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Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Arrogance of Power

myFOXdetroit.com - It's already extremely hard for rape victims to come to court and testify. This alleged rape victim says the only reason she came back was to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.

This woman found the courage to come back to court and testify against one of the men who she says beat her with everything from a chair, to a two-by-four and raped her repeatedly before she found a way to escape from this Strasberg Street in Detroit.

That nightmare only continued at a Wednesday hearing , when she claims defense attorney Gabi Silver kept badgering her on the stand insinuating that she brought this attack on herself, causing this victim to snap in court.

"I said just get to the point bitch, it slipped out, it was inappropriate... all the bottled anger" says the alleged victim.

Without a warning, she says 36th District Judge Vanessa Bradley held her in contempt and ordered her to spend three days in jail.

After our story aired Wednesday, exposing what happened - the judge seemed to have a change of heart and released her a day early.

But to make matters even worse, she says her time in a holding cell was spent right next door to her alleged attacker who she says threatened her life, claiming the suspect who is still on the loose will come back and kill her. An investigation into this matter is underway.

In the end, the judge bound suspect Curtis King over for trial. The alleged victim says she's one step closer to justice, but she hopes no other rape victim will have to go through what she did to get it.



A jury in federal court returned a $3.2 million verdict Friday against a former Brazoria County judge who had been accused by three female co-workers of sexual harassment, reports the Houston Chronicle.
James Blackstock, a former county court-at-law judge and the former head of its Juvenile Probation Board, was found by the Houston jury to have created a hostile work environment and to have physically accosted the probation department employees, one of whom no longer works for the county.
Two of the plaintiffs, Mikki Kalina and Becky Sirmans, were awarded $50,000 each in actual damages, and Christy Strawn received $100,000. The jury also gave them $1 million each in punitive damages.
The three complained that Blackstock, 64, had hugged, groped, kissed and fondled them and had emailed them sexually explicit photographs. Their lawsuit alleged that Blackstock had "for many years preyed upon women in a sexually inappropriate manner" and that local officials had done nothing to curb or punish his alleged conduct despite being aware of it.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7655717.html#ixzz1SGlkq3BH

KHOU: Jolanda Jones ethics report sent to DA, sources say
Sources from City Hall say findings of ethics violations by Houston City Councilwoman Jolanda Jones have been sent to the Harris County district attorney’s office, according to KHOU-Channel 11:

Jones could face criminal charges stemming from last month’s (Office of Inspector General) report that concluded she used city resources to help run her private law firm.

… A spokesperson for Jones, Kelly Cripe, declined to comment Friday, calling the matter “rumor and speculation.” Jones has said before that she “acted within the acceptable standards of conduct.”

Underage Sex Ring Run By Florida School Bus Monitor: On Duty Cop is Customer
Huffington Post
A Florida cop and a school bus monitor were arrested Thursday in connection with a child prostitution ring, Polk County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Police arrested 27-year-old school bus attendant Paul Rosoan Aaron for allegedly forcing two young teens into prostitution, at least one of whom he solicited while on the job, according to a sworn affidavit obtained by The Huffington Post.

Both Aaron and his accused partner were arrested Thursday in connection with the ring, which police say Aaron ran out of a Haines City home under the name “Genuine Quality Entertainment."

A second affidavit identifies 25-year-old Haines City police officer Demetrius Lamar Condry as one of Aaron's clients. He, too, is now facing charges.

Condry allegedly frequented the brothel while still in uniform, his police radio buzzing while he received oral sex from the then-15-year-old victim, the teen reported in her statement to investigators. Aaron typically charged between $60 and $100 for similar encounters, though Condry appears to have been given a free pass in exchange for protection from the law.

"It's disappointing," Haines City Police Chief Richard Sloan told HuffPost. "We do great background and go to a lot of trouble to try to hire the best people, but every now and again you still get a bad egg."

The girl told police she "felt like a sex slave" throughout the seven-month ordeal.

After Jail Time for Contempt, Alleged Rape Victim Returns to Testify
Updated: Friday, 15 Jul 2011, 10:47 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 15 Jul 2011, 10:37 PM EDT

myFOXdetroit.com - It's already extremely hard for rape victims to come to court and testify. This alleged rape victim says the only reason she came back was to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.

This woman found the courage to come back to court and testify against one of the men who she says beat her with everything from a chair, to a two-by-four and raped her repeatedly before she found a way to escape from this Strasberg Street in Detroit.

That nightmare only continued at a Wednesday hearing , when she claims defense attorney Gabi Silver kept badgering her on the stand insinuating that she brought this attack on herself, causing this victim to snap in court.

"I said just get to the point bitch, it slipped out, it was inappropriate... all the bottled anger" says the alleged victim.

Without a warning, she says 36th District Judge Vanessa Bradley held her in contempt and ordered her to spend three days in jail.

After our story aired Wednesday, exposing what happened - the judge seemed to have a change of heart and released her a day early.

But to make matters even worse, she says her time in a holding cell was spent right next door to her alleged attacker who she says threatened her life, claiming the suspect who is still on the loose will come back and kill her. An investigation into this matter is underway.

In the end, the judge bound suspect Curtis King over for trial. The alleged victim says she's one step closer to justice, but she hopes no other rape victim will have to go through what she did to get it.

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