6/29/10

Greetings Everyone,
The past two months have been very productive for the JRC. Our membership is ever growing along with our influence. Our organization and collaborations have changed and tightened up to reflect the challenges we face and to better serve our community. Our committee structure has changed again. The JRC is a fluid work in progress. Our goal is to grow and change to better accomplish our aims, and not become stagnant in our approach or focus. It’s good to see more people taking on the lead in our projects, as well as working together. We give thanks for the truly needed donations that people have begun to give, don't stop!!

UPDATE

Monthly Meetings – Fourth Saturday 10am – 12pm, Olufunmi Community House 3200 42nd St., Sacramento, CA – We get a lot covered at our meeting, much of which doesn’t make it into the update. This is why you need to come to this meeting. We get reports back on our cases, and activities, as well as give out marching orders.

Death of Justice Rally  - Saturday June 26, 2010 12:30pm, Davis Farmers Market 4th and B ST., Davis, Ca – This rally was to chronicle the one year anniversary of the conviction of Ajay Dev, an innocent man sent to prison by the Yolo County DA for 378 years, in one of the most blatantly biased wrongful convictions we’ve seen. Around 80 people joined us after our monthly meeting for this rally. What happened to Ajay Dev is a tragedy, a family broken, a father unable to even see his two young sons. The demonstration began with a ceremonial Nepali dance calling on God to bring justice and have good conquer evil. First hand witnesses who testified will told why they absolutely know that Ajay Dev is an innocent man.  We need to correct this injustice and the only way to do that is to learn about the problem.  Learn about Ajay Dev and how an innocent man was wrongly convicted. For more info : www.advocatesforajay.com

COMMITTEE NEWS
JRC PAC Gets firsts place for third party candidate. The campaign of our own, Efren Guttierrez, led by our PAC committee in less than six months and starting with no funds, was able to get the highest percentage of the vote of any independent candidate. The campaign was successful on many levels, which we won’t get into here. We are very proud of their effort, but this is just the beginning. We will continue to work with Efren for public office as well as look for other suitable candidates for other public offices. One of the ways to change, is to change the people in office. If you are interested in this aspect of our work or you know someone who is, have them contact our PAC Chair Cress, at civilib@comcast.net , Steve at eyetileye@yahoo.com . We especially want young people.

LEGAL ACTION Committee made some great strides over the last two months. Our status as a legal advocacy group has been acknowledged in the Sacramento and Placer County legal and Court systems. We were able to secure the release of two young men from incarceration, as well as get charges dropped against two of our clients and the cases of two others reopened. Despite our presenting and Amicus Brief to the court in Placer County, showing that the law and his rights had been violated, as well as grounds for in effectual counsel, one of our members and key organizers in Placer County was remanded to custody. This case embodied everything the JRC and others are complaining about the injustice system in Placer County. We intend to begin our advocacy in Placer County by going after the Public Defender,  which is a private firm hired to be PD. Even though their record of defense of their clients is really criminal their contract was recently renewed by the Placer County Board of Supervisors. More info at the meeting.

Our COMMUNITY SERVICE INVESTIGATORS(CSI) have been a key part of the new development of the JRC. Chief of Investigations, Ernie Carter, has begun to establish our group with Law Enforcement and the Courts, working with individuals, representing them in court, filing and serving papers, and investigating the circumstances of the cases we take. We welcome law enforcement and justice majors interested In working with the community, to join us. Anyone interested in this aspect of our work and is ready to put in the work necessary to learn what we do is welcome, especially young folks. Contact Ernie at ernest921@comcast.net .

COURT WATCH has been loosely operating as courtroom observers for our cases and others. They observe and record  the conduct of Judges, attorneys, and court staff. In July we will begin formal training for this group with our new forms. The forms have been awhile in coming, but are finally being finished and ready for our use. Richard Russel richrus3@aol.com is the contact for this committee. A monthly meeting and training date will be sent out soon.

SAC COP WATCH has been on patrol in midtown and at several DUI checkpoints. Some interesting stories and a couple cases have come out of their patrols. Now we are focused on creating a patrol for Oak Park. For more info contact Josh Cadji jhcadji@yahoo.com .

Our FAMILY and YOUTH JUSTICE committee  will meet with Probation, Public Defender , Juvenile Hall, Boys Ranch, State Education Special Needs officials, and Prison Law, along with Supervisor Roger Dickenson to discuss the problems and abuse of our youth by these agencies and their failure to follow State and Federal laws when it comes to the assessment and handling of at risk and special needs children under their authority. This meeting is being arranged by Roger Dickenson’s office at our request. Contact for this committee project and all education and youth justice issues is Darlene Anderson Darlene_anderson45@yahoo.com . The Family Court is another area of focus for this committee

PROJECTS

West Sac Gang Injunction – The next hearing for the injunction is July 12th at 9am, at the Woodland Court House on 725 Court Street. Woodland, CA. As we have learned, the DA is trying to keep eyes and ears away from the hearings. This is so they can continue the lies and the collusion that exists between the Judges and the prosecution. We need the community to come out. The DA has still failed to come up with any community support for the injunction. Court Watch members will be present to record what happens. The legal team is ready to go. Another development is that W. Sac LULAC and other community members have asked the JRC to re-take the lead in reorganizing and energizing the community. There has been little change or organizing going on, under the direction of the Sacramento LULAC chapter who rested control of the community portion through racially devisive actions which have destroyed the coalition we built to deal with this issue.

Placer County – The problems in Placer County have brought many new people to the JRC. Jon Lancaster jonl@idiom.com  is our lead person on this project. We have found out much about the corruption, collusion, and general violation of the law and citizen’s rights. Many people have come forward and we are documenting their cases in preparation for going after Placer County officials and our report to the DOJ.

Report to DOJ – The report is still under construction being readied for August and our final edition in September. Anyone wishing to help should contact The Rev therev@justicereformcoalition.org .

CAMPAIGNS

Dump the DA – with the Primaries over we see once again the DA’s running unopposed. The campaign of Julius Engel against Jan Scully in Sacramento was a farce. Reisig in Yolo is unopposed, and the DA in Placer is retiring and has handed the position to one of his own, unopposed. Ur research goes on and this summer will see several of our investigators free to pursue their investigations in more earnest preparing for our August demo at the Federal Building. Contact Peggy Dev peggydev@sbcglobal.net .

Racial Profiling
The JRC is organizing community feedback meetings for the Sacramento Community Racial Profiling Commission. The meetings will be held over the next three weeks, times, dates and locations to be announced next week. We can meet with interested groups at their organizational meetings. The CRPC has initiated this action while we wait for the City Council to authorize changes to our charter to better  reflect our mission. Contact The Rev if you want to help.

Family Court
The Family Court system in Sacramento and Placer County has been rightly characterized as modern day slavery http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-456024?ref=email . Children are treated as chattel while their parents and family are persecuted and prosecuted by fake specialists, colluding Judges and attorneys, and financially wrecked with court ordered fees, and other ridiculous financial arrangements. The court operates as an organized group committing violations of the law and people’s rights. This can be characterized as organized crime, and we are going after it under the RICO Act. We have pulled together a coalition of organizations to fight this corruption.  We are taking affidavits from victims of this corrupt system. Thanks to Supervisor Roger Dickenson, we will be having meetings with the heads of the agencies involved in this slavery ring masquerading as justice to call them to answer for these crimes as we prepare to go after them under the RICO statutes. Join us if you care about the future of our families.

We have much more happening, much of which won’t be put in these pages to protect confidentiality as well as our strategies. The JRC is here to do the work. Can you hang?