Long-coddled Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Black now accused of molesting teen

Donald Black,  a 23-year veteran of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, whose service record is most notable for numerous disciplinary actions and civil lawsuits costing the Sacramento County taxpayers  $400,000 to date -- and who has thus far eluded any actual prosecution, thanks to a DA's office who doesn't even care to investigate its own killer cops -- now stands accused of molesting a teen.

Arrested on suspicion of five counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child 14 or 15 years old, Black now faces what he's never faced under DA Jan Scully's watch: actual prosecution by actual attorneys working with an actual police department.

Yes, even after Black and fellow deputies badly burned two men in police custody, resulting in a "civil lawsuit and an administrative claim that ultimately resulted in Sacramento County paying more than $300,000 in damages," DA Scully's Office, which supposedly investigated the incident, said there were “questions” but "not enough evidence" to criminally prosecute Black or his fellow deputies.

What a surprise.

Scully has yet to issue a comment on whether her office also knew that Black was molesting children.

But Nevada County isn't Sacramento County. Cops aren't given a free pass by DA to maim and kill anyone they like, without fear of investigation -- as we've covered here at length in our Jan Scully and killer cops sections.

Read the full article, below the fold.

Jan Scully pay lip-service to "limited" review of officer-involved shootings

The shocking 2012-13 surge in shootings and in-custody deaths at the hands of Sacramento County Law Enforcement – 13 shootings in the first eight months of the year, eight of which were fatal, and many against unarmed Sac County residents – began after DA Jan Scully disbanded her office's officer-involved shootings protocol.

While Scully made clear that she still has no plans to "conduct a full, separate investigation, either at the shooting sites or in cases of in-custody deaths," she said that in "special circumstances," an investigator will be available "by telephone" to "consider" a response.

Sacramento cops kill teenager carrying unload gun, guiding blind friend home

Sacramento cops shoot and kill yet another person. This time he was seventeen. Kid had a unloaded gun. Helping walk his blind friend to his home. Witness says cops never said a thing. Just started shooting.

“My friend turned around and said, ‘I’m guiding him,'" explained the witness. "Cops did not say ‘put your hands up’ or nothing, just started shooting.”

Ever since Sacramento County DA Jan Scully gave police carte blanche to shoot and kill anyone, anytime, for any reason, whaddya know, the rotten apples on the force have been taking her at her word....

 

Record numbers may force DA Jan Scully to resume investigation of officer-caused shootings and deaths

L.A. County law enforcement serves roughly 10 million residents. Sacramento County law enforcement serves roughly 600 thousand. Adjusting for size, if L.A. County officers shot and killed its residents at the Sacramento County rate, they would kill 200 people a year rather than 30….

Reporter Kim Minugh and a second Sacramento Bee editorial in the last few days examine the astonishing rate at which law enforcement is shooting and killing Sacramento County residents, and also examine District Attorney Jan Scully’s refusal to investigate.

According the the Bee editorial, “shootings by sheriff’s deputies have jumped to historic levels in Sacramento County.”[1] As Minugh reports, the first five months of 2012 alone there have been 10 shootings, involving 18 officers, with the result of six dead Sac County residents and three injured.[2]

Even County law enforcement, much to their credit, wants independent reviews of shootings. Although “in-house investigations and a review by the Sheriff’s Department’s appointed inspector general concluded all of the shootings appear to be justified,” notes the Bee, “to protect their own credibility, Sheriff Scott Jones, his inspector general and even the sheriff’s deputies union leader have all said they want independent reviews.”[3]

In its strongest statement to date, the Bee declares

    District Attorney Jan Scully needs to reconsider her decision to stop investigating police shootings. Officers who shoot people in the line of duty need to know their actions will be scrutinized, and so does the public.[4]

If nothing else, Sheriff Jones, like any other good egg in law enforcement, realizes that the rotten ones in his department will make everyone else seem to stink. Residents of Sacramento County, like most people, have at least an inkling of how difficult, stressful, and life-threatening are the jobs of law enforcement. Most people understand that if a cop feels that its his or her life, or the life of a partner, versus the life of a suspect… well, that’s no choice at all. Most people also understand that every job has a few employees who should not be there. And when that job involves carrying a gun, then it’s absolutely crucial that rotten eggs are sorted. Residents of Sacramento County need to know that they cannot be gunned down by incompetent, rogue, or rotten cops with the blessing of the District Attorney.

