When Prosecutors Bury Police Lies Court records and interviews with former prosecutors show that internal assessments of police dishonesty are rarely memorialized, potentially violating the rights of people charged in criminal cases and sometimes keeping the records of bad cops clean. George Joseph, Ali Winston
Prison Tech Company Is Questioned for Retaining ‘Voice Prints’ of People Presumed Innocent Defense attorneys say they were unaware of the practice and are unclear on how they can expunge the data of nonconvicted clients. George Joseph, Debbie Nathan
Prisons Across the U.S. Are Quietly Building Databases of Incarcerated People’s Voice Prints The technology also allows authorities to mine call databases and cross-reference the voices of individuals prisoners have spoken with. George Joseph, Debbie Nathan
Years After Protests, NYPD Retains Photos of Black Lives Matter Activists The records raise questions about the department’s compliance with its protest monitoring rules. George Joseph
Judge Attacks NYPD Practice of Seizing Teens’ DNA Without Parental Consent The decision also held that the city’s routine storage of DNA profiles from nonconvicted people in a permanent database violates state law. George Joseph
New Jersey Cop Sued Over Shooting Ranks First in His Department for Use of Force Officer Sheehan Miles of the Trenton Police Department had 43 force encounters between 2012 and 2016, according to a new database. George Joseph
NYPD Commander’s Text Messages Show How the Quota System Persists Officers say the language used now is more subtle but still encourages numbers-driven policing. George Joseph
Despite New Rules, NYC Is Still Jailing People Long After They Post Bail A new Bronx Freedom Fund report documents these extended pretrial lockups, which threaten people’s jobs and destabilize families. George Joseph
Jeff Sessions Left Behind a Record-Breaking Gun Prosecution Machine The program was supposed to target ‘leading’ violent offenders. Today it’s sweeping up low-level, and disproportionately Black, defendants. George Joseph
Lawsuit Accuses A Louisiana Police Chief Of Punching a Man and Throwing His Wife to the Ground Then he ordered another officer to arrest the man. George Joseph
New Evidence Reveals Columbus Police Filed Misleading Reports on Stormy Daniels Arrest In internal documents obtained by The Appeal, the vice unit’s supervisor admits no specific complaints were lodged against Daniels or the club before the police took action. George Joseph
After Victory in Louisiana, Oregon Is Now The Only State Using Split Juries to Convict People As in Louisiana, Oregon’s practice is rooted in its own rich history of white supremacy. George Joseph
North Carolina Sheriff Criticized For Unleashing K-9 Dogs On Black People Faces Re-Election Advocates say that Sheriff Donnie Harrison is unfit for a fifth term because of such abusive practices as well as his office's cooperation with ICE. George Joseph
This Florida County’s Sheriff Is Controversial. But His Election Won’t Be Close. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office stands accused of violating immigrants’ rights and dismissing a shocking number of jail deaths. George Joseph
Lawsuit: Manhattan D.A.’s Office Tracks Cops With ‘Credibility’ Problems, But Refuses To Release Its List The office has criticized the NYPD for shielding officers’ misconduct histories, but it won’t share its own information on police dishonesty. George Joseph, Emma Whitford
In Alabama, Black People Are 4 Times More Likely Than White People To Be Arrested For Marijuana Possession A new report details Alabama’s “War on Marijuana” ahead of a key DA election. George Joseph
Is Orange County D.A. Candidate Sending Mixed Signals on Jail Phone Company’s Contract? Todd Spitzer blasted Global Tel Link for recording attorney-client phone calls, but his campaign won’t call on a PAC supporting his candidacy to return the company’s lobbyist’s donation. George Joseph
An Alabama Prosecutor Locked Up 4 Black Teens For A Murder They Didn’t Commit. Now He’s Trying 2 More. Two teenagers are facing life without parole sentences for capital murder, though it’s not clear they pulled the trigger. George Joseph
