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LUMPENPROLETARIAT—Ostensibly, our community police agencies are endowed with extraordinary lethal force and firepower because they are charged with protecting and serving our local communities. Unfortunately, the outrageous numbers of extrajudicial killings by police of innocent unarmed civilians doesn’t allow them that reputation.
The questions becomes: what resistance shall we, the people, dignify? Stay tuned, as community protests will likely follow.
Lumpenproletariat
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THE MODESTO BEE—[18 JUN 2016]
Former Stanislaus sheriff’s detective Kari Abbey takes plea deal
A case against a former Stanislaus County sheriff’s detective once accused in a deadly shooting has been resolved.
Kari Abbey initially was charged with murder in the 2010 shooting of Rita Elias. But Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Ricardo Córdova later dismissed the murder charge after determining Abbey fired her gun in self-defense.
What remained of the case against Abbey were felony charges that included allegations of embezzling from the Sheriff’s Department, cultivating marijuana, unlawfully evicting her tenants, child endangerment and illegal possession of steroids.
The embezzlement charge stemmed from allegations by investigators and co-workers who said Abbey spent half of her time at the Sheriff’s Department attending to personal business associated with her family’s rental properties.
With the plea deal, Abbey pleaded no contest to unlawfully entering a home and possessing steroids, both misdemeanors. The felony charges were dropped.
Abbey, 39, was sentenced to three years of probation, 40 hours of community service and $225 in restitution to the Sheriff’s Department, according to Assistant District Attorney Dave Harris, who prosecuted the case.
Michael Rains, Abbey’s attorney, said both sides took a more realistic and pragmatic approach to the evidence after further review of the case.
“Some of these charges, in my opinion, wouldn’t have held up in court in front of jury,” Rains said Friday.
He said he didn’t think Kari Abbey committed the crimes to which she pleaded no contest, but said his client did not want to spend more than $100,000 taking this case to trial. Rains said the taxpayers also would have had to pay for what likely would have been a three-week trial.
Rains, based in Pleasant Hill, has a connection to a case involving the prosecutor. A year ago, Harris and prosecution investigator Steve Jacobson faced contempt-of-court charges related to allegations of improperly contacting an alternate juror and failing to notify the court in a trial of Modesto bail bondsman Aleo John Pontillo. Rains represented Jacobson in that case.
Learn more at THE MODESTO BEE.
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[22 JUN 2016]
[Last modifed 23:50 PDT 22 JUN 2016]
Lumpenproletariat 