This story also ran in the Los Angeles Times. A U.S. Army veteran who spent more than seven months in an immigration lock-up, despite his protestations that he was a naturalized American citizen, has received a $400,000 settlement and a written apology from the U.S. government. Rennison Vern Castillo, 33, of Lakewood, Wash., had sued […]
Criminal Justice
Crime and punishment, from the street to the courtroom and prisons
Posted inCriminal Justice, Immigration
Former ICE intelligence chief is among immigration agents under investigation
This story also ran in the Washington Post. Several agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including the former head of the agency’s intelligence office, are subjects of an internal inquiry into alleged personal misconduct, sources say. James M. Woosley, who was ICE’s assistant director for intelligence, was relieved of his position, according to a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Q&A: Dick Marty, Council of Europe special rapporteur
In the history of the Council of Europe, no committee report has garnered as many media hits as Dick Marty’s inquiry titled “Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo.” The report prompted a furious controversy when it was released last month by the Council of Europe’s parliamentary affairs committee. Since […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Man Implicated in Civil Rights-Era Killing of Frank Morris
This story originally appeared in the Concordia Sentienl. Two people say a Richland Parish truck driver who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan told them he participated in the arson that killed Frank Morris, a black Ferriday businessman, in 1964. A third person, the truck driver’s former wife, says she, too, heard what […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Feds Vow to Solve Morris Murder
Main story: Man Implicated in Civil Rights-Era Murder of Frank Morris In recent weeks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation intensified its efforts to solve the 1964 arson-murder of Ferriday shoe shop owner Frank Morris, leading a top FBI official to declare last week that the agency “will solve this crime.” The FBI’s fresh activity evolved […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Report alleges organ harvesting ring linked to Kosovo officials
UPDATE: Del Ponte calls for international inquiry into Kosovo organ harvesting European investigators today disclosed chilling new details of organ trafficking in Kosovo and Albania, corroborating allegations raised in a 2009 investigation by the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and the BBC. A draft report released by the Council of Europe […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Unusual Methods Helped ICE Break Deportation Record
This story was also published in the Washington Post. For much of this year, the Obama administration touted its tougher-than-ever approach to immigration enforcement, culminating in a record number of deportations. But in reaching 392,862 deportations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement included more than 19,000 immigrants who exited the previous fiscal year, according to agency […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Trial in Chauncey Bailey murder case begins
More than three years after the murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey, the trial of two men charged with his killing began — slowly — Monday in a courtroom just two blocks from where he fell in a hail of shotgun blasts. READ FULL STORY | CHAUNCEY BAILEY PROJECT
Posted inCriminal Justice
Thad Christian’s Death Still Raises Questions 45 Years Later
Forty-five years ago, a man named Thad Christian died of a shotgun blast to the stomach. Yet, his death did not garner the notice of the other killings that summer, even though the circumstances, according to news reports, were disturbing. READ FULL ARTICLE
Posted inCriminal Justice, Immigration
Two mentally disabled Mexican immigrants released after long detention
On March 29, CIR’s Andrew Becker reported for the Los Angeles Times on a lawsuit filed by two mentally disabled Mexican immigrants who spent years in detention facilities after completing their sentences. Two days later the two men were released by U.S. immigration authorities. Read an update by Becker in the Times. >> Read the […]