May 29--LIMA, Ohio -- Attorneys for a Lima police sergeant charged in the shooting death of a Lima woman during a drug raid want his trial moved out of town.  In a motion filed Tuesday in Allen County Common Pleas Court, attorneys for Sgt. Joseph Chavalia asked that his upcoming jury trial be moved out of town because of extensive media coverage of the fatal shooting and subsequent indictment of Sergeant Chavalia. "This county has been so saturated with the facts underlying this case that it is impossible for defendant to receive a fair trial before a jury composed of impartial persons who learn of the case only through the evidence properly admitted during trial," attorney William Kluge wrote in the motion. Following a two-month investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation into the death of Tarika Wilson, 26, and wounding of her 1-year-old son, Sincere, Sergeant Chavalia was indicted by an Allen County grand jury on misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide and negligent assault. He has been on paid leave from the police department since the Jan. 4 shooting. Mr. Kluge said yesterday that the change of venue is needed because of the media coverage and because of "the feelings in the community and all the issues pertinent to that."

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Del Norte County Sheriff Dean Wilson has released the name of the deputy who shot and killed a man on May 16 earlier on the Hwy. 199 Hiouchi Bridge over Smith River. Meanwhile, retired English teacher Greg Jones, of Brookings, the father of Eric Jones, 27, who died at the scene, feels that perhaps unnecessary force was used. He said that it’s likely his son was not armed, and so he wonders why lethal force was used in the incident. His son was shot twice; and one of his two dogs also was shot twice. Eric Jones was a graduate of Brookings-Harbor School District. He suffered from a bipolar condition, his father said. The victim was hit with one shot in his abdomen and one in a shoulder with a “downward trajectory into his torso,” said Mike Riese, Del Norte County D.A. Riese said that his office’s investigation will take weeks, and may come down to determining if Deputy Ramsay Williamson had time after shooting the dog to transition into the use of nonlethal force against Jones. Eric Jones, after leading officers on a chase 199 on May 16, allegedly ordered his dog to attack a deputy from Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office (DNSO). “Unfortunately just because someone is unarmed does not mean they aren’t imposing a real threat,” Wilson said. He said that Williamson was carrying a Taser at the time of the shooting, but that it wasn’t clear whether he had a baton or pepper spray too. “Most of our officers carry mace, a Taser and normally a baton,” the sheriff said.

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The trial of two police officers accused of killing an inmate got under way in a downtown Houston courtroom Tuesday, KPRC Local 2 reported. Pasadena police officers J.W. Buckaloo and Christopher Jones are charged with criminally negligent homicide in the death of Pedro Gonzales Jr., 51, after his arrest on July 22. Gonzales' body was found in the Pasadena jail after the officers arrested him for public drunkenness.The Gonzales family said the trial is the beginning of what they hope is a long road to justice. Family members said they believe their loved one was murdered. "Honestly, I can't even look at them. I'm not mad at the entire police force. I'm only mad at two people. Two people took my father from me," said Adrian Gonzales, Pedro Gonzales' son. "It's been hard. It's been very hard," widow Diana Gonzales said. "He didn't deserve to die like that." Jurors will decide if the officers used excessive force or did what they had to in order to subdue Gonzales after the arrest. Buckaloo and Jones said they had to subdue Gonzales when he resisted arrest. The autopsy showed that Gonzales suffered broken bones, broken teeth and died from a perforated lung. The trial is expected to last one week. The officers are relieved of duty, pending the outcome. [MORE]

Police are conducting an internal investigation into the use of force in the arrest of a 15-year-old boy outside a Warner Robins bowling alley during the Memorial Day weekend. The boy's father claims that police abused their authority and beat his son. The boy, identified by his father as Jamarian K. Jenkins, was charged with felony obstruction and disorderly conduct after a scuffle Saturday night with police responding to a 911 call of a fight in the parking lot of the Gold Cup Bowling Center on Russell Parkway, Police Chief Brett Evans said today. The internal investigation is standard policy in such use of force, which in this case was a stun gun, Evans said. The boy, who was detained during the weekend at a Youth Detention Facility, was released on a two-week in-house detention after a hearing this afternoon in Houston County Juvenile Court, police Detective Karen Stokes said.

