Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Kendrick Johnson Case - Nothing "Mysterious" About It


Kendrick Lamar Johnson

Catch Phrase: "These parents sent their son to school with a book bag and he was returned to them in a body bag," Benjamin Crump

Timeline and results of a four month investigation (Some excerpts and other information taken from here)

Thursday, Jan. 10

Following the Christmas break, school resumed on Jan. 9. On Jan. 10, Johnson disappeared from video surveillance at approximately 1:09 p.m. after he entered Lowndes High School’s old gymnasium, according to reports. Footage from the school’s motion-controlled camera depicted another student going into the gym ahead of Johnson, but he went in another direction in the gym and authorities confirmed that the student headed straight to the next class.

“He comes down the hallway, and essentially he enters the gym. He’s following another kid,” said Jones. “The first kid comes in and goes to the left. Kendrick goes in and off to the right towards the corner where the mats are. You don’t see anyone trailing him or someone he’s having a dispute with,” adding that allegations he had been in a confrontation that day or the day before were false.

Shortly after, other students could be observed entering the gym for class and you could see kids playing basketball later on another camera, according to Jones.

“We can only assume that he had gone down into the mat by that time,”  said Sheriff Prine.

Later, the color guard and basketball teams held evening and night practices that Thursday inside the gym, stated Prine. And that evening, Johnson’s family filed a missing person’s report.

Friday,  Jan. 11

Two students entered the building for gym class at around 10 a.m., noticed sock-covered feet just below the top of one of many gym mats that had been rolled and stacked against the wall behind the bleachers during the Christmas break

The students may have been walking on top of the roughly 700-pound, 7-feet-tall mats to retrieve school supplies and personal items, as interviews revealed that students commonly used the rolled-up mats to avoid locker fees, stated Edwards.

Three kids that knew K.J. said they kept their shoes under the mats because they didn’t have a locker

The mats are usually on their sides. The kids would normally just lean in, pick the shoes out and change.

During Christmas break, all of the mats had been moved and stored vertically. So a mat that may have rested on top of a horizontal stack was now at the back of the bunch after they were turned vertically.

There were bleachers right there beside the mats and they climb up on top of them - there were always soft drinks and candy where you could tell the students sat.

According to the Sheriff, the gym class’ coach frantically began overturning the mats to reach Johnson’s body after being alerted by the two girls who had been walking on top of the stack.

Law-enforcement and medical personnel were dispatched at about 10:30 a.m., and school was locked down at approximately 11 a.m. Shortly after, the LCSO requested backup and additional technicians from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

When the Coach flipped the mats over, a shoe and some of Kendrick’s books slid off the top of the mat.

It is not known if he retrieved one shoe and went for the second, but the one shoe and his books all landed in the same area - there are crime scene photographs. The sheriff says nothing was touched.

By law, someone from the sheriff’s office should have contacted Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson when they learned of Johnson’s body so that a declaration of death could be made, and Prine acknowledged that they should have done so. However, fearing a leak to the media and understanding that there was little the coroner could do until investigators secured all of the evidence and reached Johnson’s body, Prine waited to call Watson.

“It’s been kind of an understanding with all of the coroners from the surrounding counties,” said Prine. “Rather than sitting there in the parking lot waiting for us to finish, you just call them when you get to the body. And I swear to you— no law-enforcement officer touched that body until the coroner got there and examined it.”

All of the students who were seen on camera in the gym Thursday and Friday were interviewed at the school that day, while hundreds of students were interviewed over the days that followed, according to Prine, who said interviews were conducted in homes with parents present. But after roughly four months investigating, with the autopsy in hand to show that the death was accidental, authorities could reach no other determination of death than a freak accident that was born from a “perfect storm.”

“It appears that he and a friend, who we interviewed and who confirmed this, would frequently trade shoes. They and other students kept their shoes under the mats in the gym and would change when they went to practice, so their nice shoes would stay nice for class. They couldn’t afford a locker,” said Prine. “It appears that since the mats were stacked up on end and had been moved and stored that way over the holiday break, his shoes weren’t where he left them, so he had to climb up on the mats. The one he fell into was in the middle of the stack, and he couldn’t get to it any other way than from the top ‘cause they’re so heavy he couldn’t move them.”

The shoes he was wearing were in the mat with him, and the tennis shoes that he’s wearing in the basketball photo are the ones we found by the mat.

