Page 18 - Florida Sentinel 12-22-15 Edition

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Black Parents Protest Charge For Teen Tossed From Desk
Officer yanked student from her desk and threw her to the ground.
Mistrial Poses Problem For Prosecutors Who Called Defendant ‘A Liar’
Leader Of COGIC Church Files Defamation Suit Against Pastor
COLUMBIA, S.C -- A group of Black parents and civil rights activists pre- sented a petition Thursday calling for officials to drop charges against a 16-year- old South Carolina high school student who was videotaped being yanked from her desk and thrown to the floor by a police of- ficer in her classroom.
The group said it was unfair and unacceptable that the student and her 18-year-old classmate at Spring Valley High School who taped the incident were the only people charged that day when au- thorities already knew Richland County Deputy
Ben Fields had yanked the girl from her desk and thrown her to the ground.
He and the others pre- sented petitions that they said had hundreds of thou- sands of names from around the country asking Solicitor Dan Johnson to drop the misdemeanor "disturbing schools" charges against the teens. The students in the case are Black; Fields is white.
Johnson issued a state- ment Wednesday saying he won't do anything with the case until the FBI fin- ishes its investigation into Fields, who was fired after the video became public.
Porter, whose trial ended Wednesday in a mistrial, is one of six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. Prosecutors chose to try him first because they want to call him to testify in the subsequent trials of two of his fellow officers. But during closing statements this week in Porter's trial, they asked jurors to ask themselves whether he could be trusted on the witness stand.
"He has lied to you," said Chief Deputy State's Attorney Michael Schatzow
Steven H. Levin, a former federal prosecutor, says that's a problem.
"For a prosecutor to call a wit- ness who the prosecutor has publicly identified as a liar un- dermines the integrity of the criminal justice system," said Levin, now a defense attorney in Baltimore who has repre- sented police officers in high- profile cases. "The optics are terrible, to say they want to use somebody that they've branded a liar in later trials to convict others."
Officer William Porter: 'It's not over yet'
Further complicating mat- ters: After the mistrial, it's un- clear now whether Porter's case will be resolved before the next trial begins. Jury selection in the trial of Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr., who faces the most serious charges in Gray's death, is scheduled to begin Jan. 6.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams met be- hind closed doors Thursday with prosecutors and attorneys to discuss a new trial date for Porter. They reached no agree- ment, and planned to meet again.
Prosecutors and Porter's at- torneys have been barred by a gag order from discussing the case.
Gray, 25, died in April after suffering a severe spinal cord in- jury in the back of a police van. Baltimore State's Attorney Mar- ilyn J. Mosby filed charges against Porter, Goodson and the four other officers on May 1. All have pleaded not guilty.
In pre-trial motions, prosecu- tors said they wanted to start with Porter, charged with in- voluntary manslaughter, sec- ond-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office, in part because they consider him a material witness against Goodson, the driver of the van, and Sgt. Alicia D. White, a supervisor on the day Gray was injured.
Baltimore, MD ---Prosecu- tors might have created a prob- lem for them- selves this week when they said O f f i c e r William G. Porter had lied on the witness stand.
WILLIAM PORTER
Bishop Charles E. Blake
...is the leader of the Church Of God In
Bishop Charles E. Blake, the presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), the world’s fifth largest denomination, and pastor of the West Ange- les Church of God in Christ has filed a defamation law- suit against Earl Carter, a Minister within the Church of God In Christ.
As detailed in court docu- ments filed on Friday, De- cember 11, 2015, in Orlando, Florida, “Over the past sev- eral months, Mr. Carter has engaged, and is threatening to continue engaging, in out- rageous and malicious at- tacks upon Bishop Blake that should be punished to the maximum extent under the law. Mr. Carter has vi- ciously used the Internet to falsely profess to the world that, among other things, Bishop Blake is immoral, ho- mosexual and a pedophile. Mr. Carter’s goals are to destroy Bishop Blake’s stellar reputation, interfere with his relationship with Church Of God In Christ, Inc. (“COGIC”), and drive visitors to Mr. Carter’s websites where he seeks to illegally profit off of Bishop Blake’s good name.”
Uleses Henderson,
General Counsel for COGIC states, “Bishop Blake re- frained for several weeks from taking action against Mr. Carter hoping that Mr. Carter would have a change of heart and would, on his own, retract his false and defamatory accusations and apologize to Bishop Blake for the harm he has caused to his family. Unfortunately, Mr. Carter has not done that and, instead, has esca- lated the nature of his false accusations, such that they
Pastor Earl Carter ...has used social media to defame Bishop Blake
are now extremely inflamma- tory and reckless.
Accordingly, Bishop Blake is now compelled to file this lawsuit.”
The complaint continues, “Mr. Carter, who is a COGIC minister, delivered a sermon against homosexual- ity at the 2014 Holy Convo- cation, during which he made an inappropriate statement beneath the dignity of COGIC and its divine calling ... As a result of Mr. Carter’s inap- propriate statement, COGIC received a backlash of nega- tive publicity, from within the church and from the outside media. In his role as Presid- ing Bishop, spokesman and leader of COGIC, Bishop Blake publicly apologized for Mr. Carter’s inappro- priate statement, while reaf- firming the Church’s teachings about homosexual- ity. Mr. Carter perceived Bishop Blake’s apology as throwing Mr. Carter “under the bus. Shortly after the apology, Mr. Carter em- barked on a vicious campaign to attack Bishop Blake’s character, ruin his reputation and have him ousted from COGIC leadership.”
Well-respected ministers, who were mentioned in Carter’s videos, have of- fered support for Blake. The complaint notes, “In the Flyer and YouTube videos, Mr. Carter has falsely at- tributed various untrue and defamatory statements about Bishop Blake to certain in- dividuals who categorically deny that any of those allega- tions are true, while others have no first-hand knowl- edge of the untruths Mr. Carter asserts to be factual.
Walmart To Raise Wages Next Year
If you work at Walmart, then here is some good news.
Walmart said Monday that it plans to invest $2.7 billion over two years in its U.S. workforce. In Florida, the initiative represents an investment of $116M and 94,400 additional raises.
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