judges in American courts are like kind uncles, smiling and being wise and calmly dispensing justice. But in reality, American judges sometimes scream at people like disturbed perverts, and show off their bribed corruption right there in the courtroom.

Sometimes judges engage in flagrant extortion, where you have to agree to pay money to the judge’s lawyer friends as the price to stay out of jail. It is really that bad. You can find no end of documented horror about American judges behaving like criminal lunatics, and it is getting worse all the time.

In the Hollywood version, there are brave lawyers who will fight for your rights, to win justice for you in the American courts. In reality, you can’t find an American lawyer brave enough to fight judicial corruption, even if you are innocent and the judge’s friends have threatened to murder you, or to send you to jail for the rest of your life.

The lawyers who used to be brave, were destroyed or intimidated, and nearly all American lawyers now submit themselves to the culture of corruption and bribery, and betraying and abandoning the people who need legal help.

In the sad reality, American lawyers line up by the dozen to help the government or the big corporations, and regularly betray the average person, even if they are supposedly representing you. Even the lawyers who don’t want to be wicked themselves, are too timid to really fight the system.

At a certain point, nearly all American lawyers will hold back and abandon their clients, because they are trying to survive themselves and avoid revenge by the judges. In the Hollywood version, the average person is also helped by the “brave investigative reporter” at some newspaper or television station, who shows great courage in exposing the truth, and bringing powerful wrongdoing to face justice.

However, the brave “investigative reporter” in America is now as fictional and non-existent as the “brave lawyer” who will fight for your rights. This is especially true on any topic pertaining to corruption by judges and lawyers.

In America today, reporters are little timid people who are afraid of getting fired, and who almost never write a story on government corruption, unless some other part of the government is officially investigating or prosecuting. That goes triple when judges or lawyers are involved.

The owners of the newspapers and television stations are afraid of revenge by the judges if they have to go to court, and the nervous little reporters who work for them understand the rules of the game. If you look closely at a modern newspaper or news magazine in the USA, you will see how almost all stories originate with the government itself.

When the media “investigates”, they are usually just adding more details on a situation already being targeted by the government. Every news media and television station in America is swamped with people begging them to report on stories, that they totally refuse to cover. The reporters are too scared, and they know the stories wouldn’t get printed or broadcast even if they were written.

America is the land of fear, as regards the legal system and the culture of corruption. Everyone involved with the USA legal system is afraid, very afraid, of stepping on the wrong toes. Even American judges themselves get driven out of office, if they don’t participate in the bribery culture.

No recourse against crime and fraud by judges and lawyers in America.

In reality, there is almost nothing you can do against misconduct, and even open felony crime, committed against you by American judges and lawyers. All of the official complaint procedures you find on the internet, or at the courthouse or in the law books, turn out to be a joke, a farce and a fraud.

Complaints about lawyers in America, usually go to the “Bar”, which is itself run by the judges who are involved in bribery with the lawyers. And complaints about judges go to other judges, their friends. Nearly all the complaints about lawyers and judges – tens of thousands of them – are kept secret. Nearly all are dismissed or ignored.

They are generally only used if the judges or politicians want to specially destroy someone – some radical minority lawyer, someone who is not playing the bribery game, somebody who has dared to expose wrongdoing. Otherwise, even criminal acts by lawyers and judges get a smiling cover-up.

You will almost certainly not find any lawyers to help you sue another lawyer for wrongdoing. They are too scared of revenge by the judges. Even the lawyers who are broke and unemployed and desperate for work, are too scared to sue another lawyer. (Special caution: Lawyers may make false promises to you about suing another lawyer, cash your checks and steal your money, and then refuse to help you. And then you will have another lawyer who wronged you.)

The police and FBI almost certainly will not help you, either. They all know the bribery game, and they rely on the same crooked judges to help send innocent people to prison after they have been arrested. The more crooked the judge, the more eager the judge will be, to help the police or FBI do a dirty deal and convict an innocent person.

And, of course, the newspapers and television and media won’t help you. They hear stories like yours all the time. If they publish or broadcast your story, then they will have problems the next time they get sued in court. Or they might find themselves arrested on false charges, and end up in an even worse situation than you.

The newspapers are so tied into the establishment of judges and lawyers, that the newspapers sometimes help the judges and lawyers to commit their crimes, and to unfairly smear and attack their victims. The big media newspapers have even helped to plant false “evidence” in court cases, and help the legal establishment to destroy innocent people.

But even if not harming you, the USA media is afraid to help you, afraid of revenge if they expose judicial corruption. These fears are just as big, if not bigger, with America’s radical and alternative media, and bloggers and internet sites. Such people will criticize American foreign policy and so on, but everybody is scared of talking about specific cases of corruption by lawyers and judges. The independent media has even more reason to be afraid, because they are even more vulnerable if the lawyers start to file false charges against them in the courts.

Of course, America’s politicians will not help you, either. Many politicians are themselves lawyers, very used to the whole game of bribery with judges and other lawyers. The politicians accept the crooked courts as the way that America is run, and as helping the two big parties to monopolize the political scene and prevent alternative political movements.

America’s two big political parties, the Democrats and Republicans, can be seen as another phony game like America’s courts. The two parties actually get their hundreds of millions of dollars in money from the same people at the same big corporations who own the rest of America. These two American parties pretend to argue with each other over emotional issues like gun control and abortion rights, but in the end both of these parties serve the big corporations.

