DOJ Prosecuted Texas Sheriff in 1983 For Waterboarding Prisoners

[steven johnson]

It appears John Yoo failed to cite U.S v Parker, as well as a half-dozen other precedent setting cases that dealt with torture. The conclusion that “professional standards” were violated by former Office of Legal Counsel is inescapable. Didn't these guys know about Lexis/Nexis?

DOJ Prosecuted Texas Sheriff in 1983 For Waterboarding Prisoners
Written by Jason Leopold   
Tuesday, 21 April 2009 21:47
By Jason Leopold

In 1983, the Justice Department prosecuted a Texas sheriff and three of his deputies for waterboarding prisoners to get them to confess to crimes.

The deputies were sentenced to four years in prison and Parker pleaded guilty to extortion and federal civil rights violations and received a 10-year sentence. Parker admitted that he had operated a “marijuana trap” on U.S. Highway 59, arrested suspects, and, according to court documents, subjected “prisoners to a suffocating water torture ordeal in order to coerce confessions.

“This generally included the placement of a towel over the nose and mouth of the prisoner and the pouring of water in the towel until the prisoner began to move, jerk, or otherwise indicate that he was suffocating and/or drowning,” the complaint said, which referred to the technique as “water torture.”

Yet nowhere in the four “torture” memos released by the Justice Department last week that authorized the CIA to waterboard detainees do the attorneys who drafted the legal opinions mention the federal case U.S. v Parker et al, in which San Jacinto County Sheriff James Parker and three deputies-- Carl Lee, Floyd Allen Baker and John Glover—were found guilty of torturing at least six prisoners between 1976 and 1980 in a rural part of the state 60 miles outside of Houston.



DOJ Prosecuted Texas Sheriff in 1983 For Waterboarding Prisoners

[hvn_nbr_2]

1. Wow!. 1983. That was during Saint Ronnie's admin too.

K&R.

[Laelth]

2. Good work, Professor. k&r n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[Ikonoklast]

3. Uh-oh. Either the sherriff and deputies get exonerated for not performing torture,

or BushCo and all those enabling get prosecuted for the crime.

I'm sure the DoJ knows about this one.


Another brick in the wall.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. Huge find. The Reagan Justice Department prosecuted and convicted for waterboarding!

This is going to suck the wind right out of the sails of the right wing apologists. The AG would have been William French Smith.

This is only 11 years before Bush became Governor of Texas himself.

The details of the story are quite heinous. A highway "marijuana trap" followed by waterboarding to coerce confessions?

[valerief]

5. K&R

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. We also hung general Yamashita for it

and shot US troops during the Spanish American War for it

So when they say no case law, yeah sure... whatever

So when will the trial start?

[Bluenorthwest]

17. Yes indeed! We have excecuted people for it

including our own people. And they pretend there is no history, no precedent.

[wryter2000]

7. K&R

Nice find.

[blaze]

8. Oh!!

Sent a link to Rachel! :patriot:

[DebbieCDC]

9. It doesn't surprise me

Yoo couldn't find his way around Lexis with a flashlight and both hands. How Berkley ever gave this POS tenure is beyond me. I wonder if he gets to keep his tenure after he's convicted of multiple felonies?

[Purveyor]

10. Thank you for posting... K&R eom

[berni_mccoy]

11. Proud to K&R This.

[Mist]

12. Another kick and rec'd. This is a great find. nt

[stillcool]

13. huh...I wonder where the sheriff..

learned his techniques?

[democracy1st]

14. K & R

[pleah]

15. K&R

[ejpoeta]

16. but that was before 9/11... because we all know that after 9/11

laws were no longer good enough for our leaders. they had to make up their own. geesh.

btw... there may have been memos against torture that mentioned this stuff... i tend to think if the administration tried to destroy all copies of that one guy's memo, that it's possible there may have been others.

[Bluenorthwest]

18. The jury did not buy the 'following orders' crap either.

One of the defendants, deputy Floyd Allen Baker, said during the trial that he thought torture to be an immoral act but he was unaware that it was illegal.

His attorneys cited the “Nuremberg defense,” that Baker was acting on orders from his superiors when he subjected prisoners to waterboarding. That line of defense has come up in the current debate about whether CIA interrogators should be prosecuted for their roles in the torture of detainees. President Obama, CIA Director Leon Panetta and Attorney General Eric Holder have ruled out prosecuting CIA interogators who acted on Justice Department legal advice where torturous tactics were used.

