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U.S. NEWSTuesday 5 April 2016
Man gets 13 years in prison in drugs and dirty bomb case
LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — A Colom-
bian man who had a role in
what prosecutors said were
efforts to transport drugs
and help a terror group
obtain weapons to build a
dirty bomb to attack Amer-
icans was sentenced Mon-
day to 13 years in prison.
Jhon Jairo Cruz Trejos was
sentenced in Manhattan
Chicago may pay $4.9M to family of man who died in custody
Percy Coleman, the father of Philip Coleman who died after being in Chicago police custody in
2012, accompanied by family, friends, and legal counsel, speaks at a news conference in Chi-
cago.
DON BABWIN
Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago
would pay $4.9 million un-
der a proposed settlement
of a lawsuit brought by the
family of a man who died in
police custody after a vid-
eotaped incident in which
officers subdued him with a
stun gun and dragged him
from his jail cell, a city offi- 2012 after allegedly attack-
Candy theft could mean king-size sentence: 20 years to life
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A
Louisiana man accused of
stuffing $31 worth of can-
dy bars into his pockets
faces a possible sentence
of 20 years to life in prison,
prompting a judge to ques-
tion whether the sentence
was “over the top.”
Prosecutors chose to
charge Jacobia Grimes, 34,
under a statute that boosts
the alleged candy theft
to a felony. The law ap-
federal court by Judge
Naomi Reice Buchwald,
who said he deserved
more than the mandatory
minimum of 10 years in pris-
on because the allegations
were more serious than a
typical international drug
deal.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Emil The government said
J. Bove III said Cruz Trejos
was ready to assist in “at-
tacks of the greatest or-
cial said Monday.
Alderman Roderick Sawyer
said Mayor Rahm Emanu-
el’s office is recommending
that City Council members
approve the proposed
settlement for Philip Cole-
man’s family and has been
briefing them on the deal.
Coleman, who was black,
was taken into custody in
plies to people who have
been convicted of “theft
of goods” at least twice.
Grimes has five prior theft
convictions, making him a
“quad” offender under the
state’s habitual-offender
law. Grimes, 34, pleaded
not guilty Thursday, The
New Orleans Advocate
reported. The possible sen-
tence raised questions with
Judge Franz Zibilich, who
was overseeing Grimes’ ar-
der.” In court papers, pros- bia.
ecutors described him as Before the sentence was
a freelance weapons traf- announced, Cruz Trejos
ficker, saying he sought in said he wasn’t anti-Ameri-
2010 and 2011 to obtain can and talk of weaponry
enriched uranium so a was bluster.
South America-based ter- “I would like to express to
ror group could build a dirty you how deeply sorry I am
bomb. for having agreed to par-
ticipate,” Cruz Trejos said.
the group wanted to at- “Your honor, my conduct
tack U.S. military personnel was wrong.”
or a U.S. embassy in Colom- The 44-year-old defendant
son’s family. Chicago has
paid about $662 million on
police misconduct since
2004, including judgments,
(Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune via AP) settlements and outside le-
gal fees, according to city
ing his mother. He had a fa- records. The payouts, for
tal reaction to an anti-psy- everything from petty ha-
chotic drug, but his family’s rassment to police torture,
federal lawsuit contends have brought more finan-
Coleman would still be cial misery to a city already
alive if he had been taken drowning in billions of dol-
to a hospital instead of jail. lars of pension debt.
The settlement is the latest Sawyer said he was told
example of wrongdoing last week by Emanuel’s of-
by police officers result- fice about the proposal
ing in a huge settlement in the Coleman case and
with a victim or the per- the meetings with council
members in anticipation
of a formal hearing before
the council’s finance com-
mittee and the full council
next week.
The proposed settlement
follows the release in De-
cember that shows the
38-year-old Coleman in
jail. In the video, six officers to settle the lawsuit for $4.9
enter Coleman’s cell, with
one officer firing a stun gun
at Coleman before anoth-
er officer drags him from
his cell by his handcuffed
wrists.
The city released the video
just days after it was forced
to release the video of a
white police officer shoot-
ing black teenager Laquan
raignment last week. Swanson said all the thefts
“Isn’t this a little over the were for less than $500
top?” Zibilich said. “Twenty worth of items. The last theft
years to life for a Snickers of socks and trousers from
bar, or two or three or four.” a Dollar General store got
Grimes’ attorneys, Miles him a four-year sentence in
Swanson and Michael Ken- 2010.
nedy, said his prior guilty One of his lawyers said he
pleas were for similar shop- could have been charged
lifting attempts, including under a different statute
stealing from a Rite-Aid, than the habitual-offender
Save-A-Center, Blockbuster law.
Video, and Rouses grocery “They’re spending their
stores. time to lock someone up
said he’s never held a gun
and had no connections to
deliver drugs to anyone in
the United States.
He said he was trying to ar-
range a drug deal to raise
financing for a municipal
business he was starting.
His lawyer, Guy Oksen-
hendler, called him “a
bumbler, getting involved
in something he had no ex-
perience in.”
McDonald 16 times, killing
him. The lawsuit from Cole-
man’s family was bolstered
when the judge presiding
over the case found that
“brute force” was used
unnecessarily on Cole-
man and that a supervisor
should have intervened
to stop Coleman from be-
ing dragged away. While
the ruling did not pertain
to how Coleman died, it
was widely seen as a mes-
sage to the city to settle the
case. Sawyer, who chairs
the council’s Black Caucus,
said the settlement makes
sense, both because it
compensates the family
and because it allows the
city to avoid a trial in which
a jury could watch the vid-
eo and award the family
far more than $4.9 million.
Sawyer said he agreed
with the recommendation
million — an amount that is
just shy of the $5 million the
city agreed to pay the Mc-
Donald family.
“I accept the decisions
of the (city) lawyers that it
would be wise to settle this
case,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer also hopes the of-
ficers involved in the Cole-
man case are disciplined.
for years over $31 worth of
candy,” Swanson said.
Grimes also faces a charge
of drug paraphernalia pos-
session. He is currently free
on $5,000 bond, court re-
cords show. His lawyers say
he has a heroin problem.
Grimes also has convictions
for possession with intent
to sell fake drugs and ob-
scenity, a crime committed
while he was behind bars,
the newspaper reported.