Half of Americans are still fooled into thinking that these parties represent them, the other half sense it is phony but feel helpless and don’t know what to do. This is why people don’t vote very much in America; they feel it is hopeless and useless.

You can also forget about America’s human rights and civil liberties groups, even though it looks, at first, like there are many such groups on the internet. Many such groups are just money-raising groups which don’t help victims, or are tied to the two main political parties or some narrow agenda. They are all scared of the legal system, too, and there is no one with any significant funding or money, who is out there helping the victims of legal corruption.

They can’t find lawyers to help them, either. There are some overwhelmed and struggling projects here and there, doing worthy work for a few of the innocent people in prison, but they function in an environment of timidity and fear, and without the resources or clout or media access to expose or change what is happening. It’s getting worse and worse in America all the time.

As the judges and lawyers can get away with committing crimes, they are getting more open and blatant, committing felony crimes in broad daylight, because they know no one will stop them or bring them to account. It is also important to know, that once you have started complaining about, or exposing, judicial and legal corruption in America, you become a kind of outlaw there.

You are in a very dangerous situation, and you are considered fair game to be either arrested and jailed on false charges, or to be totally robbed and betrayed by America’s lawyers. Once you have spoken out about legal corruption, you may find that no other lawyer will then help you for any reason, even if it is un-related to your complaint about judicial wrongdoing. You may be trapped in a nightmare from which there is no escape unless you can leave America altogether.

Dealing with American lawyers, if you have no other choice.

Perhaps the statistical chance of getting arrested in America as an innocent person, and then being sent to prison or put to death, is relatively small. But think of how you will feel if you end up as one of those 2 million American prisoners, including 50,000 foreign citizens. Or perhaps even one of those several thousand people on Death Row, waiting for the lethal poison to be injected into your arm.

Visiting America now, is probably similar to visiting or doing business in 1936 with Hitler’s Reich, or Mussolini’s fascist empire. If you did such a thing in 1936, you might have visited and had a wonderful time, maybe even have done some business with companies in those countries. You might have seen some beautiful sights, and met some very friendly individual people, perhaps drunk a beer or two, or a nice glass of wine, maybe attended the 1936 Olympics. Very likely, you wouldn’t have seen any concentration camps, in the places where you traveled. You might have had a very pleasant trip.

But nonetheless, you were in a dangerous place, where horrible things were going on. That’s true of the United States of America today, the land of 2 million prisoners in a giant gulag. With America’s corrupt legal system, it’s certainly not the wisest place to keep money or assets, which can be easily grabbed by American lawyers in legal proceedings. Many smart Americans have opened overseas bank accounts, and it is wise to not keep too much money where American lawyers can seize it.

There is no bigger group of thieves in the world, than American lawyers.

If you are in a lawsuit situation in America, get all your money out of the country, fast, before the USA lawyers can put any kind of hold or freeze on it. But you shouldn’t keep substantial assets in the USA in the first place. Sell any USA real estate and rent instead, get that money out where it is safe.

Certainly, don’t ever expect any justice from American courts. Expect the judges and both sides of lawyers to tilt toward the government, or toward the big company that can pay bribes on a regular basis. All that most people get out of American courts, is grief, and lawyers stealing their money. Best not to approach American courts unless absolutely necessary.

Despite the commonplace fraud and dishonesty of American lawyers, it’s still important to have one if you must be in an American court. The reason is that American judges absolutely hate people who come to court without lawyers, especially if they have any money at all. The judge takes it as a personal insult if you are not giving some money to one of his lawyer friends, and will tend to take revenge on you unless you hire a lawyer, even a very stupid one, to stand by your side.

What American lawyers love to do, is to steal all your money, tell you a bunch of false promises and lies, and then do nothing for you, while they sell you out to the other side. That is a perfect scenario for an American lawyer.

A lawyer’s goal is to squeeze as much money from you, while at the same time doing as little as possible to rock the judge’s political boat. Some lawyers even make money by the “research and review” scam, where they don’t even agree to represent you, but just steal your money to “research” your case.

Accept in advance that an American lawyer will rob you and betray you, and everything will go more smoothly if you quietly understand this. Never actually trust an American lawyer, but don’t let on that you know he’s a crook.

Don’t tell the lawyer how much money you really have, he will try to get all of it. Try to pay a lawyer very slowly, in small chunks, that will keep him more interested, and prevent some of the bigger robberies and betrayals, and will leave you some money to try another lawyer if things get too awful.

Remember, once you give a USA lawyer any money, it’s almost impossible to get it back. Lawyers will almost never sue another lawyer, and if you go to court, the judge will almost certainly protect the lawyer who defrauded you (and get a share of the money, of course).

Lawyers and judges in America like people to appear to be submissive and stupid and easily manipulated. They like to feel superior to you. By letting them think that you are weak and falling for their lies, you may give yourself some breathing room. This tactic has even enabled some people to stay alive and not get murdered, and to escape from America back to safety.

The growing American nightmare.

