A breakdown of new cases and updates on old cases that we’re actively watching.
Court Case Wrap-up, October 30
Author: Heather-Lynne Van Wilde
Reporter, Editor-in-Chief, owner of the 'pink walker'. Often found in court rooms and making cutting remarks on Twitter and Mastodon. Big fan of Open Source Computing, LGBTQ rights, BLM, Press freedom, and government transparency.
POC Death in Vancouver
we’re receiving multiple reports of a Black person shot by police in the Vancouver area earlier tonight. The exact circumstances of the shooting are still unclear, but early reports suggest the person was unarmed.
State ex rel versus the City
While we may never know how many people called in and joined the WebEx meeting for a remote hearing on a case that normally would have drawn little attention, the amount of chatter it generated on Twitter afterwards suggests that it well could have been a packed courtroom in non-pandemic days.
Arraignments and Privilege
Last night I wrote about the arraignment of retired Portland Police officer Scott Groshong, one of the rare instances where it seems that a police officer in Portland could face actual consequences for actions that occurred while on duty. I just received the audio recordings of his arraignment hearing earlier today, and while I hadn’t really thought about it before now, I’m both surprised and not surprised at the level of privilege that a retired cop is given in the courts.
Elk Build, Oct 12
Obviously this is an outdated post, but there was a lot of work that I had to do on the back end to get this set up properly. On the weekend of October 10th, alt-right actors stole the ‘Nightmare Elk’ statue that had been erected in Downtown Portland, a stand-in for the historic Elk Statue that has been put in storage by the city due to protest related damage.
A Word on Philadelpha
While I have lived in Portland for the last 8 years, I grew up in Pennsylvania. About an hour north of Philly just outside of Allentown. When I thought of the nearby large city, it was always Philly. My dad used to work there. I have a partner that lives there now. Even though my whole family moved away from the area when I graduated high school in 2000, it’s still where I grew up. I didn’t know the racial history of the area like I should have, and I don’t know if that was ignorance on my part, or because I was privileged to grow up in a 99% white area.
Police Officer Indictment
a police officer might actually have consequences for their actions
Court Case Wrap-up, October 23
one of the rare times when a Portland Police officer is actually facing charges for actions taken in the line of duty
Swinney Release Hearing Audio
I’ve already announced through Twitter/Mastodon, but I have obtained the audio transcript for the release hearing from Monday for Alan Swinney, where his release was denied. As these are public records, I’m making them available to the general public, in the original ‘For The Record’ player format as well as an MP3 that does not require any special tools.
‘Tiny’ Toese accused of multiple probation violations; sentenced to six months in jail
This story is still developing, as any court orders from today’s hearing are not available for viewing at the moment. But Tusitala ‘Tiny’ Toese, a known Proud Boy member who was on probation for assault stemming from a 2018 court case, has been sentenced to apparently just shy of six months in jail.