The next big race on the horizon is Marion County Prosecutor in 2010. Marion County Assessor Democrat Greg Bowes has already announced his interest in the position. No word yet on whether Carl Brizzi will run for a third term. Given the political risk involved and that Marion County is becoming increasingly Democrat, my guess is Brizzi will not run for another term. One possible Republican candidate, Ryan Vaughn, has indicated he is not interested and instead has his eyes on a vacancy caucus election to fill Theresa Lubbers' state senate position. While I don't have a high regard for Ryan Vaughn, it is a smarter political move to try to get precinct committeemen to elect him to a safe seat than to run for Marion County prosecutor.
Whoever the next candidates for prosecutor are, it is clear that we need a change in direction in that office. While Brizzi likes the publicity associated with high profile cases, his office has often fumbled charging decisions then stubbornly left those charges pending against individuals who have their lives turned upside down as deputy prosecutors attempt to get a face-saving plea bargain before dismissing the charges. I have also discussed in this blog an account of one of my clients being falsely accused of robbery and how the prosecutor's office keept charges pending against the mentally disabled man (and kept him in jail where he did not get his medicine and was beaten up) even though we had him video of him across town when the robbery supposedly took place.
Unfortunately my discussions with Marion County Deputy Prosecutors, public defenders and other attorneys who do criminal cases, suggest that is standard practice for Brizzi's office. When deputy prosecutors are openly critical of how your prosecutor's office is run, you have a problem.
What I find most disturbing about the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, however, is the complete lack of interest in white collar crime in general and public corruption crimes specifically. We've given the prosecutor's office cases involving real estate fraud. One case involved a man going around forging people's name on quit claim deeds to transfer the property to his company so he could sell the property. Brizzi's office showed no interest in prosecuting that person. Now if he would have stole the man's bread inside his house, he might have pursued charges. But stealing the whole house, that gets a pass fromt he Marion County Prosecutor.
Indianapolis politics has become a cesspool of insider self-dealing, involving both Republicans and Democrats. Unfortunately we have a prosecutor who has close relationship to many of political insiders involved. Not surprisingly, Brizzi has completely shied away from any public corruption prosecutions. In doing so he's not only given he green light for public corruption in Marion County, but given that he would also be the prosecutor for corruption at the Statehouse, he has sent a message to state politicians they don't have to fear prosecution for public wrongdoing.
I don't know who the next prosecutor should be. I have heard criticism of Greg Bowes from Democrats who complain that he is not part of the good old boy network and would have trouble getting slated. While I don't know Marion County Democratic politics enough to know if that's true or not, calling him an "outsider" is an endorsement to me. The last thing the Marion County Prosecutor's Office needs is another partisan hack who turns his back on doing his job in order to protect his friends. It is time for a change in the Marion County Prosecutor's Office.
13 comments:
But a 20 something year old girl who works in the County Clerk's office suffered the full wrath of the prosecutor's office recently. Her crime? Attempting to sell one vicoden to a co-worker.
Yet not a peep from Brizzi as public corruption rips off hundreds of thousands of taxpayer citizens.
Or how about the scrap metal possible prosecution that was dropped when they hired the right Barnes & Thornburg attorney that was buddies with Brizzi?
HFT said"Yet not a peep from Brizzi as public corruption rips off hundreds of thousands of taxpayer citizens."
And he has reams of information of malfeasance and criminal wrong doing handed to him and he sits on it hoping if it is ignored it will go away!
Huh, you think he used that young girl who worked at the Clerk's office(another person likely unable to defend herself) so he had an item in the news to make it look like he's out there fighting corruption in gov't offices?
Brizzi's official title really should be Mr. Persecutor, not prosecutor. In Marion County there is a lot of persecution going on. In particular a case still held in limbo by the persecutor’s office and the courts. Our client is now going on 3 years since police first started their harassment of him. Judge Hill an ex-state trooper has been more than obliging to assist the cops who acting like thugs persistently arrested this man over and over and charged him with bogus charges.
The prosecutor’s office is sitting on 4 separate cases dating back to 8/26/06 and has yet taken even the oldest case to trial. In fact these cases have had 35 pre-trials with only one hearing actually labeled “jury trial”. Recently our client had his release revoked; prosecutors claimed the defendant failed his UA’s. In fact they claimed he failed a UA when he was already incarcerated again. They were not prepared to hear our client had the brains to go out to the local hospital and submit UA’s to protect himself.
We have to ask ourselves, why would the persecutors office allow his assistant DA’s to continue to destroy the life of an innocent man? Persecutor Brizzi, and his staff do not hesitate to go after those who have committed no crime whatsoever but yet will not even budge an inch to investigate white collar corporate crime where thousands of taxpayers are the victims.
