LOOSE ENFORCEMENT LEAVE EX-CONS FREE TO KILL

Joseph Reiner (Booking Photo)

Joseph Reiner Convicted Killer

A SEVEN-MONTH INVESTIGATION of the Michigan Department of Corrections revealed shocking problems: Agents failed to properly supervise ex-cons accused in a recent series of high-profile murders,  many weren’t sent back to prison for new crimes or failed drug tests. This has cost the lives of many innocent victims.

Joseph Reiner is an example of the system gone awry. He was a heroin addict and had been mandated to 12 step treatment centers and AA meetings. He was convicted this year of killing a 69 year old woman. Across this country ex-cons like Joseph Reiner are mandated to AA meetings, putting other members in grave danger.

Sex Offender felon Alan Wood and Felon Tonia Watson who went to NA Meetiings together, murdered 80 year Nancy Dailey while Alan Wood was an absconder from the law and on probation.

This investigation exposes the tragic  violent crimes that are being comitted by ex-cons on parole like murder and rape.

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Going To Addiction Treatment Rehab Can Kill You

Many addiction treatment providers are more interested in lining their pockets with money than serving those in need of effective addiction treatment. So many take on patients that they are not properly trained to care for. Most are 12 step based programs mandating people attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or Narcotics Anonymous meetings. AA and NA 12 step philosophy can not come close to treating the needs of the mentally and physically ill that come into their rooms. In fact it can do more harm than good. Thus having dire consequences as explained in the following article by Psychology Today.

When choosing an Addiction Treatment Center do your research to see if they are qualified to handle your specific needs.

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Drunk Colorado AA Member Smashes Car Into Church Holding AA Meeting She Was To Attend

AA member Brenda Geers is in a lot of trouble for allegedly smashes her car into the very church she was to attend her AA meeting! So much for the idea that AA members are just a group of sober people getting on with their lives.

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Army Trying To Brainwash The Entire Military With AA Program That Has No Science Behind It

Military Not Doing Enough to Curb Alcohol, Drug Abuse, IOM Concludes

This story also includes strong criticism of the program from a number of prominent people in the psychiatric community who said the Army was trying to “brainwash” its entire military population with a program that has no sound science behind it in evidence-based medicine.

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Convicted Felon Alcoholics Anonymous Member Arrested After Call to LSU University With Bomb Threat

William Bouvay Jr. mug

Felon AA Member and Baton Rouge resident William Bouvay Jr. was arrested for calling in a bomb threat bomb threat to LSU University. He has a long rap sheet of run-ins  including multiple accounts of domestic abuse, theft, improper telephone communication, violation of a protective order and attempted second-degree murder!

Last year in 2011 he was court mandated to attend AA meetings after pleading guilty to felony domestic assault and battery after being charged with second degree murder!

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Woman Uses Pit Bull as Weapon Is Convicted Of Assault Then Mandated To AA Meetings

This Canadian woman is a real danger to society with a major drinking problem and mean streak, like her Pit Bull that she ordered to attack and kill people. Thank goodness no one actually died, but the Pit Bull left many seriously wounded. She was sentenced to 16 months in jail. Then after she gets out of jail, she is ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings! This is one crazy lady I would not want to be sitting next to at an AA Meeting…..

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NCMEC Is Not Interested In Sex Abuse Against Minors In AA

According to the attorney at the home office in Alexandria, Virginia for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the fact that Alcoholics Anonymous invite sexual predators and violent felons to their meetings, along with targeting minors to attend was of no concern to them what so ever. Continue reading

Mary Kennedy Was an Alcoholics Anonymous Member at Time Of Suicide

Another AA member commits suicide. Mary Richardson Kennedy had joined AA 5 months prior to committing suicide by hanging herself.

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Pedophile Banker Mandated To Alcoholics Anonymous As Part Of Plea Deal To Not Be Registered As Sex Offender

More proof of pedophiles being mandated to Alcoholics Anonymous. This sick man, who was the president of a bank, did a plea deal that included going to AA meetings. This way he would not be registered as a sex offender! I cannot believe these judges are mandating these men to AA meetings where children and minors are present! AA and NA are in on it too! Disgusting behavior on the part of the judges and AA World Services & Narcotics Anonymous World Services. Continue reading

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS IS GETTING ON PEOPLES NERVES!

From The FIX-

The longer I’m in AA, the more it tends to annoy me. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be there. Can’t I be a member without being a zealot?

Neighbors Had Complained To Police Before About George Zimmerman Who Killed Teen Trayvon Martin

Here is a case where neighbors of George Zimmerman had went to police and complained about his aggressive tactics as Captain of his community watch group. He encouraged others to carry firearms. Yet police did not follow up on those complaints. After the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin, 17 by George Zimmerman, police told the family he had a squeaky clean record. This was not true as he had entered into a differed court program , at this time we do not know if he was mandated to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or not. It did involve violence with a police officer over his friend selling alcohol to minors. Time will tell.

Sanford in Seminole County is not far from Holly Hill Florida, where we have a similar situation where Police Chief Barker totally dismisses the complaints from local citizens about aggressive behavior from Daytona Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings and Daytona Narcotics Anonymous members in our Parks. Citizens http://nadaytona.org/rude-awakening/  have been threatened to use a gun against Holly Hill Residents and businesses. Maybe the City of Holly Hill will see the error in their ways, and protect the public that visits our parks. The Sanford Police Chief has stepped down. Good idea!

