Shooting Victims Family outraged by Controversial Verdict

After a day of swimming, LSD and alcohol Joey Parrish, 17, Ethan Parrish, 24, and Stephanie Reynolds, 19 (all White) pulled into a Sheetz parking lot in Powhattan Virginia to drop off two friends. At this point there was a verbal confrontation with 18-year old Tahliek Taliaferro, (African American) and friends: Courtney Jones, Lawrence Harris, Tommie Williams, Kendall Trainum, and Kwamaine Marshall. The confrontation ended a short distance down the road with Taliaferro dead and 15-year old Jones seriously wounded.

Grand jury testimony and evidence led to certification of charges against the two Parrish cousins including first degree murder, aggravated malicious wounding, two counts of attempted murder, and charges of using a firearm in the commission of felonies.  Joey Parrish, a convicted felon, received an additional charge for possessing a firearm.

Emotions ran high in Powhattan this week after the jury dropped most of the charges against Joey and Ethan Parrish finding them guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Taliaferro, and misdemeanor assault for wounding Jones.

Although the shooting is not believed to be racially motivated some in the community believe the verdict was. One bystander outside of the court described it as the most racist thing he had ever heard and went on to say, "That’s Powhattan".

The Virginia NAACP released a statement after the verdict was read expressing disappointment in the outcome of the trial.

"This verdict reaffirms what many citizens of Powhatan County have always felt, that there is no justice for African Americans here. We now await the lenient sentence that this jury will impose. The judicial system did not work for Tahliek Taliaferro, his family, friends, loved ones and citizens."

Kaa Caputo, Taliaferro’s mother in an emotional statement to 12 news said: "How did they come to that conclusion? Involuntary manslaughter - do they know what it means?"

Jean Taliaferro, Tahliek's grandmother added: "They can go to see their son but I can't go and see Tahliek, I guess they thought he was a deer or a duck or something."

Carolyn Jackson, Jones's mother said "It's unbelievable they did not give him first degree murder, I cannot believe that my child was shot in the back and you said you are going to give him a pat on the back. What would have happened if he had died? It's unfair, unfair."

The jury recommended a sentence of 10 years for involuntary manslaughter and an additional 12 months for assault and battery in the case f Ethan Parrish. Joey Parrish has not been sentenced yet but could face up to 16 years, 11 for involuntary manslaughter and assault and an additional 5 years for possessing a firearm.

 

Below is a brief recap of the grand jury testimony and the trial that led to the controversial verdict.

Defendant Stephanie Reynolds (granted testimonial immunity) told the grand jury:

“Someone ‘bucked' at Joey and Ethan got mad, Ethan and Joey started cussing and then Ethan pulled out a gun from between his feet and made like he was going to get out, but I grabbed him and told him not to.”

According to further testimony, before leaving the Sheetze parking lot Joey told Taliaferro: “Come on if you want to finish this.” Reynolds went on to say that she assumed that Taliaferro and his friends would follow them but the Parrish cousins said they would handle it.

After leaving the parking lot heading west on route 60 Ethan began digging around in the back seat of the car, he then told Reynolds to turn around and if she didn't she could get out and he would drive. Ethan made the comment that he was going to "scare" and "smoke" Tahliek. Shortly after making a U turn they turned on Dorset Road and stopped. Ethan told Joey to cover the licensee plate with a bag. Reynolds said Joey got back in the car as the other teens pulled along side of them on Dorset Road; she went on to say,

“Ethan was hanging out of the back driver’s side window with the assault rifle. Tahliek was just laughing at us, he wasn’t nervous — when he started laughing Ethan pulled the trigger.”

Courtney Jones said:

“I saw the back window go down and I saw a gun, then it just started shooting, I got down and then I looked and saw Tahliek laid over.” Jones was struck in the back and Taliaferro died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the head.

At the trial:

Margaret Ashton Bradbury, one of the teens being dropped off by the suspects, testified that before getting into her own car she heard Joey Parrish yelling at Taliaferro and his friends who were eating at the Bruster's ice cream shop next to the Sheetze. She said she couldn't make out everything Joey said but she thinks she heard him say 'If you want to fight, follow us,'“ She went on to say that she attempted to flag down the car that Taliaferro was riding in as they passed by a couple of minutes later, she wanted to warned them that Joey had a 9 mm and Ethan had an assault rifle in the car.

Courtney Jones along with other friends of Taliaferro testified that that the teen may have wanted to fight Joey and may have said, "Let's go fight them. Let's get them." (Accounts very, some say they did not hear him say this) he was not chasing Joey when the shooting began. Lawrence Harris, driver of the victim’s vehicle said that they turned down Dorset road to drop off one of his passenger, not to follow Parrish.

Reynolds told the jury that after Ethan ordered her to pull over and told Joey to cover the License plates they sat and watched Harris drive slowly past. She said that Harris had something in his hand but whatever it was wasn’t pointed at them, this is when Taliaferro saw the gun and started laughing, Ethan then began shooting.

Police testified that they recovered 6 shell casings fired from a semiautomatic Mac 90 military style assault rifle (83 round drum clip) at the scene, and found a bb gun and some baseball bats in Harris's car, they went on to say that 2 bullets hit the street and 4 hit the vehicle, one struck Jones in the lower back and another hit Taliaferro in the head killing him. All of the bullets entered from the rear of the vehicle.

Ethan Parrish told the court that he began firing out of fear, he believed that the other teens were coming after him, he also said he believed they had a gun. Joey Parrish didn't testify.

Outraged Over AIG Bonuses Turns To Protest

As many U.S. taxpayers lose their jobs and homes and others struggle just to hold on it seems that the recent bonuses handed out by AIG have put a face on the economic crisis, giving a direction for the public to focus their anger. American taxpayers are outraged by the insurance giant AIG's use of bailout funds to hand out bonuses to their top executives and they have taken their outrage to the source. This anger has taken various forms ranging from protest to death threats. 

