Shadow Vigilantes

by Paul H. Robinson

POSTSCRIPT. WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

  1. Darryl Mace, In Remembrance of Emmett Till: Regional Stories and Media Responses to the Black Freedom Struggle (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2014), p. 142.

  2. “Second Vigilante Committee Organizes in San Francisco,” History.com, May 15, 2009, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/second-vigilante-committee-organizes-in-san-francisco (accessed November 30, 2017).

  3. Adam Gorightly, “A Homosexual Thrill-Kill?” http://feralhouse.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/thrill-kill-by-gorightly.pdf (accessed June14, 2017).

  4. Jennifer Davies, “Vigilantes: It's Payback Time,” RW Press, 2014, http://vps101161.vps.ovh.ca/lib/vigilantes-it-s-payback-time-gangs-book-4.html (accessed June 14, 2017).

  5. Malini Nair, “Sari Gang to Paint the Stage Pink,” Times of India, January 17, 2016, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/Sari-gang-to-paint-the-stage-pink/articleshow/50607712.cms (accessed June 15, 2017).

  6. Ken Kalthoff, “Jury Sentences Ex-Husband to 85 Years in Deanna Cook Murder,” NBC DFW, May 26, 2015, http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Punishment-Phase-Begins-in-Deanna-Cook-Murder-Trial-305019741.html (accessed June 15, 2017).

  7. Ibid.

  8. Cook v. City of Dallas, No. 3:12-cv-03788-P (N.D. Tex. filed Oct. 25, 2012).

  9. “Man Gets Out of Prison after Killing Bully in ’95—Harper Terrorized Spring Valley Neighborhood,” ABC KGTV, November 24, 2004, http://www.10news.com/news/man-gets-out-of-prison-after-killing-bully-in-95 (accessed June 15, 2017).

  10. Ibid.

  11. Gera-Lind Kolarik and Wayne Klatt, Freed to Kill: The True Story of Larry Eyler (New York: Avon, 1992).

  12. Paul H. Robinson and Michael T. Cahill, Law without Justice: Why Criminal Law Doesn't Give People What They Deserve (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), chap. 6.

  13. Emil Guillermo and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, “Man Charged with Vincent Chin's Death Seeks Lien Removed, Still Owes Millions,” NBC News, December 11, 2015, http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/man-convicted-vincent-chins-death-seeks-lien-removed-still-owes-n478766 (accessed June 15, 2017).

  14. John M. Broder, “12 Imprisoned Puerto Ricans Accept Clemency Conditions,” New York Times, September 8, 1999, http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/08/us/12-imprisoned-puerto-ricans-accept-clemency-conditions.html (accessed June 15, 2017).

  15. Margaret Power, “From Freedom Fighters to Patriots: The Successful Campaign to Release the FALN Political Prisoners, 1980–1999,” CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies 25, no. 1 (2013): 146.

  16. “A Federal Judge Has Ordered the Son of A…,” United Press International, August 3, 1982, http://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/08/03/A-federal-judge-has-ordered-the-son-of-a/3339397195200/ (accessed June 14, 2017).

  17. Carol Wallace and Michael J. Weiss, “The Untouchables: Diplomats in America,” People, January 17, 1983, http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20084065,00.html (accessed June 14, 2017).

  18. Henry Tatum, “The Legion, the Law, and the Legacy,” Dallas Morning News, June 12, 1986.

  19. Jan Jarvis, “DOOMSDAY,” D Magazine, July 1985, http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1985/july/doomsday (accessed June 15, 2017).

  20. Tara Edwards, “Suspect in Steve Utash Beating Takes Plea Deal,” WXYZ Detroit, June 16, 2014, http://www.wxyz.com/news/first-look-at-steve-utash-since-beating-in-detroit (accessed June 13, 2017).

  21. Ibid.

  22. Katrease Stafford, “Steve Utash Returns to Work, Thanks Supporters 4 Months after Mob Beating,” Detroit Free Press, August 6, 2014.

  23. Ibid.

  24. Marty Griffin, “SCI Pittsburgh Guard Facing Inmate Abuse Charges,” CBS Pittsburgh, September 27, 2011, http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/09/27/sci-pittsburgh-guard-facing-inmate-abuse-charges/ (accessed June 13, 2017).