R.I.P Trayvon Martin

Trayvon

George Zimmerman Neighbors Complained About Aggressive Tactics Before Trayvon Martin Killing

A volunteer community watch captain who shot an unarmed Florida teenager to death last month had been the subject of complaints by neighbors in his gated community for aggressive tactics, a homeowner said.

George Zimmerman has not been charged in the Feb. 26 shooting of Trayvon Martin, 17, who was walking home from a convenience store in Sanford, Fla., near Orlando. Zimmerman, who patrolled the Retreat at Twin Lakes development in his own car, had been called aggressive in earlier complaints to the local police and the homeowner’s association, according to a homeowner who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

At an emergency homeowner’s association meeting on March 1, “one man was escorted out because he openly expressed his frustration because he had previously contacted the Sanford Police Department about Zimmerman approaching him and even coming to his home,” the resident wrote in an email to HuffPost. “It was also made known that there had been several complaints about George Zimmerman and his tactics” in his neighborhood watch captain role.

The meeting was attended by Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee, the detective assigned to the investigation and an unnamed member of the city council, according to the homeowner’s association newsletter. The chief couldn’t immediately be reached for comment about the complaints. A member of the homeowner’s association board, who asked not to be quoted by name, said she “hadn’t heard about any complaints” about Zimmerman. Zimmerman’s phone number is disconnected and efforts to reach him have been unsuccessful.

Talk of prior complaints against Zimmerman comes as pressure mounts on law enforcement. Protesters have gathered outside Sanford police headquarters. The Martin’s family and attorneys have held press conferences calling the killing an outrage and pleading for Zimmerman’s arrest. High school classmates and citizens are granting interviews to reporters asking why no one has been charged. And as the story continues to gain national media attention, civil rights leaders, including members of the NAACP and the Rev. Al Sharpton, said they are preparing to join the family of Martin, who was black. Zimmerman is white.

“This case is disturbing to say the least,” Sharpton told Huffpost. “This is appalling, to think that this guy admitted to initiating the conversation and that there was no crime other than the killing of this young man. Yet, [Zimmerman] is walking around with no threat of an arrest.”

Sharpton said he will travel to Florida this week.

Here is a case where neighbors of Georgr Zimmerman had went to police and complained about his aggressive tactics as Captain. George Zimmerman Arrested 11/18/2013.

Zimmerman called police the evening of the shooting to report Martin as a suspicious person, police have said. A dispatcher told Zimmerman to stand down and an officer was on the way. Zimmerman confronted the youth anyway and Martin was shot in the chest with Zimmerman’s 9 mm pistol, police said. Police questioned Zimmerman, then released him.

According to Martin’s family, police initially told them that Zimmerman said he acted in self-defense and that his record was “squeaky-clean.” Public records show he was arrested in Orange County in 2005 on charges of resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer. Those charges were later dropped.

Benjamin Crump, the Martin family’s attorney, filed a public records lawsuit last week seeking the 911 recordings for the night of the shooting. Crump said people with access to the tapes told him Zimmerman made a comment about Martin’s race during the call and said he had no intention of letting the youth get away because, “they always get away.”

“I don’t think they have any intention on arresting this white man for killing this black boy,” Crump said on Sharpton’s radio show Monday.

Chief Lee said during a Monday afternoon news conference that his department’s investigation should be concluded by Tuesday and delivered to the Seminole County State Attorney’s Office. Lynne Bumpus-Hooper, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney’s Office, said once the case is handed over “it will be thoroughly digested and we will make decisions.”

Protestors jeered Lee during the news conference when he said he does not believe his investigators have enough evidence to charge Zimmerman in the killing, according to local news accounts. Lee said that he believes that “we can get through all the ugly thoughts and all the disagreements and all the ill will and hard feelings and truly come together as a community.”

“It is with that thought that we want to make sure that we due a fair and complete and thorough investigation so that we can reach some form of justice with this event,” Lee said. He added “that there is the right for someone that has a concealed weapons permit to carry that weapon” and that police support the neighborhood watch program.

“In this case Mr. Zimmerman has made the statement of self defense,” Lee said. “Until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don’t have the grounds to arrest him.”

One person shouted, “The black community sees your department protecting the shooter,” and “a little black boy is dead.”

HTTP://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/12/george-zimmerman-trayvon-martin_n_1340358.html#s766193

Man Mandated to Alcoholics Anonymous When a Minor- Murders His Grandfather

When Kenneth Wilkinson, 22 was a minor he was mandated to Alcoholics Anonymous for 60 days. With the court not allowing him to drive until he was 21 also put pressure on the youth. How do you get to 60 AA Meetings when you can’t drive?

For reasons unknown, this man dragged his 84 year old grandfather who had Alzheimer’s, behind his truck for 6 miles to his death. One can’t help but feel that maybe sending a minor to AA meetings was NOT what this boy needed. He did not go to all of the AA meetings. Most minors do not feel comfortable with the message of powerlessness, or the fact that most participants are much older. Yet some courts are sending minors to AA and NA meetings, even though they have no meetings specifically for them.

