Sonoma County D.A. Report pgs. 31 to 40

Justice for Andy Lopez Cruz! (d. 2013-10-22; Santa Rosa) [link]
pages 31 through 40 (of 52) from the Sonoma County D.A. Report on Andy Lopez Shooting.
Notes from JB Tucker, investigative journalist, are noted by the yellow square, and are produced below the individual pages. Links to all sections of the complete report at [link].

Note by JB for pg. 31:
Some forensic associations allow membership only for law enforcement; some for defense and law enforcement.  Inherently those that admit only law enforcement are questionable from a Daubert standard.





Note by JB for pg. 34:
It has been detected up to over 60 days in blood tests and can be the result of weight loss because THC Delta 9 is fat soluble.





Note by JB for pg. 37:
Michael Jones, audio/video forensics, should be consulted for analysis and review of these conclusions from a strictly video presentation standpoint.

Sonoma County D.A. Report pgs. 21 to 30

Justice for Andy Lopez Cruz! (d. 2013-10-22; Santa Rosa) [link]
pages 21 through 30 (of 52) from the Sonoma County D.A. Report on Andy Lopez Shooting.
Notes from JB Tucker, investigative journalist, are noted by the yellow square, and are produced below the individual pages. Links to all sections of the complete report at [link].






Note by JB for pg. 23:
 Did anybody ask any questions about whether his perception of the weight of the gun entered into his opinions on whether the gun was real or not?

Note by JB for pg. 24:
 Swinging an AK 47 is not consistent with it being real based upon the weight factor.



Note by JB for pg. 26:
 Did they ask her whether it appeared from it's being kicked that it was light or heavy?

Note by JB for pg. 27:
That's an editorial that doesn't belong in the report except in an analysis section.

Note by JB for pg. 28:
Was he asked his perception of the weight of the gun based upon the way the deputy moved it with his foot.

Note by JB for pg. 29:
For them to editorialize like this they should have been tested to detect deception in investigative interviews and found competent.  Were they tested?  What were the results?

Sonoma County D.A. Report pgs. 11 to 20

Justice for Andy Lopez Cruz! (d. 2013-10-22; Santa Rosa) [link]
pages 11 through 20 (of 52) from the Sonoma County D.A. Report on Andy Lopez Shooting.
Notes from JB Tucker, investigative journalist, are noted by the yellow square, and are produced below the individual pages. Links to all sections of the complete report at [link].




Note by JB for pg. 12:
Remember, supposedly this is happening with a 10.5 pound weapon.  There is an obvious difference between a kid with a replica and a kid with a 10.5 pound real weapon in how they will handle it.

Note by JB for pg. 13:
Did Gelhaus still believe it was an AK 47 that weighed 10.5 pounds after he kicked it?



Note by JB for pg. 15:
Was any witness ever questioned about how heavy the "weapon" appeared to be?








Note by JB for pg. 19:
Yep, this witness who's not even close to being an expert noted that "it was 'way too light'"

Sonoma County D.A. Report pgs. 1 to 10

Justice for Andy Lopez Cruz! (d. 2013-10-22; Santa Rosa) [link]
pages 1 through 10 (of 52) from the Sonoma County D.A. Report on Andy Lopez Shooting.
Notes from JB Tucker, investigative journalist, are noted by the yellow square, and are produced below the individual pages. Links to all sections of the complete report at [link].








Note by JB for page 2:
By reason of the Government Code Section 3307, Peace Officers cannot be required to take polygraph examinations, a privilege that does not exist for the FBI, CIA, or any other State of Federal employee.  Their "Methodology" begins as inherently flawed as arbitrarily limited by the Government Code for strictly political reasons.  That the report fails to note such limitation represents a gross disregard of epistemology.

Notes 1 through 6 by JB for page 3:
Because lie detectors cannot be used with peace officer witnesses under the Government Code, the question that need to be asked of no matter who "investigated," HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TESTED ON YOUR ABILITY TO DETECT DECEPTION IN AN INVESTIGATIVE INTDRVIEWS OR INTERROGATIONS?  If so, what were your personal results on the test?  Who administered the test and what were their qualifications?
---
Without a polygraph of the law enforcement witnesses it is by definition neither thorough, complete nor comprehensive.  Just because the law limits their ability to do this kind of investigation they should not pretend that there are other investigative techniques that could be used and which would have been used by the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility or other federal internal affairs office.
---
Has he/she been tested on ability to determine deception, as pointed out above?
---
"...summaries of interviews...."  Were some interviews only summarized and not recorded and/or transcribed?
---
I don't know of Lewinsky or Fries but I will check them out; Dr. Reese Jones is highly respected and unlikely to be considered a "prosecution whore" or a "defense whore."
---
Why limit the inquiry to "personnel and training records" and not looking at the records of their entire life histories?  Why not interview his school classmates to see if he has a reputation for racism, poor impulse control or bullying?



