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Perez Inquest Pictorial
Three days of testimony captured in photos
See Metro section, pages B2, B4
Tj
City of Roses’
Established In 1970
Volume XXXIV • Number 18
Thw ie w l
More Claims
of Prisoner Abuse
The scandal o f the U.S. m ilitary’s
abuse of Iraqi prisoners threat­
ened to widen as lawmakersemerg-
ing from a closed-door briefing
with Pentagon officials said sim i­
lar abuses may also have occurred
at other Iraqi facilities and in Af­
ghanistan.
Gore Launches
Liberal TV Network
Former Vice President A1 Gore and
entrepreneur Joel Hyatt launched
a cable television network Tues­
day by buying Newsworld Inter­
national from Vivendi Universal
Entertainment for an undisclosed
sum. Newsworld International is a
24-hour channel broadcasting in­
ternational news produced by the
Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Methodists Support
Homosexuality
M ethodists w ho seek broader
acceptance o f gays marched to­
g e th e r in P ittsb u rg h to the
church’s national meeting Tues­
day, then dropped to their knees
in prayer as delegates arrived for
a day o f voting.
47,000 More GIs
Commit to Year in Iraq
U.S. military com manders in Iraq
have decided they need to keep
an expanded force in Iraq beyond
June and will send 10,000 active-
duty Arm y and M arine Corps
troops for one-year tours, defense
officials said.
The Trouble with Hybrids
The growing popularity o f hybrid
vehicles is a step toward cleaner
air and less dependence on gaso­
line. But for rescuers at accident
scenes, they represent a potential
new danger: a network of high-
voltage circuitry that may require
some precise cutting to save a
trapped victim.
Americans Urged
to Leave Saudi Arabia
The U.S. am bassador traveled to
this Saudi oil-industry city Mon­
day with a simple message for the
gathered Americans: Go home . We
cannot protect you. Huddled in a
meeting room in a Holiday Inn still
pocked with bullet holes after the
latest in a string o f attacks on
W esterners killed two Americans
and four others, many said they
would heed his words.
Family Cheers Escape of
Hostage in Iraq
Jury finds
shooting was
homicide
BY J a YMEE R . C V T I
T he P ortland O bserver
that end, the inquest for the most
part did what it was supposed to
do,” Gordly said.
She said the inquest should be
used with every police use of deadly
force and should have been utilized
in reviewing Jam es’ death.
Gordly said she and Carter will
work to open grand jury records to
public review and consider how
grand juries are conducted. Addi­
tionally, the senators will look into
granting public inquest juries fault­
finding power by giving them the
option to return with a verdict of
criminally negligent homicide.
“We need to make it so one of the
findings (of the public inquest) can
be criminally negligent homicide so
its not left to the district attorney to
limit the findings o f an inquest jury,”
said Gordly.
Under current law, an inquest
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortand O bserver
Jason Sery. the officer who killed James Jahar Perez in a north Portland traffic stop, testifies during jury is limited to answering only
who the deceased person was,
live TV coverage o f the Multnomah County District Attorney's inquest.
when and where the death occurred
and the cause and manner of death,
which cannot result in criminal or
civil actions.
T he o ffic ers in v o lv ed with
Perez’s shooting still have to face
their boss. Police C hief Derrick
Foxworth, and a Use o f Force Re­
view Board, which is currently be­
ing assembled. An internal review
o f the police bureau and a civil
rights investigation by the FBI are
also underway.
The Use o f Force Review Board
is a new creation, resulting from
policy changes following Jam es’
death. The panel will consist o f two
citizens, a liaison from the mayor’s
Senators Avel Gordly (left) and Margaret Carter, in court for the Perez inquest, are calling for
On the one-year anniversary of
the police shooting death of Kendra
James, the community is reacting to
a second deadly force encounter
with an unarmed black motorist that
has yielded sim ilar results.
A secret grand jury relieved of­
ficers of any criminal wrongdoing
in the March 28 shooting death of
James Jahar Perez, but a public in­
quest jury ruled Friday that the
death was a homicide.
After Jam es was fatally shot a
year ago on May 5,2003, Portland
Police Officer Scott McCollister,
w asalsoclearedofcrim inal wrong­
doing by a grand jury but never
faced an inquest. He is back to work
after a six-month suspension.
The purpose o f the inquest set
out by District Attorney Michael
Schrunk was to relay facts to the
public, but not to find fault with the
officers or their actions; a process
Senators M argaret Carter and Avel
Gordly, both African Americans
from northeast Portland, want to do
something about.
