Friday, July 31, 2015

Firefighter Killed In California Wildfire

The firefighter died as blazes scorched vast sections of wildlands across the West, officials said Friday.

Firefighters spray a hose at a fire along Morgan Valley Road near Lower Lake, California, Friday.

Jeff Chiu / AP

A firefighter died while battling a blaze near Adin, California, officials reported Friday.

The firefighter — identified as David Ruhl of Rapid City, South Dakota — died while battling the Frog Fire, which as of Friday evening had grown to more than 800 acres in far northern California. Searchers found Ruhl's body Friday morning after he went missing the day before.

"This loss of life is tragic and heartbreaking," Forest Supervisor Amanda McAdams said in a statement.

Wildfires have wrecked havoc in California this week, destroying several homes and prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency.

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The Texas Trooper Who Arrested Sandra Bland Was Previously Disciplined

Trooper Brian Encinia was disciplined for “unprofessional conduct” in the fall of 2014, according to records obtained by the Associated Press on Friday.

Dashcam video shows Texas Trooper Brian Encinia arresting Sandra Bland on July 10.

Andy Alfaro / AP

The Texas State Trooper who stopped, then arrested, Sandra Bland was disciplined for "unprofessional behavior" in 2014.

Trooper Brian Encinia's personnel file, which the Associated Press obtained Friday via a public records request, shows that he was given "a written counseling" for an incident that happened at an Austin school. The incident is mentioned in an evaluation that covered September and October of 2014.

"In the future, Trooper Encinia should conduct himself at all times in a manner that will reflect well upon himself, the Department, and the State of Texas," the evaluation states. "This supervisor will ensure that this is done by meeting periodically with Trooper Encinia."

The file obtained by the AP does not provide more detail about the incident, nor does it list a specific date.

In another incident, Encinia is described as having "performed effectively and rationally while involved in a pursuit resulting in a firearms discharge during the reporting period." Additional details about that pursuit also were not included in the newly-released documents.

The AP characterized other parts of Encinia's personnel file as "unremarkable," and as comprised of mostly "competent" ratings.

Sandra Bland

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Man Allegedly Shoots Neighbor To Death, Runs Her Over With Lawn Mower

19 Action News / Via 19actionnews.com

An Ohio man is suspected of fatally shooting his neighbor in the face before running her over with a push mower because he was fed up with her nighttime lawn trimming.

Huron County sheriff's officials say James Blair, 50, shot his neighbor Linda Ciotto, 62, in the face at close range, the Associated Press reported. Investigators believe a severe wound to her left arm and hand was caused by a mower blade.

Blair has been charged with murder and is being held in lieu of $1 million bail in the shooting. His mother, Billie Hinkle, 73, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of tampering with evidence after allegedly carrying the gun away from the scene.

Authorities said Hinkle's statements about the gun’s location were inconsistent. Investigators later found the firearm inside a bag in her possession.

Ciotto was shot around 9 p.m. Tuesday in a township outside Willard, a city about 80 miles southwest of Cleveland, but police weren't called to scene for about two hours.

Blair was arrested after a six-hour standoff with deputies, coming out only after tear gas canisters were fired into the house, which he shares with his mother.



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Federal Judge Blocks Anti-Abortion Group From Releasing More Recordings

Sue Ogrocki / AP

A federal judge on Friday blocked Center for Medical Progress from releasing more secret recordings made during meetings with abortion providers. Previous videos released by the anti-abortion group showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the use of fetuses for research have sparked a wave of negative publicity.

The temporary restraining order was issued by Judge William Orrick in San Francisco, just hours after the National Abortion Federation made the request in federal court, the Associated Press reported.

In the three-page order, Orrick stated that Planned Parenthood would suffer irreparable injury without the temporary action, according to the AP.

The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) has released four videos of it members posing as biotech reps in meeting with Planned Parenthood officials as they discuss the sale and pricing of tissue from aborted fetuses as members.

Planned Parenthood officials have strongly denied CMP claims that it profits from the sale of the tissue.

Attorneys for the National Abortion Federation argued further release of video or audio could put providers in danger.

The federal restraining order came just three days after another temporary restraining order was granted by a Los Angeles County judge, preventing CMP from releasing any videos recorded with a California biotech company that actually does purchase tissue from Planned Parenthood.

The videos, which Planned Parenthood officials have described as heavily edited and misleading, have had significant reverberations across the country.

The governors of Louisiana and Texas have announced investigations into Planned Parenthood since the footage was released.

Meanwhile, California Attorney General Kamala Harris said her office would investigate whether Center for Medical Progress violated any laws in making the secret recordings.

LINK: California Planned Parenthood Centers Don't Profit From Providing Fetal Tissue, Contractor Says

LINK: Texas and Louisiana Investigate Planned Parenthood After Undercover Videos Emerge

LINK: The Real Story Behind That Video Of An Abortion Doctor Discussing Harvesting Organs

LINK: Attorney General Of California To Review Organization Behind Planned Parenthood Videos




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White House Briefly Locked Down After Woman Tries To Jump The Fence

Secret Service agents quickly arrested the woman Friday before she made it onto White House grounds and the lockdown was lifted.

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The White House was briefly placed on lockdown Friday evening after a woman jumped over a barricade in front of the main fence.

The incident happened shortly after 7 p.m., according to WUSA, and the woman was quickly apprehended by Secret Service personnel.

The lockdown reportedly ended soon afterward, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller tweeted.


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Baltimore Sees Deadliest Month In 43 Years

Patrick Semansky / AP

July was the deadliest month Baltimore has seen in more than 43 years.

The city's rate of homicide and other crimes have spiked in the three months following days of rioting and unrest in response to the death of Freddie Gray, who died as a result of injuries he suffered while in police custody. Six officers in the department have been indicted in his death.

Baltimore police crime statistics show the number of homicides have been significantly higher than last year. In May, 42 homicides were recorded in the city, but that number increased to 45 in July — the highest number of killings on the streets of Baltimore since August 1972, according to The Baltimore Sun.

The city has struggled to recover from the unrest that erupted in the wake of Gray's death, but the number of people killed has been especially troubling for the city's top officials, prompting then-Police Commissioner Anthony Batts to seek federal help.

Interim Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Kevin Davis.

Patrick Semansky / AP

"We understand fully the concern over the recent violence," Batts said at the time. "Nothing is more important than the sanctity of human life within this city."

Data showed arrests in the city were also dropping, leading to speculation that officers were staging a "slowdown."

Batt's efforts, however, would be short-lived.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fired Batts earlier this month, citing concerns that his leadership was distracting from efforts to curb crime.

"Too many continue to die on our streets," Rawlings-Blake said then. "Families are tired of dealing with this pain, and so am I."

That same day, Rawlings-Blake named Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Davis as interim commissioner for the department.

Davis and the department now face a rash of shootings that police officials have said may be linked to the looting of several pharmacies throughout the cities, leading to surge of drugs on the streets and turf battles between gangs.

Crime data show 29 people were killed in June. In May, 42 homicides were reported, 19 more than in May 2014.

So far this year, according to department statistics, there have been 189 homicides - 70 more killings when compared to the same period last year.

LINK: Baltimore Mayor Fires Police Commissioner

LINK: Meet Baltimore's New Top Cop Tasked With Stopping A Surge In Violence

LINK: Baltimore Police Commissioner Seeks Federal Help To Fight Crime Wave

LINK: Arrests In Baltimore Plunge Even As The Murder Rate Soars




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Charleston Church Shooter Wants To Plead Guilty, His Attorney Says

Dylann Roof appears at a court hearing in Charleston, S.C., on Thursday, July 16, 2015.

Grace Beahm / AP

Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old accused of shooting nine parishioners to death in a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, wants to plead guilty, his attorney told a judge in court Friday.

Roof faces 33 murder and hate crime related charges in connection with the June 17 shooting that shocked the nation.

During a court hearing Friday, Roof's attorney, David Bruck, said his client told him he wants to plead guilty to the charges, the Associated Press reported. But Bruck added he could not advise his client without first knowing if prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

"Mr. Roof has told us that he wishes to plead guilty," Bruck said in court, according to the AP. "Until we know whether the government will be seeking the death penalty, we are not able to advise Mr. Roof."

According to court records, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bristow Merchant then entered a not guilty plea for Roof.

Roof is accused of attending a bible study at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17 and opening fire, killing nine, including state senator and pastor Clementa Pinckney.

A website that appeared to belong to Roof contained a white supremacist manifesto and expressed hatred toward African Americans, Jews, and Latinos.

Eighteen of the 33 charges filed against Roof could make him eligible for the death penalty, though prosecutors have not said whether they would pursue that punishment.

