Aug 8, 2020

District Attorney Ozanne's Decision to Prosecute Black Lives Matters Workers Is Disgrace

Madison, Wisconsin — The Dane County District Attorney’s Office concluded charges against John Doe cannot be proven to a trial jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

Variations of this generic statement explaining a decision to prosecute or not, routinely emanate from the district attorney.

The problem is our current district attorney sometimes engages in a political process to arrive at a legal determination rather than take an honest look at findings applied to the evidentiary standard of beyond a reasonable doubt that Ozanne claims guides his decisions.

Ozanne's, and not just Ozanne's, corruption is an example of a civil servant working under the color of law, substituting his perceived political expediency to displace the community, the Constitution and his duties.

Corruption and political prosecution define the current cases of Black Lives Matter protesters Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer.

Both civil rights workers are being unjustly prosecuted for the felony crime of Substantial Battery with Intent to Cause Bodily Harm.

Funny thing is there is no specific allegation detailing how Mses O’Reilly and Hamer battered the alleged victim, State Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee), a rightwing, self-admitted "rash" drug warrior who has worked against black folks to build the carceral state over three decades.

No allegation of fists being thrown, nor elbows, feet, blunt instrument, nothing. 

The alleged victim, Carpenter, has not identified the defendants as touching him.

No eyewitness has identified Mses O’Reilly and Hamer as laying a hand on Carpenter.

No video exists showing Mses O’Reilly and Hamer as laying a hand on Carpenter.

In fact, according to Carpenter and another witness, the confrontation that Carpenter incited included some eight to 10 people during a chaotic melee

Did Carpenter, with a racist past and a proven hostility to the protesters, throw a punch first, and others then interceded to defend a victim?

No evidence has been made public that indicts Carpenter or any other single person. Yet, Ozanne says he has concluded charges against Mses O’Reilly and Hamer can be proven to a trial jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

Reports Chris Rickert in the Wisconsin State Journal on the decision of Judge Circuit Court Judge Stephen Ehlke at a probable cause hearing to allow these cases to go to trial:

Despite vigorous arguments from the attorneys for Samantha Hamer, 26, and Kerida O’Reilly, 33, both of Madison, Circuit Court Judge Stephen Ehlke found there was enough probable cause to continue with the case against the women, both of whom are charged with substantial battery in the June 24 attack.

Hamer’s attorney, Adam Welch, and O’Reilly’s attorney, Nathan Otis, argued that testimony from the lead Madison police detective in the case did not point to evidence that their clients had been the ones to punch or kick state Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee. ...

'(Carpenter) has not been able to say whether Ms. Hamer specifically touched him in any way. Is that right?' Welch asked Madison police detective Linda Trevarthen.

'Correct,' Trevarthen said.

Good enough for the cops. Good enough for Ehlke, and for Ozanne fronting for Carpenter because they share the same Party affiliation.

So, faced with a corrupt district attorney's office, we as a community can protest, write, and alert the community that two more civil rights workers are about to suffer another injustice.

I wrote Ozanne an email on July 31. We cannot stay silent, no matter how many Ismael Ozannes and Derek Chauvines stain an office of public trust.

The email is reproduced below:
--
Ismael,

As a member of our community, I have followed with grave concern the cases of Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer.

I am aware that you do not know how, and by whom and with what force violence was inflicted in the confrontation among Tim Carpenter and depending on whom you believe — the police quote a journalist saying some ten people, you say two people — and those who may be criminally responsible.

Did these two women use their elbows, fists, feet, head, or blunt instruments? You have no idea, yet you are charging them with being party to substantial battery by undetermined persons, a "group," as Carpenter told police.

Are you satisfied with Carpenter's credibility?

Did you know Mr Carpenter did not request medical assistance after speaking with protest medic and peacekeepers, as indicated in audio published by WORT News.

Did you know that after a WKOW-TV crew member phoned 911, Carpenter declined to go to the hospital?

Have you checked out Carpenter's story and timeline of the evening of June 23 and early morning of June 24.

Have you viewed video of Carpenter's 'collapse' performed right in front of WKOW-TV?

Do you ascribe responsibility to Mses. O’Reilly and Hamer because they are convenient faces on a video?

Carpenter said he was attacked by a "group." Yet, you divine O’Reilly and Hamer?

I ask you to drop these bogus cases, and issue a public apology to Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer, and Black Lives Matter.

Mike

Michael Leon
Marketing and Public Relations Consultant
http://malcontends.blogspot.com/

No comments:

Post a Comment