Ferguson judge withdraws all arrest warrants before 2015

[TacoD]

Source: CNN

The municipal court judge in Ferguson, Missouri, on Monday announced sweeping changes to the city's court system, including an order to withdraw all arrest warrants issued in that city before December 31, 2014.

Municipal Court Judge Donald McCullin, who was appointed in June, also changed the conditions for pretrial release. According to a press release put out by Ferguson, all defendants will be given new court dates with alternative penalties like payment plans or community service.

Ferguson became the focal point of a national debate about race and policing in August 2014, after then-city police Officer Darren Wilson, who is white, shot and killed teenager Michael Brown, who is black.

A grand jury declined to charge Wilson in that case. Yet protests surrounding it also revealed other issues involving Ferguson police and the municipal court system.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/24/us/ferguson-missouri-court-changes/

---

ETA: Earlier CNN story (Aug. 6): One year later: Ferguson is still pumping out arrest warrants

[randys1]

1. W O W

[Number23]

8. WOW is right!!

Holy Moly! I am incredibly intrigued as to what the end game is here and what the outcome of this will be.

Goodness gracious. This is huge. And the fact that it's the only story on the home page right now that's not about Sanders supporters trying to avoid hides just makes it even more massive and special.

[JustAnotherGen]

47. Wow again!

This is a huge win. I'd love to see a list of crimes with the names redacted.

[freshwest]

57. I'd like them to do a form of jubilee and start from fresh. With DOJ oversight for a few years.

The warrants were often over petty infractions* that built up until possibly they were disenfranchised of the vote. IDK what their laws are for voting, but something's very wrong.

The DOJ and FBI went door to door and handed voter registration forms as they worked getting their stories which went into the DOJ report on Ferguson. The DOJ found violations of the 1st, 4th and 14th Amendments to the US Constitution in Ferguson.

Details on each of those items and more at link:

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-findings-two-civil-rights-investigations-ferguson-missouri

From Huffpo:

To give some context as to how truly extreme this is, a comparison may be useful. In 2014, the Boston Municipal Court System, for a city of 645,000 people, issued about 2,300 criminal warrants. The Ferguson Municipal Court issued 9,000, for a population 1/30th the size of Boston's.

This complete penetration of policing into everyday life establishes a world of unceasing terror and violence. When everyone is a criminal by default, police are handed an extraordinary amount of discretionary power. "Discretion" may sound like an innocuous or even positive policy, but its effect is to make every single person's freedom dependent on the mercy of individual officers. There are no more laws, there are only police. The "rule of law," by which people are supposed to be treated equally according to a consistent set of principles, becomes the "rule of personal whim."

And this is precisely what occurs in Ferguson. As others have noted, the Ferguson courts appear to work as an orchestrated racket to extract money from the poor. The thousands upon thousands of warrants that are issued, according to the DOJ, are "not to protect public safety but rather to facilitate fine collection." Residents are routinely charged with minor administrative infractions. Most of the arrest warrants stem from traffic violations, but nearly every conceivable human behavior is criminalized. An offense can be found anywhere, including citations for "Manner of Walking in Roadway," "High Grass and Weeds," and 14 kinds of parking violation. The dystopian absurdity reaches its apotheosis in the deliciously Orwellian transgression "failure to obey." (Obey what? Simply to obey.) In fact, even if one does obey to the letter, solutions can be found. After Henry Davis was brutally beaten by four Ferguson officers, he found himself charged with "destruction of official property" for bleeding on their uniforms.

None of this is even to mention the blinding levels of racism, which remain the central fact of police interactions in Ferguson and nationwide. The overwhelming force of this violent and exploitative policing system is directed at the African American population. In 2013, 92 percent of Ferguson's arrest warrants were issued against African Americans, and black Fergusonians were 68 percent less likely than others to have their court cases dismissed. The racism is so blatant and comprehensive that the DOJ concluded that "Ferguson law enforcement practices are directly shaped and perpetuated by racial bias." Considering the qualified and colorless language typically deployed in government documents, this is an astonishingly forceful statement.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-robinson/the-shocking-finding-from-the-doj-ferguson_b_6858388.html

*Warrants for violence would be another matter, but that's not what most of those warrants were for. I can't imagine getting a warrant for tall grass...