Willits man charged with murder appears in court
By TIFFANY REVELLE The Daily Journal
Updated: 03/21/2012 02:11:59 PM PDT

Kenneth Wilkinson, 22, was in Mendocino County Superior Court today to be arraigned on a murder charge and a special allegation that he tortured his grandfather, Richard Mel Wilkinson, 84. Reliable sources said Tuesday that the younger Wilkinson allegedly killed his grandfather by dragging him behind a truck for nearly six miles Saturday night while left to care for him for a few hours, possibly in a drug-induced psychosis. “He’s not a violent person,” Kenneth Wilkinson’s mother, Kris Pearce, said outside the courtroom Wednesday while waiting for the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department to transport her son from county jail for his court appearance. “This is completely out of character for him.” Public Defender Linda Thompson took the case and said she needed a week to prepare for the young man’s arraignment, which was rescheduled for 8:30 a.m. March 29 in courtroom A. He remains at the jail under a no-bail hold in the meantime.

Pearce said her son had never been diagnosed with a mental illness but had struggled emotionally throughout his life, having been picked on at school as the “skinny kid.” As an adult, he had a drug and alcohol problem, but said his drinking wasn’t heavy, according to Pearce.

Kenneth had been in court in 2008 for an allegation that he had possessed alcohol as a minor, and had been put on a deferred judgment plan. The arrangement meant the charge would be dropped on the condition that he attend 60 days of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings

in the year’s length of the plan, but according to the Mendocino County Superior Court, he didn’t comply. Pearce said that sent him into a “vicious cycle,” where he could not get a driver’s license until he was 21, making it hard for him to get a job and take care of his court obligations.

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_20223569/man-accused-killing-grandfather-court

Alcoholics Anonymous Member’s Husband Arrested In Her Murder

AA member Nicole Pietz, was 8 years sober when she was brtually murdered 5 years ago. Her Husband was arrested for 2nd degree

Nicole Pietz Murder Scene

Husband of Nicole Pietz charged with second-degree murder
By KOMO Staff Published: Mar 21, 2012

SEATTLE — Prosecutors have charged the husband of murder victim Nicole Pietz more than five years after her death. Martin “David” Piez has been charged with second-degree murder. He is being held on $1 million bail.

The 33-year-old Lynnwood woman disappeared in Jan. 28, 2006 after leaving home. A week later, a hiker found her body in Burien, dumped in a field of overgrown blackberry bushes. Two weeks later, her car was discovered at a parking lot in Seattle’s University District.An autopsy revealed Nicole Pietz had been strangled, but her killer was never found.

David Pietz, who was the last person to see his wife alive, had said that when he woke up around 8:20 a.m. on Jan. 28, 2006, his wife had already left. But forensic evidence showed Nicole Pietz likely died around midnight the morning of Jan. 28 — a time when David Pietz claimed his wife was asleep in their bed, investigators said.

David Pietz also failed a polygraph test, and when detectives asked him to retake the test, he refused and hired an attorney. A search of Nicole Pietz’s car turned up DNA evidence belonging to both David Pietz and his wife, “but Nicole’s DNA was in very small quantities, while the defendant’s DNA was in much greater quantities,” investigators wrote.

The couple had financial problems and the marriage was “in some degree of turmoil,” the document said, adding David Pietz had extramarital affairs and tried to get other women to join him and his wife in bed.

Detectives added David Pietz had conducted an Internet search on his computer for swinger’s clubs as well as ways to cheat on one’s spouse. And just weeks after his wife’s death, he began looking for phone numbers of women to date.

The victim’s mother, Gael Schneider, said news of the arrest brought her tremendous relief.

“I can’t even tell you, I’m so elated,” she said. “My stomach was just like it has bees in it. And (I was) thanking God over and over, and over for finally granting this prayer to me.”

snip

Nicole Pietz’s body was found without the wedding ring she always wore, her mother said. There was nothing under her nails indicating a struggle, and she was wearing the night guard she wore to bed. Schneider added her daughter was headed to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

“I don’t think she’d be wearing a night guard going to her 8-year sobriety meeting,” said Schneider. “She would have been dressed to kill.”

“When I heard about all his affairs and just the way he had been treating her in public…and Nicci was going for her 8-year sobriety coin the next year, but he was always suggesting they go to places where there was alcohol, which made her crazy,” she said.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Nicole-Pietz-143687986.html

12 Stepper Employed At Project 90 Rehab Found Guilty Of Murder

The retrial of Mohammed Haroon Ali found him guily of first degree murder. He was once known for his sponsoring of young people when he worked at Project 90 San Mateo CA, a 12 step based facility. It named after the suggestion of ‘ 90 meetings in ninety days. Ali murdered his girlfriend Tracy Biltnikoffs at the substance abuse rehab with a Narcotics Anonymous meetings going on at the time.

Biletnikoff re-trial: killer takes stand
By John Servatius

Already in prison for first-degree murder and a 64 year-to-life sentence, former CSM student Mohammed Haroon Ali took the witness stand Feb. 29 in a bid for a voluntary manslaughter conviction and time served. This comes during his second trial in the strangling death of Tracey Biletnikoff on Feb. 15, 1999. She was the daughter of Fred Biletnikoff, the Oakland Raiders’ wide-receiver and Hall-of-Famer.
In 2009, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned Ali’s conviction, citing racial discrimination as the reason that at least one African-American was left off the jury. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the appellate decision in 2010. Ali’s retrial began Jan. 25 in Redwood City.

snip

The buzz around Friendship Hall, the P-90 facility in downtown San Mateo that Monday evening was that Ali had relapsed, and that he wanted Biletnikoff’s car keys.

The witnesses were recovering substance abusers waiting for a Narcotics Anonymous meeting to begin. Jean San Genito-Martin, R.N. and Paula Panizzi, a contract manager with county alcohol and drug recovery services, testified that many of those present outside the building were against Biletnikoff giving Ali the keys. Biletnikoff was also in the crowd.

Ali was in his office in the back of the facility playing computer games. Biletnikoff went to see him at the urging of Paul Galindo. At one point, according to witnesses, she was sitting on Ali’s lap, consoling him.
According to detectives and the defendant’s own statements, Ali grabbed Biletnikoff’s keys out of her hands when she wouldn’t give them up or give him a ride to relatives.

She was standing in front of the office door, which was closed, blocking the defendant’s escape. He put his hands on her shoulders “to move her,” he said, because of the difficulty in getting past her. She slapped him several times, calling him various expletives and a loser. His hands went from her shoulders to her neck.
After that, the defendant said, he drew a blank.

http://www.sanmatean.com/biletnikoff-re-trial-killer-takes-stand-1.2813473?MMode=true#.T2Pc_BHOxOE

Another Article

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/15/BAAK1NLC68.DTL&tsp=1

Peeping Tom, Now A Convicted Felon Mandated To Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings

Peeping Tom Richard Allen Paul, convicted of a felony for peeping in the windows of a minor girl. Guess where the sex offender is being sent to? Yep, AA meetings 3 times a week where minors are allowed and encouraged! What is wrong with this picture people?!


Cloquet man sentenced to 120 days for window-peeping
Richard Allen Paul, 57, was sentenced in State District Court in Carlton County on a felony charge of “interference with privacy” Wednesday in front of his victims, other neighbors and his own family.
By: Jana Peterson, Pine Journal

Peeping Tom

Richard Allen Paul, 57, of Cloquet, was charged Friday in Carlton County District Court with “interference with privacy.”

Sixth District Judge Robert Macaulay quadrupled the recommended jail time Wednesday when he sentenced a Cloquet man who was caught peeping at his neighbor’s juvenile daughters through her bedroom window.

Richard Allen Paul, 57, of Cloquet had pleaded guilty to “interference with privacy” and was sentenced Wednesday in State District Court in Carlton County in front of his victims, other neighbors and his own family.

The charge is a felony because the person whose privacy was violated was a minor.

B.J. Berg discovered Paul outside Berg’s home at 11:30 p.m. on June 14, 2011, wearing a black ski mask, tan shirt and jeans peering into a bedroom window. When Berg confronted him, Paul said something about trying to find his dogs. Berg told him, “Not at my daughter’s window, you’re not’’ and told him to get off his property.

Berg followed Paul to his home and called the police, who searched Paul’s home and found night vision goggles, a ski mask, clothing and a loaded handgun. Paul admitted to police that he had a firearm on his hip when he was outside Berg’s home.

That was nine months ago. Since then, Paul has completed a residential addiction treatment program at Hazelden and is undergoing follow-up treatment, counseling and attending Alcoholics Anonymous.

In his victim impact statement, Berg talked about the close-knit nature of their rural Cloquet neighborhood, and how Paul had built trust with his neighbors and their children over the last 12 years.

Rest of Story-

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/225696/group/homepage/

Loudoun County Virginia Drug Court Funding Dropped Because Of High Failure Rate

Loudoun County Virginia Drug Court nixed funding for the program because supervisors opposing the funding said they were concerned the program was not cost effective, serving a maximum of 20 participants at a time and reporting a graduation rate of 24 percent. Close to the nations Capital we are seeing evidence of the high failure rate of Drug Court. As the judge said, it is like boot camp, so many participants fail. Why have a program so strict and hard to comply with that so many people fail in Drug Court? Your average person would have a hard time completing Drug Court, yet they expect people without a drivers licence, a drug addiction and possibly mental health issues, to complete extremely hard requirements. Many pro Drug Court advocates are out there pushing hard for funding to increase Drug Courts and the cousins to them like Veterans Court and Family Court. They give out skewed statistics on their success rate.

Drug Courts also need to stop the forcing of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on them which is unconstitutional, yet judges are doing it anyway.

Loudoun County Drug Court

Budget Update: Drug Court Funding Nixed

Posted on March 9, 2012
by Norman Styer
The Loudoun Board of Supervisors continued its budget mark up Thursday night, with straw votes to restore $756,563 to County Administrator Tim Hemstreet’s recommended FY13 plan. Supervisors last week voted to begin their budget work at a spending level that would result in a 5 percent real estate tax bill decrease for the average homeowner, about $50 million below Hemstreet’s recommendation. That action put in play a list of cuts proposed by Hemstreet that would have to be made unless a majority of supervisors voted to reinstate the funds.

It appears that among the first casualties of that approach is the Loudoun County Drug Court. County Chairman Scott K. York’s (R-At Large) motion to restore $284,408 to continue the 9-year-old program next year failed. Supervisors opposing the funding said they were concerned the program was not cost effective, serving a maximum of 20 participants at a time and reporting a graduation rate of 24 percent.

The program allows select serious drug offenders to enter an intensive rehabilitation program, supervised by Loudoun County Circuit Court judges, as an alternative to trial. Participants are subject to frequent drug testing and are required to have jobs, manage their finances and appear in court weekly over a period of at least one year. Judge Burke F. McCahill described the program as the most intensive form of supervision in the state’s criminal justice system.

Judge Thomas D. Horne, now the most senior Circuit Court judge in Virginia, compared the program with his toughest life experience: U.S. Marine Corps boot camp. “We are not easy. We do not mollycoddle,” Horne said, explaining why so few participants successfully complete the program. However, even those who don’t complete the program often experience important life-changing impacts and stay out of trouble, he said. Both judges noted that the program was geared to address serious repeat offenders likely to make frequent appearance in the jail and in the courthouse. “We are not rehabilitating people, we are habilitating them,” McCahill said.

Supervisor Ralph Buona (R-Ashburn) said the low graduation rate indicated the program was not successful. Supervisor Shaun Williams (R-Broad Run) said it wasn’t a core government service that justified funding. He suggested private support groups—not the court system—should help these type of addicts. “If they want to get sober and have the support structure to do it, they will do it,” Williams said.Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling), a longtime Drug Court opponent, said drug offenders should not be provided an alternative to facing trial and criminal punishment for their violations. York cited a staff analysis that showed the program, even with its limited participation, saved the county money compared with the cost of incarceration. “This is chump change to help individuals become successful,” York said. York’s motion to restore funding failed on a 3-4-2 vote. Supervisor Matt Letourneau (R-Dulles) and Janet Clarke (R-Blue Ridge) supported the motion. Buona, Delgaudio, Williams and Supervisor Ken Reid (R-Leesburg) voted against it. Supervisors Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) and Susanne Volpe (R-Algonkian) were absent from Thursday’s meeting.

A similar program in juvenile court survived the evening.

http://www.leesburg2day.com/news/article_1554b48e-6a01-11e1-9ab4-001871e3ce6c.html

Brevard County Deputy Barbara Pill Shot To Death By Violent Felon Brandon Bradley

YouTube video, details emerge about two accused in deputy’s shooting death

Killers

In this YouTube video with Brandon Bradley, he is singing about date rape, breaking probation, home invasion, car jacking, and robbery, just the kind of crimes that criminals get sent to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings for. He was violating his probation. Was he skipping going to NA meetings?

Bradley had been convicted previously of burglary, robbery, possession of cocaine and grand theft.

YouTube Video-

http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/youtube-rap-video-of-suspect-in-deputy-shooting/vGTjg/

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — WFTV has discovered new details about a man and woman facing first-degree murder charges for the shooting death of a Brevard County deputy.

On Wednesday, a judge denied bond for 23-year-old Brandon Bradley and 19-year-old Andria Kerchner.

They are both facing first-degree murder charges for the shooting death of Brevard County Deputy Barbara Pill. WFTV found a makeshift memorial on Elena Way and John Rodes Boulevard on Thursday where her colleagues and strangers alike honored her sacrifice.

“You guys didn’t like, um… I didn’t shoot the gun, nor am I going to hop out of a car that’s going 100,” said Kerchner, who tried to proclaim her innocence inside a jail courtroom on Wednesday. But prosecutors said she played a principle role in the shooting. They said because the deputy was killed while Kerchner was allegedly committing another crime, she can be charged with murder. Kerchner’s boyfriend, Bradley, is also accused of murdering 52-year-old Pill.

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/youtube-video-and-new-details-emerge-about-shooter/nLNft/

Another article-

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/reports-deputy-involved-shooting-melbourne-leads-c/nLMKg/

Michigan’s Mental Health Courts Depending On Community Based Programs Like AA Meetings

More and more mental health courts are popping up. It is wonderful they are trying to help the mentally ill. Yet the courts should not be mandating Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, where they are often told not to take there meds and make disparaging remarks about the mental health field.AA has no training to deal with paranoid schizophrenics or suicidal people.

Mental Health Court

Michigan’s treatment of mentally ill people has disgraced the state, as hundreds of thousands have gone without treatment and ended up in county jails and state prisons, warehoused at a cost to taxpayers of $35,000 a year each.

It’s a common and tragic story: Mentally ill defendants — often abusing drugs — cycle through the criminal justice system repeatedly for petty offenses until they are slapped with lengthy prison sentences as repeat offenders.

Since 2008, however, eight mental health court pilot programs, now serving nearly 700 people a year, have given hope to mentally ill offenders like Angela DeCant, 35; Henry Smith, 47; and Steven Townsend, 52. Wayne County Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny and others who preside over the courts have the option of sentencing them to 18 months of intensely supervised probation and treatment.

Working with community-based nonprofits like Detroit Central City Community Mental Health, participants get medications, attend relapse prevention classes and group therapy, meet with psychiatrists, undergo residential treatment, and talk with job and housing specialists to get their lives on track.

The pilot courts work at a fraction of the cost of incarceration. But they will end Sept. 30, when the annual $1.65-million federal grant expires, unless the governor and state Legislature find another way to pay for them.

For starters, Gov. Rick Snyder has put $1 million for the mental health courts in his 2013 budget, but legislators must do even better. With county jails and state prisons becoming Michigan’s largest mental health institutions, this is no time to end a rare success story.