It is just getting worse and worse in America’s legal system. For some years now, the USA judges and lawyers have gotten used to denying people justice, to the great flow of bribery money, and even to committing felony crimes in broad daylight and getting away with it. It just keeps on escalating. Though a social explosion is lurking beneath the surface – with judges starting to get murdered, and people lighting courthouses ablaze – the people who run America are letting the current system chug along as it is, justice be damned, and to hell with the people who seem to have no way to fight back.

It can’t go on like this forever, but it may get a lot worse first, despite the fair internet visibility on documented American legal corruption. One should note a brave and promising grass-roots attempt at judicial reform in the USA called (Jail 4 Judges – www.jail4judges.org), which attempts to place onto American ballots, a referendum for a new procedure to give citizens a real right of redress against corrupt judges.

It is a wonderful and beautiful idea that deserves success, and will help transform America if it moves forward. Regrettably, though, for all the usual reasons of fear, there is no one with any big money or media clout, yet making a foray against the real-life nightmare of America’s courts and prisons. It remains a taboo subject for the American media, and the media silence feeds and encourages the whole machine of bribery and repression.

Perhaps, though, it will not be until after America has had a major economic or social cataclysm, that the big American machine of legal corruption finally comes to be reformed. Sociologically speaking, it’s astonishing how disgraceful American lawyers have become – they are now both the mafia and the gestapo of American life.

America’s lawyers, as a whole, have had little to say about America’s recent international crimes of prisoner abuse, and violation of international human rights agreements. American lawyers, as always nowadays, are “playing the game” with America’s government and its judges.

America, indeed, does not have the rule of law at all. Instead, it is just the rule of lawyers, lawyers who crave money and power. And, in America, it can be jail or worse for anyone who tries to fight these lawyers.

The reality of the United States of America is that Americans, despite their overall wealth as a nation, are now a people living in a society of great fear. Their fears are complicated, and many Americans cannot even put their fears into words. They are afraid of lawyers and the prison system, afraid of losing their jobs in a brutal society with no social safety net, afraid of needing health care in a disastrous system with no health plan.

And Americans are afraid of what will happen if they try to question the system and the way things work. They often feel helpless and powerless against the great forces dominating their country. American citizens are confused and fearful, and gullible to propaganda.

Because Americans have difficulty in sorting out their many fears, they have become ripe candidates for racial and religious hatreds, and for following their government into war. The issues of “terrorism” and war distract the emotions of Americans from the terrible problems in their own society at home. The foreign “enemy” gives Americans a face on which to project their fear and their anger.

The result is the horrifying misconduct of some Americans in these wars; while back inside the USA, there is increasing corruption and repression in the legal system. Americans desperately would like to believe that they still live in a “free” country, as it is so horrifying to them to face the ugly truth, that their freedom is already largely lost.

Americans can imagine they are “free” because they can still choose among different products to buy, or quit their job, or buy a gun at the store. And the Americans most likely to imagine they are still “free” are the ones who have not yet been trapped in the halls of America’s legal system. They have not yet seen the lawyers and judges who smirk and laugh as they deny victims the most basic human rights.

The truth is that, inside America, a nightmare has begun.

The lawyers and judges and courts, “playing the game”, regularly trample upon the freedoms that Americans thought they had. It is people like myself, escaped from the USA, living in kinder and gentler places, who are now the lucky ones.

No one should ever again be fooled by USA propaganda about being the “land of freedom”. Those who are thinking of travelling to, visiting, or working in America, should think again. It might not be worth the risk of being in a country that has one of the most crooked legal systems in the world.

Injustice Exposed

To View Source And To Read More: 
http://polymontana.com/americas-corrupt-legal-system-a-danger-to-all/

  • Excellent Article..someone that is finally speaking the truth.  Well done, well done. Thank you polymontana.com for bringing this great article to our attention.  
Categories: Montana DOJ, Wake Up America | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Montana’s Spotlight On Pam Bucy And Steve Bullock – Candidates For Attorney General And Governor

She Did What?

Pam Bucy Campaigns On Your Dime        

Records show Democrat attorney general candidate Bucy has conducted campaign work while on the clock and while using sick leave.

HELENA – Records obtained through a Right to Know request and a review of Democrat Attorney General candidate Pam Bucy’s event activities have revealed several instances of her conducting political campaign work on state time.

  • On May 24, 2012, Pam Bucy announced on Facebook that she gave an interview with National Public Radio at the Lewis and Clark County Courthouse.  (The interview aired on May 25, 
    http://www.mtpr.org/podcast_feed/4
    .) The same day, Pam announced on Facebook that she “Had a great time talking with local Democratic leaders and activists over our party’s statewide weekly conference call.”  She recorded her time that day as 8 sick hours.
  • On April 19, 2012, Pam Bucy attended a Planned Parenthood lunch event. She recorded her time that day as 6.5 regular hours, 1.5 sick hours.
  • On March 22, 2012, Pam Bucy attended a Missoula Wine, Women and Politics event, which ran from 5:30-7:30pm. She recorded her time that day as 4 regular hours, 1 vacation hour, and 3 sick hours.

The event and timecard references can be viewed here.

The state’s official sick leave policy lists specific instances when an employee’s use of sick time is warranted. Those include illness, parental leave, quarantine resulting from exposure to contagious disease, a medical appointment, care for a sick relative, or attending a funeral.

According to the Montana Operations Manual: “Sick leave abuse occurs when an employee uses sick leave for unauthorized purposes or misrepresents the actual reason for charging an absence to sick leave. Sick leave abuse is cause for dismissal.”

