Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240622

Hernandez was sentenced to life with a parole for nondrug violent for a drug nonviolent offense. His sentence was commuted by president obama in 2013. He was jailed at the federal prison obama visited on thursday. We will also speak to Maya Schenwar, author of locked down, locked out, why prison doesnt work and how we can do better. Then after a twoyear battle federal judge has ordered the release of Police Dashcam footage of a Police Killing of an unarmed man in gardena, california that shows officers ordering Ricardo Diaz Zeferino and two other men to raise their hands in the air, which they do. Three officers then open fire, killing him with eight bullets. We will speak with Sonia Mercado , civil rights attorney representing the family of the victim. Then a gunman opens fire on two separate military sites in chattanooga, tennessee. The rampage left four marines and the gunman dead and at least three people injured. This obviously has been horrible day for chattanooga in a tragic day for all of tennessee. I wanted to be her to express my sorrow and sympathy for the families and everyone else involved. Amy the tennessee shooting comes as a jury in colorado announced its verdict in one of the deadliest Mass Shootings in u. S. History. Almost exactly three years ago july 20, 2012, james holmes walked into a Movie Theater in aurora colorado, opened fire killing 12 people and injuring 70 others. On thursday, the jury found him guilty of 165 counts of firstdegree murder inattentive murder. We will speak with mark follman from mother jones who covers gun violence. He runs their Mass Shootings database. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Four u. S. Marines were killed and three people were injured in shootings at two separate military sites in chattanooga thursday tennessee. The shooter has been identified as 24yearold Mohammad Youssuf abdulazeez, a u. S. Citizen who was born in kuwait. He attended high school and college in chattanooga. President obama spoke after the shooting. I would ask all americans to pray for the families who are grief stricken at this point. I want everyone to understand we will be thorough and prompt in figuring out exactly what happened. Amy in a press conference last night, the fbi said the agency does not have anything that directly ties the suspected shooter to any International Terrorist organizations. In news from colorado james , holmes has been convicted of multiple counts of murder for the 2012 aurora Movie Theater shooting that left 12 dead and dozens wounded. Holmes had pleaded not guilty by reasons of insanity, but the jury rejected that argument. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. More in the story later in the broadcast. A new Government Accountability report shows hundreds of packages of aid intended for yemen have been delivered and sitting in a Storage Facility in virginia for years. The packages include medical supplies and batteries, as well as military equipment. The revelations come two weeks after the when declared yemen now faces the highest level humanitarian crisis as the on par with south sudan, syria and iraq. Julien harneis, the acting u. N. Humanitarian coordinator for yemen, spoke on the situation. President obama has made history by becoming the first sitting president to visit a federal prison as he continues the effort to reform the countrys criminal justice system. On thursday, he visited El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in oklahoma. Visiting with these six individuals, and i have said this before, when they describe their use in childhood, these are these are young people who have made mistakes that arent that different than the mistakes i made and that mistakes in the mistakes a lot of you guys make. Amy meanwhile, at a speech to the naacp wednesday, former president bill clinton said he regrets signing into law the three strikes law another bills which dramatically increased prison sentences. More on the visit after headlines. More than 50,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the Justice Department to probe the mysterious death of an africanamerican woman who died in a texas jail. 28yearold sandra bland was arrested last friday after a traffic stop for failing to use her turn signal while changing lanes. Three days later, on monday, she was found dead in her jail cell northwest of houston. Jail officials said her death was a suicide, a claim disputed by her family. We want to see to understand what happened. We dont know. Amy on thursday, video footage surfaced of her arrest, which appears to show police pushing sandra bland to the pavement and restraining her as she asks why she is being treated so roughly. Why theyre are slamming her head on the ground. Sandy bland was involved in the black lives Matter Movement and posted a series of videos online speaking out against Police Brutality and racial injustice. We want the white folks to really understand out there black people are truly were doing as much as we can. Not all of us, but some of us are really doing as much as we can. We cant help but get we see situations that it is clear that black lives did not matter. For those questioning, why was he wanting a way . Running away . Because in the news we have seen as of late, you can stand there surrender to the comps, and still be killed. Amy president obamas former top military intelligence official has described the administrations reliance on drones as a failed strategy that creates more terrorists. In an interview with al jazeera, retired u. S. Lieutenant general Michael Flynn said, when you drop a bomb from a drone you are going to cause more damage than you are going to cause good. Flynn served as head of the Pentagons Defense