OF COPS AND COURTS
by Mumia Abu-Jamal
[Col. Writ. 3/2/02]
Copyright 2002
Several of the cops convicted in connection with the vicious, brutal, terrorist assault of Abner Louima in a Brooklyn police precinct, have been graciously granted their freedom by a U.S. appeals court recently. Citing insufficient evidence, and the ineffectiveness of trial counsel, the state's highest federal tribunal reversed the convictions of Charles Schwartz, Thomas Bruder and Thomas Wiese, of conspiracy and civil rights charges.
The Abner Louima case, as many are aware, was a case of unmitigated savagery, when police wrongfully arrested a young Black man outside a nite club (allegedly for assaulting a cop), rushed him, manacled, to a police station in Brooklyn, and there, pulled him down and rammed a broomstick up his backside, and then took the bloody, feces-covered stick, and plunged it down his throat, shattering his teeth along the way.
That such a devilish act of torture, twisted hatred, and violence took place at all in modern-day America is telling of the state of police-community relations in New York, that it happened in a well-traveled police station house, and no one, to this date, has ever come forward as a witness, is an indictment that even this high august court cannot withdraw.
No one heard his scream.
No one saw his attackers beat, pummel, or brutalize him.
No one. Not one cop. In a place swarming with cops. Far be it from this writer to suggest that the cops should somehow have less constitutional rights than the average Joe. The point is, however, that they have considerably more!
When cops get busted, they often do so only after a grand jury has charged them (average folks have a bill of information filed against them).
When they do go to trial, they are represented by the best legal talent that money can buy, often paid by their local lodge (average folks must scrape the money together to pay for a lawyer, or accept the services of a public defender).
If they are convicted (which is exceedingly rare) it is usually on lesser offenses (for rarer still are they charged with the more serious crimes), and if sentenced, get moderate terms (average folks are deluged with charges, and receive heavy sentences). And even in the unlikely event that they are harshly sentenced there are a plethora of cases where cops who have stolen, lied on the stand, been corrupt or brutal, have had their sentences cut by judges who are not known for their leniency towards the average accused.
From the barbaric LAPD brutes, to the thieves of the infamous 39th District in Philadelphia, to those who aided or abetted the sick and depraved terrorist attack on a Black Haitian in Brooklyn's police precinct, judges have been openly solicitous of their every right, for, truth be told, they are ever brothers, under the robe/uniform, who look out for each other.
Text © copyright 2002 by Mumia Abu-Jamal.
All rights reserved.
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