[Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] State's Attorney Rietz Participates In Cover-up Of Police Brutality

Sun Feb 3 01:21:14 CST 2008

Actually Julia Rietz is married to a police officer (they have two children)
and she has never made that aspect of her personal life a secret. She has
even pointed out that to judge her for who she is married to is sexist and
that is something I do agree with her on. As an individual Rietz is capable
of standing or falling on her record as States Attorney.

One of the reasons why Piland lost to Rietz back in 2004 was for his lenient
handling of the Brady Smith case. He allowed Smith to plea bargain on
charges that he molested African American boys in his capacity as Dean at
Franklin Middle School. Smith was able to get probation while facing these
serious charges. Pilands office was also accused of overcharging African
Americans in this county. Rietz ran for office with the promises that she
would change things.

Now lets look at the record of Rietz. When Sgt. Meyers received a felony
conviction for his part in torturing inmates at the Champaign County Jail -
Rietz allowed him to plea bargain his way into probation. Her justification
was that losing his job and pension was sufficient punishment for his
actions. This is somewhat reminiscent of what went down with the Brady Smith
case.

Someone else recently pointed out that her office was willing to allow
Robert Arnette the opportunity to plea bargain his way into probation when
he faced charges of molesting his stepchildren. He is now facing murder
charges in the death of his ex-wife Naomi.

The issues with overcharging that Pilands office faced has not been resolved
under Rietz's watch. For this and for other reasons Rietz is now facing some
competition in the primary.

My suggestion at this point is to leave her personal life out of the
equation.

Peace, Marti

On Feb 2, 2008 5:57 PM, <cboland at insightbb.com> wrote:

>  Reitz...must go. She has been using both sides of the coin for the
> longest. First to begin with her long time boyfriend is a police officer and
> a republican. She has been using the Democratic party as a way of
> power, many of us in AWARE found that out during campaigning for Obama as
> Senator a few years back. She is really a wolf in sheeps' clothing! Let's
> get rid of her as fast as possible!
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Brian Dolinar <briandolinar at gmail.com>
> *To:* announce at communitycourtwatch.org ; AWARE peace<peace at lists.chambana.net>;
> stop at iresist.org ; coalition at iresist.org ; Jenny Putman<jenny-p at sbcglobal.net>; Matthew
> Gladney <dj_matt_99 at yahoo.com> ; Matthew Gladney <itsmattsworld at yahoo.com>; Giraldo
> Rosales <grosales at nitrogendesign.com> ; Melodye Rosales<melodye at nitrogendesign.com>; Ruth
> Wyman <rewyman at hotmail.com> ; Public i <print at ucimc.org> ; Aghi, Shaleen<saghi at law.uiuc.edu>;
> Austin <wickerparkusa at gmail.com> ; Claudia Lennhoff <claudia at shout.net> ; Cope
> Cumpston <cumpston at uiuc.edu> ; Carol Spindel <cspindel at uiuc.edu> ; tanya
> parker <contactus at habariconnection.com> ; andrea carter<mscarter1007 at yahoo.com>; Erik
> S. McDuffie <emcduffi at uiuc.edu> ; cdbenson at uiuc.edu ; Jason Finkelman<finkelma at uiuc.edu>; Joe
> Futrelle <futrelle at prairiegreens.org> ; Joe Futrelle <futrelle at shout.net>; Jeremy
> Gipson <jgipson at stu.parkland.edu> ; Stephen Hartnett <hartnett at uiuc.edu> ;
> Anna Hochhalter <alhochhalter at city.urbana.il.us> ; Jacqueline Hannah<jzwhannah at gmail.com>; Patsy
> Howell <ummtamala at yahoo.com> ; Rochelle Harden <rharden at parkland.edu> ; Alfred
> Ivy <lawmba1 at gmail.com> ; Imani Bazzell <ibazzell at urbanleague.net> ; Amira<amira_davis at aacap-cu.org>; Amira
> Davis <amira_davis at yahoo.com> ; Gene Vanderport <lightport at sbcglobal.net>; Germaine
> Light <glight at ms.k12.il.us> ; Raymond Morales <rmorales02 at gmail.com> ; martin
> smith <send2smith at yahoo.com> ; Chime Asonye <casonye2 at gmail.com> ; Dave
> Roediger <droedige at uiuc.edu> ; carl reisman <creisman61 at yahoo.com> ;
> mdp at uiuc.edu ; Jenny Barrett <jennyb at uiuc.edu> ; jrbarret at uiuc.edu ; Rory
> Thompson <thompsro at champaignschools.org> ; Jeffrey R. Thibert<thibert2 at uiuc.edu>; Tom
> Mackaman <tmackaman at yahoo.com> ; dmlarson at uiuc.edu ; Vern Fein<vfein4 at yahoo.com>; Vacellia
> Clark <vpclark at city.urbana.il.us> ; briandolinar at gmail.com
> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 30, 2008 7:28 AM
> *Subject:* [Peace] State's Attorney Rietz Participates In Cover-up Of
> Police Brutality
>
> Some may remember an incident on March 30, 2007 when Champaign police sent
> 17 year-old Brian Chesley to the hospital after an incident in Douglass
> Park. The claims of police brutality were dismissed by local officials, and
> quickly dropped by the mainstream media, but the case remains in court.
> State's Attorney Julia Rietz, currently up for re-election, is taking
> Chesley to court in a trial that could begin in March for a misdemeanor
> charge of resisting a peace officer.
>
> Charges were filed five weeks after the incident on May 8, 2007, Chesley's
> 18th birthday, so he could be tried as an adult. The current prosecution
> by Rietz's office is clearly an attempt to stave off a civil suit against
> Champaign police for excessive use of force. Like the 2005 case of Sgt.
> Myers, a jail guard who was caught using a Taser to torture inmates, Rietz
> is once again placing the threat of law suits over the concerns of justice.
> This is an attempt to cover up another incident of police brutality.
>
> On March 30, at approximately 8:30 p.m., Brian Chesley was walking out of
> the Douglass Park gymnasium with two other youth, a 15 year-old and a 8
> year-old, after playing basketball. The two older boys were walking the
> younger one home. Park programs continued until midnight and park signs
> (changed soon after) indicated the park was closed at 9:00 p.m. Champaign
> police said the park closed at dusk and they had probable cause to stop the
> youth. What happened afterwards is in dispute. Champaign police say Chesley
> youth ran. Chesley says he was grabbed by police, thrown up against a fence,
> beaten, and heavily pepper sprayed. An ambulance had to be called to take
> him to the hospital.
>
> This occurred the same night as a Democratic fundraiser at the house of
> Gina Jackson, Champaign city council representative of District 1. Local
> kids came to her front door that night saying police had just beat up
> somebody. The alderwoman, with other members of the local Democratic Party,
> walked down the street to find a crowd of frightened youth, and young
> Chesley sitting on the curb obviously in pain.
>
> Community members went to Champaign city council the following Tuesday
> night to address what they said was police brutality. Martel Miller, of VEYA
> (Visionaries Educating Youth and Adults), brought Chesley and his mother to
> the meeting and pleaded for something to be done. Gina Jackson (who has
> endorsed Rietz's re-election) said that there must be "zero tolerance" for
> youth who do not obey authority.
>
> Attorneys Bob Kirchner and Ruth Wyman have taken up Chesley's case and are
> currently representing him. The State's Attorney's office attempted to make
> an offer of adult diversion, which would have required an admission of
> guilt. Chesley refused the offer. The trial date will be set in the next
> hearing on March 3, 2008 at 3 p.m. in Courtroom E.
>
> The Circuit Clerk web site clearly shows the offense date of 3/30/07 and
> charges filed 5/8/07, the 18th birthday of Chesley, 5/8/89:
>
> https://secure.jtsmith.com/clerk/clerk.asp
>
> ***Don't miss the debate Wednesday night, January 30, 6 p.m.***
> University of Illinois Law School Auditorium
> Alfred Ivy, III, Julia Rietz, and Janie Miller-Jones.
>
> --
> Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
> 303 W. Locust St.
> Urbana, IL 61801
> briandolinar at gmail.com
>
> ------------------------------
>
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