INjustice for CeCe McDonald: When Tools Rule

Today the long running farce of justice that has been the CeCe McDonald trial has come to a least a judicial close. Judge Daniel Moreno (dickhead), sentenced CeCe to 41 months in prison, as was expected as these were the terms of her plea bargain. CeCe has already been in custody for 366 days, but today the judge ruled that the time she spent under house arrest will not count towards her time served, and so she will only be credited with 275 days.

My friend Connie Kauppi posted on my Facebook wall:

Freeman and Moreno gives me an idea for children's books: The Hammer That Thought It Was A Lawyer and The Screwdriver That Thought It Was A Judge. They think they are servants of justice and practitioners of law... They are but TOOLS.

But wait, it gets worse.

The state of Minnesota is ALSO going to be housing CeCe as a male. With all of the data, including new Department of Justice (DOJ) guidelines regarding sexual violence and safety in prisons, particularly as it relates to transgender individuals, the state making a decision to house CeCe with folks that are NOT of her gender, is a critical injustice and a violation (again) of her human rights.

I am so angry at this level of gross and inhuman justice and power expression that for the first time in my life I am ashamed of being a Minnesotan. I LOVE MY STATE. I have spent a good chunk of my life fighting to keep shit like this from going down in my homeland, my friends still are, and this flagrant injustice, masked in Minnesota nice (Mike Freeman, I would be quite content to never hear from you again, thank you), is just too damn much.

Lemme be clear. This is about racism, transphobia, class, poverty and heterosexism, but its mostly about maintaining hegemonic power. CeCe is being punished because she was never meant to survive. She is being punished because she was never mean to live. She is being punished because she stood up for herself and by doing so left the place designated for her in this world for a moment and took back the power that was snatched from her ancestors. For a moment, she stood in her own skin and said to the universe, I WILL live.

Not too long ago we strung up black men and lit them on fire for whistling at a white woman.  CeCe's trial and sentence are just another type of lynching. Not only did she stand up for herself, but she committed the greatest sin a person of color can make, she killed a white man. In defense of her own life, she killed a white man, and POWER demands that CeCe pay the price. POWER would kill her if it could.  If CeCe had been acquitted it would have meant that the basis of POWER in this country was eroding, shifting, changing hands. They gave us Barack Obama to provide the illusion that race had changed in the U.S. Not a damn thing has changed at the most fundamental levels. I will know real change has come when a woman of color is assaulted, has her cheek sliced completely through, defends her life and JUSTICE comes down on her side.

Mike Freeman and Judge Moreno, no matter how many emails you send or how well you sleep at night changes the fact that you did NOT serve justice today. You served up injustice with a smile and a light apology.

CeCe, I love you, we love you, and we will not abandon you. See you soon. YOUR coming out party is going to be so damn fierce. 

CeCe McDonald and the Continuing Injustice

Let me begin by saying a huge and loud and raucous HAPPY BIRTHDAY CECE MCDONALD!  You are loved and celebrated today.

Yesterday, I received an email from Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. This is the second time that I have received a letter from him/his office related to CeCe McDonald. Yesterday's email made me so angry that I started to cry. The basic gist of the letter (and I will post the whole damn thing at the end of this) was that even though Freeman charged CeCe with 2nd degree murder, wasn't he nice and gentle by allowing her to plea bargain down to a manslaughter charge, and instead of facing 27 years in prison, isn't it lovely that she will only spend JUST over two years in prison. And isn't it awesome that now the Washington County Attorney is charging one of her attackers with ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON, and now justice will be served because one CeCe's attackers will also be rolled into the criminal justice system. And ain't it obvious that he is a friend of the LGBTQ community and will continue to be our friend?

It was at this point that I wanted to fly home to Minneapolis and cuss Mike Freeman out to his face.

Lezbehonest about a few things here.