“Montana’s taxpayers are paying Pam Bucy nearly $90,000 per year to work at the Department of Labor and Industry, not to campaign for office,” said Bowen Greenwood, Executive Director of the Montana Republican Party. “These revelations of corruption raise serious concerns about Bucy’s ethics as well as her ability to serve as the state’s top law enforcement officer and effectively manage a department of nearly 900 employees,” Greenwood added. “It’s time for a change in Helena. It’s time for an Attorney General who will put responsibilities before politics.”

Pam Bucy’s timesheets were obtained through the Right to Know request from January 2 to July 3 of this year. The May 24, April 19, and March 22 instances raise the question of whether or not improper use of sick leave and state work time continued past July 3 and throughout the campaign.

Source: 
http://www.mtgop.org/index.php/news-center/press-releases/162-pam-bucy-campaigns-on-taxpayers-dime.html

View: 
http://files.smartcommunicator.net/customers/27/Attachments/Bucy%20collage.pdf

Makes a person wonder if she is spending time doing these sort of things maybe that is why she does not know the rate of incarceration rates in her own state.

 She has worked with the Attorney General’s Office.  She drafted the Montana sexual and violent offender act to hold those criminals accountable. Knowing that stiffer penalties would generate more trials, Bucy worked to ensure that local law enforcement had resources for successful prosecutions. She helped lawmakers of both parties assemble resources needed to launch local forensic interview teams that would be trained to talk with child victims in a manner that reduced the stress on the child while gathering evidence needed for convictions.

Read more: 
http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/editorial/gazette-opinion/gazette-opinion-bucy-offers-best-experience-for-attorney-general/article_7fb6606a-ba4a-5819-958d-7c22615035f5.html#ixzz28gHDiv8O

That all sounds fantastic!  But whoa….hold on there…it’s not all okay at the corral. Take a look at these articles concerning these issues. 


  1. http://montanacorruption.org/2012/08/08/can-false-allegations-of-abuse-make-money-how-about-in-montana/

  2. http://montanacorruption.org/2012/02/17/bullock-announces-new-approach-to-protecting-children/

  3. http://montanacorruption.org/2012/02/29/new-definition-of-montana-cowboysex-offenders/

  4. http://montanacorruption.org/2012/01/30/the-montan-exception/

Most Recent Newspaper Articles:


  1. http://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/montana-county-sees-increase-in-child-abuse-cases/article_0d7c99ef-f661-5c37-9f6b-ab088d12a987.html

Officials in Montana’s Lewis and Clark County say the number of child abuse and neglect cases is increasing, and with it, the demand for foster homes.

The Independent Record ( 
http://bit.ly/Qs6h0n
) reports that last year the Lewis and Clark County Attorney’s office dealt with 62 cases of children being removed from their homes _ a 30 percent increase over 2010. County Attorney Leo Gallagher says the trend continues, with 66 cases tallied so far this year.

“It just exploded,” Gallagher said.

The increase is putting strain on advocates, prosecutors and others who work with neglected and abused children, along with foster care families. Nearly 2,000 children statewide are in foster homes, including more than 125 in Lewis and Clark County.


  1. http://www.ktvq.com/news/alleged-montana-child-abuse-under-investigation/

MISSOULA- Two Missoula children are in the custody of Child and Family Services (CFS) after one of them told a school counselor his mother slapped him.  (But the police have added on too that complaint.)


  1. http://www.kaj18.com/news/major-grant-to-combat-child-abuse-on-reservations/

MISSOULA- Children on at least three Montana reservations will soon benefit from a major federal grant.

The National Native Children’s Trauma Center at The University of Montana received a $3.2 million award from the federal Administration for Children and Families to combat child abuse in Indian Country.

“These are not problems that are unique to native groups,” University of Montana National Native Children’s Trauma Center research associate Richard Manning said. “These are problems that’re especially pronounced of high poverty and our reservations in Montana have unemployment rates around 75 or 80 percent. That level of poverty is very hard on children.”


  1. http://www.kxlh.com/news/mt-loophole-allows-child-abuse-to-go-unreported/

Criminal child abuse has been in the national headlines with cases like the Jerry Sandusky allegations in the spotlight.

Meanwhile, in Montana, the Department of Health and Human Services reports an increase in child abuse. However, what might surprise many parents is that not all criminal child abuse cases are reported to law enforcement.

“This is a gaping hole in the communication of a very large important state agency and law enforcement across the state,” said Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito about the state law that does not require the state health department to report information to law enforcement.

They took 1 case from Yellowstone County and are using this as their basis to have access to all “alleged” cases.  Remember…”alleged” and I find it very hard to believe with the very high incarceration rates in Montana that the authorities were not notified.  They were banking on the Jerry Sandusky case at the time of them asking for this new bill at the Law and Justice Committee in February.  Look at the date of the news.  Of course what Jerry Sandusky did was horrendous and he should be in prison.  But they are using him for a calling card. 


  1. http://www.kfbb.com/news/local/Increase-in-Child-Abuse-Cases-Increases-Demand-for-Foster-Homes-172034031.html

By KFBB News Team

Story Created: Sep 30, 2012 at 10:57 PM MDT Story Updated: Sep 30, 2012 at 10:57 PM MDT

Lewis and Clark County officials say the number of child abuse and neglect cases is increasing, causing the demand for foster homes to see an uptick as well.