I was offered many jobs at one time, including the PD but didn't want to work there - just because. I was told by a co-worker why he refused to work there. He'd been taken for a tour with some officers to see if he'd like the work.

He said the day was spent driving around in wards of low-income AAs. And the job wasn't to help anyone, but to make a quota of tickets over tail lights, mirrors, expired inspection and license plates. Many people have a hard time making enough to pay for these things - at one time that was me, too.

He said he couldn't work taking advantage of the poor for a living and told them he wasn't interested. He was the nicest and most humble white guy I ever worked with, not racist or sexist, but he was killed in an accident.

[JustAnotherGen]

64. This needs to be its own post

To give some context as to how truly extreme this is, a comparison may be useful. In 2014, the Boston Municipal Court System, for a city of 645,000 people, issued about 2,300 criminal warrants. The Ferguson Municipal Court issued 9,000, for a population 1/30th the size of Boston's.

And this - Wilson might have gotten off scot free but his 'corporation' certainly didn't. . .

None of this is even to mention the blinding levels of racism, which remain the central fact of police interactions in Ferguson and nationwide. The overwhelming force of this violent and exploitative policing system is directed at the African American population. In 2013, 92 percent of Ferguson's arrest warrants were issued against African Americans, and black Fergusonians were 68 percent less likely than others to have their court cases dismissed. The racism is so blatant and comprehensive that the DOJ concluded that "Ferguson law enforcement practices are directly shaped and perpetuated by racial bias." Considering the qualified and colorless language typically deployed in government documents, this is an astonishingly forceful statement.

[freshwest]

54. Holder's DOJ did find the PD had a pattern of abuse in this area... Lynch may be on them, too. n/t

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. #BLM

[Supersedeas]

84. Making a difference -- one courtroom at a time

[Trajan]

3. Such great news ...

Now, clean up the police organization, and remove all those who cannot act like professional public servants ...

[Madmiddle]

70. They, of course,

need to vote out the bad political element, in that community.

[thebighobgoblin]

4. Were all arrest warrants invalid?

It seems like many were questionable but does that apply to 100 percent of the cases?

[Ed Suspicious]

5. When the bag of potatoes is rotten it's best to just throw it out and get a new one.

[CatWoman]

14. great point/response

to a very stupid question.

[Enrique]

9. If you have a point, make it

your question is obviously rhetorical, so what is the point you're making?

[thebighobgoblin]

20. Why is it necessarily rhetorical?

The article doesn't say much except that the judge decided to throw out all of the arrest warrants. Sorry, I'm not an expert on Ferguson, Missouri arrest warrants, but I find the move unusual.

[GitRDun]

28. I think what it means is

if the police want to charge someone with a crime, they have to reapply for an arrest warrant.

The judge is assuming all warrants are invalid, putting the onus on the police to get their act together and show cause for arrest.

For real crimes, they can re-present evidence and get a new warrant. I think the judge is making them do this because the vast majority of the warrants are bogus.

[thebighobgoblin]

31. Warrants may not be bogus

but they're probably not necessary, either, in a lot of cases. This is probably a move to regain some credibility in the eyes of people who are suspicious of the system, so in that sense I get it. I only asked the question because it's an unusual step and I assume that somewhere among those warrants might actually be some people who deserve to go to jail. The judge probably figured, however, that the greater good was served by restoring some trust in the system, which makes sense in its own right I guess.

[GitRDun]

32. I do think they can re-charge in those cases where they need to eom

[cui bono]

61. Don't you think the people of Ferguson have been through enough and been wronged enough

already? Have you read about the unjustices there with LEO and the court system? So what if a few legit warrants get tossed. That's minor compared to the crimes committed against the community by the legal system.

[marble falls]

60. Because judges go out of their way to release dangerous criminals?

[passiveporcupine]

6. This is wonderful news

It's a start...let's keep it going.