Notes 1 and 2 by JB for page 5:
As a member of the MAGNET team did he ever testify as a gang expert in court to get a "gang enhancement" charge or conviction? If so, did they review his testimony?  So-called law enforcement "gang experts" are frequently liars and/or idiots who might technically meet "Frye" standards but could not possibly meet the more stringent "Daubert" standards in a federal court proceeding.
---
What was his "re-enlistment" code on his DD214?   Honorable Discharge means nothing unless you are eligible for re-enlistment.  Maybe he was but the absence of mentioning this factor may mean that those interpreting his records didn't know what to look for or that they did and overlooked a key point.

Note by JB for page 6:
Then Gelhaus also knows how heavy an AK-47 is.  The AK-47 assault rifle weighs 4.78 kilograms (10.5 pounds) with a loaded magazine.  Did it look to Gelhaus that Andy Lopez was carrying something that weighed 10.5 pounds?



Note by JB for page 8:
Could he possibly carry a 10.5 pound weapon like this?

Sonoma County D.A. Report on Andy Lopez Shooting

Justice for Andy Lopez Cruz! (d. 2013-10-22; Santa Rosa) [link]
Complete report with notes by investigative journalist JB Tucker, posted 2014-07-10 at [link], an analysis of what's right, wrong, and unreasonable about the investigation, it's methodology, and what's defective about the report's conclusions.
* Pages 1 through 10 [link]
* Pages 11 through 20 [link]
* Pages 21 through 30 [link]
* Pages 31 through 40 [link]
* Pages 41 through 52 [link]
* Appendix A [link]
* Appendix B [link]
* Appendix C [link]
* Appendix D [link]
* Appendix E [link]

Download report as a three-part pdf file:
* Click here for Part I [link]
* Click here for Part II [link]
* Click here for Part III [link]

Here are some choice quotes from JB's commentary on the Sonoma County District Attorney report on the shooting of Andy Lopez:
---
By reason of the Government Code Section 3307, Peace Officers cannot be required to take polygraph examinations, a privilege that does not exist for the FBI, CIA, or any other State of Federal employee. Their “Methodology” begins as inherently flawed as arbitrarily limited by the Government Code for strictly political reasons. That the report fails to note such limitation represents a gross disregard of epistemology.
---
As a member of the MAGNET team did he ever testify as a gang expert in court to get a “gang enhancement” charge or conviction? If so, did they review his testimony? So-called law enforcement “gang experts” are frequently liars and/or idiots who might technically meet “Frye” standards but could not possibly meet the more stringent “Daubert” standards in a federal court proceeding.
---
Remember, supposedly this is happening with a 10.5 pound weapon. There is an obvious difference between a kid with a replica and a kid with a 10.5 pound real weapon in how they will handle it.
---
For them to editorialize like this they should have been tested to detect deception in investigative interviews and found competent. Were they tested? What were the results?
---
A test needs to be performed re-enacting the difference with several males of similar stature and size to Andy Lopez of doing this with the replica weapon and with a real AK 47. This is obvious and nobody should have drawn this conclusion without doing such a test.

"Surveillance of American Muslims Underscores Lack of Safeguards"

