Tuesday, July 16, 2019
The June 26 settlement with Jason Ploof also says the city will rewrite its trespass ordinance by year’s end, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, which represented Ploof along with attorney Justin Barnard of Dinse in Burlington.
“Our parks, especially central parks like City Hall Park, are something that belongs to everybody,” ACLU of Vermont staff attorney Jay Diaz told Seven Days. “We’re glad that the city going forward is going to take that more seriously than they have in the past, applying due process of law whenever they attempt to revoke people’s rights.”
In 2015, Burlington police ticketed and trespassed Ploof twice for having an open container in the park, the second time for 90 days. Police then arrested Ploof when they saw him conversing with friends near the fountain during that period, according to court documents.
With the ACLU of Vermont’s backing, Ploof contended that the banishment “unlawfully restricted [his] freedom to receive information and enter a traditional public forum, in violation of the First Amendment.” The suit survived the city’s attempts to dismiss it.
Tags: Burlington , litigation , lawsuit , City Hall Park , American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont , Jay Diaz , no-trespass order , ordinance , Eileen Blackwood , Jason Ploof , Web Only , Image
Monday, July 15, 2019
The State of Vermont will require nonprofits that raise funds with "break-open" tickets to routinely report their earnings — a new regulation meant to help law enforcement officials spot potential theft.
Last year, Seven Days reported in Give and Take, a series on Vermont nonprofits, about the lack of oversight and accountability in the sales of break-open tickets. Nonprofit organizations in Vermont purchased 39.3 million tickets wholesale the year before the series ran; many were sold to patrons of local bars, which are supposed to give profits to the nonprofits.
Despite the size of this legal gaming industry, nobody was checking to see how much money nonprofits were actually earning. Skyler Genest, who heads the enforcement office of the Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery, said the tickets were sold in "the perfect storm environment for fraud."
Nonprofits purchase tickets by the boxful, and each has a set amount of winners. While there are many versions of games, people typically pay $1 or $2 per ticket to peel back a series of tabs to see if they've won up to $100 or so.
Tags: break-open tickets , Skyler Genest , Spanked Puppy , Department of Liquor and Lottery , fraud , gambling , Vermont , skimming , nonprofits , Give and Take , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
He stayed calm as Douglas Kilburn, a 54-year-old stroke victim, aired his frustrations with University of Vermont Medical Center security guards who wouldn't let him visit his wife in the emergency room. Campbell's bodycam footage of their March 11 encounter shows that the Burlington cop offered a solution: He'd escort Kilburn through the hospital.
The plan worked, and when Kilburn got to his wife's bedside, he extended his hand to shake Campbell's.
Campbell 's demeanor was much different when he encountered Kilburn again seven minutes later. Kilburn was inside his Buick SUV in the hospital's ambulance bay, arguing again with a security guard.
Campbell yelled, "Shut the fuck up and leave! Go! They don't want you here!"
Kilburn had been inching his car away from the hospital entrance. But he stopped and opened the door, triggering a violent altercation with the officer that left Kilburn with a broken jaw and fractured orbit bone.
He died three days later. Chief state medical examiner Steven Shapiro classified his death as a homicide and noted blunt force trauma as one of several factors that killed him, along with obesity, hypertension and diabetes. City leaders have questioned the veracity of the homicide finding.
Bodycam video released Wednesday seemed to confirm Campbell's claim in previously reported arrest records that Kilburn took a swing as the officer tried to physically control him. It also showed how quickly the situation escalated once Campbell lost patience.
Tags: Burlington police , Douglas Kilburn , Cory Campbell , Rich Cassidy , University of Vermont Medical Center , Web Only , Image , Video
Monday, July 1, 2019
Judge Helen Toor decided that the video relates to an arrest and cannot be withheld even if investigators believe it might interfere with their work.
The decision is a win for the Burlington Police Officers' Association, which sued on behalf of Officer Cory Campbell. Unless the city appeals to the Vermont Supreme Court, the footage will soon become public and may shed new light on the controversial case.
Tags: body camera , public records , Douglas Kilburn , Cory Campbell , Vermont State Police , Burlington Police , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Federal prosecutors charged Veronica Lewis with firearms violations Tuesday, a week after Chittenden County State's Attorney Sarah George dropped attempted murder charges over doubts the state could prove Lewis was sane when she shot a firearms instructor in 2015.
