HolyCannoli
05-04-2005, 12:25 PM
The Dillon Conspiracy Part 5 or Welcome Back Rice
The Dillon Conspiracy (Denis Dillon, Harvey Levinson, Bob McDonald and Gerard Terry, joined by Nassau Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs and Ryan Cronin) has been previously discussed in four prior postings to this Board.
The Carpetbagger (Option B for the Dillon Conspiracy)
The Nassau Democratic “leadership” is very keen on Kathleen Rice, a friend of Bob McDonald., to run for the Democratic nomination for Nassau County District Attorney.
Butts v. The City of New York and Kathleen Rice
Let us briefly discuss this lawsuit which was recently brought to the public’s attention in the local media. This case is being litigated in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York since 2001 (CV-01-2945), Brooklyn courthouse. The story is pretty simple. It seems that a masked gunman visited a bodega in Brooklyn on December 30, 1997. During the subsequent holdup, the owner of the store and his teenage employee were both shot and killed. The two customers escaped unharmed.
On January 8, 1998, a rapper and songwriter named Antowine Butts was arrested by the police and charged with the holdup and first degree murder.
There was no physical evidence linking Mr. Butts and the crime. In fact, his alibi was that he was at home attending to his three children while his wife was at work. Phone records indicated the truth of this assertion as Butts had made several phone calls from the residence.
The Kings County District Attorney’s office based its case on the testimony of two witnesses. One witness was a confused young woman who thought she saw Mr. Butts at the time of the murders. The chief witness was a crackhead and habitual criminal by the name of Martin Mitchell. Mitchell admitted involvement with the planning and execution of the murders but was somehow never charged by the District Attorney. Mitchell was questioned for well over 6 hours by the police before he made a written statement implicating a man with the nickname of “Black.” He then made a tape recorded statement before ADA Rice. Mr. Butts was picked up again by the police (under the supervision of ADA Rice and other Brooklyn ADAs) and brought in to view a lineup at 2AM. Mitchell identified Mr. Butts in the lineup as “Black.” But not THE Black he had previously referred to. Under threats and coercion by the police and Ms.Rice, Mitchell fingered Butts. Originally, the DA’s office wanted the death penalty for Mr. Butts but later on “settled” for a punishment of life imprisonment without parole. Mr. Butts was in prison for over two years when his trial finally came up.
At the trial, Mitchell, the star witness for the prosecution, noted that he could not identify Mr. Butts as the masked gunman and, in fact, was stoned on crack and marijuana and drunk on alcohol at the time of the holdup. When the jury deliberated on this case, it acquitted Mr. Butts of all charges within the space of 10 minutes! Mitchell approached Butt’s defense counsel and told them about the coerced testimony and recanted in another sworn statement. Butts then proceeded to file this lawsuit against the City, several police officers and detectives and several Assistant District Attorneys including Ms. Rice asserting damages.
The conduct of the Brooklyn DA’s office and of Ms. Rice in this matter would have been truly amusing except for the fact that a man’s life and family were so adversely effected. He spent 2 years in jail and 18 months under threat of the death penalty.
By the way, is there a connection between this case and the hurried departure of Ms. Rice for Philadelphia in 2001? While we are at it, what did happen to Ms. Rice’s personnel file at the Brooklyn DA’s office? Is it still missing? Be my guest and ask her! Better yet, ask Bob McDonald and Gerard Terry!
Upcoming areas to explore
Coming soon: the County Clerk’s race and the Dillon Conspiracy and the relationship between Opus Dei and Denis Dillon.
The Dillon Conspiracy (Denis Dillon, Harvey Levinson, Bob McDonald and Gerard Terry, joined by Nassau Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs and Ryan Cronin) has been previously discussed in four prior postings to this Board.
The Carpetbagger (Option B for the Dillon Conspiracy)
The Nassau Democratic “leadership” is very keen on Kathleen Rice, a friend of Bob McDonald., to run for the Democratic nomination for Nassau County District Attorney.
Butts v. The City of New York and Kathleen Rice
Let us briefly discuss this lawsuit which was recently brought to the public’s attention in the local media. This case is being litigated in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York since 2001 (CV-01-2945), Brooklyn courthouse. The story is pretty simple. It seems that a masked gunman visited a bodega in Brooklyn on December 30, 1997. During the subsequent holdup, the owner of the store and his teenage employee were both shot and killed. The two customers escaped unharmed.
On January 8, 1998, a rapper and songwriter named Antowine Butts was arrested by the police and charged with the holdup and first degree murder.
There was no physical evidence linking Mr. Butts and the crime. In fact, his alibi was that he was at home attending to his three children while his wife was at work. Phone records indicated the truth of this assertion as Butts had made several phone calls from the residence.
The Kings County District Attorney’s office based its case on the testimony of two witnesses. One witness was a confused young woman who thought she saw Mr. Butts at the time of the murders. The chief witness was a crackhead and habitual criminal by the name of Martin Mitchell. Mitchell admitted involvement with the planning and execution of the murders but was somehow never charged by the District Attorney. Mitchell was questioned for well over 6 hours by the police before he made a written statement implicating a man with the nickname of “Black.” He then made a tape recorded statement before ADA Rice. Mr. Butts was picked up again by the police (under the supervision of ADA Rice and other Brooklyn ADAs) and brought in to view a lineup at 2AM. Mitchell identified Mr. Butts in the lineup as “Black.” But not THE Black he had previously referred to. Under threats and coercion by the police and Ms.Rice, Mitchell fingered Butts. Originally, the DA’s office wanted the death penalty for Mr. Butts but later on “settled” for a punishment of life imprisonment without parole. Mr. Butts was in prison for over two years when his trial finally came up.
At the trial, Mitchell, the star witness for the prosecution, noted that he could not identify Mr. Butts as the masked gunman and, in fact, was stoned on crack and marijuana and drunk on alcohol at the time of the holdup. When the jury deliberated on this case, it acquitted Mr. Butts of all charges within the space of 10 minutes! Mitchell approached Butt’s defense counsel and told them about the coerced testimony and recanted in another sworn statement. Butts then proceeded to file this lawsuit against the City, several police officers and detectives and several Assistant District Attorneys including Ms. Rice asserting damages.
The conduct of the Brooklyn DA’s office and of Ms. Rice in this matter would have been truly amusing except for the fact that a man’s life and family were so adversely effected. He spent 2 years in jail and 18 months under threat of the death penalty.
By the way, is there a connection between this case and the hurried departure of Ms. Rice for Philadelphia in 2001? While we are at it, what did happen to Ms. Rice’s personnel file at the Brooklyn DA’s office? Is it still missing? Be my guest and ask her! Better yet, ask Bob McDonald and Gerard Terry!
Upcoming areas to explore
Coming soon: the County Clerk’s race and the Dillon Conspiracy and the relationship between Opus Dei and Denis Dillon.