7 ms·

The story of Jelani Henry, who says Facebook likes landed him in Rikers

86 points by kirillzubovsky 12y ago

forgingahead 12y ago
Very sad story. Single parent household/lack of father figure, neighbourhoods that exist in their own separate reality, communities where the wrong things (acting hard, etc) are valued over education, broken social services, over-zealous prosecutors, systemic prejudice, and tech corporations and their advertiser patrons pushing a consumerist agenda above all else.
- gizmo 12y ago
  This injustice is absolutely not a result of a single parent household, and insinuating that in some sense the mother is to blame here is gross. Your other suggestion, that the community itself is at fault (because they culturally value the wrong things) is mistaken. It's the other way around, the larger american culture is at fault because it is biased against black communities. Coates wrote a very good piece about this: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/black-pathology-and-the-closing-of-the-progressive-mind/284523/?single_page=true http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/black-pa...
  - refurb 12y ago
    If the cause of all this is american culture being biased against black communities, how come so many blacks are not doing these things?
    - mc32 12y ago
      I think it's a very complicated issue and does not have an easy answer but consider recent African immigrants to the US and US-born and raised people of African descent. I'd love to see a study to see if their experiences are any different. I suspect, but am not sure, that 'culture' has some influence. I think Americans (black Americans in this case) have all kinds of baked in things which can be either positive or negative in their daily life interaction with others. So someone straight from Africa, let's say, has no preconceived notions of how one is expected to act in a given community in order to fit in. An immigrant is for some purposes a blank slate (they bring their own tendencies from home, of course) but not having baked in American tendencies to interact with (part of society) might afford them a different experience, for the most part. If there were differences in experiences, it'd be interesting if there was something to learn from that. For example, we have relatively recent Somali and Eritrean communities --normalizing their experience (ie take out the difficulties being a refugee, etc. might impose) what has their experience been in relation to the larger community?
    - mikeash 12y ago
      That question makes no sense. Something can move the average while leaving a wide distribution. Let's say I go around your neighborhood leaving caltrops all over the roads, causing a rash of flat tires. Your question is akin to asking, if the cause of all this is mikeash's caltrops, how come so many cars didn't get flat tires?
    - gizmo 12y ago
      The problem is that the odds are stacked against people of color. Some people beat the odds and succeed regardless, and that's great. Not everybody can be exceptional, though. So if some demographics are relatively disadvantaged then those people will on average have a worse quality of life through no fault of their own.
  - forgingahead 12y ago
    Rather than misplaced appeals to authority (Coates is an opinion writer that has his own agenda, and definitely benefits from the narrative he and his publication loves to push), it would behoove us to approach this with a holistic understanding of the causes. There have been ample studies[0] done that show the lack of a father (therefore a single parent household) leads to increased delinquency in youths. [0] http://melbourneinstitute.com/downloads/working_paper_series/wp2011n23.pdf http://melbourneinstitute.com/downloads/working_paper_series...
angersock 12y ago
"We are coming to find you and monitor every step you take," Joanne Jaffe, the department’s Housing Bureau chief, told The New York Times in 2013. "And we are going to learn about every bad friend you have." The boot on the face usually ends up being local. EDIT: "While he was incarcerated, the police matched his DNA to another gun recovered near the scene of a gang altercation." How the does that even work? I'm calling bullshit. EDIT2: Alethia finally convinced her lawyer to file a speedy trial motion and in November of 2013 Jelani was given bail. Four months later, with no move by the DA to proceed, his case was finally dismissed, almost two years to the day it began. The DA has refused to share the document that outlines the reason for dismissing Jelani’s case with him or his lawyer. To day, there has been no explanation and no apology for Jelani’s detention. And more of this nonsense. It's not just the beat cops that we should be watching closely. This is absurd.
- AnimalMuppet 12y ago
  > How the does that even work? I think it works like this: As you touch things, some of your skin cells fall off and adhere to the thing you touched. Those cells can give up DNA to an investigator. So it would mean that he touched the gun in question. When did he touch it? The DNA doesn't say anything about that.
  - Glyptodon 12y ago
    ...or the gun touched something that had his DNA on it, no?
  - xenophonf 12y ago
    Nor can DNA evidence reveal intent. What if one handles a gun merely to get a feel for it (no different from ogling someone's phone or slipping into the driver's seat of a friend's new car)? That said, the fact that a defendant touched a gun, plus an eyewitness account putting that defendant at a crime scene, plus recovery of the gun from the crime scene, etc. all work together to make the case that a defendant committed a crime with a particular weapon. Just because evidence is circumstantial doesn't make it any less powerful in legal proceedings.
- 12y ago
tedunangst 12y ago
Did I really need to know they were born on the same day? This was way too long for me to actually get to the part where he went to jail for Facebook likes. Once I got to the part where he really did have a gun, I figured there's more to it than the headline implies.