Intelligence Agency up until last august. Meanwhile, the u. S. Reportedly carried out another drone strike in somalia thursday targeting militants with al shabab. Nasa is scheduled today to release more photos of pluto the last major unexplored body in the solar system. It is located 3 billion miles away from earth. Initial images show pluto has icy mountain ranges and a surprising lack of craters. And journalist Marlene Sanders has died at the age of 84. One of the first female reporters on television, sanders taped the way for women in media. She also produced multiple documentaries on the womens movement. She spoke with democracy now in 2006 about the death of betty friedan, whom she profiled in her films. I talk a lot about her impact and how she affected those of us in the media. We organized and the networks and newspapers and support, to confront our managements. She was very important to give us moral support. This is nerveracking business and the 1970s. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. President obama became the first sitting president in history to visit a federal prison thursday when toured the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in oklahoma. After passing through several security gates, obama stepped inside a 9 by 10 cell and walked through a section called cell block b that houses prisoners who are part of a drug rehabilitation and prevention program. He also spent about 45 minutes meeting with six nonviolent drug offenders, which he described during a press conference afterwards. Visiting with these six individuals, you know, i said this before, when they describe their use in her childhood youth and their childhood, these are these are young people who made mistakes that arent that different than the mistakes made and the mistakes that a lot of you guys made. The differences, they did not have the kind of support structures, the Second Chances the resources that would allow them to survive those mistakes. I think we have a tendency sometimes to almost take for granted or think is normal that so many young people in depth end up in our criminal justice system. It is not normal. It is not what happens in other countries. What is normal is teenagers doing stupid things. What is normal is young people making mistakes. And we have got to be able to distinguish between dangerous individuals who need to be incapacitated and incarcerated versus young people who are in an environment in which they are adapting, but if given different opportunities, a different vision of life, could be thriving the way we are. That is what strikes me. There but for the grace of god. And that, i think, something we all have to think about. Juan obamas stop at the federal prison in el reno comes amidst a broader, bipartisan push to end mass incarceration. On monday, he commuted the sentences of 46 lowlevel drug offenders. Amy many of them had stories like our next guest, Jason Hernandez, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1998 for his role in a drug conspiracy, starting when he was only 15. He was arrested and convicted of a nonviolent drug offense. He was one of eight prisoners whose sentences were commuted by president obama on december 19 2013. Jason joined us on democracy now the next day. After he learned of the commutation. I asked him how he felt after hearing the news. Elated. It is a dream come true. Im just i hope this is the beginning of more to come. Im happy for what was given to me by the president , but it is kind of like a bittersweet moment because there are other individuals in here who i believe are more deserving than me. They didnt believe Something Like this could happen. But now they believe. I just hope the president and other lawmakers decide to do more for the individuals in here because you know, my mother and father this christmas when they come visit me and my family, my son, theyre going to be crying. It is going to be tears of joy. At the same time, i am going to have to look at other mothers and fathers and kids crying a visitation, and their cries are going to be for sorrow. Im grateful for what the president has done, but i hope there is more to come. Amy Jason Hernandez had a sentenced reduced to 20 years of which he had served 15. He was imprisoned in the el reno, oklahoma federal prison that obama visited thursday. He has since been released, but is still technically in custody until this coming august. While he was in prison, he founded the sentencing reform group, crack open the door. He now works as a welder, and at a nonprofit restaurant in dallas called cafe momentum, where he mentors young people training there who were previously incarcerated in juvenile facilities. He joins us from his parents home in mckinney, texas. And in chicago we are also joined by Maya Schenwar, editorinchief of truthout and author of, locked down, locked out why prison doesnt work and how we can do better. Welcome both of you to democracy now jason, lets begin with you. You are imprisoned at el reno and you were released by president obama will step obama just visited el reno yesterday the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. Your thoughts . My first thought when i heard it was, and a never thought in a million years i would ever say this but there was no place i would rather be then el reno just to meet the president and shake his hand and to hug him and tell him i was so grateful for what he is done for me and for my family and others, and ask them to keep on doing it for those inmates who truly deserve it. I think it is just a shame that there is never been a president who is talked about sentencing reform are Prison Reform, who has never been to a prison. For him to do that, i mean, that is what is needed. How can you make a suggestion on how to