FREE CeCe! Documentary Being Filmed

One of my fave peeps in the trans community is busy producing a documentary about our unjustly incarcerated sister entitled FREE CeCe!

The upcoming documentary is being co-produced by Laverne Cox and Jacqueline 'Jac' Gares.  

In addition to an interview with McDonald by Cox, it tells the story of the events of that June 2011 night, the role that race, class and gender played in this case, the issues of housing trans feminine people in male prisons and anti-trans violence.

Gares and Cox also talked about the documentary project in a recent Persephonemagazine.com interview.

The documentary's original genesis came from research Gares was doing when she was a Series Producer on the now cancelled show In The Life.   Gares and Cox both thought the story needed to be told, and looked into doing this as an independent documentary. 

Looking forward to seeing this when it is completed.
 
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CeCe McDonald May Be Released Soon!

Looks like the early part of 2014 could possibly be a wonderful start to the year for our unjustly incarcerated sister CeCe McDonald.

According to information posted on the Minnesota Department of Corrections website,  CeCe McDonald has a projected release date of January 13, 2014 with another 13 months of supervised release.

That's good news in a case that dates back to a June 5, 2011 night in which she and her friends found themselves under assault after having racist and transphobic slurs uttered at them as the passed the Schooner Tavern on their way to a South Minneapolis store.  A fight instigated by Molly Shannon Flaherty resulted in the death of Dean Schmitz

McDonald ended up taking a plea deal when there was clear evidence of self defense, while Molly Flaherty, the person who instigated this drama, only served 180 days.

Hope it does happen on that date for our incarcerated sister, because she shouldn't have spent one second inside the walls of that prison. 

CeCe was recently interviewed by Laverne Cox as part of an upcoming documentary currently being produced about the case entitled FREE CeCe!

Will definitely be keeping an eye on this developing story as we get closer to the projected release date.  I hope I have more wonderful news to report on January 13.

NY Islan Nettles Case Meeting

TransGriot Note:  From the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP)

On December 20 trans community leaders Laverne Cox and Brooke Cerda Guzman, along with representatives from the Audre Lorde Project’s Trans Justice and the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) met with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office regarding the Islan Nettles investigation after misdemeanor charges were dropped against Paris Wilson on November 19, 2013. 

Islan Nettles was attacked on August 17 in Harlem by an individual or group of individuals shouting anti-transgender slurs.  Ms. Nettles was taken to Harlem Hospital for her injuries and on Thursday August 22, was taken off of life support and died.

At the meeting, community leaders spoke about their concerns about the real danger that transgender women of color face in New York City and the need for the District Attorney’s Office to prioritize violence against transgender women of color.  The District Attorney’s Office assured community leaders that the Islan Nettles case remains a top priority and that they were doing everything in their power to move the investigation forward.  The group also spoke about ways in which the District Attorney’s Office and transgender women of color could work together to create safety and highlight the disproportionate impact of violence in transgender and gender non-conforming communities.

The Anti Violence Project (AVP) will continue to work with transgender community leaders and the District Attorney’s Office on the Islan Nettles case and on issues of safety for all transgender women of color in New York City.

AVP stands with transgender women of color, our allies, community members and community leaders in saying we will not be silent about the violence faced by transgender women and transgender women of color in our city.  In September 2013, at AVP’s Courage Awards, Laverne Cox called the violence against transgender women of color “a state of emergency,” and it is exactly that, both here in New York City and across the nation.  The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) most recent report, Hate Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and HIV-Affected Communities in the United States in 2012, documented 25 anti-LGBTQ murders.  73.1% of all anti-LGBTQ homicide victims in 2012 were people of color and 53.8% were transgender women.

So far this year we know of 14 transgender women nationally who have been victims of homicide.  In many of these cases, no motive is known, and we are concerned about the pace of investigations, the serial misgendering of the victims by police and media, and by a lack of public awareness about these tragic deaths.

 REPORTING VIOLENCE HELPS TO END VIOLENCE
AVP encourages you to report violence you experience or witness to our free and confidential 24-hour bilingual (English/Spanish) hotline at 212-714-1141 where you can speak with a trained counselor and seek support, or you can report violence anonymously online at http://avp.org/get-help/report-violence.

