[Discuss] [Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] State's Attorney Rietz
Participates In Cover-up Of Police Brutality
Belden Fields
a-fields at uiuc.edu
Sun Feb 3 15:01:44 CST 2008
I have to take issue with my friend Marti's position on Julia's being
married to a police officer. While it is a delicate issue, I do not
think that it is sexist to argue that someone who is very lenient
with police and corrections officers when they commit crimes, and is
very willing to take officers' sides of a story when there is an
arrest with force and the arrestee claims that he/she has been
unjustifiably roughed up by police, can be more inclined to side with
the officers because of such a relationship. I think that would
likely be the case if a policewoman were married to a civilian male
or if the officers were engaged in a gay or lesbian relationship.
States attorneys make judgments about how cases of arrest should be
handled. In that sense they are judges of first instance. Since
states attorneys cannot recuse themselves from each and every case, I
think it is best that there not be a spousal relationship between
states attorneys and police officers, corrections officers, or trial
judges. I don't think that this has anything to do with sexism
Marti, just a natural human propensity to be sympathetic with the
perspectives of a spouse of whatever gender or sexual preference.
Belden
On Feb 3, 2008, at 1:21 AM, Marti Wilkinson wrote:
> 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
> To: announce at communitycourtwatch.org ; AWARE peace ;
> stop at iresist.org ; coalition at iresist.org ; Jenny Putman ; Matthew
> Gladney ; Matthew Gladney ; Giraldo Rosales ; Melodye Rosales ;
> Ruth Wyman ; Public i ; Aghi, Shaleen ; Austin ; Claudia Lennhoff ;
> Cope Cumpston ; Carol Spindel ; tanya parker ; andrea carter ; Erik
> S. McDuffie ; cdbenson at uiuc.edu ; Jason Finkelman ; Joe Futrelle ;
> Joe Futrelle ; Jeremy Gipson ; Stephen Hartnett ; Anna Hochhalter ;
> Jacqueline Hannah ; Patsy Howell ; Rochelle Harden ; Alfred Ivy ;
> Imani Bazzell ; Amira ; Amira Davis ; Gene Vanderport ; Germaine
> Light ; Raymond Morales ; martin smith ; Chime Asonye ; Dave
> Roediger ; carl reisman ; mdp at uiuc.edu ; Jenny Barrett ;
> jrbarret at uiuc.edu ; Rory Thompson ; Jeffrey R. Thibert ; Tom
> Mackaman ; dmlarson at uiuc.edu ; Vern Fein ; Vacellia Clark ;
> 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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