[Ed Suspicious]

7. That sends a pretty powerful message to those responsible for corruption. And it sends a powerful

message to this community. Bravo. I can just feel the pro-order folk's veins bursting in their fiery red foreheads.

[JDPriestly]

10. Too good to be true???? I hope it is true. If so, it is wonderful work.

[sheshe2]

11. It's nice to have some good news for a change.

K&R

[procon]

12. As long as the city is still using these civil fines as the primary revenue

source, this court order doesn't really change the vicious cycle of targeting the poor for trumped up crap like; "...6% of the tickets that became warrants were related to disrespecting the police."

Until Ferguson makes comprehensive reforms to their local government these payment plans won't fix their "policing for profit" cultural mindset.

[jeff47]

34. A new state law limits how much of a city's budget can come from fines. (nt)

[cstanleytech]

45. What if they try the old hide it as a fee maneuver like court "fees"?

[jeff47]

72. IIRC, it applies to anything that comes out of the municipal courts no matter what they call it. nt

[jwirr]

49. You are correct. IF this does not mean the end of old system of arrests

for petty crimes in order to make money for the city then they will just start another long list of arrests.

Let us hope that there is some power in the judges decision.

[JudyM]

13. Sorry to disagree with a lot of DUers on this but this is unnecessarily broad....

I am thinking about the mothers of people who may have been murdered, or killed by drunk drivers, or whatever. Plus it seems this move is, by odds alone, giving some violent criminals the ability to victimize more people.

While it's a great *show* of good faith, why not just throw out the warrants for non-violent crime and do a review of the violent crime arrest warrants using a liberal standard? Too much effort for him? It strikes me as a thinly veiled political move by this new guy rather than a rational, thoughtful response in the best interests of the Ferguson community.

Even if the majority of the arrest warrants - for African Americans - were overreaching, what about the arrest warrants for Caucasians? The only basis for letting them off the hook is because you couldn't do a race-based withdrawal only.

[Lurks Often]

18. Municipal Court only handles traffic fines and the like, not felonies

or serious misdemeanors.

Something easily found with a 10 second search.

Link to the court's fines: http://www.fergusoncity.com/DocumentCenter/View/1838

[thebighobgoblin]

21. And so all people who commit these offenses should not have their warrants overturned?

Why not a review process?

Sorry, but I think Ferguson's a mess and a fair amount of it is probably self-inflicted.

[Lurks Often]

42. What are you going on about?

The Ferguson Municipal judge dismissed all the traffic cases and any arrest warrants that resulted from those cases that occurred prior to 1/1/2015

[thebighobgoblin]

46. And my question stands:

Where all of them - 100 percent - necessarily unwarranted?

If you want to say that the judge is taking an extraordinary step because he thinks that restoring faith in the system outweighs judicial perfection, then that's fair.

[alcibiades_mystery]

52. The harm caused to the significant number of citizens victimized by the extortionary police force

far outweighs any benefits of maintaining the "proper" warrants, as does the continued harm that any lengthy review process would entail. The judge made the right call. The Ferguson police department and its accomplices in the local judiciary were completely out of control. Distinguishing between good and bad warrants for violations would be useless and unnecessarily onerous to the victims of this gangster police force. Nobody derives any benefit of enforcing the "good" warrants, or even attempting to distinguish them from the bad. These are minor violations blown up into repeated life altering charges by a reckless conspiracy of the Ferguson administration, police, and courts.

The only mistake the judge made was the set the limit at December 31, 2014. He should have voided all muni court warrants up to yesterday.

[sunnystarr]

56. omg who ARE you???

Let's just say they victimized the community for years with bogus arrests and fines. This doesn't even come close to balancing things out.

[christx30]

62. It's civil fines.

No one is going to get hurt by this. Someone is going to breathe a sigh of relief because they don't have to skip work to try to get out of a $200 fine for something petty, otherwise it could go up to $500 or more. Watch John Oliver's segment on Municipal violations. Important quote from that show: "If you don't have enough money to pay a fine immediately, tickets can wreck your life."

