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The Marshall Project
Opening Statement
January 3, 2022
Edited by Andrew Cohen
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Pick of the News

A tragic mistake, aided by dubious police tactics. The death of Valentine Orellana-Peralta, a 14-year-old girl fatally shot last week by police in a store dressing room in California, is still an unfolding story. First came the police body camera video of the episode. The Washington Post Then came criticism of the Los Angeles Police Department’s “active shooter” tactics. Los Angeles Times Then came details about the life of the victim. So many plans, cut short. “Above all, the teen longed to become an American citizen.” The New York Times Finally: Five police shootings in nine days in Los Angeles. The Guardian

The code of silence still largely reigns among police officers. USA Today Meet the paid experts who help exonerate cops following suspicious police shootings or deaths in custody. The New York Times State officials in Virginia have sued the town of Windsor for alleged unconstitutional and discriminatory policing. The New York Times More: A Pennsylvania state trooper who fatally shot four people in a span of 15 years is feted; the investigations against him are undermined by a lack of neutrality. The New York Times TMP Context: Welcome to Kentucky, where lots of police shootings draw little scrutiny. The Marshall Project

The dead of Rikers Island. Fifteen prisoners died there in 2021. Here are their stories. New York Magazine More: A New York judge found conditions inside the Rikers Island jail so deplorable she ordered a pretrial detainee released after video showed a “fight night” organized by jail staff. Reason Rikers Island officials have failed for decades, through one mayoral administration after another, to fix the dangerous practices and conditions inside the jail. The New York Times TMP Context: Dispatch from the deadly jail. The Marshall Project

A 600-page opinion details some of the problems with Alabama’s prison system. A federal judge there issued a scathing ruling last week against state corrections officials for their continuing failure to provide better mental health care for prisoners. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson gave corrections officials until 2025 to adequately staff prisons. The Associated Press Plaintiffs’ attorneys praise the judge for his candor. The Associated Press TMP Context: My friend killed himself in an Alabama prison. The Marshall Project

Drug company a “public nuisance” in opioid fight. A New York jury last week found opioid manufacturer Teva Pharmaceuticals liable for contributing to the state’s deadly prescription painkiller crisis. Thousands have died from opioids distributed by Teva and other drug companies. The verdict came after a six-month trial in which other corporate defendants settled claims brought by state and county lawyers. The New York Times More: A separate trial will determine the amount of damages the company must pay. Teva officials say they will appeal the verdict. The Associated Press

N/S/E/W

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis last week commuted the sentence of a truck driver who weeks ago received a 110-year prison term for vehicular manslaughter. The sentence was reduced to 10 years. Colorado Public Radio The brakes on Rogel Aguilera-Mederos’ truck failed on a mountain highway. He crashed and killed four people in 2019. The Associated Press More: Polis also granted 1,351 pardons to people convicted in Colorado of low-level marijuana possession. Denver Post

More fallout from the video of a brutal beating last September inside the jail in Essex County, New Jersey. Jayshawn Boyd was in a coma for two months and now suffers from severe brain injuries. Jail officials say they’ve hired a private company to conduct an assessment of the facility and its staffing protocols. The New York Times

The murder rate is soaring in Jackson, Mississippi, where the pandemic has widened the social, economic and racial gulfs that have always existed in the city. In some cases lifelong friends have killed one another. CNN

The family of Army veteran Irene Chavez wants to know why she died last month in a holding cell in Chicago, Illinois. She was arrested on Dec. 18 and died hours later. So far police officials have been particularly unhelpful about providing information. The Washington Post

A sharply divided Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court broadened police power to frisk suspects they believe may be carrying a gun. Dissenting justices said the ruling would harm people of color in communities across the state. Boston Globe

Commentary

Why did Ghislaine Maxwell do it? We may never know. And it doesn’t matter. Her conviction last week on sex trafficking charges brings resolution if not closure. New York Magazine The trial was disappointing to conspiracy theorists. Slate

One final shot against police reformers. Dermot Shea, the NYPD’s outgoing police commissioner, leaves swinging. “We’ve lost more young people to homicide than we have to COVID. And yet the reasons for the current surge in gun violence remain ‘elusive’ and ‘mysterious’ to any number of academics and pundits, as if we have to keep digging to figure out the depth of the hole we’re in.” New York Daily News

We can hold prosecutors accountable for their misconduct if we try. Federal “pattern or practice” investigations should not be limited to police departments. The Atlantic

George Will argues against “qualified immunity” for police. The U.S. Supreme Court can and should limit the practice of shielding law enforcement officers from being held liable for violating the Constitutional rights of people they interact with. The Washington Post

Oklahoma’s death penalty creates a surreal scenario. If he’s going to be killed by the state, James Coddington wants to die by firing squad. But now he’s part of a lawsuit challenging the way lethal injection protocols are handled by state executioners. The Hill

Etc.

681 mass shooting incidents in the U.S. in 2021. And gun deaths rose for the fourth year in a row, not counting suicides in which guns were used. The Trace

“None of it makes any sense to me.” The fatal stabbing of a teenager in Washington, D.C. in 2018 has his parents frustrated by two proposed plea deals and what could be relatively brief sentences for the two young men accused of the crime. Soon a judge will decide. The Washington Post

Flash point. A Massachusetts state trooper was fired for failing to comply with a coronavirus vaccine mandate for all state employees, the trooper’s union claims. Boston Globe

“It is more prevalent and consequential than any of them are willing to admit.” A former federal informant, who worked undercover among white supremacists, warns of the danger they pose inside and beyond prison. The Associated Press

Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, is seriously ill in federal prison. The 79-year-old was transferred last month from the “Supermax” prison in Colorado to a special medical prison in North Carolina. The Washington Post

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