2. Showdown Between the People and the Courts Over Press and Media
3. Berrien County Court Says No to Free Speech! Forget the Constitution
1. Judge Schrock Stole 30 Months of Rev. Pinkney's Life
With his sentence, Judge Sterling Schrock stole 30 months from my life, costing the Pinkney family hardship that will never be compensated. I have raised issues in the appeal which, if successful, will prevent retrial. One issue is the sufficiency of the evidence as to whether I could be convicted as a principal or an aider and abetter. In order to sustain a charge of aiding and abetting against an accessory, the guilt of another person as principal and some evidence of concerted action between the defendant and the principal must be shown.This case provides one of the rare instances where the sufficiency of the evidence issue is so compelling. I was convicted, by an all-white jury, of forgery of dates on petitions to recall Benton Harbor Race Manager Mayor James Hightower. However, 1) I did not have exclusive possession of the petitions, 2) no one testified that they saw me forge petitions, 3) I did not confess to forging the petitions, 4) the forensic handwriting examiner from the Michigan State Police indicated that he could not determine who made changes to the petitions, 5) the prosecution's own witnesses indicated that persons other than me circulated some of the petitions, and 6) defense witnesses indicated another person forged the petitions.
Evidence does not lie, but Judge Schrock, Prosecutor Sepic, Sheriff Bailey, County Clerk Tyler, Election Clerk Toliver, and juror Gail Freehling do. We must all stand together and we will win in the end!
2. Showdown Between the People and the Courts Over Press and Media
The meat and potatoes of reporting on what's happening in the legal system is achieved by sending reporters into the courts to watch and force the New Media to tell the truth. There is a lot of vital news happening in our courts today that is simply not being covered. The functions of the judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys are effectively usurped by the corporations. An unfair system with little transparency and no accountability is worthless. People who sit back and watch shows such as Law and Order, NCIS, CSI, Cops, and Perry Mason have no idea about the court system in this country, especially in Berrien County where Whirlpool controls the court system and the news media.As a person who has observed in courts for more than two decades, it's my distinct impression that the nuts and bolts of court reporting has taken a huge hit because corporations have taken control. Newspapers that used to have a reporter in every courthouse in their coverage area now are lucky to have a single reporter covering a dozen or so courts.
We the people must take a stand, not only to become reporters of the criminal justice system, but to expose the corrupt judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, and all-white juries. We must say enough is enough!
3. Berrien County Court Says No to Free Speech! Forget the Constitution
The situation in Berrien County was described by Michigan civil rights attorney Hugh "Buck" Davis like this:
In the 1960s, it was called Negro removal. In Bosnia, it was called ethnic cleansing. It is called genocide today, the deliberate destruction of a race of Black people, the removal of minority populations for the purpose of redevelopment of the land. That's what's happening in Benton Harbor, and leading the resistance is Rev. Edward Pinkney.The Berrien County court gave a resounding "No" to freedom of speech in my trial. An important civil liberties issue in my case is whether the prosecution improperly admitted evidence of my legally-protected First Amendment political activity. The problem is that much of my community activism is not popular with most of the white people in the county where I was prosecuted. We are living in a time when prosecutors are allowed to make up things and violate Constitutional protections to fit their purpose. Judges have given themselves judicial immunity for their judicial function. However, judicial immunity does not exist for judges who engage in criminal activity by aiding in the criminal activity of the prosecutor. Berrien County Judge Sterling Schrock and Prosecutor Mike Sepic are operating criminal activities in the Berrien County court and must be stopped!
