Judge criticizes new LR police chief for comments on police review
Originally Posted By Max Brantley on Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 7:15 AM
Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen attended a recent forum — "Know Your Rights: It Could Save Your Life" — about community interactions between black people and the police. By Griffen's account, new Police Chief Kenton Buckner made inaccurate and "offensive" remarks, including in response to a question about whether there should be an independent review panel for allegations of police misuse of force. According to Griffen, Buckner said the Civil Service Commission serves the role of a review body. But it doesn't, as Griffen explains in an essay I've reprinted below. Griffen also faulted Buckner for criticizing people in Little Rock who'd been critical of the Ferguson, Mo., police handling of the shooting of Michael Brown.
Griffen is well-known for outspokenness. I'll add my boilerplate about the urge: He has an absolute 1st Amendment right of protection from government retaliation — including judicial discipline — for speaking his mind. Does that always mean it's sound judgment for him to speak so volubly given his position? No. He's not many weeks, for example, past presiding over a trial involving a Little Rock police shooting of a black youth. If history is a guide, the subject will arise again.
But if leading voices in the black community can't push back against a black police chief in a city with police transgressions against black people a matter of multiple court actions, I don't know who can.
Race has been much on my mind this week on account of the continued polarization of voting — Tom Cotton, for example, was defeated 344-0 in College Station. That divide is a fact, whatever your favorite reason for its existence. Tuesday's winners — who benefited from the polarization on the white side (they outnumber blacks in Arkansas about 7-1) — want to declare race a dead issue, judging by a lively discussion on our Facebook page. Wendell Griffen, Kenton Bucker and writers like Lawrence Graham are proof that it is far from a dead issue. I think we need to keep talking.
Following are Wendell Griffen's comments on Chief Buckner (in which he concludes the chief doesn't know the difference between being pompous and being trusted based on remarks about diversity training and other issues):
On Thursday evening, November 6, my wife and I attended a town hall meeting titled “Know Your Rights- Because It Could Save Your Life” at Allison Memorial Presbyterian Church in downtown Little Rock. The meeting was presented by the National Bar Association (the nation’s largest and oldest association of black lawyers, judges, legal educators, and law students), the W. Harold Flowers Law Society (the Arkansas affiliate of the NBA, and the Black Law Students Association of the UALR Bowen School of Law. The main feature of the town hall meeting involved presentations by National Bar Association President Pamela Meanes of St. Louis, Missouri, Chief Kenton Buckner of the Little Rock Police Department, and Benjamin Crump, the attorney for the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Monroe Isadore.
Chief Buckner’s remarks were inaccurate and, in at least one respect, offensive.
· During the question and answer period, I asked Chief Buckner: “Will you support independent review panels for all police shootings? If not, why?” Chief Buckner replied that Little Rock already has an independent review forum for police shootings and identified the Civil Service Commission as that entity.
· During the question and answer period, Professor Adjoa Aiyetoro of the UALR Bowen Law School asked Chief Buckner whether Little Rock police officers undergo training in implicit bias. Chief Buckner replied that police officers receive “diversity training” and that some officers are defensive about it.
· Chief Buckner criticized Little Rock residents for supporting protest efforts in Ferguson, Missouri about the slaying of eighteen year-old (and unarmed) Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson, Missouri Police Department. Chief Buckner questioned why Little Rock residents would be upset about the Michael Brown shooting when black residents are victims of homicide from persons who aren’t police officers in Little Rock.
The Little Rock Civil Service Commission reviews complaints and grievances involving Little Rock police officers (and personnel in the Fire Department) to decide whether to impose discipline different from any discipline imposed by the police (or fire) department. The Commission does not permit persons who complain about use of force by police officers to present evidence. A complainant may not call witnesses. The Civil Service Commission is, plainly, not an independent review forum. It is telling that Chief Buckner claims that it is.
There is a fundamental and recognized difference between diversity training (what Chief Buckner also described as “sensitivity training”) and training on implicit bias. Decades of social science research shows that people unconsciously engage in biased thinking that affects their behavior.
Of special importance for people in law enforcement in cross-cultural encounters is the research surrounding hostile attribution bias, meaning a tendency to attribute the ambiguous activity of others as hostile rather than harmless. A number of experiments have been conducted with both undergraduate volunteers and police officers playing a computer game. The volunteers must choose whether to shoot or not to shoot a target who may be white or black, on the basis of whether or not they are armed. Consistently, participants made slower and less accurate decisions on whether to shoot an unarmed black target than an unarmed white target. They were quicker and more likely to correctly decide to shoot an armed black target than an armed white target.
If Chief Buckner doesn’t know about implicit bias he could and should have said so. Instead, his remarks exposed a pompous ignorance.
