Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20170419

Several years ago, a Police Report in the bronx was whited out. He would this was a race from the report and the Police Report was given to an attorney representing a man on trial for murder. This week, that man was released. The District Attorney released realized he did not receive a fair trial. He lost six years of his life. Amy and then to the streets of berkeley, california, where a fight broke out this weekend between White Nationalist Trump Supporters and antifascist supporter protesters. People were arrested. We will get the latest. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. U. S. Defense secretary james mattis arrived in saudi arabia tuesday for the first stop on his weeklong trip to the middle east and north africa. Speaking on the plane to reporters, mattis hailed the u. S. Saudi arabia relationship. Way to firstour stop is saudi arabia. As you know, this is a nation that has been a key security i since 1994. They remain a pillar of our Security Framework for the region and for american interest. Amy in riyadh, secretary mattis called for a political solution to the ongoing war in yemen, where the u. S. Backed Saudiled Coalition has been fighting houthi rebels. More than 10,000 people have been killed, the majority killed by the saudi bombing campaign. While in riyadh, mattis also called north koreas recent failed missile test reckless. The guardian is reporting the u. S. Military is considering plans to shoot down future north Korean Missile tests, and that mattis has briefed congress on the possible escalation. Meanwhile, in somalia, the United Nations says 25,000 people have become sick with cholera, as a severe Drought Forces people to drink water infected with the deadly bacteria. The u. N. Is warning somalia is on the brink of widespread famine. In 2011, more than 250,000 people died during severe famine in somalia. In syria, residents say an airstrike killed at least 30 civilians, including women and children, in the syrian province deir alzor on monday. Reuters reports the airstrike was believed to be launched by the u. S. Led coalition. Isis controls most of the province. U. S. Air force colonel john dorrian said the coalition had carried out strikes around the town where multiple homes were reportedly destroyed, but he said he could not confirm the veracity of allegations of civilian casualties. The journalistic Monitoring Group airwars says nine civilians were reportedly killed by u. S. Led Coalition Airstrikes thursday and friday in raqqa. Meanwhile, the u. S. Led coalition and the u. S. Backed Iraqi Air Force continue to carry out airstrikes in mosul, iraq. The journalistic Monitoring Group airwars says between 20 and 50 civilians were reportedly killed by airstrikes on neighborhoods across west mosul monday. The iraqi observatory for human rights says on saturday, another 42 civilians were reportedly killed after airstrikes hit a 16room home in old mosul, killing members of a large extended family, including children. On tuesday, the United Nations warned that the battle to oust isis militants from the old city of mosul could turn into the battles worst humanitarian catastrophe. The u. N. And iraqi officials are rushing to build more camps to house people displaced by the battle. This is issam abo mohammed, who was displaced from mosul by the fighting. Mat have been sleeping on a for 17 days. My back is hurting me now. I am 50 four years old and i am ill. My son was hit and killed while we were escaping, and i buried his body in the street. If the senior officials do not help me, my family will die. Amy the Associated Press is reporting sales of ivanka has three new trademarks in china. It was very same day President Trump met with chinese president xi jinping at trumps private maralago resort in florida. The china trademarks give her company the exclusive rights to sell ivankabranded jewelry, bags, and spa services in china. The New York Times reports japan also approved new trademarks for ivanka for branded shoes, handbags, and clothing in february, and she has trademark applications pending in at least 10 other countries. Ivanka trump no longer manages her 50 million company, but she continues to own it. Ivanka also serves in the Trump Administration as an adviser to the president , along with her husband, trumps soninlaw jared kusher. The ap says sales of training trumps merchandise have surged since her father was elected president. Reuters is reporting the Philippine Police are receiving cash rewards for extra judicially killing drug suspects, based on interviews with two unnamed senior Philippines Police officials. The officials also told reuters that majority of the nearly 9000 killings carried out since president duterte took office have been orchestrated by the Philippine National police. In late november, a buzzfeed investigation revealed the u. S. Has continued to fund and provide equipment for the Philippine National police, despite the mounting death toll of dutertes socalled war on drugs. A new Harvard University report says unaccompanied child refugees in greece are being forced to sell sex in efforts to try to pay human traffickers to take them further along their journey across europe. The report authors describe a the report comes as refugees continue to risk their lives to reach europes shores. The International Organization for migration says 9000 refugees were rescued in the mediterranean this weekend alone. Almost 9000 migrants have been rescued over the weekend by individual ngos and