A federal judge warned in court today he may move the civil trial over the death of James Chasse Jr. out of Portland because heavy media coverage may have poisoned the pool of jurors.
“We’re going to have a heck of a time finding a jury in this case that has not read information or come to some opinion based on information that may or may not be relevant,” said U.S. District Court Judge Garr King. “Every time I see an article about this case, it adds to the possibility that we will have to move.”
King denied a motion by Tom Steenson, the attorney for Chasse’s family, that would have forced the city to turn over records of the cops’ internal investigation into Chasse’s 2006 death in police custody. King said he feared making the documents public would lead to more news stories.
“As you know, I’m very concerned about trying this case in the newspapers at this time,” King said.
Steenson claimed he needs the documents in order to counter statements the city made when Police Chief Rosie Sizer announced last month that the officers’ use of force on Chasse did not violate police policy.
Steenson claimed the city’s statements violated a protective order preventing release of information. That order was granted by U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Hubel at the city’s request.
“The city thinks it’s OK to violate Judge Hubel’s order and release cherry-picked pieces of information,” Steenson said. “Why do they get a one-way street, when the internal record tells a very different story than the information they’re releasing?”
King noted that Steenson had not asked for sanctions against the city for allegedly violating the protective order. He was simply denying Steenson’s request to release the Internal Affairs records.
King said the case is “well on the road” to a change in venue, adding that he understands the city will make a request to change location of the trial. Deputy City Attorney Jim Rice agreed, saying the city is looking into that possibility.
As for City Commissioner Randy Leonard’s public statement last week that Chasse’s death was “completely unjustifiable and inexcusable,” King asked Rice what effect such comments from an elected official may have on the city’s case.
Rice didn’t directly answer King’s question.
“I have always urged everyone not to make public comments in this case,” Rice said. “I have urged them to try this case in court.”
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Tags: James Chasse Jr., Portland, Randy Leonard
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They can’t get police documents because someone might right a story about it? That’s a travesty. The police department is a public agency.
“King said he feared making the documents public would lead to more news stories.” This is what drives our justice system? So so lame.
Boy, it’s sure funny how they like to rally the flying monkeys, the witch on a broomstick and drop inaccurate press dumps (under the guise of public records requests) in order to intimidate whistle-blowers during pending litigation.
Nice transparency. Oh! That’s right, just ask James Chasse…citizens in Multnomah County are not entitled to civil rights and/or transparency because the GOB’s openly admit to being “self-appointed political policemen of sorts” who operate from behind a “thick veiled curtain of secrecy”.
Here civil rights are selectively doled-out, they are not a given. That’s not how it’s suppose to work. But we’ve certainly watched you give it a valiant effort.
Let’s see…you employed your typical tactic of smearing the victim (unfortunately, now deceased…good luck with that) and his family (besides smearing the victim, that’s about as low as you can go), which provided the union dysfunctionals and the officials who enable them with temporary “FAVORABLE CIRCUMSTANCES”.
However, “the matter of James Chasse’s loss of life” did not go away.
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyCCJ6B2WE
By the way Mr. King, those documents belong to the public. Release them now. And while your at it, dig through Uncle Fester’s “personal file drawer” and check-out all the “hot messes” he’s been hiding in there.
Clown asses every single one of them. It’s time for Portland to “witness” some serious karmic relief.
Seems like the records should be a matter of public record. You have the Chief of Police going on record, despite a protection order. Where’s the DA on this? And consider that the people have been requesting everything known about the case since it happened 3 years ago, not just since the family filed suit.
Steenson’s right; “picking, choosing, dumping” and imo, stonewalling for three years. They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again unless they are slapped with heavy, and very public consequences. *But be prepared. Someone’s going to need to fall on a sword.
And btw, just where is the transparent warrior who was featured in the 9/06 TB article below espousing a belief in; transparent government, in deep access to the records of public bodies and agencies, etc. etc. Riiiiight.
He’s not transparent… he’s invisible.
*Excerpts from Portland Tribune’s “The DA’s Way” 9/5/06
Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk is a man of contradictions. He believes in transparent government, in deep access to the records of public bodies and agencies, yet he himself is intensely private.
“I remember when we had this particularly volatile deal going over weeks and months, and at the end of it somebody said to me, ‘Mike reminds me of Russell Crowe at the end of that Roman movie, walking through the battlefield with bodies on either side of him, but he got out unscathed,’ ” said Norm Frink, Schrunk’s top felony prosecutor for 25 years. “He’s really that good.”
But not everybody glorifies him in gladiator legend.
In 1992, Edward Jones, then director of the nonprofit Multnomah Defenders Inc., became the first and still only person to run against Schrunk, filing at the last minute.
“At some level, the job of an elected official is not just to reflect what the public thinks or to fly under the radar so nobody knows what you think,” said Jones, now a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge. “Elected officials have to lead, to educate the public on issues, and this official in particular hasn’t been the best at that.”
Spot on Jones-ey.