My wife and I know the parents of one of the homicide victims Chief Buckner named when he criticized local efforts to protest the killing of Michael Brown. We still grieve the murder of their only child. Chief Buckner had no right or reason to suggest that any person present Thursday night prevented Little Rock police from identifying and arresting anyone responsible for killing our friends’ son or any of the other homicide victims he named.
Michael Brown’s killer, Darren Wilson, is a police officer. Wilson was concealed by the police for more than a week. The St. Louis County prosecutor refused to charge Wilson with committing homicide. Chief Buckner’s criticism about local support for protests about the killing of Michael Brown is outrageous because Little Rock police have also been criticized for killing people without just cause.
The big difference between being pompous and being professional is the difference between holding a title and being trusted. Sadly, Chief Buckner doesn’t appear to understand that difference.
This corrupt piece of shit (Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Tremar Buckner) REALLY has his nerve. Listen to this bullshit audio interview, then check out this link of what he REALLY thinks when Kenton believes that it's just him and the Corrupt Crony Club that Kenton Buckner blindly serves. Kenton Tremar Buckner is piece of corrupt shit whose word is just as shitty as his professionalism, a Step-n-Fetch-It whip-holdin' Bo-Bo. Rumor is, Kenton Tremar Buckner looking for a new job now that he's been exposed as a CORRUPT piece of shit dirty cop covering for criminal cops in the most extreme of degrees. Move on Kenton, you dirty sneaky crony bastard. Let a cop with some sense takeover from here.
Little Rock's Police Chief is reaching his second anniversary on the job.
With crime rates at their lowest in decades and use of force incidents dropping in the city, Kenton Buckner explains his views on policing, race, use of force, and his goals for Little Rock.
Chief Kenton Buckner: I believe that technology has caught up with some of our misdeeds; technology has exposed some of the corruption in law enforcement. You know, there are folks, citizens, or even chiefs… people in this profession who are acting as if some of the acts that we have recently been exposed to are new. We must be reminded that Rodney King occurred in 1993. Black and brown communities have been complaining about this treatment for decades… the iPhone and iPads have just caught up with these complaints. So I think that first we have to walk to the podium and accept responsibility for some of the harm that we’ve caused our communities.
I think the community also needs to be mindful of the vast majority of our police officers are professional and do a great job, but then chiefs have to be willing to say that there is probably a small percentage of our agencies who should not be wearing our badge and uniform.
I think technology, with the on-body cameras, is something that I believe that will drastically change our profession—you immediately have somewhat of an independent witness that will be able to give an account for what has happened. While it is not a perfect tool, I think it will be an effective tool, but we also must be mindful that it not—it does not always capture everything, so it—so it’s certainly not a penicillin pill for the problems that we have.
KUAR's Sarah Whites-Koditschek: In our last conversation you spoke about historic scars in Little Rock from police-involved shootings, especially those involving members of minority communities. Recently, the department settled a lawsuit brought by the sons of former officer Eugene Ellison, an elderly black man shot by a white—two white off-duty police officers in his home. Do you think that the resolution of this case is an example of the department and community coming to terms over a historic scar?
Chief Buckner: Well, I think that it’s… It’s an example of how a critical incident can divide our community. Policing is a very difficult profession, and that is increasing by the day. The level of scrutiny that we’re under makes it very, very challenging, but I think that we certainly have to admit when there are opportunities for improvement. It’s no secret that much of the crime in our communities, specifically violent crime, is in concentrated areas that are occupied by minorities. That incident that occurred in 2010 certainly was divisive to our community and our police department. So to be able to effectively bring that to a resolution to where everyone felt that they were shown dignity and respect is certainly a step in the right direction to healing our community.
Whites-Koditschek: So I think in the—in our last conversation, we talked about stop-and-frisk policies, and you were concerned about that mass approach to policing. Is that something that the department aggressively pursues, or considers pursuing, as an approach?
Chief Buckner: In my opinion, stop-and-frisk-type initiatives are counter-productive as it relates to community and police relationships, and they offer a very fragile, hollow, short-term success for dealing with crime. You go into a community and you have these stop-and-frisk initiatives, and you have these high number of citations or stops that you have, but the fact of the matter is that you’re alienating 95 percent of the community in your attempts to pursue that five percent.
Whites-Koditschek: And I know you’ve repeatedly told community members you want more accountability from them—I’ve heard you say that in different meetings and forums—what does that mean to you, and when do you think it’s appropriate to ask for that?
Chief Buckner: There are what I would call a common denominator of socio-economical factors that are ingredients, or kind of the genesis of crime-infested communities: poverty, low academic achievement, minimal to no parental involvement in education, single parent homes, substance abuse, mental illness, all of those things become a cocktail for destruction in a community. You cannot expect the police to fix those things. Public safety is what we do, public safety is what we’re resourced for, public safety is why we were designed, and these social issues that plague these communities, there are many other folks that will have to be at the table to be able to address some of those things to have sustained success.
Public safety is not a spectator sport, the police are not going to change your community; change comes from the people. New facilities that we’re building all over the community, that’s not going to change the community; change comes from the people. If you as a parent don’t think that it’s—that anything is wrong with your fourteen-year-old kid being out at two o’clock in the morning, then there’s nothing that the police is going to be able to do to save that child. If you don’t think it’s important to go to your child’s parent-teacher conference, there’s nothing we can do to change the trajectory of that child. So the people are going to have to get engaged in what’s going on in the community, take a very intimate role in public safety, specifically in their homes first, where I believe many of these things start. And when we do that, I think you’re less likely to need enforcement, and then we can begin to build bridges to these common destinations that we all aspire to have.
Whites-Kodicheck: Chief Buckner, thanks so much for coming, and we really appreciate it.
Kenton Buckner: Corrupt Police Chief of Little Rock
In this audio, corrupt cronies, LRPD Chief Kenton Tremar Buckner and Asst. Chief Wayne Bewley violate criminal federal witness intimidation laws among many other criminal & civil RICO statutes in an ongoing criminal investigation...
COLD BUSTED: Criminal Fraud and Deceptive Patterns & Practices Within Little Rock Police Dept. (LRPD)
from: Ean Lee Bordeaux to: "Shepard, Kelly" , "Witherell, Stacey" cc: "Farley, Zachary" , Steven , "Stephens, James R." , "Fulk, Alice" , little.rock@ic.fbi.gov, Mayor , CHERYL.Hall@arkansasag.gov, "Moore, Bruce" , Michael Laux , complaint@usdoj.gov date: Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 9:06 AM subject: RE: Civil Service Board Board Appeal
Kelly, please schedule an appeal with Civil Service Commission regarding the nonresponsive and fraudulent letter that I have received by the LRPD.
They have completely redesigned my complaint to avoid addressing my TRUE complaint which is the procedures and pattern of practices of the LRPD, most specifically, including the target of my complaints ATTENDING my complaint meeting above my protests to the chief THIS is my complaint.
MY complaint is regarding the LRPD's illegal complaint PROCEDURES as well as insisting that I be forced to voice/file that complaint in front of the TARGET of MY complaint!
This is criminal on so many levels it's not funny. Anyone participating in this farce shall be held criminally and civilly liable for their participation in this joke of a process of cowardice and corruption.
The LRPD has criminally and fraudulently misstated and avoided my TRUE complaint to avoid the unavoidable results.
They went even further to date the fraudulent and deceptive letter on January 6, 2016 but failed to send it till SIX days later (postmarked 1-12-2016).
I attempted to call the "acting-chief" Fulk today and she is conveniently on vacation. Documentation is attached to this email.
This is absolutely disgusting, corrupt and a violation of public trust to the grossest of levels and is highly unacceptable for a so-called professional law enforcement agency.
This so-called investigation would not survive the most minimum of investigative scrutiny and is a blatant and outright farce and a shame.
This is very far from over.
_______
MY ORIGINAL COMPLAINT: obviously NON-responsive and fraudulent just by reading it. My complaint is regarding CURRENT employee Asst. Chief Bewley attending MY complaint meeting regarding him and his criminal rogue police officers in the River Market. That is extremely clear to anyone not a moron, inept or absolutely criminally corrupt. Until THIS is addressed the LRPD is in criminal noncompliance to my legal complaint.
from: Ean Lee Bordeaux to: "McClanahan, Steven" cc: "Davis, Cassandra" , "cc: Moore, Bruce" , "Carpenter, Tom" , Mayor , "CHERYL.Hall@arkansasag.gov" , "johnwalkeratty@aol.com" , "little.rock@ic.fbi.gov" , Max Brantley , mikelaux@icloud.com date: Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 10:48 AM
Mr. McClanahan,
Please contact/forward this complaint to IAD and inform them that I prepared to file a formal complaint regarding the criminal violations of my civil rights by both Assistant Chief Bewley and Chief Kenton Tremar Buckner. I fully expect an impartial investigation under the full and complete observation of the Arkansas State Police or FBI.
I met with Chief Higgins shortly after I was informed by the prosecutor that I was cleared of any wrongdoings regarding the three murder attempts upon the life of myself and children as well as the murder of my dog by a 20 year veteran of your police force, well complained upon and under the command of one Assistant Chief Wayne Bewley of whom was directly involved in my complaints of over 7 years of chronic and well documented harassments by the River Market Police. also under the command of Asst. Chief Bewley. In my meeting with Chief Higgins, I gave him a list of things that I wished to be accomplished for me to NOT proceed further with legal actions against the city of Little Rock as well as specifics folks within the LRPD as well as the LRPD proper. In this list included requiring the investigation and firing of Assistant Chief Wayne Bewley regarding his involvement in this heinous affair. Asst. Higgins submitted that letter of demands to Chief Stuart Thomas of which I am quite sure shared it with Chief Bewley.
Chief Bewley knows full well that I have been calling for his criminal investigation and fitting, FULL well.
So, at 12.10 pm, November 6, 2014, with that in mind, imagine my surprise when he DEMANDED with the FULL support of the police chief to remain in MY criminal complaint meeting regarding HIM and his rogue criminal River Market cops.
I was further surprised by Chief Buckner's insistence on violating my civil rights above my protests and demands that Bewley be removed because of blatant conflicts of interests of a criminal nature. The audio has been made publicly available upon youtube and a link in enclosed.
As these are very serious allegations of state and federal criminal as well as civil laws and they are accusations of procedural improprieties.
May I further suggest that you contact The Arkansas State Police to observe this investigation and insure its fairness, indeed.
I have every intentions to file a federal complaint with the Justice Department and FBI. This is but the first step in that journey. Thank you.
Social Justice Blogger
Chief Elder/War Chief
West Feliciana Houma-Choctaw People
AFOIA REQUEST:
from: Ean Lee Bordeaux to: "Davis, Cassandra" , "Witherell, Stacey" date: Mon, Jan 25, 2016 at 7:37 AM subject: FOI Request
Officer Eliot Young disciplinary/personnel please. Thank you.
from: Ean Lee Bordeaux to: "Davis, Cassandra" , "Witherell, Stacey"
cc: "Moore, Bruce" , Mayor , "Carpenter, Tom" , little.rock@ic.fbi.gov
Keep this racist daddy's boy cop OUT of my path or he will find his corrupt-self to be severely addressed in proper legal venues, indeed. If you won't do anything about your criminal cops. The community will take it out of your hands, pure and simple. Lobbying for my incarceration to remove me from my loved ones because one of your dirty cops tried THREE times to kill me is a sure way to garner my attention, indeed. Yeah keep covering this crap up. It's about over on that tip. You have little time left to do the right thing for once by me. No quarter, that's how this shall end it seems. I'm not going away. That's a Houma-Choctaw promise.
You got your dirty-ass racist cops contaminating potential jury pools now? Yeah, keep letting your criminal cop rogues run wild. It all goes down to your very documented patterns and practices. I've been documenting them for 9 years now. You can only delay, not escape this one. As long as I have breath, it shall remain so. Unless you all want to fire another dirty cop and send him after my family too. I WILL protect me and mine and your losers literally fired the first FIVE bullets into my home and tried to burn my family in their sleep and murdered our family dog. No justice-NO peace.
...the LRPD continues to criminally cover up crimes committed by their own involving murderous crimes, extortion and assassination attempts. The buck stops with the LRPD Internal Affairs Division when it comes to the most heinous of cover ups. It has been well proven, indeed. They covered up the vulgar RICO crimes of Dick Pic Cop and MUST be held accountable.
The dirty cop (Creepy Todd Payne) was killed in the commission of his heinous crimes, he was best friends with Dick Pic Cop, now retired Greg C. Key. This is an audio of these criminal thugs cronies blatantly telling a citizen that they refuse to do their job and basically, "tough luck", WTF are YOU going to do about it?
Well, this for starters, assholes. It's only just begun... No Justice, No peace. E Pluribus Unum.
An audio that Corruption Sucks Blog obtained from Little Rock Police Dept Internal Affairs (much to their chagrin). It has Creepy Todd making threatening phone call messages to an insurance agent RE a claim out of Missouri with harm, calls her (multiply) a c*nt among many other things, goes on to call her boss (multiply) a Fa**ot. Drove up to her house and wrote C-U-N-T on her property according to him (Creepy Todd bragged to me personally, before I obtained the report) Scared that poor lady out of her mind. I can go on. That's just the audio. Just wait till I get to his DWI, his dereliction of duty, his trapping rats & cats in his yard and releasing them into "black" communities laughing & bragging to his fellow LRPD Police Officers...
"In a FOX16 update a Little Rock hot dog vendor will not be charged in a homicide investigation into the death of a fired Little Rock police officer.
Ean Bordeaux says he chased and tackled the former officer, Todd Payne, back in April after Payne allegedly tried to set Bordeaux's hot dog cart on fire.
Payne died from his injuries after the altercation.
The Pulaski County prosecutor says there is no evidence Bordeaux intended to kill Payne.
"This has affected our whole lives. This has dominated our whole lives. I mean everything we do is colored by this and will be for the rest of our lives in one way or another. What it's caused us to do is reflect on what is important here," said Bordeaux.
