Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Eugene

(61,964 posts)
Wed Dec 30, 2020, 12:04 PM Dec 2020

Trump's worst pardon is one you haven't heard about

Earlier DU thread: https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016281441

______________________________________________________________________

Source: Washington Post

Trump’s worst pardon is one you haven’t heard about

Opinion by Alex Busansky
12/29/2020, 3:29:18 p.m.
Alex Busansky, president of Impact Justice, was a lawyer in the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner, Stephanie Mohr. You’ve probably heard about President Trump’s odious pre-Christmas pardons for the first three — and nothing about Mohr, a former Prince George’s County police officer. But Mohr’s pardon — for violating a homeless man’s civil rights by unleashing her K-9 on him — is equally, if not more undeserving. Of all the acts to pardon in a year that witnessed the killing of George Floyd, it is the most insensitive and inflaming.

I know; I was part of the team at the Justice Department’s civil rights division that helped prosecute Mohr in 2001.

In the middle of the night on Sept. 21, 1995, a local Prince George’s County police burglary stakeout unit found two homeless men on the empty roof of a business, eating food they had found in the trash in Takoma Park, Md. Ordered down from the roof, Ricardo Mendez and his friend willingly climbed down. Lit by a police helicopter above and facing a brick wall, the two men were surrounded by police officers, some with guns drawn, and Mohr holding her German shepherd on a leash. Both men obeyed commands and stood facing the wall with their hands up.

It should have been over. It wasn’t.

A police sergeant later testified that he was approached by Mohr’s supervising officer who said, “Hey Sarge, we got a new dog. Mind if it gets a bite?” The sergeant gave consent, and Mohr set her dog to attack Mendez, an undocumented immigrant whose only crime was seeking a safe place to eat and sleep. Mohr testified that she was doing her job as trained, and the victim needed “only 10 stitches.”

Think about that: only 10 stitches. Mohr disregarded her training to give her dog a taste of flesh and blood.

-snip-


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/29/trump-pardons-stephanie-mohr-prince-georges/
3 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Trump's worst pardon is one you haven't heard about (Original Post) Eugene Dec 2020 OP
Can't say that I agree FBaggins Dec 2020 #1
What did the pardon give her? She served 10 years EmmaLee E Jan 2021 #2
What a piece of garbage. Cinnamonspice Feb 2021 #3

FBaggins

(26,760 posts)
1. Can't say that I agree
Wed Dec 30, 2020, 12:34 PM
Dec 2020

I could easily agree with a claim that the pardon was the wrong decision... but not worse than some of his other pardons.

It didn’t let her out of prison
It didn’t keep her from being prosecuted in the future
It isn’t connected to protecting Trump from what he deserves

From what I’ve read... the K9 division had years of such abuses without consequences. Then the first woman on the force does what her boss and her training tell her to do... and she becomes the scapegoat?

EmmaLee E

(171 posts)
2. What did the pardon give her? She served 10 years
Mon Jan 25, 2021, 05:17 PM
Jan 2021

Since she was convicted and was released after serving 10 years,
What does this pardon mean?
That she is eligible to be rehired as a police officer?
That she escapes any civil liability?
That she has bragging rights that she was wrongly convicted?

Is there more to this?

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Civil Liberties»Trump's worst pardon is o...