Carter and Gordly are committed
to making changes regarding grand
juries and public inquest proceed­
ings in the next legislative session.
“In the absence o f a civilian re­
view of police use o f deadly force,
the public inquest is the only tool
changes in the law in how police shootings are prosecuted.
we have to dissever the facts. To
continued
" y f on page H2
Perez Family Addresses Inquest Jury
Faults mindset in
police stops
The follow ing statement to the inquest
ju ry looking into the death o f James Jahar
Perez was made on b eh a lf o f the Perez
fam ily:
The Perez family appreciates the oppor­
tunity to thank the inquest jury for its role in
allowing the tragic facts of Jahar Perez’s
death to be made public and the opportunity
to make this brief statement.
It seems clear to the Perez family that
Jahar s death was unnecessary. The par­
ticular issue before the inquest jury is "What
was the cause o f Jahar Perez’s death?” The
immediate answer, of course, is that he died
from the gunshot wounds inflicted by O f­
ficer Sery.
Samaiyah Perez, the sister o f James Jahar Perez, views autopsy photos pre­
sented as evidence on the first day o f the public inquest into his death.
But there are other questions o f impor­
tance to the family and the community.
Some of these questions are: (1) Why are
Portland police officers making pretext stops
o f African Americans in Portland?(2) Since
when are Portland officers expected to stop
African American drivers simply because
they think their car is “too nice" for the
neighborhood? (3) Why w asn’t less than
lethal force used to arrest an unarmed man?
It seems obvious from the evidence that
Officers M acComber and Sery had much
more on their mind than making a simple
traffic stop from the moment they saw Jahar
Perez drive by. It was this mindset which
caused Officer Sery to draw his weapon. It
was this mindset which caused Officer Sery
to shoot Mr. Perez who was unarmed and
continued
on page If.i
Kucinich Pushes Hard for Oregon Vote
Challenges
Kerry on war,
other issues
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£2 w 3
Wednesday • May 05. 2004
Getting Away with Murder
by M ichael L eighton
T he P ortland O bserver
O
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Thomas H am ill’s fatherraised his
hands skyward and proclaimed it
“a beautiful day” upon hearing
that his son, a civilian contractor
kidnapped in Iraq, had escaped
his captors and was safe.
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photo by
M ichael L eighton /T hf . P ortland O bserver
Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich with Terre Lundy, his
national media liaison, stop by the offices o f the Portland
Observer, to plead why voting for him will make a difference in
the direction o f the Democratic Party.
John Kerry clinched the Demo­
cratic nomination for President two
months ago. but his opponent Den­
nis Kucinich is not giving up the
race in order to challenge the nomi­
nee and the Democratic Party.
Kucinich, an Ohio Congressman
from Cleveland, is spending a lot of
time in Oregon, asking local voters
to support the issues he supports
as they mark ballots in the vote-by­
mail election, which ends on Tues­
day, May 18.
He said w inning votes here
would send a national message and
push the Democratic Party toward
change, shifting the debate on the
Iraq War, health care for all and
jobs.
"We have a solid agenda for
jobs, education and housing that
are all at risk because o f the war.”
Kucinich said Friday, during acam-
paign stop at the offices of the
Portland Observer on Northeast
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
“We must bringourtnxipshome,
give up the oil. the private con­
tracts and say ‘no’ to an endless
war.”
K ucinich argues that it was
wrong to go in to Iraq and it’s
wrong to stay in. He said Ameri­
cans are seen as unpopular occupi­
ers of an Arab country because the
entry into war was illegal, without
the support of the United Nations.
HecriticizesSen. Kerry and other
Democrats tor supporting military
action in Iraq despite President
Bush’s mistakes.
He said a pol icy of trying to bui Id
an Iraq with American influence
would prolong war when we have
problems at home, hurting support
for local schools, the unemployed
and the minimum wage.
“W e’ re messing around with war
when we have problems at home,"
he said. “Poverty is a weapon of
mass destruction."
Kucinich said he has continued
his presidential campaign even af­
ter eight other Democratic candi­
dates dropped out because of his
dedication tow age battles for peace,
workers, consumers, the environ­
ment and civil rights.
The candidate supports a uni­
versal single-payer health care sys­
tem, creating jobs, changing trade
policies to save jobs and protect­
ing civil liberties. W hile there is
unity around the party's nominee,
there is not yet unity around the
continued
on page Hfi