A pre-trial hearing was set for Aug. 20.

LINK: Dylann Roof Charged With Federal Hate Crimes in Charleston Church Shooting




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Judge Rules That Virginia Can Remove Confederate Flag From License Plates

A federal judge announced today that the state can remove the symbol from specialty plates.

A federal judge on Friday announced that Virginia could remove the Confederate Battle Flag from its specialized license plates.

A federal judge on Friday announced that Virginia could remove the Confederate Battle Flag from its specialized license plates.

Wayne Scarberry / Getty Images

Attorney General Mark Herring said in a statement that the ruling would "allow Virginia to remove a symbol of oppression and injustice from public display on its license plates."

The Washington Post reported that in June, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe called for the flag's removal and said that it was "unnecessarily divisive and hurtful."

The Sons of Confederate Veterans stood in opposition at the time. They had also sued the General Assembly in 1999 when it tried to remove the flag on specialty plates.

But on Friday, Deputy Attorney General Rhodes Ritenour reminded the court that specialty license plate designs are authorized and signed into law by the Virginia legislature. They therefore become a form of government speech, and that the government had a right to regulate it.

Judge Jackson Kiser's order will not be official until he enters it, at which point he will decide whether this rule will apply only to future license plates, or to currently existing ones as well.



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Two Black Men Took Video Of A Contentious 2014 Traffic Stop With An Officer They Say Is Ray Tensing

The car’s passenger, who recorded the incident, told BuzzFeed News that Tensing pulled open the car door in the same way he tried to open Samuel Dubose’s door before fatally shooting him during a July traffic stop.

Two men told BuzzFeed News they were racially profiled by University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing – charged with murder this week for fatally shooting an unarmed black man – during a May 2014 traffic stop. They got the interaction on video:

youtube.com

The video was uploaded by Demetrius Pace, who was a passenger in the car.

Pace, 27, a former UC student, told BuzzFeed News that his cousin, who was the driver, was pulled over for having a cracked bumper.

Pace said he began recording because the UC officer – the only one who appears in the video – was "aggressive" and used "bullying tactics" to try to get him out of the car.

This week, Pace said he and his cousin recognized the officer after prosecutors released the body camera video showing Tensing pulling over Samuel Dubose for a missing front license plate. Tensing demanded Dubose's driver's license, and Dubose said he had one but didn't have it on him. Tensing then told Dubose to take off his seatbelt, and began to open Dubose's car door. Dubose accelerated, and Tensing fatally shot the unarmed man in the head. Tensing has been charged with murder and was fired.

During the May 2014 incident with Pace and his cousin, Pace said, "[Tensing] opened my door like he did in the video of Sam."

"I'm 100% sure it was Tensing who pulled us over," Pace said. His cousin, who did not wish to be identified for work purposes, told BuzzFeed News that when he saw the Dubose video he knew it was the same officer.

BuzzFeed News couldn't independently confirm it was Tensing in the video. The University of Cincinnati did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request to confirm Tensing's identity.

Screen grab from 2014 video

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St. Louis County Family Court Discriminates Against Black Children, DOJ Finds

“The findings we issue today are serious and compelling,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.

David Goldman / AP

An in-depth investigation by the Department of Justice into the St. Louis County Family Court found it "fails to provide constitutionally required due process to children appearing for delinquency proceedings" and especially discriminates against black children, officials announced Friday.

The DOJ's Civil Rights Division, headed by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, carried out the investigation.

"The findings we issue today are serious and compelling," she said in a statement.

She added that Missouri once led the nation in juvenile justice reform when it transitioned to employing a "smaller, treatment-focused system," and that the DOJ is "hopeful" that it will reestablish its place at the helm of that effort.

Some of the issues included a "staggering caseload of the sole public defender assigned to handle all indigent juvenile delinquency cases in the county, an arbitrary system of appointing private attorneys for children who do not qualify for public defender services, the flawed structure of the family court, and significant delays in appointing counsel to children following detention hearings."

The court also coerced minors into self-incrimination, as it requires them to admit to allegations against them in order to receive an informal processing of their case. The DOJ found that this practice "potentially forces a child to be witness against himself in subsequent proceedings."

"The organizational structure of the family court is rife with conflicts of interest," the statement read. "The roles of judge, prosecutor and probation officer are blurred, and positions traditionally held by members of the executive branch are filled by employees who answer to the court's judges."

These conflicts of interest, the DOJ found, don't give children the right to due process.

David Goldman / AP

The inquiry also found that the court's "administration of juvenile justice discriminates against black children." A series of disparate statistics between the treatment of black and white children at various points in the justice system supported the charge.

Compared to white minors, black youth were found to be 1.46 times more likely to have their cases handled formally, as opposed to "diversion or other means."

Black children were also found to enter pre-trial detainment 2.5 times more often than white children.

"When black children are under the supervision of the court and violate the conditions equivalent to probation or parole, the court commits black children almost three times (2.86) more often to the Missouri Division of Youth Services than white children" in similar positions, the statement read.

The Civil Rights Division division analyzed all delinquency and status offenses resolved in the St. Louis County Family Court between 2010 and 2013; more than 14,000 pages of documents, which included the family court records for more than 120 children; and proceedings from approximately 70 court hearings.

They also conducted interviews with judges, commissioners, juvenile officers, public defenders and private attorneys; and the parents whose children had been to court.

"This investigation is another step toward our goal of ensuring that children in the juvenile justice system receive their constitutionally guaranteed rights to due process and equal protection under the law," Gupta said.

BuzzFeed News has reached out to the St. Louis County Family Court for comment.


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Thursday, July 30, 2015

Dad Admits To Throwing Trash Into Dead Baby's Room To Mask Smell

Eric Warfel of Ohio has been charged with abuse of a corpse after telling police he put bags of garbage in his daughter’s room to mask the smell of her decomposing body.

Eric Warfel with daughter Ember.

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An Ohio man has been charged with abusing a corpse after allegedly throwing trash inside his 1-year-old daughter's room in an attempt to mask the smell of her "badly decomposing" body, officials said.

The dead girl is believed to be Ember, the 21-month-old daughter of Eric Warfel, NBC affiliate WKYC reported. She is though to have died about a month ago — around June 18.

The body was discovered Wednesday morning inside Warfel's Medina, Ohio, apartment by a cable worker, police said in a statement. An autopsy to determine the girl's cause of death is underway and more charges are likely.

Meanwhile, a judge on Thursday set Warfel's bail at $1 million, agreeing with prosecutors that he is a flight risk.

Medina County Sheriff's office

According to officials, the 34-year-old admitted to police that he filled his daughter's room with trash to mask the smell of her decomposing body. When the body was discovered, it was so badly decomposed that it could not immediately be determined if it was a boy or girl.

Shortly after the cable technician called the authorities, Warfel was arrested at Crocker Park, where he was with his 7-year-old daughter Elizabeth. She is now being cared for by her grandparents.


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Thousands Of People In Southern California Lost Power For The Second Time In Weeks

West Coast Best Coast, but this really sucks.

Long Beach, home to 500,000 people, is about 25 miles south of Los Angeles.

Long Beach, home to 500,000 people, is about 25 miles south of Los Angeles.

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Katy Perry Has A Serious Nun Problem In Her Bid To Buy Los Angeles Convent

Sister Rita Callanan, center, is escorted by businesswoman Dana Hollister out of Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday.

Anthony Mccartney / AP

LOS ANGELES — The heated legal battle between pop star Katy Perry and a local businesswoman over who owns a hilltop convent in Los Angeles will drag on for months more after a judge on Thursday all but hit pause on the dispute.

In his preliminary ruling, L.A. County Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant ruled that the order of nuns — who were bequeathed the aging 8-acre estate more than 40 years ago by a devout parishioner who asked that they keep him in their prayers — appeared to have improperly bypassed the archbishop to sell the property to Dana Hollister, the owner of a handful of local restaurants and bars.

Hollister agreed to purchase the estate in June for $15.5 million, and is considering turning the convent into a boutique hotel. Perry, on the other hand, made a competing agreement with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles to buy the 1927 estate — nestled in the Los Feliz neighborhood near Hollywood — for $14.5 million to refurbish as a residence.

“She wants to make it her home,” Perry's attorney, Michael Starler, said outside court Thursday.

"They just want Katy in there."

But in an interview with BuzzFeed News, Hollister said going with Perry's offer "doesn’t make any sense" considering it's $1 million lower.

"They just want Katy in there," Hollister said.

The businesswoman with a knack for redeveloping properties also insisted that she hasn't decided whether to convert the estate into a boutique hotel, pointing out that such a move would require a zoning variance and approval from city commissioners.

And despite accusations from the archbishop that armed security guards have blocked access to the property, Hollister said they have been nothing but accommodating.

"We have no animosity towards her," Hollister said. "We are trying to be polite, but it is a little soul destroying. We do own it... It's a weird situation."

In addition to the nuns' competing agreement, the archbishop has been thwarted by the fact that the grant deed has already been issued to Hollister, although the sale has yet to go through.

While the legal fight has centered on who has the authority to sell, there are also competing views of which buyer is more suitable to take ownership of the villa-style complex, which was converted into a convent in the 1970s after being bequeathed to the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The two surviving nuns of the sisterhood — Rita Callanan and Catherine Rose Holzman — moved out in 2011, and they agree with the archbishop that the convent should be sold, they just don't want it to be Perry, citing the "Roar" pop star's image.

Katy Perry at the 57th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

Jordan Strauss / AP

“It should be obvious that Catholic nuns are not enamored with the image Katy Perry puts out,” the attorney for the nuns, Bernard Resser, told BuzzFeed News. “Katy Perry's image isn’t exactly in fitting with the sisters."

In court documents, the two sisters contend they are the rightful decision makers over the convent and moved quickly to grant the sale to Hollister when they learned the property was going to be sold “out from under them” to Perry. They also claim that the archbishop unilaterally amended their order's bylaws, appointing non-sisters to the board that controls the property and ultimately approved the sale agreement with Perry.

Despite his preliminary ruling Thursday, neither side can claim victory yet. A hearing in October has been scheduled to suss out who legally owns title to sell the convent.

However, Chalfant did not want the property to languish empty in the interim.

The gate to Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary property.

Nick Ut / AP

Starler, Perry's attorney, told the judge that his client is eager to rent the estate and pay what the archdiocese estimates at $200,000 a month.

But with Hollister also saying she is fully solvent and willing to do whatever is necessary to stay, Chalfant ordered the competing buyers back on Sept. 15 to show why they would be a better tenant than the other. Until then, Hollister can continue to occupy the convent.

Which ever party is ultimately deemed the rightful seller, the sisters would keep the bulk of the proceeds — $10 million — to pay for their care and other charitable endeavors during their lifetimes. The other part of the sale — $4.5 million if the purchaser is Perry, $5.5 million if Hollister's deal hold — would go to relocating the House of Prayer to a location in Eagle Rock east of Los Angeles. When the sisters die, the money reverts to the archdiocese.



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Days Later, Raynette “Nikki” Turner’s Family Awaits Cause Of Her Jail Cell Death

Three days after Nikki Turner was found dead in a Mount Vernon, New York, holding cell, her husband remains in the dark about how she died.

Raynette "Nikki" Turner's high school photo.

Lohud / Via lohud.com

Herman Turner told BuzzFeed News that his wife, Raynette "Nikki" Turner, was a "beautiful individual" who "loved to laugh" and walk in the rain.

Nikki, who grew up in Stanford, Connecticut, sang to him often, and rubbed his stomach at night.

Her cousin, Ronald Van Horden, recalled how was with Herman when the two met back in 1993.

"He told me then, 'That's the woman I'm gonna be with,'" Van Norden told BuzzFeed News.

On Monday, two days after she was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting at a local supermarket, Nikki Turner died in a holding cell in Mount Vernon, New York, becoming the fifth black woman in the U.S. to die in police custody in July alone.

The cause of her death, which occurred on the same day as her scheduled arraignment, remains unknown.

On the morning of Nikki's death, Herman said he showed up at the Mount Vernon courtroom 30 minutes early before arraignments began at 9 a.m. There he waited until 10 minutes after 4 p.m. with no sign of his wife, he told BuzzFeed News.

When he returned home, he had no idea where Nikki was. Later, he heard a knock at his door. Two Mount Vernon detectives were waiting outside.

"They said, very coldly, 'Your wife died.' Then they turned and went down the stairs and told me to come to the precinct," Herman said. "To be honest, going back and looking at it, I don't think one officer even said they were sorry."

Authorities later told Herman that they estimated Nikki died between noon and 2 p.m.

"Nobody came upstairs to tell me that my wife had passed away," he said, his voice quivering. "They didn't do that. They let me sit in court the whole time."

Nikki Turner.

LoHud / Via lohud.com

The subject of Nikki's health is often discussed in connection to the mystery of her death. Police took her to the hospital Sunday evening when she said she wasn't feeling well, and have mentioned her history of high blood pressure and bariatric surgery in recent news conferences.

Herman insisted that he had no concerns about his wife's well being the last time he saw her.

"She wasn't sick or complaining to be sick, or else I personally would have taken her to the hospital," he said. "She was fine."

He called the reference to her pre-existing conditions a "deflection from the truth."

While the anatomical autopsy has been completed, results from the toxicology report could take weeks more, a spokesperson for the Westchester County district attorney's office told BuzzFeed News.

Several messages for Mount Vernon Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Burke for more information officer procedures for checking holding cells were not immediately returned Thursday.

Meanwhile, those who new and loved her continue to wait for answers.

Nikki had eight children of her own, but Herman told BuzzFeed News she was closest to her youngest, an 8-year-old girl.

"She adored her. That was her baby," Herman said.

He said that the girl was adopted by another family and now lives in Atlanta.

Most of the Turner children, who Herman described as "very aggressive," live in group homes, adding that some of them have ADHD.

"We thought it would be best for the children to go away and get the counseling they need," he said.

The sense of loss, though, has been especially jarring for Herman. The last time he saw Nikki alive was Saturday morning.

"We had our usual cup of coffee. We talked and kissed and she went out," he said.

"I miss her, terribly," Herman added. "There's no one to my left, there's no more rubbing the stomach. It would probably ease the pain if I knew how and why. But I don't even have that."


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Two Officers On Leave After Fatal Police Shooting In Cincinnati

University of Cincinnati officers David Lindenschmidt and Phillip Kidd, who arrived on scene shortly after Samuel Dubose was fatally shot, have been placed on leave. Ray Tensing, who is accused of killing Dubose, posted bond and left jail Thursday.

Samuel Dubose WKRC

Two University of Cincinnati police officers who responded to the July 19 traffic stop in which fellow Officer Ray Tensing fatally shot Samuel Dubose have been put on leave, BuzzFeed News confirmed Thursday.

Officers David Lindenschmidt and Phillip Kidd arrived at the scene of the traffic stop shortly after Tensing shot Dubose in the head. In video footage released to the BuzzFeed News Thursday, the officers can been seen running down the street as Dubose's car rolls away.

The video does not show the shooting itself.

A University of Cincinnati police dispatcher confirmed to BuzzFeed News Thursday that the men had been placed on leave, but could not say why. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the leave is paid.

Both officers testified before the grand jury that indicted Tensing with murder in Dubose's death, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters told the Enquirer.

Deters added that the two officers "didn't see anything."

Officials with the University of Cincinnati and the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment.

Court records show that the bond was paid Thursday by Paul Tensing, Ray Tensing's father. However, his attorney told WPCO that offers to pay the bond came in from all over the U.S.

Ray Tensing, as seen in his jail booking photo.

Hamilton County Sheriff's Office / Via apps.hcso.org


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Many Planned Parenthood Centers Don't Profit From Fetal Tissue Sales, Contractor Says

Center for Medical Progress / Via youtube.com

Many Planned Parenthood centers in California sell tissue from aborted fetuses to biotech companies either at a loss or at a break-even price, one of the non-profit's procurement contractors told to BuzzFeed News.

The pricing of fetal tissue is significant amid a renewed debate over accusations from abortion foes that abortion providers are making money off the procedure. The anti-abortion Center for Medical Progress has published three secretly recorded videos showing two Planned Parenthood officials in California haggling over tissue sale prices with representatives from a fake biotech company interested in purchasing them.

The videos – there have been four in all, with one released Thursday – have had wide reverberations. Louisiana authorities are looking into Planned Parenthood's practices, and California's Attorney General is investigating whether the secret videos violate privacy laws. Planned Parenthood has asked the National Institutes of Health to assemble independent experts to conduct research on the tissue sales. And Republicans in the Senate are pushing to stop the non-profit from getting federal aid.

The actors in the videos were conducting a sting operation with CMP, which claims their footage proves Planned Parenthood illegally profits from trafficking the tissue to procurement companies that buy and resell it to labs for disease research.

But, according to the spokesman for StemExpress, a real California biotech company that has a contract to purchase the tissue from Planned Parenthood, the non-profit is most likely losing money on these exchanges.

"I hope they're breaking even," the spokesman, who spoke on the condition on anonymity, said. "I just don't see how Planned Parenthood could be profiting."

