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Conviction overturned for 'Making a Murderer' subject Brendan Dassey

Brendan Dassey
© Mirror Online
Sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Teresa Halbach, Brendan Dassey from Netflix's "Making a Murderer" has been ordered to be released from prison within the next 90 days after a federal court overturned his conviction on Friday. Accused of coercing his confession, the law enforcement officers who interrogated Dassey currently do not face any criminal charges.

According to Judge William Duffin, investigators repeatedly made false promises to Dassey in an attempt to extract a confession from him, regardless of the facts surrounding the case. Duffin ruled that Dassey's confession had been involuntary due to his young age and developmental disorder. Dassey also confessed to crimes that could not be confirmed by any forensic evidence or DNA before redacting his confession.

In March 2006, Steven Avery's 16-year-old nephew, Brendan Dassey, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse. According to the recorded interviews, DOJ investigator Tom Fassbender and Calumet Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Weigert appeared to coerce a false confession from the developmentally challenged minor without the presence of his parents or a lawyer. Instead of verifying Dassey's statements, which were mostly fed to him by Fassbender and Weigert, special prosecutor Ken Kratz held a ghastly press conference describing the orgy of blood in lurid detail while simultaneously corrupting the jury pool in order to ensure a victory later at trial.

After her client heard that his nephew's conviction had been overturned, Steven Avery's new attorney, Kathleen Zellner, told WISN 12, "We fully expected this outcome from an unbiased court that carefully examined his confession. I was just visiting Steven Avery, and he is so happy for Brendan. We know when an unbiased court reviews all of the new evidence we have, Steven will have his conviction overturned as well."

Heart - Black

Why the rich get richer and the poor go to prison

prison
© Saul Loeb / AFP
When analyzing the issues of police brutality in America and the Black Lives Matter movement, a lot of the most important aspects of the situation are rarely talked about.

Firstly, we have to ask how the criminal justice system operates and how it relates to power and inequality. The best and most detailed analysis of this that I have found is The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison by Jeffrey Reiman.

It argues that the justice system does not function by identifying and pursuing the most harmful and threatening criminal behavior within society, but instead maintains a laser-like focus on punishing the harmful acts of the poor while allowing and enabling the overwhelmingly more harmful acts of the rich to continue, things such as companies that release toxic chemicals into the air and workers who get killed because of dishonest regulatory practices, or, for instance, when Wall Street destroys the economy and millions of people lose their homes, jobs, and savings... that little thing.

Instead of reflecting the actual threats to society our system acts as a sort of carnival mirror which magnifies the threat of street crime while minimizing that of the much more dangerous corporate crime. At the same time in a vastly disproportionate way it incarcerate the impoverished and disenfranchised for things that all classes engage in, like non-violent drug use.

Pistol

Tennessee cop fires live bullet instead of blank during gun safety drill in middle school

rockwood police_donation
© Rockwood PoliceRockwood Police recieve a $1200 donation from local man to help them buy body armor.
Two days after a Florida cop fired live rounds instead of blanks during a training exercise, killing a 73-year-old librarian who was showing her support for police, a Tennessee cop fired a live round during a "firearm safety for teachers" training drill in a middle school Thursday.

Luckily, nobody was killed this time around, but it certainly raises questions of incompetency with firearms among our nation's police forces because this officer also thought he was shooting blanks.

Rockwood Police Chief Danny Wright called it an "accidental discharge," which is a term they use to mean negligent discharge.

But perhaps the cop meant to shoot the gun, thinking it was loaded with blanks. That's how it was planned in the gun safety lesson at Rockwood Middle School.

They say they even had the Florida incident on their minds at they prepared for Thursday's exercise, but nobody had the mind to ensure the gun was not loaded with real bullets.

No students were at the school because it was a teachers work day, giving police the chance to show the teachers how to react in an active shooter situation, which it ended up becoming.

Star of David

Provocation in Jerusalem: 15 Palestinians injured as 100s of Jews enter Al-Aqsa compound

provocation in jersusalem
At least 15 Palestinians were reportedly injured on Sunday after several hundred Jews entered one of the holiest Muslim sites, the Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem, amid heavy police presence.

The Jews were celebrating the Tisha B'av day of mourning, which marks the destruction of ancient temples that had been located on the current-day spot of the Muslim holy site, which Jews refer to as the Temple Mount.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Jews prayed at the nearby Western Wall.

At least 15 Palestinian worshipers were injured in clashes with Israeli police, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Around 300 Jews visited the Al-Aqsa compound on Sunday, Turkish Anadolu Agency reported, citing Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

According to Rosenfeld, seven Israelis were arrested for chanting or deviating from a route set by the police.

Stormtrooper

Horrifying video shows guards torturing small woman in jail: "Twist her wrist until she shuts up!"