Lewis was charged with illegally possessing a gun after being adjudicated as mentally ill, and possessing a stolen weapon. She appeared Wednesday in federal court in Burlington, where Magistrate Judge John Conroy delayed until Monday a hearing on whether Lewis should be imprisoned before trial.
George faced swift criticism in political quarters for her decision last week to drop murder and attempted murder charges in three high-profile cases, including Lewis’. Gov. Phil Scott said he was "at a loss as to the logic" of George's actions, and asked Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan to independently review the case files.
Tags: Veronica Lewis , Christina Nolan , Sarah George , firearms , attempted murder , insanity defense , Phil Scott , Darryl Montague , Web Only , Image
Monday, June 10, 2019
The law enforcement agency reviewed information compiled last October by the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets but “determined there was no appropriate criminal investigation or charges based on the facts of the case,” said Adam Silverman, a state police spokesperson.
Instead, VSP referred the matter to the Vermont Crime Information Center — which directly oversees the medical marijuana registry — for regulatory review, Silverman said. That process can include “sending a notice of noncompliance or a notice of violation, or suspending or terminating a dispensary’s certificate,” according to Silverman.
Tags: Cannabeat , Vermont , weed , pot , hemp , marijuana , cannabis , dispensary , Champlain Valley Dispensary , Shayne Lynn , Adam Silverman , Vermont State Police , Pete's Greens , Web Only , Image
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Gov. Phil Scott has asked Attorney General T.J. Donovan to review the decision to dismiss charges in three major cases involving insanity defenses, two of which involved gruesome murders in broad daylight in Burlington.
Scott said he was “at a loss as to the logic or strategy” behind the decision by Chittenden County State's Attorney Sarah George not to prosecute the defendants in the three cases, all of whom claimed they were insane at the time of their crimes.
“These cases are among the most violent crimes committed in Vermont in recent memory, and with their dismissal, there is no longer a possibility of supervision by the Department of Corrections or conditions of release to protect Vermonters,” Scott wrote in his letter.
Tags: Sarah George , Burlington , Phil Scott , TJ Donovan , cleaver , stabbing , insanity , Miro Weinberger , Brandon del Pozo , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Wayne Brunette was holding a long-handled shovel when former Burlington cop Ethan Thibault shot and killed the mentally disturbed man outside of his parents' Randy Lane home. Brunette's wife, Barbara, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit in 2015.
The court cleared Thibault and another responding officer, Brent Navari, of wrongdoing but maintained that the city “failed to reasonably accommodate Mr. Brunette’s mental disability,” according to a police department press release issued Tuesday. The case was headed for trial this fall, but the city agreed to the settlement during mediation in April "without an admission of liability," the release said.
Tags: Burlington Police Department , Wayne Brunette , Douglas Kilburn , Brandon del Pozo , T.J. Donovan , use of force , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
For more than two hours, councilors took turns asking del Pozo about issues surrounding the recently released footage, which captures officers knocking two black men unconscious in separate incidents last fall.
Those cases are the subject of two lawsuits recently filed in federal court, claiming excessive use of force. Since media reports broke about the Jérémie Meli and Mabior Jok cases, Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington has issued a list of demands, including that Burlington police fire the officers involved.
Inside a packed Burlington City Hall Auditorium on Monday, Councilor Ali Dieng (D/P-Ward 7) said the incidents are indicative of a problem with leadership. He told del Pozo it was embarrassing to learn about the Meli and Jok cases from the media eight months after the fact.
Tags: Burlington City Council , Burlington Police , Vermont , police brutality , excessive force , Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington , Brandon del Pozo , Web Only , Image
Thursday, May 9, 2019
More than 60 people gathered at the First Unitarian Universalist Society Meeting House on Thursday night to call for accountability and action from Burlington police and city councilors following recent allegations of police brutality.
Organized by Montpelier-based advocacy group Justice for All and Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington, the “emergency community meeting” came in response to the recent release of body camera footage showing Sgt. Jason Bellavance and Officer Joseph Corrow knocking two young black men unconscious in separate incidents last fall.
Tags: Burlington Police Department , Douglas Kilburn , police , Web Only , Image