Judicial Farce: NYPD Sodomy Trial

Dr. Ahmed testified Mineo’s medical records showed pelvic bruising, a high white blood cell count, which indicated inflammation and probable infection, along with an anal tear. Dr. Ahmed said it was “highly unlikely” the injuries were self-inflicted.

[Speaking Truth To Power]

The acquittal of Officer Richard Kern of the New York Police Department on charges that he sodomized Michael Mineo on a Brooklyn subway platform suggests white NYPD officers have carte blanc in perpetrating crimes against minorities.

This acquittal reeks of bigotry of the first class.

The case precipitated from the events of October 15, 2008, when Mineo was chased down at 1:30 p.m., after he was observed smoking marijuana near Brooklyn’s Park Slope Subway station. After he was caught, Mineo later testified, Officer Kern sodomized him on a train platform with a retractable police baton.

Another officer allegedly said “You liked it, you faggot.” Although, Mineo had a warrant he was let off with a summons. He alleged cops warned him against reporting the attack.

Facing 25 years in prison, Officer Kern was acquitted of aggravated sexual abuse in the first degree, assault in the first degree, and hindering prosecution. Officers Alex Cruz, 28, and Andrew Morales, 27, were subsequently acquitted of charges of hindering prosecution and official misconduct. The defense lawyers were successful, with help, in hoodwinking the jury by calling Mineo’s character into question at trial, painting him as a drug-addicted career criminal.

John Patten, Officer Kern’s lawyer, said “The argument that we made, and it still exists, is the man is simply just not credible.'”
Officer Cruz’s lawyer, Stuart London, described Mineo as an “animal that changes its appearance…and likes to get high.” The defense used Mineo’s rap sheet to create a diversion from the relevant facts of the case.

The New York criminal justice system’s credibility should be examined here. For the last few days, we’ve being told by apologists, including some White media pundits, that Mineo is just a  “pothead.”  Yet, mayor Michael Bloomberg himself has admitted that he’s smoked pot in the past and “enjoyed it.” Does that mean he’d deserve it if he was sodomized?

Again, members of the media are running interference for those criminal cops and abetting prosecutors who make pacts to subvert justice. 

This “prosecution” was an orchestrated farce, similar to the perversion of justice in the Sean Bell trial resulting in the acquittal of the officers who shredded Bell’s body, firing over 50 rounds at him. In the Bell Case, retiring Judge Arthur Cooperman, was, apparently, given the task to torpedo the case with a wink from the Queen’s County District Attorney.

Why couldn’t the Brooklyn District Attorney get a conviction with the damning evidence at their disposal?

First of all, there is the unmistakable weight of the DNA evidence. Officer Kern claimed he never sodomized Mineo. Defense lawyers speculated that Mineo sodomized himself by “digging into his backside.”  However, they never explained how Mineo’s DNA got on the tip of Officer Kern’s baton. Remember when they first told us Abner Louima’s injuries were caused by “abnormal homosexual activities?”

Then there was testimony from DNA expert Sara Phillips. Phillips, who works in the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, testified—while holding up Mineo’s hole-pierced underwear—that “There was human blood present on the ASP.” ASP is the baton. She also testified that: “The combination of DNA alleles on the boxer deemed 2A would be found in approximately one in greater than one trillion people. The DNA from the boxer shorts deemed 2A matches the profile of Michael Mineo.”

That medical evidence was strengthened by the testimony of two doctors. Dr. Sayed Ahmed supervised the shift on Oct. 15, when Mineo sought treatment at Brookdale Hospital. Dr. Ahmed testified Mineo’s medical records showed pelvic bruising, a high white blood cell count, which indicated inflammation and probable infection, along with an anal tear. Dr. Ahmed said it was “highly unlikely” the injuries were self-inflicted.

That testimony was corroborated by Dr. Larry Griffith, a surgeon at Brooklyn Hospital Center, where Mineo went Oct. 24, complaining of difficulty using the bathroom and abdominal pains. Against medical advice, Mineo had left Brookdale Hospital on October 19. Dr. Griffith found an abscess that was diagnosed as a possible infected hematoma. He stated that it could’ve been caused by the baton going “one to two inches” into Mineo’s rectum. Some two ounces of pus was removed from Mineo’s abscess. 

And if that wasn’t enough, there was the devastating testimony of 27-year-old Officer Kevin Maloney, who helped apprehend
Mineo. He testified witnessing Officer Kern “pressing”  the baton “on Michael Mineo’s left buttock,” and that it entered his rectum “I would say a half inch to an inch was out of sight.”  Question: is Officer Maloney’s testimony also not “credible?”  

In spite of all this, an alleged rapist has been given a pass to patrol the streets of Brooklyn. Keep in mind, New York City already dished out $50,000 to settle a civil suit, in 2007, against Officer Kern for using excessive force. However, editorial writers have labeled Mineo a wretched “pothead,” unlike Officer Kern, who we’re told coaches Little League. Translation: Officer
Kern is from a segregated snow-white cocoon, unlike the “animal” Mineo.

Wasn’t prosecutorial misconduct perpetrated here? Why didn’t they object to the defense’s repeated introduction of irrelevant testimony, regarding Mineo’s rap sheet, which weren’t germane to the facts in this case? Remember during the O.J. Simpson trial when they insisted Officer Mark Fuhrman’s rabid racism wasn’t relevant, although he was the one who “found” the bloody gloves?

Yet, here the same people tell us because Mineo had some run-ins with the law that this invalidates the crime done to him.

In the final analysis, where are our elected leaders? Are we that politically emasculated to allow people such Kern among us? We will only get justice when we take control of our streets and neighborhoods.

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