- ameister14 12y ago
  Yeah, that was his brother, not him.
  - bproper 12y ago
    Hey - writer of the story here. The goal was to show two brothers, very much two sides of the same coin - born one year apart, raised in the same environment. What choices did they make, how did that lead to different outcomes (or not). It's a very long story and I don't honestly expect everyone on the internet to read it closely or all the way through. But to be clear, it was the older brother who owned a gun. Law enforcement never produced evidence that Jelani, the younger brother accused of double attempted murder, owned or used a firearm.
- saalweachter 12y ago
  My reading was different. There are two brothers. The older was arrested for possessing a gun, pled out and got probation, and then years later was arrested for conspiracy charges based on appearing in pictures with "known gang members". He pled out again, got jail time, and got more jail time for being linked to a gun while in jail. The younger brother was arrested on suspicion based on his Facebook activity, held for a couple of years at Rikers Island, and never charged. IMO the outrages are (1) the older brother received a harsh sentence for appearing in pictures (his gun charge for owning an illegal, non-functional gun resulting in probation) and (2) the younger brother was held for two years with no trial.
  - tedunangst 12y ago
    Thanks. That's a very readable summary.
bproper 12y ago
Hey - I'm the reporter who wrote this story. Feel free to ask me any questions.
- debacle 12y ago
  Do the DAs in these cases seem to care at all about what they're doing to the future of these young black men in the name of being "tough on crime?"
  - talmand 12y ago
    Do any DAs in any case seem to care at all about what they're doing to the future of anyone in the name of being "tough on crime?" Regardless of the situation. It seem that a fair number of them consider their jobs as simply to prosecute the person in front of them, not get to any kind of truth or justice.
    - pakled_engineer 12y ago
      DA is a political stepping stone, so you convict everything in sight and hope your cases get press so you can shamelessly self promote your tough on crime image.
- calhoun137 12y ago
  This was a very disturbing read. Nice work.
- vickm 12y ago
  How do we get excellent stories like this into the broader narrative in America? This is a story that needs to be read carefully. If somebody were to edit this down into a 10 second segment fit for insertion into the nightly news I don't think it would pack as much punch. It seems like stories on 60 Minutes are the closest I've seen to hitting the mark. This is one story that is part of a larger story cutting across the country. I don't know anybody republican or democrat in America that would think being jailed for two years without a charge is acceptable. This is the right time for America to deal with these _moral_ issues. I hope your story takes off.
at-fates-hands 12y ago
Keep in mind when you live in states who have incredibly harsh laws for gun control, this is pretty common. Remember Plaxico Burress? The NFL Wide Receiver? He spent two years in federal prison for shooting HIMSELF in the leg with a firearm that wasn't licensed in NY or NJ: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4493887 http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4493887 Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau insisted that the former New York Giants wide receiver serve at least two years in prison for violating the city's strict gun laws. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had also publicly called for Burress to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. On July 29, Burress took the rare and risky step of testifying before the grand jury, hoping to convince the panel that the gun was not used in the commission of a crime and that he was the lone victim. But days later, Burress was indicted on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. He faced a minimum sentence of 3½ years if convicted at trial. I'm pretty sure in a state like Texas, they wouldn't even bother him once they knew his connection to the gang was minimal.
- jff 12y ago
  Or if you miss your connection while in New Jersey, and you have a gun in checked luggage: http://volokh.com/2010/03/30/unexpected-flight-delay-hotel-stay-criminal-prosecution-for-gun-possession/ http://volokh.com/2010/03/30/unexpected-flight-delay-hotel-s...
- talmand 12y ago
  Depends on whether someone needs their name in headlines.
- EpicEng 12y ago
  You have failed to mention that Buress shot himself while in a nightclub and that he did not have a concealed carry permit in NY.
- forrestthewoods 12y ago
  Wait, so you're telling me that gun control laws are used to oppress the under class? Even though they were passed to protect them? Because that's the socioeconomic group that suffers most from gun violence? Well I'll be monkey's uncle...
bronbron 12y ago
Wow. Totally crazy. My takeaways: 1) Don't be born a poor urban youth 2) If #1 is unavoidable, don't have friends (and don't go anywhere because you might get jumped because you don't have friends) 3) Never be in any photos, even by accident 4) Never sign up for facebook/twitter/etc 5) Never talk to the police 6) Plea deals are mostly bullshit (these last two I knew already) I'm not a lawyer, so maybe someone more well-versed can help me, but: > But the district attorney convinced a judge that most of the time Jelani spent in jail shouldn’t count towards that release. She argued that days spent gathering more evidence, delays in testimony by a police officer who was on vacation, or instances where she was unprepared to make her case did not figure into the six-month period Would this not be a slam-dunk lawsuit for the Henrys that his sixth amendment rights were violated? Obviously not going to bring back lost time, but still, that seems insane.
- tedunangst 12y ago
