In February a New York Supreme Court jury acquitted three officers accused of illegally detaining Michael Mineo and sodomizing him with a baton. Yesterday a federal jury in Mineo’s civil rights lawsuit let three of four cops off the hook, who were accused of false arrest and denying medical treatment. The fourth officer, Richard Kern, was found guilty of malicious abuse of the criminal process — but the conviction was immediately dismissed by the judge, who said there was no evidence to support it. [NYT]
whatever
Pigs with imputiny. I <3 America.
christopher di spirito
It’s impossible to get a conviction against the cops.
They’re a protected class, free to roam across the nation, maiming and killing and raping — and they know it.
Tallskin
POLICE OFFICERS the world over are protected from prosecution no matter what they do! At least what they do whilst on duty
Here in the UK we had the fuckers shoot some poor unarmed brazilian man dead on the tube. Not one of them has been even named let alone prosecuted
slobone
There was even another cop who was there and saw the whole thing. He very bravely broke ranks and testified for the prosecution that Kern shoved a walkie-talkie antenna up Mineo’s ass. But even that wasn’t enough I guess…
Mark Alexander
Welcome to the Police Planet. Papers, please.
Bill
I am sure these ‘straight’ men went home and jerked themselves off repeatedly while replaying their crime scene over and over again in their twisted little heads.
Jaroslaw
This is disgusting news.
Devon
A cop could violently rape and strangle a 12 year-old girl in front of 30 witnesses before providing a full confession, and he’d still be acquitted. American idiots are blinded by the uniform. “Dey protekt mah freedumz” after all.
Baxter
@christopher di spirito: I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Mineo wasn’t a credible witness: a career criminal whose story constantly changed. Or that his injuries weren’t consistent with his claims. Nope, it must be the pigs keeping us down.
Fun fact: here in America, you don’t convict people in a criminal trial unless you are sure beyond a reasonable doubt. There was a lot of reasonable doubt in this case.
whatever
@Baxter: Yup. Just like OJ.
RomanHans
Baxter, I could care less if Mineo thinks he’s Napoleon Bonaparte. I have YET to hear an explanation from Officer Kern as to where the fecal matter on his radio antenna came from. In between calls, was he using it to wipe his ass?
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@RomanHans: He was heard complaining he was getting a lot of crappy calls…………
drifter
I do hope I am wrong in my assessment of this case but I do feel this is what really happened: Mr. Mineo’s attitude had more to do with this decision than the supposed belief by the judge that these officers are innocent. Mr. Mineo made the mistake of NOT masking his feelings on the stand.
He answered numerous times arrogantly, sarcastically and even sneered numerous times at the officers. He played right into that prosecutors hands who wanted him to do exactly that. You see, Mr. Mineo is clearly a street thug (no, I do not know whether he is or isn’t on Adam4Adam nor has or hasn’t done Latin thug porn either)but it would have helped his case a lot if his attorney had sat him down (just like police officers are dealt with before testifying in ANY trial, gay stings included)and schooled him on how to act and react to questions. I personally believe he kept on taunting those officers until he pissed the wrong one off and he decided to humiliate his ass (Mineo). Those officers are young and in many instances the only difference between them and who they are arresting is one of them is getting paid to arrest the other. I wish I were lying but it is true.
He blew a multi-million dollar settlement by being nothing but himself. What a shame. Those officers got away with this and this only encourages the ones who are assigned to go into gay establishments to make even more false claims and charges (regardless of how preposterous)that will lead to convictions or guilty pleas.
It seems just like yesterday morning when over on 8th Ave. in NYC those poor guys were being arrested with claims A TWENTY-SOMETHING POLICE OFFICER WAS APPROACHED BY A FIFTY-SOMETHING YEAR OLD MAN TO PAY THE FIFTY-YEAR OLD FOR SEX. Yes kiddies, this really did happen. To make matters worse a sane, supposedly unbiased jury was going to be asked to not only believe that but also believe that this man came to the United States on business, checked into the WALDORF-ASTORIA hotel, and went over on 8th ave to TURN TWENTY-DOLLAR TRICKS.
This officers are going to celebrate this just as hard as the officer was acquitted of murder who fired thirty-two of a fifty bullet barrage at a car that was NOT firing back at ANY of them. Only in NY people. Only in NY.
Zach
Drifter nailed this one perfectly. This kind of verdict can happen in murder cases or any kind of case in the criminal justice system.
Juries are only human, and when your victim comes off sleazier and more hated than the defendent,that does affect their verdict.
ewe
More evidence that Judges are more dangerous than the cops. Add this to the multitude of corrupt events orchestrated by the courts to sabotage the citizenry and promote a police state. I am not one bit surprised and this filthy judge will sit on the bench claiming immunity to any statutes he knowingly violates if he ever has to answer for his criminal behavior. Of course that won’t happen.
the crustybastard
So the jury was competent to the extent that it exonerated 3 of 4 cops, but incompetent to the extent that it convicted 1?
The right to have a jury trial implicitly means that jury verdict cannot simply be ignored by a judge who disagrees with the jury. Jesus tapdancing Christ we’re trying awfully hard to turn into Imperial Rome.
That said, I can’t imagine why any cop would want a jury trial. Ever been to a voir dire? There are some really astonishing stories told by prospective jurors that explain why they couldn’t be impartial to a cop. Cops have very nearly reached the critical mass where a sufficient amount of the public is so annoyed and disgusted by law enforcement officers that the relationship will fully transition from cautiously supportive to fully antagonistic.
Cops brought this shit on themselves. Not just the bad cops like in the article. The real problem is the “good cops” that can’t be bothered to push the bad ones out.