But the jury wasn't persuaded in Baker's case. He was convicted on three counts of civil rights and constitutional violations related to his role in waterboarding prisoners.

The JURY, ie the People, did not agree that a note from the Home Office is a substitute for personal accountability. I'm with that jury.

[Orsino]

19. It's Jason Leopold. I feel a tiny need to fact-check.

But an awesome catch for him if this is so...and shame on me for never having known this, or having forgotten the case.

edit: here it is from Salon... http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/misc/2007/11/04/waterboarding_schumer/
....and from NPR... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15886834

[lonestarnot]

20. And they would have done it here to Americans on a regular basis if not stopped, if we don't

also find out about that in the near future, that it did happen here.

[Soylent Brice]

21. anyone else getting goosebumps at the thought of

the house of cards finally collapsing??

[indimuse]

22. Huge KNR!

:kick:!!!

[indimuse]

23. Huge KNR!

:kick:!!!

[indimuse]

24. Huge KNR!

:kick:!!!

[winyanstaz]

25. so let me put this in order....

1. Cheney, Bush, Rummy, Rice and co. authorize torture...and somehow there is an argument if they should be prosecuted?
2. In the meantime...DOJ has prosecuted a Texas Sheriff and his crew for water boarding and other forms of torture on prisoners.
3. American courts hung a japanese man for water boarding after WW2.
The Department of Justice sent the low ranking soldiers to prison (one a pregnant mom) where they are still rotting in prison to this day.
4. The DOJ has tried to destroy the commander at the base as well and demoted her for having trouble following these evil-doers orders and never once did Bush and co. speak up for any them. In fact they were all saying it was just a few bad apples..knowing damned well it was themselves that were rotten.
The message that seems to be going out to the world is that our DOJ thinks its ok to commit terrible crimes if your a rich American world leader, and its ok to blame it on the little guys under Bush's authority for obeying orders and let them rot in prison for their leader's crimes.
Well thats just wrong and thats what a lot of DUers and many others have been trying to tell the world about for years now..and we have been called conspiracy theorists and traitors and tin-foil hat wearers and all kinds of names for doing so.
WE WERE RIGHT ABOUT THIS AND WE ARE RIGHT ABOUT THE INSIDE JOB ON 9-11!
This is a crime family that has been running our nation. Its past time to clean house.
(edited for speeeling) :P

[NewJeffCT]

26. Reagan is a liberal compared to modern day Republican hate mongers

so, I'm not sure citing Reagan will help.

:sarcasm:

[Seldona]

27. Even more precedent ignored?

Ruh oh! You can bet these people are absolutely terrified of this getting in front of a judge.

[barbtries]

28. from may/june 2008:

In 1983, media reports on the trial of a Texas sheriff who had used a technique remarkably similar to today’s “waterboarding” also used the term “water torture” (UPI, 8/31/83, 9/1/83, 9/7/83). One article published in the New York Times (9/2/83) about the case began, “Two convicted burglars testified today that they had watched in fear as a former East Texas sheriff and his deputies used a water torture.” In another New York Times article (9/1/83), the news that “another former deputy testified that they had handcuffed prisoners to chairs, placed towels over their faces and poured water on the cloth until the prisoners gave what the officers considered confessions” was summarized with the headline: “Ex-Deputy Tells Jury of Jail Water Torture.”

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3404

[barbtries]

29. there was a book written about the case

http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Highway-59-Steve-Sellers/product-reviews/093201206X/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Terror on Highway 59

[Vinca]

30. I hope Olbermann sees this. Great catch!

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. K&R

[JonLP24]

32. Well vacate their sentences unless they're willing to hold those accountable today

[bertman]

33. And in Texas, no less. I love the irony of a Texas jury having set the precedent for

this dispensation of justice. Don't you know that former Preznit Bush will love this news. Oh yeah, I forgot. He doesn't read.

[santamargarita]

34. Wasn't Reagan occupying our White House then?

:think:

[Union Yes]

35. We have a precedent!

[WheelWalker]

36. This needs a kick for traction n/t

:kick:

[WheelWalker]

37. You mean KICK !!

:dem: