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 Editorial: Citizens Pay a High Price for Misconduct by Officials 12/05/00 - by Linn Washington Jr. - Philadelphia Tribune PHILADELPHIA -- Good thing that a lot of public attention is focused on the Eagles heading for the playoffs, the Sixers' sizzling start to their season and th wrangling over building new pro-sports stadiums in Philadelphia. This attention on sports team successes is taking public focus off the losing record of Philadelphia police and prosecutors for the sorry games they've played against protesters arrested during the GOP Convention related demonstrations this summer. Philly's top police and prosecutors preened in the wake of snatching over 400 protesters off city streets during the early days of the GOP Convention. Authorities proclaimed their success in maintaining order, vehemently denying any misconduct in accomplishing this goal while pledging heavy punishments for arrested members of the unruly mob. However, the highly touted 'air-tight' cases against arrested demonstrators trumpeted by officials a few months ago have suffocated. Prosecutors have withdrawn numerous high-profile cases and judges have dismissed scores of other cases, all for the same reason-- a serious lack of evidence. The so-called solid evidence used to arrest and charge protesters has proven insufficient for guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This embarrassing defeat by Philly police and prosecutors is comparable to a sports team squandering a lead. Included in this defeat is millions of taxpayer dollars squandered through ineptness by City Hall. Given the number of faulty arrests made by police during the GOP protests, apparently much of the millions City Hall spent on Police Department salaries for Convention related activities was misused. Additionally, these faulty arrests, approved by overzealous prosecutors, ate hundreds of thousands in court and prison costs... all coming out of tax coffers. Lawsuits for civil rights violations are inevitable given the growing number of cases where prosecutors withdraw charges or judges dismiss charges. Costs for these civil rights lawsuits, from litigation to big figure settlements and/or jury verdicts, will add millions onto the city's mounting price tag for trying to crush constitutionally protected dissent. This embarrassing defeat by Philly police and prosecutors raises disquieting questions about procedures, policies, and prejudice. Yet, despite the high costs of these failures-- fiscally and politically-- these disquieting questions are receiving too little attention during the post-mortem of the outrageous misconduct by local law enforcement. Yes, it is appropriate to examine charges of local authorities using excessive force and abusing procedures like imposing extraordinarily high bails for lowly offenses. Yes, it is appropriate to examine the arrogant refusal of authorities to explain why they charged scores of people arrested inside of a puppet making facility in West Philadelphia with the crime of obstructing a highway. Since police arrested folks inside the building, how could they 'obstruct a highway' located outside of that building. This curious charge gives credence to the claim that police deliberately disrupted demonstrations by arresting protesters for phony crimes. Yes, it is appropriate to examine what happened to the sinister crimes authorities implied when they arrested one protest leader, John Sellers, slapping him with fourteen charges and $1 million bail. The fact that prosecutors withdrew all charges against Sellers gives credibility to the claim that his arrest and days in jail was a naked preventive detention to disrupt protests his group planned. It's certainly appropriate to examine why authorities arrested anti-GOP demonstrators for blocking an intersection in Center City on the same day that authorities allowed anti-Mumia Abu-Jamal demonstrators to block intersections in South Philadelphia. A local judge dismissed charges against the anti-GOP demonstrators after ruling that authorities improperly prosecuted anti-GOPers for blocking an intersection while not prosecuting the anti-Abu-Jamalers. Unexamined so far in this embarrassing fiasco are disquieting questions involving costly procedures regularly pursued by prosecutors. For example, Philly prosecutors are mounting an appeal in the tragic Miriam White case, in part to solidify their right to reject requests from defendants to plead guilty instead of facing a trial. If successful, this will drive up court costs by forcing jury trials on defendants who want to plead guilty. Another disquieting question involves prejudice. If police and prosecutors fouled up so badly with protesters, how reliable are their actions in other cases? When non-whites claim innocence, prosecutors rarely drop charges for lack of evidence and judges rarely disbelieve police despite contradictory testimony. A Puerto Rican man named Jose Antonio Carmona Jr. says he is serving a life sentence based solely on flawed testimony from a Philadelphia policeman. The policeman testified to seeing Carmona sell drugs. The policeman said he made this observation while standing inside of an abandoned house. After his conviction, Carmona found proof that an elderly woman lived in the house. She never have police permission to enter her home to "conduct any surveillance." A judge dismissed Carmona's appeal saying the policeman "may" have entered the house without the woman seeing him. This judge accepted the policeman's testimony of entering this 'abandoned' house through a rear door while rejecting the owner's testimony that this door was sealed and couldn't be opened. "Imagine if just one percent of the two million people currently incarcerated in this country's prisons are innocent. Then this means that we have 20,000 people that are languishing in prison," Carmona stated in a letter sent to local elected officials. Most of those arrested this summer were protesting against abuses in America's so-called justice system. Finally, there is a big policy question-- will officials be held accountable for this costly and embarrassing fiasco? - Linn Washington Jr. is an award-winning writer who teaches journalism at Temple University. |
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