tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post4026926111295907649..comments2023-10-09T11:28:14.030-05:00Comments on The Adventures of Johnny Northside: Amazing, Petty "Slap On The Wrist" Sentences For North Side CriminalsJohnny Northsidehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03694273579383113753noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-66588638676540013362013-11-11T10:36:06.670-06:002013-11-11T10:36:06.670-06:00Look up my more recent article about Judge William...Look up my more recent article about Judge William Koch, who gave an amazingly light sentence to some rather bad people. I think the pattern does hold true today, as well. <br /><br />Of more concern to me is that prison is not reforming people. I feel like we need prisoners doing more WORK. Work is good for the soul. Johnny Northside!https://www.blogger.com/profile/18182711866120550770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-26439481681434016382013-11-10T20:35:39.269-06:002013-11-10T20:35:39.269-06:00Hey, I'm just getting familiar with this blog....Hey, I'm just getting familiar with this blog. Are the "sentences" still as ludicrous today? I'm assuming you have examples, and I just haven't found them yet.Jean Marienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-35359046115250368312013-08-28T10:22:29.467-05:002013-08-28T10:22:29.467-05:002013024059 HARTFIELD, KENYATTA.ANTONIO 6/15/1974 1...2013024059 HARTFIELD, KENYATTA.ANTONIO 6/15/1974 165 GLENWOOD AVE N (SHELTER), MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55405 8/27/2013.22:39<br /><br />These are "damage to property" charges. Johnny Northside!https://www.blogger.com/profile/18182711866120550770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-53103138614287121222008-07-24T22:44:00.000-05:002008-07-24T22:44:00.000-05:00Don't lose heart. Go to those meetings. Decent peo...Don't lose heart. Go to those meetings. Decent people can take back the North Side from the thugs.<BR/><BR/>In light of gas prices, and the proximity of North to the downtown core, the area is too valuable to remain in this kind of shape. We will win sooner or later. It's only a question of how quickly.Johnny Northsidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03694273579383113753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-5084587958269145882008-07-24T20:54:00.000-05:002008-07-24T20:54:00.000-05:00This is quite disturbing to me, especially as a No...This is quite disturbing to me, especially as a North Minneapolis resident (I live on a beautiful block across from Lind Bohanan Park). I have lived in my house for nearly a year and in that time I have been mugged in the garage, had someone attempt to steal the cd player out of my car, watched people walk down the alley with a ladder and cut the copper ground wires of the utility pole and most recently had my house broken into while I was at work.<BR/>In each of these incidents (minus the cd player) I have immediately called the police which has left me with no trust in the officers who guard my neighborhood. <BR/>In all these situations I am at fault (minus the utility pole) for letting my own guard down, allowing these young thugs to take advantage. When I was mugged in the garage the young kid who waved a knife at me (I threw my purse at him as soon as I was done thinking, "you have got to be fucking kidding me"), took my purse and ran. He ran across the alley and jumped into a navy car with tinted windows (it looked like a chevy impala or something similar). I was actually on the phone with my boyfriend when it occured, and he quickly ran outside and across the alley to get a license plate number. I was on the phone with the 911 operated watching the kid sit in the car and go through my purse. I watched him drive down aldrich to 50th and take a right. At this time I am describing this on the phone, and they didn't want to hear any of it. The cops arrived and I explained the car had just left and turned down 50th. They just shrugged it off and asked what I had in the purse. All I wanted was to feel validated after such a shitty incident, maybe feel like the cops actually wanted to catch the dude.<BR/>Enough said (this is a sensitive subject right now), the same thing occured when our house was broken into. My boyfriend realized when he came home at 4:30 pm (the robbery occured around 10:45 am) and when I finally made it home (worst time to be stuck in rush hour) the officer on the phone told me the cops had done their job by securing our property. Our neighbor (who was home with her child) witnessed the young guys running through her front yard and called the cops. Thankfully the cops came quickly to speak with her (if I was her I would have been a little freaked out), but over the phone they made little if any attempt to make it seem like they even cared. Just another robbery, in the summer. We should have secured the window air conditioner (which is now screwed and nailed to the window frame). After I lost my temper with the officer he told me I could call 911 again, and request officers, but it would take awhile. The robbers had left there pop bottle by the window they entered through, and all I wanted was them to at least pretend like they cared to look for fingerprints on the bottle, the window ac, the stuff they ravaged through.<BR/>I love my neighborhood, I love my house, and I even understand that there will be crime and we should have taken the precautions we had discussed so many times before the incidents occured. But I find it really disturbing that the officers I feel are here to protect and serve as if we should expect this and that there is this attitude of we can't do anything about it. I know there are good cops out there, but maybe this whole system is corrupt.<BR/>My point, I appreciate your blog and idealism. There are fabulous people, parks, and homes in North Minneapolis, and I agree that it can be saved.<BR/>One last thing, when I reported the men climbing a ladder in my back yard to cut the copper ground wires, it took officers over 30 minutes to arrive. It is sad when people are not afraid to walk down an alley in broad daylight and climb the utility pole. Where is the control? So again thank you for taking it upon yourself. <BR/>I know that my boyfriend and I plan on attending our next community meeting and getting more involved in our neighborhood.nagemcheyennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12706866187583868936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-33406751996896461682008-06-29T01:31:00.000-05:002008-06-29T01:31:00.000-05:00I agree that until judges are elected and required...I agree that until judges are elected and required to live in the neighborhood nothing will change. The police do try but I have to say in the 90's when I lived in Kingfield and had some problems one officer said "well you live here". Wrong answer that doesn't mean a person deserves the bullshit. <BR/> So back to that neighborhood, you have to make their lives just as miserable as they do yours. I lived behind the house where the Mom and 10 year old were just killed. So that shows you how nothing has changed. The landlord is a slumlord and I moved in the end of 1996 an obviously the pig still owns rentals and he rents to people who are unable to keep section eight. Not that they deserve to be murdered but just a comment on the landlord.