Salvaging lives
Over the last two decades, mental health care in Michigan has eroded, leaving hundreds of thousands without treatment and pushing many of them into county jails and state prisons.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120304/OPINION02/203040478/SALVAGING-LIVES-SAVING-MONEY-Eight-pilot-courts-that-divert-mentally-ill-offenders-from-prison-to-treatment-are-showing-promising-results-It-s-time-to-expand-the-experiment-?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

Drug Court Participants Mandated To Narcotics Anonymous Sent To Prison

Many people do not realize with all the puff pieces on Drug Courts, how many participants actually fail in the program. Drug courts results are only based on the people who completed the entire program. These men who were sent to prison that were in the Drug Court program will not be counted, because they did not complete it in it’s entirety. This is not a proper way to see drug courts success or failure.

This article also points out that many people participating in Drug Court are still committing crimes and using drugs while in the program. They do not need to be mandated to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings where many vulnerable members of society including minors attend. They end up in our parks and playgrounds in Holly Hill Fl.

Two who failed drug court sent to prison

Brett Ellis/Fremont Tribune | Posted: Tuesday, March 6, 2012 8:33 am

Two people who failed to complete drug court were sentenced to prison on Monday.
Judge Geoffrey Hall sentenced 29-year-old Ricardo Mendez of Fremont to 20 months to 5 years in prison for possession of methamphetamine, a Class IV felony.Mendez admitted to selling bath salts to fellow drug court participants and using synthetic marijuana while he was in the program.

“He turned drug court into a criminal enterprise,” Deputy Dodge County Attorney Mark Boyer said. “I can’t think of a much worse thing to do in drug court than trying to drag other people in the program down the drain.”
Mendez said he accepted responsibility for his actions but said the people he sold bath salts to chose to make those purchases.Hall, though, said Mendez was a “devious leader” who had a bad influence on other drug court participants.

“I believe your conduct in drug court is the worst kind possible because you took other people down with you,” Hall said. Hall also sentenced 20-year-old Zackery Carlstrom of Fremont to 20 months to 5 years in prison for terroristic threats, a Class IV felony. Boyer said Carlstrom reported using methamphetamine, cocaine, alcohol and marijuana while in drug court. Carlstrom also absconded twice from the program. “You had some successes,” Hall said. “However, the failures far outweigh those successes.” Hall also encouraged Carlstrom to use his talents in positive ways in the future. “Grow a backbone,” the judge said. “Do the hard right instead of the easy wrong.” Also on Monday, 26-year-old Anthony Martinez of Fremont was sentenced to 20 months to 5 years for terroristic threats and a year in prison for third-degree domestic assault, a Class I misdemeanor. The sentences will run consecutive to each other.

Martinez also was sentenced to 90 days in jail for criminal mischief, a Class II misdemeanor, and that will run concurrent with the other sentence. Hall also ordered Martinez to pay $400 in restitution.Chief Deputy Dodge County Attorney Stacey Hultquist asked for the maximum sentence based Martinez’s criminal history, which includes multiple arrests every year since 2004.

“This is a person who cannot be a productive person in our society and continues to get in trouble,” Hultquist said.
Martinez apologized to the female victim and her family. “That’s not how I was raised,” he said. “I know better than that.” Hall said probation was not an option for Martinez because of his criminal history.

http://fremonttribune.com/news/local/two-who-failed-drug-court-sent-to-prison/article_7eaca096-6799-11e1-b8d5-001871e3ce6c.html?mode=comments

Alcoholics Anonymous Will Not Qualify Under Bill H 813 Drug Treatment Requirement

Amazing, under this bill H 813, Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous would not qualify under this requirement for treatment. It looks like the government is realizing what a failure 12 step programs are.

Drug felon bill advances in Florida House
2:09 PM, Feb. 21, 2012

A measure to require drug felons to undergo treatment before receiving temporary cash assistance passed a House hurdle Tuesday on a party-line vote.

Sponsored by Rep. Jimmie Smith, R-Inverness, the measure (HB 813) would allow felons who have not undergone treatment to designate someone else to collect funds from Temporary Aid to Needy Families, a federal program administered by the state. Following public testimony and debate, the bill passed 12-6.

“Sometimes all people need to do the right thing is a bit of encouragement,” said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, who supported the measure, one of several recent efforts to keep federal tax dollars out of the hands of drug users.

The bill would require applicants who have been convicted of a felony drug possession or trafficking to certify that they had successfully completed an approved drug treatment program to be eligible for TANF benefits. Participation in Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous, treatment programs widely accessed in prisons, would not qualify.

http://www.news-press.com/article/20120221/NEWS0120/120221015/Drug-felon-bill-advances-Florida-House?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CHome

Veteran Drug Treatment Courts Mandate Alcoholics Anonymous

It appears even the veterans of this country are having their constitutional rights trampled on by the court system as well. Veteran Drug Treatment Courts are mandating Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

At one of the meetings with the court team it is said that ‘All have addictions or mental illnesses that were factors in their criminal activity.’ I wonder if they are really getting professional help for the mental illness or addictions
they have.

Here we have in black and white that the mentally ill criminals are mixed in with minors.

Veterans Treatment Courts

Gazette opinion: Court marshals community to rebuild vets’ lives

Posted: Sunday, February 19, 2012

LARRY MAYER/Billings Gazette
Veterans treatment court team members gather with District Judge Mary Jane Knisely on Wednesday.

