The indispensable Federale calls this, “The Difference Between Prison Time and No Charges.” He found the 2003 article below on the accidental killing by a cop of a suspect who refused to submit, when the former went for her taser, but instead drew and fired her service weapon, killing the latter.
During a black riot just after 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day morning, 2009, when Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Officer Johannes Mehserle accidentally drew and fired his gun instead of his taser, and shot and killed a struggling black felon named Oscar Grant in an Oakland BART station, he was pilloried by the media, and racist blacks used the incident as a pretext for days of riots. (“Demonstrations,” the collaborationist media called them.) Officer Mehserle was duly sacrificed to the diversity gods.
BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle shouted, “I’m going to Tase him,” just before he fired a pistol shot into Oscar Grant’s back, a former colleague [Anthony Pirone] of Mehserle’s testified Friday at his murder trial.
Federale suspects that Alameda County DA Nancy E. O’Malley sacrificed Officer Mehserle on the altar of black votes. I believe that Officer Mehserle was the political prisoner of a race war, independent of the vote issue.
DA O’Malley indicted Officer Mehserle for second degree murder, which could have gotten him 25-to-life, but his attorney succeeded at getting the trial moved from Alameda to Los Angeles County, where a jury acquitted him of second-degree murder, but convicted him of involuntary manslaughter. Even then, with the case out of her hands, but with Mehserle still having been convicted in a political prosecution, D.A. O’Malley still pushed hard to see that he served prison time, and indeed prevailed. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert Perry sentenced Mehserle to two years in prison, but Mehserle was released after one year for good behavior.
And yet, as Federale shows, in finding and re-publishing this 2003 story, the only crime Mehserle was guilty of, was of having white skin. When Madera California Officer Marcie (in some stories spelled “Marcy”) Noriega accidentally shot and killed struggling thug, Everardo Torres, on October 27, 2002, Madera County’s white D.A., Ernie LiCalsi, did not sacrifice Officer Noriega because, as a Hispanic, she was a member of the church of diversity. Thus, Officer Noriega wasn’t so much as prosecuted, while Officer Mehserle was prosecuted to the max, and had his life stolen from him.
No charges against officer
By Glenna Jarvis
May 3, 2003
The Madera Tribune
Marcie Noriega, the Madera police officer who says she mistook her service weapon for her Taser and accidentally shot and killed Everardo Torres, 24, of Madera, will not face charges for the shooting.
Madera police officers responded to a disturbance call at an apartment complex in the 2100 block of North Schnoor Avenue the night of Oct. 27, 2002. Shortly after, they requested assistance from sheriff’s deputies.
Nine officers, including two deputies, were attempting to break up a party that had gotten out of hand when the incident occurred, according to earlier reports. Three individuals were taken into custody, including Madera Torres.
Torres was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police vehicle and, according to reports, attempted to kick out the vehicle windows. In an attempt to subdue Torres, Noriega intended to use her Taser, but drew her 40-caliber Glock instead and fired a single shot into Torres’ chest, killing him.
“In a 1,100-page report, District Attorney Ernest LiCalsi told Madera Police Chief Kime ... (the DA’s office) would not be filing charges against Marcie Noriega,” Assistant District Attorney Eric Wyatt read from a prepared statement during a press conference Friday afternoon.
Wyatt explained that without the intent of criminal negligence, criminal charges against Noriega could not be sustained.
“The required aggravation ... did not occur in this case,” he said.
“This decision was not reached quickly or without a tremendous amount of reflection,” Wyatt said, adding that LiCalsi “strives to make decisions that - under the law - are just.”
“It is the opinion of the Madera County District Attorney’s office - under the law of California - not to file charges,” he said.
Wyatt said the decision was based on all the evidence and statements of the witnesses at the scene.
“The man seated in the car next to Torres said he knew it was an accident when it happened,” Wyatt said. “There is not a single piece of evidence showing intent on the part of Marcie Noriega.”
He added that the decision was not made without many questions and “many sleepless nights” as he and LiCalsi conducted the investigation, and while he understands the moral issues involved - the fact that a life was taken - they could only seek justice as established by law.
“Despite what I may feel, it is our job to follow the law,” Wyatt said.
Wyatt said that the fact Noriega is a sworn peace officer did not factor into the decision.
“There is nothing in the law that makes the standard any different,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Wyatt sent two investigators to the Torres house to deliver a letter informing the family of the decision, he said, but he had no idea if they were successful in making that delivery.
The complete report has been forwarded to both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Attorney General’s office for review, Wyatt said.
“We’ve made everything available to them,” he said. “We were committed to turning everything over to them so it could be double checked.”
The night of the shooting, Torres had a blood alcohol level of 0.15 and his blood contained tetrahydrocannabinol, the active chemical in marijuana, according to the autopsy report.
Madera Police Department guidelines states the M26 Taser is a “control device to be used to control violent or potentially violent suspects” and “should be worn when officers are responding to calls for service that may ... necessitate the use of the Taser.”
The M26 Taser can either be used in direct contact with the subject, or by firing projectiles which embed in the subject’s flesh. The projectiles can be removed by the officer unless lodged in a highly sensitive area, according to the guidelines.
Steve Tuttle, director of Government and Law Enforcement Affairs for Taser International, explained that the taser causes central nervous system override in which all conscious thoughts are overridden by subconscious thoughts in order to protect oneself from further perceived damage.
Attorney Arturo Gonzalez filed a $10 million lawsuit in federal court against the City of Madera on Nov. 4 citing negligence, excessive force and violation of Torres’ civil rights.
In February, the Torres family changed attorneys, and hired Johnnie Cochran, the attorney who represented O.J. Simpson during the trial for the murder of his wife, Nicole Simpson.
Bruce Praet, the attorney representing the city, said he and Gonzalez had established a good working relationship, and he feared that the family rejected Gonzalez because his “target wasn’t what they wanted.”
Prate said he believed that the monetary value Gonzalez attached to the case has been exceeded by the Cochran firm, and the family had been given “unrealistic expectations” by the firm as to what the case is worth.
Epilogue
Soon after Officer Marcie Torres accidentally shot and killed Everardo Torres, his family launched a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Madera. A Fresno court threw out the suit twice over the years, but on August the notorious Ninth Circuit, aka “Ninth Circus,” federal court of appeals reinstated the case, which is expected to take place in spring, 2012.
Thanks for the mention.
ReplyDeleteThank you for finding the story, in the first place. So often, I have to speak of unfair treatment for "very similar" cases. It's very rare that I can speak of unfair treatment for an identical case.
ReplyDelete