Comments on DV-One Found Guilty

The SPD and prosecutor should know this means all out no respect for police in Seattle from here on out, if not blatant physical counter attacks. Not that we needed this as an excuse, as the Police have proven time and again - John Power and his drug ring, WTO, Kristopher Kime, countless unarmed people shot, on and on. Fuck the prosecutor and fuck the police. Seriously. If these folks thought they had a tough job before, just fucking wait. No one should give these shitty, shitty people any respect. They lied in court. They assaulted a teenage girl. And now white cops, a white judge, a white jury and white prosecutor are imprisoning yet another young african male. Fuck them for real.

So your response to what you perceive as unwarranted charges that you're a violent threat is to threaten "blatant physical counter attacks". That's logic for you.

violence begets violence ad infinitum

Which SPD beat-down was this again? I get them confused.

FuckingPISSED sounds like Meathead from Archie Bunker.

I didn't threaten shit, just saying what others' reactions will be. But yes, it's obviously time, past due, to fight back. The courts obviously are no protection from SPD lies.

Sweet!

So when does he file to run for City Council?

Seattle's True Colors, pt.8,005,856

@7: fuck you, will. this is a man's life we are talking about here.

Yeah, but you should see the other guy! Um, no, wait a minute, he was the unscathed one with a billy club...

People in LA, Philly, and NYC have rioted for less.

Last time people rioted in Seattle Kris Kime was killed.

Btw, why has there been little to none coverage of DV One's trial? There was a blip when he was heading to trial, and now there's a blip here when it's over.

@7, after he hits the mayor with a megaphone maybe?

I'm not sure which story has more veracity, that he was hit for no reason, or that he charged a cop. Honestly I tend to dislike DJ's, but cops can be ass hats.

My hunch though is that the truth is somewhere in the middle. However the fact that a jury convicted him makes me more likely to believe that he was in the wrong.

From what I recall of this story the DJ's young daughter was doing something that drew the attention of the police (stupid girl). The father was close by, heard and saw some commotion and went to investigate. Instead of the father making things better, for some reason he gets beat up by the police. Genearlly the police ASK people to "behave" then the TELL them to "behave" and finally after the message has not penetrated they MAKE them "behave". The father has the scars to show he was MADE to "behave". We're not being told the whole truth by Mr Polce Man AND by Father DJ. I suspect both are lying.

Amazing, so this is what a police state looks like.

from what i understood, there were witness of this event that corroborated the police account -- including that djone accidentally (but did) hit an officer in the face with his elbow.

i think the spd needs oversight, and they have clearly abused their power recently. but should the focus of our outrage be directed on maybe the two other cases? the ones where the witnesses agree with the victim of the spd?

has anyone else noticed that Will in Seattle has been even more of a trollish ass lately?

Nope.

No packratt, its not. This is what a police state looks .

At best this is what a case of police brutality looks like. Lets not cheapen the notion of police state, or in anyway think that our lives are anywhere close to the lives of those actually suffering under truly oppressive regimes. Its offensive and insulting.

Fucked up the link. Here it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989

Giffy,

Sorry, tell that to someone who wasn't purposefully tortured by the SPD.

http://packratt.blogspot.com/2007/10/trial-after-trial.html

This is more than a simple case of police brutality. It's looking like the cops and the prosecutor are now working together to take the cover up to the next level. It used to be cops just beat down non-whites. This case sees them elevating it to beating down the black boy and then convicting HIM of assault. Make no mistake, this is a big case for the prosecutor and SPD. It's a huge reason why Satterberg should be booted as prosecutor and why Kerlikowske should be fired. We need justice for DV One. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Anyone who thinks a few cases (hell even ten thousand) cases of police brutality, compare to real police states needs to broaden their horizon. As someone who has traveled to police states, talked to torture victims, and seen heavily armed soldiers beating dissidents, I can tell you that what we have in this country is far from a real police state.