  1. http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/cfsd/adoption/adoptioninmontana.shtml

Children who are available for adoption through the Child and Family Services Division of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services have been removed from their own families because of abuse, neglect or other family problems that make it unsafe for them to remain at home.  The rights of their parents have been terminated making the children available for adoption.  For more information on Montana’s Waiting Children Photo Listings go to
http://www.adoptuskids.org
.


  1. http://library.adoption.com/articles/definitions-of-child-abuse-and-neglect-montana.html

Montana statutes regarding child abuse and neglect; to include definitions and procedures. … Have you seen the NEW AND IMPROVED Adoption Registry?

I would say that Candidate Pam Bucy for AG did not know the high incarceration rate for Montana in this radio interview or she selectively skimmed over this very hot topic. 


  1. http://montanacorruption.org/2012/08/16/our-guest-politics-montana-with-democratic-candidate-for-ag-pam-bucy/

For Pam Bucy and Steve Bullock decreeing all of these wonderful sounding laws that will generate more trials and stiffer penalties,  let us get down to the nitty gritty of it.  By God’s mercy how many sex offenders and violent Montanan’s do you have?   In a population of a million there will be a certain quota of criminal activity.  But for crying out loud, you can see the handwriting on the wall.  This state is generating revenue by prisons and jails for profit.

We have already shown you documentation and articles of unfair trials for all these extra trials they are generating.  We have shown you where police have even called out the corruption in the law enforcement.  We have shown you how now in office, Attorney General Steve Bullock did not and does not press charges or arrest anyone under his wing or in a state employment affiliation, unless it is a nobody that they need to make an example of that will generate more money, not give them bad press that takes away money.   We have organizations contacting us about the children that are taken out of their homes and even adopted but no charges are ever pressed on “alleged abuse”.   They are making money off of these children by selling them out for adoptions. For the Native Americans we once took their land, now we take their children too? The Native Americans tell us “the white men here in Montana do not listen too us.”  For those that are in prison it is a no win situation. How many children are going to be found in neglect with the unemployment level and poverty level so high?  We have shown you how the mental facilities operate and the money they generate. If you can’t see through all of this by now, I don’t know what it will take until they come after you.  You can only run so long on this with the small population in Montana.

Montana states that the high unemployment rate and poverty causes all of this crime.  Yet, Montana is one of the highest states that receives federal funding for all of these grants for each of these programs, facilities, institutions, welfare.  They don’t want to create jobs where Montanans can come up out of poverty.  They are creating revenue by keeping these state systems in place.   The state employees make higher salaries than the private sector.  Why not?  They don’t want the private sector making more money, that means they can’t as easily push everyone around.  Citizens can start hiring attorney’s that will come back on this corrupted practice.  Don’t believe it? Take a look at who is funding these two candidates.  These attorneys want it all to stay within the house.  

(Funny thing though, these two made up all of these stiffer laws, penalties, trials, convictions, higher incarceration rates, opened the door for major corruption to take place, Board of Pardons and Parole, high return on probationers….yet they did not keep their own sex offender registry up to par….they had offenders that had put their living addresses at Walmart.)


  1. http://montanacorruption.org/2012/07/14/candidates-for-montana-governor-and-for-attorney-general-follow-the-campaign-money/

  2. http://montanacorruption.org/2012/07/03/it-is-official-montana-capitol-is-housing-santa-clause/

These officers made a stand to break the code and expose corruption.


  1. http://montanacorruption.org/2012/07/30/another-montana-corruption-risk-report-card-overall-grade-d/

So, you may not think much about the two recent incidents during this election such as Pam Bucy campaigning on our tax dollars or Steve Bullock rebelliously breaking the debate rules and hiding his notes in the podium at the debate in Helena. But, these two seemingly minor wrongdoings can show an open door to a deeper more sinister level of wrongdoing.  She is the protegé of Steve Bullock.  With a team like this and their history and with no real plan but their plan of continuing  job growth in the Department of Justice field.  Montana citizens that do not work for their team or in the government should be very scared.

This is not a matter of party affiliation, it matters about their history, their records, their beliefs, their prison mentality. Those that are Republican, those that are Democrat with corrupt practices, we call them out.   You cannot put all of Montanans in prison……or you should just build a wall around Montana.   Those in office now say they are only helping to protect the children of Montana, ….but the proof says otherwise.  Do you know how many Montana children are going through Juvenile Prisons? You now have seen the number of increasing children going into the state system…where it has just “exploded” with an increasing need for foster homes while they adopt these children out. Montana…..please listen….you have fellow Montanans already dealing with this nightmare.  This is something that you need to be concerned about.  Yes, we do have a great need for all of these type programs but not on this scale and magnitude.  It is time for change and only you Montana have the power to do that! 

Categories: Montana Politics, MT DPHHS/DOJ | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Only 8 Months And 30,000 Hits, Thank You Viewers

State Officials Surprised How Fast The Wildfire Is Spreading

Thank you for the support in making this blog a success so far.  It was only created at the beginning of this year 2012 and in 8 months it is growing rapidly.   Montanans are standing up to be heard.  We are crisscrossing the state and around the world.  