Michael McBride Pleads Guilty In Wallace Case

There's more good legal news for the trans community is the wake of the horrific Washington DC case in which one of our transsisters was lured to an abandoned building in the 3500 block of Stanton Rd. SE and stabbed up to 40 times back on June 21.

Michael McBride, the perpetrator and defendant in this case, acording to statements made by friends of the victim, McBride and the woman had previously known each other, but McBride only attacked her after a passerby asked him what he was doing with a ''faggy.''

McBride pleaded guilty according to a MetroWeekly report back on October 25 to a charge of aggravated assault while armed and a charge unrelated to the Wallace attack of assault with a dangerous weapon. 

McBride remains in jail without bond as he awaits sentencing.  His next DC Superior Court appearance is scheduled for January 2014.

Under the D.C. Criminal Code, McBride could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced for up to 10 years, in addition to a term of up to life imprisonment with a mandatory prison term of five, 10 or 15 years, based on his prior criminal record, for the charge of aggravated assault while armed.  The maximum sentence for the assault with the deadly weapon charge is 10 years.

Will be anxious to see how this case plays out as well and how much time he gets for the attack on our trans sister.
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Tavares Spencer Sentenced In Tampa

Justice has been served in Tampa, FL.

Tavares Spencer, the 16 year old teen who robbed and shot trans woman Coko McDonald back on April 9 and gleefully bragged about on social media will be spending time in the Florida penal system.

Spencer was tried as an adult and found guilty back in October of attempted first degree murder, robbery with a firearm, attempted second degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated battery.

The trial featured testimony from Coko Williams and a failed attempt by Spencer's defense attorney to deploy the odious 'trans panic' defense. 

Our transsister Coko is not only thankfully alive to tell her story, she got the early Christmas present of seeing justice being served  

The judge in this case noted his pattern of recent criminal behavior and the testimony from Tampa PD detectives about his lack of remorse in the shooting.  He sentenced Spencer to spend the next 25 years of his young life in jail for letting his transphobia get the best of him.

Ashley Sinclair's Alleged Killer Arrested

The New Year will hopefully see justice for Ashley Sinclair. 

News out of Orlando, FL is that after an eight month investigation, someone has finally been arrested and charged for her April 4 murder.

22 year old Kentz V. Louis has been arrested by Orange County deputies and charged with first degree murder in this case.

Louis and Sinclair were acquaintances according to deputies, but they haven't released at this time a motive for the shooting that happened in a wooded area of Orange County off Nimrod Lane in the early morning hours of April 4.

Let's hope and pray the Orange County detectives got their man.   Let's also hope and pray that for the sake of Ashley, her family and all who loved her that Louis is expeditiously tried, found guilty and be spending a long time locked up in Florida's penal system for this heinous crime.

Will definitely be keeping an eye on this case until justice is served for our departed trans sister. 

Nope, Haven't Forgotten About CeCe McDonald

Back in June 2011 CeCe McDonald and her friends were minding their own business and headed to a nearby Target store in their south Minneapolis neighborhood.  As they passed the Schooner Tavern they were subjected to racist and transphobic slurs and a fight instigated by Molly Shannon Flaherty that resulted in the death of neo-Nazi sympathizer Dean Schmitz

CeCe ended up taking a plea deal that has her spending 41 months in jail for 2nd degree manslaughter, when there was clear evidence of self defense.  Molly Flaherty, the person who instigated this mess only served 180 days.

If CeCe hadn't 'stood her ground', there a possibility that we would have been reading her name on that year's Remembering our Dead list.   But 41 months in jail is still an unjust price to pay for defending yourself against an unprovoked racist and transphobic attack

You may wish to check out CeCe's writings at the 'Support CeCe McDonald' blog.   It also has the address for you if the mood strikes (and I hope you do) to take some time out of your busy days to write CeCe a letter or send her a Christmas card to let our unjustly incarcerated sis know that she does have trans community support..

Armani Nicole Davenport Turns Herself In

I wrote earlier this month about Armani Nicole Davenport, our Dallas area pageant sister who was wanted by the New Orleans Police for an October 24 silicone pumping session  that went badly and sent one of the two people pumped with a substance that was less than medical grade silicone to a local hospital.