  25. Ibid.

  26. Adam Brandolph, “Former SCI Pittsburgh Prison Guard to Serve Five Years of Probation in Abuse of Sex Offenders,” TribLive, March 28, 2013, http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/3740580-74/guard-nicoletti-charges#axzz37Y0cqMSp (accessed June 13, 2017).

  27. Amy S. Rosenberg and Maida Odom, “Bush: Mantua Example for US,” Philly.com, July 25, 1990, http://articles.philly.com/1990-07-25/news/25900197_1_anti-drug-rally-herman-wrice-anti-drug-movement (accessed June 20, 2017).

  28. Yvonne Latty, “Mantua Drug Warrior Dies; Herman Wrice Stricken in Fla. before March,” Daily News, March 11, 2000.

  29. Encyclopedia of American Politics, s.v. “Arizona Standing in Civil Actions, Proposition 102,” 2006, https://ballotpedia.org/Arizona_Standing_in_Civil_Actions,_Proposition_102_(2006) (accessed June 14, 2017).

  30. Alia Beard Rau, “Judge Rules against Arizona Rancher in Immigrant Case,” Arizona Republic, May 31, 2011, http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/05/31/20110531arizona-rancher-illegal-immigrants-damages-law.html (accessed June 14, 2017).

  31. Alex Mindlin, “Patrolling the Streets, and Dissing the Rivals,” New York Times, June 1, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/nyregion/thecity/01patr.html (accessed November 16, 2017).

  32. Bill Maher, “Celebrating 20 Years of Free the Animals,” Huffington Post, April 30, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/peta-ingrid-newkirk-free-the-animals_b_1464990.html (accessed June 20, 2017).

  33. Sue Russell, “When Extreme Animal Rights Activists Attack,” Pacific Standard, March 16, 2012, www.psmag.com/legal-affairs/when-extreme-animal-rights-activists-attack-40430/ (accessed June 14, 2017).

  34. Ibid.

  35. “Home Page,” Animal Liberation Front, http://www.animalliberationfront.com/index.html (accessed June 14, 2017), see second slide of PowerPoint under “AR Philosophy.”

  36. Sara Rimer, “Abortion Foes in Boot Camp Mull Doctor's Killing,” New York Times, March 19, 1993, p. A12.

  37. Judy L. Thomas, “Roeder Upset at Operation Rescue,” Wichita Eagle, July 27, 2009, http://www.kansas.com/2009/07/26/905518/roeder-upset-at-operation-rescue.html (accessed June 14, 2017).

  38. Ron Sylvester, “Scott Roeder Gets Hard 50 in Murder of Abortion Provider George Tiller,” Wichita Eagle, March 31, 2010, http://www.kansas.com/2010/04/01/1249310/roeder-to-be-sentenced-thursday.html#storylink=cpy (accessed June 14, 2017).

  39. “George Tiller Was No Hero—and Neither Was Scott Roeder,” Operation Rescue, February 2, 2010, http://www.operationrescue.org/archives/george-tiller-was-no-hero-%E2%80%93-and-neither-was-scott-roeder/ (accessed June 14, 2017).

  40. Gudrun Schultz, “Christian Groups Protest Wal-Mart Support for Homosexuality, Abortifacient Birth Control,” LifeSite News, December 18, 2006, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/christian-groups-protest-wal-mart-support-for-homosexuality-abortifacient-b (accessed June 14, 2017).

  41. Jonathan Silverstein, “Controversial Web Site Claims to ‘Out’ Would-Be Child Molesters,” ABC News, January 10, 2005, http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=260587&page=1 (accessed June 14, 2017).

  42. Tomas Alex Tizon, “Man Admits to Killing 2 Sex Offenders, Cites Idaho Case,” Los Angeles Times, September 7, 2005, http://articles.latimes.com/2005/sep/07/nation/na-vigilante7 (accessed June 14, 2017).

  43. Tim Eaton, “Prosecutor Kills Himself in Texas Raid over Child Sex,” New York Times, November 7, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/us/07pedophile.html?_r=0 (accessed June 14, 2017).