international flotilla. The figure is 8360. Mostly africans, but also a large number of bangladeshis. What is significant, when we look at the deaths at sea so far, we have 900 migrants dying so far at sea this year. Libya to italy stretch. Amy the wall street journal is reporting that fox news star bill oreilly may be ousted from the network amid multiple accusations of Sexual Assault against oreilly. Over 50 advertisers are already boycotting concordia Oreilly Factor over revelations oreilly and fox paid 13 million to settle lawsuits by five women who accuse oreilly of Sexual Harassment and inappropriate sexual behavior. A sixth woman, dr. Wendy walsh, has also accused oreilly of harassing her and then retaliating against her when she refused to have sex with him. On tuesday, a seventh woman, who remains anonymous, accus oreilly of harassing her for months with sexually and racially offensive comments and actions. The woman is an African American clerical worker who worked near oreilly. Her lawyer, lisa bloom, said oreilly wouldnt speak to her, other than to say things like, mmm hmm, make grunting noises like an animal, she alleges, leering at her, looking at her cleavage and her legs, and he would call her hot chocolate, which she found to be very offensive. 21st century fox is holding a Board Meeting on thursday. Fueling speculation of oreilly will not be returning to air next week after his vacation. Oreillys team is denying he is in talks with the network about his exit. To see our full interview with attorney lisa bloom, go to democracynow. Org in georgia, democrat jon ossoff, Whose Campaign slogan was make trump furious narrowly missed winning tuesdays special election today to fill the seat of former Congress Member tom price, who is now the secretary of health and human services. In the heavily republican district, ossoff won 48 of the vote, meaning hell face off against republican candidate karen handel in june. A 30yearold documentary filmmaker, ossoff had raised 4 times more money for his campaign than any other candidate. This is ossoff speaking tuesday night. We have shattered expectations. And there is no amount of dark money, super pac, netted negative advertising that can overcome the Grassroots Energy like this. Amy massachusetts prosecutors are throwing out more than 20,000 criminal drug cases over scandal involving a former state chemist who admitted faking tests for years. Annie dookhan pleaded guilty in 2013 to falsifying evidence in tens of thousands of cases during her nine years working at a state crime lab in boston. Many of the cases, she identified the evidence as illegal narcotics without even testing the turtles. We will have more on this case later in the broadcast. 23yearold dreamer Juan Manuel Montes is suing the Trump Administration for deporting him to mexico, even though he had been granted Legal Protection to live and work in the United States until 2018 under president obamas deferred action for childhood arrivals program, known as daca. He had been living in the United States since he was nine years old. He was deported after he was approached by ice agents in california and didnt have his wallet on him, which contained his id and proof of daca, since hed left it in his friends car. Within three hours, he was deported to mexico. Trump has previously said he would not go after dreamers with daca. The department of homeland dacaity claims his expired, even though his lawyers have proof that he had protection through 2018. In alabama, hundreds of people protested against a speech by White Nationalist injured spencer at Auburn University tuesday night. In the latest run a protest against the racist and xenophobic leader of the movement. Altright spitzer spoke against the wishes of the university after federal judge ruled the university did not have the power to cancel his beach. Spencer said the speech was sponsored by the White Nationalist website altright. Co m. And longtime migrant justice activist hugo castro has been found alive in mexico city. He had disappeared five days ago after calling for help on a Facebook Live video, saying his life was in danger. Castro works with the group border angels, and he was en route to join a caravan of Central American refugees en route to apply for asylum in the United States when he disappeared. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn now to the remarkable case of steven odiase, wrongfully convicted man who was released monday after a judge ruled he may not have received a fair trial because prosecutors withheld crucial evidence from his defense lawyer. The case has raised increased scrutiny of new york citys criminal Justice System and concerns about prosecutorial misconduct. In 2013, odiase was convicted for the shooting death of 15yearold juan perez in the bronx. At the time, the only evidence against the 31yearold man were the words of a lone eyewitness, who admitted to being intoxicated at the time of the murder. Odiase was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Then his younger sister, Kalimah Truesdale, set out to prove her brothers innocence. She scoured the scene of the crime and eventually found a woman who said that she saw the shooting. Most shockingly, the woman said she had already spoken to a detective at the time of the murder and described the shooter as a man not matching odiases description. However, there was no mention of the womans testimony in the version of the Police Report that was presented to the defense attorney. The original Police Report contained the witnesss