A warrant was issued for her arrest, and she turned herself in on November 6 to New Orleans PD.  She was booked into the New Orleans Parish Prison and her bail was set at $50,000.

The person who rejected the pumping concoction was still hospitalized at the time Davenport turned herself in to NOPD.   She was in critical condition but improving as of that November 6 date.

Davenport is facing a charge of negligent injuring, of which if she is convicted of it will face six months in jail and a $5,000 fine. 

And I will be keeping up with what transpires in this latest silicone pumping case. 

Andrey Bridges Sentenced In Cemia Dove Acoff Murder

Last week Andrey Bridges was convicted by a Cuyahoga County jury after a ten day trial of killing 20 year old Cemia Dove Acoff.   Today he was back in Judge Hollie L Gallagher's court at 11 AM EST to find out what his sentence would be.

The 36 year old Bridges was sentenced to life imprisonment for his convictions on murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse and will be eligible for parole in 2034.

While Bridges will be going back into the Ohio penal system again for an extended stay this time, it still doesn't bring back Cemia for all who loved her

“She was a ray of sunshine. She was really, really sweet; very, very positive; very pretty,” said Tracy Jones, CEO of the AIDS Task Force of Greater Cleveland in a FOX 8 report.

And local Cleveland activists are making sure that their paper of record, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, never leads the charge to grossly disrespect another trans person in the area like they massively did in Cemia's case.

Justice was served in this case, but I would be willing to bet that everyone who loved Cemia would rather see her smiling face interacting in their lives and an immediate end to our young trans women being murdered

Rasheen Everett Convicted In Amanda Gonzalez Andujar Murder

We've been on a roll lately in terms of justice being served for our fallen transsisters around the country.

You can add 32 year old Rasheen Everett's name to the list of wastes of DNA who killed trans women and are going to do serious time (we hope) for it.

Everett was arrested in Las Vegas back on April 9, 2010 for the March 27 killing of 29 year old Amanda Gonzalez Andujar in her Queens apartment and had been held without bail since his arrest. 

He was caught on video entering Gonzalez Andujar's apartment building at 8:50 AM ET and after strangling her to death, poured bleach over her body and left 18 hours later carrying two bags that contained her keys, suitcase, laptop, cellphone, camera and coat. 

He then departed New York on a three day bus ride to Las Vegas where he was later arrested by NYPD homicide detectives.

Everett was charged with second degree murder, second degree burglary and tampering with physical evidence.   The trial lasted four weeks in Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard L Buchter's court with the jury finding him guilty of all three charges on November 8.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a press release, "The defendant stands convicted of violently taking the life of another human being in her own home and then tampering with the body in an attempt to escape justice. Such a vicious act of violence demonstrates that this defendant is a threat to society and deserving of a lengthy prison sentence." 

So how much time is Everett facing for this heinous crime?  He's looking at 40 years to life in prison and will be sentenced by Judge Buchter on December 5, 2013.

So New York trans community, if you can make it on that day, you may wish to do so to support the family of our fallen Latina trans sister and witness justice being served. 

Tavares Spencer Trial-Guilty!

Looks like the attempted use of the 'trans panic' defense by his defense team failed.

Tavares Spencer was found guilty in a Tampa courtroom today of all charges including attempted 1st-degree murder, robbery with a firearm, attempted 2nd-degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated battery in the shooting of Coko McDonald.

As soon as I find out when Spencer will be sentenced and what that sentence is, I'll definitely post it to the blog.

Second Person Arrested In Vivian Diego Assault Case

The Los Angeles Police Department has announced they have arrested the second of the four suspects involved in the vicious early morning May 31 beating of transwoman Vivian Diego on Hollywood Boulevard near Vine Street..

21 year old Samuel Garunts was arrested October 23 and according to LAPD officer Drake Madison has been a person of interest in the investigation for some time according to an LA Times report by Ari Bloomekatz and Robert Lopez 

 21 year old Nicol Shakhnazaryan was arrested June 20 and charged with battery with serious bodily injury and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury.  He has pled not guilty to those felony charges.   

Two down, two to go.  

LAPD investigators have set up a special email account, hollywoodcrimetips@gmail.com, for anyone to contact them or provide information.   In addition, anyone with information about the attack on Ms. Diego can contact LAPD's Hollywood Area Detective Division at (213) 972-2967 or (877) LAPD-24-7 during non-business hours or weekends.