"It's encouraging that the process can work sometimes. And in this case it did."
Bordeaux has said he never intended to hurt Payne, only hold him until police arrived."
Racist, Arsonist, Attempted Murdering &
Dog Killer, Creepy Todd Payne...
...died in the commission of his crimes.
He was best friends, partners and
criminal co-conspirator of Corrupt
LRPD Officer Greg C. Key (Dick Pic Cop)
A fired corrupt 20 year veteran of Little Rock Police Department died while trying to set ablaze a food cart belonging to a blogger who exposed crooked cops and other corrupt city, state officials. ArkansasMatters.com reported that former Little Rock Police Officer Todd Payne died when blogger Ean Bordeaux tackled him as Payne tried to flee the scene of the attempted arson.
New Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Tremar Buckner has a very deep history of back-door corruption that has followed him from KY, no wonder he wanted to escape his old job.
All the dirty backdoor shit that he's done was finally catching up to him
Don't you DARE bring that fucking dirty-ass corrupt shit to Little Rock *DIRTY COP*, 'cus we ain't having it!
I have YOU on audio BLATANTLY & under color of law violating Federal civil AND CRIMINAL law.
You have declared war upon the Creole Houma-Choctaw People, we shall respond.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE: If one reads the article, it reveals clearly that the good cop that Buckner attempted to destroy through retaliation for doing the right thing,(reporting the wrongful conviction of a murder) was awarded $450,000. So was another cop as well that is involved.
They refused to give Good Cop back his position though and have basically ruined his law enforcement career.
He was a narcotics detective, now they transferred him to the streets at night in retaliation for the suit and assisting the innocence project.
This is supposedly in reaction/retaliation over the objections of state police claiming that he was snooping around in their closed cases. It was a sloppily closed case that put the WRONG person in jail and was trying to corruptly cover it up... disgusting.
And you wonder why people don't fucking trust "law" enforcement?
FUCK THE TRUTH! Right?
Boy's in Blue First! Yeah, well, we got your number there alright-LIE.
This is blatant corruption amongst and against their very own, on THEIR side of the blue line.
NO ONE is safe from this crony not even his own people.
This corrupt piece of shit brought the RING LEADER of my 7 years of police harassment into my criminal complaint meeting, Asst. Chief Wayne Bewley.
I had requested that he be criminally investigated and fired while under the Stuart Thomas Administration for spearheading these rouge police activities against the Houma-Choctaw and their interests.
My main contact at LRPD was Asst. Chief Eric Higgins, a good man, of whom was passed over for the top job twice and forced into retirement by the cronies.
He informed me that when he asked Bewley why he was allowing his officers to give "the hot dog man" a hard time, he replied, "He's got that blog!".
Now unless Chief Higgins is into blatant lying I know who the liar is. The guy that is NOT supposed to be in my criminal complaint meeting in which he is a target of said complaint.
I don't give a fuck if it is the "choice" of the "Chief" as to whom can attend MY fucking complaint meeting. In fact it's a direct violation of NUMEROUS federal and state laws, the least of which is a confrontational/adversarial complaint process. I think that bringing in the target of your CRIMINAL complaint is crossing ALL legal lines. Feds are on this btw.
MORE ON THE STORY OF BUCKNER KENTUCKY CORRUPTION:
This is an enlightening story of how this corrupt "officer of the law" helped to bury/cover up the wrongful murder conviction of an innocent person just so it would not embarrass his law enforcement buddies that fucking botched the investigation and blamed a 100 lb ('soaking wet') one-legged woman for killing her 200 plus lb boyfriend then dumped his large body over a fucking bridge.
THIS is what the State Police claimed that happened, lol.
Well, one of Buckner's GOOD cops under his former command found out who the REAL killer was and reported it. The citizens loved this good cop for it, his fellow officers including Buckner put him through hell and tried to destroy his life in retaliation.
This is surely not the man that should be leading Little Rock during this crucial time in Little Rock affairs and the Creole Houma-Choctaw Nation calls for his immediate resignation or firing, whichever comes first.
The very definition of cronyism to the letter!
Cold Busted
Kenton Buckner continues the legacy of corruption and keeps it's spirit alive in Little Rock.
As long as he leads the LRPD his shadow of corruption and civil rights violations shall darkly dim the confidence that we citizens have in the LRPD as well as the leadership that hired and supports this obvious crony.
Remember, this ain't no opinion at all, the Creole Houma-Choctaw Nation has audio proof of federal crimes and corruption including LRPD Asst. Chief Bewley & Kenton Buckner on AUDIO violating federal criminal and civil law, feel free to request it by email: aidcommission@gmail.com
THIS is the blatant Jim Crow legacy of covering up the crimes of criminal police officers that pervade the ranks of a dept supposedly tasked with the protection of us all.
