Friday, January 30, 2009

Herald Palladium WATCH
One woman propaganda machine: Wendy-Dant Chesser, Herald Palladium board, Cornerstone Alliance President, Harbor Shores Trustee, Alliance for World-Class Communities officer. (H-P sold in 2000 to Paxton Media Group, Paducah, Ky. Whirlpool VP Jeff Noel from Ky.)

Herald Palladium reports what it wants, how it wants (or how Whirlpool wants)
- truth be damned. Always keep this in mind when reading this "paper."
Example: City Editor reports below that Rev. Pinkney is still in prison (he's been at home since 12/24)

Commentary in CAPS.

Berrien County, MI Cops Plant Drugs and Steal Cars, Money, Etc.

Collins cases could lead to string of lawsuits

Several (several?) arrested for drug crimes by ex-cop hope to have charges dismissed
By Jim Dalgleish - H-P City Editor (no less) Wed., Jan. 28, 2009
BENTON HARBOR - Marlon Sanders admits to satisfaction in knowing that former policeman Andrews Collins is likely headed to prison.

"I'd say what goes around comes around," said the 23-year-old Benton Harbor man, interviewed Tuesday at his father's house.

Sanders is one of 24 people whose drug convictions Berrien County Prosecutor Arthur Cotter said should not stand. Cotter, noting Collins' criminal behavior as a Benton Harbor Police Department narcotics officer, is seeking dismissals of the convictions.

However, Cotter's efforts are almost academic for Sanders, who completed a 16-month prison term last April for possession of narcotics less than 50 grams. BANCO AND BH RESIDENTS WOULD LIKE TO SEE SANDERS AND MANY, MANY OTHERS SUE BERRIEN COUNTY AND BHPD FOR 10 MILLION EACH]

"One of the things I'm mad about is I spent time in prison for no good reason," said the slender, softspoken Sanders. He said "scary" isn't a powerful enough word for prison life in Jackson. He can't get back the time spent in prison, but he said he would like redress. He said he wants to sue and is looking for a lawyer.

He said it's improbable that Collins' supervisors didn't know the young detective was skirting the rules. [CHIEF MINGO, AL COTTER, PETE MITCHELL, AND ON UP KNEW ALL ABOUT COLLIN'S AND OTHERS' ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES. THIS OF COURSE HAS NEVER BEEN REPORTED.]

He said it was known on the street that Collins was dirty. "People'd run if they saw Collins," he said.

Sanders said he filed a harassment complaint with the department against Collins in July 2006.
[CHIEF MINGO DID NOTHING] He said Collins had stopped him and searched him four times in previous weeks for walking through areas known for drug sales. [COLLINS AND OTHER COPS WHO DO THIS HAVE NO RIGHT]

Sanders said his arrest came the day after he filed the harassment complaint.
[THIS SAYS EVERYTHING ABOUT MINGO]

Deputy Chief Randel Pompey said he couldn't respond to Sanders' claims because all department records pertaining to Collins had been turned over the FBI.

Sanders was arrested along with Quacy Roberts as they walked along High Street on a hot July afternoon. Roberts and Sanders said in separate interviews that Collins was working with another city narcotics officer, who had to have known how Collins operated.

Roberts, 32, athletically built and more animated than Sanders, said the two officers during the course of the arrest and processing at the police department produced three rocks of crack cocaine no larger than rice kernels. Furthermore, Roberts said the officers used the state's civil forfeiture law to seize from him $1,500 in cash - which Roberts said his mother gave him so he could buy siding for her house.

But he said the civil forfeiture paperwork listed the take at $15. He said he wonders what happened to the other $1,485. [CRIME ROLLS ON IN THE BHPD. COPS HAVE BEEN STEALING MONEY FOR YEARS FROM BH RESIDENTS. NEVER REPORTED.]