  > Would this not be a slam-dunk lawsuit for the Henrys that his sixth amendment rights were violated? That's not how it works in New York... http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/law-3 http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/law-3
  - bronbron 12y ago
    That's seriously insane. Hypothetically (realizing there are numerous practical obstacles), could this be challenged in a federal court? It seems like an egregious violation of the sixth amendment.
    - bproper 12y ago
      The state's attorney and mayor's office have both called for major changes at Riker's and threatened to sue if conditions are not improved there. But sadly that won't solve the problem of a clogged court system that allows prosecutors to delay trials for months or even years.
- rayiner 12y ago
  Do you really not see the yawning chasm between your 1-4 and what's described in the article? There's obviously a lot more going on here than this guy being in pictures with gang bangers. > While he was incarcerated, the police matched his DNA to another gun recovered near the scene of a gang altercation. As for his brother Jelani, it wasn't Facebook that landed him in Rikers, it was a witness identification. Now, that's a tragedy, but the old fashioned kind: over reliance on eye witness identification and overly aggressive prosecutor tactics. 20 years ago, these prosecutions would've been based on the testimony of random people in the neighborhood about who was hanging out with who.
aqme28 12y ago
Wow. On top of everything, this should definitely violate speedy trial requirements: But the district attorney convinced a judge that most of the time Jelani spent in jail shouldn’t count towards that release. She argued that days spent gathering more evidence, delays in testimony by a police officer who was on vacation, or instances where she was unprepared to make her case did not figure into the six-month period. The judge agreed. In a bit of Kafka-esque arithmetic, 19 months became 83 days. Instead of finishing trade school, Jelani celebrated his 20th and 21st birthdays in a cell.
- Balgair 12y ago
  http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/the-right-speedy-trial.html http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/the-right-speedy-tria... That right is not as obvious as it seems. Also, though I cannot find a citation, I believe that everyone typically waives those rights (in a very murky manner) upon arraignment.
  - talmand 12y ago
    I would suspect asking for a speedy trial is a huge bet on which side can get better prepared in time for the trial date. Possibly most defense attorneys don't want to take that bet because prosecutors already have their evidence in hand.
    - bproper 12y ago
      Jelani did not waive the right to a speedy trial, and in fact his lawyer filed the motion demanding one on three separate occasions before it was granted. This was more than one year into his incarceration.
      - talmand 12y ago
        This is just the case outside the rule, the DA was delaying likely because the case was so shaky to begin with because of lack of evidence. The DA was waiting for him to crack and take a plea bargain so that in the end the DA still looks tough on crime. Personally, I fault the entire system for the man's treatment; the DA, the judge, all the way up to the governor.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
trhway 12y ago
it is clear that the guys would have benefited from having a lawyer or at least from some advice. As they obviously can't afford a full legal representation it seems that this is where technology may potentially come to play, something like ... wait for it ... Uber for lawyers/legal help.
cperciva 12y ago
Seems to me that being in jail for 2 years and then having charges dismissed without ever going to trial should constitute a priori evidence of false imprisonment.
lostcolony 12y ago
'The district attorney offered him 20 years if he pled guilty, but Jelani refused.' 'The violence changed him. "My experience on Rikers Island, that’s when I had to show, like not just be myself," he says. "I had to turn into a beast."' 'Henry said he struggled at times to avoid taking the guilty plea.' 'Four months later, with no move by the DA to proceed, his case was finally dismissed, almost two years to the day it began. The DA has refused to share the document that outlines the reason for dismissing Jelani’s case with him or his lawyer. To day, there has been no explanation and no apology for Jelani’s detention.'' 'Unfortunately, Henry’s troubles from the arrest aren’t over. He is now facing assault charges stemming from a fight in prison. "He was innocent when he went in there, and now he might come out with a charge for defending himself," says Alethia.' That, taken together, is one of the best (worst) indictments of our penal system. It is clearly designed not to rehabilitate, not even to penalize, but to oppress, and to self-perpetuate itself by creating 'criminals', either those who have been turned criminal by the penal system itself, or those who have been given plea deals with the deck stacked against them, regardless of their innocence. We need reform, very, very badly.
- valleyer 12y ago
  There’s a difference between being designed to oppress and being designed to rehabilitate but extremely poorly so and oppressing as an unintended side effect. I suspect the latter is more likely.
  - deciplex 12y ago
    Even more likely, is that it isn't 'designed' at all, but rather cobbled together by disparate interests that are variously trying to appear tough on crime, scam the system of as much money as possible, advance their careers, etc. None of these interests probably give a shit if the system ends up rehabilitating anyone, nor if it creates criminals, because neither outcome affects them in any material way (that is readily apparent to them, anyway).
  - lostcolony 12y ago
    Yes yes, Hanlon's razor. My choice of words there was perhaps poor; the point is clear, the system does not (X), but instead (Y)s, and my attribution to malice in doing so was incorrect phrasing.