He is certainly head Bo-Bo whip-holder of the plantation. Step & Fetchin' to his Masta's bidding's for a bloody & corrupt paycheck. Fuck off Buckner. Get the fuck out of my town you fucking RICO criminal. Your corruption sucks.
The gig is up Kenton, you are in Creole country now.
You cover-up documented crimes and forestalled investigations against the Creole Houma-Choctaw by dirty cops well-busted, you have declared war upon my people, indeed. E Pluribus Unum.
WE DO NOT FORGET
WE DO NOT FORGIVE
E PLURIBUS UNUM
Questions Remain in State Police Investigation as Louisville Police Settle Whistleblower Lawsuit
Dirty Cop Kenton Buckner & City Manager Bruce Moore
The Louisville Metro Police Department has settled a whistleblower lawsuit from an officer who alleged he was retaliated against for helping a woman whose conviction followed a Kentucky State Police investigation that's been called into question.
The lawsuit—filed initially by one-time narcotics detective Barron Morgan and later joined by Lt. Richard Pearson—also alleged that the state police trooper who led that investigation lied under oath, tampered with evidence and intimidated a witness to maintain the questionable conviction.
Morgan, who was transferred to a patrol position, asked for $400,000 and reinstatement to the LMPD narcotics unit; the department instead agreed to pay $450,000 but would not give Morgan back his old job, said Thomas Clay, Morgan’s attorney. LMPD and Morgan agreed to settle on Tuesday. Pearson is challenging a five-day suspension; his case has not yet been resolved.
Dirty Cop Kenton Buckner
Morgan and Pearson allege they were retaliated against by superiors who felt Morgan’s inquiries into the closed state police case would upset the department’s cozy relationship with KSP, according to court documents. The allegations in the court documents also suggest that Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer and Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad have a friendship that goes back to their college days.
The lawsuit revolves around the case of Susan Jean King, a Spencer County woman who state police Sgt. Todd Harwood arrest for the 1998 murder of her ex-boyfriend, Kyle “Deanie” Breeden.
A ‘Cold Case’ Warms Up
Two fishermen found Breeden’s body in Henry County in 1998—and state police detectives concluded that none of their original suspects, including Susan Jean King, was the culprit, investigative reports said.
The case went unsolved for nearly eight years.
On May 22, 2006, then-trooper Todd Harwood was assigned to investigate the Breeden “cold case,” according to a commendation he received.
King was indicted in 2007.
She’d taken the advice of her public defender at the time and pleaded guilty with an Alford plea on charges of manslaughter and evidence tampering, meaning she did not concede guilt but agreed that prosecutors had the evidence to convict her.
The alternative was life in prison.
But Harwood’s investigation is riddled with inconsistencies, according to allegations made in three separate lawsuits—two filed filed on behalf of King and the whistleblower lawsuit.
In April 7 testimony to the Spencer County grand jury that indicted King, Harwood didn’t mention that before Breeden’s death King had a leg amputated at the hip following a traffic accident. She uses crutches or a wheelchair to get around. Police records indicate that Breeden’s body was thought to be thrown over the Gratz Bridge.
Dirty cop Kenton Buckner sworn in on a new city to predate upon.
“Is she a bigger woman than him?” asked one of the grand jury members. “Does she get him down and shoot him, or—”
“No,” Harwood replied. “She’s actually a very, very small woman. I mean, Susan King is probably 100 pounds wet.”
Another question posed by the grand jury concerned how King was able to physically manipulate Breeden’s body.
“I don’t know if she was capable of it by herself,” Harwood said.
In a filing in the 2013 whistleblower suit, Innocence Project director Linda Smith alleged Harwood committed perjury when he provided “testimony about ballistic evidence which was demonstrably false” to the Spencer County grand jury which indicted King.
In May 2012, King asked for a new trial. To the Spencer Circuit Court, her lawyers submitted Innocence Project investigators’ point-by-point refutation of Harwood’s investigation. The documents mention an interview with an unidentified KSP trooper in the agency’s “firearms department" that would cast doubt on ballistics evidence used against King. The trooper told the Innocence Project that degraded fragments of a .22 caliber round that Harwood recovered from King’s residence “was not consistent with the .22 caliber magnum bullet removed from the victim,” Kyle Breeden.
Morgan was also aware of the ballistics question.
“Morgan stated that this match would have been impossible due to the fact that the weapon and the bullets found were not compatible,” Pearson wrote in a April 2013 Louisville Metro Police memo to Conrad.