The Benton Harbor Police Department, like many police departments, uses civil forfeiture seizures to supplement their budgets. [AGAIN, COPS STEALING MONEY AND, AS USUAL, GETTING ORDERS TO DO SO FROM ABOVE - WAAAY ABOVE]

Among the questions surrounding the reversed convictions is whether the city will have to reimburse those who lost cash, cars and other items - some of which were sold with the money supporting the department. [NOTHING WAS "LOST" - IT WAS STOLEN - AND SHOULD ALL BE RETURNED: CASH, CARS, AND OTHER ITEMS. FULL REPARATIONS ARE REQUIRED. H-P EDITOR SHOULD SUPPORT THIS.]

City Manager Richard Marsh said he is studying the question. [MARSH SHOULD BE FIRED]

Cotter is seeking to have Roberts' conviction for narcotics possession less than 25 grams dismissed. Like Sanders, Roberts had already served his time, one year in the Berrien County jail. He was released in November. He said he talked to one lawyer about suing the city.

Prosecutors offered him plea bargains after the arrest, but he said was certain he could beat the charge at trial because there was no physical evidence linking him to the drugs. [UNTIL COLLINS PLANTED THE DRUGS]

It didn't work out that way.

He said his jury was all white and unwilling to believe police officers were capable of concocting evidence. [AT LEAST THE TRUTH IS COMING OUT: POLICE & THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM ARE DISHONEST & OPERATE OUTSIDE OF THE LAW. HONEST REPORTING COULD HAVE CHANGED ALL OF THIS.]

Sanders said he accepted a plea deal, bucking advice from Edward Pinkney, the outspoken critic of Berrien County's court system who is now in prison for threats issued against a Berrien judge. (what?) [REV. EDWARD PINKNEY KNEW THAT COLLINS WAS PLANTING DRUGS ON PEOPLE AND HE SPOKE ABOUT IT SEVERAL TIMES AT CITY COMMISSION MTGS. NOTHING WAS EVER DONE. DEFENSE ATTY. BRIAN BERGER WAS WORKING WITH PROSECUTOR COTTER - PINKNEY SPOKE TO BERGER ABOUT 3 PLANTINGS ON A. GIBBS, C. MCKINNEY, Q. ROBERTS - BERGER AIDED AND ABETTED PROSECTOR COTTER TO GET THEM ALL CONVICTED. AGAIN, WHERE WERE THE OBJECTIVE REPORTS?]

"I was scared of what they would do to me if I took it to trial and I lost," Sanders said.
[ANYONE IN COURT IN BERRIEN HAS REASON TO BE SCARED. EVEN THE MEDIA WILL SUPPORT THEIR ARRESTS, CONVICTIONS, IMPRISONMENT.]

Word of Collins' ways had reached at least two defense lawyers. Scott Sanford, on the Berrien drug court roster of court-appointed lawyers, said Collins' arrest "didn't come as a shock to me and a lot of other defense attorneys. ... Where there's smoke, there is fire." [HE DID NOTHING MAKING HIM AS GUILTY AS COLLINS]

Sanford, based in St. Joseph, called the Collins situation "sickening because we have to rely on those police reports. And I'm sure the law enforcement community feels the same way."
[SANFORD HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO CORRECT THIS AND FAILED]

St. Joseph lawyer Brian Berger, also on that roster, said he heard of the problems.
[REV. PINKNEY TOLD BERGER POSSIBLY 20 TIMES THAT DRUGS WERE BEING PLANTED.]

"Defendants at times claimed there was some wrongdoing on Officer Collins' part, but that was never proven," he said.

Berger said prosecutors, judges, juries and even defense lawyers rely on police reports and testimony as the most reliable building blocks in criminal cases. [IN BERRIEN COUNTY, THEY DO NOT WANT PROOF - ONLY CONVICTIONS]

"I don't believe police officers up and down the line are lying," Berger said.
[NOT ONLY ARE THEY LYING, BUT SO IS BERGER, SINCE HE KNEW THE TRUTH]

"I think (Collins) is an isolated case. At least I hope it's an isolated case."
[COLLINS MAY BE ARRESTED, BUT DRUG PLANTING AND ALL THE REST GOES ON TODAY IN BERRIEN COUNTY - BERGER KNOWS ALL ABOUT IT AS DOES THE ENTIRE COURTHOUSE & THE MEDIA.]