Very sad story. Single parent household/lack of father figure, neighbourhoods that exist in their own separate reality, communities where the wrong things (acting hard, etc) are valued over education, broken social services, over-zealous prosecutors, systemic prejudice, and tech corporations and their advertiser patrons pushing a consumerist agenda above all else.

gizmo 12y ago
This injustice is absolutely not a result of a single parent household, and insinuating that in some sense the mother is to blame here is gross. Your other suggestion, that the community itself is at fault (because they culturally value the wrong things) is mistaken. It's the other way around, the larger american culture is at fault because it is biased against black communities. Coates wrote a very good piece about this: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/black-pathology-and-the-closing-of-the-progressive-mind/284523/?single_page=true http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/black-pa...
- refurb 12y ago
  If the cause of all this is american culture being biased against black communities, how come so many blacks are not doing these things?
  - mc32 12y ago
    I think it's a very complicated issue and does not have an easy answer but consider recent African immigrants to the US and US-born and raised people of African descent. I'd love to see a study to see if their experiences are any different. I suspect, but am not sure, that 'culture' has some influence. I think Americans (black Americans in this case) have all kinds of baked in things which can be either positive or negative in their daily life interaction with others. So someone straight from Africa, let's say, has no preconceived notions of how one is expected to act in a given community in order to fit in. An immigrant is for some purposes a blank slate (they bring their own tendencies from home, of course) but not having baked in American tendencies to interact with (part of society) might afford them a different experience, for the most part. If there were differences in experiences, it'd be interesting if there was something to learn from that. For example, we have relatively recent Somali and Eritrean communities --normalizing their experience (ie take out the difficulties being a refugee, etc. might impose) what has their experience been in relation to the larger community?
  - mikeash 12y ago
    That question makes no sense. Something can move the average while leaving a wide distribution. Let's say I go around your neighborhood leaving caltrops all over the roads, causing a rash of flat tires. Your question is akin to asking, if the cause of all this is mikeash's caltrops, how come so many cars didn't get flat tires?
  - gizmo 12y ago
    The problem is that the odds are stacked against people of color. Some people beat the odds and succeed regardless, and that's great. Not everybody can be exceptional, though. So if some demographics are relatively disadvantaged then those people will on average have a worse quality of life through no fault of their own.
- forgingahead 12y ago
  Rather than misplaced appeals to authority (Coates is an opinion writer that has his own agenda, and definitely benefits from the narrative he and his publication loves to push), it would behoove us to approach this with a holistic understanding of the causes. There have been ample studies[0] done that show the lack of a father (therefore a single parent household) leads to increased delinquency in youths. [0] http://melbourneinstitute.com/downloads/working_paper_series/wp2011n23.pdf http://melbourneinstitute.com/downloads/working_paper_series...