change something if you dont even know what is going on inside prison . President obama that is a great step he has taken. And pretty sure while he was in that prison, that he had to a felt what i felt and there thinking i was going to die step hopefully, it had a strong impact on him. And there will be more changes and Push Congress to do the right thing. Juan jason, your self or targeted under the mandatory minimum and the thing laws for drug offenders minimum sentencing laws for drug offenders. Your reaction as your hearing more and more among congress and the National Leaders to reform these, especially these mandatory minimum, but also this mass incarceration, so many youth in the country . Yeah, i mean, my first reaction is, it is about time. I mean, it has taken him was 30 years for congress to realize in society that the war on drugs which you could actually call a war on minorities, is wrong. That we have been going about it the wrong way and locking people up for not only a couple of years, but 10 years, decades, or the rest of their lives actually has an adverse effect on society. Like i said hopefully, i read an article the other day where they said the black president that everybody expected has finally arrived. I think that is far from the truth. He has been here. His view on the criminal system has been 10, 15 years ago, when he was a congressman. Amy Jason Hernandez, the u. S. Has 5 of the world population, 25 of its prisoners. One in four prisoners in the world are imprisoned in the United States. One in 99 americans are in prison. The vast majority are black and latino. How long did you serve in jail . I served approximately about 16 years and eight months. Im doing the last year, like, home confinement. Amy you shared a photo of you and other nonviolent drug offenders with long sentences. Mostly life without parole, at el reno prison before you were released. Can you talk about who is in this picture and where they are today . One of them, Antonio Douglas he is serving life without parole. He is an car serrated since 1993 for crack cocaine. The row great guy, one of the greatest individuals i came across. He was in the welding class in el reno. Probably every year he graduates about 100 inmates from el reno and gets them ready to get a job immediately upon release. There is also kenny evans. He is also nonviolent did nonviolent serving life without parole for crack. He has been in there since 1993. When i left, he was a ged teacher. At the time he was a ged teacher, he the most highest Graduation Rate el reno is ever had. Theres a guy in there named preacher. He has left. He is not there no more. They called him preacher because he preached sermons on sunday. He is a bigger congregation in the free world preachers that come in. There are some great people in there. Juan were also joined by Maya Schenwar, editor at truthout and author of locked down, locked , out why prison doesnt work and how we can do better. Shes joining us from chicago. Welcome. Your reaction to the president s visit to a federal prison . Well, i think first of all we have to of knowledge this is unusual and commendable. It is interesting that we are at a moment in history, a strange moment, where fairly quickly Prison Reform has become something acceptable to talk about in the mainstream. That a president visiting a prison actually earn 10 points. Urns him points. I think the fact that he met with incarcerated people was a positive thing, the way he talked about their shared humanity was definitely encouraging. And also he did speak about the injustice of these long, excruciating sentences that have been prompted by mandatory minimums. I want to push back on a couple of things he said. One was this giant emphasis that he placed on distinguishing nonviolent and violent offenders behind bars. Anything what he emphasized was drawing this line were some people are the people who just do stupid things, like all of us, as he said, and then there are the hardened, violent criminals. I think drawing this line really causes us to discard huge numbers of people. In state prisons, half the people behind bars have been convicted of violent offenses. Many of those violent offenses are prompted by the same structural oppression, the same structural racism, structural economic violence that leads to these nonviolent offenses. I think we have to take that structural violence seriously and not discard these people. I also think it is important to think about them as individuals and think about whether we would want to be judged for the worst thing possibly we ever did. So i think drawing that line, that is something that is being done across the board with this mainstream rhetoric on bipartisan Prison Reform, and it is something that we have to challenge. Amy president obamas push to end mass incarceration comes two decades after another democrat president bill clinton, signed into law the federal three strikes provision that mandated harsher punishment, often a life sentence, the third time a person commits a felony, a nonviolent drug offense. In may, clinton acknowledged the policys role in overincarceration during an interview on cnn. The problem is, the way it was written and implemented, we have too many people in prison. And we wound up putting so many people in prison that there wasnt enough money left to educate them, train them for new jobs, and increase the chances when they came out so they can live productive lives. A strongly support what she is doing, and i think any policy that was adopted when was president and federal law that contribute it to it should be changed. Amy more than 2. 