On Thursday a rally was held in Phoenix at the local AIG office, led by the Service Employees International Union. The protestors wanted answers to questions about the bonuses and if any were paid to Arizona employees, no one was available to answer. They had also planned to present a large "reality" check to AIG but no one came forth to accept it. They wanted to draw attention to what they described as a class struggle between top executives and the average working American.

Union member Todd Schwartz said:

"These people are seriously out of touch with what life is like for working men and women in America,"

Members of the union also attended a protest outside of the Seattle AIG office located at 520 Pike St. With several police officers standing by, the protestor entered the office and attempted to deliver another "reality" check, they were told that it was private property and they would have to leave, the protestors asked to see someone from AIG in person, their request was refused as was their request to send the "reality" check up to AIG.

Linnae Riesen said:

"Corporations got bailed out, people got sold out, that's pretty much our message."

Saturday, about 40 Protesters made the rounds in Connecticut visiting Norwalk, New Haven, Hartford and other towns visiting AIG offices and the homes of executives to voice the opposition to the taxpayer funded bonuses given to executives.

Protester Emeline Bravo-Blackport said:

"We think $165 million could be used in a more appropriate way to keep people in their homes, create more jobs and health care,”

In some cases public anger has taken a more sinister turn including death threats. In a recent AIG corporate security memoemployees were advised against wearing the AIG logo, the memo went on to advise employees to hide their corporate badges from public view before leaving the office building. Employees are also encouraged to avoid parking in dark areas and to travel in pairs after dark. These are only a few of the suggestion being made by AIG security.

One AIG employee speaking under terms of anonymity said:

"It's scary,People are very, very nervous for their security."

Company spokesman Mark Herr told the AP:

"However someone may feel about the appropriateness of the retention payments, there is nothing appropriate about the threats that people have made to and about employees,"

James Haas and Doug Poling, who have said that they will be returning their bonuses to AIG, did not reply to the AP's request for a comment regarding the threats.

The matter may be further complicated by recent accusations from Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal that AIG actually paid out $50 million more than they reported bringing the total to $218 million. AIG contends that the full amount of bonuses had already been explained to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the $165 million are for the March payments and do not include payments made in December.

Blumenthal responded responded by saying:

"We've not only added the numbers, but the company has given us documents that have the number at $218 million, some of that total is from earlier bonuses, but the main point is all of it seems to be out of taxpayer funds. ... Whether the payments were made in December or March seems to be beside the point. The total that was disclosed so far was $165 million.''

 

 

45 Richmond, Va Jobs to be Lost To Mexico

St. Louis-based Belden's Midlothian manufacturing plant employees 45 local workers who make connectors and components for industrial automation. In December 2008 Belden announced that it would cut its global workforce by 20% (around 1800 people) by late 2009. The layoffs are in response to the global economic downturn that has led to lower demand for their products.

In a December statement John Stroup, president and chief executive, said:

"As we reported in October, we have seen softening of our major markets globally, and we expect that economic conditions will remain challenging for some time, We regret the hardship these actions will impose on our (employees)."

During the December announcement Belden indicated that some U.S. plant closings would occur as part of a restructuring plan but declined to say what plants were being considered.

Belden now says that the Midlothian plant will be closed by July and the manufacturing operations transferred to their plant in Tijuana, Mexico. Belen says those affected by layoffs will be eligible for severance benefits. Beldoen is expecting to save up to 30 million Dollars in 2009 as a result of layoffs.

This is not the first Belden layoff that involved moving U.S. jobs to Mexico, in March of 2008 they announced plans to close the Manchester, Conn. plant resulting in 132 people losing their jobs, this plants operations were also transferred to Mexico.

"We regret the impact of these actions on the affected associates," said John Stroup,President and Chief Executive Officer of Belden. "It is a difficult, but necessary step in the implementation of our regional manufacturing strategy. The expected cost savings associated with this action are further benefit of this strategy and take advantage of our lower cost capacity at the recently completed Nogales, Mexico facility."

A Defiant Sudan Strikes Back after ICC Decision

On March 4,the International Criminal Court announced that they had issued an arrest warrant for Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, President of Sudan. The charges include war crime and crime against humanity stemming from allegations that he ordered attacks on civilians in the Darfur region. These attacks employed rape, murder, forcible relocation and torture as a standard method of war. These attacks have led to an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 deaths and over 2.5 million people being displaced.

A defiant Al Bashir reportedly said that the decision by the ICC would not stop him from doing his "work" calling the warrant a conspiracy against his country and new form of colonialism.

Sudanese ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem said:

"We strongly condemn this criminal move, It amounts to an attempt at regime change. We are not going to be bound by it."

In an act of defiance The Sudanese government expelled at least 10 humanitarian aid groups including Portland based Mercy Corps who has about 225 aid workers in Darfur and for the past five years has been providing aid to around 200,000 internally displaced people. Also on the list of expelled aid groups are Oxfam, CARE, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-Holland, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the International Rescue Committee, Action Contre la Faim, Solidarites and CHF International. According to the U.N. there are about 76 aid organization working in Darfur however the 10 being expelled did the majority of the work.

The operational director of MSF-Holland, Arjan Hehenkamp, said:

"It is absurd that we as an independent organization are caught up in a political and judicial process,"

Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha of Sudan confirmed the expulsion of the groups saying:

"Whenever an organization takes humanitarian aid as a cover to achieve a political agenda that affects the security of the county and its stability, measures are to be taken by law to protect the country and its interests,"

According to the aid groups this decision will affect up to two million people who are relying on them for food, shelter and water.