Even after Johnson fell in, if he had tried to rock the mat over to get out, it was pinned in the stack, stated Prine. If it had been in the front of the stack, maybe he could have tilted it over, but it weighed too much.

(Pay attention - the above is KEY - he could not turn the matt over because it was in the middle of a group of heavy matts.  If someone had murdered him and stuffed him into the matt, there would be blood in more places than just inside the matt - that aside from the fact there wasn't time between his entering the gym and the other kids coming in)

Edwards said the investigation was extremely thorough as they knew there would be questions.

“We found bloody Kleenex in one of the bathrooms and traced them to one of the flag girls who got hurt during practice, but we have them tested to make sure and it was female DNA,” she said.

“Our investigators spent hours at the scene processing evidence.”

“Every fingernail in that gym was collected,” said Prine.

According to Edwards, the investigation at the scene took so long because they wanted to ensure that nothing was overlooked. She said the school allowed the mother and relatives to have a room in the board of education building while the scene was processed.

Prine, talked to the family that day and told them that there was no evidence of foul play, but that he couldn’t say that for sure until the autopsy came back. He said the family was informed early in the week that the GBI was going to release it by Wednesday or Thursday.

“I have 100 percent confidence in our CID [Criminal Investigations Division] unit and their investigative abilities, as well the abilities of the GBI,” Prine said. “They all worked countless scenes. It’s a sad thing that the family is dissatisfied and it’s a sad thing their child had to go that way.”

Prine, Edwards and Jones said the number of man hours the department has devoted to this case are “too many to count” but they did everything they could to ensure that everything was processed correctly.

Edwards said, “We’re glad the case is closed now, because now we can talk and answer some of these wild rumors.”

The rumors have included allegations of involvement by Prine’s family members, but the sheriff has no sons or grandsons and he doesn’t have a nephew at the high school either.

“You wouldn’t believe the things that have been said about me and my family, and none of it is true,” Prine said. “We did everything we knew to do, and this is a tragic accident, but that’s all it was — an accident.”

An example of what is being said about this Sheriff.  Any bets on how long before his resignation is demanded by this Scheme Team?
"I have been in that town, I have heard what the officials are trying to cover up!...What the media does not know is KJ had a crush on the sheriffs daughter. the sheriff's son and his cousin did not approve because KJ was black. They say the son killed KJ because of that. What is so weird is the son and the girl was shipped out of town and enrolled in another school. The gym floor was also recovered after the fact it was a crime scene. KJ had teeth missing when he was found. There is a lot the mainstream does not know. This was no accident, it was a murder and a cover up because the sheriffs family was involved... I know many will say I am wrong but I know there is much more to this story that will come out"
The sheriff does not have a son and there were no teeth missing when he was found. 

__________________________________
Kendrick Johnson - Found dead in a gym matt - Excellent article here - slightly slanted, but for the most part factual - not crazy about the "lynching" reference in Part II.
Excerpt: Police dispatch allegedly told Kendrick's mother, "It must have been about 12:31 when, she remembers, the dispatcher told her Kendrick was probably "just out with some fast-tailed girl."
(The 911 call has not been released, so we shall see if this is dramatic rhetoric or true.  I find it hard to swallow)
Pieplow sprinted across the room. When he pushed the mats onto their sides, a black male's body from the waist up tumbled out of one of them, along with blood and dreadlocks and vomit. Pieplow backed away. Another coach told the students to leave the gym. Someone — several people — called 911.
<snip>The mats were near a wall, but still easily within view and earshot of center court. For his grieving parents, it's hard to believe that none of the other people using the gym that day would have heard him.
(The mats were behind a set of bleachers.  Conveniently, the photos being shown on the news lately show the athletic mats standing alone with no sign of the bleachers.)