1. CeCe McDonald killed a Nazi in defense of her own life. This is not a crime. It has now been explained to me that the defense of life only counts if you use the exact same weapon used to attack you, meaning, in this case, to defend herself, CeCe should have used only her fists. Since she didn't, and used what she had at her disposal, she attacked an unarmed man and therefore...murder. BULLSHIT! If you come at me with the intent to take my life or cause me bodily harm, I am going to do EXACTLY what my Mama told me to do when I was a kid and was being bullied, "Pick up a brick and bash his fucking head in." It is my right and CeCe's to do any and everything necessary to defend her life with whatever tools happen to be at hand.

2. The fact that the county attorney is doing his job in prosecuting one of CeCe's attackers, the fact remains that even if this person is convicted, it will not remove CeCe from jail. It won't undue the trauma that CeCe has faced, it won't undue the transphobia, and it won't bring justice to CeCe, the survivor, of a hate assault.

3. The fact that Shannon Flaherty IS being charged with assault with a deadly weapon is proof positive that CeCe was defending her life. Please see item #1. Defending your life is not a crime.

Fuck you Mike Freeman. You are no friend of mine and no ally to the LGBTQ community. I don't care how many sensitivity trainings your office does or if you eat out the pussy of every staff member at OutFront MN (God help them...many are my friends...I do not wish this horror on you).  YOU ARE NOT OUR ALLY, County Attorney Freeman.

Today is CeCe's birthday, and she will be spending it in jail for a crime that she did not commit. She is serving time for being black. She is serving time for being trans. She is serving time for living her life openly and with dignity. The law is not free from the obligation of incorporating the impact of injustice into its practice. So when Mike Freeman says that gender, sexual orientation, race, etc. can not be part of the consideration in whether or not to bring charges, I say to you BULLSHIT AGAIN. The Supreme Court declared our criminal justice system to be racist, especially towards black folks. It is fundamental to the system and its power structure and therefore to pretend that issues of identity and oppression are not factors in how and when and where to determine if a criminal act has taken place is an abrogation of duty and a willful practice of ignorance. It is injustice. It should be Mike Freeman behind bars.

Happy Birthday again, CeCe. We love you. See you soon.


Letter from Mike Freeman. Subject line was Crishaun McDonald case. I wrote back and said that her name is CeCe Mcdonald. USE IT.

Good afternoon,
Last month, I wrote to many of you because you had contacted our office about our handling of the Chrishaun McDonald case. I want to update you now on significant actions around that case.

Recently, the Washington County Attorney’s Office charged Molly Shannon Flaherty with one count of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and one count of third-degree assault-substantial bodily harm for attacking Ms. McDonald on June 5, 2011 outside the Schooner bar.

As I mentioned several times during the months leading up to Ms. McDonald’s trial, we immediately sent the case to Washington County because it would have been a conflict of interest if we had charged the case against Ms. Flaherty at the same time we had charged the homicide case against Ms. McDonald.  Washington County Attorney Peter Orput stated after the charges were filed May 11 that he would have filed the charges last summer, but he needed to talk to Ms. McDonald and get her medical records. Ms. McDonald’s lawyers were afraid that information could be used against her in the murder case and advised her not to cooperate with Mr. Orput, a position both we and Mr. Orput understand and respect. It is my understanding that Ms. McDonald’s attorneys no longer have this concern and Ms. McDonald is helping put together a strong case against Ms. Flaherty.

As you probably know, we entered into a plea agreement with Ms. McDonald that dropped the charge from second-degree murder to second-degree manslaughter in the stabbing death of an unarmed victim. Instead of facing a possible sentence of 27 years in prison if convicted, Ms. McDonald will be sentenced to 41 months, and with time served and good behavior, she should be released in just over two years. We agreed to this negotiated resolution because we thought it served justice for the family of the stabbing victim, but also was appropriate for Ms. McDonald.

I want to reiterate, our role as prosecutors is to examine the facts provided by police investigators and determine if there is sufficient admissible evidence to bring a charge. It is our mission to serve justice and public safety. Gender, race, sexual orientation and class are not part of the decision-making process. That is how we handled Ms. McDonald’s case from beginning to end. That is how we try to serve in every case we review. We cannot, and do not, let popular opinion determine how we handle cases.