In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Planned Parenthood said it "handles medical tissue like other quality health care providers do and we follow all regulations. We believe this material should be handled in a sensitive and professional manner."

CMP founder David Daleiden flatly denied that Planned Parenthood was only covering costs for the tissues it sells to procurement contractors.

StemExpress was the subject of a a third secretly-recorded CMP video released earlier this week, claiming that it may be engaged in undefined illegal procurement practices. StemExpress said it has contracts with two of four Planned Parenthood "affiliates" in California – which each govern several regional clinics. Planned Parenthood would not tell BuzzFeed News how many clinics belong to each affiliate in California.

The StemExpress spokesman said his company pays Planned Parenthood for fetal tissue, processes it, and then distributes it to both private and federal medical research labs across the country to study a battery of diseases, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

The money paid to Planned Parenthood, the spokesperson said, "covers only the cost and expenses Planned Parenthood might incur associated with collection of human tissue: packaging, processing, shipping, and storage."

Negotiations like those seen in the videos, he said, are to determine how much the biotech company needs to pay Planned Parenthood, which is trying to cover those costs. This price varies depending on the type of tissue and the distance it's shipped, but it usually comes to $20 to $50 for each shipped specimen, the spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.

Once StemExpress gets the tissue it paid for, it isolates the cells and distributes them to the labs for disease research.

Usually, a batch of cells internally costs StemExpress "$300 to $500" to separate from a specimen of tissue, the spokesperson said. "This procedure is highly complicated. Is done on machines that cost millions of dollars by paid experts, and there is a high failure rate," he added. This cost also includes "procurement technicians" StemExpress hires to work alongside the doctors in Planned Parenthood clinics to properly procure and transport the tissue, the spokesman said.

When asked about this, Daleiden told BuzzFeed News, "Planned Parenthood incurs no costs" with harvesting the tissue – and referred to a line in one of his videos where Dr. Mary Gatter, Planned Parenthood's President of the Medical Director's council, said that the clinics "didn't have to do anything" to aid in the procurement of fetuses. (Daleiden said he has thousands of hours of video he has yet to release.)

The "anything" to which Gatter is referring could either refer to the packaging and storage they are reimbursed for – or it could refer to the actual procurement, which is allotted to the technicians hired under contract by StemExpress, the spokesman said.

Dr. Arthur Caplan, Director of the Medical Ethics division at New York University, told BuzzFeed News that the amount the StemExpress spokesperson said they paid to Planned Parenthood sounded accurate.

He said ethical questions should focus not on payments to the abortion provider, but on the money biotech companies like StemExpress receive from research labs for the same specimens.

“According to the law, you can’t profit or sell fetal tissue or body parts, but under the [broker’s] rubric of fees or processing, one wouldn’t know what’s being charged unless you sent in auditors, which no one has ever done,” Caplan said. “What these private brokers are doing is only considered legal because there’s no one to monitor them, there is no regulation.”

The amount of money research labs pay StemExpress for the processed cells varies from $488 to $24,250 – depending on how difficult the cells were to extract and how big the batch is, the StemExpress spokesman said.

A former procurement technician with StemExpress, Holly O'Donnell, was the narrator of one of CMP's more recent videos. In it, O'Donnell said she found the job with StemExpress on Craigslist and described fainting the first time she saw human fetal tissue it was her job to procure. She wore a hidden camera and filmed a part of the procurement process.

"She was a contract employee for a brief period of time," the StemExpress spokesperson confirmed. The company successfully got a restraining order against CMP on Wednesday, preventing the publication of future videos.

StemExpress told BuzzFeed News it is considering a lawsuit against CMP and O'Donnell for wire-tapping the company, the spokesperson said. "She signed and has violated a confidentiality agreement," the spokesperson said. When contacted, O'Donnell referred BuzzFeed News to an agent. The agent didn't return a message for comment.

In California, where the video was filmed, there are privacy laws in place that make it illegal to film anyone without their consent, bioethical and genetic law expert John A. Robertson told BuzzFeed News.

Attorney General of California Kamala Harris said she is also taking that into consideration when she agreed to review the CMP for the non-consensual filming of their last two videos.

LINK: Bobby Jindal Investigates Planned Parenthood After Undercover Video Emerges

LINK: The Real Story Behind That Video Of An Abortion Doctor Discussing Harvesting Organs

LINK: Attorney General Of California To Review Organization Behind Planned Parenthood Videos



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College's Language Guide Says Words Like "American," And "Homosexual" Are Offensive

The guide suggests replacing the word “rich” with “person of material wealth” and “poor” with “low economic status related to a person’s education, occupation and income.”

The term "American," the guide says, is offensive because it doesn't recognize South America.

The handbook was written by students and staff in 2013, but was unearthed this week by the site Campus Reform.

unh.edu

Other substitutions include "Western Asians" instead of the word "Arabs," "people of size" instead of "obese," and "international people" instead of foreigners. Instead of saying "guys" to refer to a group, people should instead say "y'all," it says.

The guide also suggests replacing the word "poor" with "low economic status related to a person's education, occupation and income." "Senior citizens" should be instead called "people of advanced age," though the guide does note that some have "reclaimed" the phrase "old people."

unh.edu


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Judge Dismisses Case That Sought To Give Chimpanzees "Personhood"

A Chimpanzee living at the Ohio State University animal laboratory.

Terry Gilliam / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Two chimpanzees in a New York university will not be freed nor declared "legal persons," a judge ruled Thursday, dealing a blow to an animal rights group that looked to give them the same rights as people.

The decision, handed down Thursday, involved a lawsuit filed by the Nonhuman Rights Project against Stony Brook University on Long Island, which sought to have two 8-year-old chimpanzees freed from the university and transferred to a sanctuary in Florida.

The Nonhuman Rights Project tried to challenge the detention of the two chimpanzees, Hecules and Leo, with a writ of habeas corpus, a motion prisoners can use to challenge their imprisonment.

Steven Wise, president of the Nonhuman Rights Project, left, present his arguments in Manhattan State Supreme Court, in New York, Wednesday, May 27, 2015.

Richard Drew / AP

But Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe on Thursday struck down the argument in a 33-page decision, stating she was bound by decisions handed down by previous, similar cases.

Had it been successful, the motion could have afforded legal rights not just to chimpanzees but other animals as well, the judge noted in her decision.

According to the Associated Press, the two chimpanzees were being used by the university for locomotion studies.

To support their argument for personhood, attorneys for the Nonhuman Rights Project filed several affidavits by zoologists, psychologists, and primatologists regarding the cognitive abilities of chimps and their similarity to humans in DNA composition, communication, and self-awareness.

"The similarities between chimpanzees and humans inspire empathy felt for a beloved pet," Jaffe wrote. "Efforts to extend legal rights to chimpanzees are thus understandable; some day they may even succeed."

At the moment, Jaffe noted, she was bound by a higher court's decision regarding another chimpanzee, named Tommy, where it was ruled that Tommy was property and not a person.

The Nonhuman Rights Project issued a statement shortly after Jaffe issued her decision, saying they were "looking forward to promptly appealing Justice Jaffe's thoughtful and comprehensive decision."

LINK: Judge Hears Arguments On Granting Chimpanzees Human Rights




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A Lawyer Who Once Represented Freddie Gray Is Now Prosecuting The Officers Charged With Killing Him

BALTIMORE — Freddie Gray wasn’t having it. Even though he hadn’t been convicted of anything, he’d been sitting in jail for more than a year. His day in court kept getting postponed. First it was a death in the prosecutor’s family. Another time, there simply wasn’t a free courtroom to hold his trial.

Then, on May 20, 2013, that day finally came — but it wasn’t what he was expecting.

“Go ahead,” a dejected Gray told his attorney, Jan Bledsoe, from the front row of the courtroom where visitors would normally sit, according to a videotape of the proceedings in the Baltimore City Circuit Court that was reviewed by BuzzFeed News. Bledsoe was talking to the judge at the front of the courtroom.

“What do you mean, go ahead?” Bledsoe replied, visibly exasperated. “I can’t go ahead without being here at the bench! Do you want to plea or not?”

Bledsoe, then a private defense lawyer, had been hired by the Baltimore City Public Defender to represent Gray in a felony drug case. The client-attorney relationship was rocky, videotapes of court proceedings show. Bledsoe wanted Gray to take a plea deal, but Gray wanted to go to trial.

After she pressured him in open court, Gray took the plea — but not before making sure the judge understood he thought he’d had a bad lawyer.

“Your honor, do you have any more questions about my representation?” Bledsoe asked Circuit Court Judge Michael Reed after questioning Gray on why he thought she’d done a bad job.

“No,” Reed answered. “I’m satisfied that he is not satisfied with your representation.”