[Lurks Often]

66. Your question bordered on incoherent

Probably some of the traffic tickets were warranted, but issuing arrest warrants for traffic infractions seems a bit much especially when the police department has shown a pattern of behavior that strongly suggests that the tickets were NOT issued fairly and that the town's revenue stream strongly depended on those tickets.

So yes, throwing out all the tickets and more importantly the arrest warrants that were issued both helps restore faith in the system and reduces the exposure of the town to multiple lawsuits on whether the tickets and arrest warrants were properly issued in the first place..

[christx30]

68. And no change to the system is going to happen

without a shock to the system. Government will always take any power it can, and it will fight like HELL if it's ever forced to relinquish any part of that power. It has to be told "no" occasionally.

[thebighobgoblin]

82. Nah, it was pretty coherent

to those with adequate reading comprehension skills. Municipal courts deal with more than mere traffic violations, so the question's valid.

[mercuryblues]

22. you are

reading it wrong. Muni judges in Ferguson deal with:

Municipal Judge
The court is presided over by the municipal judge who is appointed by the City Council on the nomination of the city manager for a term of two years. Cases handled by the municipal court consist primarily of:
•Zoning / Building violations
•Traffic violations
•Non-traffic violations (shoplifting, assault, nuisances, narcotics and liquor violations, peace disturbances, etc.)
http://www.fergusoncity.com/60/The-City-Of-Ferguson-Municipal-Courts

Muni courts do not handle felony charges

In CNNMoney's analysis, minor offenses dominated the dockets, representing nearly 80% of the nearly 2,000 tickets that led to arrest warrants in April and May. For example, 37 seat belt citations and 104 speeding tickets turned into arrest warrants in these two months. Meanwhile, nearly 100 tickets were for the most minor of violations: having an overgrown yard or rundown house, playing loud music, parking incorrectly, being out past curfew, displaying a license plate in the wrong way, or walking in the road inappropriately.

This last charge, officially listed as "manner of walking along roadway," was highlighted by the DOJ in its report, which cited an example of one man who received a ticket after dancing in the street. The report said 95% of the people cited for this offense in recent years were African-American.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/06/news/ferguson-arrest-warrants/

The warrant system is a cash cow for the city.

[thebighobgoblin]

27. I agree that

a lot of the cases seem dubious. A real problem is the lack of minority representation in their police force, given the proportion of African American residents. I don't see how anyone could have ever thought that was a good idea, and then to have such an automaton and mechanical system in which people get bench warrants only adds fuel to the fire. I don't know if I would agree that all warrants need to be scrapped, but the judge probably felt that it was better to make a significant overture to hit the reset button, so to speak. In that sense, I guess it makes sense then.

[Tom Rinaldo]

29. Think of it like a large damages awad in a lawsuit

When big and powerful corporations and organizations go seriously wrong what gets them to change their ways is being hit with severe consequences for their misdeeds. That's how to really get their attention, and the attention of other organizations like them. This might do the trick.

[Igel]

38. At the same time the police

should be able to reapply.

One punishes the courts but at the same time is punishing all the smaller victims.

It's like back in the day when to punish the police for not conducting a proper search the judge would throw out the evidence that might lead to a murder conviction. Now we'd scream--entirely depending upon who the victim was--"justice!" or "justice denied!" Then that was considered justice, punishing the police even though a thief, rapist, or murderer might walk.

[JustAnotherGen]

65. Can you provide the stats for thiefs, rapists, and murderers in Ferguson

Who had their warrants dismissed in Ferguson?

There's plenty provided on the thread for broken tail lights, lawn too high, parking tickets not paid etc etc.

post 47 - freshwest -

To give some context as to how truly extreme this is, a comparison may be useful. In 2014, the Boston Municipal Court System, for a city of 645,000 people, issued about 2,300 criminal warrants. The Ferguson Municipal Court issued 9,000, for a population 1/30th the size of Boston's.