description, but had been surreptitiously redacted in the doctored version. On monday, Justice Steven barrett quickly vacated the eerdict, ordered odaias released and called for a new , trial. Shortly afterwards, one of odiases Defense Attorneys, pierre sussman, spoke to ny1 we knew there was a lot that needed to be done. With thell charged underlying murder. We are hopeful that the District Attorney will see fit to dismiss his indictment for the grounds they vacated the conviction today. Amy judge barrett did not reverse odiases murder conviction and the District Attorneys office says that its investigation is ongoing. However, its unlikely prosecutors will decide to retry odiase in light of the previously withheld witness statement. Kalimah truesdale welcomed her brothers release and briefly spoke to reporters. I am very happy. Is this something that needed to be done . Absolutely. Amy Kalimah Truesdale told the new yorker magazine that she wants to keep investigating the mystery of the altered Police Report and find out why crucial information was redacted from her brothers case file landing him in jail more than three years ago. For over six years. Prosecutors are required by law to share with Defense Attorneys any evidence pertaining to a defendants innocence claim before the trial. For more were joined now by two , guests. Jonathan edelstein is an attorney focusing on criminal appeals and postconviction remedies. He is one of the lawyers who represented steven odiase. And were also joined by Jennifer Gonnerman, a staff writer for the new yorker magazine. Her most recent piece, a womans quest to prove her brothers innocence leads to a discovery. Welcome to democracy now talk about this piece you wrote so eloquently about in the new yorker. Covered it very well up top. This is a story of what appears to be a Police Report that is whited out. The yellow card on the screen was the part that was not shown to the Trial Attorney before trial. Essentially, that pertains to a witness that essentially vanished. The Trial Attorney did not know about that witness, and it appears this young man spent six years in prison and would have spent many more years in prison if not for the intervention of his family, his sister, his attorneys. He would have done at least 25 years. Yet at 25 to life sentence. Amy this is amazing. Describe what happens. There are just a few lines that are completely whited out so just looks like it is another paragraph. Though what was said in those three lines . The police had done a canvas of an Apartment Building near the crime scene, going apartment by apartment. Each person store they knocked on, they recorded what they said. People said they heard gunshots or i heard nothing or i heard five shots am a six shots, sounded like firecrackers. One woman told them she had seen the crime and see me shooter, and gave a description. It was three lines in the middle of the Police Report. Yet when that was handed over to the Trial Attorney, those three lines were erased. Consequently, they did not know about this witness before they went to trial. Now this week, the District Attorneys office, six years later, admitted this young man did not get a fair trial and set him free this past monday. Amy how long was he in jail for . But hely six years, could have done 25 if this mistake had nothing caught. Amy this is an astounding story, Jonathan Edelstein. Talk about from a lawyers perspective, what this means. Now is the prosecutor going to be tried . I mean, this is why did out information that led to a mans chilling for years. Jailing for years. Whether anyone responsible for this is indicted or tried would be up to the bronx District Attorneys office. There were certainly be difficulties bringing criminal charges after this long of time. Depending on when the reductions were made, they might even be barred by the statute of limitations. Historically, it is very rare for prosecutors to Face Criminal Charges as a result of withholding evidence or mishandling evidence. In the cases where charges have been brought and convictions have been obtained against prosecutors is very much the exception. Obviously, we dont know what investigation is going to reveal. It is ongoing at this time. We do not know whether the thection was made by District Attorney or Police Officer or where along the process this might have occurred. As theird expect that investigation unfolds, we might more we may find out about what is going to happen to the people responsible for this. , youJennifer Gonnerman write about the prosecutor in the case and how he has explained the whiting out of the statement that the eyewitness identified someone else. I called him up right after the release of amy s name . The prosecutor . He is in private practice. He had tried many high profile cases for the bronze District Attorneys office. The way explain it to me, the whiting out was something that, as he referred to it, was a normal practice in the office, whiting out of witnesses that they had concerns their safety might be in jeopardy. What i called the bronx District Attorneys office to find out if it was true, if that was a normal practice in the office, they said, sometimes they do wide out the names, like a single name of an individual to protect their identity. Thesurly, not the fact that witness existed. Not three lines of information in the Police Report. That is one point of contention between the office and the former employee and as he said come the investigation is ongoing. We dont know exactly what went on or who did the whiting out or