Two years later, Bledsoe works for Marilyn Mosby, the Baltimore prosecutor who made headlines in May after she charged six city police officers with killing Gray, putting an end to weeks of protests and unrest. Bledsoe serves as the deputy state’s attorney for Mosby’s Police Integrity Unit — and, as of Thursday, as one of the prosecutors in the case against the six officers.

Asked whether Bledsoe’s previous representation of Gray constituted a conflict of interest in her work as prosecutor, Rochelle Ritchie, a spokesperson for Mosby, told BuzzFeed News there was no such conflict and that Bledsoe would remain on the case.

“Unfortunately in Baltimore City, many defendants become victims of crime,” Ritchie said in the statement. “Lawyers also change roles within the legal profession. Defending an individual one day does not preclude an attorney from fighting for justice for that same individual the next."

Ritchie did not answer questions about why Bledsoe chose not to disclose her previous involvement in Gray’s criminal case or whether any other members of the prosecutorial team had worked in any previous cases involving Gray or any of the officers.

But Bledsoe’s involvement in Gray’s previous criminal cases — which has not been previously reported — is likely to rise questions in Baltimore, where Mosby and the lawyers for the six officers continue to file dueling motions on whether the cops can expect a fair trial in Charm City.

The lawyers for the officers have argued in court filings that finding an impartial jury in Baltimore would be impossible, because most of the city’s residents have already formed an opinion on the case. They have also said that Mosby should recuse herself, because her relationships with the local government — she is married to a city councilman whose district suffered damage during the unrest — shows that she stands to gain politically from convicting the officers.

For her part, Mosby has called the officers’ motions “premature, frivolous, illogical, and unsupported by authority,” and compared the “ridiculous allegations” against her to “a pinball on a machine far past TILT.” She has said in court filings that she is pursuing charges against the officers not out of political ambition, but because “Mr. Gray was a healthy young man when arrested without probable cause, but died as a result of his treatment while in police custody.”

Bledsoe’s own impartiality has also been called into question. The prosecutor’s partner, Jayne Miller, is an investigative reporter for WBAL and has covered the Gray case. In May, the Fraternal Order of Police — the union that represents the six police officers charged in Gray’s death — sent a letter to Mosby asking her to appoint a special prosecutor.

Later that month, Miller said she was going to “step back” from covering the case as it headed to court, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Sean Malone, a lawyer for Officer Caesar Goodson, who has been charged with murdering Gray, did not immediately have comment. The police union and Billy Murphy, the attorney for Gray’s surviving family, also did not respond to requests for comment.

Brendan McDermid / Reuters

The case that brought Bledsoe and Gray together for the first time began at 5:35 on the morning of April 13, 2012, when members of the Baltimore Police Department gathered around Gray's mother’s modest row house in Northwest Baltimore.

The officers knocked loudly on the door, yelling “Police!” several times, according to court records. Moments later, the cops used a battering ram to break down the door and flooded the house. They moved quickly, sweeping through the rooms and arresting everyone they saw — Gray’s mother, sisters, stepfather, and an unrelated young man who was in the house at the time of the raid.

Gray himself was not arrested that day. Records show he was already incarcerated when the search warrant was served.

The police then searched the house. In a crawlspace in the basement, according to a statement of probable cause, they found a blue duffle bag containing what could be described as a drug-dealer’s toolkit: razors, scales, glass vials, ziplock bags, caffeine powder, six ounces of pot, and a little under an ounce of cocaine. They also found a P380 handgun in a safe in the second floor.

Those findings would become the basis for a slew of criminal charges against nearly all the members of Gray’s household, records show. Except for Gray’s mother, who was allowed to remain at home because of a mental illness, every other inhabitant was brought to Baltimore’s central booking facilities and accused of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, as well as a number of auxiliary charges, including possession of material used to package and distribute illegal drugs.

Prosecutors, however, quickly let the rest of the family go. They dropped all charges against the unrelated young man who was in the house at the time of the raid. With Gray’s sisters, they went farther — expunging their records entirely. Gray’s stepfather, Richard Shipley, pleaded guilty to a gun charge in exchange for a suspended sentence.

When it came to Gray, though, the state’s attorney was unrelenting.

Court records reviewed by BuzzFeed News show that Gray’s prior drug convictions allowed the state’s attorney’s office to file motions requesting a minimum mandatory sentence and doubling the maximum penalty allowed for his charges. This meant Gray was facing upward of 50 years in prison, the first 25 without the possibility of parole.

“This is a very serious situation,” Circuit Court Judge John Howard told Gray during one of the case’s first hearings, according to court videotapes. “Make sure you get a lawyer.”

Gray, however, couldn’t afford to pay for his own counsel. Court records for various criminal cases show he repeatedly listed his income as zero. Ordinarily, this would have meant that the public defender’s office would have assigned Gray one of its staff attorneys. Because of an undisclosed conflict of interest none of the the public defender’s staffers could represent Gray.

Instead, the office hired Bledsoe, then a prominent defense attorney with a successful private practice, as a “panel attorney” for Gray — a private lawyer who agrees to represent an indigent client. Court documents show she entered an appearance in the case on September 11, 2012.

Panel attorneys are typically paid $50 an hour, according to a source in the Office of the Public Defender — far less than what an attorney of Bledsoe’s standing could charge to represent a wealthier client. However, several attorneys who know Bledsoe told BuzzFeed News that she was not known to hurry a case simply because it was unprofitable.

Deputy Public Defender Natalie Finegar declined to comment on Bledsoe’s time as a panel attorney.

When it came to Gray, the state’s attorney was unrelenting.

By at least some measures, Bledsoe’s efforts to represent Gray were effective. She was able to negotiate with Assistant State’s Attorney Larai Everett to get Gray a relatively generous deal: 14 years, suspended but for time served, and 18 months of probation — all in exchange for a guilty plea.

In other words: Say you did it and we’ll let you walk free.

The problem was that Gray didn’t want to plead guilty. He felt that the fact he hadn’t been in the house at the time of the raid could give him a chance during trial, court videotapes show. He might not have been entirely mistaken. Several defense attorneys and former prosecutors told BuzzFeed News that Baltimore City juries are known for nullifying drug cases, which they feel are a reflection of unjust laws and unfair policing practices.

Near the beginning of the May 20, 2013, hearing, court videotapes show, Bledsoe informed Judge Reed of her client’s decision to go to trial. Reed responded by asking the Everett, the assistant state’s attorney, to once again explain the maximum potential sentence Gray could face if convicted.

“Mr. Gray, do you understand what happened?” Bledsoe then asked of her client, according to the court videotapes. “The court just wants to make sure you are aware that, if you are convicted, you would be eligible for 25 years without the possibility of parole, and that you are now rejecting 14 years, suspended all but time served.” Essentially, Gray would walk free if he took the deal.

After a brief conversation with Gray, Bledsoe seemed more exasperated than ever.

“Nope, rejected,” Bledsoe told Judge Reed after conferring, according to the videotape. “We’ve been playing this little game for a while. Can you just send us to trial?”

“It’s a game, but it’s not a game,” Judge Reed replied, looking at Gray. “And I understand. And I’m going to send you to trial. But as a judge, what happens is, you get this perspective. I handle cases from judges that sat 20 years ago. And what I get are people like you, today, at your age, who are now on their fifties and sixties — I got one guy in his seventies — and what they’re trying to do is re-create this day. [...] At a certain point, this offer will not be available to you, and I just want you to know that. And it sounds like you know it. Right? You know it, right? You gotta speak up.”

“Yes,” Gray mumbled.

“All right,” Judge Reed replied, as if washing his hands. “Fantastic.”

But then, as the court was about to send the case to trial, Bledsoe interrupted.

“But wait!” she said. “He just said he wanted to say something.”

After a brief conversation with Gray, Bledsoe turned back toward the judge.

“OK,” she said, visibly relieved. “He’s ready to go, on a plea. Having been informed by the court of the consequences, he’s ready to go on the plea.”

As required by law, Bledsoe then began explaining to Gray the consequences of pleading guilty. He would waive a trial by jury. He would not be able to appeal his conviction except on very specific grounds — one of which, Bledsoe said, would be to argue before a court that he’d had had incompetent legal counsel.

“Now, you and I have had several disagreements,” Bledsoe asked Gray. “Is that correct?”

“Yes,” Gray replied.

“Have you, despite those disagreements,” Bledsoe said, “thought that I have represented your interests?”

There were a few moments of silence, in which Gray stood in the courtroom in his bright-yellow inmate’s uniform, staring nowhere in particular.

“I don’t know,” he finally responded.

“Would you say I did something incorrectly?” Bledsoe asked.

