We don’t have all the details on this case (have not followed from outset) but we are getting swamped with predictive information claiming all hell is about to break loose in Chicago.  Reportedly a video shows a white police officer shooting a black suspect under arrest – Police have been very sketchy.

(Via Reuters) A white Chicago policeman was charged on Tuesday with murdering a black teenager, a prosecution that was speeded up in hopes of staving off a fresh burst of the turmoil over race and police use of deadly force that has shaken the United States for more than a year.

Officer Jason Van Dyke, 37, was denied bail at a hearing in Chicago’s main criminal courthouse hours after top Cook County prosecutor Anita Alvarez announced charges of first-degree murder. If convicted, Van Dyke could face 20 years to life in prison. (more…)

It does not go unnoticed the national media is silent on this shooting/murder.  Six-year-old killed, his father critically wounded as police opened fire shooting into their vehicle 18 times.  The victims were unarmed.  The little boy died in his seat, still buckled. State police say body camera footage: “one of the most disturbing scenes I have seen” .  

LOUISIANA – Three days after a 6-year-old boy was shot and killed by officers in a barrage of gunfire that also critically wounded the child’s father, authorities late Friday night arrested two of the four officers involved on one count each of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.

Local deputy marshals Lt. Derrick Stafford, 32, and Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23, were on the scene when officers fired at least 18 rounds at an unarmed man and his son Tuesday night in Marksville, authorities said, after cornering the driver for unknown reasons following a chase.

State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson, who announced the arrests late Friday night as part of his agency’s investigation of the shooting, said of body camera footage of the incident: “It is one of the most disturbing scenes I have seen.” (more…)

Summary:  A black female student at Spring Valley High School was being disruptive in class.  The student refused to leave after a teacher asked her to. A School administrator, also black, was called to the room, and also asked the student to leave, and she refused again. Finally, the school resource police officer (white guy) was called to the room.  The officer requested compliance the student refused twice.  The officer forcibly removed the student and placed her under arrest.

The BGI narrative began almost immediately – Richland County, SC (WLTX) – A Richland County school resource officer has been placed on administrative duty following an incident at a local high school that was captured on video and circulated on social media sites across the nation.

Lt. Curtis Wilson with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said Monday night that Deputy Ben Fields will not be back at any school pending the results of an investigation. (more…)

Interesting news blurb update amid an otherwise memory-holed story now almost six months old.

TEXAS – […] Of the 135 people originally ordered to wear GPS ankle monitors, all but 22 have been allowed to remove them, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported Sunday. Their lawyers have reached agreements with prosecutors to modify the conditions of their pre-trial release.

After initially locking up more than 170 people in connection with the May 17 incident outside Twin Peaks restaurant, McLennan County prosecutors have not charged anyone with the shooting deaths of nine people. At least 20 others were hurt. (more…)

Porter was the only one not to attend the hearing.  It appears Marilyn Mosby is leveraging Porter against the other five defendants; perhaps that explains Porter’s absence in court.

(Via Baltimore Sun) The six Baltimore police officers charged in Freddie Gray’s arrest and death will be tried separately over the course of the next several months, with proceedings against Officer William G. Porter starting Nov. 30.
The new timeline, which pushes the trials back from a previously scheduled date of Oct. 13, was established during a hearing in Circuit Court on Tuesday afternoon, where five of the six officers appeared before Judge Barry Williams for the first time. Porter waived his right to attend the hearing.
[…] The delay in Porter’s trial came at the request of the defense which said it needed time for further investigation. The delays in the five other officers’ trials came at the request of the state and was granted by Williams over the objections of the officers’ attorneys. (more…)

I originally thought we had posted a story back in July about the initial incident, but I cannot locate it. The general short version was a man being arrested after a concert. As paramedics responded to an emergency call, there’s video of him being placed face down on a gurney, as he yelled he couldn’t breathe. He was hog-tied with his hands and legs behind him. His wife witnessed him being loaded into an ambulance. She was told upon arrival at the hospital he was dead. 
The entire story was sketchy from the outset.  Now the autopsy…
SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (FOX13) – After attending a concert on July 18, Troy Goode was arrested. He was hogtied by Southaven police and later died at Baptist Memorial Hospital.
His family has been hoping an autopsy report would shed some light as to why Troy died that night. But after receiving that document, questions remain unanswered.
“What really stands out to us is that there is not really a cause of death on there.” Kevin McCormack, the Goode family attorney, told FOX13. “There’s no finding of any toxicology. There’s not any findings of any abnormal heart condition, which makes sense because we know that Troy was a healthy 30-year-old man.” (more…)

Reporter Andrew Knapp attended the first pre-trial hearing today.  He filed the following reports:

UPDATE: Defense argued that Walter Scott got on Slager during a struggle and pummeled him. Attorney Andy Savage said Michael Slager looks forward to clearing his name. Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson, though, said Slager became executioner and planted evidence, lying to make it look like self-defense.
UPDATE: Michael Slager bond hearing is over. No decision by the judge in impassioned, emotional three-hour hearing for Michael Slager, the former North Charleston policeman charged with murder in Walter Scott’s shooting death. (more…)

Activist Judge Barry Williams gave activist Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby a big assist in her goal to convict six Baltimore police officers.  Williams ruled against a venue change motion while saying there’s no evidence they will be unable to seat an impartial jury.
The pre-trial hearings continue this afternoon.

(Via Baltimore Sun) A Baltimore Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday morning that the trials of six police officers charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray will stay in Baltimore, saying the defense had failed to prove that the officers cannot receive a fair trial in the city.

“The citizens of Baltimore are not monolithic,” Judge Barry Williams said in his ruling. “They think for themselves.”

(more…)

Keep in mind:  ♦ no wrongdoing has ever been found;  ♦ Marilyn Mosby’s private attorney is the same attorney as Freddie Gray’s family;  ♦ The Gray family never filed a lawsuit, so this is not a “settlement” per se’;  ♦ The possibility of any police wrongful conduct being found during trial is quite probably nil; ♦ The maximum payout under Maryland state law, if lawsuit filed – and if police misconduct could be identified, would have been $400k.

UPDATE:  The nine-page agreement, obtained Wednesday by The Baltimore Sun, shows that Gray’s mother, Gloria Darden, will receive $5.36 million. Gray’s father, Freddie Gray Sr., will receive $640,000. The remainder, $400,000, will be paid to the “Estate of Freddie Gray Jr.”
The city agrees to pay $1.8 million within 15 days, to be divided proportionately among the parities, according to the document. Another $1 million must be paid by Nov. 1.
The remaining $3.6 million will be paid out in the next fiscal year. (link)
(more…)

Mosby is a very lucky State Attorney. Maryland state law prohibits cameras and recording devices in court rooms. Her ineptitude, and the weakness behind the false construct of her case, will be masked without sunlight. Unfortunately, we are going to have to rely on reporters and media accounts for details.

Update 6:00pm – SEPARATE TRIALS – A judge on Wednesday ordered that six Baltimore Police officers charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray be tried separately.
The ruling was one of three that Judge Barry Williams handed down during the first pre-trial motions hearing in the case. Williams earlier denied defense motions to dismiss charges against the officers and to recuse State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby’s office from the case.
Prosecutors sought to have the six officers tried in groups, while defense attorneys had argued their clients should be tried separately.  Williams said trying the officers together would not be “in the interest of justice.”  (link) (more…)