7X MORE DEADLY THAN L.A. COUNTY: STAGGERING NUMBERS IN CONTEXT

Minugh’s excellent 1300-word article, “Surge seen in shootings by Sacramento County deputies” (June 8, 2012) provides some numbers on Sac County shootings by officers. “Less than six months into 2012,” writes Minugh, Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies are “already surpassing their 10-year record for the number of officer-involved shootings in a year.” Writes Minugh:

    It’s a sharp uptick when compared to years past. The Sheriff’s Department, which serves 627,000 people in unincorporated Sacramento County and Rancho Cordova, has averaged about six shootings a year in the last decade, with a record nine in 2006. In 2011, there were five, three of them fatal.[5]

According to the Associated Press article published two days after Minugh’s article and the Sac Bee editorial, Los Angeles County has also seen a drastic increase not only in shootings by officers, but deaths of alleged suspects.

    The number of “suspects” killed by police in Los Angeles County has risen nearly 70 percent in 2011 over the previous year. The Los Angeles Times reports Sunday that 54 people were killed by law enforcement in 2011 countywide.[6] [NB: 22% of those killed were unarmed.--CP]

While 70% is indeed a drastic increase, it seems negligible next to Sacramento County’s numbers.

Let us break it down:

L.A. County law enforcement serves roughly 10 million residents. Sacramento County law enforcement serves roughly 600 thousand.

If LA County’s 54 dead represent a 70% increase, then the prior year’s rate (we’ll pretend it’s the “normal” rate) is roughly 30 residents killed by police per year. Thus the “normal” L.A. rate is 30 dead out of 10 million, per year.

The current figure for Sacramento County law enforcement is 6 dead out of 600 thousand, in six months. If this rate continues, then, there will be 12 dead out of 600 thousand for the year.

Thus, if we compare L.A. County’s “normal” rate” with Sac County’s current rate, we find

•     If LA officers killed residents at the Sac rate, they would kill 200 people a year rather than 30.
•     If LA was experiencing the Sac County rate, the headline would not have said “LA Co. fatal police shootings rise by 70 percent” but would have said “LA Co. fatal police shootings rise by 566 percent.”
•     If we adjust for jurisdiction sizes, then Sac County officers shoot and between 6 and 7 persons for every one person shot and killed by LA County officers.

Go figure.

DA Jan Scully's wrongful convictions

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully claims rate of wrongful convictions is “infinitesimal,” in spite of report noting 80+ in her county alone, resulting from withheld evidence, perjury, and use of perjured testimony by prosecutors and law enforcement….

Jan Scully: Homicide OK, but workers’ comp fraud a felony

In June of 2011, Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully announced that her office would no longer investigate officer-involved shootings or any in-custody deaths. Even after receiving an unexpected $5+ million for her office, shortly after the announcement, Scully reiterated that she would not resume any investigation of deaths at the hands of law enforcement in her jurisdiction. Since then, law enforcement has broken all previous records for suspect shootings, with the toll of casualties and deaths quickly mounting.

In June of 2012, however, exactly a year after Scully’s shocking announcement, the DA announced that she had filed felony charges against a now-retired officer in the California Highway Patrol.

The officer’s alleged crime? Collecting checks for a back injury that DA Scully says isn’t injured enough. The officer was “captured on surveillance video-tape lifting 30-pound objects and moving furniture,” says Scully’s office, according to the Sacramento Bee.[1]

Although DA Scully appears resolutely unmoved even when officers gun down mentally-ill persons (see Jonathan Rose), Scully announced on June 8 that “felony workers’ compensation insurance fraud” and “attempted perjury” had moved her to file felony charges against retired officer Brian Christopher Hansen.[2] (How, precisely, one can be charged with “attempting” perjury, is anyone’s guess–but that another story.)

Sacramento County law enforcement officers charged with “illegally buying and selling high-powered pistols”

With the grim-faced leadership of Sacramento’s law enforcement community looking on, federal officials described an elaborate scheme Friday that they say involved police and deputies illegally buying and selling dozens of high-powered pistols to make thousands of dollars in profit.

The case, which dates back to the summer of 2011, has ensnared at least four area law enforcement officers, including two Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies [Deputies Ryan McGowan, 31, and Thomas Lu, 42] charged in federal court Friday.

Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy David McEntire Kills Unarmed, Mentally-Ill 24-Year-Old as Family Watches in Horror

Ever since Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully announced that she would no longer investigate fatal shootings by police officers, or any in-custody deaths, it is perhaps unsurprising that Sac County law enforcement is now breaking all records, by a several-hundred percent increase, in killing civilians. Even unarmed ones. Even mentally-ill ones.

The Sacramento Bee reports:

    On Jan. 17, Ted Rose called the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department for help with his mentally ill son. By the end of the night, his son was dead at the hands of a deputy.Nearly three months after the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Johnathan Rose, his family is speaking out about what they witnessed that night and raising questions about the actions of the deputy who ultimately shot Johnathan.

    “Our whole life has been turned upside down,” said Johnathan’s mother, Dee Rose. “It’s like a nightmare you can’t wake up from.”

DA Jan Scully Gives Police the OK to Shoot and Kill Anyone

Lamont Harmon, who was unarmed, walking to his mom’s house, when he was first tasered and then shot multiple times by police, is just one of numerous people shot and killed by law enforcement in Sacramento County since District Attorney Jan Scully announced that she would no longer investigate officer-involved shootings or any in-custody deaths.

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully announces her office will no longer review officer-involved shootings---at the same time that the county Sheriff's Department reduces firearm training. 14 officer-involved shootings follow. In the first weeks of 2012 alone, police shootings break records for prior years: six in total; two dead and three injured. The most recent victim, Lamont Harmon, was unarmed, walking to his mother's house. [1]

In June 2011, DA Jan Scully announced that budget cuts might force her to give some prosecutors their pink slips. As a cost-cutting measure, the DA explained, she would no longer review officer-involved shootings. Moreover, her office would cease to review any in-custody deaths of suspects, regardless of circumstances.[2]

Just three months later, a settlement with Chevron earned Sacramento County $6.5 million, with $5.1 million going directly to the DA’s office[3]. Scully called the settlement “fortuitous” and was pleased to announce that her office would now avoid layoffs.

When asked, however, Scully made clear that her office, regardless of the $5 million, would not resume investigations into officer-involved shootings or deaths. [4]

Sac DA Jan Scully's free-pass to trigger-happy cops results (surprise) in record shootings and deaths

No Longer Investigated by DA’s Office, Sacramento County Officer-Involved Shootings and Deaths Break Records

In the first 37 days of the year, sheriff’s deputies have killed two suspects and wounded three others.... 

Editorial: Are shootings by deputies being fully reviewed?" The Sacramento Bee. Feb. 8, 2012. http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/08/4246863/are-shootings-by-deputies-being.html
It may turn out to be merely a statistical blip that already this year, Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies have fired at six suspects. That’s more officer-involved shootings for the department than in any recent full year except 2009, when there were seven.

Jan Scully saves money by letting cops kill people

Sacramento County District Attorney saves money by ceasing investigations of police shootings

Allegedly "wrestling with budget cuts," DA Jan Scully has ceased monitoring police shootings to determine whether the officers’ kills were justified and whether the investigations into them were conducted thoroughly, or at all.

Not that it really matters. After all, in the past 10 years, the Sacramento County DA’s office has investigated 93 officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths, and not one has resulted in a criminal prosecution, even though many of those killed were unarmed.

Policy director for the Northern California ACLU, Allen Hopper, says he is "not aware of other DA’s offices dropping their officer-involved shooting units."

Sacramento Police Officer Brandon Mullock charged with 34 counts of perjury, falsifying police reports

 Mullock’s troubles began in January 2010, when he was accused of brandishing a gun during an off-duty fracas and put on administrative leave from the department. Eventually, he pleaded to a misdemeanor charge in that case.
While he was on paid leave, a deputy district attorney reviewing a DUI case noticed discrepancies between Mullock’s police report and footage from his patrol cruiser’s in-car camera.
That launched an extensive review by police officials and prosecutors into cases in which Mullock was the primary officer or a key witness.
Mullock resigned from the department in late August. In September, Scully announced her office had to dismiss 79 cases – most of them involving DUIs and some of them already adjudicated – because of questions about Mullock’s credibility. The dismissals resulted in the wiping of criminal records, repayment of court fees and the reinstatement of suspended driver’s licenses....