TheFoothillsForum

2 Neighborhood homes were raided by the DA's office Yesterday
The Officer's refused to give the search warrants to the Families at the begining of the search. Police in full riot gear showed up
They were looking for evidence in a case from May 2010.


Contact: Celes King, CORE: 213-494-3950;

Ian Thompson, ANSWER Coalition: 310-490-8595


COMMUNITY RALLY & PRESS CONFERENCE:

D.A.’s office sends message to residents of L.A. County through Gestapo tactics targeting people who recorded police misconduct.


Who: Community organizations, human rights attorneys, Jeremy Marks and his family


What: Press conference and community rally


When: This Friday, January 28, 12 noon


Where: Office of the Los Angeles District Attorney: 210 West Temple St., Los Angeles 90012


Why: This week, on Wednesday, Jan. 26, the Los Angeles Police Department carried out Gestapo-style police raids on the home of Jeremy Marks, 18-year-old African American falsely accused of “attempted lynching” for videotaping an L.A. school police officer beating another student in May 2010, and the home of a youth who witnessed the incident and posted videos on Youtube.


Jeremy’s case has received media attention because of the obvious injustice involved. He spent nine months in adult jail simply for videotaping police misconduct.


This week’s raids were ordered by Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley. At Marks’s home, nearly 30 officers burst in with guns drawn at 7:00 a.m. When asked for a warrant by Jeremy’s mother, Rochelle Pittman, the police refused, failing to produce a warrant for 45 minutes. Officers also refused to give their names.

“These raids bring to mind what it must be like to live in a police state,” said Celes King, director of the Congress on Racial Equality. “D.A. Cooley is on a fishing expedition. Nine months after the incident, it is hard to understand why he would need to order a vicious raid on an African American family’s home to gather evidence that has been available since May. The D.A.’s office should be investigated for terrorizing these families.”

Ian Thompson, an attorney with the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), added: “Jeremy’s house was overturned. All of the family’s cell phones, computers, cameras and papers were taken, including privileged communications with Jeremy’s attorney. The raids were unlawful. Guns were drawn on small children and innocent bystanders. This is not justice. This is intimidation and harassment to make people fear the criminal ‘justice’ system.”


Rochelle Pittman, Jeremy Marks will make statements about the raid, along with organizers and attorneys. All are available for interview.

I'm not surprised. We swallowed red light cameras, DUI checkpoints, the TSA, and the Patriot Act without a peep. It takes balls to be an American. Too bad we don't have them anymore. And you can argue that (with your FOX talking points) until the day they come for you . . .

Link to the story
http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/ne ... aided.html

I shared this on facebook

I think there is a lot going on that is not known yet. I hope the whole story will come to light soon.

There has to be more to this story

I agree. I never heard anything about the Rodney King videotaper getting hassled and that was a much bigger case than the school bus incident. And there have been many other tapings that didn't result in hassling as well.

More to the story....
The DA's office did not want to try this case because they had no evidence.
They tried to get Jeremy to take a Plea Deal. The Court Appointed Defense Attorney worked out the Plea Deal and had been working to get Jeremy to agree. He didn't do anything wrong and stuck to that story until the end deciding to risk a court trial rather than admitting to something he didn't do. He knew he was innocent and believed that
others would believe it too.
The DA's office is now deperate because the trial is going to start and they do not have the evidence to convict.
They raided the house to intimidate him and his family, Holding shotguns on the family members, neighbors and neighborhood children. The Officers broke several Laws- Refusing to turnover the search warrant before searching the house,taking Attorney- Client priveledged information, and the officers refusing to give there names when asked, among other things.

Jeremy was arrested on May 10th. This was the first time they looked for evidence at his home-- 10 months later?

Jeremy's house was not the only house raided. The other boys house that was raided
was at gunpoint, cops in riot gear etc. This boy was completely innocent of any crime and did not know Jeremy. He witnessed the incident and posted his tapes on you tube.
That's it! 10 months later after refusing to serve the search warrant his house and Family were raided, all cell phones and computers cameras etc. were taken from both homes.

Look familiar:

http://www.fark.com/cgi/vidplayer.pl?IDLink=5916582

Not the same case, but do they have the right to ask people to turn off cameras?