Twelve people sat around the jury table next door to a sixth-floor courtroom and a few more sat along the wall. Shortly after daybreak Wednesday, the Yellowstone County Impaired Driving Court and Veterans Treatment Court team assessed the past week’s progress and problems for 42 offenders. Most have convictions for drunken or drugged driving. Five are military veterans. All have addictions or mental illnesses that were factors in their criminal activity.
At 9 a.m., the courtroom was nearly full when Knisely called the first name, a veteran making his first court appearance since completing a 90-day jail-based addiction treatment. Now out of jail and living with other veterans at Independence Hall, he is attending regular Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and looking for a job.
“You have 104 days sober today,” Knisely told him, presenting him with coins for 30, 60 and 90 days of sobriety. “Congratulations, we’re happy to see you.”
Everyone in the courtroom applauded.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/editorial/gazette-opinion/gazette-opinion-court-marshals-community-to-rebuild-vets-lives/article_d54e8beb-e1ca-54d8-9598-640e32449a4d.html

Toddler Rapist / AA Member Is Now Released From Jail

Even though this child sex predator, Dexter Charles Williams was still considered to be a danger to children, he was granted his request to be released from prison. He got brownie points for attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and looks like that will continue now that he is released.

Release hope for toddler rapist
BELLE TAYLOR, The West Australian
Updated January 20, 2011, 9:15 am

A child protection advocate has attacked suggestions that a dangerous sex offender jailed indefinitely could be released, despite a psychiatrist saying he has a high risk of reoffending.Hetty Johnston, founder of the Brisbane-based child protection group Braveheart, said “a child will pay the price” if convicted rapist Dexter Charles Williams, 43, is released.

“This man is a repeat offender of the worst possible nature. There is no research anywhere in the world that says these people will be safe. No-one can say that,” Ms Johnston told 6PR radio this morning.

“The question is not if but when (he will reoffend). If he is a high risk of reoffending he should not be released. The only place he is safe is in jail.” Williams was locked up indefinitely after raping a two-year-old girl.

He is one of about a dozen WA criminals considered so dangerous they have no set release date, but Supreme Court Justice Eric Heenan said yesterday he might return him to the community if a suitable place for him to live could be found. “Release into the community under a strict supervision order may be tolerable but a number of factors need further investigation,” Justice Heenan said.

Snip

James McTaggart, from the Director of Public Prosecutions, said psychiatrist Mark Hall assessed that Williams had a high risk of reoffending but could be released under strict conditions.His report showed Williams made positive progress in the past year, including regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous, though there were still serious “underlying issues of sexual deviancy”.

Williams was jailed for 11 years in 2000 after admitting the abduction, rape and bashing of the two-year-old girl in Esperance in 1998 and sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl in Katanning in 1997.He was released in 2007 but was free only six weeks before breaching parole conditions when he failed to report to police and was found unsupervised with three children.

Looks Like he has conditions to continue AA Meetings-Update

http://www.mako.org.au/dexter_williams.html

Catholic Priest Mandated To Alcoholics Anonymous For DWI

Australia’s Catholic Priest was busted for a DWI with a blood alcohol level 7 times the legal limit of 0.341!

How could he drive at all! This priest received no jail time as long as he goes to Australia Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Priest avoids jail time
15th February 2012

Catholic Priest DWI

Father Peter Jones.

SOUTH Grafton Catholic priest Peter Jones has avoided jail time despite driving with seven times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood stream on one of Australia’s biggest highways on October 19 last year.

The St Patrick’s Parish priest pleaded guilty to having 0.341 blood alcohol content at an earlier court appearance and has since undergone extensive rehabilitation including attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Magistrate David Heilpern gave Jones, 58, a 12-month suspended jail sentence upon condition of a section 12 good behavior bond and suspended his licence for two years and eight months.

Fr Jones was convicted of high range PCA in May, 2001 at Macksville.

At his previous court appearance on December 12, Fr Jones was warned he could face a jail term by presiding Magistrate Shane McAnulty.

“This is a serious matter because the reading is so high,” Mr McAnulty said.

“Ordinarily, people with a reading that high should expect to go to jail.”

“It was such a high reading that it is inconceivable that a person could drive (in that state).”
Mr McAnulty said the fact that it was Fr Jones’ second high-range PCA offence was causing him “some concern” and suggested the holy man may need to do some “soul searching” on his behaviour.

Police facts tendered to the court said Fr Jones was driving north on the Pacific Hwy at Cowper about 1.15pm on Wednesday, October 19 when a driver rang police concerned that the white Toyota Camry Fr Jones was driving was being driven unsafely.

A police patrol car waited for Fr Jones at Ferry Park, Maclean and followed him for a short time. After some road works, police activated lights and sirens.

“While following the driver police also observed the driver’s actions to be swerving left to right all over the road,” said Senior Constable Stephen Bennett in his report.”The driver appeared to not see police and continued along the highway.” Fr Jones eventually pulled over on Yamba Rd under the Harwood Bridge and stumbled next to his car, the evidence said.

Entire article-
http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/story/2012/02/15/priest-avoids-jail-time/

Is Progress Being Made In America’s Treatment Of Drug Users ?

This story talks about changes in the current treatment of drug users. There are signs of more compassion, but at the same time the hard core War On Drugs mentality is still very prevalent. The article talks about Drug Court, which is trying to point out one way society has changed to being more compassionate. In some cases yes, and in many cases no.