Reference:
Dig back to the article “The DA’s Way” – By Jacob Quinn Sanders
The Portland Tribune, Sep 5, 2006
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=115740512178688200
Totally agree with Judge Garr King. This venue DOES need to be moved.
The defendants need to rally the clowns and their clown cars, pile-in, and take their “show” on the road.
DC would be perfect! Pretty sure someone in that town will have some concept of what; Civil Rights and the ADA (Adults With Disabilities Act) are, since no one in our town seems to and/or will acknowledge them.
Well Judge King, you are going to have to find a venue a long way from Portland… How about Mars? You are quoted as saying the media attention might not be relevant to potential jurors. But all the media is doing here is reporting on the story. Jurors don’t live in a vacuum, especially in this digital and information driven world we live in. The information about Chasse is out there, like it or not. Jurors should be given more credit, as the vetting process is sufficient enough as-is. Sounds like the defendants are venue shopping. And that is not right. They should just settle the case, like Multnomah County has already done.
Here is a video about James Chasse, I hope that anyone interested in his case will watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49gX7QhYQfw
Thank you.
You know what I can’t figure-out is how attorneys representing plaintiffs in Multnomah County, against Multnomah County, the city and/or the state (the DOJ actually provides defense for some of our local officials) actually can carry-on knowing at the get-go that the odds are probably stacked against them via county and city counsel, in addition to being backed by the DOJ. They have so many more resources than plaintiff attorneys do.
And based on what I’ve seen, instead of the DOJ jumping-in and defending our citizens when it’s believed their civil rights have been violated, and zealously investigating possible wrong-doing of local officals when it’s been alleged and/or discovered, the DOJ dives-in and provides the local official and/or government office “on ground” harassment. And again, plaintiff attorneys typically do not have the resources these folks do.
I am glad the Chasse’s found someone willing to go to war on behalf of James, and in subsequent events that, in my opinion, were fundamentally wrong on so many different levels.
I hope they win and in doing so, also are able to reveal what I honestly believe is the truth with regard to the inner workings of our local justice system.
And it’s really disturbing to me, that the public could make the mistake of going to the DOJ and/or the FBI (IC3) for assistance, not knowing that those claims are often just funneled back through these same people the public has concerns about. Officals who sit on the facts, harass whistle-blowers, continue to thwart justice and the public’s right to know about what’s going on. Not just “their” versions of events which they; strategize over, prepare an investigative draft based on a desired outcome, pick and choose pieces of a picture they want to portray, assemble and package those pieces in a way which looks more favorable on them, and then arrange a press dump, at a time that is convenient for them, all the while under a protective order.
And btw, justice is suppose to be swift. I do not consider three years to get to “their findings”, swift in any sense of the word.
And based on what I have read in the press from some of these people’s own mouths, if you are a judge that frequently does not rule in Multnomah County’s, the city’s and/or state favor, some of these guys will “affidavit to death” a judge off certain cases because they have not been getting the rulings they wanted.
Imo, that’s not justice. Last time I checked the lady holding the scales of justice is suppose to REMAIN unbiased, at all times. No tennis and/or golf with their buddies at the DA’s office.
We want non-biased judges. But how can you be non-biased when the entity they are judging is also part of the same “system” that actually cuts their paycheck? Is there not a conflict of interest for every one involved? Reconcile that for us. I mean we have two local officials refusing to participate in the Mayor’s recent investigation because of a conflict of interest. Why don’t judges admit it when it’s possibly happening?
It would seem, in some political cases in Multnomah County, based on how they operate, justice is biased and has been perverted. How do you fix that perception. It’s creepy and it’s scary, especially when you have these thoughts and then witness what’s happened when the public tried getting to the bottom of what happened to James.
Excerpts from John Kroger’s speech at The Skanner’s Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast.
“If you’re a polluter in the state of Oregon, watch out,” he said. “If you’re preying on the elderly or perpetrating mortgage fraud on members of our community, watch out. If you’re a corrupt public official, watch out.”
“I was called by a very important person, a person with a lot of power in this state,” Kroger told the crowd. “(That person said) ‘you have a lot on you plate … you need some easy wins, this civil rights thing is a lot to take on. No one’s going to notice if you quietly walk away.
You always hear how power is brought to bear to prevent change, I had that power in my ear and it was telling me to wait. … I think there are a lot of people in this room who would notice if I broke my promise.”
wonder if this “King” is related to the former-
PPA President Robert King, who also has had his
butt in the middle of all this controversy…as
a Cheerleader for the Rogue PoPiggies, same as
his clownish successor…whatshisname…the cops
can do no wrong…not in flipping Portland for
Christ sake…no way! Well, the truth is the
citizens of this area have finally woken up from
their long slumbers and know the REAL DEAL when
it come to their PoPiggies!
et al.
Nausea ad infinitum. How can the public be denied the records on the grounds that it might produce bias? Bias is not even relevant here.
This case is completely cut and dried.
Officers beat mentally ill victim sufficiently to kill him. Period.
Sweden is looking better all the time.
Riiiiiiight.