2 Million People are now behind bars nearly double the number incarcerated when clinton took office. He, by the way, also repeated his apology before the naacp. He spoke after president obama did. Maya schenwar, your response . Well, i think this is an encouraging development. I think in clintons rhetoric and a lot of the discussion around bipartisan Prison Reform, which has really been spurred a lot by conservatives, the conservative group right on crime, the koch brothers, Newt Gingrich all of these people who now are very vocally speaking out for Prison Reform, a lot of what theyre talking about is money. Theyre talking about how much prison costs. 80 billion. Were wasting money on incarcerating people, we could be doing other things. And while i think it is important, obviously that mass incarceration is being challenged, we need to step back a little bit and think about whether this is where we want to place our emphasis. Because, first of all, a lot of the legislation being proposed in congress to sort of right the wrongs is taking that money that would be saved by decarcerating some people in federal prison and redirecting it into what they call Public Safety measures, like local Police Forces. So that money isnt being channeled into Early Childhood education or Mental Health care or Real Community resources that would promote lasting safety. A lot of the strategy going on is really about heightening policing in various ways. And channeling that money into people who are really at the start of the prison pipeline, the police, are the gateway to prison. And we know that Police Forces are imbued with racism and antiblackness. They grew out of slave patrols. So we really have to challenge that idea of easy reinvestment, and also just the emphasis on taking dollars from one pot and putting them in the other, now that it is no longer acceptable to be spending 80 billion on prison. Juan i want to ask you, maya as more people get released and the question of reintegrating former prisoners into society the comes a much bigger one, what do you make of the movement to the box movement youre seeing now by countries like target and walmart when the reality is, these companies dont longer need people to fill out a box unemployment form because of so many databases down to determine what that persons history is been to begin with . Right. Right. I think the ban the box campaigns are definitely a positive step. And i have been happy that obama, over the past week and in recent months, has been talking about Voting Rights in reinstating the Voting Rights formerly incarcerated people. I would also question why people behind bars are not able to vote. I think that when we talk about reintegration, reentry and we think about, well, what does it mean to be a participant in society and thinking about the employment factors that you mentioned, thinking about how people are able to step back into this world, i think we have to consider, well, what are we doing in the first place that is making it possible for them to enter the prison system . I think sometimes we do kind of overemphasize this idea of reentry, and a lot of money can actually be fueled into reentry but it puts a lot of restrictions on people that puts people in a position where they are answering to a number of folks within the state apparatus and sort of continuing that type of confinement. So i think we have to be careful about that. I think we have to make sure to cultivate opportunities for people to really get involved. One thing that i think we have to be careful of as we make this transition, and hopefully, fewer and fewer people will be incarcerated, is that theres a lot of talk, oh, well, we will let them out early and put them on electronic monitors. We will let them out early and we will put them on house arrest. All of these things that are still confinement, still isolation. We will let them out early, but we will send them to lock down Treatment Facility or Mental Health facility. We have to think about the ways we are recreating prison sometimes in our transition efforts. Amy Jason Hernandez, explain your time out from el reno prison that you got out of years ago. After almost two decades of incarceration, it takes some adjustment. Going to certain places like a store where there is a lot of people just moving around you. Driving the echo my father had to teach me how to Parallel Park and drive. But other than that, trying to get a job, it was difficult at first. Nobody really cared that i had a felony for drugs. They were like, the bosses were well, everybody goes to prison for drugs now. They kind of laughed it off. Amy very quickly, for people who are hearing about these clemency is that president obama has granted more than the last four president s combined, if you could briefly say how you started the process. You describe your friends, he said many who are more deserving, but they remained behind bars. How did you apply for clemency . I filed my own petition from everything that i learned from legal classes. I prepared it like my life depended on it. Luckily for me, shall alexander connected me Michelle Alexander connected me with the aclu Jennifer Turner and practically got the ball rolling. Without the aclu and michelle turner, i probably would not be here right now and inmates being released right now would probably still be in prison. Theres a lot of people to give credit to. Amy i just want to say, we want to thank you for joining us. We will be checking back with you over time. Jason hernandez was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1998 for his role in a drug conspiracy, starting when he was. He was one of eight prisoners whose sentences were commuted by president obama in 2013. He was in prison at the el reno oklahoma federal prison that obama visited thursday. We would like Maya Schenwar to stay with us. We want to ask you about the case of sandrabland when we come back. Were going to look at the case of Police Brutality in two cases, coming up. We will be back in a minute. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan last friday, an africanamerican woman was returning home from a Job Interview in Waller County texas, when she was stopped by police. Apparently, she had improperly signaled a lane change. Two days later, the woman, sandy bland, was found dead in a jail cell. A video taken by a bystander during the arrest shows bland shouting that the officer had slammed her head into the ground. You dont even care about that. I cant even hear. You slammed me into the ground and everything. Juan according to Police Sandra Bland was taken into custody and charged with assault of a public servant. The next morning, police say she was found in her cell not breathing from what appears to be selfinflicted six edition. Asphyxiation. The announcement was made by Waller County sheriff glenn smith. Meanwhile, reports have emerged that smith was fired from his Previous Post as chief of police of hempstead, texas amidst accusations of racism. Blands friends and family contest smiths account, saying the thought of her committing suicide by hanging is unfathomable. This Cheryl Nanton and lavaugn moley, blands friends, followed by her sister, sharon cooper. I do suspect there was foul play and i believe we all are 100 and believe that she did not do harm to herself. Were very suspicious and very upset that this is happening and it seems like nothing is really being done about it. Quick each one of us feels like we have lost a part of ourselves and it is hard. It is going to be hard for very long time. Inigo sandra bland was 28 years old. She was outspoken member of the black lives Matter Movement. She produced a series of videos called sandy speaks in which she discussed social justice and racism on her facebook page. I want the white folks to really understand out there black people are truly were doing as much as we can. Not all of us, but some of us are really doing as much as we can. And we cant help but getting when you see situations where it is clear that black lives did not matter. Or those of you questioning, why was he running away . Because in the news that weve seen as of late, you can stand there, surrender to the cops, and still be killed. Amy social media is not ablaze with people demanding answers about Sandra Blands death. The hashtag sandrabland is now trending on twitter, edging out the emmys as a topic of discussion. Were still with Maya Schenwar editor in chief of truthout and author of locked down, locked out why prison doesnt work and how we can do better. Her family, sandys family sandy herself is from chicago and maia that is where we are speaking to you, her family is gone to retrieve her body. Can you comment on what we know at this point . We have this video, unfairly, that is just been released of her saying, why are you slamming my head into the ground . She is then taken to the local jail. That was a monday. Then she is found dead in herself. 00 in her cell. She spent three days in jail clearly, police had severely injured her. We do not know the very specifics but we know she was slammed to the ground. This video showed she was severely injured and then left in the jail cell. And i think that definitely highlight something about our county jail system that people who are still innocent they havent been Proven Guilty of anything are left, you know, until they can post bail, which was actually going to happen on monday. Sandras friends were about to post her bail. And i think the fact that we see the situation where this young black woman is pulled over for a small traffic violation. She is thrown to the ground by police. She is severely beaten and slammed into the ground. The Police Actually admonished the person who is filming this horrific scene. And she is taken to jail. And i think this demonstrates you know, earlier we were talking about Prison Reform as it is cut off from policing. But again, policing is the gateway to prison. Policing cannot be separated from antiblackness. And i think this is just such a tragic and horrifying example of how that practice plays out in reality. Juan maya people often focus on the federal prison system, but the number of inmates in federal prison is dwarfed by those who are in county and state facilities. What about the oversight in those facilities . Yeah, so there are about 215,000 people in federal prison at this time. There are around 2. 3 Million People incarcerated in the country as a whole. So a lot of those are in state prisons. In state prison, a lot of people convicted of violent offenses, not people that obama is addressing when he talks about this largescale Prison Reform. And then we have 750,000 people in county jail. And most of those people are incarcerated pretrial. They havent been convicted of anything. Most of those people who are in their pretrial are there because they campaign a all they cant pay bail. Theyre there because they are poor. We have to remember this is also a Racial Justice issue that people are given higher bail generally when they are black. And so we have this many pronged system and addressing federal prison alone isnt going to cut it. So even though there is kind of more of a focus being zeroed in on federal prisons particularly, since the president is speaking out to a certain extent, we cant forget that obama cant do everything. And actually, the community level, the activism happening at the community level, is really what is when a make those giant shifts. Amy as you talked about she was clearly severely injured, even as she said, why are you slamming my head against the ground, she also said, i cant hear. I cant hear. She has brought into the prison. The county sheriff there, the Waller County