Drug Courts are a highly structured and strict program that mandates participants to attend Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous among a host of other conditions. There are a lot of Drug Court practices that are not actually compassionate at all. Sometimes it ends up being much worse for the participant than if they would of not agreed to Drug Court in the first place.

More states are releasing prisoners for over crowding, which is creating it’s own set of problems. Many of these prisoners are on probation once released and mandated to attend AA/NA. This creates many of the safety problems and crimes we are seeing in AA/NA today. These problems are only getting worse and not better for the rooms of AA/NA, as this practice continues of mandating sexual offenders and violent felons to 12 step meetings in droves.


Pills and progress
Signs of compassion mixed with pragmatism are emerging in America’s treatment of drug users, who are also changing their habits

Feb 11th 2012 | ATLANTA AND AUSTIN

Pill Mills

ON A recent evening, some 50 people turned up for their weekly reckoning at Judge Joel Bennett’s drug court in Austin, Texas. Those who had had a good week—gone to their Narcotics Anonymous meetings and stayed out of trouble—got a round of applause. The ones who had stumbled received small punishments: a few hours of community service, a weekend in jail, a referral to inpatient treatment. Most were sanguine about that. Completing the programme will mean a year of sobriety and the dismissal of their criminal charges.

After the session, Mr Bennett noted that the drugs problem has grown worse during his nearly 20 years on the bench, largely due to poverty, poor education and cycles of abuse. Still, he reckoned, less punitive approaches to drug users are gaining acceptance. That is largely because the punitive approach has failed.

Political policy
More than 40 years have passed since Richard Nixon declared a federal “war on drugs”, and drug use is still a big problem. In 2008 roughly 8.9% of Americans aged 12 and older used an illegal drug, up from 5.8% in 1991-93. Nor have the consequences abated: in 2008, according to preliminary data from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), there were 37,792 drug-induced deaths, compared with 14,218 in 1995.

snip

The cost of jailing so many people, particularly in straitened times, together with a lessening in the pressure on politicians (because of the declining violence) have led to a change in the tough-on-crime rhetoric. In 2009 Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, announced that the office would no longer use the phrase “war on drugs”. Sixteen states have legalised marijuana for medical use, and over a dozen have similar legislation pending. In 2010 Barack Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act, which lets judges take mitigating factors into account when sentencing a prisoner, reversing the mandatory-minimum policies that led to long jail terms for non-violent crimes. It also reversed the sentencing disparity between convictions for crack and powder cocaine, enacted in 1986 when crack was believed to be more addictive and dangerous than powder (as well as more popular with poor blacks than rich whites).

At least 23 states have passed or are considering similar reforms. Proposals vary, but many would grant judges more leeway in sentencing and also steer low-level, non-violent drug offenders away from prison and toward alternatives: community-supervised treatment, probation, halfway houses and daily reporting. Drug treatment is included in Mr Obama’s health-care reforms, with effect from 2014.

http://www.economist.com/node/21547247

GAO Report States Almost Half Of Drug Courts Do Not Decrease Recidivism

Washington, D.C. – The Government Accountability Office last week released a report, in which it finds that only 18 of 32 drug courts – or just over 50% – showed statistically significant reductions in recidivism among participants. That is, almost half of drug courts do not reduce re-arrest rates of their participants below the rates of people who went through the normal criminal justice process.

“The message here is: enter a drug court at your own risk. The chance that you’ll enter a drug court that might help you avoid getting arrested again is about 50-50, the equivalent of a coin toss,” said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, deputy state director in Southern California for the Drug Policy Alliance. “Clearly, the popularity that drug courts enjoy is not supported by the evidence.”

The GAO’s findings echo those of the Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation (MADCE), the longest and largest ever study of drug courts. Funded by the National Institute of Justice, MADCE recently reported a re-arrest rate for drug court participants that was 10 percentage points below that of the comparison group, but that the difference was not statistically significant. This means that the study effectively found no difference in re-arrest rates between the groups, as the decrease may be the result of chance.

“Drug courts have actually helped to increase, not decrease, the criminal justice entanglement of people who struggle with drugs and have failed to provide quality treatment,” said Daniel Abrahamson, Drug Policy Alliance’s Director of Legal Affairs. “Only sentencing reform and expanded investment in health approaches to drug use will stem the flow of drug arrests and incarceration. The feel-good nature of drug courts hasn’t translated into results. U.S. drug policy must be based not on good intentions, but on robust, reliable research.”

The Drug Policy Alliance this year released Drug Courts are Not the Answer: Toward a Health-Centered Approach to Drug Use, which found that drug courts have not demonstrated cost savings, reduced incarceration, or improved public safety; leave many people worse off for trying; and have actually made the criminal justice system more punitive toward addiction – not less. For example, people who struggle the most with a drug problem are more likely to be kicked out of a drug court and incarcerated. Although relapse is a common and predictable occurrence during treatment, drug courts often punish relapse with jail time.

The GAO’s study is available at: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-53. Results from MADCE are available at: http://www.urban.org/publications/412353.html.

Tony Newman 646-335-5384 or Margaret Dooley-Sammuli 213-291 4190

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/2011/12/government-study-finds-nearly-half-drug-courts-do-not-reduce-recidivism