In re Doe, 801 F. Supp. 478, 480 (D.N.M. 1992). The court said,
“Prosecutors are “Shepherd[s] of justice.” When Government lawyer, with enormous resources at his or her disposal, abuses power and ignores ethical standards, he or she not only undermines public trust, but inflicts damage beyond calculation to system of justice. This alone compels the responsible and ethical exercise of this power.”
Leslie Sourwine says, the public trust has been shoved under the rug along with the ethical standards of Brizzi’s office.
Leslie said, "We have to ask ourselves, why would the persecutors office allow his assistant DA’s to continue to destroy the life of an innocent man? Persecutor Brizzi, and his staff do not hesitate to go after those who have committed no crime whatsoever but yet will not even budge an inch to investigate white collar corporate crime where thousands of taxpayers are the victims."
Yes, Yes and Yes and an Amen to go with it
I know:
Today while I was visiting the blogs of Indy I found an interesting post. At Advance Indiana I found a posting on the City-County Council and their vote that members could only accept $1000 without disclosing it. It used to be $5000. Any time public officials receive money from private companies and individuals the normal citizen must ask “just how much the money given to public officials affects their voting on public issues.” I then started thinking of the quarter of a million dollars that the City-Council gave away to the private jail corporation, CCA. The next thought was kickbacks and how receiving a kickback can warp even the most honest intentions of our public officials to do right by the taxpayers they represent.
Kickbacks have been on my mind a lot recently. I recall an article on two judges in PA who received millions in kickbacks to send young juveniles with very minor offenses to the private juvenile detention. It’s mind boggling how these things can happen when the very people we look up to at the judicial level with never ending respect and trust to make sure that while they are sitting on the bench justice is served and that it is the right justice.
Is PA the only state with judges who are willing to leave their judicial ethics behind and accept payoffs to fill a private institution?
Then we take a look at the men and women incarcerated at the private jail in Indy, Marion County Jail II (CCA). Men with very minor charges held with no bond. Trials delayed for years while the accused wastes away inside this private facility. Public defenders who fail to provide a proper defense or even ask for discovery to prepare for trial. Innocent defendants who are forced to take a plea bargain because their public defender tells them they don’t have a right to a trial. These taxpayers, while they are waiting endlessly for their day in court have lost their jobs, their houses and sometimes their families. Some of them committed no crime what-so-ever. These inmates, held without bond inside this jail, while the city continues to pay the private corporation for their keep. The conditions inside this jail are horrible, medical denied, inmates forced to shovel raw sewage, guards retaliating by filing false charges, and dangerous inmates preying on others. Why?
The corporation itself can’t go out on the street and scoop up innocent victims to fill their cells. In order to make a profit this jail must have cooperation from others to keep the inmate population up to the level that the dollars are being made. But who would cooperate and help keep up the supply innocent victims?
We already know the FBI came in and arrested IMPD officers for targeting individuals by using false warrants, stealing money and prostitution. But did the FBI get them all? Are they still investigating? There is really no way to know for sure but the fact remains in our client’s case the FBI didn’t get them all.
Even when innocent people are arrested there’s suppose to be a safety net, the judiciary and the persecution’s office. It is their responsibility to make sure only the guilty is charged and convicted and that no man or woman sits in jail indefinitely without a fair trial. It is their ethical responsibility to go after the guilty and release the innocent. Our client has resided inside this private jail for the most part of three years this coming August. The one person that can put a stop to this is the judge, specifically Judge Hill who has sat back and allowed the persecution’s office to ruin an innocent man’s life by keeping him incarcerated. How is this possible? There are court rules and state laws that govern criminal proceedings and judges as well as persecutors are bound by law to follow them. Yet we have this case, going on three years and still no trial in sight. They haul him into court then haul him out; hearings are canceled with no explanation and there have been hearings where the persecutors didn’t bother to show up. His family alleges that court hearings are rescheduled to varying times to keep them from being in the court room. Why? Could it be that this man has remained strong, refused to accept a plea bargain for crimes he didn’t commit and who receives much of his moral support from his friends and family? Is it possible these deliverers of justice want to isolate him from those who give him strength to endure in order to pressure him into taking a plea bargain? On May 22, 2008, the only day listed in his court record as a jury trial, the pillar of his strength, his friends and family were sent to another court room by court employees where they were told his trial was to begin. While they waited their son and friend faced a hearing in the court room they were originally in. Trial was again delayed because the judge said he hadn’t yet had a pre-trial!