King, then a hairdresser in Eminence, Ky., spent six and a half years at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women in Peewee Valley as a result of Harwood’s investigation, and was released in November of 2012, Smith said. A Spencer Circuit judge denied her request for a “new” trial in an October 2012 order and opinion, stating that it would be “inappropriate” because King entered a guilty Alford plea and no verdict existed that could be changed. The question of a new trial is currently with the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
Detective Barron Morgan
The Spencer Circuit Judge, Charles Hickman, also wrote: “If King had a prior trial, rather than entered an Alford plea, the Court agrees that Jarrell’s confession would be evidence that ‘with reasonable certainty, change the verdict or probably change the result, if a new trial was granted.'”
On May 20, 2009, KSP Commissioner Brewer awarded Harwood with a special commendation for his work on the Breeden case.
“The determination, commitment and professionalism of Trooper Harwood exemplifies those standards held in highest regard by the Kentucky State Police,” Brewer wrote in the commendation letter.
But for all the evidence that purports to show King’s innocence, it was a confession from another party that set in motion the events that would make Morgan a thorn in the side of his superiors.
A Confession to a Closed Case
Richard Jarrell first came to the attention of law enforcement when he was arrested in Louisville two years ago following an attempted murder of one of LMPD Det. Barron Morgan’s drug informants.
It wasn’t long until Jarrell began opening up to Morgan about a string of murders in the hopes of reducing the sentence of his “brother,” who was apprehended on federal charges in another state.
In police reports and LMPD e-mail correspondence included in the whistleblower lawsuit, detectives tell how Jarrell brags about the number of people he’s killed.
“Detective,” said Jarrell, according to Jefferson Circuit Court documents. “I killed a lot of motherfuckers.”
Morgan immediately contacted LMPD homicide Det. Russ Scott, who conducted an interview with Jarrell where he intimated having murdered at least two people in the city. But when it came to the killing of a Spencer County plumber—Kyle “Deanie” Breeden—Jarrell went into explicit detail, according to Jefferson Circuit Court documents.
According to those same records, in the telling of the murder to LMPD homicide detectives, Jarrell said Breeden had stolen $20 from Jarrell to buy crack cocaine—and that was initially his motivation to kill Breeden. But Jarrell told police that he really killed Breeden “just to do it.”
On an October afternoon, Jarrell told police, he lured Breeden to an abandoned house under the pretense of picking up some money from his father to celebrate his 21st birthday. Breeden approached the cattle gate fence where Jarrell fired a .22 caliber revolver from his coat sleeve, and fired a shot into the back of his “best friend’s” head.
“I blowed his fuck’in brains out,” Jarrell told LMPD, according to a police report included in the motion for a new trial to the Spencer Circuit Court.
Jarrell told police he fired another shot in the back of Breeden’s skull for good measure before dragging the body off to the side of the house.
Worried that the body might be discovered, Jarrell said he returned to the scene sometime later and hauled Breeden’s lifeless frame into the trunk of his car after tying the body to a concrete block with a guitar amplifier cord.
Jarrell made it to the Henry-Owen County border where he stopped on the two-lane Gratz Bridge. The overpass was well lit, he said. No cars were coming from either direction, so Jarrell popped the trunk.
Laughing to detectives in his confession, Jarrell said he wrestled the “fat piece of shit” out and dropped the nearly 200 pound body some 40 feet into the Kentucky River.
At the time of Jarrell’s interview with LMPD, Breeden’s murder had been solved four years earlier by KSP Sgt. Harwood after he arrested King, who was serving a 10-year sentence.
A week after receiving this confession, the KSP’s Harwood—who had declined to interview Jarrell while Jarrell was in LMPD custody—visited him in the Louisville jail, according to allegations in the Jefferson Circuit Court case.
After that, Morgan said, Jarrell declined to talk further about any information he had.
“I re-interviewed Mr. Jarrell the following week and he informed me that Sgt. Harwood came to the jail and interviewed him,” Morgan told LMPD assistant chief Kenton Buckner in a May 2012 e-mail that is part of the lawsuit in Jefferson Circuit Court. “He continued stating that he got the impression that Sgt. Harwood wanted him to keep his mouth shut and not talk about the Breeden case.”
Harwood denied pressuring Jarrell to change his confession during a two-day hearing in a Spencer Circuit Court in July 2012. State police also said there were major inconsistencies in Jarrell’s telling of the murder, including the time of Breeden’s death, the type of vehicle Jarrell was driving and the lighting on the bridge.
In a state police interview, days after the KSP investigator visited the city jail, Jarrell recanted to having killed Breeden altogether, according to a Spencer Circuit judge’s order denying King a “new” trial.
In the same document, Jarrell indicated to state police that he’d been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was taking medication for the condition.
According to the whistleblower lawsuit, Morgan’s actions following this series of events would upset his Louisville Metro Police supervisors, laying bare their chief concern: Don’t upset Kentucky State Police.
