IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John P.
Flannery
Cell:
202-365-5060; Phone: 703-771-8344
JonFlan@aol.com
; www.JohnPFlannerv.com
June 24, 2013
FLANNERY REQUESTS COURT STATISTICS ON PROPORTION OF
BLACKS ARRESTED IN LOUDOUN COUNTY
____________________________________
John P. Flannery, who recently charged
that the Confederate Soldier Statue should be removed from the Courthouse has
served a request on the Loudoun Circuit and District Court for statistics that
show the proportion of criminal arrests that charge Blacks.
[Text of full letter is available at - http://bronxgadfly.blogspot.com/2013/06/foia-request-of-loudoun-courts-re-black.html
; see earlier statement on taking down the confederate soldier statue at - http://bronxgadfly.blogspot.com/2013/05/take-that-confederate-statue-down-by.html
Citing a “growing awareness that the
Confederate soldier statue standing in front of the Courthouse represents
disunity, lawlessness and slavery,” Flannery said he agreed with this view and
said that “the statue not only offends but it chills access to and compromises
trust in this Court and the regularity of its proceedings at the Circuit and
District Court levels.”
Based on his observations, Mr. Flannery
said that “there is a fear that this symbol means that persons of color are not
being treated as equal by the Courts despite the promise of ‘equal justice
before the law.’"
Flannery cited one person, Johnny
Chambers, who was interviewed by local Channel 9 who said, "It's hard to
get justice when you get people that live in this area, that run this county,
that believe in this system," pointing at the Confederate soldier statue.
Flannery said a Deputy Clerk, Jennifer
Grant, reportedly said years ago that "there were certain things people
didn't talk about." He said the
“current staff at the Court have told me the same thing …”
“I'm requesting certain information to
test the proposition how we treat the black citizens we arrest in this County
and whether, as is believed, blacks are arrested in disproportion to their
representation in the Loudoun County population.”
Flannery said “the court case information
on-line … plainly indicate[s] the race of every person arrested..” and is “also
maintained in the aggregate in a database …”
For example, Flannery said, “Johnny
Chambers' case is available on-line, his race plainly identified, so that one
may consider the charges against Mr. Chambers and know precisely
what disposition he received.”
He stated that, “Johnny's charge was
marijuana possession” and “there is a recent study that states, while there is
no proportional difference between and among blacks and whites as to the use of
marijuana, there is a dramatic and significant over-representation of blacks
arrested for possession of marijuana, reflecting an apparent policy of
prosecutorial discrimination.”
[See study at - http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/061413-mj-report-rfs-rel4.pdf
.]
Flannery requested information under FOIA
that, Flannery said, “is believed to be readily available in the court's
records to consider [1] the proportion of all adult arrests in Loudoun County
that are black citizens, [2] of all drug and narcotics offenses that are black
citizens, [3] of all marijuana possession charges that are black citizens, and [4]
all disorderly conduct charges that are black citizens.”
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