A 26-year-old woman is alleging she was subjected to excessive force by Portland Police after they Tasered her three times and beat her on her own front doorstep two weeks ago. One of the officers involved in the alleged incident was former sheriff’s deputy Brett Burton, who transferred to the Portland Police Bureau last year, […]
Courts
Posted inMedia
Smoooooooooooooching And The Law
Before the Mercury‘s former news editor quit to become the mayor’s sustainability and planning policy adviser, this reporter covered cops, courts, crime, and civil rights issues. So I should probably draw your attention, once again, to the fact that nine people were shot by a gunman in downtown Portland last night, in what is perhaps […]
Posted inMedia
Adams and ORS 260.532
It’s wonky but important election law, people! Read all about it, here.
Posted inMedia
Facebook Friends In High Places
That would be Attorney General John Kroger. The same.
Posted inCops
Facing Tough Economic Climate, Downtown Cops, Businesses Want Stricter Commitment Laws
Downtown cops and business advocates began a push for tighter laws on involuntary commitment for people suffering with mental illness at a meeting at city hall this morning. I wrote in depth about the civil commitment process, here in Portland, last February, but the bottom line is, that there are laws in Oregon that allow […]
Posted inNews
Secret List Trial Continues: “In Our System, Secret Police Lists Have No Place And That’s What This is About.”
It’s gratifying to see that the Oregonian finally ran a front-page story on the city’s Secret List program this morning: For the first time since Portland police created a secret list five years ago identifying the 35 most-frequently arrested petty criminals in the city’s core, the American Civil Liberties Union and a trio of defense […]
Posted inNews
ACLU Partner Attorney Fighting Secret List
I’ve been at Multnomah Circuit Court all day watching hot-poop attorney Elden Rosenthal fight the city of Portland’s controversial secret list program on constitutional grounds, as a partner attorney to the ACLU of Oregon. The list targets the top 35 arrestees in Portland on a quarterly basis, adding their names to a master list of […]
Posted inNews
The Cost Of Public Disclosure: $3773.40
Just before Xmas we ran a newslede about attorneys’ efforts to gain access to the contents of 20 cardboard boxes containing information about the city’s secret list program: Arguments are yet to go before a judge, but attorney Spencer Hahn lodged a public records request with the Portland Police Bureau to get a look at […]
Posted inNews
Taser Lawsuits Pile On
There have been some interesting developments on the Taser front since I wrote my feature on the weapons last month. On November 26, Judge Paul Papak issued an opinion on the Fouad Kaady case—Kaady was a 27-year-old Gresham man who died at the hands of Police in Gresham Sandy shortly before this reporter got to […]
Posted inPortland
Breaking News: Class Action Lawsuit To Be Filed Against City’s Anti-Camping Ordinance
Attorneys working on behalf of Portland’s homeless plan to file a federal class action lawsuit against the city of Portland’s controversial anti-camping ordinance tomorrow. The suit, prepared by the Oregon Law Center in Portland, challenges the constitutionality of the anti-camping ordinance—alleging that in enforcing the ordinance against people who have nowhere else to sleep than […]
Posted inMedia
DA Orders Blogger to Give up Commenter’s Info
I have another article in this week’s issue that I thought you might like to read. I’d like to also give you some background on the piece, and fill you in on a couple of developments since we went to press… You may recall, back in October, the Mercury‘s attorney won a ruling in Clackamas […]