This complete penetration of policing into everyday life establishes a world of unceasing terror and violence. When everyone is a criminal by default, police are handed an extraordinary amount of discretionary power. "Discretion" may sound like an innocuous or even positive policy, but its effect is to make every single person's freedom dependent on the mercy of individual officers. There are no more laws, there are only police. The "rule of law," by which people are supposed to be treated equally according to a consistent set of principles, becomes the "rule of personal whim."

And this is precisely what occurs in Ferguson. As others have noted, the Ferguson courts appear to work as an orchestrated racket to extract money from the poor. The thousands upon thousands of warrants that are issued, according to the DOJ, are "not to protect public safety but rather to facilitate fine collection." Residents are routinely charged with minor administrative infractions. Most of the arrest warrants stem from traffic violations, but nearly every conceivable human behavior is criminalized. An offense can be found anywhere, including citations for "Manner of Walking in Roadway," "High Grass and Weeds," and 14 kinds of parking violation. The dystopian absurdity reaches its apotheosis in the deliciously Orwellian transgression "failure to obey." (Obey what? Simply to obey.) In fact, even if one does obey to the letter, solutions can be found. After Henry Davis was brutally beaten by four Ferguson officers, he found himself charged with "destruction of official property" for bleeding on their uniforms.

Of that 9K -
How many were rapists, murderers, and thiefs?

And does George Zimmerman live there now? See - that would chap my ass if that thug was getting away with it.

[Lurks Often]

67. None, Municipal Court only handles traffic fines and the like, not felonies

or serious misdemeanors.

Something easily found with a 10 second search.

Link to the court's fines: http://www.fergusoncity.com/DocumentCenter/View/1838

[JustAnotherGen]

69. I didn't think the poster could

What happened in Ferguson was soooooooooo blatant - how anyone could Monday morning quarterback the Judge's decision is beyond me.

Funny how that works isn't it Lurks?

When the legal system/judge does something that is for the 'people' - it needs to be questioned.

When the legal system lets murdering cops go free - we should never ever question, accept things as they are, roll over and take it.

So much bullshit - so little time.

[JudyM]

77. Ok thanks for the clarification, MercuryThyme.

Still, there could be issues of domestic abuse tea that would fall under assaults and peace disturbances. But glad it's not outright serious violent crimes.

[mercuryblues]

81. that

would be family court

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

15. That's a start. So much still to be done.

[Sunlei]

16. This should happen across the USA in all the thousands & thousands of 'fergusons'

[Enthusiast]

17. Kicked and recommended!

[truebluegreen]

19. What about warrants issued this year?

Wasn't there just a story that they are NOW charging journalists who committed journalism last year? That they are now charging everyone from last year?

I gotta see if I can find it.

here's one story: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/us/arrested-in-ferguson-2014-washington-post-reporter-wesley-lowery-is-charged.html?_r=0
and another: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/ctv-s-tom-walters-charged-nearly-a-year-after-arrest-at-ferguson-protests-1.2512320

To be clear: it is very, very cool that the judge has done this; I'm just wondering why the local DA felt the need--right now--to pursue some individuals, specifically the ones who publicized the whole stinky mess.

[frylock]

23. whoa dang!

knr

[JackInGreen]

24. Holy schnikies

Hell YES that's wake up news I like getting.

[Starry Messenger]

25. To the people who kept whining that you can't legislate anti-racism.

Here you go. Yes. You can.

[Igel]

39. Not legislation. n/t

[Chakab]

41. Different branch of the government. Same sentiment.

[blackspade]

26. Holy crap! This is huge!

This needs to happen everywhere.
And there needs to be a hard look at those that are currently locked up as well.

[Babel_17]

30. Giving people a chance to break the cycle

Get a ticket you can't pay, then miss work to go before a judge. And the fines go to obscenely perpetuate that system.

[WillyT]

33. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[TacoD]

79. You're Welcome (nt)

[Spitfire of ATJ]

35. Next step is to drop a whole bunch of charges and convictions....

Imagine seeing families reunited in homecomings.

[alcibiades_mystery]

40. Yes, save the "careful review" for the felony and misdemeanor charges

There should be a very careful review of any charges laid by the Ferguson police over the past ten years.

