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Newsbrief:
Oakland
Rogue
Cops
Go
on
Trial
5/31/02
In October 2000, DRCNet wrote
about "the Riders," four Oakland Police Department officers suspended from
their jobs after credible and repeated allegations that they beat defendants,
planted drugs and perjured themselves in court (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/157.html#oakland).
The reverberations from the Riders' rampage through West Oakland have since
then poisoned relations between the Oakland PD and the city's minority
communities and wreaked havoc with drug cases. Charges have already
been dismissed in more than 70 cases in which the Riders were involved,
and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office is reviewing 300 to 400
more. And the city has been hit with 16 civil rights lawsuits with
117 plaintiffs so far; in February the city paid out $195,000 to a man
falsely arrested and imprisoned on crack cocaine possession charges by
the Riders.
Beginning on Tuesday, three
of the four Riders went on trial facing a 31-count criminal indictment
with charges ranging from kidnapping to assault. Clarence Mabang,
36, Jude Siapno, 33, and Matthew Hornung, 30, all face decades in prison
if found guilty. The fourth Rider, Francisco Vasques, has disappeared
and is believed to have fled to Mexico.
The rookie cop who blew the
whistle on the Riders, Keith Batt, resigned from the Oakland PD and is
now suing the city for lost pay, missed career opportunities, humiliation
and mental anguish as a result of his decision to go to supervisors with
his misgivings.
-- END --
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Issue #239, 5/31/02
Editorial: Skating on the Edge of Propriety | New DRCNet/StopTheDrugWar.org Merchandise Out -- Discounted Purchase Available | DEA Forges Alliance With Women Legislators Group to Wage War on Club Drugs, Terror | DEA Raids Another California Medical Marijuana Dispensary Even as Advocates Gear Up for Day of Action Next Friday | FBI Ends Drug War Role to Concentrate on Terror War | Western Australia to Cite, Not Arrest, Marijuana Users Under State Government Plan | National Drug Intelligence Center Gives Partial Response to DRCNet FOIA Request on "Drug Menace" Web Sites | Report Charges Taft Administration Subverts Election in Ohio, Allies with PDFA and CADCA in Effort to Defeat Initiative | Newsbrief: Seven Up Pulls "Prison Rape" Commercial Under Threat of Boycott | Newsbrief: Feds Use RICO Against Virginia Oxycontin Doctor | Newsbrief: US 9th Circuit Rules Religious Marijuana Use on Federal Lands Okay | Newsbrief: Cannabis Cafe Vows to Open in England, Another in Scotland | Newsbrief: Tennessee Town Pays for Drug Raid Killing | Newsbrief: Oakland Rogue Cops Go on Trial | Newsbrief: Will Foster Arrested on Minor Parole Violation in California, May Face Return to Oklahoma Prison | Newsbrief: Swaziland Row Over Rasta Royals | Newsbrief: Marijuana Advocate Sues Over Hawaii Aerial Eradication Program | Newsbrief: Ed Thompson Does Weedstock, Says Legalize It | Newsbrief: British Magazine "The New Statesman" Calls for Drug Legalization | Newsbrief: Weird Scenes Inside the Pretoria Ford Plant | The Reformer's Calendar
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