what they were thinking at the time. Amy how could there possibly be an explanation there protecting the eyewitness . Take outid, they can the witnesss name. That is two or three words. At the sentence that says she explicitly identified someone else . You go on to write nrps that the former prosecutor said he eventually did tell the difference attorney. That is what he told me. He subsequently told that to the New York Times, but attorney said he had no idea about this witness before trial. That is the dispute between the two of them. Amy can you talk about the larger context, the issue of her prosecutor torn between two missions . I feel there is a tension baked in to the drop of prosecutors. Are they there to do justice or bring convictions at all cost at trial . I think each interprets the job a little bit differently. Oftentimes times we have seen prosecutors in the past in other cases or so determined to win a conviction at trial, theyve overlooked evidence or overlooked witnesses, or have been so zealous in their pursuit of that mission that they overlook justice in the process. We have spent a lot of time focusing on police brutality, im terrible conditions in jails like Rikers Island, but i think prosecutors in some ways of the most powerful players in missile system. Prosecutors offices have been the black box with no transparency or accountability. I think that is slowly starting to change. Heroinne ofout the the story, steven odiases youngest sister, kalimah trues dale. When she hears the verdict to she crumbled to the floor. The whole family described it to me, is such a state of shock am expecting a lot one was going to be acquitted that when he was convicted, just started screaming and getting very emotional in the courtroom. I was fortunate enough to meet the sister before her brother was released. She was describing to me extraordinary efforts she went through to try to investigate his case. After the trial, after the conviction, after they realized he is going to go to prison, she did her own street work around the crime, ultimately uncovering this witness who had been redacted from the Police Reports. Amy and she went through the streets . She did her own Police Investigation . She did her own detective work and went to this neighborhood where they had lived years earlier. Training orsort of experience, try to conduct her own interviews. And record interviews with witnesses or people who knew of witnesses to try to prove her brothers innocence. Amy Jonathan Edelstein, what happens now . Get the odiase sue to how many years of his to somehow compensate him . Right now he is still under indictment. His conviction has been vacated and he has been released, but the charges are still pending. And the next step is to work with the District Attorneys office to complete to help complete their investigation. We are hoping for a quick resolution. After that, there are a number of options open, which we are discussing with the odiase family. Weis not something that really are going to start on or able to start on until a final resolution of the charges. A makeup how unusual is this, and what you mean by resolution of the charges . They have not vacated the conviction. There are several ways the charges could be resolved. The District Attorney could agree to dismiss them, in which case it is done, or the District Attorney could seek to retry mr. Odiase, in which case we would fight in the courtroom to defend his innocence. We are certainly hoping the District Attorneys office, will see their way clear to dismiss the charges. And we are working with them on that. Amy mr. Odiases response . Have you spoken to him . Yes, of course. I was there in the courtroom with him when he was released and i walked down the street with them. Amy was he shocked . He did not know until that day that his conviction was going to be vacated. He did learn before shortly before we appeared in court, so he wasnt shocked. There was no scene of shock in the courtroom. But he was pretty happy. As you might guess. Amy what is he doing now . He is living with the sister . He is living with his family. You know, his sister and his mother. Trying to put his life back together. Amy final comments, Jennifer Gonnerman, as you have investigated so many Different Cases i mean, how many times have we spoken to you about kalief browder, a young man wrongfully accused goes to jail, the teenager, for three years at rikers . Horribly abused in prison, comes outcome ultimately commits suicide. Now there is even discussion of even by the mayor bill de blasio of closing Rikers Island altogether. How this fits into the picture of criminal justice . This is the same District Attorneys office that allowed kalief to spend three years in jail without a conviction, the same office that allowed a defense attorney to receive a redacted document without a witness being known. They have a new District Attorney in the bronx now. One of the first thing she did now was to start and integrity unit. I think that will have their handful with a tremendous amount of work. We do not know this is a oneoff situation or part of a pattern of behavior in terms every doctor and documents, but i think we will find out in the months and years to come. Jennifer gonnerman said a prosecutor can be formed between two missions. In the rules of ethics, they only have one mission, to do justice. They represent the people of the state of new york, the people of the state of new york win when the right man is convicted and win when the wrong man is acquitted. The defense bar