  44. Matea Gold, “NBC Resolves Lawsuit over ‘To Catch a Predator’ Suicide,” Los Angeles Times, June 24, 2008, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2008/06/nbc-resolves-la.html (accessed June 14, 2017).

  45. Donald Bradley, “3 Decades on, Who Killed Skidmore Town Bully Still Secret,” Kansas City Star, August 29, 2010, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/crime/article24591469.html (accessed June 14, 2017).

  46. Michael Freitag, “Goetz Released after Spending 8 Months in Jail,” New York Times, September 21, 1989, http://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/21/nyregion/goetz-released-after-spending-8-months-in-jail.html (accessed June 14, 2017).

  47. Ibid.

  48.
Tina Kelley, “Still Seeking Payment from Bernard Goetz,” New York Times, September 10, 2000, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/10/nyregion/following-up-still-seeking-payment-from-bernard-goetz.html?mcubz=1 (accessed June 14, 2017).

  49. Jennifer Leahy, “Pasadena Protest over Slain Burglars Heats Up,” Houston Chronicle, December 3, 2007, http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/pasadena-news/article/Pasadena-protest-over-slain-burglars-heats-up-1809539.php (accessed June 14, 2017).

  50. Patrick Michels, “Joe Horn and Five Years with the Texas Castle Doctrine,” Texas Observer, May 8, 2012, http://www.texasobserver.org/joe-horn-and-castle-doctrine-shootings-in-texas/ (accessed June 14, 2017).

  51. “Apr. 29: This Day in History: 1992, Riots Erupt in Los Angeles,” History.com, April 29, 2010, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/riots-erupt-in-los-angeles (accessed June 14, 2017).

  52. Seth Mydans, “Rodney King Is Awarded $3.8 Million,” New York Times, April 20, 1994, http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/20/us/rodney-king-is-awarded-3.8-million.html (accessed June 14, 2017).

  53. CNN Wire Staff, “Rodney King dead at 47,” CNN, June 18, 2012, http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/17/us/obit-rodney-king/ (accessed June 14, 2017).

  54. Michael Burgan, “Richard Allen Davis Trial: 1996—Anger in the Courtroom,” JRank Articles, http://law.jrank.org/pages/3701/Richard-Allen-Davis-Trial-1996-Anger-in-Courtroom.html#ixzz3rmLBjFa (accessed June 14, 2017); “Before Being Sentenced to Die, Killer Disrupts a Courtroom,” New York Times, September 27, 1996, http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/27/us/before-being-sentenced-to-die-killer-disrupts-a-courtroom.html (accessed November 16, 2017).

  55. Burgan, “Richard Allen Davis Trial.”

  56. Brooke Donald, “Stanford Law's Three Strikes Project Works for Fair Implementation of New Statute,” Stanford Report, June 6, 2013, http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/june/three-strikes-project-060613.html (accessed June 14, 2017).

  57. John Elgion, “Two Decades in Solitary,” New York Times, September 22, 2008.

  58. Larry McShane, “3 Girls Defy ‘Lie or Die’ Note, Help Put Shooter Away,” Los Angeles Times, November 24, 2002, http://articles.latimes.com/2002/nov/24/news/adna-witnesses24 (accessed June 14, 2017).

  59. Katherine Santiago, “Newark Man Gets 16 Years in Prison for Killing Witness to Quadruple Shooting,” Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), September 17, 2009, http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/newark_man_sentenced_to_16_yea.html (accessed June 21, 2017).

  APPENDIX. ILLUSTRATIVE CASES UNDERMINING THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM'S MORAL CREDIBILITY

  1. This narrative is drawn primarily from the following sources: People v. Becktel, 300284, 2011 WL 6268223 (Mich. Ct. App. Dec. 15, 2011); People v. Becktel, 289533, 2010 WL 746438 (Mich. Ct. App. Mar. 4, 2010); Art Aisner, “Saline Man Arraigned in Stabbing of Friend,” Ann Arbor (MI) News, February 28, 2008, http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/02/saline_man_arraigned_in_stabbi.html.