sheriff, glenn smith, who made the first Public Comments about blands in custody death, had been fired from a past job for his actions involving alleged humiliation and mistreatment of young africanamerican males. In hempstead, the place where he was the sheriff before, the city council placed him on probation for six months and ordered him to take anger management classes. He was later fired. We have 15 seconds. First of all, i would say obviously, it is horrifying that this person is still at his job. Secondly, i would say it is not always about an individual racist. This is an inherently racist system and we have to be careful, even though the sheriff obviously should not have kept his job, we have to be careful not to term someone about apple and ignore the inherent antiblackness in the system as a whole. Amy Maya Schenwar, thank you for being with us editor in , chief of truthout and author of locked down, locked out why prison doesnt work and how we can do better. Shes joining us from chicago. Juan after a legal battle between the California City of gardena and news outlets, a federal judge has ordered the release of Police Dashcam footage showing local Police Officers shooting an unarmed man. In the video, unsealed tuesday, please officers order Ricardo Diaz Zeferino, and two other men, to raise their hands in the air. The men comply. Diaz zeferino then lowers and raises his hands several times and removes his cap. His friends say he was trying to explain to the officers that they were on the streets looking for his brothers stolen bicycle and were not bicycle thieves themselves as the cops , incorrectly suspected. Three officers then open fire, killing him with eight bullets. They also wounded one of the other men. Amy the city of gardena paid 4. 7 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit with the victims families, but blocked release of the dashcam videos. In his ruling tuesday, judge Stephen Wilson said there was a Public Interest in seeing the material. Gardena has since filed a notice of appeal with the 9th u. S. Circuit court of appeals, which issued a stay suspending the release of the videos. However, the videos have gone viral and remain available online. For more, we go not to los we go to los angeles, california where were joined by Sonia Mercado, a civil rights attorney representing the family of Ricardo Diaz Zeferino. Sonia mercado, welcome to democracy now talk more about this case. I mean, you have ricardo Ricardo Diaz Zeferino dying two years ago. Explain the circumstances and now the video being released. And we see him with his hands in the air and we see this level of confusion, and then we see him gunned down by the police. Yes, and to followup on what the prior person was speaking about, the issue of the video cams are critical. One correction i will make, the plaintiffs attorneys fought for two years to try to get the video cam. We never obtained we obtained a copy of the video, but we never were allowed to release it to the public. If you months ago, about two months ago, the Los Angeles Times, after we settled the case moved to obtain a copy of the video, which the department had always claimed was private and they wanted to keep secreted. The critical aspect of that is just as in the prior case, theres a video taken by private person therefore, it is not the property of the police department. As the nation moves toward the question of having every officer either wear a video cam on themselves or have a camera on a car, that becomes critical because what they will do and have been doing is, saying, we will show the public the video only when we deem that they should see it, which means that in cases like the young woman whose face was smashed against the ground or my client, the public would never see what my client really had done. Our position was, the video will show the truth and therefore, we believe in a system of justice such as ours, the truth speaks for itself. The video that will now be taken by either an officer wearing a video cam or a car cam, those videos must be made public. The reason they must be made public is, for example, in our case, up to the very day, the day that the judge released the video to the public after the Los Angeles Times filed their motion, the Gardena Police Department Took the position that they had done nothing wrong. As we speak, they have taken the officer did nothing wrong. And we see mr. Zeferino clearly moving his hands only to try to explain to the officer that his two friends were not his brother spike the us. Brothers bicycle thieves. Juan this happened two years ago and the city settled, huge settlement obviously, with your clients family, and yet news about this only services in a major way once this video is released. Can you talk about what kind of attention it got at the time when he was killed . At the time he was killed the only news outlets reported what the police said. And what the police said was that they suspected somebody of a burglary and a suspected that my client was a burglar and that the person was not obeying police directions. And that was all they said. The inferences to the public this was probably a criminal and he deserved to be killed. Whether that is true or not, as a civil rights attorney, we know that is not the issue. Another really critical thing we see in the video, which is why the videos must be shown, is that the officers are standing with their guns pointed at my client that two of the other gentlemen at no time moved their hands there were always above their head yet one of them was shot in the back. So it is not that they were not paying attention or following police orders. And secondly, critical, the officers are standing directly in front of our client will stop every officer is trained on day one