And yes I'll be keeping tabs on this Left Coast case until justice is served.

Tavares Spencer Trial-Coko Takes The Stand

The question was asked by the Tampa media if Coko McDonald would testify against her attacker or even be there in the audience as the Tavares Spencer trial started yesterday. 

Well, she did.  Sis was looking good as she described the events of that horrific April 9 day. 




And yeah, not a surprise to me that Spencer's defense attorneys are already trying to deploy the 'trans panic' defense.   They actually claimed that since McDonald made sexual advances toward their client, the now 17 year old teen felt scared for his life and shot her.

WTF?   Just another sterling example of why the 'trans panic' defense needs to be banned and consigned to the legal ash heap. 

Gee, I hope the jury didn't buy those woof tickets the defense attorney was selling, but then again, we have previous experience with Florida juries buying bull feces laden defense cases up the road in Sanford, FL. .  

The Spencer trial is expected to wrap up by the end of the week.

Andrey Bridges Trial Starts In Cleveland

TransGriot readers, here's another trial for us to keep our eyes on to see if the deceased trans person and all who loved them gets justice.

The murder trial of 36 year old Andrey Bridges, who is accused of killing 20 year old Cemia Dove Acoff began on Tuesday in Cleveland.  He is charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.

Bridges has a long and violent criminal history that includes felonious assault and four stints in prison.  He was on probation in 2010 to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Hollie L. Gallagher for one of those assault charges according to Cleveland.com when he was arrested in connection to the Acoff case.

And guess who the presiding judge is in this case?  

According to the report by the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Rachel Dissell, Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Brian Radigan briefly described for the jury how Dove's body was found and how police used taxi cab call records to link Bridges to the crime. He didn't present a motive but said witnesses would tell the story as the trial unfolded.  

Defense attorney Henry Hilow told jurors that there had been a lot of talk and conjecture about what the case was about. He asked the jurors to consider evidence and witness testimony, not theories.
"We're not here to create false impressions," he said. "It's about fact."

Well, Mr. Hilow, the fact is that a 20 year old person is no longer on this planet, and the evidence points to your client being the reason that's the case.  

But as I know from almost 20 years of being Moni and 15 years of trans activism, murder trials involving trans feminine victims, especially transfeminine victims of color sometimes have not so just endings.

I'm still concerned the blatant demonizing misgendering of Ms Acoff gleefully engaged in earlier this year by the Cleveland Plain Dealer may still have an effect on the jury pool that was empaneled yesterday

The jury in the Bridges trial has been selected, and they are taking a trip out to the Olmstead Township, OH crime scene that will be the focus of this case.

Let's just hope justice is served when they return to the courtroom, hear all of the evidence presented in this case by the prosecutors and defense attorneys and render their verdict.

Evon Young Trial Update II

As I promised you TransGriot readers, I was going to be keeping track of developments in the various trials of the five people, Victor Stewart, Ashanti Mcalister, Billy R. Griffin, Ron Joseph Allen, and Devin L. Seaberry who were arrested and charged with the murder of 22 year old transmasculine rapper Evon 'Yung LT' Young.

Young went missing on New Year's Day and it is suspected that after the alleged perpetrators killed him and disposed of the body in a dumpster, his remains ended up in a Menomonee Falls, WI landfill which was searched for 13 days but the body was never recovered.

Now to update the judicial scorecard for you in the search for justice for Evon Young..   

23 year old Devin Seaberry pled guilty to a lesser charge of second degree reckless homicide on July 2 in return for their testimony against Griffin, Mcalister and Allen.   Seaberry was supposed to be sentenced October 17 but as of yet haven't discovered what his punishment was. 

Same story for 27 year old Victor Stewart.  He pled guilty June 5 to second degree reckless homicide in exchange for his testimony against Griffin, Mcalister and Allen and was supposed to be sentenced July 23.     
26 year old Billy Griffin, whose first trial ended in a hung jury on June 17, was arraigned on first degree intentional homicide charges and his retrial is set to start in November.

19 year old Ashanti Mcalister was found guilty of first degree intentional homicide on June 27, and was sentenced on September 12 to life imprisonment.   He'll be eligible for parole in 2066.  

