FLE

Point Reyes pepper-spray incident ends in settlement

Two West Marin teens who sued the federal government after a pepper spray incident involving two park rangers have settled the case for $50,000, their attorney said. Chris Miller of Inverness Park, who was pepper-sprayed along with his sister, Jessica, have accepted a settlement of $25,000 each in the civil-rights suit, said their attorney, Gordon Kaupp of San Francisco. Kaupp said that under federal guidelines, $25,000 was the most the government's lawyers could pay each plaintiff without getting special approval from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. If the attorney general rejected the request, the Millers would have had to go through the ordeal of a trial. "I would've really liked to press a jury for punitive damages, (but) the family's been through a lot," Kaupp said. "The decision was to resolve this and move on." Owen Martikan, one of the government's attorneys, declined to comment. The incident occurred in July 2004 after Roger Mayo and Angelina Gregorio, two rangers at the Point Reyes National Seashore, were dropping off a pair of 18-year-old residents they had detained and cited in a prior incident. As Mayo and Gregorio were preparing to release the residents, Chris Miller, then 18 years old, and Jessica Miller, then 17, pulled up in another car and approached to find out why the suspects, who are friends of theirs, were being arrested. The Millers were then pepper-sprayed as a crowd of witnesses began to gather. The Millers were treated at the scene by county firefighters....

High Desert man who threatened park rangers with gun sentenced to federal prison

A Newberry Springs(sic)who admitted pointing a loaded .30-caliber M-1 carbine at federal law enforcement officers who were investigating possibly unlawful digging on national parkland was sentenced this afternoon to eight months in federal prison. Leo H. Spatziani, 62, was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner in federal court in Los Angeles. Spatziani previously pleaded guilty to one felony count of assaulting, resisting, intimidating and impeding federal law enforcement officers during an incident on February 12. In sentencing Spatziani and rejecting the defendant's plea for probation, Judge Klausner said the high desert was "not the wild west" and all citizens have a responsibility to respect the law. Judge Klausner, who also imposed a $2,000 fine, ordered Spatziani to begin serving his prison term within 30 days. Spatziani is the friend of another man who owns a small parcel of private property within the Mojave National Preserve. The friend had recently constructed a small cabin on Park Service land near a desert spring, which was outside of his private property line. In early February, the friend was observed operating a trenching machine at the spring. In addition to being on federal land, the area around the cabin is documented as containing archeological and cultural resources. On February 12, two uniformed National Park Service Rangers contacted Spatziani and his friend regarding the trenching activity. While one of the Rangers was photographing the trenching activity, Spatziani removed the M-1 carbine from a vehicle. He placed a magazine in the weapon and chambered a round. He then pointed the weapon at the Ranger who was taking pictures and began advancing on him. Despite repeated commands to drop the weapon, Spatziani continued to advance with his weapon in the ready firing position. The threatened officer was forced to take defensive cover behind one corner of the cabin and draw his service weapon....

The morning after the night before

It was literally the morning after the night when Hurricane Katrina had made a totally unpredicted sweep past The Everglades Institute's site in the Everglades. A 25-foot red bay tree was being cleared from where it had fallen across Dill Road in front of the Institute. As we worked, a National Park Service full size SUV pulled up, rolled down the window, then the window went up, and the parkperson drove off, without a word. Not one word to ask if my neighbor was OK, no question about whether anyone was in need of any help, nothing. Dill Road is a limerock single-lane road, more a rutted, pot-hole-filled pair of ruts than a road. It is what you would expect of a Park Service owned and maintained access road to private property: all ruts, no maintenence. And, at the end of that road is where my neighbor lives. He is retired, and has Parkinson's disease. But, the parkperson didn't ask about him, nor did he offer to help clear the road. Let's just call him Ranger Randy. Ranger Randy wasn't about to get out of the air conditioned cab, and do any work clearing the trees he had to know were blocking the only road to my neighbor's simple home. Ranger Randy is a law enforcement officer. Law enforcement types have more important things to do, like look for criminals stalking the parks and preserves. Never mind that the Everglades, and the rest of America's parks and preserves, are super-low crime rate areas. And, just forget about the fact that most of the "crimes" the Ranger Randys of America write tickets for, or arrest people for, are violations of Park Service's multitude of "regulations to protect the environment." As I worked, I couldn't help wondering why I was doing the job of Ranger Randy and his ilk. What has happened to America? Why have we gradually seen the replacement of the helpful man in a uniform of the past with the cold, pseudo-military uber-cops so common today? Or, was it done so subltly that we just didn't notice?....

Federal DNA database of anyone detained by police advances in Senate

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a mark-up of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization today. The bill, which expires on September 30, passed out of committee, but an amendment was added that could prevent or delay its passage by the full Senate. The amendment, introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), on behalf of Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), would create a national registry of DNA taken from any person who has been detained by the police, even if the person is not arrested or convicted. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) tried to include a secondary amendment to link the DNA index only to violent felonies, but it was defeated on a straight party-line vote. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), the primary sponsor of VAWA in the Senate, said that he feared the DNA amendment could cause a firestorm on the Senate floor that would delay passage of VAWA. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that he feared it was a poison pill. Senator Leahy said that he is worried that whole classes of people, such as Latinos or Muslims, will be rounded up and their DNA will be recorded in the registry. Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA), chair of the Judiciary Committee, and
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) pledged to try to work out a compromise on the amendment before the bill reaches the floor, which is expected before the end of the month....

Cell phone tracking rejected

What: In the first case of its kind, a federal judge chastises the U.S. Department of Justice for trying to constantly track a cell phone user's location without providing any proof of criminal behavior. When: Decided Aug. 25 by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein in Central Islip, N.Y. Outcome: Justice Department's Patriot Act surveillance request was denied. What happened: Burton T. Ryan Jr., an assistant U.S. attorney, sought a court order that would permit federal agents to track a suspect though his cell phone--but he couldn't offer any evidence of actual criminal activity. Ryan asked Orenstein to sign an order requiring the unnamed cellular provider to divulge the information, which would reveal the suspect's location whenever his cell phone was in use. (Cell phones must provide this information because of potential 911 emergencies, the Federal Communications Commission has ruled.) Such location-tracking was permitted under the 2001 Patriot Act, which amended the definition of a "pen register," Ryan argued. A pen register records phone numbers that are dialed. Orenstein disagreed. Location information amounts to a wiretap, he said, and therefore requires prosecutors to show "probable cause"--that is, at least some evidence of criminal behavior. Such an order "would effectively allow the installation of a tracking device without the showing of probable cause normally required for a warrant." Citing congressional testimony by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, Orenstein rejected the request and told the Justice Department to appeal if it wanted further clarification. Freeh had assured Congress that "the authority for pen registers and trap and trace devices cannot be used to obtain tracking or location information."....

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