Monday, July 10, 2006

Honesty at the Herald Palladium

William F. Ast III, St. Joseph, Michigan
Herald-Palladium reporter is to
be commended for breaking with tradition. He
wrote an honest article about a court case in
Berrien County. Never before has the paper
reported on jury tampering, but Mr. Ast has finally
come clean, hopefully starting a new trend at
the H-P.

Attorneys from around the state who have worked
in the Berrien County court have known for decades
about the corrupt techniques rampant in the system.
Until now these have not been reported in the
H-P.

Below are some edited sections from Ast's 6/8/06 headline article which can be
read in its entirety.

"Peter Samouris said in addition to plan to appeal the decision, there are other legal issues he wants to explore, including some double jeopardy issues and the possibility of jury misconduct. Two jurors complained about intimidation [& possibly a plant on the jury]. Attorney Peter Samouris said he moved for a mistrial on Thursday based on that, but [we know that] Judge Butzbaugh denied his motion.

After saying they could not reach a verdict Thursday, jury members Friday found the former nurse guilty of sexually assaulting a patient at Lakeland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph, Michigan.

The jury in the Dave Lall trial, which began deliberations June 30, deliberated all day Thursday before sending Berrien County trial court judge Alfred Butzbaugh a note saying it could not reach a unanimous verdict. But the judge once again sent them home for the night and
told them to resume their talks on Friday [almost begging the jury to find this man guilty].

lall, 37, was on trial for the second time. Last year a Berrien County jury found him not guilty of delivery of a controlled substance with the intent to commit sexual assault, but it was unable to reach a verdict on the charge of first degree criminal sexual conduct."

Rev. Edward Pinkney
269-925-0001
banco9342@sbcglobal.net
bhbanco.blogspot.com
BANCO, 1940 Union St., Benton Harbor, MI 49022
(legal fees being accepted and very much needed for my Sept. 19 trial)