Poor Mojo's Newswire

On the heels of the Oakland Police Department's worst week in recent years comes more disheartening news -- the East Bay city has more robberies than any other place in the nation. According to an analysis by the Oakland Tribune, one in every 91 residents was the victim of a robbery last year. "That not only was the city's highest robbery rate in two decades, it was the highest of any major American city since 2000," the newspaper's report read. Oakland's rate is 36 percent higher than America's second most robbery-plagued city, Cleveland, and double that of nearby Richmond. Local police say a demand for black market cellphones has fueled the trend. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan called the situation "completely unacceptable" and is seeking more police to address the issue. But many locals don't think officers are the answer. "The police we have aren't getting these robbers off the streets," Oakland Local noted. . . . Meanwhile, a disturbing report uncovered staggering inefficiencies within the department, including one part-time investigator assigned to handle 10,000 burglaries over the course of a year.

A judge has dismissed manslaughter charges against a New York City police officer who shot dead an unarmed teenage boy in his bathroom. Bronx supreme court justice Steven L Barrett said the Bronx district attorney's office failed to properly instruct members of a grand jury in considering allegations against officer Richard Haste for his role in the death in 2012 of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham. "With no great pleasure, I am obliged in this case to dismiss the charges," Barrett said in an emotional hearing Wednesday morning, according to the news website DNAInfo. He made it clear that the dismissal was because of a failure to follow procedure, not because of the evidence. "This is not a case where there is insufficient evidence," the judge said. The charges against Haste were the first of a NYPD officer relating to a fatal shooting on duty since 2007. Then, three detectives were charged over the death of a man shot after he left a strip club on the eve of his wedding. The three were later found not guilty. Graham's mother, Constance Malcolm, cried out before leaving the courtroom in tears on Wednesday: "He killed my child. What more can you do to me?" Haste shot and killed Graham in his apartment bathroom on 2 February 2012 while his six year-old brother and 58 year-old grandmother looked on. His attorney, Stuart London, has maintained that because of radio calls that preceded the shooting, his client was under the impression that Graham was armed and only fired after repeatedly ordering the teen to show his hands.

The office’s Conviction Integrity Unit will reopen every murder case that resulted in a guilty verdict after being investigated by Detective Louis Scarcella, a flashy officer who handled some of Brooklyn’s most notorious crimes during the crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. The development comes after The New York Times examined a dozen cases involving Mr. Scarcella and found disturbing patterns, including the detective’s reliance on the same eyewitness, a crack-addicted prostitute, for multiple murder prosecutions and his delivery of confessions from suspects who later said they had told him nothing. At the same time, defense lawyers, inmates and prisoner advocacy organizations have contacted the district attorney’s office to share their own suspicions about Mr. Scarcella. The review by the office of District Attorney Charles J. Hynes will give special scrutiny to those cases that appear weakest — because they rely on either a single eyewitness or confession, officials said. The staff will re-interview available witnesses, and study any new evidence. If they feel a conviction was unjust, prosecutors could seek for it to be dismissed. “People will look for blame,” said John O’Mara, who leads the Conviction Integrity Unit. “Our goal isn’t to look for blame. Our goal is to correct injustice.”