Meet Terrence Hayes. Father. Community leader. Caged 12 years bc of a *law passed by the KKK* in Oregon. The Supreme Court struck the law down. But Oregon's AG still blocking retrials. And get this: she was his trial judge. “I watched my kids grow up from behind bars.” Thread:
The jury that convicted Terrence didn't all agree. 2 jurors thought he was innocent. “A jury of my peers is supposed to come from different backgrounds, different understandings. Those 2 jurors who clearly saw a different story—their voices were silenced.”portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2021/…
Up to 2020, Oregon was the only state that allowed non-unanimous juries. "The practice was approved by Oregon voters in 1934 following an explicitly xenophobic campaign, & a similar rule in Louisiana was enacted in the Jim Crow era to make it easier to convict Black defendants."
THREAD: Perhaps the only positive development for Justice to come from COVID is virtual public access to the courts. Access is a public right & a public good. With access comes accountability. Now courts are trying to shut down virtual court watching. More:campaigns.organizefor.org/petitions/keep…
Back near the beginning of the pandemic, I met Qiana Johnson & Carmen Johnson. Two formerly incarcerated leaders of a local organization in Prince George's County, MD helping women coming out get back in to society. Started a courtwatch program. Carmen was the lone court watcher.
Carmen was in court. Took meticulous notes. Sent accountability letters. Churn of the system still continued. Then COVID struck. Fought to remain in the courts & were able to secure virtual access. They kept holding actors accountable. It was a lot of cases though for 1 person.
THREAD: Watch this video. This is how cops take advantage of young people & even their parents to trick them into incriminating themselves. Cop asks “Are you willing to answer questions.” He says: “No.” So cop gets mom to ask for him. Illegal & too common:
This video was disclosed by public defenders from @LegalAidNYC. This is the moment when the young man says "No." The cop should have stopped right there. But asks "No?" Already illegal at this point. Young man then says, "No" again. Cop doesn't give up. Follow for happens:
The cop says, "Hold on" and then walks out of the room. Leaving the young man and his mom waiting in the room. Remember: the young man has invoked his 5th Amendment right to silence. All questioning should have ceased already. The cop isn't done with them. He soon returns.
THREAD: Andrew Cuomo wants to take a victory lap & be a "hero" again for trying to legalize marijuana in NY. But *marijuana justice is more than just legalization.* It must be done w/ equity, reinvestment, & justice to begin to undo the damage of prohibition. His proposal fails.
Marijuana criminalization has devastated Black & Brown communities. Criminal records. Broken windows. Jail & prison. Feeling imprisoned on your block. Excluded from housing. Precluded from work & education. Any plan for legalization that doesn't attempt to fully repair is wrong.
Even though NYC claims to have stopped arresting people for possession, (a) it's not true & (b) the claimed "odor of marijuana" continues to drive racist broken windows policing. Racial disparities have only increased. Continued damage done. Saw it as a PD:
And white people don’t have cops raiding their cars and their houses without justification and then brazenly lying after the fact with no consequences.
And this 17 year old child will now be facing up to 15 years, 3.5 years minimum, for possessing a weapon that he likely believed was necessary actually to be safe. The people I've represented charged with gun possession never used a gun. But they were survivors of violence.
Jaquaree Simmons. You probably haven't yet heard his name. 23 years old. Caged pretrial in Harris County, TX. Called his mom almost every day from his jail cell. Crying & begging for help. One week after he entered, found dead. This happened 10 days ago. “All I can do is scream."
This all went down during the power outages in TX, the freezing cold, the lack of food or water for those incarcerated. Jaquaree's mom, Larhonda: “What went through my head is, ‘What the hell did they do to my child?’” Still so many unanswered questions: houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
The night before his death, Jaquaree was attacked by a "detention officer." He hit the floor. "He’s small at 5-foot-3 & 125 pounds." His family still doesn't have answers. Jail saying there's no video. Won't even let them see him. “We still haven’t seen Jaquaree."