“Yeah,” Gray replied.

Bledsoe went through a list of the things she’d done as Gray’s counsel. She’d explained the facts of the case. She’d talked to him about the defenses that were available to him. She’d gone over the search warrant, and explained how the state could prove Gray’s guilt through constructive possession.

Still, Gray was adamant.

“I wasn’t there!” he said, referring to the raid of the house. “I was at DOC when it happened.”

It was at that point that Bledsoe asked Judge Reed if he had any other questions about her representation, and that Reed answered he was satisfied with Gray’s dissatisfaction.

“Has anyone forced you to take this plea?” Bledsoe asked.

“No,” Gray said.

“Are you doing this voluntarily?” Bldesoe asked.

“Yes,” Gray replied quietly.

Gray then pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a controlled dangerous substance in sufficient quantity to indicate an intention to distribute the same, against the peace, government, and dignity of the state. He was sentenced to nine years in prison, with all but the year he had already spent in jail suspended, and given 18 months of probation.

Two years later, he died in police custody of a catastrophic neck injury sustained in a Baltimore Police Department van, after being arrested “without force of incident” for “fleeing unprovoked upon noticing police presence,” according to the statement of probable cause.

“I wasn’t there!” Gray said, referring to the raid of the house. “I was [in jail] when it happened.”

On Thursday, as Maryland sinks into the depths of the sweltering Chesapeake summer, the big question remained whether Barry Williams, the judge assigned to the case of the six officers, will allow the trial to proceed in Baltimore city. Williams has scheduled a hearing in September, in which he’ll likely hear arguments for both sides on whether or not to move the case.

Bledsoe’s involvement in Gray’s old case may not have a significant impact on whether the officers accused of killing him will be tried in Baltimore city. But it does highlight some of the irony implicit in the case.

A lawyer who did not want to go to trial for an impoverished black man will now try to show that the man who allegedly killed him had a “depraved heart.” An office that aggressively sought to lock him up now wants to vindicate him.

The same legal system that pushed Gray into the margins is now supposed to bring him justice.



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Residents Around University Of Cincinnati Feel "Harassment" From Campus Police

“It was only a matter of time” before one of the university’s officers shot and killed someone, one local said.

William Philpott / Reuters

CINCINNATI — Fikko wasn't too surprised when he heard that a University of Cincinnati police officer shot and killed an unarmed black man. He'd grown up in Cincinnati and had always lived close to the school. He'd been stopped by UCPD officers many times — "harassed," as he put it. His four friends with him on Thursday afternoon — the day after the county prosecutor announced Officer Ray Tensing had been indicted on murder charges for killing Samuel Dubose during a traffic stop — weren't surprised either.

"I knew it was only a matter of time," said Fikko, who is 30 and requested that BuzzFeed News only use his nickname. "You gotta understand, we more shook by college campus police officers than the Cincinnati police."

The young men were gathered, some of them shirtless in the summer heat, at a park a few blocks from where Dubose, 43, was killed, less than half a mile south of the university's main campus. And yet, they said, it felt so much further away. Here, most people were black and many were poor. There, most people were white and many came from rich families.

"And so it's like they want to keep us away, make sure we stay where they want us to stay," Fikko said.

While Fikko and his friends recalled stories of UCPD harassment that stretched at least a decade back, they agreed that things had become heated in recent years. Both these young men and four current UC students student told BuzzFeed News that UCPD's relationship with the surrounding community further deteriorated in October 2013, when University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono, along with Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell, wrote a letter calling on local judges to "send a clear, forceful, and reverberating message to criminals and the broader community that the predatory targeting of UC students will have severe consequences."

"What it did was tell students, your lives are more valuable than theirs," said Cierra Carter, a junior at the university. "The purpose was, 'We're gonna scare the shit out of the community, and anybody that commits a crime we want punished really, really, really bad.'"

The letter had come in response to a spate of robberies of students in the blocks surrounding the campus. One local television news station noted that "some students are actually arming themselves to be safe."

In a separate message to students that same month, Ono noted that he was increasing the frequency of UCPD off-campus patrols from four days a week to seven, and increasing the number of UCPD officers assigned to off-campus detail from eight to thirteen. A multi-jurisdictional agreement among the county, the university, and local municipalities grants UCPD authority to stop, question, or arrest people off campus. (The university did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.)

"This effort to enhance and expand a visible police presence," Ono said in the letter, "will continue for the foreseeable future."

A few weeks later, a judge handed down the maximum 11-year sentence to two men convicted of robbing a UC student. "It appears as though the criminal element in Cincinnati is preying on the students and working people near and on the campus of UC," Common Pleas Court Judge Ralph Winkler said at the sentencing hearing.

To some students, the administration's campaign had widened the already thick line between the campus, which is 7% black, and the community surrounding it in a city that is 45% black.

"Instead of inclusion, there's this culture of class that UC has created," said Alex Shelton, a senior who runs UC Students Against Injustice. "It's like the people in the outside communities are voiceless to the administration and the administration just wants them to stay out of the way."

The administration's directive, Shelton and the other students said, seemed to affirm and inflame preconceived worries some incoming students already had about the city.

"There's this outside perception that Cincinnati is very dangerous," said Carter. During a campus tour she took at the school four years ago, she said, the guide touted UCPD's off-campus presence.

The UC students who spoke with BuzzFeed News believed that the October 2013 crackdown sparked an increase in aggression that led to Dubose's fatal traffic stop on July 19. Officer Tensing had pulled Dubose over because he didn't have a front license plate. Within two minutes, Tensing shot Dubose in the head at close range. He claimed that Dubose accelerated and dragged him, but his body camera showed that he fired seconds after Dubose turned on his ignition.

Fikko and his friends had been following the story closely. On this July afternoon, the men gathered around one young man's phone reading a news story reporting that Tensing had been arraigned, his bail set at $1 million.

"I'm glad they had that shit on video," Fikko said. "Could've been one of us."



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Police Investigate Confederate Flags Found At Historic Martin Luther King Jr. Church

A maintenance worker reportedly discovered the flags, which were placed on the grounds of the church, Thursday morning.

Confederate flags sit in the back of a police car outside Ebenezer Baptist Church.

David Goldman / AP

Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, center left, waits with Atlanta Police Chief George Turner, left, to speak at a news conference.

AP Photo

Atlanta police are currently searching for two white men who were caught on security cameras placing Confederate flags around Ebenezer Baptist Church, the Associated Press reported. The landmark building is where Martin Luther King, Jr. began his career as a pastor and is part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site.

Local police have teamed up with federal investigators to determine whether it was a hate crime.

Authorities told the AP that a maintenance worker first saw the flags around 6 a.m. Thursday. They were reportedly not stuck in the ground, but set "neatly" on top of it. One flag was placed next to a poster that read "Black Lives Matter."

The Rev. Raphael Warnock called the incident a "terroristic threat" and interpreted the act as a means of intimidation.

Rev. Warnock, a senior pastor at Ebenezer, added that this was not the first time perpetrators planted Confederate flags on church grounds.

"It was disturbing and sickening, but unfortunately not terribly surprising," he said.

BuzzFeed News has reached out to the Department of Justice and Ebenezer Baptist Church for more information.


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Actor James Woods Sues Anonymous Twitter User For $10 Million

James Woods in 2013

Matt Sayles / Invision for Fiji Water

Academy Award-nominated actor James Woods filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit Wednesday against an anonymous Twitter user who claimed the star was a "cocaine addict," according to court papers filed in Los Angeles.

The Nixon and Casino star is suing the owner of the Twitter handle "Abe List" for defamation and invasion of privacy – and is demanding a jury trial, according to the complaint.

"In fact, Woods is not now, nor has he ever been a cocaine addict," the court papers state.

The actor claims that Able List launched in a malicious campaign against him that began with childish name calling in 2014 and escalated beyond the limits of free speech. The court papers said that Able List called Wood's "prick," "joke," "ridiculous," "scum," and "clown-boy" – but appears as though "cocaine addict" crossed Wood's line.

Woods intends to "unmask and reveal AL for the liar he is and recover an excess of $10 million in damages."

The malicious tweets, Woods says, have caused him international harm adding that "AL, and anyone else using social media to propagate lies and do harm should take note. They are not impervious to the law."

Twitter has since suspended the Abe List account.



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$1 Million Bond For University Of Cincinnati Officer Who Pleaded Not Guilty To Killing Samuel Dubose

The family of Samuel Dubose broke out in applause after a judge set the bond for Officer Ray Tensing, who shot the unarmed black man earlier this month.

nbcnews.com

A judge set a $1 million bond on Thursday for former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing, who was charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter for fatally shooting an unarmed black man, Samuel Dubose, earlier this month. Tensing pleaded not guilty at his arraignment hearing at the Hamilton County Court.

