New York City settles for $7.15M in Sean Bell police shooting

BY John Marzulli and Bill Hutchinson
Daily News Staff Writers

Tuesday, July 27th 2010, 6:28 PM

The city agreed Tuesday to pay more than $7 million to settle a wrongful death civil suit lodged by the fianceé and pals of Sean Bell, an unarmed man gunned down by cops on his wedding day, sources said.

The cops fired on Bell's lurching car after mistakenly believing someone inside had a gun and that Bell was trying to run them down.

July 09, 2010

OFFICER CHARGED WITH LESS THAN MURDER IN SHOOTING OF UNARMED 22-YEAR-OLD AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE

The NAACP opposes the jury’s verdict of involuntary manslaughter regarding the 2009 New Year’s Eve shooting of a 22 year old young man by BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police officer in Oakland, CA.

Rough justice in America
Too many laws, too many prisoners
Never in the civilised world have so many been locked up for so little

Jul 22nd 2010 | Spring, Texas

Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 25 July 2010 16.37 BST

Cuba has signalled that it will free all its political prisoners and let them stay on the island in a bold attempt to repair Havana's ties with the international community.

Senior officials said the recent release of 15 prisoners would be followed by dozens more and the dissidents would be free to stay, should they wish, or they could emigrate.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

OAKLAND, CA (KGO) -- The city of Oakland has agreed to pay out millions of dollars because of mistakes made by the police force. In some cases, those mistakes were outright lies.

The $6.5 million settlement is the result of lawsuits over cops who reportedly gave false information in order to get search warrants.

23 July 2010 Last updated at 19:13 ET

Ex-US judge pleads guilty to child prison scam
Michael Conahan Conahan received bribes from a for-profit juvenile detention centre after closing a county-run facility

Former Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan has pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge for helping put juvenile defendants behind bars in exchange for bribes.

He is accused along with former judge Mark Ciavarella of taking $2.8m (£1.8m) from a profit-making detention centres. Mr Ciavarella denies wrongdoing.

BP Hires Prison Labor to Clean Up Spill While Coastal Residents Struggle
Abe Louise Young | July 21, 2010

Texans wonder if they executed an innocent man
By the CNN Wire Staff
July 23, 2010 8:12 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- A Texas state board is set Friday to revisit questions surrounding a controversial 2004 execution, with supporters of the man's family warning the panel is trying to bury its own critical review of the case.

"...Olson said he was upstairs at the three-level duplex when he heard a pounding or kicking on the door.

“They said they were police officers, open the door, with a few expletives in there,” Olson said.

Kemp went to the doorway, engaged the officers in a verbal back-and-forth, yelling out, “Get a search warrant,” among other demands, Olson said.