There is an interesting development in the case of North Augusta (S.C.) officer Justin Craven in the alleged murder of 68-year-old Ernest Satterwhite. Despite public disclosure laws, the police are refusing to release the videotape because they describe it as shocking and disturbing. Some would argue that that is precisely why it should be available to the public.
Craven tried to pull over Satterwhite for suspected DUI and followed him home after Satterwhite refused to pull over. However, the dashboard camera reportedly captured Craven running up to Satterwhite’s car on his driveway and fired several shots through the closed door. While he said that Satterwhite tried to grab his gun, prosecutors concluded otherwise and charged him. However, he was not charged with murder. The grand jury did not return a voluntary manslaughter charges (which would have come with a potential 30 year sentence). He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of misconduct in office and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.
SLED Chief Mark Keel said that releasing the video would hamper the officer’s right to a fair trial. Accordingly, freedom of information requests were denied. Yet, agencies are supposed to give specific reasons for withholding videotape like undermining efforts to arrest a suspect. One of those reasons is generally not embarrassing or public reaction.
At the same time, the city reached a $1.2 million settlement with the family but required them to sign an agreement not to disclose it to anyone else.
For his part, Solicitor Donnie Myers says that he will not release the film until after it is used in court because “the premature release of the video to be used at trial … would be harmful, unfairly prejudice the pre-trial opinions of potential jurors, prejudicial to the defendant and not in the interest of justice.”
This could make for an interesting challenge by the media. Any court or prosecutor could refuse virtually any videotape out of concern for its influence on a trial. How would such an exception be measured? In the meantime, as a matter of great public importance, the community would be denied the clearest evidence of the alleged misconduct of its police department.
What do you think?
Source: Big Story
Inga – here is a nurse who killed children.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/nurse-killed-children-in-her-care-on-ward-4-over-59-days-four-children-were-murdered-and-nine-were-victims-of-hospital-attacks-court-told-1473229.html
http://jonathanturley.org/2014/04/10/lapd-officers-disable-monitoring-equipment-on-roughly-100-cars-police-chief-blocks-any-investigation-of-the-officers-responsible/
on 1, April 10, 2014 at 11:41 amNick Spinelli
Darryl Gates made the LAPD one of the most anti citizen police force in this nation. The philosophy has carried over to subsequent chiefs. They may be more anti citizen than Chicago Police, which I thought impossible.
Drag a pro-police comment through Turley’s blog and the haters can’t resist the bait. They are self-revealing.
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/01/09/minnesota-man-criminally-charged-after-filming-police-in-public/
on 1, January 9, 2013 at 9:55 amnick spinelli
This police action is horseshit as I’ve said previously. However, HIPPA does extend beyond hospitals, clinics, etc. I would routinely interview EMT’s and paramedics about cases I was investigating but that ended w/ HIPPA. Now, I consider HIPPA in large part horseshit also. However, if there were an ambulance crew present they might squeek by on this technicality.
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Oops another one, sounds like a “cop hater”.
It is always a distraction to cop haters when you point out that the skells and criminals that you celebrate want to kill cops. You can not pause in your orgy of condemnation to say a kind word for the police officer who was foully murdered.
Five policemen have been shot in past five months in NYC. Three of them have died. That is not worthy of comment or a blog post in memory of their sacrifice. Instead the false narrative is pushed by the racialists and the progressives that cops are the real danger when in fact it is the criminal element that is getting bolder and more destructive as they riot and burn down and criminally disrupt city after city when incited by this continual campaign against law enforcement.
Make no mistake. There is an ongoing effort to delegitimize the police and to stop the enforcing of the law. That is the goal. Professor Turley and his most rabid commenters seem to have signed on to this agenda.
You will not like the result when people like Michael Brown, Freddie Grey and Demetrius Blackwell are free to do what they do best.
Fiver, as I’ve heard said before, “everything’s on record here”.
I. Annie,
Nice work. It seems that coming up with a convenient personal anecdote for any/every occasion can come back and bite you right in the tuchus.