for many years has sought to encourage prosecutorsoffices to open integrity units like the ones in brooklyn and the bronx. To door sohankful im papal to the new District Attorney. There is more than just a redact Police Report. Theres quite a bit more. This investigatio very siously and they were not afraid at alllt. Future, or in the prosecutors offices across the more prosecutors offices across the country can approach wrongful convictions with the same seriousness. Amy issue the first female bronx thda . I believe so. I dont know that for a fact. Amy we will continue to follow the case Jonathan Edelstein is an attorney focusing on criminal appeals and postconviction remedies. Of the lawyers who represented , who is nowdiase free, after all the six years in jail. And Jennifer Gonnerman is a staff writer for the new yorker magazine. We will link to her piece on the odiase case. When we come back, we will be talking about an astounding convictions21,000 in boston, massachusetts. But first, were going to talk about what happened on the streets of berkeley, california. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In what may be the single largest dismissal of wrongful convictions in u. S. History, massachusetts prosecutors announced tuesday theyre going to throw out 21,587 criminal drug cases. The cases were all prosecuted based on evidence or testimony supplied by a former state chemist who admitted to faking tests and identifying evidence as illegal narcotics without even testing the evidence. The chemist, Annie Dookhan, pleaded guilty in 2013 to tampering with evidence during her nine years working at a state crime lab in boston. During that time, thousands of people were convicted based on her false statements. Tuesdays announcement is a major win for Civil Liberties attorneys and public defenders who spent years in litigation fighting to have these drug cases dismissed. Many of the socalled dookhan defendants have completed lengthy prison sentences and continue to suffer the consequences of being convicted of a drug offense. From not being able to get jobs to already being deported. Well, for more, were joined by three guests. Matt segal is the legal director of the aclu of massachusetts. Mallory hanora is a member of the bostonbased Group Families for justice as healing, which has been advocating for those wrongfully convicted as a result of tainted evidence handled in the scandal. And Timothy Taylor also joins us from massachusetts. He was arrested in 2009 and served five years in prison on a Drug Trafficking charge. Annie dookhan is on record as having handled evidence in his case. Taylor has asked for it to be reopened. We welcome you all to democracy now matt segal, talk about the scope of this case. 21,000 historic, over cases . What is happening . It is historic. , whennk it is going to be all is said and done, the single largest dismissal of cases in u. S. History. It is because this misconduct was allowed to go on for so many years. As a consequence of that, people have already served their sentences and living with the collateral consequences of those sentences. What we hope will happen as a result of these dismissals, it will allow people like your guest timothy, to move on with their lives, to rebuild their lives, and to move on from these convictions. Amy so give us the history of matt. Ook place, talk about this one tester in massachusetts and what this led to. How many years she worked there, and are there others involved . She worked there for around eight years. Unfortunately, it it takes a village to taint 21,000 cases. And although she was probably the only one intentionally falsifying evidence, there were a lot of missteps along the way. She was caught redhanded in june 2011. Her misconduct was not disclosed to the public until august 2012. And even then, prosecutors did not step for to voluntarily vacate these convictions. Instead, it took years of litigation by the public defenders, by pro bono lawyers, and by the aclu to get to this point now where prosecutors, having lost in court at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in january, are agreeing to these dismissals. It was, unfortunately, a really long and difficult process. But what were hoping comes out dealing a roadmap for with these kinds of scandals, both in massachusetts and throughout the country. Amy explain again, what is the deal that was worked out . Originally, you had the state prosecutors pushing for individual reconsideration of dookhan class cases rather than a mass resolution. But what ultimately, how was it resolved . I mention the roadmap. I think the thing that really flipped the switch admit his dismissals possible was putting the burden on prosecutors to come forward to say which cases that they think should be dismissed in which cases they think they could keep using untainted evidence. That is crucial because when the state wrongfully convicts people, it should be up to the state to say how it is going to fix that problem, instead of it requiring individual people by the thousands to come forward and litigate casebycase. What happened in this litigation was our states highest court put that burden on the prosecutors to come forward and to do so in 90 days from the courts decision to identify cases to dismiss. That flipping of the burden really opened the doors to a more just outcome. In addition, what were going to see going forward, a process of giving robust and real notice to the people who are wrongfully convicted so that they can take advantage of these dismissals and help to