Trial for Harless Victim: Defense contributions needed

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Arrrrgh.....

Lets look at the crystal ball... I see a conviction, a long appeal, and a trip to the Supreme Court of his state, possibly beyond that.
 
What can we do to support this beyond giving Ohio CCW money?

I support this man, he was clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong crowd. No CCW carrier is going to be committing those kinds of crimes with that crowd.

And that officer needs to be working at McDonalds for the rest of his life.

Anything I can do, sign, call, etc, please post.
 
http://www.ohioccwforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=56449
William Bartlett Criminal Trial - 11/9 - Please Attend

HELP US FILL THE COURTROOM SEATS NOVEMBER 9TH

Ohioans For Concealed Carry was advised today that the trial against William Bartlett is progressing and an actual court date has been finalized after months of pretrial meetings, hearings, and motions by the defense to suppress evidence and dismiss the charges against Bartlett. Despite being offered a plea bargain that would end this ordeal William Bartlett has declined the M4 Disorderly Conduct charges numerous times, including the most recent offer.

If you have no idea what this post is about make sure you watch the video and read the website history here: http://OhioCCW.org/CantonPD

What The Criminal Trial Against William Bartlett for Failure to Promptly Inform
When: Wednesday, November 9th (Possibly November 10th too)
Why: To fill the seats in the courtroom

Directions and Parking: http://www.cantoncourt.org/hours/index.html

The defense of William Bartlett has been funded out of a legal defense fund coordinated by Ohioans For Concealed Carry since the day we learned of this incident. To date we've paid thousands of dollars to defend Mr. Bartlett against the City of Canton, Ohio -- and we need your help to continue doing that. The prosecutors in this case have intentionally drug this case on instead of dropping it, have drug their feet providing requested documents, and have done everything possible to make this cost as much as possible for Bartlett - who isn't in a position to be paying any of the bills and would have likely been forced to accept a plea bargain months ago had we not stepped in and had Attorney Tim Bellew not taken the case.

You can donate any amount of money to the Bartlett Defense fund securely, online, right here: http://secure.ohioccw.org/store/p/114-C ... -Fund.aspx

If you wish to wear OFCC shirts at the hearing you can always purchase one (ASAP) right here: http://secure.ohioccw.org/store/c/2-Shirts.aspx

This forum post has a poll in it. Please acknowledge if you're coming to the trial on November 9th.
 
I wonder if the defense has looked into whether Officer Harless has reported a disproportionate number of Failure To Disclose violations in the past? His tactics appear tailor made for intimidating legal carriers into not immediately informing.
 
Stark County Ohio...where criminals go free and victims are taken to jail, beaten and raped. Where a major portion of the county's budget for the jail is to pay for liability insurance against charges of abuse. Both city and county officers, male and female, are proud of what they do and offer no excuses for their actions. Don't take my word for it. Google it and be prepared to be shocked by what you find.
Avoid this place at all costs.
 
It is outrageous that charges were ever brought and even more absurd that the case went to court, but at least it was obvious to everyone that the charges were outrageous.
 
So theres a possibility that this officer could return to active duty in the near future? That doesn't seem right at all.
 
It is surprising that the DA took this to court. It was all on video with audio for anyone to watch what happened. Really strange. I guess the courts there aren't overwhelmed with cases like they are where I live. Something like this would have never been filed by the DA in my city.

So is he on medical leave or "medical leave"?
 
Chalk up another victory for dash cams. What is sad is that in the absence of the video, an abusive police officer like that likely would have gotten on the stand, told a sanitized version of events and there would have been a conviction.

I appreciate the difficult job LEOs have and support law enforcement, but I am very against cops that act like bullies and abuse their positions of power. Even if he believed there was a violation of the statute his rants, name calling, and threats are out of line. The video of him in the other case seems to indicate this is a pattern of behavior. Maybe he is on medical leave from being off his meds?

From the article cited to above:

And while the case against Bartlett has been dropped, Officer Harless is still not cleared of disciplinary action for his behavior during the stop.

A disciplinary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 1.
Click to expand...

Hopefully action is taken against this officer.

From the
 
The interesting thing was Ofc. Harless and Ofc. Diess thought the camera was NOT running during this episode. Seems they have had a problem with 'defective' cameras when they are patrolling.

Ofc. Diess has now joined K9..speculation is that no human wanted to be his partner after his performance!