  2. Becktel, 289533, 2010 WL 746438 at 1.

  3. This narrative is drawn primarily from the following sources: Matt Harvey, “Charges Dropped against Lewis County Suspects,” Exponent Telegram (Clarksburg, WV), November 8, 2013, http://www.theet.com/news/court_and_police/charges-dropped-against-lewis-county-suspects/article_32224b16-48f9-11e3-b90c-001a4bcf887a.html; Melissa Toothman, “Murder Charges Dropped in Cold Case,” Inter Mountain (Clarksburg, WV), November 9, 2013, http://www.theintermountain.com/page/content.detail/id/566104/Murder-charges-dropped-in-cold-case.html?nav=5014; “Marcus Maxine Stalnaker,” Charley Project, October 12, 2004, http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/stalnaker_marcus.html; “Charges Dropped against Hughes, Freeman, Metz, in West Virginia Murder Case,” Archbold (OH) Buckeye, November 9, 2013, http://www.archboldbuckeye.com/news/2013-11-13/Front_Page/Charges_Dropped_Against_Hughes_Freeman_Metz_In_Wes.html (accessed November 30, 2017); “Update: 3 Men Arrested in Connection with 1999 Lewis County Murder,” WBOY.com, October 3, 2013, http://www.wboy.com/story/23472117/update-3-men-arrested-in-connection-with-1999-lewis-county-murder (accessed November 30, 2017).

  4. Harvey, “Charges Dropped.”

  5. The narrative is drawn from the following source: United States v. Packwood, 687 F. Supp. 471, 473 (N.D. Cal. 1987) aff'd, 848 F.2d 1009, 1010 (9th Cir. 1988).

  6. Ibid., 472.

  7. This narrative is drawn from the following source: United States v. Hunt, 656 F.3d 906 (9th Cir. 2011).

  8. Ibid., 909.

  9. Once the appeal is final, Hunt can no longer face a new trial because of double jeopardy.

  10. This narrative is drawn primarily from the following sources: People v. Damiano, 87 N.Y.2d 477 (1996); People v. Birdsall, 215 A.D.2d 878 (1995); People v. Damiano, 209 A.D.2d 873 (1994) aff'd, 87 N.Y.2d 477 (1996); Mike Levine, “Bully Gets a Break; the Victim Didn't,” Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY), January 15, 2007, http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070115/NEWS/70115741/-1/NEWS271996%20target=new (accessed November 30, 2017); Paul Schwartzman, “Old Wounds Reopened Kin's Agony over Slay Retrial Ruling,” New York Daily News, January 28, 1996; “Reward Money Goes to Honor Victim,” New York Times, May 9, 1993; “Man Convicted in I-87 Rock Death,” Daily Gazette, October 22, 1992, B9.

  11. This narrative is drawn primarily from the following source: United States v. Huey, 76 F.3d 638 (5th Cir. 1996).

  12. This narrative is drawn primarily from the following sources: Davis v. State, 90 So.2d 629 (Fla. 1956); Susan Barbosa, “Wheelchair Rapist's Release Expected Today,” Lakeland (FL) Ledger, September 17, 1991, 1B; Susan Barbosa, “Prosecutors Try to Keep Davis in Jail,” Lakeland (FL) Ledger, August 9, 1991, 1B; Bob Greene, “System of Justice Is Helpless, Too,” Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1989; Gary Stein, “Court System Guilty of Warped Decisions,” Sun Sentinel (Boward County, FL), May 7, 1989, http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1989-05-07/news/8901230814_1_muscular-dystrophy-juries-life-sentence (accessed November 30, 2017); Associated Press, “Convicted Rapist Now Will Go Free on Technicality,” Spokane (WA) Chronicle, May 5, 1989, A7; “Wheelchair Rape,” Orlando (FL) Sentinel, May 23, 1989, http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1989-05-23/news/8905230418_1_physically-helpless-lesser-charges-sentence-for-raping (accessed November 30, 2017).

  13. Stein, “Court System Guilty.”

  14. Ibid.

  15. This narrative is drawn primarily from People v. James, 143 Misc.2d 380 (1989); Denny v. Donnelly, 00-CV-04641 (JBW) (E.D.N.Y. July 25, 2003).