rebuild our lives. Amy how was Annie Dookhan caught, this chemist at the drug lab . How she caught falsifying evidence . The number of people that she has been responsible for putting away. She was caught essentially several times because people kept coming reportedly to supervisors at the lab expressing concerns that she was doing a superhumanly high volume of testing. It turns out that is because she was inventing the test results. But eventually, the final disclosure that allowed the public to eventually learned about this was when there was a transfer in who is running the route running the lab where she worked. She was interviewed or people by the state police and essentially confessed to all manner of wrongdoing in 2012. And what had happened before then is potential whistleblowers, people who came to lab managers to express concerns about their colleague Annie Dookhan, or told things like, well, this is being handled as a personal manner. What we had was the silencing of potential whistleblowers, followed by a state Police Investigation which revealed this to the public in 2012. Amy what about another lab worker at another lab, the amherst lab, what she did . This was a lab worker who was actually herself suffering from addiction and was taking drugs and using drugs, and even manufacturing drugs at the lab where she works. She was prosecuted. But there again, were not seeing resolution. This is something the aclu and defense lawyers across massachusetts are working on. That is why it is sort of crucial what we hope comes out of this is that only justice for the defendants who have been harmed, but a roadmap for fixing the scandals without allowing them to linger on for years. Because the one thing we know about treating the problem of drug addiction or drug use is a criminal justice issue and not as a Public Health issue, is these kinds of scandals of wrongful convictions are going to be inevitable. , your withy hanora families for justice as healing. Talk about, first, your response ,o the vacating of these cases the dismissal of the more than drug cases. Ases and how your organization was involved. I am experiencing happiness when we win a victory for the people. I think people have been waiting a long time to experience any amount of relief and validation for the burden that they have experienced with these wrongful convictions. The mission of families for justice as healing, the incarceration of women and girls, and as women in the community, we experience harm when our loved ones go to prison and we are dealing with our loved ones who are not with us. Us, we see this as a systemic issue. And moving forward, we are to organize. I agree with matt, this type of miss abuse of power is inevitable when we are prosecuting so many thousands of thousands of people every year. Healing, housing, and treatment. We do not need to be raila odinga more thousands of people into the criminal punishment system. Amy were also joined by Timothy Taylor. Evidence in your case was handled by Annie Dookhan. Can you talk about what happened to you, timothy . Ok. In 2009. Was arrested what happened was, there is a chain of custody. Lab,olice station to the there is a chain of custody that has been broken. And no one knows who authorized the evidence the suspected evidence drugs that they had, who sent them to different labs throughout the state when they could have done it all in that one place. Now we run into burden chain of custody. Apparently now, the of what they had the transportation from the Police Department to the lab, it became more than what it started out to be. So we dont even know what is going on with that. It is been tampered with from the beginning. There were two drug searches. One was definitely not mine. The other one was. Have been forced, basically, to plead out. Discovery has been withheld for me for five years. The original drug search was withheld. It was never entered into the department of Justice System. There was never a Martha Coakley investigation. They came up five years later when they were trying when i appealed for a new trial, i was not theie dookhan was leading chemist on my drug search and they could prove it by having the original drug such that they never cemented in the first place. So what was in front of the judge was somebody elses drug search. That i have already plea to guilty to because i seen i do choose the lesser of two evils of the time i was told i would they have. 30 on what amy can you talk, timothy, about how this drug conviction has affected your life, from where you live to getting the job . I was living in a home. I was fallen tear working at a store. Relationship, my it affected my program i had for withf that i had made up city counselor charles turner. It was called the teach program. Training, education, the employment, the career and housing. Those things definitely affected my status. Your Public Housing application is on hold until you appeal your conviction . You were attempting to adopt while you are incarcerated, but then another family got to adopt him . Yes. He created a big family issue. It took me away from my family. I have lost numerous family members. I was not allowed to go to their funerals while i was incarcerated. My blood brother and my uncles and, you know, my stepfather. The punishment was greater than anything you can never think of. My education since it was a drug crime, it is going to stop my pell grant, by federal. Im trying to get back in college. It affected that, definitely. In employment. I cant get a decent job paying good