Here is the top 15 (of 308) most visited posts, 31 pages

  1. Female Prison Guards Often Behind Sex Misconduct?
  2. Susie & Johnny Sitting In A Tree……………….. K I S S I N G = SEX CRIMINALS
  3. The Incarcerated MT Fireman – Allen Whetstone – Part 1
  4. Civil Rights Cases filed in the Montana District Court
  5. MONTANA LAW CLERK CHARGES JUDGE THEN FILES FOR JUDGES JOB
  6. Montana’s Dirty Sex Secret
  7. Barry Beach Of Montana Awaiting New Trial And NBC Dateline
  8. Teaching Sex Acts To 11 Year Old Children In School, Could This Be A Setup For A Future Generation Of Inmates?
  9. Montana Parole Board And Pardons
  10. Press Release From ACLU About Inmate In MDOC
  11. Gloria Wells – Ex-Inmate With Complaints
  12. Montana State Prison: Female Prison Guards Fired For Sexual Misconduct
  13. New Definition Of Montana Cowboy=Sex Offenders?
  14. INMATES FIGHT AT MONTANA STATE PRISON
  15. Testimonies Of The Incarcerated Versus Montana Correctional Signpost

30,059 views as of 9/26/2012

958 views on busiest day

Thank you for all the comments and being actively supportive. What started out as just a message of enlightenment has transpired into a solid wall of citizens and organizations across Montana to fight for Integrity and Justice.  We have only just begun! 

30000

Categories: MT Speaks Up | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Montana Innocence Project Appealing Life Sentence

Montana Innocence Project appealing Trout Creek man’s life sentence

September 17, 2012 7:15 am  •  By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Missoulian

POLSON – For 15 years, Richard Raugust has insisted that he did not commit the murder of his best friend, Joe Tash, whose body was discovered early in the morning of July 24, 1997, inside his camper trailer near Trout Creek. He had apparently been shot in the head in cold blood.

Raugust was arrested several hours later while painting a house nearby. Witnesses described him as “dumbfounded” when police arrived and explained that he was under arrest for the murder of his friend.

The following spring, Raugust’s deliberate homicide case was tried before a Lake County District Court jury, which came to an impasse and remained deadlocked for 10 hours, but eventually returned with a verdict of guilty. Raugust was given a life sentence in the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, where the 46-year-old inmate is still incarcerated.

Now the Montana Innocence Project is appealing Raugust’s conviction, saying that powerful new evidence implicates another killer, and that if Raugust were granted a new trial, a jury would agree.

“In light of these significant showings, it is clear that a jury would likely reach a different conclusion,” according to the group’s petition for post-conviction relief, filed last month in Lake County District Court.

In its petition, the group says the “coercive jury instruction” amounts to a constitutional and procedural error, and merits a new trial.

To Continue Reading: 
http://missoulian.com/news/local/montana-innocence-project-appealing-trout-creek-man-s-life-sentence/article_c7bc860c-0082-11e2-aac5-001a4bcf887a.html

Data Report: More Than 2,000 False Convictions In Past 23 Years They Allot

Over 10,000 Years!

To Read: 
http://montanacorruption.org/2012/05/22/data-report-more-than-2000-false-convictions-in-past-23-years-they-allot-over-10000-years/

Facts on Post-Conviction DNA Exonerations From The Innocence Project

There have been 297 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States.

• The first DNA exoneration took place in 1989. Exonerations have been won in36 states; since 2000, there have been 230 exonerations.

• 17 of the 297 people exonerated through DNA served time on death row. Another 15 were charged with capital crimes but not sentenced to death.

• The average length of time served by exonerees is 13 years. The total number of years served is approximately 3,944.

• The average age of exonerees at the time of their wrongful convictions was 27.

Races of the 297 exonerees:

186 African Americans
84 Caucasians
21 Latinos
2 Asian American
4 whose race is unknown

• The true suspects and/or perpetrators have been identified in 146 of the DNA exoneration cases.

• Since 1989, there have been tens of thousands of cases where prime suspects were identified and pursued—until DNA testing (prior to conviction) proved that they were wrongly accused.

• In more than 25 percent of cases in a National Institute of Justice study, suspects were excluded once DNA testing was conducted during the criminal investigation (the study, conducted in 1995, included 10,060 cases where testing was performed by FBI labs).

• 60 percent of the people exonerated through DNA testing have been financially compensated. 27 states, the federal government, and the District of Columbia have passed laws to compensate people who were wrongfully incarcerated. Awards under these statutes vary from state to state.

• An Innocence Project review of our closed cases from 2004 – 2010 revealed that 22 percent of cases were closed because of lost or destroyed evidence.

According to The Innocence Project these are the causes that can lead to a wrongful conviction.

Eyewitness Misidentification

Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in nearly 75% of convictions overturned through DNA testing.

While eyewitness testimony can be persuasive evidence before a judge or jury, 30 years of strong social science research has proven that eyewitness identification is often unreliable. Research shows that the human mind is not like a tape recorder; we neither record events exactly as we see them, nor recall them like a tape that has been rewound. Instead, witness memory is like any other evidence at a crime scene; it must be preserved carefully and retrieved methodically, or it can be contaminated.