Susie Chavez
Video of an incident at the Metropolitan Detention Center from September last year has been described as "troubling" by Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson, but a more honest assessment would deem what happened to inmate Susie Chavez akin to torture.

"Put her in a wrist lock," Sgt. Eric Allen coldly and evenly tells guards as Chavez lies sobbing on the jail floor, "and twist her wrist until she shuts up and stops crying."

Common sense ordinarily dictates inflicting yet more painful tactics against someone writhing in pain would only serve to amplify their cries — but this is jail, and police logic doesn't tend to follow common sense.

So the guards proceed to follow their superior's orders — and, as expected, the petite Chavez screams at the excruciating pain now surging through her wrist. Allen, however, seems nonplussed — though equally determined to continue finding cruel and painful methods to force the inmate into silence.

Handcuffs

US immigration arrests Bollywood superstar for the third time and apologizes

Shah Rukh Khan
© Unknown
Top Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan was Thursday stopped and detained by immigration authorities as he entered the U.S. at Los Angeles Airport. It is at least the third time the superstar has been hauled over by U.S. border control.

Khan was released without further hindrance. But it is not clear why or for how long he was questioned.

He later received an apology via Twitter from the U.S. Ambassador to India. "Sorry for the trouble at LAX @Iamsrk. We are working to ensure it doesn't happen again. Your work inspires millions, including in the US."

Indeed the whole incident appears to have been lived out on social media. Khan himself used Twitter to say: "I fully respect & understand security, with the way the world is, but to be detained by US immigration every damned time really really sucks." Later he returned to the medium to joke that he had caught some Pokemon Go characters while being held.

Arrow Down

Disintegrating people: Woman climbs out of truck brandishing gun in road rage video

A shocking road rage incident in Gainesville, Florida was caught on camera, capturing the moment the altercation escalated and a woman involved appeared to pull out a gun.

Surveillance footage shows a black pickup truck and a silver sedan pulling into a gas station before the nasty confrontation earlier in the week.

One of the two women who got out of the truck wielded a gun before the male driver of the pickup appeared from off camera and wrestled the weapon out of her hand.

Jacob Sylvester, identified by authorities as the pickup's driver, was charged with assault and battery. He's refused to identify his gun-toting lady friend.

Comment: Want more? See this:
Chauffeur Allegedly Attacks Motorist in Road Rage Video




Dominoes

Rio 2016: Team USA wins gold but cheapens Olympics with cold war-style behavior

women’s 100m breaststroke at Rio 2016
© Stefan Wermuth / ReutersYLilly King (USA) and Katie Meili (USA) of USA and Yulia Efimova (RUS) of Russia pose with their medals.
The public humiliation of Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova by American rivals was an ugly, chauvinistic display of self-righteousness. It was also a disturbing expression of Washington's belligerent geopolitics by athletes who should be celebrating common humanity.

Team USA, led by 23 gold-medal record Michael Phelps, are certainly in awesome winning form at the Rio Olympics, leading the medals table by a far stretch.

But what good is all that precious metal when the athletes show such meanness of spirit and willingness to be stooges for their government's jingoistic warmongering?

It was the women's 100m breaststroke final earlier this week where the sharpest action took place. The gold winner was 19-year-old American Lilly King who bested Russia's Yulia Efimova into second place, taking the silver.

Comment: See also:


Sheriff

National Guard called in to Milwaukee following violent riots over police killing of armed suspect

milwaukee protests
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker activated the National Guard to lend assistance to Milwaukee law enforcement if any further riots erupt in the city following the police killing of an armed suspect.

Walker announced the move after he said he received a request from the Milwaukee County Sheriff, David Clarke, and spoke to city mayor Tom Barrett.

Earlier, Clarke met with Walker and Wisconsin National Guard Adjutant General Donald Dunbar.

Walker said the Guard would be "in a position to aid local law enforcement upon request," as reported by Reuters.

Ambulance

Victim and attacker in Swiss train attack both die of injuries, police say no indication it was a terrorist attack

swiss train
© Arnd Wiegmann / ReutersA display reading " Do not enter" is seen after a 27-year-old Swiss man's attack on a Swiss train at the railway station in the town of Salez, Switzerland August 13, 2016
A woman injured in an arson and stabbing attack on a train in Switzerland died of her wounds on Sunday along with her attacker, police say, stressing that, while they have yet to determine a motive, there is no indication it was a terrorist act so far.

"The accused 27-year-old Swiss man has died of his injuries," police from the Saint Gallen region said in a statement on Sunday, as cited by AFP. Police have also confirmed that the 34-year-old female victim died from her injuries.

According to Reuters, three people remain hospitalized suffering from knife injuries or burns. Of those three, two girls, aged 17 and 6, are in serious condition.