This tweeter's been spending a lot of time behind bars lately. And no, he doesn't mean he's been mixing martinis moonlightin' down at Durant's.
Actually, he's been hanging out with chicks in stir. But that's not what you think either, so get your noggin out of the Roger Corman-esque B-movie mud.
Most recently, The Bird paid a visit to Sheriff Joe Arpaio's notorious Estrella Jail for women, down on Durango Street near Tent City. It's where Ciria Lopez-Pacheco's been cooling her heels since she was forcibly separated from her two young children by a ski-masked MCSO deputy on the evening of January 9, the first night of Joe's recent West Valley sweep.
Since The Bird's online wing-man, Feathered Bastard, first shared her story with the world — and posted video taken by Phoenix activist Sal Reza of Lopez-Pacheco's son and daughter, 5 and 7, scared and weeping for their mom — a lot's happened.
First, both the New York Times' editorial blog The Board, and the highly read Web site Huffington Post, named for its millionaire intellectual/pundit founder Arianna Huffington, picked up on the story and posted the video. As of the writing of this column, the YouTube video's been watched close to 13,000 times.
Second, Lopez-Pacheco went before an El Mirage municipal judge on her unpaid traffic ticket for driving on a "suspended" license. (In reality, she never had a license.) The judge was a mensch, lowering the frail woman's fine of $700-plus to about $238. Lopez-Pacheco paid, and the court ordered her unconditional release.
However, as this yardbird visited Lopez-Pacheco on the Saturday after her hearing, the 25-year-old Mexican-born woman was still in MCSO custody on a hold from Immigration and Customs Enforcement for being in the United States sans papers.
With activist Lydia Guzman of the organization Respect/Respeto on hand, translating for this unilingual feather duster, Lopez-Pacheco explained in Spanish that she blamed herself for the arrest. Her family had moved to a new abode recently, and she had let the ticket slip.
The irony, of course, is that if Arizona allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, Lopez-Pacheco wouldn't have had the problem that got her busted. After all, her registration and insurance were both in order.
Her handcuffs chained to a desk, like those of the scores of other women in the visitation room, Lopez-Pacheco recounts the night she was snatched from her children. An MCSO deputy in a marked car, and wearing a ski mask, pulled her over. Speaking to her in Spanish, he identified himself as an immigration cop — one of the 160 cross-trained MCSO deputies empowered to enforce immigration law.
He told her he pulled her over because her lights were off. She replied that the lights were on, flicking them off and on, then off again.
"Well, they're off now," he cracked, in classic cop humor.
The deputy ran her name and discovered that Lopez-Pacheco had a "failure to pay" warrant against her. This allowed him to take her into custody and add her to the list of "illegals" nabbed in the sweep. Lopez-Pacheco's children were terrified of the masked man, who told them their mom would be coming with him and that everything would be all right.
The children (both American citizens by birth) cried loudly as Lopez-Pacheco sat handcuffed in the back of the cruiser, trying to calm them through a partially opened back window. The masked deputy ordered the kids to hush, but they wept inconsolably. That's when the frustrated gendarme popped the trunk of his vehicle, took out two stuffed toys, and handed them to the children.
But the kids still cried for their mother, so he let them kiss and hug her goodbye. Afterward, he raised the back window, so she couldn't talk to them. Eventually, Lopez-Pacheco's niece came to collect them, and Lopez-Pacheco was taken away for detention.
As she relates her story, she stares longingly at the children of other prisoners as they are paraded past her. Guzman asks her whether she would like her children to be brought to visit her, but she shakes her head no. She would want to hold them, she says, but such touching, even by family members, isn't allowed in Joe's jails.
The conditions in Estrella are abysmal. In other words, exactly what you'd expect. For a lunch of bread, disgusting "white" ham that Lopez-Pacheco fears to eat, tap water, and an orange, Joe charges $1.25 per diem to inmates with money on their jail accounts.
Inmates with money left can spend it on canteen items, but the cost is prohibitive. A traveler's size bottle of shampoo costs $9, according to Lopez-Pacheco. A single packet of Kool-Aid is $1. Lopez-Pacheco has spent all her money on toiletries and writing paper, instead of on chips and candy. As a result, she is hungry all the time. When she went to her court date in El Mirage, she missed her meals for the day.
Worst of all was the strip and cavity search she had to endure to leave jail for court. The searches are performed in a place where all the male guards can watch. And, yes, they do watch.