A grand jury indicted Tensing for murder Wednesday for shooting and killing Dubose during a traffic stop on July 19. If convicted of all charges, Tensing faces life in prison.

Tensing pulled over 43-year-old Dubose for a missing front license plate. After a brief struggle with the car door, it appeared that Dubose had started slowly rolling away when Tensing fatally shot the unarmed driver once in the head.

Dubose died instantly, in what Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters called a "totally unwarranted" act and a "tragedy." Deters also strongly criticized Tensing on Wednesday, saying, he committed the "most asinine act I've ever seen a police officer make."


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This Toddler Loves A Personal Injury Lawyer So Much, His Mom Made It His Birthday Theme

This is kind of amazing.

This is New Orleans personal injury lawyer Morris Bart. His ads play pretty regularly in Louisiana.

This is New Orleans personal injury lawyer Morris Bart. His ads play pretty regularly in Louisiana.

youtube.com

L'erin Dobra's son Grayson is a pretty big fan.

L'erin Dobra's son Grayson is a pretty big fan.

Courtesy of L'erin Dobra

He's such a fan, in fact, that whenever Morris Bart comes on the television, Grayson will stop whatever he's doing and watch Bart's commercial.

He's such a fan, in fact, that whenever Morris Bart comes on the television, Grayson will stop whatever he's doing and watch Bart's commercial.

Courtesy of L'erin Dobra

So, for Grayson's second birthday, Dobra decided to surprise him with a Morris Bart-themed party. She even reached out to Bart's law firm.

So, for Grayson's second birthday, Dobra decided to surprise him with a Morris Bart-themed party. She even reached out to Bart's law firm.

Courtesy of L'erin Dobra


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Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Three Other Black Men Have Died In Altercations With University Of Cincinnati Police

John Minchillo / AP

Prior to Samuel Dubose on July 19, there was Kelly Brinson, Lorenzo Collins, and Everett Howard — all them black men who have also died in altercations with University of Cincinnati police officers dating back to 1997.

For family members of the men — whose causes of death were never deemed homicides — Dubose's death was a painful reminder of how quickly interactions with university police can escalate.

"This is just like I'm having to relive this situation with my brother all over again," said Derek Brinson, whose brother, Kelly, died after a confrontation with the University of Cincinnati Police Department. "If something would have happened in 2010, [Dubose] would not have been murdered."

The cases were among digital court records that date back to 1997 at the federal circuit — the level where nearly all officer-caused deaths end up as families of the dead, with or without the tail wind of criminal charges, file civil claims against the agencies involved.

Samuel Dubose

WKRC

Dubose's case, recorded on the officer's body camera, is the only one of the four to result in criminal charges. Officer Raymond Tensing, who police say shot Dubose once in the head, was charged with murder Wednesday.

But over nearly two decades, the university has paid out nearly $3 million to settle civil claims related to the previous deaths, court records show.

There are more than 4,000 police departments in higher education institutions across the U.S., and those departments are expected to maintain the each adhere's to the same standards as other state law enforcement agencies, said William Taylor, chief of police for the San Jacinto College in Texas and president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.

Training and certification are also held to the same standards as neighboring agencies, he told BuzzFeed News.

"If they are a police officer, they have to meet the same standards," Taylor said.

Crime rates on most campuses tend to be lower than in neighboring jurisdictions, and the work pace is usually slower than in metropolitan departments. But, Taylor said, he would expect more from campus officers because they have to interact more often with the public.

"I'm going to expect more of you than I'm expecting from a municipal agency," he said. "I expect someone who could do a better job of interacting with the public."

That includes being able to de-escalate situations on campus.

In at least four instances involving the University of Cincinnati police, however, the opposite occurred.

Aubrey DuBose holds his mother Audrey during a news conference after murder and manslaughter charges against University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing were announced.

John Minchillo / AP

In 1997, Lorenzo Collins was shot after fleeing University Hospital.

Authorities told The Cincinnati Enquirer at the time that Collins was mentally ill and was being held at the hospital.

He was reportedly armed with a brick when he was surrounded by more than a dozen officers, two of whom — one from the city's force, the other from the university — shot and killed the 25-year-old man.

The shooting was deemed lawful, but officials settled a civil lawsuit filed by his family for $200,000.

University police also used deadly force in 2010 against a mentally ill man, Kelly Bernard Brinson. Officials alleged that he assaulted a law enforcement officer and "ignored repeated directives" inside the hospital before a deadly physical confrontation ensued.

But in a civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court, Brinson's family alleged that University of Cincinnati police made no effort to calm him down, and instead "made shows of force, used escalating threats (...) then further escalated the situation by rushing Brinson and using physical force."

United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio

"They beat my brother to death," Derek, Kelly Brinson's brother, told BuzzFeed News. "Instead of subduing him, they just came in and started beating him."

Derek Brinson said his brother suffered from Schizophrenia and had gone to the hospital to get medication. But he became agitated during an argument with another patient, and the confrontation with police only worsened his mental state.

The case was settled before it went to trial for $638,000. The settlement agreement included a stipulation that the recording of Brinson’s altercation with university police not be made public.

The largest out-of-court settlement was reached in 2011, when a University of Cincinnati police officer fired a Taser at 18-year-old Everett Howard.

Everette Howard.

WCPO / Via wcpo.com

The university agreed to pay $2 million as part of an out-of-court settlement, and agreed to stop equipping officers with Tasers. Under the court agreement, the university also agreed to notify Howard's family before, and if, it ever decides to reissue them.

Dubose's death may bring about further reform in the university police department.

University of Cincinnati President Santa J. Ono said Wednesday that adminstrators would review the police department's policies, including hiring, training, use of force and staffing.

"We will be engaging in an external review to examine our public safety department and procedures and will address any issues that may arise," Ono said.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the city's police department also plans to mentor university officers on "best-practice training," but that there were no plans to dissolve the campus's 78-officer department.

Taylor, the president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, said he was concerned the actions in Cincinnati could taint campus police departments across the U.S. What occurred in Cincinnati, he added, "is not typical."

LINK: This Prosecutor Took Cincinnati’s Black Community By Surprise After Charging A Police Officer With Murder

"Obviously it's not the performance that we would expect," Taylor said.

LINK: Attorney Says Cincinnati Officer Didn’t Intend To Kill Man During Traffic Stop



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Mother Of Aurora Theater Shooter Says "Schizophrenia Chose Him"

Robert and Arlene Holmes, parents of Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, walk from the courtroom at the Arapahoe County Justice Center on July 22, 2014.

Rj Sangosti / AP

Robert and Arlene Holmes felt lucky to have a son like they did — from an early age, Jimmy did well in school and always kept out of trouble.

As he grew older, they worried a bit about his social awkwardness. Still, he made a few friends, played sports, and kept getting good grades. Everyone in their family tended to be introverted, Arlene Holmes said, so while she wished her son might be more joyful, she didn't have any serious concerns.

"He was the most responsible person I knew, my own son," she testified on Wednesday in a hearing to determine whether the 27-year-old will spend life in prison or be sentenced to death. "He managed his finances, looked after himself completely, went to school every single day without complaint, did all his chores without being told. You tell him once what he needs to do, and he did it. He never harmed anyone ever, ever, until July 20, 2012."

On July 20, 2012, James Holmes fatally shot 12 people in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater and attempted to kill 70 others. The conviction was a rejection of arguments by his defense team that he was so caught up in a psychotic episode that he did not know what he was doing was wrong.

The same jury must now determine whether Holmes should be sentenced to life in prison or death.

Prosecutors have successfully argued that Holmes showed so little regard for human life that the death penalty should be on the table. This week, defense attorneys have brought forward former neighbors, friends, and finally his family to tell the story of Holmes' life before he stepped into Theater 9 armed and clad in body armor.

"I still love my son because I understand he has a serious mental illness, that he didn’t ask for that," Arlene Holmes said. "Schizophrenia chose him, he didn’t choose it."

Colorado Judicial Department via AP

Before the shooting, neither of his parents knew he was mentally ill, they said. For hours, they described an idyllic childhood — digging mud holes with his little sister, neighborhood Easter egg hunts, family camping trips, the dogs they had raised. Photographs and home movies showed an extended family that doted on Holmes, the first grandchild on either side.

Around puberty, his mother said she noticed he had become more subdued, had difficulty making friends, and would spend less time outside. They went to family counseling.

"I felt guilty that he wasn’t happier," she admitted. "I know happiness is up to the person, but I'm his mom. So I felt like there was something more I could do."

