trouble at home (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} troubler) wrote,@ 2005-12-12 08:05:00 |
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now that's just weird.
Ap story here:
"Deputy District Attorney John Monaghan, 53, urged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday to deny the Crips gang co-founder clemency, saying he committed senseless and brutal slayings in Los Angeles County.
In February 2003, Monaghan shot and killed an unarmed driver he had pulled over while working as a San Bernardino County sheriff's reserve deputy. The defense argues Monaghan acted in self-defense after a foot chase.
The Sheriff's Department ruled the shooting of Jose Luis Perea, 47, was within the department's policy guidelines, and prosecutors found insufficient evidence to charge Monaghan with a crime. But Perea's family filed a $30 million wrongful death lawsuit.
In September, a federal magistrate judge dismissed much of the lawsuit but let two claims - excessive force and negligence - move forward. The court questioned some of Monaghan's account of the shooting.
After the traffic stop, Monaghan has said he chased Perea through a pallet yard in Fontana. He said he was forced to open fire out of fear that the suspect might have a weapon.
The judge was unconvinced.
Though he broke the law by fleeing, Perea was unarmed and didn't appear to pose a threat despite his erratic behavior, the judge said.
During the chase, Perea was not running as fast as he could, stopped several times and seemed to be holding up his pants or holding something inside them. He threw an eyeglasses container and then a baseball cap at Monaghan.
"Flying baseball caps and eyeglass containers are not the stuff of which hardened or violent suspects are made," U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen G. Larson wrote."
Ap story here:
"Deputy District Attorney John Monaghan, 53, urged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday to deny the Crips gang co-founder clemency, saying he committed senseless and brutal slayings in Los Angeles County.
In February 2003, Monaghan shot and killed an unarmed driver he had pulled over while working as a San Bernardino County sheriff's reserve deputy. The defense argues Monaghan acted in self-defense after a foot chase.
The Sheriff's Department ruled the shooting of Jose Luis Perea, 47, was within the department's policy guidelines, and prosecutors found insufficient evidence to charge Monaghan with a crime. But Perea's family filed a $30 million wrongful death lawsuit.
In September, a federal magistrate judge dismissed much of the lawsuit but let two claims - excessive force and negligence - move forward. The court questioned some of Monaghan's account of the shooting.
After the traffic stop, Monaghan has said he chased Perea through a pallet yard in Fontana. He said he was forced to open fire out of fear that the suspect might have a weapon.
The judge was unconvinced.
Though he broke the law by fleeing, Perea was unarmed and didn't appear to pose a threat despite his erratic behavior, the judge said.
During the chase, Perea was not running as fast as he could, stopped several times and seemed to be holding up his pants or holding something inside them. He threw an eyeglasses container and then a baseball cap at Monaghan.
"Flying baseball caps and eyeglass containers are not the stuff of which hardened or violent suspects are made," U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen G. Larson wrote."
I'm going to the vigil tonight. I can't believe I'm living in a state that officially kills people (to tell people that killing people is wrong). F*cked up. And bklyndispatch has it right, so much for the concept of rehabilitation.