Do we have problems, of course. But lets not pretend that the problems we face are in any way comparable to the problems faced by people living under real oppressive regimes. I know its somewhat fun to pretend that we are fighting the same sort of evil and that liberal guilt makes us want to see our selves as oppressed to, but it just not the case.

I don't believe that a person gets beaten to the ground and kicked in the head repeatedly for being compliant with police.

Police are trained to act defensively when they feel that their safety or the safety of others COULD be compromised.

No matter what color you are, or what situation you find yourself in...it's mucher safer to behave in a non-threatening way. Especially when police are involved.

I'm sure the DJ DV One's daughter had a major attitude problem which only spurred things on and it just mushroomed in to this circus. That being said the guy can file his appeal, but by the time it's heard his sentence will have been served. This will just add to his street cred for hosting those hip hop nights and make him more money in the end though. He should just suck it up and get down on his knees.

@24 Do you know DV or his daughter? Major attitude problem. I think you have a major assumption problem. WOW.

"I think you have a major assumption problem."

Everybody sticking up for DV has a major assumption problem. None of us were on the jury. None of us saw the evidence of the case.

For those who don't know this case was open to spectators every day of the trial. Any given day of the trial there were at least twenty to thirty spectators who saw the "evidence of the case." Those are the people who support DV, who know that the jury was ten white people and two asian people, who know that the prosecutor repeatedly forgot details of the case while giving opening and closing statements, and who know that no one's safety or rights are protected when the police consider it their job to over-aggressively detain 14 year old girls and tase concerned parents and not bother to get one single statement from a civilian at the scene. This is exactly what happens when people assume that the police serve and protect us.

@15 I am pretty sure assault has to intentional. I was on a jury a few years ago and the defendent was moving and pointing his finger at the policeman when as he was talking him. His finger accidentally touched the policeman's noise and they took him down hard and charged him with assault. The instructions was it had to be intentional and the policeman himself said it could have been accident. All 12 of us said "not guilty" despite thinking the defendent was kind of a jerk and he had kicked the officers as they arrested him (but for some reason they did not charge him with that).

Seems to me that if he had an attitude problem that 10 of the jurors wouldn't have offered to come forward on his behalf during sentencing.

And Giffy, sorry, but the scars on my face tell me a different story than you every day I look in the mirror.

I used to think like you, that things weren't that bad... until it happened to me. Who will you turn to when it happens to you?

Anyone with a wise ass, uninformed comment should read @27 first.

I was only able to be in the courtroom the final two days of the trial. Both were filled to capacity with folks supporting Toby Campbell. The assembled crowd was, by far, more racially diverse than Toby's jury, as well as those in neighboring courts.

These people saw the evidence. And they will all agree with everything said @27.

Of the three people of color on the jury, one was made the alternate, leaving 10 white and 2 asian jurors.

The SPD, by their own admission in court, went into the football game expecting trouble. They were in battle dress (their own words) and tension was high.

Toby's daughter was 14 years old at the time, her first year in high school, her first football game. She was detained by over anxious cops, looking to prove a point.

Photographs of her heavily bruised arm were submitted into evidence. Photographs of Toby's extensive contusions and taser marks were submitted into evidence.

According to testimony from the SPD's Taser Master (his real title), Toby was tased for 11 seconds. A single taser discharge lasts 5 seconds.

The SPD's claims that Toby assaulted Officer Boggs were not corroborated by a single civilian witness, despite the fact that over 5,000 people had attended the game.

The SPD failed to collect eyewitness accounts, in spite of the large number of people in the area. The SPD did effectively create a "screen" around Toby when they had him on the ground, a tactic they are trained to use when using force. This screen prevents witnesses from seeing what is going on, even at a close distance.

It is standard procedure to photograph any injuries at a crime scene. There are multiple photos of Toby, taken by the police at the jailhouse, and after he was released.

Officer Boggs claims that Toby had her in a "bear hug" and that he hit her repeatedly. There was no photographic evidence to back up this claim.

Toby Campbell is 6 feet tall and weighs about 200 pounds.

Yes, DV One is my friend. But I will tell you this: he told me the absolute truth when this happened last year, in a candid and private conversation.

