In Other News

LEONARD IN COURT?

City Commissioner Randy Leonard may have to appear in court over
comments he made on Blogtown (blogtown.portlandmercury.com)
last month about his Project 57 plan, which aims to offer drug
treatment to the “worst” downtown offenders instead of putting them in
jail. Criminal defense attorney Chris O’Connor served Leonard with a
subpoena to appear in court and explain why O’Connor’s 54-year-old
client Larry Dean Thomas wasn’t offered the much-touted drug treatment
after being arrested on drug charges in Old Town last August. O’Connor
argues that the law should treat everyone equally, and that the
exception for Thomas is unconstitutional under Oregon law. “[O’Connor]
may be trying to yank my chain,” says Leonard, who says he’s happy to
appear in court on March 3. MATT DAVIS

SAMUELS GUILTY

On Tuesday, February 12, a six-person jury in Multnomah County Court
found Kemisha Samuels, 25, guilty of resisting arrest. Samuels, whose
belly was badly burned on her stove during her arrest by cops last
June, [“Burning Issue,” News, Oct 4, 2007] told jurors the first she’d
heard she was under arrest was when her flesh was frying on her kitchen
stove. Officers told the jury Samuels had struggled before they pushed
her down onto it, although Samuels was not charged with any crime other
than resisting arrest. “I don’t feel like justice was served,” she
says. “I don’t feel like the officers’ stories were strong enough.”
MD