To date, this man has had “thirty-five pre-trials”. Where is the oversight? I’m here to tell you it’s not with the Judicial Qualifications Commission. They’ve received numerous complaints against Judge Hill and yet they have done nothing. It’s not the Indiana FBI; they’ve received mountains of information on another case involving racketeering and other corruption and yet have done nothing. It’s not persecutor Brizzi, an elected official in charge of the persecution office because he too has received complaints about corporate corruption and police abuse and yet has done nothing. The only help available will come from DC and the taxpayers of Marion County who are being raped by public officials through the spending of their hard earned tax dollars.
The one question that remains is once the dust settles, the investigations done will it uncover a conspiracy infiltrated with monetary kickbacks? How high up on the constitutional ladder will those kickbacks go? Folks there is a reason why laws and statutes are ignored and why people both elected and hired ignore their professional ethics. Its money, lots of it and for some, the hunger to possess it removes all personal, moral and ethical values. It’s just a matter of time before the dust settles and those who have allowed corruption to enter their office are exposed. Our client will not give up, The Police Complaint Center will not give up, and you the taxpayer must not give up until justice has indeed been served.
Leslie Sourwine
Leslie,
You are awakening to something that many of us have been aware of for years now. It's a rude awakening, but a necessary one if we ever want to face the issue as a nation.
The issue is that our federal, state, and local governments, along with the courts and law enforcement, are no better than the puppet governments employed by 3rd rate tin pot dictators. The only difference between the US and other nations is that we have a media who is complicit in covering it up, and we have enough citizens who can afford lawyers that it keps the criminals somewhat in check.
The problem is rampant, all the way up to the Oval Office, which has been filled with the top picks provided by corporate finance controlled media for the last several decades.
How do we begin to fix it? By learning the Constitutional foundation of our laws and using our knowledge as a wedge to help opening peoples eyes. We won't agree on everything, but we'll have a single shared goal whose value supercedes all of our lesser disagreements: A lawful, Constitutional government with a Bill of Rights that preserves and protects our lives, our liberty, and our pursuit of happiness.
Thanks for the post. I sincerely enjoy it when I come across others who share a strong sense of justice.
Shorebreak
I was awakening close to three years ago to the corruption and abuse going on in our country. Sadly I had to learn firsthand, like so many others, before I saw the light of day. That’s exactly why I do what I am doing today, speaking for those who are themselves now feeling the sting of injustice. Between you and me and the world I’m here to say I will not sit down and shut up until those who bring shame to our country are out of office, off the street, and removed from the bench.
The reason criminals continue to commit crimes is because not enough people stand up to them. Those that do, like our client, face harassment, retaliation and intimidation. Police abuse is running rampant, judges are selling their souls for the almighty dollar, and prosecutors are hiding evidence or pretending to have evidence to win a conviction. Why? Because they can, because those responsible for oversight look the other way, and because people like me don’t speak up until they are caught in the crossfire.
Not all cops are bad, but those who aren’t are just as guilty when they honor the code of silence and say nothing. Not all judges abuse their authority or bring dishonor to the justice system, but those who don’t are just as guilty when they honor the code of silence or look the other way. Not all prosecutors are looking for their next political office by walking over the backs of the innocent but those who don’t are just as guilty when they honor the code of silence. Yet, we have people here in America who will try to convince others that our justice system is the best there is. I’m here to tell you that the person who makes that statement has not yet felt the sting of injustice.
Corruption, pay to play, kickbacks and lying thieves do exist at all levels of the government. They will continue to do so until enough citizens start holding them accountable. You’d be surprised at the number of citizens that think the Bill of Rights is privileges our government gives us. Privileges that government can take away at a moment’s notice and we the people are helpless to prevent. Without a doubt it is this sort of thinking that has allowed our government, our justice system and our police forces to become what they are today. Lady Justice has been reduced to prostitution sold to the highest bidder and we, each and every one of us who sit back and let it happen are shamed by the actions of others.
I personally don’t like feeling ashamed of myself or my country. I guess I’m in for the fight to the finish, whatever it takes. My advice to others is to not wait until you are stung, fight now so that you and your loved ones can live free the way our founding fathers planned for us many years ago.
The prosecutors office follows the Deaf, Dumb, or Blind rule. Either they didn't hear you say something or they are to dumb to do something right, or they are to blind to see what is going on. Child support enforcement has gotten out of hand, they don't try to fix it they just force it. I think the whole group should be fired because Bozo The Clown could do better.
The prosecutors office follows the Deaf, Dumb, or Blind rule. Either they didn't hear you say something or they are to dumb to do something right, or they are to blind to see what is going on. Child support enforcement has gotten out of hand, they don't try to fix it they just force it. I think the whole group should be fired because Bozo The Clown could do better.
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