The Conservative Cave
Current Events => Politics => Topic started by: SSG Snuggle Bunny on November 08, 2009, 06:55:56 AM
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Behold! DU's next cause celebre:
While a massive memorial service for slain Officer Timothy Brenton neared its finish at KeyArena on Friday afternoon, fellow officers with the Seattle Police Department shot a man they believe to be responsible for Brenton's death.
The shooting occurred in Tukwila around 3 p.m., shortly before the memorial service concluded.
The suspect, 41, was shot in the head and taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, according to Interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz. The man was upgraded from critical to serious condition, a hospital spokeswoman said this morning.
Sources say the man is Christopher John Monfort — a man who has lived in Alaska, California and Washington, compiling an enigmatic history, described by some as reserved, others as outgoing. Monfort's past includes employment as a security guard.
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Law-enforcement sources said Monfort also is suspected of the Oct. 22 bombing and arson of a Seattle maintenance yard, where three police cars and an RV used as a mobile precinct were damaged.
Before Monfort was identified, police found distinct evidence that leads them to believe the same person was involved in that crime and the Brenton shooting, sources said.
A note threatening to kill police officers was left at the bombing site, according to sources. One source described the note as containing a general threat against police officers.
News reports at the time said fliers were left at the maintenance yard referring to an anti-police-brutality rally and citing the case of a King County sheriff's deputy accused of assaulting a teenage girl in a SeaTac holding cell.
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Monfort received a bachelor's degree from the UW in March 2008, according to the university's degree-validation Web site. His major was in Law, Societies and Justice.
Last year, Monfort belonged to the McNair Scholars Program, part of the university's office of Minority Affairs and Diversity. The program aims to steep undergraduate students in sophisticated research, preparing them for graduate work.
Monfort provided this title for his project with the McNair program: "The Power of Citizenship Your Government Doesn't Want You to Know About: How to Change the Inequity of the Criminal Justice System Immediately, Through Active Citizen Nullification of Laws, As a Juror."
In an abstract of his project, Monfort said he planned to "illuminate and further" the scholarship of Paul Butler, a law professor at George Washington University. Butler is a proponent of jury nullification, a controversial principle whereby jurors feel free to disregard a judge's instructions and acquit a defendant no matter the strength of the evidence.
Butler has argued that such nullification may be particularly appropriate in cases where black defendants are charged with nonviolent crimes.
"It is the moral responsibility of black jurors to emancipate some guilty black outlaws," Butler wrote in a 1995 Yale Law Journal article, adding: "My goal is the subversion of American criminal justice, at least as it now exists."
In a McNair program newsletter, Monfort said he had previously been a student at Highline Community College, where he was "inspired" by Garry Wegner, who was the school's program coordinator for the Administration of Justice program.
Wegner said Friday that Monfort fared poorly the first time he attended the college. But he later returned to the Des Moines school and "caught fire academically."
"He did very, very well interacting with the other students in my class," said Wegner, who spent 20 years as the deputy director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, the organization that trains many of the state's law enforcement officers.
"He always seemed to be a natural leader, and people would gravitate to him. He put in a lot of work and did well academically. He said it was because he finally found something that interested him — the field of criminal justice."
"Mature, stable"
Wegner, who described Monfort as "a mature, stable individual," said he was shocked to hear that his former student is the suspect in Brenton's slaying.
"You've shaken me to my toes," he told a Times reporter. "He's one of those people you thought would make a difference, a positive, constructive difference."
Monfort planned eventually to attend law school, Wegner said.
"I think he thought it was a position for anyone who wanted to be a catalyst for change," Wegner said.
During his last year at Highline, Monfort became involved in student government and was elected vice president of legislation, Wegner said.
The Oct. 23, 2003, edition of a Highline publication, The Thunderword, describes how Monfort ran for the school's student senate and spoke at a candidates' forum.
"Too often, too many of us walk around with our head in the clouds," Monfort said at the forum, according to the article.
The article said Monfort "believes he is unique, because he is upset about our current state of government and actually wants to do something about it. ... The student body has been cheated and lied to by the Bush Administration, said Monfort. He plans on putting together a petition to bring our soldiers home."
The article quoted Monfort saying: "Our freedom is under attack."
After Monfort left Highline, he stayed in touch with Wegner. The two men last spoke five or six months ago. At the time, Monfort was "driving truck" and volunteering at the Youth Services Center, teaching incarcerated youth about the criminal justice system.
"He was volunteering his Fridays down at juvy hall, trying to get kids on the straight and narrow," Wegner said. "He wanted to try and get them out of the system before they became adults."
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Vicki Malone is a business partner of Monfort's mother, Suzan, who operates a Curves fitness center in Bethel, Alaska. "I know Chris very well and this just doesn't sound like him," Malone said. "They need to sort this out and figure out if he had anything to do with it. Chris is half black. And I don't know what happened here. But it sounds like people were running all over the place. I just really wonder if this was not a huge mistake.
"You don't see people that commit real violent crimes that have never been caught for anything."
She said Monfort was always worried about being targeted because of his race. "He was careful, he believed it was possible, so if he turned and ran that was easily what it was."
She said as a longtime family friend she was mystified that Monfort could be considered a suspect.
"I don't get this. People that run around and kill cops have tons and tons of other stuff in their record, and Chris had no gang stuff, I know that."
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010221236_suspect07m.html
Where ese do we hear these "kill whitey" tirades?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/MrSnuggleBunny/wright-out.jpg)
Maybe when he recovers Obama can appoint hom police czar.