There weren't any red flags that their son might be having serious issues, Robert Holmes said.

"I was kind of the same way," said the elder Holmes, a statistician who worked for years in the financial services industry. "In some ways, his path was very similar to mine."

Never talkative, Holmes' emails began to get shorter, and his parents said they had difficulty catching him on the phone. Around June 2012, they worried he might become depressed. He had dropped out of his neuroscience graduate program — a goal of his since he was 14 — and broken up with his girlfriend.

His psychiatrist, Lynne Fenton, had also called his parents to ask about him, but didn't relay fears that their son was becoming psychotic and had expressed a desire to kill.

"We wouldn’t be sitting here if she had told me that," Arlene Holmes said on the witness stand. "I would have been crawling on all fours to get to him. He's never said that he wanted to kill people. She didn’t tell me. She didn’t tell me."

They spoke on the phone with their son on the Fourth of July, and made plans to visit. But by this time, Holmes was in the final stages of planning his attack and accumulating an arsenal.

"He was talking quite a bit, and he didn’t seem depressed," his father said. "He did seem to be making sense and everything."

Rj Sangosti / AP

The next time they saw him was after his arrest. With bulging, darting eyes, dyed red hair, and a jail jumpsuit, he looked different from the son they knew. He spoke with difficulty, answering in syllables where he would once speak complete sentences.

Arlene Holmes thought back to a previous phone call on Mother's Day just two months before. He had admitted to having difficulty in school, and like any mother, she had tried to encourage him.

"I didn’t realize that his loudest cry for help was his silence," she said through tears.

LINK: Victims Describe Horror During Aurora Movie Theater Shooting

LINK: Sister Of Aurora Theater Shooter Describes Their Happy Childhood

LINK: James Holmes Found Guilty Of Murder In Colorado Movie Theater Massacre



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Former University Of Virginia Students Sue "Rolling Stone" Over Rape Story

Graduates from the University of Virginia are suing Rolling Stone magazine, claiming they suffered “vicious and hurtful attacks” as a result of a now-retracted article that accused their fraternity of gang rape.

Steve Helber / AP

Three University of Virginia graduates who were members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity sued Rolling Stone, publisher Wenner Media, and journalist Sabrina Rubin Erdely on Wednesday over a now-discredited account of a gang rape, the Associated Press reported.

According to their attorney, the plaintiffs — George Elias IV, Stephen Hadford, and Ross Fowler — suffered "vicious and hurtful attacks" due to inaccuracies in the November 2014 article that was ultimately retracted in April.

The three students were not named in the Rolling Stone article "A Rape On Campus," but according to the AP, the lawsuit claims the published account "created a simple and direct way to match the alleged attackers" based on "vivid details."

For example, the lawsuit notes that George Elias IV lived in the room in the fraternity house that "was the most likely scene of the alleged crime" based on the information published in the article.

The court documents also claim the three men were humiliated and scolded by family and classmates, which they say left them with "emotional turmoil" and "unable to focus at work and in school," the AP reported. As a result, the men say they will "forever be associated with the alleged gang rape."

The graduates are seeking at least $225,000 in damages for defamation and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

University of Virginia Student Dean Nicole Eramo sued Rolling Stone in May for more than $7.5 million, saying the article of gang rape on campus cast her as the "the chief villain of the story."

Attorneys for the parties involved in the lawsuit did not immediately return a request from BuzzFeed News for comment.

LINK: Former UVA Fraternity Member Hires Lawyer Who Specializes In Sex Assault Cases

LINK: University Of Virginia Dean Sues Rolling Stone For Defamation


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Officer's Body Camera Highlights Differences Between Ferguson And Cincinnati

Unlike what happened in Ferguson, Missouri, an investigative outcome for the fatal encounter between an officer in Cincinnati and an unarmed black man came in less than two weeks, largely because of what was captured on film.

Samuel Dubose

WKRC

Michael Brown

Nearly a year ago, Ferguson, Missouri, police Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown. The shooting sparked months of tension and protests as the nation waited to find out if Wilson would face charges. When a grand jury finally cleared him in November, the National Guard was called in, police fired tear gas at demonstrators, buildings burned.

Last week, another fatal police encounter between a white officer and an unarmed black man occurred: University of Cincinnati Officer Ray Tensing shot and killed Samuel Dubose. (Warning: The video clip is violent and disturbing.)


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This Prosecutor Took Cincinnati's Black Community By Surprise After Charging A Police Officer With Murder

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters after speaking to reporters Wednesday.

John Minchillo / AP

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters was scathing in his assessment of a University of Cincinnati police officer charged Wednesday in the death of an unarmed black man. "This is the most asinine act I’ve ever seen a police officer make,” Deters said, excoriating officer Ray Tensing for the "totally unwarranted" fatal shooting of Samuel Dubose during a traffic stop on July 19. "He should have never been a police officer.”

After a year of high-profile cases involving police relations with the black community around the nation, news of the indictment – and Deters's harsh words – quickly made headlines. But in Cincinnati itself, the news was greeted with relief, and surprise, by black community leaders.

"Deters has historically been at odds with the black community," Aaron Roco, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Cincinnati, told BuzzFeed News. "We're no fans of Joseph Deters. We're happy with what he's done today, but that may be the only thing."

Deters, a Republican, has represented Hamilton County as prosecuting attorney since 2004. He also previously held the position from 1992 to 1999, before serving as Ohio's treasurer. His office did not respond to a request for an interview with BuzzFeed News for this article.

During his tenure, Deters's opponents have criticized him for having a brash manner – and accused him of using his office to pursue political vendettas and saying inflammatory things about black defendants in the press.

"The relationship between the black community and Joseph Deters is strained, at best," Janaya Trotter-Bratton, criminal justice chair for the Greater Cincinnati Chapter National Action Network, told BuzzFeed News. "The press conference he gave today is usually the press conference he gives on day one with a black defendant."

Earlier this month, a group of black people allegedly beat up a white man in a Cincinnati public square. Although Deters said there was no evidence the attack was a hate crime, the prosecutor's fiery rhetoric was again on display when he announced the grand jury charged the three defendants.

"They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma,” he said, calling the defendants soulless and unsalvageable. “The root cause of this is there’s no discipline in the homes, they don’t go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it’s disgusting.”

In an editorial, the Cincinnati Enquirer slammed Deters for the remarks. "This is a disturbing set of worn stereotypes for an enforcer of law and order to utter," the editorial board wrote. "He should take care not to use his bully pulpit to feed racial discord in our community."

A protester outside Deters's office on July 23.

John Minchillo / AP

Franki Kidd started a blog called Citizens Against Joe Deters after her son received a 20-year sentence for bank robbery in 2007. "Deters did a press conference and convicted my son in the court of public opinion before he went to trial," she told BuzzFeed News. "He has a history here of doing that in cases with black defendants and people from certain zip codes – letting tapes get out, letting facts leak," she claimed.

However, Kidd said she had stopped updating her blog earlier this year out of respect for Deters's family, after the prosecutor's 23-year-old son was beaten by five black men in an alleged racially-motivated attack in May 2014.

"I don't care if it's white on black or black on white," Deters said of his son's attack. "When the motivation to commit crime is race, it's just disgusting."

Four days after the attack on Deters's son, media were broadcasting footage of the beating. One of the men who was charged pled guilty in January and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Before Wednesday, Deters's office had refused to release footage from the body camera Officer Tensing wore during his fatal encounter with Dubose out of a fear of prejudicing the grand jury investigation. That decision had infuriated many black activists, who feared that officials were attempting to cover up the incident.

David Singleton, executive director of the Ohio Justice and Police Center, told BuzzFeed News Deters acted prudently by withholding the Officer Tensing's video while the grand jury was meeting. Singleton, a black attorney who has worked in Cincinnati since 2001, said he hopes Deters uses his "good handling" of the Dubose indictment to build a more constructive relationship with the black community.

"You could see on Deters's face how impacted he was by this shooting," Singleton said of Wednesday's press conference. "I hope that people will take that as genuine and be able to look beyond what you don't like in him and see the possibility of someone who can do the right thing – and did so here."

Trotter-Bratton, with the local National Action Network chapter, said she, too, was impressed by the quick indictment, but remains wary of Deters.

"There's a level of distrust, but overall I think that justice was served. So I won't take that away from him," she said. "An indictment against a police officer is nothing to sneeze at."

John Minchillo / AP

LINK: Prosecutor: “Asinine” University Of Cincinnati Officer Charged With Murder In Fatal Shooting Of Unarmed Black Man

LINK: What We Know About Indicted University Of Cincinnati Police Officer Ray Tensing

LINK: Officer Fatally Shoots Man During Cincinnati Traffic Stop




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