Thread by @javadesq

New thread on police brutality, corruption & how the criminal justice system bends over backward to protect crooked cops. THIS CASE HAS ALL THE PLAYERS. Its a long one but hits on everything. RTs and follows are appreciated

Today was to be the criminal trial of former @slmpd officer William Olsten for assaulting our clients with pepper spray

You may remember Olsten from his greatest hits. In 2019, he and his cop buddy Joseph Schmitt shot a guy at a cop bar. The first claimed hat while they were drinking off duty with other cops, a guy shot at them

riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2019/…

But the investigation is alleged to have found that he and his buddy lied about what happened. Rather than self defense, the followed a guy that they got into an argument into the parking lot. Then broke into his van.

The officer then began to beat the victim. During the beating, the victims gun went off. And then the aggressors shot the alleged victim multiple times.

Olsten beat that case on a technicality when it was alleged that the prosecutors withheld evidence. ksdk.com/article/news/l…

While the first case was pending, Olsten was charged for pepper spraying out clients without justification during the Stockley protects. Lawrence Bryant of the @StLouisAmerican took the perfect photo of Olsten's crime.

We need to take a step back and discuss what happened that night.

stlamerican.com/news/local_new…

It was 2 weeks after the Stockley verdict came down. There was a peaceful protest at @Cardinals where a banner was unfurled. Hundreds of citizens marched the streets demanding justice. Police allowed the march and even stopped traffic to make sure everyone was safe.

As the protest was winding down, it looped back to the stadium. Members of the clergy were at the back of the protest where they typically marched as a symbol of non-violence.

As they got to the corner of Broadway and Walnut, the clergy were separated. Some white women member of the clergy had made it through the intersection while black members of the clergy were held back.

This is where the story diverges. ALL of the clergy members tell the same story. One white officers began getting aggressive and threatening with the women. When one of the black members of the clergy try to defuse the situation.

Instead, the white officer pepper sprayed the black reverend and his partner body slammed the reverend. The officer tells a truly magical different tale.

He said that he was being professional. That all of the clergy are lying. That while he was doing nothing wrong, an enraged 60+ year old, 150 lb member of the clergy stormed him while he was in the midst of 20+ heavily armed swat officers. That he sprayed in self defense

Who is telling the truth? Well plot twist. We know everyone involved. So let's look at their histories.

The clergy man is @DarrylGregoryG2 - the super tough scary person who is so dangerous that he was appointed to the mayor's task force on what to do about the Criminal Justice Center that had another uprising last night.

Rev. Gray is so dangerous that his fellow task force members selected him to head the task force. stltoday.com/news/local/cri…

Now lets look at the cop who claims that he was the victim and that all the clergy are lying. His name is Ronald "Ronnie" Vaughan. Officer Vaughan is currently facing felony charges. Why? For beating Darryl? Nope...

Officer Vaughan decided to forge a doctors note so he could get 14 days paid off of working falsely claiming a doctor ordered it bc he was allegedly exposed to Covid.

stltoday.com/news/local/cri…

You might also know him and his partner Kyle Chandler (the guy who body slammed Rev Gray) as they were to the two officers who shot Mansur Ball-Bey.

news.stlpublicradio.org/government-pol…

Its unfathomable they were working a protest about police brutality when they had been the subjects of similar protests a few years earlier.

In one of the most shocking moments of my legal career, the City Counselors office under @LydaKrewson is still pursuing CRIMINAL charges agst Rev Gray on the basis of the liar Vaughan's testimony.

riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/the-ex…

So that brings us back to Olsten. After Vaughan pepper sprays Gray and Chandler bodyslams Gray, Vaughan then uses his taser on another protestor.

The crowd heres this and circles back and demand to know why a taser was used. FYI - tasers are often deadly

reuters.com/article/us-usa…

**hears not heres

Olsten is seen on video getting visibly agitated. At one point he is recorded challenging a protesting to "then come fuck me up" Other officers grab him and try to calm him down.

A few minutes later, Olsten returns. Angrily chomping on his gum. He then calmly walks up to the crowd and pepper sprays everyone. Including State Rep @RepSheenBean, members of the press, and an independent journalist who was using her wheelchair that night

Olsten then just stands there. Calmly. Looking at the damage he wrought. He is not afraid. He is not trying to arrest anyone. Standing near him doing nothing is @ChiefJohnHayden who was a major at the time.

Eventually, @stlcao charges him. It should be noted, we provided the videos to the feds and @FBIStLouis but they seemed to only care about prosecuting the officer who beat one of their own - Luther Hall -and we all know how that turned out.

So this all reads as run of the mill STL police brutality. But now we get into the stuff that makes me, as an attorney and former prosecutor, want to pull my hair out.

Olsten cases gets assigned to Judge Thom Clark. Most defense attorneys would tell you that this is a dream assignment for a police officer who is a defendant. Olsten's attorney was obvi happy with this because they waived their right to a jury trial (as Stockley did)

Clark was going to do a bench trial. All kosher up to here. But then on Feb 2, 2021, @GovParsonMO promotoed Clark to the Missouri Court of Appeals.

Some saw this as a reward because Judge Clark disqualified Kim Gardner from the McCloskey case (you knew they would make an appearance). And the Governor has not been shy about his belief that the McCloskeys are truly great people and the heroes/victims

The appointment is important because once a judge gets promoted they give up their old cases. Judge Clark was sworn in about a month later.

But here is where it gets weird. Judge Clark then files a request to have this case re-assigned to himself. From everything I can tell, of all the 100s of cases in front of him, this is the only one he did this on.

And March 3, 2021, the MO Supreme Court granted his wish. The language here is important. The Court used the word TRANSFERRED

Why is this important? Bc when a case is assigned to judge in a criminal matter, either side can bounce judge. Clark did not "keep" the case. He lost it upon getting sworn in as an Appellate Judge. It was then "transferred" back. So the pros filed a motion for change of judge

I would have done the same things as it is ultra sus that the judge did this one lone case.

Midday Friday, Judge Clark denied the motion for a new judge. The pros appealed. This morning the judge cancelled the hearing... But he then adamantly came to court and told all sides to keep their witnesses ready bc he wants this to happen this week as soon as appeal ct rules.

The Ct of Appeals just denied the appeal. Will it go to MO Supreme Court?? Who knows.

But here is the question. Why is this Judge so adamant about hearing this case right now. In law school, we are always warned about the "appearance of impropriety" - just the whiff of an issue should cause you to recuse yourself...

And as we saw last night in the 3rd or 4th uprising at the justice center, pre-trail detainees are rotting because they cat get court dates. Yet we are bending over backwards to allow a crooked cop a quick trial with judge of his choice.

stltoday.com/news/local/cri…

I'm now hearing the trial might start his afternoon...

I apologize for any typos.... And I'll tag ppl who should read this @HthrTylr @rxpatrick @joelcurrier @tonymess @DoyleMurphy @ChristineDByers @D_Towski @andybankertv

Wanna bet on the outcome if this is rushed through this week?? #TheWholeDamnSystem

Just got verification that an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court was just filed.

PS - Its my 13th wedding anniversary. If you see the Mrs. (who prefers Ms.) give her a shout out.