Unreliable or Improper Forensic Science

Since the late 1980s, DNA analysis has helped identify the guilty and exonerate the innocent nationwide. While DNA testing was developed through extensive scientific research at top academic centers, many other forensic techniques — such as hair microscopy, bite mark comparisons, firearm tool mark analysis and shoe print comparisons — have never been subjected to rigorous scientific evaluation. Meanwhile, forensics techniques that have been properly validated — such as serology, commonly known as blood typing — are sometimes improperly conducted or inaccurately conveyed in trial testimony. In some cases, forensic analysts have fabricated results or engaged in other misconduct.

False Confessions

In about 25% of DNA exoneration cases, innocent defendants made incriminating statements, delivered outright confessions or pled guilty.

These cases show that confessions are not always prompted by internal knowledge or actual guilt, but are sometimes motivated by external influences.

False Confessions & Recording Of Custodial Interrogations

 

How could someone confess to a crime one didn’t commit?
Over 25 percent of the more than 290 wrongful convictions overturned by DNA evidence in the U.S. have involved some form of a false confession. Yet it’s virtually impossible to fathom why a person would wrongly confess to a crime he or she did not commit. Researchers who study this phenomenon have determined that the following factors contribute to or cause false confessions:

• Real or perceived intimidation of the suspect by law enforcement

• Use of force by law enforcement during the interrogation, or perceived threat of force

• Compromised reasoning ability of the suspect, due to exhaustion, stress, hunger, substance use, and, in some cases, mental limitations, or limited education

• Devious interrogation techniques, such as untrue statements about the presence of incriminating evidence

• Fear, on the part of the suspect, that failure to confess will yield a harsher punishment

How to prevent “false confessions” from leading to wrongful convictions

• The entire interrogation – during the time in which a reasonable person in the subject’s position would consider himself to be in custody and a law enforcement officer’s questioning is likely to elicit incriminating responses – should be electronically recorded. This is simply the only way to create an objective record of what transpired during the course of the interrogation process.

• In cases where law enforcement failed to make a recording, at minimum, a mandatory instruction should be given to the jury, directing them to disregard the confession if they believe it was coerced. Ideally, the judge should suppress “confessions” that were not recorded or improperly recorded so that they are not heard by jurors.

The practice of recording of interrogations can be implemented in one of three ways:

• Via legislation

• By action of the highest court in a particular jurisdiction

• Through adoption of policies by individual police departments

An important note about videotaping interrogations is that it is only a reform when the videocamera is either focused upon both the interrogator and the suspect or when focused solely upon the interrogator. Research indicates that when the videocamera is fixed only upon the suspect, the problem of false confession is exacerbated, prompting jurors to disregard the appearance of the interrogator and conclude that the confession was given freely.

Do states legislate the electronic recording of interrogations?
To date, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia have enacted legislation requiring the recording of custodial interrogations. State supreme courts have taken action in Alaska, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire and New Jersey. Approximately 840 jurisdictions have voluntarily adopted recording policies.

Electronic Recording of Interrogations: A Boon to Both the Innocent and to Law Enforcement
The mandated electronic recording of the entire interrogation process protects the innocent, ensures the admissibility of legitimate confessions, and helps law enforcement defend against allegations of coercion.

Electronic Recording of Interrogations helps the innocent by:

• Creating a record of the entire interrogation, including the interaction leading up to the confession;

• Ensuring that the suspect’s rights are protected in the interrogation process;

• Creating a deterrent against improper or coercive techniques that might be employed absent the presence of a recording device.

Electronic Recording of Interrogations assists law enforcement by:

• Preventing disputes about how an officer conducted himself or treated a suspect;

• Creating a record of statements made by the suspect, making it difficult for a defendant to change an account of events originally provided to law enforcement;

• Permitting officers to concentrate on the interview, rather than being distracted by copious note-taking during the course of the interrogation;

• Capturing subtle details that may be lost if unrecorded, which helps law enforcement better investigate the crime; and

• Enhancing public confidence in law enforcement, while reducing the number of citizen complaints against the police.

Case in Point: Chris Ochoa, Texas Exoneree
In 1988, a woman was raped and murdered at an Austin, Texas Pizza Hut restaurant where she worked. Based on a hunch that the crime was committed by a Pizza Hut employee with a master key, police began questioning employees of the chain restaurant. Chris Ochoa and his roommate, Richard Danziger, worked at a different Austin area Pizza Hut, but became the main suspects when they were observed drinking beer and appearing to toast the victim. Mr. Ochoa and Mr. Danziger were subsequently convicted of the crime. Both convictions grew out of a false confession by Mr. Ochoa. It was later discovered that his confession was coerced and that interrogators had threatened him with the death penalty. Years after their convictions, letters detailing the crime were sent to the police, to then-Governor George W. Bush’s office, and the District Attorney’s Office. The author of the letters, Achim Marino, had apparently undergone a religious conversion while in prison on three other convictions, and felt obligated to confess to the Pizza Hut rape/murder. The DNA evidence from the original crime scene was retested. It exculpated both Mr. Ochoa and Mr. Danziger, while implicating Mr. Marino. Had Mr. Ochoa’s initial “confession” been taped, jurors, at the subsequent trial, would have had an opportunity to assess the circumstances under which his confession was made.

Government Misconduct

Some wrongful convictions are caused by honest mistakes. But in far too many cases, the very people who are responsible for ensuring truth and justice — law enforcement officials and prosecutors — lose sight of these obligations and instead focus solely on securing convictions.