The trial of 37 year old Ron Allen was supposed to start on October 7, but haven't discovered as of this writing whether it started on that date or was rescheduled for a later date.

Will continue to keep an eye on how things are transpiring in Milwaukee until all the people who are being tried in this care are tried and our fallen trans brother and all who loved him receive justice.  

Tavares Spencer Attempted Murder Trial Starts In Tampa

22 year old Coko McDonald almost ended up being another one of the sadly too long list of Black trans women whose names we'll read on November 20.

But because of quick thinking on her part she's not, and the waste of DNA who allegedly tried to kill her is on trial.

16 year old Tavares Spencer is facing attempted murder and hate crime charges after luring McDonald to a home on April 9 in the 5000 block of Winnie Street N.in the east Tampa area and shooting her. 

Spencer wanted to date Coko and after discovering she was a trans woman, became enraged about that revelation and allegedly plotted to kill her.

Just because you get pissed about finding out you are attracted to a trans woman doesn't give you or anyone else the authority to kill us.  

Off soapbox, returning to story.  

A week after the two met, Spencer lured Coko to the home on Winnie Street, pulled out a gun, and told her to get on the ground.  Police say he stole her cell phone and her purse and then shot her. Coko says the bullets hit her in the hip.


“I lost my breath with the first shot.  The second one kind of put my body in a shock,” said Coko.

McDonald played dead until Spencer walked away.  She then got up and took off running as Spencer fired another shot at her that fortunately missed.

Tampa Police Department investigators said that within an hour of the shooting, the teenager was bragging about it on text messages and using "defamatory statements" about McDonald's sexual orientation.

Spencer was in jail on an unrelated charge when he was arrested and charged as an adult for the attempted murder of McDonald along with robbery and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.  The enhanced hate crime charge was the result of a warrant authorized search of Spencer's phone that revealed the transphobic text messages. 

Jury selection started this morning with prosecutors and Spencer's defense attorney interviewing potential jury members for this attempted murder trial.   It's also not known at this time whether Coko will appear in the courthouse to either testify during the trial against Spencer or just be there in the courtroom to watch the proceedings.

At any rate, I'll be keeping an eye on it along with the Tampa area trans community to see if justice is served in this case.

Mississippi Silicone Pumper Tracey Lynn Garner Trial Date Set

In the latest news surrounding the Tracey Lynn Garner silicone pumping case, the 53 year old Jackson, MS trans feminine pumper is now facing two depraved heart murder charges in the March 2012 deaths of 37 year old Karima Gordon of Atlanta and the January 2010 death of 23 year old Marilyn Hale of Selma, AL due to silicone butt injections that went horribly wrong.

Garner pled not guilty in a June 18 hearing in Hale's case, and a trail date hasn't been set for it.  

There has been a date set for the start of Garner's trial in the Gordon case, and it is scheduled to begin March 17, 2014 after two postponements.

Natasha Stewart is also facing charges in the Karima Gordon death and pled not guilty in January to charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  Stewart is an online model with a 48 inch pumped behind.courtesy of Garner's handiwork.

If Garner is convicted on either charge of depraved heart murder by the Hinds County jury, she is facing life imprisonment. 

Trans Woman Accuses El Monte, CA Police Officer Of Sexual Assault

One of the depressingly consistent stories I've chronicled since I started this blog in 2006 is the long and sometimes ugly history of police misconduct aimed at transwomen that is sadly widespread across the nation in red and blue states. 

The root cause of the May 1959 Cooper's Donuts Riots in Los Angeles, the August 1966 Compton's Cafeteria one in San Francisco and the June 1969 Stonewall Riots is trans and gender variant people getting fed up with police harassment of them.

We have had far too many cases of trans women disrespected in their own homes, having their human rights violated, messed with in jails by guards and prisoners alike, physically and sexually assaulted , subjected to stop and frisk tactics and even shot at by a drunk off duty cop pissed off because a trans woman rejected his disrespectful sexual advances.   And in far too many of those cases the police disrespect of trans women and disregard for their human rights has been aimed at Black and Latina transwomen. 

Now comes word from the Left Coast concerning a transwoman who filed a federal lawsuit on October 18 under a pseudonym that seeks unspecified monetary damages and names as defendants the city of El Monte, CA and an unnamed police officer she alleges sexually assaulted her.

