[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Capablanca Teaches Us The ONLY Chess Opening You'll Ever Need

"How Bruce Springsteen Fooled America"

How ancient Rome was excavated in Italy in the 1920s. Unique rare videos and photos.

Reagan JOKE On The Homeless

The Deleted Wisdom (1776 Report)

Sicko Transfaggots video

The Englund Gambit Checkmate

20 Minutes Of Black DC Residents Supporting Trump's Federal Takeover!

"Virginia Public Schools Deserve This Reckoning"

"'Pack the Bags, We're Going on a Guilt Trip'—the Secret to the Democrats' Success"

"Washington, D.C., Is a Disgrace"

"Trump Orders New 'Highly Accurate' Census Excluding Illegals"

what a freakin' insane asylum

Sorry, CNN, We're Not Going to Stop Talking About the Russian Collusion Hoax

"No Autopsy Can Restore the Democratic Party’s Viability"

RIP Ozzy

"Trump floats 'restriction' for Commanders if they fail to ditch nickname in favor of Redskins return"

"Virginia Governor’s Race Heats Up As Republican Winsome Sears Does a Hard Reboot of Her Campaign"

"We Hate Communism!!"

"Mamdani and the Democratic Schism"

"The 2nd Impeachment: Trump’s Popularity Still Scares Them to Death"

"President Badass"

"Jasmine Crockett's Train Wreck Interview Was a Disaster"

"How Israel Used Spies, Smuggled Drones and AI to Stun and Hobble Iran"

There hasn’T been ... a single updaTe To This siTe --- since I joined.

"This Is Not What Authoritarianism Looks Like"

America Erupts… ICE Raids Takeover The Streets

AC/DC- Riff Raff + Go Down [VH1 Uncut, July 5, 1996]

Why is Peter Schiff calling Bitcoin a ‘giant cult’ and how does this impact market sentiment?

Esso Your Butt Buddy Horseshit jacks off to that shit

"The Addled Activist Mind"

"Don’t Stop with Harvard"

"Does the Biden Cover-Up Have Two Layers?"

"Pete Rose, 'Shoeless' Joe Reinstated by MLB, Eligible for HOF"

"'Major Breakthrough': Here Are the Details on the China Trade Deal"

Freepers Still Love war

Parody ... Jump / Trump --- van Halen jump

"The Democrat Meltdown Continues"

"Yes, We Need Deportations Without Due Process"

"Trump's Tariff Play Smart, Strategic, Working"

"Leftists Make Desperate Attempt to Discredit Photo of Abrego Garcia's MS-13 Tattoos. Here Are Receipts"

"Trump Administration Freezes $2 Billion After Harvard Refuses to Meet Demands"on After Harvard Refuses to Meet Demands

"Doctors Committing Insurance Fraud to Conceal Trans Procedures, Texas Children’s Whistleblower Testifies"

"Left Using '8647' Symbol for Violence Against Trump, Musk"

KawasakiÂ’s new rideable robohorse is straight out of a sci-fi novel

"Trade should work for America, not rule it"

"The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Race – What’s at Risk for the GOP"

"How Trump caught big-government fans in their own trap"

‘Are You Prepared for Violence?’

Greek Orthodox Archbishop gives President Trump a Cross, tells him "Make America Invincible"


Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Corrupt Government
See other Corrupt Government Articles

Title: The cost of bad policing: Review of Iberia Parish cases leads to 18 tossed convictions
Source: Tha Acadiana Advocate
URL Source: https://www.theadvocate.com/acadian ... cc-11e8-a18f-4703b3f8e8d2.html
Published: Dec 10, 2018
Author: JOHN SIMERMAN
Post Date: 2018-12-18 07:35:30 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 233

A campaign of violence meted out by a squad of Iberia Parish drug deputies landed many of them in the federal pen and left the fate of Sheriff Louis Ackal in the hands of a jury, which acquitted him on civil rights charges.

Now, two years later, the scandal has resulted in convictions being dissolved for 18 people who were arrested, charged and in some cases imprisoned based on evidence drummed up by the disgraced deputies, legal advocates say.

Attorneys for the St. Mary Project, an initiative formed by private and nonprofit defense lawyers in the wake of the Iberia Parish scandal, on Monday announced the results of their work.

The group, which includes nonprofits such as the Promise of Justice Initiative and the MacArthur Justice Center, reviewed about 500 Iberia Parish cases and filed motions earlier this year to vacate convictions and sentences against 19 people.

Bofill “Bo” Duhe, the district attorney for Iberia, St. Mary and St. Martin parishes, agreed not to fight 17 of those motions. A judge granted another one, and the last one remains pending. All told, the 18 cleared defendants had served several decades of prison time on sketchy convictions, according to advocates.

Explaining the background of 4-part special report on troubled part of New Iberia

The dubious arrests took place as recently as 2015 and as far back as 2008, when Ackal took office. Nearly all of the dismissed convictions came by way of guilty pleas. All but one, a burglary rap, involved a drug arrest.

The review followed an FBI investigation that led to guilty pleas from nearly a dozen former deputies for civil rights offenses. Several of them admitted to a free-swinging culture in which they beat up jail inmates and residents on the streets of New Iberia. They ran wild for years, often targeting black people and beating some just for sport, deputies testified.

Ackal, the accused ringleader, stood trial in Shreveport in late 2016. He claimed the deputies all were lying and went free. But the investigation cast doubt over the legitimacy of hundreds of arrests those deputies made over the years. Some had admitted fabricating police reports or lying in depositions to hide the abuse.

Along with those 18 tossed convictions, Duhe said he scrapped 90 additional cases that were pending when the scandal erupted. In this Louisiana town, racist policing, bogus arrests and the story of a community's eroding trust

Mark Cunningham, a partner in the Jones Walker law firm and a past president of the Louisiana State Bar Association, led the project and praised Duhe for opening his files and assigning staff to review the cases.

“We must hold accountable anyone who abuses his authority and help those who have been victimized and wrongly accused,” said Nishi Kumar, an attorney with the Promise of Justice Initiative. “Many of our clients have been claiming their innocence for years.”

Mercedes Montagnes, executive director of the Promise of Justice Initiative, also cautioned that the review may be incomplete. 

“We believe that there are likely other people who are innocent of the crimes they were convicted of, or pled guilty to,” she said, “but we lack the resources to conduct the necessary investigation to prove it.”

Ackal, 75, remains in office. 


Poster Comment:

Just a few "bad apples".

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Please report web page problems, questions and comments to webmaster@libertysflame.com