in the academy that you take coverage if an officer is not in fear, that he will stand in front of the person and give them orders. The fact there standing in front of our client, really shows these officers were not in fear of their lives. Otherwise, they would have been behind their car vehicle and taken coverage. That is important because the spin on the story up till now was that my client had posed a threat of harm to the officers and that the officers were afraid for their life, which is when an officer can shoot. Clearly, there are circumstances when an officer is afraid for his life. But in this video, we see there is no fear. And if theyre saying theyre afraid for their lives, then clearly there being extremely dishonest. Any code this is Gardena Police chief ed medrano. Speaking to nbc4 news, he suggested the Police Officers were justified in their actions. You was not complying with his orders and the officers could not see his hands at one point. The Detailed Analysis is in the District Attorneys opinion letter. We understand this is a tragic incident, but this case has been litigated for a number of years and those officers only had seconds to explain that the second decision. Amy Gardena Police chief ed medrano also said he disagrees with the judges orders to release the Police Officers dashcam video. We dont want to Community Members to feel distrustful of us. They know some point the situation may end up on video or the internet. Amy Sonia Mercado, your response to him and also if you could tell us what happened on that day . Explain what these three men were doing, that they were looking for a bicycle thief. First of all, my client, mr. Zeferino, had worked 12 hours before this incident. All three have been working in a restaurant and left work around midnight and were having some drinks and playing pool at a local topless bar before they headed home. All three of them were on foot. Two were on bicycle. These were my client had had some drinks, but he was walking home. What they were doing was resting a little bit before they went home after a long days work. Listing two chief medrano, he continues spinning the facts. He said, at one point we cannot see his hands. We look at the video, which is why it is critical to see these videos, you see that mr. Zeferinos arms are clearly empty, that all three officers testified in depositions that they knew his hands he did not have a gun in his hands. One said well, i did not know if you do not have a gun in one hand. There is a spin of facts. We believe it is critical for the public to know these are just three guys on their way home, have done nothing wrong. The officers were not listening to them, work morning them, and the other very important point in these cases is, that the guns that officers are using now are very it is a hair trigger. So they pull their gun my client was shot eight times. And these bullets are bullets that open up into their body once it enters the body, which is why these gentlemen who get shot by these Police Officers die right away. So those are important points to remember when chief medrano is saying that they werent paying attention and that the District Attorney really examine the facts. That is also a sad statement because the facts are that the District Attorney merely accepted whatever report was produced to them by this very police department. Amy Sonia Mercado, are these officers still on duty . All officers have always been on duty and every time they participated in the legal proceedings, the were paid time and a half. Amy even though the city has settled for 4. 6 million. They were paid in the legal matter, and i have before they settled the case. Theyve always been on duty. They were given two weeks, what we are called calling a vacation to the beach, then back with full pay. Amy Sonia Mercado, thank you for being with us civil rights , attorney representing the family of Ricardo Diaz Zeferino. We now have the videotape of him being gunned down by police two years ago. Speaking of gun violence, were going to talk about that in chattanooga, tennessee, in a moment. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan today marks one month since the massacre of nine africanamerican churchgoers in charleston, south carolina, and the United States is reeling from yet another mass shooting. On thursday, a gunman opened fire on two separate military sites in chattanooga, tennessee. The rampage left four marines and the gunman dead, and at least three people injured. The shooter has been identified as Mohammad Youssuf abdulazeez a 24yearold kuwaitiborn u. S. Citizen, who attended high school and college in chattanooga. Amy while the u. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of tennessee said federal authorities were treating this as an act of domestic terrorism, the fbi said it does not have anything that directly ties the suspect to International Terrorist groups. Speaking thursday, just weeks after he eulogized charleston massacre victim reverend clementa p me, Pinckney Obama informed the nation about another mass shooting. Ask all americans to pray for the families that are grief stricken at this point and i want everyone to understand that we will be thorough and prompt in figuring out exactly what happened. Juan the tennessee shooting came as a jury in colorado announced its verdict in one of the deadliest Mass Shootings in u. S. History. Almost exactly three years ago on july 20, 2012, james holmes walked into a Movie Theater in aurora, colorado and opened fire, killing 12 people and injuring 70 others. On thursday, the jury found him guilty of 165 counts of firstdegree murder and attempted murder. The jury rejected attempts by the defense to convince them holmes was legally insane at the time of the shooting. Holmes