Moms and their children don't fare well in Arizona, a state set back in the dark ages in relation to women. Unfortunately, in this state the incarceration of women and girls is growing at an alarming rate while other states are cutting back. Arizona Women wake up! Those who are well-heeled, it includes you too. You'll find out when you have to hit the AZ divorce court and family custody battles.
February 11, 2004 marks 5 years since the Scottsdale Police department Swat team arrested Courtney at her home in the quiet neighborhood of McDowell Mountain Ranch, Scottsdale, for a false allegation by one teenager for an alleged crime that never happened. No search warrant, no arrest warrant, no Miranda Rights, no investigation. No presumption of innocence, no due process, false information give to the media, the IA Court, the first Grand Jury, no physical medical exam for the police report - which alone would have impeached the accuser's testimony.
But-- this was a Presidential election year and the witch-hunts were in full force. The Catholic Priest scandal, the Michael Jackson case with the mother / son grifters, Jon Beney Ramsey, Kobe Bryant and on and on. Nationwide witch-hunts which looked like Counties across the nation were trying to outdo one another with "high-profile" cases -- political tools in an election year.
Meanwhile, Courtney, a successful single mom, honors graduate RN Nurse, recently divorced started a new job as a high school nurse when this false allegation was made. She was convicted at a Bench Trial, January 18, 2006 and Sentenced on Good Friday, April 14, 2006. 11 years flat time, no early release, no probation, no Clemency board, and sex offender registry. Meanwhile teachers who pled guilty to crimes and did not go to trial are out "free". If you're innocent you go to trial. Afterwards, told if you dare take your case to trial they will give you a million years and made an example of. That's justice and the legal system in Arizona, one that needs outside independent investigation.
New Evidence emerged going on two years, given to the Scottsdale Police department, recorded in the Maricopa County Superior Court, given to Maricopa County Andrew Thomas, who all agencies pointed to to right the wrong. Thomas has acted with deliberate indifference and pushed it under the rug.
Meanwhile, there will be a 2nd Rally for Courtney at the Nurses Rally at the Arizona State Capitol, Feb. 12th, 2009, to call attention to this travesty of justice and an embarrassment to the State of Arizona. If you think it can't happen to you, think again.
Those who profited from this injustice in a "high-profile" case have moved on up or out of state and left shredded families and lives in their wake, and taxpayers holding the tab for millions of wasted dollars in the court system and jails and prison system, with no end in sight.
Wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, Ray Krone, was invited to the Arizona Legislature in 2006 and was apologized to, and it was said "we have to do better next time, we made a mistake", well it's next time and Courtney's conviction is another grave mistake. Arizona and the County Attorney's office is not doing better. A sad and shameful commentary on Arizona's justice system.
this says it all -- ""..It's a penetrating indictment of an unfair justice system administered in large measure by a clique of individuals who play the justice game to win, not to discover the truth." Ray Hix, author, "Jingle Jangle" (the Ray Krone wrongful conviction of an innocent man).
this says it all -- ""..It's a penetrating indictment of an unfair justice system administered in large measure by a clique of individuals who play the justice game to win, not to discover the truth." Ray Hix, author, "Jingle Jangle" (the Ray Krone wrongful conviction of an innocent man).
I've been to prison in AZ. For eight calendar years.
I know Joe's jails and Maricopa County's Just-Us system sucks big time. They're the worst of crooks.
I also know, that if our story's "victim" had entered the U.S. legally, she would not be in the mess she is in, to the degree that she is in it. Her kids would not have been exposed to the MCSO gestapo-like terrorist tatics they were exposed to, and we would not be here opining.
I will say about that much.
I've been to prison in AZ. For eight calendar years.
I know Joe's jails and Maricopa County's Just-Us system sucks big time. They're the worst of crooks.
I also know, that if our story's "victim" had entered the U.S. legally, she would not be in the mess she is in, to the degree that she is in it. Her kids would not have been exposed to the MCSO gestapo-like terrorist tatics they were exposed to, and we would not be here opining.
I will say about that much.
dude you are just as crude as tommy and joey. same boat. next time you get pulled over on trumped up charges well have the woman guards do a cavity search on you, and see how you like it. if this anyway to treat humans. punish you for going to court by skipping meals . they have 2 meals a day, if you miss then you go without til the next day, sitting there with hunger pains and being stripped and taken away from your children. and this is america.dude as real a hole. must be related to the others who are uncaring, after all this is before her court hearing. could happen to you too DUD!
Get with the program, Beakster.
THE FEDERAL LAW PROGRAM, as "dude" and some others point out. Ciria Lopez-Pacheco has only herself to blame for the break-up of her family. And, believe us, The Class West has much compassion for those kids.
She apprently has been removed/deported with due process, both in the local and federal systems. If she had proper legal counseling, instead of being encouraged to violate American sovereignty and federal laws, she would not be separated from her children.
Another loss for illegal slave trader Salvador "Bonehead" Reza and YOU, to be added to your list of losses and pending losses in federal court. Federal judge "The Broom" Broomfield swept Reza and SOMOS AMERICA out of US District Court just recently. Further, If Ciria and others heed your advice to piss on American law, that means that she will have no knowledge of or respect for your First Amendment right to publish in here. So don't get Ciria mad, Bird, because if she's ever in a position of power she'll make STUFFING out of the wily warbler and your poisoned pen. When you cry "First Amendment Violation!" she will throw you in a Mexican prison. And you thought Arpaio's white "mystery meat" is bad? Try some jail "carne" south of the border.
Finally, it's great that 13,000 or so saw the propaganda videos in the NYT and Huffington Post. That means that many also saw the pro-enforcement posts in those blogs.
The Class West, Online and On Time
I was with my younger son entering durango parking garage new at this time we were doing a visit to my oldest son that was spending quality time with joe. We both notice the deputy sheriffs had this family detained 2 adults 3 children next to there car. I thought what the sam hell could they have done two deserve this? about that time a deputy came walking over to us and the very first thing he said was what is that smell coming from your truck and i answered what smell and he said it smells like pot and I said then you must be smoking pot because we dont and there is no smell in our truck. The next thing I know we were both spread eagle and handcuffed for a search both person and the truck. They tore everything out of the truck onto the floor and found nothing anywhere released the cuffs and left us picking up the things from the truck and advise me to shut up that they could arrest me for 24 hours for nothing just to check me out. they then turned around and hit the next car coming into the garage.I was so mad that we turned around and went home and never did our visit that day.
Andrew Thomas needs to do the right thing NOW. 20/20 will expose him once again for the inhumane way he runs his office.This mother is in jail because her ex-husband did not want to pay child support. He should be in jail for all the people he paid off to have this happen to this innocent girl, his ex-wife and mother of his child. She can never get back the lost years with her child. The teenagers who lied and have come forward need to be heard.I am thinking if Thomas figures out he can get new convictions from this case he will re-open it. Thomas is totally a "whats in it for me" kind of guy. It will be interesting to see who gets blamed for this obvious hot potatoe in the county attorney's office. The supervisors will need to budget the money for this error.
Hey "Public Outcry", hey "Bird", go fist yourselves. Have you lost sight of all of this "injustice" occuring because this woman entered our state illegally? Wipe your tears for the inconvenienced law breakers and get a clue to the realization that these idiots know full well the chances they take. They completely appreciate the risks they choose, and decide of their own volition, that the reward is worth the risk. Stop asking me to sympathize and spill red my bleeding heart for these poor, poor immigrants. I'm so sick of this bullshit sympathizer rhetoric I could just puke. She got what she knew could happen and THAT'S HER FAULT. Quit excusing these people exploiting our country and SHUT THE FUCK UP already!!
The Arizona justice system isn't about truth or justice, it's all about convictions no matter how many innocent people have to suffer for political gains by those that represent the justice system.
Candy Dandy Thomas and Bozo Joke Arpaio are living proof of that.
Correction to above:
"Jingle Jangle" by Jim Rix. A book that should be required reading for every college student in America. Journey of injustice through Maricopa County criminal justice system.
When a conviction can come from a he said; she said. No DnA and 11 year sentence, people think there must be more to this . they also thought the same with the Ray Krone case the book , "Jingle Jangle" by Jim Dix is an absolute must read for anyone living in Maricopa county where the author points out, how different the detectives operate, the state attorneys office, the judges, the crime labs, no where else had these attys dealt with such unlawabiding, make up their own rules,criminals. Those in power are the criminals and shoud be locked up. To ignore evidence, to find a victim and make the evidence fit the victim to the crime, it is all criminal, and until we take them down for prosecuting and holding them when new evidence proves otherwise it will continue and has. When in the Ray Krone case he was proven innocent, Rommely said we will try to do it better, WHEN??? When are you going to start your still doing it to people, and the innocent and taxpayers all keep paying for their mistakes.
Mr. Bird, Who is operating and profiting from the exorbitantprices charged for items from the canteen? Sounds like price gouging, which I thought was illegal.
FB, I have a problem with your statement regarding the Courtney Bisbee case: "police work done by Detective Christopher Kinder." WHAT WORK??? From what I have read,and understand is that, this is the detective that complained he was called back into the precinct and then complained he wanted to go home to see his family. NO arrest warrant, NO search warrant, DIDN'T visit the crime scene,DIDN'T collect any evidence,NO varifying of facts,could NOT and/or chose NOT to locate/interview witnesses and then commits PERJURY to the grand jury. Is this guy still employeed? If so who in the heck is his supervisor? If not - DON'T send him to my city!
FB, once again, you've peeled another layer off the rotten onion of Arizona's criminal injustice system and the plight of incarcerated women in Arizona and Maricopa County, set back in the days of slavery.
A warning: For the public to better understand what we all are facing, even those passing through the state or tourists visiting the state, they need to be aware of the "black holes" in Arizona, just ask DMX or Charles Barkley, one must read this remarkable book "Jingle Jangle", by Ray Hix (Ray Krone's cousin) which should shock us out of complacency exposing our criminal justice system.
"..It's a penetrating indictment of an unfair justice system administered in large measure by a clique of individuals who play the justice game to win, not to discover the truth." Ray Hix, author
Courtney's plight, like Ray Krone, "...reflects a state justice system that has lost sight of justice in favor of winning convictions at all costs, even at the cost of innocence. Krone's case is a call for reform from the bottom up, beginning with removing politics from prosecutorial decisions." - Rudy Gerber, retired justice, Arizona Court of Appeals.
Our hearts go out to the children of these Mothers and the nightmares they will have as their Mothers were taken away in front of them. And Arizona is posing as a "compassionate conservative" state? We don't think so.
Women, if you think it can't happen to you, think again. The powers to be are women haters.
FB, once again, you've peeled another layer off the rotten onion of Arizona's criminal injustice system and the plight of incarcerated women in Arizona and Maricopa County, set back in the days of slavery.
A warning: For the public to better understand what we all are facing, even those passing through the state or tourists visiting the state, they need to be aware of the "black holes" in Arizona, just ask DMX or Charles Barkley, one must read this remarkable book "Jingle Jangle", by Ray Hix (Ray Krone's cousin) which should shock us out of complacency exposing our criminal justice system.
"..It's a penetrating indictment of an unfair justice system administered in large measure by a clique of individuals who play the justice game to win, not to discover the truth." Ray Hix, author
Courtney's plight, like Ray Krone, "...reflects a state justice system that has lost sight of justice in favor of winning convictions at all costs, even at the cost of innocence. Krone's case is a call for reform from the bottom up, beginning with removing politics from prosecutorial decisions." - Rudy Gerber, retired justice, Arizona Court of Appeals.
Our hearts go out to the children of these Mothers and the nightmares they will have as their Mothers were taken away in front of them. And Arizona is posing as a "compassionate conservative" state? We don't think so.
Women, if you think it can't happen to you, think again. The powers to be are women haters.
FB, once again, you've peeled another layer off the rotten onion of Arizona's criminal injustice system and the plight of incarcerated women in Arizona and Maricopa County, set back in the days of slavery.
A warning: For the public to better understand what we all are facing, even those passing through the state or tourists visiting the state, they need to be aware of the "black holes" in Arizona, just ask DMX or Charles Barkley, one must read this remarkable book "Jingle Jangle", by Ray Hix (Ray Krone's cousin) which should shock us out of complacency exposing our criminal justice system.
"..It's a penetrating indictment of an unfair justice system administered in large measure by a clique of individuals who play the justice game to win, not to discover the truth." Ray Hix, author
Courtney's plight, like Ray Krone, "...reflects a state justice system that has lost sight of justice in favor of winning convictions at all costs, even at the cost of innocence. Krone's case is a call for reform from the bottom up, beginning with removing politics from prosecutorial decisions." - Rudy Gerber, retired justice, Arizona Court of Appeals.
Our hearts go out to the children of these Mothers and the nightmares they will have as their Mothers were taken away in front of them. And Arizona is posing as a "compassionate conservative" state? We don't think so.
Women, if you think it can't happen to you, think again. The powers to be are women haters.
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