Bartlett's Failure To Inform CCW was dismissed, he pled no contest to Stopping on the Road. The civil suit is forthcoming!
 
Diggers said:
It is surprising that the DA took this to court. It was all on video with audio for anyone to watch what happened. Really strange. I guess the courts there aren't overwhelmed with cases like they are where I live. Something like this would have never been filed by the DA in my city.
Click to expand...

This is just my guess, but with a conviction against Bartlett, the city hoped to reduce or eliminate its liability in a civil case. Declining to prosecute would have been an admission that Officer Harless and Canton PD are vulnerable to civil action by Bartlett. Pressing the criminal case against Bartlett was always going to fail, but from the city's perspective, it was better than dropping the case early. In fact, dropping the case early would have only increased calls for criminal charges against Harless.

Imagine if any ordinary citizen had threatened another citizen as Harless threatened Bartlett in the video. Harless shouldn't get away with such behavior just because he's LE. His standard of behavior ought to be at least that expected of citizens. This is why the city's behavior is so disgusting here. It shows their disregard for the people they were elected to serve.

I respect law enforcement and the job they do. They interact daily with the worst products of our society. But this whole Canton PD / William Bartlett case is why a lot of people are a little cautious in their support of LE.
 
Codification of law is one of mankind's greatest inventions because it spells out how to conduct your daily life without fear of getting into trouble.
Officer Harless can yell, rant and rave, but that pales beside a perversion of the law in which a cop, and then a prosecutor ignore a citizen's pleas that they have followed every legal requirement.
 
aeriedad,

Well perhaps, I don't know how things work in that state and city.

Where I live the DA's wouldn't engage in such behavior. When they bring something in front of the courts THEY are bringing it, not the PD or the city but the DA's office. In doing so they are saying, as a DA I reviewed this case and I find there is probable cause to move forward with it. To bring a case before a judge and have it dismissed like that makes the DA look like an incompetent fool. They don't like to look like fools. Also, they are super busy with a huge case load (where I live anyhow) so they aren't about to waste their time on a minor case they aren't going to win. Which is why I find it really odd they went for this.

Good decision by the judge in the end.

(BTW I work in law enforcement, I and other officers have had pretty solid yet minor cases(any thing from fish and game to DUI violations) dumped by the DA due to case load issues. When they have a choice of going after a little fish or big fish, its the big fish.)
 
Diggers said:
aeriedad,

Well perhaps, I don't know how things work in that state and city.

Where I live the DA's wouldn't engage in such behavior. When they bring something in front of the courts THEY are bringing it, not the PD or the city but the DA's office. In doing so they are saying, as a DA I reviewed this case and I find there is probable cause to move forward with it. To bring a case before a judge and have it dismissed like that makes the DA look like an incompetent fool. They don't like to look like fools. Also, they are super busy with a huge case load (where I live anyhow) so they aren't about to waste their time on a minor case they aren't going to win. Which is why I find it really odd they went for this.

Good decision by the judge in the end.

(BTW I work in law enforcement, I and other officers have had pretty solid yet minor cases(any thing from fish and game to DUI violations) dumped by the DA due to case load issues. When they have a choice of going after a little fish or big fish, its the big fish.)
Click to expand...

I'm only expressing opinions about what is happening and why, and I don't have any inside knowledge of how Canton works. I have been following this closely since it became news last summer. Whoever made the decision to maintain the charges, the case was tried by an Assistant City Prosecutor (http://www.cantonrep.com/news/crime/x76455408/Citizen-in-Harless-video-gets-his-day-in-court). Presumably, the City Prosecutor had something important to do that day. :rolleyes:

Anyway, it looks to me like the independence a DA would provide was needed here.
 
Seems they have had a problem with 'defective' cameras when they are patrolling.
Click to expand...

My favorite is when there are multiple cars on the scene and all of the cameras happened to be not working. Other officer tactics I enjoy include turning their radio up so load nothing can be heard and walking a suspect to an area that just happens to be out of the cameras view. Unfortunately there are some pretty shady LEOs out there. Its sad because they not only are out violating peoples constitutional right, but they give good cops a bad name. The sad thing is prosecutors, judges, other cops, and defense attorneys all know who they are. How they manage to keep their jobs is beyond me. Good unions or something I suppose (kind of like bad public school teachers).
 
This has closed, except for the paying of the lawyers and further discussion probably belongs in the Legal forum.

Justice was at least partly served.
 
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