Claims of Racism and Brutality Dog Los Angeles County Sheriff ‘Deputy Gangs’ A lawsuit brought by a Compton resident detailing an alleged beating by deputies is just one of nearly three dozen federal civil rights lawsuits alleging brutality and racial bias at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. George Joseph, Raven Rakia, Ethan Corey
Facing Lawsuit, NYPD Changes How Officers Use Sealed Arrest Data Arrests that result in dropped charges and dismissals are supposed to be sealed. But until recently, the NYPD used these records to target turnstile jumpers. Simon Davis-Cohen, George Joseph
Just 6% of Columbus Police Officers Account for Half of All Force Reports Between 2001 and 2017, the department justified officers in 99 percent of use-of-force cases, according to data released through a public records request. Ethan Corey, George Joseph
Queens Prosecutor: Kalief Browder’s Suicide Wasn’t About Rikers City Council Member Rory Lancman, who was debating Assistant District Attorney James Quinn over the future of Rikers Island, blasted Quinn's comments on Browder, who spent three years incarcerated without a trial. George Joseph
Two Cops Said They Saw A Man Grope Women. The Women Disagreed. The DA Charged Him Anyway An 11-month prosecution of a ‘forcible touching’ case in Manhattan sharply diverges from the office’s treatment of Harvey Weinstein, defense attorneys say. George Joseph, Simon Davis-Cohen
An Inside Look At An Ohio Police Force’s Race Problem A white cop joked about bringing explosives to a Black Lives Matter protest in Columbus with no consequences. A black cop joked about ‘black on black’ crime and may be fired. George Joseph
Internal Documents Reveal How Bronx Prosecutors Are Taught to Slow Down Cases The tactics outlined encourage courtroom ‘dishonesty’ and ‘gamesmanship,’ legal experts argue. George Joseph, Simon Davis-Cohen
Meet ‘Bob Smith,’ The Fake Facebook Profile Memphis Police Allegedly Used To Spy On Black Activists New records obtained by the Appeal show the account seems to have been monitoring Black Lives Matter activists for years. George Joseph
Memphis Police Collected Black Lives Matter Activists’ Private Facebook Posts Police appear to have used a fake Facebook account to 'friend' activists and archive who 'liked' their posts. George Joseph
NYPD Detective With a Shady Past Helped Lock Up a Pot Dealer For Federal Conspiracy Jurors were barred from hearing about the eight civil rights lawsuits against Detective Jeremiah Williams. George Joseph
EXCLUSIVE: Documents Reveal Bronx DA’s Office Is Still Withholding Key Evidence In Prosecution of Bronx Teen Pedro Hernandez’s case has inspired calls for reform, but he’s still being targeted for an alleged cell phone theft. Simon Davis-Cohen, George Joseph
Exclusive: Immigrant Detainees In an Oregon Federal Prison Are Being Held In General Population Units As a consequence, authorities are keeping them in cells for 22 to 23 hours a day, according to Oregon’s federal public defender. George Joseph, Max Rivlin-Nadler
Locked up for three decades without a trial A New York City man has been shuffled between Rikers Island and mental hospitals for 32 years. George Joseph, Simon Davis-Cohen
A Melee Broke Out On The Subway—and then the Bronx DA Prosecuted One Of Its Victims Walliris Velez thought the worst was behind her after she was slashed in a subway car, but then came an arrest and an attempted murder charge by the Bronx DA. George Joseph, Simon Davis-Cohen
A Florida Sheriff’s Dramatic Drug Raid Went Viral, But It Wasn’t What It Seemed In the ‘fentanyl’ bust at a ‘narcotics house,’ no opioids were seized at all. George Joseph
Exclusive: Leaked Police Interview Reveals Key Evidence That a Bronx Judge Has Barred in Upcoming Murder Trial Brian Solano spent over two years on Rikers Island before a potentially exonerating NYPD video interview was disclosed to his defense attorney. But that video is now being excluded from his June trial. Simon Davis-Cohen, George Joseph
Eyewitness to Bronx Murder Alleges Prosecutorial Misconduct, Makes Eleventh-Hour Recantation But the witness may have flipped again, leaving the future of the conviction up in the air. Simon Davis-Cohen, George Joseph
