Today is the last witness, closing statements and then jury deliberation. Court starts at 10:30 at the U.S. Courthouse U.S. Courthouse, 700 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.
Andre Jacobs, one of the Dallas 6, is in court this week for a civil case against US Marshalls and Allegheny County. On March 3, of 2005, Andre was in court for another civil matter. There was retaliation going on such as his witnesses not receiving meals, confiscation of his eyeglasses and racist slurs just to name a few. On a trip to the holding cells for a morning recess, Andre was pushed into the elevator then pushed into the back wall, then choked until the door opened on the third floor to let a passenger on. When the door opened, standing there was a court employee. She says the door was opened for about 10-15 seconds and that Andre was screaming for help. Yet, this court employee, even though it was protocol and her duty, did not report the incident to anyone because she felt he did not need any help. It’s real simple, she didn’t report it because it was marshals with whom she works with every day, and because who cares if someone’s abusing a prisoner. Isn’t that what they deserve? I guess she thought no one would find her and subpoena her to court.
Apparently, he was escorted by two individuals one a federal marshal, one a ACJ guard who escorted with the marshals as a part-time job. The federal marshal was the one who actually put his hands on Andre and the ACJ guard is the one who did not intervene. According to the ACJ guard, the marshal pushed Andre into the elevator because he was refusing to go in. Then once he got him in the elevator, he pushed him up against the wall and held him there from the 9th to the 2nd floor. He did not see him choking or even remember stopping on the 3rd floor. According to the marshal, nothing whatsoever happened. It was a normal escort. The marshal was very cocky and you could tell if you got out of line with him, he would put his hands on you. He got caught in several lies on the stand and just dismissed them by being even cockier. (Typical of guards who abuse people and almost always get away with it.)
Anyway, there was an expert witness who described various uses of force and explained scenarios and what would and would not be considered use of excessive force. Choking a prisoner is excessive force, Pushing a prisoner is excessive force. According to the witness, when another guard is present during use of excessive force, he should intervene and not look the other way. When’s the last time you ever heard of that happening?