According the the complaint, plaintiff  'Jane Roe' alleges that in the early morning hours on October 23, 2012.she was crossing Garvey Avenue at Central Avenue (map) on the way to a friend's house between 4 AM and 6 AM PDT when a uniformed El Monte police officer pulled up in a marked patrol car and demanded to know what she was doing, according to the civil complaint. 

The officer ordered her to lean into the driver's side window of the patrol car and "Because she feared for her safety if she refused, (she) leaned forward and (the officer) groped her breasts," the complaint says. "He then asked (her) if she was 'a nasty she-male.' (She) responded that she was transsexual."

The officer then allegedly ordered Roe to walk into an alley behind businesses in the southeastern corner of the intersection, and into a secluded parking lot behind 10052 Garvey Avenue in which upon arrival he ordered her to perform oral sex on him, the complaint says.

After several minutes, the officer raped her on the trunk of his patrol car while calling her demeaning names.

The officer then allegedly threw his used condom on the ground and told the trans woman to leave. After a few moments, she returned to retrieve the condom for use as evidence, according to the complaint.

That condom she retrieved was turned over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as evidence.  The officer was placed on leave as the El Monte Police Department launched an internal affairs investigation and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's launched a criminal investigation into the matter.

Jane Roe's federal lawsuit is a reminder of how many times the police officers who are sworn to protect and serve us have forgotten or ignored the fact that we transpeople are part of the community and we have human rights that you violate at your peril.

Silicone Pumper Oneal Morris To Do Year In Jail

Been keeping up with three high profile silicone pumping cases involving trans pumpers as they wind their way through the court system. 

One of them is the case of now 32 year old Oneal R. Morris, the Miami, FL based pumper whose pumping concoction of Fix-a-Flat, mineral oil and cement left several women cis and trans disfigured and one cis woman dead.

When I last checked in on this case Miami-Dade District Judge Ellen Sue Venzera rejected a June 25 plea deal that would have sent Morris to jail for 180 days, required her to pay restitution to her victims and placed her on five years probation because Judge Venzera felt the deal was too light for the seriousness of the charges.

Morris accepted a plea deal yesterday in which she will serve 366 days in jail for one count of practicing medicine without a license and surrender on January 7 to begin serving that sentence.   

Rajee Narinesingh, one of her pumping victims who is now an activist focusing on the dangers of silicone pumping, told the local Miami media a year in jail wasn't long enough. 

Morris is still facing charges in Broward County that include manslaughter in the death of 31 year old Shatarka Nuby. 

Judge Posner, Too Bad You Didn't Recognize Voter ID=Voter Suppression In 2007

“Let’s not beat around the bush: The Indiana voter photo ID law is a not-too-thinly-veiled attempt to discourage election-day turnout by certain folks believed to skew Democratic.”
--Judge Terence T. Evans,  Dissenting opinion, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board case

The landmark Crawford v. Marion County Election Board case in 2007 that was subsequently upheld a year later by the SCOTUS unleashed a new way for the GOP to engage in their Southern Strategy tactics of suppressing the voting rights of non-white Americans.

As we in Texas started the first election cycle in which that Spawn of Conservasatan Voter Suppression law is impacting us no thanks to the SCOTUS frakking with Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, we have the bitter irony of the US Seventh Circuit court judge who wrote the opinion in favor of it, Judge Richard A Posner, now saying he was wrong in that case. 

Posner was appointed to the Seventh District Court of Appeals in 1981 by President Reagan and is a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.  In his 40th book, “Reflections on Judging,” Judge Posner said, “I plead guilty to having written the majority opinion” in the case. He noted that the Indiana law in the Crawford case is “a type of law now widely regarded as a means of voter suppression rather than of fraud prevention.” .

Gee, any person of color who is or isn't an attorney could have told you that. Judge Evans tried to tell you that in 2007.



Thanks Judge Posner for admitting you were wrong in that case, but it's too little and way too damned late.

Judge Evans (who passed away in 2011) isn't around to hear you say it, and your 'you were wrong' admission on video and in print is of little comfort to those of us living in GOP controlled areas of the country who have to deal with the repercussions of these Voter ID laws you and Judge Sykes' opinion in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board helped unleash on the rest of the nation.