  16. James, 143 Misc.2d at 381.

  17. Ibid., 382.

  18. The narrative is drawn from the following sources: Commonwealth v. Wideman, 291 A.3d 771 (1972); Commonwealth v. Wideman, 334 A.2d 596 (1971); Commonwealth v. Wideman, 385 A.2d 1332 (1971).

  19. This narrative is drawn from the following sources: People v. Skinner, 52 N.Y.2d 24 (1980); People v. Skinner, 71 A.D.2d 814 (1979); Gerhard Falk and Clifford Falk, Murder: An Analysis of Its Forms, Conditions, and Causes (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1990), p. 15; “Snell Death Goes Back to Court,” Tonawanda (NY) News, January 7, 1982, p. 6.

  20. Skinner, 52 N.Y.2d at 32.

  21. This narrative is drawn from Maine v. Moulton, 474 U.S. 159 (1985); State v. Moulton, 481 A.2d 155 (Me. 1984).

  22. Moulton, 474 U.S. at 179.

  23. The dissent asks the majority what the police should have done instead: “Courts ought to applaud the kind of careful and diligent efforts of the police shown by this record. Indeed, the Court's opinion does not suggest that the police should have—or could have—conducted their investigation in any other way” (ibid., 186). Ultimately, the police gathered information “for legitimate purposes not related to the gathering of evidence concerning the crime for which [the respondent] had been indicted,” so the evidence should have been allowed (ibid., 184).

  24. This narrative is drawn from United States v. Perdue, 8 F.3d 1455 (10th Cir. 1993); “Local Man Given 15-Year Sentence on Drug Sentence,” Lawrence (KS) Journal-World, April 6, 1992, http://www2.ljworld.com/news/1992/apr/06/local_man_given_15year/ (accessed November 30, 2017); “Federal Gr
and Jury Indicts Local Man,” Lawrence (KS) Journal-World, October 23, 1991, p. 9A

  25. Perdue, 8 F.3d at 1459.

  26. Ibid., 1459.

  27. Ibid., 1465.

  28. This narrative is drawn from the following source: People v. Hampton, 200 A.D.2d 466 (1994).

  29. Ibid., 467.

  30. This narrative is drawn primarily from the following sources: United States v. Bayless, 921 F. Supp. 211 (S.D.N.Y. 1996); United States v. Bayless, 913 F. Supp. 232, 242 opinion vacated on reconsideration, 921 F. Supp. 211 (S.D.N.Y. 1996); Jeffrey Jenkins, The American Courts: A Procedural Approach (Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2009), pp. 308–12; National Drug Strategy Network: The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, “New York Federal Judge Reverses Decision in Controversial Drug Case, Clinton, Dole Had Threatened to Ask for Resignation, Impeachment,” NDSN.org, April 1996, http://www.ndsn.org/april96/bayless.html (accessed November 30, 2017); Greg Smith, “$4M Drug Suspect Mulls Guilty Plea,” New York Daily News, April 3, 1996; Greg Smith and Timothy Clifford, “Judge Backs Off Drug Ruling,” New York Daily News, April 2, 1996.

  31. Bayless, 921 F. Supp. at 217.

  32. This narrative is drawn primarily from State v. Ault, 150 Ariz. 459 (1986).

  33. Ibid., 468.

  34. This narrative is drawn primarily from the following sources: People v. Moore, 6 N.Y.3d 496 (2006); Corey Kilgannon and Al Baker, “New York's Top Court Reverses Man's Conviction on Gun Charge,” New York Times, February 22, 2006.

  35. Moore, 6 N.Y.3d at 497.

  36. Ibid.

  37. The dissenting judge comments, “When Officers Racioppo and Molinaro observed both that the defendant matched the description the anonymous caller had given of a man with a gun, and that he began to walk away at the sight of the police, the possibility that he did indeed have a gun deserved to be investigated.” Ibid., 502. New York police heavily criticized the court's ruling. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly voiced concerns about safe policing: “Common sense dictates that police should approach cautiously a suspect reported to be armed, and that includes stopping him at gunpoint from fleeing and arresting him for the illegal gun he reached for.” Kilgannon and Baker, “New York's Top Court.”