The Muni court stuff is appropriately simply dismissed out of hand. But the more serious charges should certainly be investigated as well. The police force in Ferguson was little more than an extortion gang for quite some time.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

44. Then there's the word to drive the Right insane....

"Reparations".

In this case to the ENTIRE community for their suffering.

[FreakinDJ]

36. Appropriate Action

[alcibiades_mystery]

37. The correct call: separating the wheat from the chafe of Ferguson's extortionary, gangster-like

so-called "policing" is unduly onerous to the citizens caught up in its web. The city clearly had a de facto strategy of gaining revenue through absurdist extortion of its African American residents. The judiciary has an obligation here to protect the citizens from an out-of-control police force and administration, and to send a message that these gangster policies cannot continue.

We're talking about violations here, not felonies or misdemeanors. The municipality has no abiding, legitimate interest in maintaining these charges when it is clear that some significant quantity (and perhaps a majority - who knows!) of these charges are at best legally dubious, at worst criminal extortion of a (thereby created) underclass.

Voiding all these warrants is the greater good, and constitutes actual justice, a concept the police and administration (and white residents who have been benefiting from these practices!) of Ferguson need to re-acquaint themselves with.

[SunSeeker]

43. K & R

[jwirr]

48. Now THIS is a step forward. I am so glad this judge had the courage to

take this step.

[Hekate]

50. KnR

[valerief]

51. Isn't that where they get all their revenue, albeit illicitly? They can't tax rich people, so

where will they get their revenue now?

[alcibiades_mystery]

53. Yes, the wealthy and white of Ferguson will now have to figure out their revenue sources

when they prefer to 1) pay no taxes and 2) use a gangster police force to extort the poor and African American members of their community.

What a conundrum!

[Crabby Appleton]

55. Ferguson got 15% of their revenue

from municipal court fines.

[closeupready]

58. Glad to hear it. It's a good first step.

Many more steps need to be taken, however. K&R

[Judi Lynn]

59. Ferguson municipal judge announces sweeping changes

Ferguson municipal judge announces sweeping changes
Jim Salter, Associated Press
Updated 7:03 pm, Monday, August 24, 2015

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Ferguson's new municipal judge ordered massive changes Monday in the city's much-criticized municipal court, a move he said is aimed at restoring confidence in the system and easing the burden on needy defendants.

Changes announced by Judge Donald McCullin include withdrawing "close to 10,000" old arrest warrants and giving defendants new court dates and payment options. The new plan allows for community service or fines to be commuted for the indigent. McCullin will also reinstate driver's license for all defendants who lost their license for failing to appear in court or failing to pay a fine, pending final disposition of the case.

The changes come after a critical U.S. Department of Justice report cited racial profiling among Ferguson police and a municipal court system that often targeted blacks, who make up about two-thirds of Ferguson's 21,000 residents. Municipal Judge Ronald Brockmeyer resigned in March, and McCullin was appointed in June.

The Justice Department's investigation began following concerns raised during the unrest that followed the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, by a white Ferguson police officer in August 2014. Officer Darren Wilson was not charged and resigned in November, but the shooting spurred a national "Black Lives Matter" movement.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Ferguson-municipal-judge-announces-sweeping-6462637.php

[eridani]

63. Major victory!! n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

71. I hope this means that Ferguson is going to stop using its residents as an ATM

If so, Mike Brown's death will not have been in vain.

[packman]

73. WATCH OUT - Fox head's are going to explode

Oh, it's going to be beautiful to see and hear how Fox News is going to spin this - Activist Judge anyone? Damn good news.

[ancianita]

74. What Jack Rabbit said. Also, Judges alone can't do it. They can only frame a legal basis

for work that has to be committed to by other groups in Ferguson and at state levels. But it's a start.

[rhett o rick]

75. Great news. Thanks for posting. nm

[TacoD]

80. You're Welcome (nt)

[BeanMusical]

76. Kick and R

[myrna minx]

78. Wow! K&R - this is amazing news.

[tblue37]

83. The Ferguson PD and court system are a gang running a "serve and protection" racket. They

should be RICOed.