His story has not changed once.

The SPD, however, stumbled repeatedly on the stand.

I have repeated this often in the past few weeks and I will say it again: when I asked him point blank if he had assaulted the officer, he told me this:

“I would never raise a hand against a cop. I’ve seen too many people of color go down like that. I know what happens when a black man hits a cop. I’m not going out like that.”

DV was, very simply, a father trying to find out why the police had detained his soft-spoken and harmless 14-year old daughter, who was up against a police car and in tears when he arrived.

He raised his hands in the air, in the universal "I surrender" sign, when Officer Boggs called for back up. Toby was stone cold sober and as rational as could be expected in such a situation.

BOTTOM LINE: HAD HE BEEN A WHITE DAD, AT A BLANCHETT V. O'DEA GAME, THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.

But, he was a black man, at a Garfield v. Franklin match. Welcome to America. If this doesn't piss you off then you seriously are not paying attention.

thank you, kerri.

before the grammar police jump on me like an SPD officer on a black man, let me correct this statement:

"It is standard procedure to photograph any injuries at a crime scene." should read:

"It is standard procedure to photograph any injuries that occur at a crime scene."

This applies to everyone involved at the scene, including the police.

I saw Toby testify in court last week. He described what a cop said to him as be was being arrested. If this does not scream racism I don't know what does.

"This is going to be another felony for you. You are going right back to prison."

ANOTHER felony. BACK to prison. DV-One has no felonies. He has never been to prison. Would a cop have said those words to a white man?

The police fucked up. It happens all the time. If they would NOT have pressed charges against DV, it would be like admitting they fucked up. It would be like admitting the cops acted unjustly. In which case if DV-One had decided to file a civil suit, his lawyers would have argued, "well, if he had done something that justified a beat-down, wouldn't you have pressed charges? Clearly you over reacted and wronged an innocent man." He would have easily won that case and the cops knew it. They knew they were fucked and now DV-One will go to jail to keep their hands clean.

Toby is the nicest guy in the world. He needs to be around to pick his kid up from more games.

What are we supposed to do now? Is there anything?

I have known DV-One for probably 15 years. When I met the girl who would later become my wife, Toby was dating her roommate. The four of us spent a lot of time hanging out, having dinner, watching TV—just regular daily life stuff. Toby's daughter Malika was often with us and it always struck me what an amazing father he was. Toby is an honorable, upstanding, gentle, funny, ultra-intelligent, principaled man and it is ABSOLUTELY BEYOND COMPREHENSION that this could happen. Anyone who knows him knows there is no way he is guilty, and even peripheral review of the case details demonstrates gigantic holes in the prosecution's version of events. This is a MASSIVE INJUSTICE and requires equally massive public outcry and coverage in the press.

The most disturbing thing is that this trial went forward without the OPARB doing their work on OPA's handling of the case.

Talk about a worthless system.

some of the trial's greatest hits:


during the cross of the sarge on the scene, the defense asked if he or his people had asked any witnesses about what had happened. "no", he said, "but nobody came up to us and tried to tell us- and i was standing right there the whole time, in full regalia." ba-Dum-bum!



when asking one of the bike cops(the one said to have actually assaulted DV) when he filed his report on the incident, he was off by days- he turned that shit in some days later. after getting caught out there like that, he got kinda shaky. when asked about the ostensible reason for police reports, he got red above the neck and stammered out "do we lie and cover up for each other? is that what you're asking? well the answer is NO." aaand SCENE!



officer dina boggs, who mean ol DV whooped on, apparently can't judge distances, tell you what 'BDU' stands for, or remember a great deal about her statement. i mean, don't people train for trial? or did she just get up @ 8AM that day, brew a fresh cup, look at her calendar and remember, ooh yeah, that's today!



when the prosecution asked DV if he was 'excited' when approaching the scene:
"well, i wasn't 'excited'. i wasn't having a party."