money to survive. , ive beeny career trying to go back to college. It all revolves around the same issues. In the housing they did not want to hear anything from me. For ally, i was homeless felony, 10 years, walked the streets just trying to survive. Generalistant attorney said during dookhans during their was no evidence that dookhan was motivated to get defendants off the streets. I want to turn to this email exchange dookhan had with the assistant use attorney John Wortmann from june 10, 2009. Wortmann wrote, annie thanks. Sorry to be so bothersome lately. But the summer approaches and we need to take some of these guys off. Dookhan replies, no problem. I have the same attitude. Get them off the streets. Timothy taylor , can you talkatthew segal about the significance of this . Is emblematic of the larger issue that not only was there misconduct i dookhan, but a failure at every step along the way to do the right thing by these people into the litigation forced the hands of the folks involved. We are seeing you mentioned the other scandal in massachusetts, and there, too, there are now allegations not only of misconduct by the chemist, but misconduct by prosecutors, state prosecutors. That theeply concerned reaction of Public Officials in massachusetts, some of whom acknowledge that drug use is a Public Health issue, has been to avoid doing justice and to keep hurting people. And that is it is so terrible because what you just heard from timothy is, the way we deal with the drug problem in america is not just to punish people for what is a Public Health issue, but to keep punishing them for years long after they finish serving a sentence of incarceration. It is just to keep punishing them. We need to take a look at what that approach is doing to the lives of people in massachusetts and across the country. Amy what about deportations . Ofyou know how many people these cases were deported after being imprisoned on false evidence . This is a real problem. Were not sure of the exact number because, particularly given what were hearing from the federal government these days, we dont have a trustworthy means of providing to the federal government a list of the people who were wrongfully convicted so the federal government can check to see who was deported because we cant come in good conscience, supply such a list of the federal government. So this is something that we were talking about in court with the judge and prosecutors as recently as last we. We are deeply concerned about the problem of people deported and were going to do the best we can to try to solve it. Amy mallory hanora, what are you doing now with this dismissal of these tens of thousands of convictions . How do people find out . I mean, some of them have served years in jail and are now out. Right. I know what particular person who i have been communicating since we have been doing the organizing who is calling daily and holding his breath the find out whether or not his case is dismissed. Hes waiting to feel what he describes as finally free. I agree with matt that people stigmatized after they get out. We organize hundreds and hundreds of people who call the District Attorneys office, not just with the message of dismiss the cases, but stop prosecuting people for drugs. It is hurting our communities. We need Something Else besides a criminal response. We are going to keep organizing because the amherst scandal that we are talking about, that are thousands more people for whom there is absolutely no plan right now to get them justice. Some of those people might still be inside. Were going to keep the Community Pressure up to dismiss all of these cases, released people who are still in jail, that hopefully, transform the way we are responding to drug in massachusetts. Amy finally, matthew segal, you have these two lab chemist, and amherst and boston, but who else had to collaborate to make this happen . I mean, in the case of Annie Dookhan, police and others knew they could go to her. She was handling so many cases, she was that even testing this, but this was the fastest way to get evidence in a case. Who else what is the chain of command here of those who are responsible . Annie dookhan was a worker for the state of permanent Public Health. There was clearly a failure of supervision, a failure of protocol stephen tell the public once it was known that she was committing this conduct. As you say, there were some rather interesting correspondence between Annie Dookhan and other people which was saying things like lets get people off the streets. That does not sound like someone doing science, but someone who is trying to harm people. I dont want to get too far down the road of accusing anybody. We certainly have not done that in this case, accuse anyone besides Annie Dookhan of wrongdoing. But what were saying is, as triess the Justice System to put people in prison for these two types of offenses and do it on the cheap, these types of scandals are going to happen. They are going to be inevitable. So the response from the aclu, from public defenders, from advocates like mallory and people standing up for the right fight timothy, that needs to be just as powerful and just as strong. Amy thank you for being with us, matthew segal, mallory , whoa, and Timothy Taylor had evidence in his drug case handled by Annie Dookhan. He was arrested in 2009, served five years in prison. When we come back, what happened on the streets of berkeley this weekend between white and antifascist protesters. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In berkeley, california, at least 20 people were arrested as fights broke out between White Nationalist Trump Supporters and antifascist protesters during competing rallies on saturday. The trump rally was organized in part by a group called the proud boys, which describe themselves as western chauvinist. It is led by gavin mcinnes, the cofounder of vice magazine. Photos show some of the Trump Supporters posing with the nazi salute. Police say at least one person was stabbed during the clashes. Several more were injured. In one instance, a known white supremacist was videotaped punching a young antifascist woman named Louise Rosealma in the face. The man who is seen punching her is nathan damigo, a former marine who founded the White Supremacist Organization known as identity europa. To talk more about what happened at the rallies we go to , washington, d. C. , to talk to shane bauer awardwinning senior , reporter at mother jones. He reported on twitter during the protest that some of the Trump Supporters were members of armed, rightwing militias. His recent piece headlined, i went behind the front lines with the farright agitators who invaded berkeley. Last are he wrote about the ongoing undercover with rightwing border militia. He also just won a National Magazine award for best reporting for his reporting going undercover at a private prison. Shame, welcome back to democracy now talk about what you saw on the streets. Thanks for having me. Essentially, this is the third major clash happening in berkeley of this time. In each of these rallies, they have had a larger large representation of White Nationalist groups. This rally was called by a coalition of the far right under the banner of free speech. They were saying it was a free speech rally in the city that was known for its 1960s Free Speech Movements. I think men of the counter protesters saw this as the cover for, you know, why supremacist groups and fascist groups to organize. When i went to the demonstration, essentially, the held and wasg court owned by the police. Police were checking people for weapons. There was essentially a line drawn between the two sides and people were shouting at each other and it did not take long before the situation turned into an allout brawl where dozens of people are punching and kicking each other. As time passed, the police and essentially disappeared and there was kind of for hours flows alows ebbs and major clashes between the two sides. Amy i want to turn to a clip, one of the videos you posted a couple of videos you posted on twitter from saturdays protest. You talk to Police Officers on duty during the protest. Hanging back. That would be a question for the chief of police. I have not seen the cops around popular beating the [bleep] out of each other. I would refer you to our Public Information officer. They told you to hang back . As i said, i refer you to our Public Information officer. What is your next question . Why just wondering ive been watching all day people getting beat up pretty bad and i have not seen you guys around much. And . You guys have been hanging back today . Just doing our job. What is your job. Wling allve been bralwin day long. Amy shane, can you talk about the significance of this videotape . I am never seen anything like this in the bay area. Never seen anything this violence. People are getting constantly bloody throughout the day. The police are essentially absent for most of the day. The police were there in the beginning kind of pulling people out of fights, them were just hanging back. I think it surprised a lot of people. Amy i want to go to another video you posted on your twitter account. In this clip, we hear from a trump supporter at the protest. [indiscernible] i brought this just in case they started making people bleed. I did not even get my helmet on before the first guy came. Were trying to get gauze on him. Is berkeley symbolic . Yes, because this is where the Free Speech Movement was done. That is why the kids went to berkeley. Now it is the opposite. It crushes me inside. It hurts, man. When our side is trying to fight them, like, i just want peace. I have broken up to fight snow. Amy talk about this trump supporter in the other supporters you talk to. I heard from a lot of people they came for free speech. And came from another part of the country, which was also true to many i spoke with. What was surprising to me about this demonstration and this rally was the kind of coalition that came together. I mean, there were White Nationalist groups like identity europa. One group spoke at the rally called the pink pistols, which are secondgroup that to mimic advocates and supporters of trump because they support the muslim ban. There were africanamerican speakers that spoke in favor of trump. There was a writer from altright. Com that spread is perceived area of white genocide. It was a really Strange Coalition of people that were coming together under this kind of one banner of free speech. Amy i want to talk to about the arrest, but we have to into the show so we will do it on the post show and put the exclusive on democracynow. Org. Shane bauer from other jones. We willk turps lick turp is. Im amy goodman. Thanks for joining us. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] i am lidia bastianich, and teaching you about italian food has always been my passion. I want to always make it prettier and better and tastier, but this doesnt need a single thing. Now its time to learn the basics of the italian kitchen. 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