Lexington detective lies to grand jury in case regarding police officer's death. (middle-class)

[Uncle Monkey]

I wrote an article in July titled, 'Does Glen Rahan Doneghy's life matter?'. In that article I discussed local prosecutorial racism, propaganda in favor of police, prosecutorial misconduct and police corruption as some of the reasons Doneghy may not get a fair trial. Recent events in the case have made that article just shy of prophetic. The case involves a driver that struck a police officer who was tragically killed.
Lexington detective David Richards testified to the grand jury and at an earlier preliminary hearing providing false information. He falsely claimed that a witness at the scene claimed that Doneghy's vehicle was the only one on the street at the time. He also claimed that this witness saw Doneghy's vehicle deviate from it's course of travel and then struck officer Durman.
Doneghy's attorneys, Kate Dunn, Sally Wasielewski, and Gayle Slaughter attempted to talk to any witnesses to prepare their case. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney, Lori Boling, falsely claimed that there were no witnesses, thus, denying them their right to interview the witness. I've personally seen this type of mis-direction and prosecutorial misconduct time and time again in my own cases.
The witness, Ronnie Hood, however claims that while sitting on his porch his bushes obstructed his view. Mr. Hood claims that he did not know about the accident until after he heard a loud noise. Additionally, Mr. Hood's home is several doors down the street from where the accident took place.
Our founding fathers understood a number of things about criminal accusations. It’s difficult if not impossible to prove a negative. It’s better to free a guilty man than to punish an innocent one. Government cannot be trusted or supported if it doesn’t respect the rights of the accused. Finally, they gave us a Constitution to protect our rights and provide confidence to the court system.
Because it is nearly impossible to prove a negative the accused is never required to prove his innocence. To do so would require the accused to prove he did not do something. The burden of proof rests with the prosecution who must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Commonwealth Attorney, Ray Larson, states on his website and on WLAP radio and internet sites that he believes 99% of accused are guilty. This guilty until proven innocent mindset has permeated our criminal justice system all the way down to the beat cops. It is because of this that prosecutors hide witnesses and evidence and overzealous police officers lie to grand juries. They believe that the accused is guilty anyway so what does it hurt to lie or hide evidence if it speeds up the process of conviction. What we wind up with are thousands of falsely accused being imprisoned by a system gone awry.
Ray Larson also makes no secret of his personal feelings about minority criminals on his website or in his lengthy rants on the radio. While portraying white collar criminals as tragic situations of wrong decisions he resorts to name calling and slander when referring to cases involving working class crime and especially minorities. White collar criminals are wished a better future after learning a minor lesson, usually without jail time. However, Larson tends to claim that minorities fit into the once a 'thug' always a 'thug' category and they will always re-offend, he states.
Doneghy is a poor black man and officer Durman was a middle-class father and husband and member of local mega-church, Southland Christian Church. He was also caucasian. Believe it or not, in 2010 going on 2011, that still matters in Kentucky. Very rarely, 10 times in the last 25 years, has someone been prosecuted for vehicular homicide in Fayette County. However, this case involved a police officer and a black man with a criminal record lacking the money for Johnny Cochran.
Had this tragedy involved a middle-class white man officers wouldn't have beaten him during the arrest. Had this tragedy involved a middle-class white man detective David Richards wouldn't have felt it necessary to lie to the grand jury in order to get a murder indictment. Had this tragedy involved a middle-class white man Assistant Commonwealth Attorney, Lori Boling, wouldn't have felt it necessary to lie to the defense attorneys to prevent them from interviewing the witness. The truth is... Lexington, Kentucky is still in the South and race still plays a role in the courtroom.
I personally hear someone use the "N" word, judge someone for dating a minority or witness some other sort of racism at least once most days. While campaigning for city council this past Spring I brought an acquaintace with me to canvass neighborhoods. My message tended to get better reception in minority neighborhoods. I brought him along. When I arrived at the location, he panicked. You see, it was in a predominantly black neighborhood. He refused to walk door to door and stayed near the vehicle calling his friends and family to let them know what street he was on. He began by saying, "You'll never believe where I'm at." "I'll give you a hint, it's really dark here.". That, my friends, is and example of why blacks still outnumber whites 500% in our jails and prisons in post civil rights America, especially in the South.
We also suffer from a sense of white collar entitlement. Lexington mayor famously proclaimed after this incident while speaking at Broadway Baptist Church that some people live lives and nobody notices. Those peoples lives, he claimed, don't matter much. He was referring to Doneghy and a woman I had brought up that was most likely murdered by police but never investigated. He continued to state that police officers live lives that make a difference and therefore, their lives matter. This infers that blue collar workers, drug addicts, janitors, those with mental and physical disabilities and others of meak backgrounds aren't missed and don't matter when they die. However, the rich, the poiticians, the doctors, the police, the firemen and other related fields of work make a difference and therefore are missed and matter in this world. This is white entitlement, elitism and racism at it's worst.
Another example happened when I arrived at Kroger's in Hartland Shopping Centre this evening at 7:15 PM. I noticed an expensive convertible Jaguar parked in the fire lane as I approached. The man that owned the car was outside shaking hands with everyone who passed. The vanity plate on the back of the car read ELECTJ on it. I passed the car and saw that the front vanity plate read Lexington Fayette Urban County Government Chief Administrative Officer. When I finished shopping, about 20 minutes, he was just getting into the car. I have no idea how long he was there before I arrived. As he pulled off I noticed in the passenger seat a child of about 5 years in the window without a seat belt or child seat in place. Just as he pulled off a top of the line Mercedes pulled into his spot, a man exited leaving his gold and diamond-laden wife and un-restrained child in the car. These are dangerous violations of the fire lane laws and endanger everyone in the vicinity. The purpose of fire lane laws are to prevent the obstuction of required emergency vehicles no matter the price of the car or income of the driver for the safety of the building's occupants.
Lexington police routinely ignore these violations of public safety. Any Lexingtonian can verify spotting police officers use the fire lane with wife and children on board to run in for groceries or return Red-Box videos. These examples are elitism, racism and entitlement in action.
Try this in a late model Chevy Nova with a loud muffler and rusted out panels and tell me how quickly you get a ticket. Better yet, try this in that neighborhood with a 'pimped out' ride with 21" chrome wheels with a minority at the wheel and tell me how quick you get a ticket. In Hartland, you'll probably get searched and interrogated as well.
Doneghy's defense attorneys have filed for a dismissal in the case and rightly so.
"And from Mr. Hood's own lips Detective Richardson had knowledge during both times that he testified that Mr. Hood did not see the suspect vehicle traveling down Limestone, deviating from its current course of travel and striking Officer Durman," the motion says.
Doneghy's attorneys believe that Detective Richardson misrepresented the information to the grand jury "in order to elevate the seriousness of what occurred in the case against Glenn Doneghy." The Commonwealth Attorney's office contributed by preventing the defense and the public from receiving the proper information by hiding the witness. Had the grand jury been told the truth it is highly likely that they would not have agreed to the charge of murder.