all the talk of street cred is idiotic. nobody in the scene gives DV hood stripes b/c of this fucked up incident- they sympathize with him & his family b/c it could've been any one of us(that are black). they remember that it could have been any of us when maikoyo alley-barnes got fucked up outside the war room, or rajnii eddins got arrested for asking a question. they get angrier and more frustrated with a city that lately seems to be targeting them in multifold ways. >i>saprise, saprise!

on 206 Proof cats are talking about registering to vote, doing more jury duty. On the MassLine boards Meinert is talking about raising money for the best defense attorneys possible for DV's appeal, if there is one. I agree with all of it but it makes me physically sick. All we can do is just scramble and cry and try to patch our shit up when these fucking pigs descend on us and the developer-sucking city backs them up. I'm so sick right now.

The readers of the PI aren't sympathizing as much as the readers of the Stranger:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/soundoff/comment.asp?articleID=337123

If he needs help getting a real defense attorney instead of a public defender let me know and I'll help contribute.

@37

That's where the SPD spends it's time whenever a case questioning the police gets printed.

I made a comment in there once and had over 35 unique hits on my blog from different network addresses registered to the City of Seattle and the Municipality of Metro Seattle that day. (and 4 hits from the Port of Seattle network)

hey. good to know.

@33

If it is accurate that the sentencing is next week, letters to the judge, attesting to character, could be helpful now. I say this from experience working for a federal judge in Brooklyn, so I don't know exactly how the system works in state court in Washington, or what this particular judge's personal practices are. But from what I’ve seen, when a federal judge sentences someone, letters -- as well presence in the courtroom at the time of sentencing – have the potential to make a real difference in the length of sentence imposed. I will definitely be writing one.

DV One is a man of integrity and a wonderful father. If you were not a witness to the case or in the company of this man. Please do not speculate. Can anyone tell me if DV was taken into custody after being found guilty? I am on the East Coast and have been finding out bits of information here and there since the verdict was announced. If anyone can provide additional information, I would greatly appreciate it. Continue to lift up DV One and his family in prayer.

Packratt@38....after you google "lisa daugaard" you can come back and apologize for your uninformed sniping on public defenders not being real lawyers.

Devil's advocate here: No one ever suffered police brutality because they chose NOT to interact with the police i.e., keeping your mouth shut and doing what a cop tells you to do usually results in NOT being brutalized. Just my own personal experience...

Uhhh... Then again, I am a white male...

@43
I judge public defenders based on my experience, which is all any of us have available with which to judge. Mine tried to sell me out at each opportunity and force me to plea, even after everyone, including the prosecutor and police, knew that I was innocent.

If I wouldn't have gone over $10k in debt to get a real lawyer, I would be in prison waiting for 20 years to pass me by, all for something I didn't do.

So don't tell me about being ignorant about public defenders in King County, I know all too well what they're about.

@44
I was polite, followed every command, and was in no condition to struggle anyway when I was arrested, but they still messed with me to the point that it caused permanent harm. Oh, and I'm sorta white too.

like I said Packratt, do a little research, otherwise you just come off as uniformed...or worse.

Judging the world based on personal experience is a really bad habit. It's kind of like eye-witness testimony...worthless.

Yes, lots of people have shitty experiences with public defenders, but the folks at the Defenders Association have done years and years of really good work here in Seattle. Their Racial Disparity Project is a fucking national model.

@47

Hmm, so their a national model but lots of people have shitty experiences with them? Contradict yourself much?

Seriously, my defender was in bed with the prosecutor, if there's one bad apple it ruins the bunch. Just like all it takes is one bad cop with no accountability to ruin your life for nothing. To allow one bad one to remain without trying to fix it makes the whole system corrupt.

Figures, all I get is some fuckin grief outta my offer to help. That'll teach me.

no, apparently little will teach you.

I'm trying to tell you that there are some public defenders who really are on your side and who are challenging the whole corrupt system you're railing about.

You're computer savvy... get your head out of your ass and do a little research. Otherwise you're just sounding like an ill-informed, but highly opinionated, asshole. And unfortunately, ill-informed and highly opinionated seems to be a match made in heaven.