INSIDE INGLEWOOD-On Tuesday, September 23, Inglewood mayor James T. Butts unilaterally decided to cut the speaking time for each resident from three minutes to one.
The decision, which was not allowed a city council vote let alone a public discussion, may have violated a number of laws.
"Public comments are now limited to one minute, and that's the way we're gonna do it," Butts stated.
Butts is up for reelection in November. He also has a history of attempting to repeal citizens rights regarding communication.
In a 1999 case, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice v Butts, the then Chief of Police of Santa Monica (and former Inglewood cop) was vehemently denied his attempt to dispose of Miranda rights altogether. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals claimed Butts’ behavior was an attempt to violate the 5th Amendment.
Reviewing the case, the December 2002 edition of the Yale Law Review (volume 112), stated On page 490 that "The defendant police departments and officers conceded the existence of both the training materials and the policy of deliberately violating the Miranda rules. The policy was designed to obtain statements that, although inadmissible in the prosecution’s case-in-chief, could be used to impeach suspects who chose to testify in their criminal cases."
Click here for the summary article.
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The LA County District Attorney, Jackie Lacey, has also censured the mayor for his blatant and frequent attempts to prevent residents from speaking at city council meetings.
In two separate Inglewood city council meetings in September, 2013, Butts frequently interrupted residents with whom he personally disagreed and ultimately had Inglewood police officers remove residents.
It was later determined by the LA County DA that Butts had “violated the Brown Act…[by] interrupt[ing] a member of the public who was making public comments and [that Butts unlawfully] ordered that person to be excluded from the meetings.” See the letter below.Butts did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
(Randall Fleming is a veteran journalist and magazine publisher. He has worked at and for the New York Post, the Brooklyn Spectator and the Los Feliz Ledger. He is currently editor-in-chief at the Morningside Park Chronicle, a weekly newspaper based in Inglewood, CA and on-line at www.MorningsideParkChronicle.com. Mr. Fleming’s views are his own and do not reflect the views of CityWatch.) Photo credit: Randall Fleming
-cw
SEE ‘LETTER TO INGLEWOOD’ HERE.
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 78
Pub: Sep 26, 2014
