Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Movie About the Bakersfield Witch Hunt

April 10th, 2009

I just received this from Peter Freyd of the False memory Syndrome Foundation.

The day after tomorrow, on MSNBC the premier of an important new film.
Read about it at http://witchhunt.msnbc.com:

‘Witch Hunt’ premieres on MSNBC on April 12 at 10 p.m. ET

Executive Producer Sean Penn presents “Witch Hunt,” the story of
John Stoll and dozens of other men and women who found themselves
ensnared in a spiral of fear, ignorance and hysteria. These
working-class moms and dads were rounded up with little or no
evidence, charged and convicted of almost unimaginable crimes.
Years later, they would find freedom again, but their lives would
be changed forever. Watch the two-hour premiere this Sunday from
10 p.m. ET to midnight.

It will be shown again 2 hours later and at 3 a.m. ET. It is scheduled
again for Saturday, April 18, 12-2 a.m. and 3-5 a.m. ET.

Read even more about it at: http://www.witchhuntmovie.com
_______________________________________________

Posted in Innocents | 1 Comment »

Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Great Article on the Keller Case

March 31st, 2009

Dear Friend of Justice,

I urge you to read this excellent article in the current Austin Chronicle about the Dan and Fran Keller case.

This is one of the many cases sponsored by the National Center for Reason and Justice.

-Bob Chatelle

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Great Article on the Keller Case

Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Four Lives Lost (and the Kellers)

March 20th, 2009

Dear Friend of Justice,

Texas Monthly just published an article about the Four Lives Lost case, by our friend, Darrell Otto. The case is sponsored by the National Center for Reason and Justice.

Also available at the Texas Monthly website is a 1994 article by Gary Cartwright on the Texas Keller case, also sponsored by the NCRJ. Be sure to also read Cartwright’s disturbing afternote, which was just added.

Too many good people will die in prison for crimes that never happened. Too many people (who consider themselves good) could care less.

A broken system can not fix itself. What happened to the Kellers could happen to anyone. Although it usually happens to the poor and powerless.

And that is why we have scant reason to hope for reform.

-Bob

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Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Koobface Problem Solved

March 19th, 2009

One of the nasty things Koobface did to me was to install a bogus proxy server. I figured out how to disable it.

I endorse the death penalty for people who create crap like this.

-Bob

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Koobface Problem Solved

Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Koobface Got Me!

March 19th, 2009

Dear Friend of Justice,

I’m hoping that this post will be read by someone who might help me. If you know a  technie, maybe you could pass this on.

I’m a Facebook newbie and I got infected by the Koobface Trojan, which spreads via Facebook.

I think I’ve cleaned it off my system. But several programs can no longer access the internet, including Internet Explorer and Windows Update. Firefox, forunately, still works. (Opera does not. Neither do my Yahoo widgets.)

Internet Explorer says that my firewall may be blocking access. But when I shut down ZoneAlarm, the problem persists.

The disabling of Windows Update could cause serious problems in the future.

I would appreciate any help anyone can offer.

-Bob

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Koobface Got Me!

Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

JoAnn Wypijewski Talks About the Shanley Case

March 6th, 2009

Dear Friend of Justice,

Here is a link to a video: http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/?p=69443

-Bob Chatelle

Posted in Innocents, Shanley | 3 Comments »

Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Terrific Article on the Father Paul Shanley Case

February 28th, 2009

Dear Friend of Justice,

The Nation has just published a terrific article on the Father Paul Shanley case, by our good friend, JoAnn Wypijewski.

I urge you all to read it and pass it on: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090316/wypijewski

-Bob Chatelle

Posted in Innocents, Shanley | Comments Off on Terrific Article on the Father Paul Shanley Case

Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Help Us Free Joseph Allen!

February 25th, 2009

Dear Friend of Justice,

My organization, the National Center for Reason and Justice (ncrj.org) has long been involved in the case of Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen. Many of you are already familiar with this terrible miscarriage of justice. (If you are not, please read this article.)

Due to a sentencing error, Nancy Smith was recently released on $100,000 cash bond. (See my post on her release.)

Nancy was fortunate in having someone post the bond. Joseph could likely be released  on the same bond, but he has no resources and his family can’t raise that kind of money. Neither can the NCRJ.

The alternative would be to pay a bondsman. The bonsdman’s fee would be $10,000 and that is non-refundable.

Difficult as it may be, the NCRJ is attempting to raise the money.

You can help in three ways.

One, you could make a tax-deductible donation to the NCRJ’s Prisoner Relief Fund. Send your donation to:

NCRJ
POB 191101
Roxbury MA 02119

Write “Prisoner Relief Fund on your check.

You can also make your donation by credit card.

The NCRJ can’t guarantee your funds will be used to help Joseph. (Donations earmarked for a specific individual are not deductible.) But giving to the Prisoner Relief Fund will give the Board the power to help. Funds in the Prisoner Relief Fund can only be used to help prisoners. Your donation will not go towards administrative expenses. If you don’t help Joseph, you will help someone else.

The other thing you can do is to email me (bobchatelle@gmail.com) and make a pledge to help pay Joseph’s bond. Your pledge will be called in if and only if (1) bond is granted and (2) there have been sufficient donations and pledges to pay the bond fee. (If your pledge is called in, however, the NCRJ will not be able to issue a tax receipt.)

The third way you can help is to send a link to this post to anyone you know who might be willing to help us right this terrible wrong.

Thank you for any help that you can give.

–Bob Chatelle

Posted in Innocents, Smith/Allen | Comments Off on Help Us Free Joseph Allen!

Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

Bernie "Bee" Baran is Sick

February 13th, 2009

Dear Friend of Justice,

I am quite worried about Bee. He has been quite sick for a few days, complicated by severe asthma attacks. He finally saw a doctor this morning. She wanted to hospitalize him on the spot. He finally agreed to go if the medications prescribed for him don’t cause a dramatic improvement over the next couple of days.

Bee has suffered from asthma since childhood. he also suffered a great deal of physical abuse while in prison, causing him a lot of lingereing problems. His shoulder has been bothering him a great deal for a long time. The doctor feels he needs to see an orthopedic surgeon as soon as possible. She also scheduled him for a complete checkup. She told him that his lungs are in terrible shape.

One of the reasons Bee didn’t see a doctor before this is that he had such a terrible time getting health insurance. Once he got it, I bugged him to schedule a physical. But then his partner David became seriously ill and Bee’s focus was taking care of him. Both of them lost a great deal of work because of David’s illness, precipitating their current financial crisis.

The doctor was also skeptical about Bee continuing as a landscaper because of the asthma and his past physical injuries.

If you have Bee’s address, you might want to send him a card. If you don’t, I’d be happy to email it to you. I don’t want to post it in a public place to protect their privacy.

-Bob Chatelle

Posted in Baran, Innocents | 3 Comments »

Friends of Justice is a personal blog. Here I speak only for myself.

One Year and Counting

February 12th, 2009

Dear Friend of Justice,

One year ago today, the Massachusetts Appeals Court held a hearing on DA David Capeless’s motion to deny a new trial to Bernard Baran.

You may wish to review my report on that hearing. I also posted this follow-up comment.

It is unusual for the Appeals Court to take such a long time to issue a decision. There is, however, a huge volume of material to review. One hopes that it is all being thoughtfully read.

When will the Commonwealth’s persecution of this fine young man and his family ever stop?

-Bob Chatelle

Posted in Baran, Innocents | Comments Off on One Year and Counting

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