According to US law if the prosecution over-reached due to false information given to the grand jury by the police and Commonwealth Attorney's office, the case should be dismissed.
Thank God, Buddha, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, Allah or whoever you pray to that there are still attorneys like Dunn, Wasielewski, and Slaughter. Racism, hero propaganda, prosecutorial misconduct and police corruption all stand in the way of the proper working of the criminal justice system in this case. Defense attorneys such as these work for very little money and they do it for ethics and principles. Most in Doneghy's situation aren't lucky enough to have a team of dedicated civil rights activists willing to help fight corruption in their case. Most, in his situation, must accept poorly inadequate court appointed counsel who most likely would have already plea bargained the case in the prosecution's favor.

Our criminal justice system was meant to work this way but principles are few and far between among attorneys, judges, prosecutors and our police in today's society.

Two of my recent, former attorneys, Sharon Morris and Gerald Ward informed me that the reason they usually recommend settling on less than the truth or justice in court was that "principles are expensive".

Thank you, Dunn, Wasielewski and Slaughter for standing up for civil rights and the Constitution.

Doneghy may have made tragic mistakes that evening. Murder, however, he did not commit. He had no intent which is necessary in a murder case. Detective Richardson lied to convince the grand jury that he did show intent. The Commonwealth Attorney's office tried to avoid revealing the witness for cross examination. As a result the grand jury over-reached in filing murder charges and as these attorneys have pointed out, the charges should be dismissed.

We'll find out on Thursday if Judge Ishmael agrees. While I don't have much faith in our current criminal justice system, Judge Ishmael has surprised me in the past. Doneghy can only hope that community pressure doesn't influence the judge's decision.