angersock 12y ago

"We are coming to find you and monitor every step you take," Joanne Jaffe, the department’s Housing Bureau chief, told The New York Times in 2013. "And we are going to learn about every bad friend you have." The boot on the face usually ends up being local. EDIT: "While he was incarcerated, the police matched his DNA to another gun recovered near the scene of a gang altercation." How the does that even work? I'm calling bullshit. EDIT2: Alethia finally convinced her lawyer to file a speedy trial motion and in November of 2013 Jelani was given bail. Four months later, with no move by the DA to proceed, his case was finally dismissed, almost two years to the day it began. The DA has refused to share the document that outlines the reason for dismissing Jelani’s case with him or his lawyer. To day, there has been no explanation and no apology for Jelani’s detention. And more of this nonsense. It's not just the beat cops that we should be watching closely. This is absurd.

AnimalMuppet 12y ago
> How the does that even work? I think it works like this: As you touch things, some of your skin cells fall off and adhere to the thing you touched. Those cells can give up DNA to an investigator. So it would mean that he touched the gun in question. When did he touch it? The DNA doesn't say anything about that.
- Glyptodon 12y ago
  ...or the gun touched something that had his DNA on it, no?
- xenophonf 12y ago
  Nor can DNA evidence reveal intent. What if one handles a gun merely to get a feel for it (no different from ogling someone's phone or slipping into the driver's seat of a friend's new car)? That said, the fact that a defendant touched a gun, plus an eyewitness account putting that defendant at a crime scene, plus recovery of the gun from the crime scene, etc. all work together to make the case that a defendant committed a crime with a particular weapon. Just because evidence is circumstantial doesn't make it any less powerful in legal proceedings.
12y ago

tedunangst 12y ago

Did I really need to know they were born on the same day? This was way too long for me to actually get to the part where he went to jail for Facebook likes. Once I got to the part where he really did have a gun, I figured there's more to it than the headline implies.

ameister14 12y ago
Yeah, that was his brother, not him.
- bproper 12y ago
  Hey - writer of the story here. The goal was to show two brothers, very much two sides of the same coin - born one year apart, raised in the same environment. What choices did they make, how did that lead to different outcomes (or not). It's a very long story and I don't honestly expect everyone on the internet to read it closely or all the way through. But to be clear, it was the older brother who owned a gun. Law enforcement never produced evidence that Jelani, the younger brother accused of double attempted murder, owned or used a firearm.
saalweachter 12y ago
My reading was different. There are two brothers. The older was arrested for possessing a gun, pled out and got probation, and then years later was arrested for conspiracy charges based on appearing in pictures with "known gang members". He pled out again, got jail time, and got more jail time for being linked to a gun while in jail. The younger brother was arrested on suspicion based on his Facebook activity, held for a couple of years at Rikers Island, and never charged. IMO the outrages are (1) the older brother received a harsh sentence for appearing in pictures (his gun charge for owning an illegal, non-functional gun resulting in probation) and (2) the younger brother was held for two years with no trial.
- tedunangst 12y ago
  Thanks. That's a very readable summary.

bproper 12y ago

Hey - I'm the reporter who wrote this story. Feel free to ask me any questions.