However, it is important that we fully serve all members of our community and, therefore, we do listen to the comments and concerns about the justice system. We understand that some in the LGBTQ community may continue to disagree with the way we handled the McDonald case and that is their right. However, I renew my pledge to continue to work with all our residents to make this office receptive to your concerns. We know Hennepin County has a large LGBTQ community and it is our duty to make sure your voice is heard so that safety and justice is achieved for all.

Mike Freeman
Hennepin County Attorney

HIV, Criminal Conduct, and Reality

A man in Minnesota has been charged with willfully spreading HIV. According to the story and video clip, the man had sex with multiple partners, did not disclose his status, and at least one person has tested positive. In the cases in the video clipped, the man is NOT charged with rape, though I have heard from a friend of mine that he is charged with sexual assault from an earlier incident in February. While I am not going to comment on this man's guilt or innocence, I sure as hell am going to comment on the situation. The following blog post may seem a little disjointed, as I co

Did you listen to the story? Mike Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, needs to check his facts. He said, "The man didn't have it [HIV] before, and a month later he did." Ummmm....any doctor will tell you that it takes, in general, a minimum of 3 months to have built up enough antibodies to detect HIV. Which means that the "victim" was having unprotected sex with more than just the accused.

Also, if the men were having unprotected sex with this guy and NOT asking his status, and there is no evidence that the dude lied, then it is not a leap to believe that they had unprotected sex with other men. How do they KNOW that this is the guy that transmitted HIV to them? Where the fuck is the responsibility on their end? Why is the blame/shame/burden always on the positive individual?

Also, were there drugs involved? I am going to go ahead and say most fucking likely. Regardless of the outcome, the accused's life is ruined.

As an HIV+ man that has struggled in the past with drug addiction, I can tell you that almost 99% of the time no one was asking anyone else about their HIV status when crystal meth was involved.

If you choose to have bareback sex then you CHOOSE the risk of contracting HIV. That choice is on you, the burden is on you, and the responsibility for the action is on YOU. Unless you can prove that you were RAPED or the sex was not consensual in some other way, the burden is on you. It was your choice to believe the man or to trust the man with your life, and now that you found out you made the wrong choice, you are going to lay the burden on someone else? BULLSHIT.

I am not perfect, but this case is more than just about the one dude (I hear that he is also charged with rape...that is another story all together)...but the precedent this will set if he is convicted on the spreading HIV charge as opposed to a rape charge is going to create such an overwhelming fear in positive people and a justified one...what if you don't disclose your status, you are having protected sex, and the condom breaks? Are you then a felon? What if you honestly believe you are HIV-, have unprotected sex, and then you find out you are after having infected someone else? Even your partner? Are you a felon? What if you and the party are both engaged in the use of illicit drugs....I am not perfect, and I carried a lot of guilt for a long time for my actions when actively using, but I will be damned if I carry the burden or the HIV+ community should carry the burden for the choices of others. It's just that simple, unfortunately the apparatus of the state and 20 years of fear mongering, gay baiting, and oppression are on the side of the Hennepin County attorney. And let's not forget that Mike Freeman is an elected official. The county attorney office led directly to the Senate for Amy Klobuchar. He is going to sensationalize this case as much as humanly possible to set himself up runs for hire office. The good tough attorney got this diseased predator off the street. What could be sweeter on the campaign trail?

I am curious to see what other cases Mike has made sure got into the paper? What other cases are on his case load? Why this case? Why this incident? I will tell you...H-I-V.

The continued stigmatization and scapegoating of positive people for the actions of negative people is based in shame and fear--the shame of the positive person that leads him or her to not disclose and the shame of the newly positive person that seeks to shed his shame by blaming everyone else for his HIV status except the person responsible: himself.

Let the witch hunts begin.