The cases of wrongful convictions uncovered by DNA testing are filled with evidence of negligence, fraud or misconduct by prosecutors or police departments.

Informants

In more than 15% of wrongful conviction cases overturned through DNA testing, an informant testified against the defendant at the original trial. Often, statements from people with incentives to testify — particularly incentives that are not disclosed to the jury — are the central evidence in convicting an innocent person.

Bad Lawyering

The resources of the justice system are often stacked against poor defendants. Matters only become worse when a person is represented by an ineffective, incompetent or overburdened defense lawyer. The failure of overworked lawyers to investigate, call witnesses or prepare for trial has led to the conviction of innocent people. When a defense lawyer doesn’t do his or her job, the defendant suffers. Shrinking funding and access to resources for public defenders and court-appointed attorneys is only making the problem worse.

  • It is the only moral thing to do with the high incarceration rates in the United States that we look into these cases.  There are over 2.3 million inmates and over 7 million within our DOC system.  Something is not right America.   We cannot continue to use people as a money making machine by locking up citizens that do not belong there. 
Categories: The Innocent | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Oprah Winfrey Shares Labeled For Life – Sex Offender – Falsely Accused?

Labeled for Life: Missing Memories – Our America with Lisa LingOprah Winfrey Network

Travis spent 16 years in prison for a sexual crime that he denies ever having committed. Now, Lisa Ling visits Jamie who was present the night of the incident to try and shed some light on what really went on that night.

Comments From This TV Show: 

  1. This show made me cry. I don’t know what happened but I have a strong feeling this young boy did not commit this crime. This should be reviewed. Something MUST be done. How can a 16 year old go before the courts and pled guilty w/o a trial. I think that, because of his age a trial should have taken place. There were more people stating he didn’t do it than there were people claiming he did! Look at what his mother has been through no parent deserves to go through this. Shame on Austins courts.
  2. This is sadly more common that we know.The rush to throw “someone” in jail, shoddy, lazy police work and of course often just lies.
  3. A lot of people don’t know a lot of things about sex offenders. There is kids on the list, bums, and many more crazy reasons. All a female gotta do is say he touched me and a female can say so and so touched me 20 yrs ago and the guy can be put in jail. Everyone think as soon as they hear sex offender they think some guy hurt a young child, but not all on the list is on it for this reason. And once your charged with it then your labeled for life. Can’t judge a book by what it’s named.
  4. My mom told me this story even before it got to the Oprah show. Travis has a history of Terret’s (sp?) syndrome, and erratic behavior. My mom is a good friend of Travis’ grandmother, and although some of the details are sketchy, it appears as if Travis got tossed into prison for “accidentally” touching the outer part of a young girl’s shirt. He wasn’t molesting her, as they made it seem to be. These people who got interviewed here are obviously covering up a terrible injustice.
  5. Travis was 17 at the time of the offense. In Texas, for criminal purposes, a person is considered an adult at 17. The transcript of the police “interview” shows Travis’ mom was present at the time of the “interview” but was instructed to stay out of it by the officer doing the questioning. The court appointed lawyer told her the same thing. Pretty horrifying when you think of it. At 17 you can’t vote, buy cigarettes, spray paint, join the military sign, a business contract, etc.
  6. The people interviewed were teenagers who were present at the time of the alleged incident or parents.. The police officer that questioned Travis told Travis they had already talked to all of the parents and the kids that were present that day. The police told Travis they already knew what he did because they had talked to them. However, none of them were contacted by the police and didn’t know what had happened to Travis. They were shocked to learn the fate of Travis.
  7. It is a case of gross injustice. It has been horrible for Diane and her entire family. Travis was accused, lied to, coaxed into confessing, arrested, held in county jail until his court appointed lawyer talked him into a plea by telling Travis if he would take a plea he would get probation and could get out of jail.
  8. I wish there had been more time for Lisa Ling to include all the details on Travis case from the time he was accused to the time he was revoked and sentenced to 20 years. UNREAL
  9. You forgot to mention EXTORTION. Diane was forced to pay thousands of dollars to inmates who threatened to kill Travis if she didn’t pay. She was afraid NOT to pay them.

Diane’s Letters – Our America with Lisa Ling – Oprah Winfrey Network

A Normal Person Again – Our America with Lisa Ling – Oprah Winfrey Network OWN Subscribe

Martin shares how his family has coped with his name on the Sex Offender Registry and what their hopes are now that he’s been removed.

To Watch The Full Shows Go To Oprah Winfrey Network

More and more people are becoming aware that there is a major problem in our prison industry.  There are too many that are indeed innocent.  There are too many being falsely accused.  There are those that are being labeled that should not be labeled and should not be in prison.  Montana wake up – we have it running rampant here in our state. That is the common line that prosecuting attorneys use – He/She pled guilty.  Although only 5% go to trial.  Attorneys have found a neat little way to tie something up.  Threaten not to have a fair trial and then use the plea bargain and it does not matter to them if the person is innocent or guilty.  They don’t have to prove anything as far as someone’s guilt. Sure there are criminals, but this is also a nice way to just slide innocents through too. Makes money and it’s another notch on their belt. 

Categories: Television, The Innocent | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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