debacle 12y ago
Do the DAs in these cases seem to care at all about what they're doing to the future of these young black men in the name of being "tough on crime?"
- talmand 12y ago
  Do any DAs in any case seem to care at all about what they're doing to the future of anyone in the name of being "tough on crime?" Regardless of the situation. It seem that a fair number of them consider their jobs as simply to prosecute the person in front of them, not get to any kind of truth or justice.
  - pakled_engineer 12y ago
    DA is a political stepping stone, so you convict everything in sight and hope your cases get press so you can shamelessly self promote your tough on crime image.
calhoun137 12y ago
This was a very disturbing read. Nice work.
vickm 12y ago
How do we get excellent stories like this into the broader narrative in America? This is a story that needs to be read carefully. If somebody were to edit this down into a 10 second segment fit for insertion into the nightly news I don't think it would pack as much punch. It seems like stories on 60 Minutes are the closest I've seen to hitting the mark. This is one story that is part of a larger story cutting across the country. I don't know anybody republican or democrat in America that would think being jailed for two years without a charge is acceptable. This is the right time for America to deal with these _moral_ issues. I hope your story takes off.

at-fates-hands 12y ago

Keep in mind when you live in states who have incredibly harsh laws for gun control, this is pretty common. Remember Plaxico Burress? The NFL Wide Receiver? He spent two years in federal prison for shooting HIMSELF in the leg with a firearm that wasn't licensed in NY or NJ: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4493887 http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4493887 Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau insisted that the former New York Giants wide receiver serve at least two years in prison for violating the city's strict gun laws. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had also publicly called for Burress to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. On July 29, Burress took the rare and risky step of testifying before the grand jury, hoping to convince the panel that the gun was not used in the commission of a crime and that he was the lone victim. But days later, Burress was indicted on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. He faced a minimum sentence of 3½ years if convicted at trial. I'm pretty sure in a state like Texas, they wouldn't even bother him once they knew his connection to the gang was minimal.

jff 12y ago
Or if you miss your connection while in New Jersey, and you have a gun in checked luggage: http://volokh.com/2010/03/30/unexpected-flight-delay-hotel-stay-criminal-prosecution-for-gun-possession/ http://volokh.com/2010/03/30/unexpected-flight-delay-hotel-s...
talmand 12y ago
Depends on whether someone needs their name in headlines.
EpicEng 12y ago
You have failed to mention that Buress shot himself while in a nightclub and that he did not have a concealed carry permit in NY.
forrestthewoods 12y ago
Wait, so you're telling me that gun control laws are used to oppress the under class? Even though they were passed to protect them? Because that's the socioeconomic group that suffers most from gun violence? Well I'll be monkey's uncle...

bronbron 12y ago

Wow. Totally crazy. My takeaways: 1) Don't be born a poor urban youth 2) If #1 is unavoidable, don't have friends (and don't go anywhere because you might get jumped because you don't have friends) 3) Never be in any photos, even by accident 4) Never sign up for facebook/twitter/etc 5) Never talk to the police 6) Plea deals are mostly bullshit (these last two I knew already) I'm not a lawyer, so maybe someone more well-versed can help me, but: > But the district attorney convinced a judge that most of the time Jelani spent in jail shouldn’t count towards that release. She argued that days spent gathering more evidence, delays in testimony by a police officer who was on vacation, or instances where she was unprepared to make her case did not figure into the six-month period Would this not be a slam-dunk lawsuit for the Henrys that his sixth amendment rights were violated? Obviously not going to bring back lost time, but still, that seems insane.

tedunangst 12y ago
> Would this not be a slam-dunk lawsuit for the Henrys that his sixth amendment rights were violated? That's not how it works in New York... http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/law-3 http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/law-3
- bronbron 12y ago
  That's seriously insane. Hypothetically (realizing there are numerous practical obstacles), could this be challenged in a federal court? It seems like an egregious violation of the sixth amendment.
  - bproper 12y ago
    The state's attorney and mayor's office have both called for major changes at Riker's and threatened to sue if conditions are not improved there. But sadly that won't solve the problem of a clogged court system that allows prosecutors to delay trials for months or even years.
rayiner 12y ago
Do you really not see the yawning chasm between your 1-4 and what's described in the article? There's obviously a lot more going on here than this guy being in pictures with gang bangers. > While he was incarcerated, the police matched his DNA to another gun recovered near the scene of a gang altercation. As for his brother Jelani, it wasn't Facebook that landed him in Rikers, it was a witness identification. Now, that's a tragedy, but the old fashioned kind: over reliance on eye witness identification and overly aggressive prosecutor tactics. 20 years ago, these prosecutions would've been based on the testimony of random people in the neighborhood about who was hanging out with who.

