3/16/2006 Press Release from Dennis Kyne
NYPD TOP COPS AND LAWYERS ORDERED RANK AND FILE OFFICERS TO COMMIT PERJURY IN REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION PROSECUTIONS, LAWSUIT ALLEGES; DESERT STORM VETERAN MOUNTS CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE TO DEFENSE DEPARTMENT RULE THAT PROHIBITED HIM FROM WEARING ARMY UNIFORM DURING HIS 2004 RNC JURY TRIAL
March 16, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Gideon Oliver Lewis B. Oliver, Jr., Esq.
(646) 602-9242 (518) 463-7962
Dennis Kyne, Dustin Langley, and Charles Duncan were arrested separately at the New York Public Library at the height of the RNC on August 31, 2004 and charged with violating the law based on statements sworn to by NYPD Officer Matthew Wohl, who alleged he had seen each engage in criminal activity. Late yesterday afternoon, their attorneys filed Kyne, et al. v. Wolfowitz, et al., a Federal Civil Rights lawsuit alleging that NYPD top cops and lawyers ordered rank and file officers to commit perjury in their RNC prosecutions, and others. According to the suit, former Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters Stephen L. Hammerman – and possibly other top cops - were personally involved in trumping up charges against Mr. Kyne. The suit also challenges a Department of Defense Directive based on which Mr. Kyne was prohibited from wearing his United States Army uniform during his criminal trial.
Mr. Kyne was the first of the 1,806 people arrested in NYC during the RNC to take his criminal case to a jury. His trial lasted 3 days and ended abruptly on the morning of December 16, 2004 when the District Attorney’s Office moved to dismiss the charges against him, citing inability to prove the case. The dismissal received national attention on April 12, 2005, in Jim Dwyer’s New York Times article entitled "Videos Challenge Hundreds of Convention Arrests".
The suit presents what happened to Mr. Kyne, Mr. Langley, and Mr. Duncan as a microcosm of a widespread, de facto policy implemented by the NYPD during the RNC, in which 5 was the "magic number" of arrestees each "arresting officer" was assigned to "process", where "processing" included making false sworn statements, in writing and orally, maliciously supporting criminal prosecutions top cops knew were baseless at their outset and months later.
In response to Mr. Dwyer’s article, on April 25, 2005, Hon. John Conyers, Jr. and 5 other members of the House Judiciary Committee wrote Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and requested "immediate federal scrutiny by the Justice Department" of "credible and troubling reports of police misconduct and perjury . . . as criminal deprivations of rights under color of law and civil violations of the police pattern and practice laws."
On June 28, 2005, the Justice Department responded and indicated that its Civil Rights Division’s Criminal and Special Litigation Sections would "examine your information, along with any other relevant information they receive, to determine whether action is warranted under the Section’s statutory authority.
"Mr. Kyne, Mr. Langley, and Mr. Duncan are represented by Lewis and Gideon Oliver of Oliver & Oliver, who also represented Mr. Kyne at his criminal trial.
A more detailed press release, including quotations from sworn documents and testimony, and a copy of the Complaint, can be found here:
Longer, More Detailed Press Release
Dennis Kyne Home Page
Dennis Kyne Charges Dismissed
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