2014-07-09 from "Amnesty International - USA":
WASHINGTON - July 9 - Revelations today in The Intercept about the apparently arbitrary surveillance of several prominent American Muslims underscore the lack of safeguards to protect the rights of persons targeted by U.S. surveillance operations, Amnesty International said today.
If it is true, as alleged, that the term "Mohammed Raghead" was used as a placeholder in a government document about how to make surveillance requests, there is good reason to be concerned that anti-Muslim bias tainted the process. Any surveillance conducted on the basis of religion, rather than probable cause to believe that the defendant violated the law, would constitute discriminatory interference with the right to privacy, prohibited by both the Constitution and international human rights law.
"The burden is on President Obama to demonstrate that the surveillance was lawful, and specifically that the government had probable cause to monitor the men, and was not motivated by racial or religious bias," said Steven W. Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty International USA. "Given the indicators of discrimination, as well as the system's lack of meaningful safeguards, we are very concerned that the monitoring was arbitrary and abusive. It is simply unacceptable to discriminate against people on the basis of their religion or race."
While the story is not clear on this point, the government may have been granted warrants by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to conduct surveillance of the men. The court operates almost entirely in secret, however, relying upon secret interpretations of controversial laws, and lacking sufficient protections against abuse. In particular, the court hears only one side of a request for surveillance: the government's side. In addition, the court's judges are chosen by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, an appointments process that damages its independence and impartiality.
Amnesty International believes that these flaws greatly erode the FISC's capacity to serve as a meaningful check on executive power and its willingness to consider the right to privacy as well as the needs of legitimate law enforcement.
Despite the system's obvious problems, calls for legislative reform have stalled, with Congress failing to move forward on draft legislation. Amnesty International believes that the concerns raised by these cases demonstrate the urgent need for reform.
Under international human rights law, any surveillance must be necessary and proportionate to a legitimate aim, such as countering serious crime, and be the least intrusive means of achieving that aim. Furthermore, the use of surveillance must be enshrined in law, be based on probable cause, and be subject to independent review. Surveillance must be targeted at individuals and be based on probable cause. It should not be conducted on the basis of religion, race, nationality, gender or other discriminatory factors.

Los Angeles Police Officers attack human-rights activist who shows solidarity with the People of Palestine

"I filmed the LAPD assaulting me at pro-Israel demo", 2014-07-09 by Ali Abunimah [http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/i-filmed-lapd-assaulting-me-pro-israel-demo]:
Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) assaulted me without provocation as I spoke to and filmed participants at a pro-Israel rally on the north side of Wilshire Blvd. by the Israeli consulate this evening.
I was handcuffed and threatened, and I caught it all on video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoKiFqo4ksY].
Across the road, on the south side of Wilshire, was a Palestine solidarity rally called for by a number of peace and justice groups to protest Israel’s rampage of lethal violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
I arrived directly to the pro-Israel counter-demonstration without first having been to the Palestine solidarity rally. I wanted to speak to people and record their opinions.
As I was arriving, I heard one participant say: “A good Muslim is a dead Muslim.” I approached him and asked him, “What could make all this stop?” He answered: “Eliminate Muslims” and launched into an anti-Muslim tirade.
Another person heard him and objected to his words, telling me, “That’s not true. Terrorists are the problem,” and “I have a lot of Palestinian friends.”
We were having a conversation when, without any warning, I was assaulted by LAPD officers. I was profiled: one officer asked, “Are you with the Palestine?”
In the video, the officers claim that I had disobeyed an order. This is untrue. I was assaulted and restrained without warning and when I asked the officers to stop assaulting me and let me go, they put handcuffs on me.
One officer can be heard on the video saying, “I know you are trying to fire everyone up.” This is also untrue – I was asking questions and listening to the answers.
I believe he may have said this because he suspected that my camera was still running. An officer also said that they were trying to “keep the peace” and “keep me safe,” all while physically assaulting me.
After the video cuts, the sergeant was called. I was questioned about my political beliefs and asked, “Which side are you on?”
I answered, “I am on the side of peace and justice.” The sergeant asked, “Which side is that?”
I responded, “Which side do you think it is?”
The sergeant said they would remove the handcuffs if I agreed to leave the scene and not come back. I agreed and I was escorted across Wilshire Blvd. where I joined the Palestine solidarity rally, which appeared to have several hundred people, more than the dozens waving Israeli flags and chanting, “Who are we? Israel!”
In my book The Battle for Justice in Palestine [http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/my-new-book-battle-justice-palestine], I write about the close cooperation between Israel and US big city police departments, including the LAPD.
In January, as Rania Khalek reported, LAPD top brass went on their most recent junket where they fell in love with Israeli drones [http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/lapd-goes-israel-falls-love-drones-and-mass-surveillance].
I wonder if it is that cooperation that predisposes officers to see anyone suspected of being “with the Palestine” as a threat.
What is clear is that I was profiled and treated as a threat like so many Angelenos, particularly people of color.
---
2014-07-08 from @MikePrysner [http://twitter.com/MikePrysner/status/486702647915708417/photo/1]:
The awesome @AliAbunimah of @intifada speaking at LA #Palestine rally! And fresh out of LAPD handcuffs. #resistance