aqme28 12y ago

Wow. On top of everything, this should definitely violate speedy trial requirements: But the district attorney convinced a judge that most of the time Jelani spent in jail shouldn’t count towards that release. She argued that days spent gathering more evidence, delays in testimony by a police officer who was on vacation, or instances where she was unprepared to make her case did not figure into the six-month period. The judge agreed. In a bit of Kafka-esque arithmetic, 19 months became 83 days. Instead of finishing trade school, Jelani celebrated his 20th and 21st birthdays in a cell.

Balgair 12y ago
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/the-right-speedy-trial.html http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/the-right-speedy-tria... That right is not as obvious as it seems. Also, though I cannot find a citation, I believe that everyone typically waives those rights (in a very murky manner) upon arraignment.
- talmand 12y ago
  I would suspect asking for a speedy trial is a huge bet on which side can get better prepared in time for the trial date. Possibly most defense attorneys don't want to take that bet because prosecutors already have their evidence in hand.
  - bproper 12y ago
    Jelani did not waive the right to a speedy trial, and in fact his lawyer filed the motion demanding one on three separate occasions before it was granted. This was more than one year into his incarceration.
    - talmand 12y ago
      This is just the case outside the rule, the DA was delaying likely because the case was so shaky to begin with because of lack of evidence. The DA was waiting for him to crack and take a plea bargain so that in the end the DA still looks tough on crime. Personally, I fault the entire system for the man's treatment; the DA, the judge, all the way up to the governor.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

trhway 12y ago

it is clear that the guys would have benefited from having a lawyer or at least from some advice. As they obviously can't afford a full legal representation it seems that this is where technology may potentially come to play, something like ... wait for it ... Uber for lawyers/legal help.

cperciva 12y ago

Seems to me that being in jail for 2 years and then having charges dismissed without ever going to trial should constitute a priori evidence of false imprisonment.

lostcolony 12y ago

'The district attorney offered him 20 years if he pled guilty, but Jelani refused.' 'The violence changed him. "My experience on Rikers Island, that’s when I had to show, like not just be myself," he says. "I had to turn into a beast."' 'Henry said he struggled at times to avoid taking the guilty plea.' 'Four months later, with no move by the DA to proceed, his case was finally dismissed, almost two years to the day it began. The DA has refused to share the document that outlines the reason for dismissing Jelani’s case with him or his lawyer. To day, there has been no explanation and no apology for Jelani’s detention.'' 'Unfortunately, Henry’s troubles from the arrest aren’t over. He is now facing assault charges stemming from a fight in prison. "He was innocent when he went in there, and now he might come out with a charge for defending himself," says Alethia.' That, taken together, is one of the best (worst) indictments of our penal system. It is clearly designed not to rehabilitate, not even to penalize, but to oppress, and to self-perpetuate itself by creating 'criminals', either those who have been turned criminal by the penal system itself, or those who have been given plea deals with the deck stacked against them, regardless of their innocence. We need reform, very, very badly.

valleyer 12y ago
There’s a difference between being designed to oppress and being designed to rehabilitate but extremely poorly so and oppressing as an unintended side effect. I suspect the latter is more likely.
- deciplex 12y ago
  Even more likely, is that it isn't 'designed' at all, but rather cobbled together by disparate interests that are variously trying to appear tough on crime, scam the system of as much money as possible, advance their careers, etc. None of these interests probably give a shit if the system ends up rehabilitating anyone, nor if it creates criminals, because neither outcome affects them in any material way (that is readily apparent to them, anyway).
- lostcolony 12y ago
  Yes yes, Hanlon's razor. My choice of words there was perhaps poor; the point is clear, the system does not (X), but instead (Y)s, and my attribution to malice in doing so was incorrect phrasing.