now faces a lengthy sentencing process which would result in the death penalty. Amy in a statement thursday dan gross, president of the Brady Campaign to prevent gun violence, said this is one of the most significant days in American History when it comes to gun violence. The same day a jury handed down its verdict on a man for carrying out mass murder in a colorado Movie Theater, another went on a deadly rampage killing four american marines. If this doesnt cause policymakers to stop and think about the impact of gun violence in our country, what will . To talk more about gun violence in the United States, were joined now by mark follman National Affairs editor at mother jones. Runs mother jones coverage of gun violence, including their Mass Shootings database. Mark, welcome to democracy now can you respond to what happened yesterday . In chattanooga, the four marines killed, and we are reminded of what took place in aurora with the guilty sentence for james holmes. Good to be with you, amy. Sure. I think yesterday was extraordinary in some ways. The confluence of these events, the guilty verdict in aurora, and then a fresh event like this, again, in tennessee. We have looked at Mass Shootings data from the last three decades , studied it closely over several years now and these events just keep happening and there has been some debate in the recent past about whether or not their crank more frequently, and we now know definitively that they are to the data we have collected at mother jones and analysis we did in partnership with some researchers at harvard university. These types of public mass shooting attacks have been on the rise for several years. They are occurring at a significantly higher rate. Juan that is in the face of a crime rate the generally has been plummeting in the United States, but these Mass Shootings have been increasing. Have you tried to ascertain or do any analysis why . That is a great question. It is hard to explain. I think it is a very complicated set of fact hers. Factors that go into this. The data we collected, in some sense, is very conservative. It is a narrow estimate of this problem because we only look specifically at public Mass Shootings of this type. And you have a lot of other similar types of gun crimes. There are very high number of domestic Mass Shootings that happen in our country were People Killed or whole families. Those happen, in fact, more often than the public offense. And the other aspect is the way these are measured, the way we did it uses a baseline threshold, of the tallies of four or more People Killed. Fratello these of four or more People Killed. It generally has been the accepted way of defining mass shooting come although it is not a very clearly defined problem. If you think about it, in some ways that is a very artificial construct if you take away just one in that count, say three People Killed, and say another nine or 10 injured, is that not a mass shooting . That happens a lot, too. If we were to add those in, we would be talking about hundreds more cases than a set we have in the last 30 years, which is now over 70 Mass Shootings around the country and in more than 40 states. Amy mark follman, the Harvard Research shows Mass Shootings tripled since 2011. Your report, the true cost of gun violence, very important as you keep this database. What needs to be done at this point . President obama, what was this, the 15th time he stood up before the American People to address the issue of a mass killing. It is remarkable isnt it to see him again and again on television essentially saying the same thing. What can be done about it . It is a very complex question. There are a lot of factors that play into this. Theres a simple common denominator, which is powerful firearms that are easily accessible to the people that are carrying this out. You can look at the data and see some very strong patterns in terms of the type of person that does this. Overwhelmingly, white male, 20s or 30s. The types of weapons they use are very similar, semi automatic handguns and ar15 semi automatic rifles. We can see these kinds of things about this crime and yet there is really no way to profile for this and to predict when it is going to happen. The people ive been talking to in Public Health Law Enforcement are increasingly in agreement that this really is putting more pressure on the community to help watch for this problem and help intervene and try to deal with the people amy and legislation . That is another question. We know the gun politics in this country are extremely tense and polarized. It kind of you know, it boggles the mind is can keep happening over and over in a conversation about gun control or regulation doesnt really seem to change. We hear the same arguments from both sides, particularly from the Second Amendment people who wont have any thought of changing the revelatory system, which we know is flawed at best, to put it charitably. Amy mark follman, we have to leave it there, thank you for being with us. National Affairs Editor at mother jones. Runs mother jones coverage of gun violence, including their Mass Shootings database. That does it for the broadcast. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] eel that youre on some kind of spiritual quest . If so, my advice is, dont switch channels. And if not, well, you might nevertheless be interested in a question like is there another reality behind this reality that we so casually call reality . Either way, if you feel that you might need a road map for Something Like this, you are in good hands with our guests Karen Armstrong and robert thurmond, two of the worlds finest enquiring minds. So pin back your ears and join our host and guide, Phil Cousineau on this most intriguing episode of global spirit,