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AP A suburban policeman hunted down a homeless, frequently arrested illegal immigrant, hit him hard and left him to die last year, a prosecutor told jurors in opening statements of his manslaughter trial Friday. Assistant District Attorney Perry Perrone said Mount Kisco Officer George Bubaris later confided to a colleague, "I went out hunting or looking for Rene Perez. I found him. I took him to Byram Lake Road," where Perez was found. Perrone said that the next day, as it became known that Perez had died, Bubaris told the colleague, Officer Edward Dwyer, "You're the only one that knows, bro." Perez, 42, had a long history of drunkenness, arrests and 911 calls in Mount Kisco and neighboring Bedford, about 40 miles north of New York City. Defense attorney Andrew Quinn called the prosecution's case "medically absurd" because Perez often injured himself while drunk. He also said Dwyer, who is to testify, "had demons of his own." In April 2007, Perez called police from a coin laundry, possibly seeking a lift to a hospital. Prosecutors say Bubaris, 31, drove the intoxicated Guatemalan immigrant to an out-of-the-way area in Bedford and "inflicted blunt force trauma to Perez's abdomen," leaving him severely injured. Though the indictment does not say how the trauma was inflicted, a lawsuit filed by Perez's brother suggests a nightstick was used.

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The City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department have been hit with a wrongful death suit filed by the family of a man who allegedly died after falling out of a police wagon last weekend. The lawsuit claims that the police department is responsible for the death of Antonio Dampier by failing to properly secure him during transport. According to the suit, Dampier was able to climb onto the roof of the vehicle through an unsecured vent. He fell and landed on his head, the suit said. Dampier was arrested for a domestic disturbance after violating an order of protection. The police wagon was not moving at the time and Dampier was handcuffed during the fall. Authorities claim that the man was trying to escape and fell during the process. The Cook County medical examiner’s early report cited the cause of death as blunt head trauma. Initial reports indicated that Dampier's relatives said he died under different circumstances. They say he was taken from the scene in a squad car, and they do not know how the wagon ended up being involved. Relatives believe Dampier was beaten by police officers [MORE] and [MORE]

As a defense attorney, D. Scott Perrine is a frequent jailhouse visitor. Yesterday he became a guest. A judge in Dauphin County had Perrine arrested and hauled off to the county jail in Harrisburg for contempt of court. The offense? He stole the court's time - not once, but twice, in the same week. His defense for missing court? Perrine says he's been tied up on the now-infamous May 5 police-beating case. Apparently, Dauphin County Common Pleas Judge Lawrence F. Clark Jr., a former state trooper, wasn't sympathetic. On Monday, Perrine failed to appear in Clark's courtroom for a scheduled jury trial in which the Philly lawyer was supposed to defend a man charged with aggravated assault and burglary. Perrine had called the court administrator to ask for a postponement but never filed a motion for continuance, according to Deputy District Attorney James P. Barker. Yesterday, Perrine was slated to go before Clark and explain why he missed Monday's court date. At 9 a.m., with Perrine nowhere in sight, Clark issued a bench warrant for his arrest, Barker said. When a winded and stressed Perrine arrived at the Dauphin County Courthouse about 9:30 a.m. after missing an earlier train from Philadelphia, sheriff's officers locked him up.

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District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham said today that the cases of the officers videotaped beating three shooting suspects would likely be handed over to a grand jury soon. She said it would be either a sitting grand jury or one that will be impaneled. Grand juries normally sit for 18 months and often hear multiple cases. Charles Ehrlich, chief of the municipal court unit of the Philadelphia District Attorneys' Office, said the case would go before a grand jury that is currently sitting. At a press conference called to announce an alternative treatment program, Abraham said: "I've pretty much decided that we will turn it over to a grand jury....We're going to give it to a grand jury to review the evidence." She added: "It will be given to a group of citizens with a diverse background to reach a conclusion." She promised there would be no rush to judgment. "We will do a full, thorough investigation," she said. As for Monday's firings, she said: "I can't comment on anything that anyone else does ... [the firings] have nothing to do with me. I'm not the commissioner. I'm not the mayor." [MORE]

SOUTHFIELD -- More than 50 people, holding signs saying "Stop police brutality" and shouting "Justice for Arvin," gathered on the front lawn of the Southfield Civic Center on Wednesday to protest the fatal shooting of Arvin Hermiz by a police officer in September. "This was my son. I'm not going to let this go," said Joe Hermiz, wearing a picture of his son on his shirt as motorists driving by honked in support. "It was an egregious shooting that didn't have to happen. It's been hell on Earth living without him." The 25- year-old West Bloomfield man was killed during a traffic stop Sept. 27 in which police said he tried to run down an officer. The officer, who has been with the department since May 2005, was conducting a routine traffic stop on southbound Telegraph near 10 Mile. Arvin Hermiz, who according to police was stopped for traveling more than 10 miles over the speed limit and for an obstruction of his license plate, pulled into a parking lot with a single driveway. He circled his vehicle around and drove toward the officer, said Southfield Police Lt. Nick Loussia. In an effort to stop Hermiz from running him over and fleeing the scene, the officer fired at the vehicle, striking Hermiz, according to the police report.

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