Illinois Trooper May be Charged With Reckless Homicide
Jan 24, 10:43 AM (ET)

By JIM SUHR
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Illinois State Police asked a prosecutor to charge one of its troopers with reckless homicide in a crash that killed two teenage sisters after he lost control of his cruiser at 126 mph.

The state police request Wednesday to the St. Clair County state's attorney came just hours after a coroner's jury ruled the Nov. 23 collision involving Trooper Matt Mitchell was reckless homicide.

Mitchell was on Interstate 64 en route to another accident site when his car swerved across the median and slammed into an oncoming car, state police have said. The occupants, Jessica Uhl, 18, and her sister Kelli, 13, died at the scene.

A state police expert in accident reconstruction told the coroner's jury that Mitchell was driving 126 mph when he lost control of his car, and that Mitchell's car hit the sisters' vehicle at 102 mph, the coroner's office said.

State's Attorney Bob Haida said the state police had requested an arrest warrant, but he said the matter would get a comprehensive review first and declined to say how soon a decision on any charges might come.

"I know this is of a high level of interest to everyone," he told reporters.

State police declined to comment further, saying in a news release that the matter now is in Haida's hands. There is no home telephone listing for Mitchell in Collinsville, and it was unclear whether he had an attorney. He suffered severe leg injuries in the crash and spent a month in the hospital.

State police Lt. Scott Compton said the trooper remains on "active and paid status" as he still recovers at home.

One witness' account that a white car forced Mitchell's patrol car into the sisters' path matches the trooper's account, state police have said. But two other witnesses have disputed the version. [Note: The story is about a bad cop. The State Police and prosecutor represent good government, as it should be. – Ed.]

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/520/police_drug_corruption

Scandal broadens in Brooklyn South, a cop working for a federal drug task force goes bad in California, and a pair of private prison guards in Texas get in trouble. Let's get to it:

In New York City, the Brooklyn South Narcotics scandal continues to grow. On Monday night, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly transferred the commanding officer of citywide narcotics, Deputy Chief James O'Neill; the head of Brooklyn South Narcotics, Inspector James O'Connell; and two Brooklyn South Narcotics captains, John Maldari and Joseph Terranova. That move came after word leaked out that 15 Brooklyn South Narcotics detectives have been put on desk duty as the NYPD Bureau of Internal Affairs investigates charges they took sex, drugs and cash from drug users and dealers. Four others have been arrested on charges they stole drugs to pay off informants. The latest trouble in the scandal-plagued precinct began to unravel when Detective Sean Johnstone, 34, forgot he was wearing a wire as he bragged to his partner about seizing 28 bags of cocaine, but only turning in 17. He and another officer, Julio Alvarez, 30, were arrested December 20. Those arrests led to the arrests last week of Sgt. Michael Arenella, 31, and Officer Jerry Bowens, 41, of the same squad. All are accused of stealing cash from drug dealers, and at least one is accused of having sex with an informant.

In Huntington Park, California, a police officer working in a federal drug task force was arrested January 17 for cultivating informants to help him identify and rob drug dealers and sell their wares. Huntington Park Police Sgt. Alvaro Murillo, 44, even tried to rob an undercover DEA agent posing as a dealer, the federal indictment alleges. Murillo and one of his informants face one count each of conspiracy to possess cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute.

In Liberty, Texas, two jail guards were arrested Tuesday after agreeing to smuggle drugs in to a federal prisoner. Guards Shondlyn Jones, 25, and Manitra Taylor, 42, accepted drugs and cash from an undercover agent. They now face charges of conspiring to delivery marijuana and ecstasy. The pair were employed by CiviGenics, Inc., a private prison firm that operates the Liberty County jail.

Snitches gone bad: The Creepy Side of Law Enforcement

In a case that has been stinking up northeast Ohio for several years now, a federal judge in Cleveland Tuesday decided that 15 Mansfield men imprisoned on drug charges should be freed because their convictions were based on the testimony of a lying DEA informant. The men, convicted on crack cocaine dealing charges, have collectively served 30 years already.

The men were all convicted solely on the testimony of informant Jerrell Bray and his handler, DEA Special Agent Lee Lucas. But Bray has since admitted lying in the Mansfield drug cases and has since been sentenced to 15 years in prison on perjury and civil rights charges. He is now working with a US Justice Department task force investigating what went wrong in the cases.

"It's about time," said Danielle Young, the mother of Nolan Lovett, who was serving a five-year sentence but could be home by the end of the month. "This is long, long overdue. These boys will finally get justice, even if it is late," she told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

US District Judge John Adams told attorneys Tuesday he hopes to have the men returned to Northeast Ohio from federal prisons across the county. Then, federal prosecutors can formally ask Adams to drop the charges because there is no evidence to convict the men. That could have happened as early as this week.

Bray and Lucas originally collaborated on a massive drug investigation that resulted in 26 indictments for drug conspiracy. Three people were sentenced to probation, judges or juries tossed eight cases, and 15 men were sent to prison. But that was before Bray's lies were exposed.

The Plain Dealer noted that 14 of the 15 had pleaded guilty, a fact the paper naively said made the situation "unique," but then pointed out that they may have pleaded after seeing what had happened to Geneva France, a young mother with no criminal record who was indicted, but refused to plea bargain and steadfastly maintained her innocence. Convicted on the testimony of Bray and Lucas, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

France served 16 months before being freed after Bray's perjury came to light. In a heart-rending article this week, the Plain Dealer recounted France's sorry tale. Her real offense? Refusing to date the informant.

While the victims of Bray and Lucas are about to be freed, the case isn't over yet, and now, the hunter has become the hunted. According to the Plain Dealer, Lucas is the focus of the Justice Department investigation. But it is the snitch system itself that should really be on trial.