Kendrick Johnson Crime Scene Photo
If Kendrick was reaching into the mat when he fell, then how, the Johnsons ask, did a pair of shoes end up falling in after him?
(I'm wondering why a murderer would throw his shoes inside the mat after him?) 
<snip>He noted some scratches on Kendrick's hands and discoloration in his face. He even checked the fingernails. They looked like they'd been clipped. This was strange, Kenneth thought. Kendrick always kept his nails long.
(had they not clipped his nails, this would have been even more proof of a shoddy investigation)
<snip>Somewhere between Macon and Valdosta, Kendrick's clothes had disappeared. The Johnsons believe these items may have contained evidence indicating a physical struggle, giving weight to their suspicion that Kendrick's death was no accident.
<snip>...when the Johnsons looked at Kendrick's body, they believed they saw more than just superficial abrasions. A photo taken after the autopsy showed that their once-handsome boy was now barely recognizable.
(This picture looks very odd to me - why isn't it in color? Why the tint when a cell phone can take a much better picture?) 
Autopsy Picture distributed by family
His skin was darker, his lips were swollen, and his head appeared misshapen like a balloon about to burst. The Johnsons posted the photo on Facebook and printed it to paste on signs. "Look," they would tell friends and strangers. "Look what someone did to our son.
NOTE: The case files have a different post-mortem photo than the one above...the family refuses to inform Valdosta Times where they obtained the photo above.  When the mat was rolled over by the coach there was blood and vomit around Kendrick's head.  These bodily fluids are considered biohazards and his clothes would have been destroyed or kept in a biohazard container in the case of an investigation.  Coroners are not obligated to return these clothes to the family.
Jackie has the summer off from her job as a school bus driver, and Kenneth hasn't taken any truck-driving routes since Kendrick died.
 "You see black people look straight ahead," says Kyra Jordan, a family friend and the mother of Kendrick's former teammate Tra Durden. "They don't want nothing to do with it. It's not all about race, but that gets to me. Or they just say something like, 'I don't want to get caught up with this.'
 Kendrick Lamar Johnson Found Dead In Wrestling Mat  But Authorities Said “No Foul Play” Article by "Black Central" [with video] A lot of spin going on here by CNN, replete with a rap song for Kenrick.

The Scheme Team for Kendrick Johnson's Family
Benjamin Crump, Parents of Kendrick Johnson & CB King
Benjamin Crump to represent the family of Kendrick Johnson (October 2013 - 10 months after Kendrick's death)
The teenager's family announced Thursday that the Florida lawyer who helped push for a criminal prosecution in the shooting of Trayvon Martin has joined efforts to reopen an investigation into Johnson's death.
School officials found Johnson's body in the gym after his parents reported him missing the night before. He was stuck upside down in the middle of a wrestling mat that had been rolled up and propped upright behind bleachers.
"When you think about it logically, it seems to be some kind of conspiracy to conceal the truth about what happened to Kendrick and who did it to him," Crump said.
Team Member: CB King - Attorney for Kendrick Johnson's parents.
Albany attorney Chevene B. King Jr. was recently ordered to pay Early County $90,000 in attorney’s fees bringing an end to litigation stemming from a 2004 lawsuit filed by King on behalf of the family of an inmate who committed suicide in the Early County Jail.
On March 30, 2012, U.S. District Judge Louis Sands signed an order instructing the plaintiff's counsel — Chevene B. King Jr. — to pay defendants $94,5415.81 in attorney’s fees.
The court documents note that King never presented the court any facts supporting the plaintiffs’ allegations.
In other words, CB King made it all up.  All he was ordered to pay were attorney's fees - nothing to the State of Florida for their time and money.

Team member Reverend Al Sharpton:
Al Sharpton at town meeting for Kendrick Johnson
 Reverend Al Sharpton :"I'm going to start this off with five hundred dollars cash."
On May 8, the National Action Network (NAN) made a formal request for all public records that pertain to the Kendrick Johnson investigation be released by invoking the Georgia Open Records Act.
On May 10, Warren Turner, a lawyer representing Lowndes Co. Schools said the school system is unable to release various records--including videotapes-- due to confidentiality of minors.
Reverend Al Sharpton said "we're going to rally together. We're going to get answers together. We want Valdosta to know, no justice no peace. no justice no peace."

Honorable Mention (Scheme Team): Harold Copus, an FBI agent turned private investigator, told CNN, "I don't believe this was an accident. I think this young man met with foul play."