KSP, LMPD Relationship At-Risk?
Pearson gave Morgan permission to contact the Kentucky Innocence Project and Morgan was even encouraged by a prosecutor in the Jefferson Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, according to documents filed in court. The non-profit group had been independently looking into King’s case for at least three years, and was eager to hear what new evidence Morgan had.
Two weeks after Jarrell gave police his confession, the Innocence Project filed a motion for King in Spencer Circuit Court to request a new trial for her. While Spencer Circuit Court Judge Charles Hickman commended Morgan for sharing the information so quickly, some Louisville Metro Police commanders weren’t so pleased.
According to court records, their initial reaction to Morgan’s inquiries centered on how upset state police were with the city detective.
LMPD Major David Ray was among Morgan’s more vocal critics in command, suggesting early on that disciplinary action against the detective was warranted.
“Off morgan (sic) may also be making more of this than is really there,” he said in an e-mail obtained by WFPL.
Ray had also apologized on the city’s behalf to a KSP commander for “Morgan sticking his nose in this.”
In a June 2012 e-mail, Ray, who oversees the major crimes division, said another state police commander had called concerning Morgan “interfering with their old homicide case.”
“I got the impression that this is causing some hard feelings with KSP and possibly damaging our department’s relationship with them,” Ray wrote.
Before that, Morgan alleges in the whistleblower lawsuit that LMPD Lt. Colonel Kenton Buckner cursed him out in a voicemail for sharing information with the Innocence Project. Morgan further alleged that Buckner said the non-profit group was on the “other side” and ordered the detective to stop sharing information.
In a court deposition, Buckner said he did ask Morgan about the Innocence Project’s involvement but did not recall cursing at the detective.
“If I did leave something like that, it was in a joking manner,” he said.
When reporters first raised questions in July 2012 about the KSP’s handling of the Breeden murder, the media inquiry made it up the chain of command.
Brewer immediately contacted Conrad, saying: “Steve--Just an FYI. Call me when you can.”
Five days later, the headline “KSP, LMPD wrestle over confession in 1998 slaying” appeared in The Courier-Journal.
“Conrad’s lost some weight,” KSP Commissioner Brewer wrote in a July 24, 2012 e-mail. “I think I could out-wrestle him now.”
“‘Can’t we all just get along?’” Conrad replied the following morning.
In his deposition, Conrad called the communication between him and Brewer “embarrassing and inappropriate.”"Steve--Just an FYI. Call me when you can." - Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer
The whistleblower lawsuit alleges that from the beginning Conrad was not happy with Morgan’s communication with the Innocence Project and that he was initially upset with the detective’s actions.
In his court deposition, Conrad said Morgan had “technically violated” LMPD policy by not contacting the proper chain of command.
The personal relationship between the state’s two top cops and how it possibly influenced LMPD’s reaction to the case is of particular interest to Thomas Clay, the attorney who represents Pearson and Morgan in the whistleblower case.
“The relationship between Commissioner Brewer and Chief Conrad certainly is a concern,” he said. “They continue to have a close, personal relationship over the tenure of their careers and according to the testimony they socialize on a monthly basis, so to me that is an issue that we certainly intend to bring into trial.”
LMPD declined to make Conrad available for comment, saying the department does not comment on ongoing litigation.
Four months after taking Jarrell’s confession to his bosses and the Innocence Project, Morgan was transferred out of the narcotics unit.
Morgan had applied for a coveted spot in Conrad’s new VIPER Unit that year, but he was denied despite being a 20-year veteran who had received commendations from the current chief and his predecessor.
Former Metro Police Chief Robert White praised Morgan in a November 2011 letter for seizing over 30 pounds of cocaine and a firearm.
A month before Jarrell’s confession, Conrad had also applauded Morgan in an April 2012 letter for a cocaine seizure worth half a million dollars in addition to more than $43,000 in cash.
Morgan is now a patrol officer as part of the departments reorganization, and has been assigned to a so-called graveyard shift. He currently makes about $15,000 less annually due to a loss of overtime and court pay.
“Barron Morgan and Lt. Richard Pearson did the right thing by exposing the fact that an innocent woman was in prison for a crime she didn’t commit—a murder,” Clay said. “Rather than being praised and encouraged in their efforts to bring out the truth they were retaliated against and treated in a manner which in my opinion is truly despicable.”
Jarrell, who is now 36 and has allegedly alluded to knowledge of multiple murderers, is up for parole in February 2015.
In the meantime, attorney Linda Smith of the Innocence Project said she is still seeking a new trial for Susan Jean King, and has filed a federal suit to that end.
King isn’t looking for money, Smith said, but wants to be exonerated of the charges and to live “a quiet life.”
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