My profession isn’t known for rough rides.
No. Just drugs and pillows.
Neither would most attorneys or private investigators because a worker who was fired before their workers comp case arose wouldn’t have a retaliatory discharge case to investigate.
Have some empathy, I. Annie. Those who base their view of law enforcement upon the cop dramas on television have slowly been having that faith destroyed as video becomes more and more ubiquitous and people can see that these fictional TV heroes are mostly just that: fiction.
Don’t you remember how you felt when you found out Santa wasn’t real?
http://jonathanturley.org/2015/03/14/a-leading-cause-of-nypd-officer-deaths-is-9-11-related-illnesses/
on 1, March 14, 2015 at 10:16 amNick Spinelli
A “hundred bogus claims” is not something to scoff at, unless you’re a govt. official, or a govt. groupie. But hell, these are just some cops who would probably kill an unarmed black youth if the continued on the job, so what’s the big deal?
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Oh my gosh, look what I found, sounds like a “cop hater”.
I don’t support crooked cops, but it certainly seems quite reasonable to withhold public release of such videos until after trial. It eliminates the risks of a prejudiced jury pool and still gives the public its right to such information.
Thank goodness most LEOs are honest and really work hard to serve and protect us. Unlike in police states e.g. Venezuela, Daniel Ortega’s Nicky
Ragu.
I agree with Darren. Just do what the statutes require. After all, it’s not as though LEOs deserve any kind of special treatment for their crimes – while on duty or off.
http://jonathanturley.org/2014/02/05/police-officer-is-fired-but-secures-medical-retirement-for-injuries-while-competing-in-triathlons/
on 1, February 5, 2014 at 11:25 amnick spinelli
Disability and worker’s comp. involving public employees, particularly police and firefighters is a travesty. The fraud is some of the most blatant. The 9/11 cops and firefighters are a great example. The most egregious fraud claims I worked involved cops/firefighters.
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Oh look what else I found, sounds like a “cop hater”.
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/10/24/police-officer-who-pepper-sprayed-cal-davis-students-given-workers-compensation-for-depression/
on 1, October 24, 2013 at 9:42 amnick spinelli
In my early years I took cases from the City, County and State worker’s comp/disability dept. They oversaw their own claims. It was a mess. However, police and firefighters, @ the time, had their own system of “disability.” It was really just an early retirement plan w/ virtually no oversight. The most BLATANT frauds I ever investigated involved police and firefighters. My work was limited to Wi., but from talking w/ colleagues in other states, it is a widespread problem.
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Oh look what I found.
My profession isn’t known for rough rides.
Michael Haz
Well said.
So…you don;t like your profession being painted with the same broad brush as you use on law enforcement officers. Got it.
I haven’t met or do not know even one nurse that fits the scenario that Spinelli tries to describe. It’s pretty pathetic when one has to resort demonizing nurses in order to excuse criminal behavior by LEO’s. The two are not comparable and those who insist on drawing a comparison are speaking out of their nether regions with no actual basis in fact.
Inga – here is another nurse killing people with bleach IVs.
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/03/05/texas-nurse-accused-of-killing-patients-with-bleach-ivs/
Thank you I, Annie for your comments. I expect criminals to act like criminals, I don’t expect police officers to, that is why they make the news.
The posts saying “What about this or that criminal who harmed a police.” is changing the subject. We are not discussing the bad behaviour of criminals, which we expect, but of police, which is not expected.
I think the feeling when a police officer is attacked in the just line of duty IS one of abhorrence for the perpetrator.
blhlls, Good comment. It is heartening to have people who know what they’re talking about discuss topics like this. As I have said pointedly, I am incredulous as to JT’s point about the video being withheld. Evidence should be presented to a jury before it is released. Pretty basic stuff here. The prosecutors office I worked for as an investigator, and prosecutors offices w/ whom I’ve dealt in many venues over several states, do not release reports, photos, videos, etc. for cases hat have not been adjudicated. That is the WAY IT’S SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. That is prudent and fair. The public has a right to the records only AFTER the matter has been litigated.