(See rip-off report for Harold Copus.  Harold Copus appears on many TV programs and assists Dr. Phil in his investigations.  You decide)

Another Case by Team Members: Medical Examiner William R. Anderson and Benjamin Crump - James Lee Griffin
Gina Slone, left, and her lawyer, Benjamin Crump, talk Friday in Bartow about the death of Slone's son, James Griffin, as Crump holds photographs from an autopsy performed on Griffin.  MICHAEL WILSON/The Ledger

Two medical examiners autopsied Griffin. Both board-licensed doctors, they reached very different conclusions.
Polk County Associate Medical Examiner Vera Volnikh noted blunt trauma to Griffin's wrists, ankles and skin. He had been shocked up to eight times, she wrote. But his injuries weren't severe enough to explain his death, she wrote.  
Scott Wilder of the Polk County Sheriff's Office said, "Our policy is that when we've been sued, we can't comment on the details other than to say that there have been four separate investigations conducted, and none of those investigations found any wrongdoing on the part of our employees." He said the Sheriff's Office was notified of the intent to sue in May.
Anderson's report gave the cause of death as "acute respiratory decompensation and pulmonary edema complicating blunt force trauma, positional restraint, and exposure to electric restrain device."
Dr. Stephen Nelson, Polk's chief medical examiner, after looking over the copy of Anderson's report, said he had issues with numerous items. (See the rest of this story for details - makes one wonder if the body was exhumed at all)
True to form, Crump files a lawsuit in the Griffin case - Slone v. The Sheriff of Polk County
The Sheriff's office settled for $75,000.  I love the wording in the OS short and sweet article:
The Polk County Sheriff's Office will pay $75,000 as part of a settlement with a woman who said county jail guards caused her son's death, according to The (Lakeland) Ledger.
James Lee Griffin, 21, died in 2006 as deputies tried to take him for a mental evaluation. His mother, Gina Slone, filed a federal lawsuit seeking damages in 2009.
In summary, James Lee Griffin weighed almost 300lbs and was throwing things, fighting with inmates in population and breaking glass when put into his cell - all this in addition to kicking and screaming while deputies tried to restrain him.  The guards had to use electric shields to restrain Griffin. No charges were brought against the guards.

All you lovers of Crump and his determined fight for justice must not pay taxes.

The investigation found that Anderson took calls on his personal cell phone at work and received 10-minute visits by an attorney and the widow of a man Anderson examined in a private case. He was faulted for not taking adequate measures to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest and cited for violating county rules on outside employment.
And remember this from Dr. Anderson:
 Zimmerman's face and head were bloodied by the encounter. Martin died of internal bleeding from a gunshot wound to the heart. Speaking to the Orlando Sentinel, forensic specialist Dr. William Anderson suggested that Martin likely survived for several minutes on the lawn where he lay, doubtless baffled and bewildered in the last moments of his life.
He also commented on the Martin Lee Anderson case - This is the bootcamp case handled by Benjamin Crump.  The mother did not inform the bootcamp that her son had sickle cell anemia.
William Anderson, an Orlando pathologist not related to the teenager and not affiliated with the case, said the presence of just a few sickled cells usually indicates a postmortem condition.
"When people die from [sickling], the blood vessels are just jammed with it," he said.
Scheme Team Members The Dream Defenders:

Emerging details on death of Kendrick Johnson confirm this is another gruesome murder of a youth of color
Addressing the above tweet: 
Basketball Star:  I'm sure he was and this was a horrific accident, to think about him trying to breathe inside the mat makes me sick.  He was a handsome young man as well.
Body was stuffed with newspaper: The state says it gave the organs to funeral home. The funeral home won't comment. No proof of what the Scheme team is saying.
Blood - There was only one area where OLD blood was found, other blood found belonged to Kendrick and blood on a kleenex.  All were tested.
DNA testing of a speck of blood on the gymnasium wall, 50 feet from where a Lowndes High School student’s body was discovered
More about the Dream Defenders:  More evidence ties Trayvon attorneys (Parks and Crump) to protest agitator. There are even ties to Obama.

As for the latest SHOCKING news:
There have been new developments in the Kendrick Johnson case, as of October 10. A former FBI agent is questioning if the teen's death was an accident, saying photos from the scene suggest foul play. CNN also learned Johnson's body was stuffed with newspaper before burial.
In my opinion and based on his past cases, the organ removal is Crump's witness 8 from the Trayvon Martin hustle.  It's the shocker that gets America interested when all else has failed.

CNN's Sunny Hostin is all over it too, just like she was in the Trayvon case. I haven't looked, but I'm sure Roland Martin and Matt Gutman are all over it too.
Police Reports
Leigh Touchton Comments on Ebony Story 
Kendrick Johnson Crime Scene Report
Kendrick Johnson - Racist Coverup?