<BR/> I guess we have to do our own policing basically and stick together to keep our neighborhoods safe. But when you live in an area like that you do feel like why call 911 nothing changes. It is a bunch of crap.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-19010366604635907422008-06-22T10:21:00.000-05:002008-06-22T10:21:00.000-05:00It's a website that reports on Minneapolis. Here i...It's a website that reports on Minneapolis. Here is the URL. <BR/><BR/>http://www.mplsmirror.comJohnny Northsidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03694273579383113753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-84340264017086269492008-06-21T20:55:00.000-05:002008-06-21T20:55:00.000-05:00What is the "Minneapolis Mirror?"What is the "Minneapolis Mirror?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-65506920914073450742008-06-21T15:10:00.000-05:002008-06-21T15:10:00.000-05:00Here is the second comment which I'm bringing over...Here is the second comment which I'm bringing over here from the Minneapolis Mirror. <BR/>----------------------------------<BR/>To Johnny Northside<BR/><BR/>By: Barbara Lickness (Guest) <BR/><BR/>Great detective work. So, you are just now coming to the party. This stuff has been going on for years and not just on the northside. <BR/><BR/>While your south side comparison was Lowry Hill there are at least 4 south side neighborhoods that have been plagued by this situation for years. That is why activists in those neighborhoods started block clubs, CARE programs, stroll patrols, prostitution education, restorative justice and court watch programs. <BR/><BR/>Crime has been reduced in areas that have employed these programs. But as we all know, the criminal element just moves somewhere else.<BR/><BR/>Barbara<BR/>--------------------------------<BR/><BR/>To this I reply: Yes, I'm new to the party but I'm hoping to make some substantial contributions.<BR/><BR/>I refuse to be deterred by the "crime moves somewhere else" notion. I think sometimes crime doesn't move. Sometimes it is exterminated like a fire or a plague.Johnny Northsidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03694273579383113753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-40845346174774272352008-06-21T14:55:00.000-05:002008-06-21T14:55:00.000-05:00The Minneapolis Mirror took this blog post and (wi...The Minneapolis Mirror took this blog post and (with my permission) reproduced it verbatim.<BR/><BR/>(Including a few typos I have since then gone back and fixed)<BR/><BR/>So far, two individuals have left comments at the Minnesota Mirror. I am posting both of those comments here, since they are commenting on this exact content.<BR/><BR/>Here is the first one:<BR/>---------------------------------<BR/>Kingfield Neighborhood<BR/><BR/>By: Ann Berget (Guest )<BR/><BR/>I participated in the Kingfield CourtWatch effort this year and found the same situation. One 24- year-old offender with 79 prior arrests bargained down a kidnap/carjack/stabbing down to a robbery charge and got sent to a drug treatment program. Give me a break.<BR/><BR/>Ann<BR/>---------------------------------<BR/><BR/>To this I say: I once blew a tire and ended up in Kingfield, which I thought was a really cool neighborhood. I even jotted down some numbers from real estate signs, thinking "This would be a great place to live."<BR/><BR/>I'd love to know the name of this particular 24-year-old offender you are referencing.Johnny Northsidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03694273579383113753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-69666218173524812532008-06-16T22:38:00.000-05:002008-06-16T22:38:00.000-05:00Thank you, KD and Anonymous, for sharing your hear...Thank you, KD and Anonymous, for sharing your heartfelt stories. Please direct folks to this blog to read this blog post. I consider it some of the more important content I've put on this blog.Johnny Northsidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03694273579383113753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-86519293469708387122008-06-16T17:29:00.000-05:002008-06-16T17:29:00.000-05:00I've been fined $300 in my early days at a certain...I've been fined $300 in my early days at a certain MN State college. Underage drinking (Minor Consuption), plus 40 hours community service. I was one of 200 or so in a weekend. What a great sentance for a broke and already time constrained college student. Do you think it stops students from drinking? Ha! Part of the reason I had to drop a class that semester. My colleague who I was with at the time, underage drinking while driving (.02). No fine and 24 hours community service. The reason: he had a different judge. " A nice lady" as he put it. My judge was a grumpy old man that probably just caught his 16 year old daughter drinking the night before?? Of course I don't know that for sure, just speculating. Although his crime could be seen as more dangerous, severe, irresponsible, he received less discipline. It makes me mad to see people dealing and commiting nasty acts in alleys with only a slap on the wrist! How stupid of me! I should have been dealing crack that night!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-2489711036325578602008-06-16T09:24:00.000-05:002008-06-16T09:24:00.000-05:00My day in traffic court ended up costing me around...My day in traffic court ended up costing me around $1000 when you include the court fees. I guess I got off easy since I didn't have anything on my driving record - not a parking ticket, not a speeding ticket, NOTHING. That's history. I learned my lesson, but I do wonder if the above mentioned offenders are charged any court fees? I doubt it. I'm sure it would be seen as too much of a hardship for them. <BR/><BR/>In any case, this issue of judges and what they do or don't do has been around for years and to my knowledge no one has found a way to change anything. For one thing, these judges are appointed, not elected, so they are totally immune to public opinion. I guess that could be seen as both a positive and a negative, but for us it's definitely very frustrating. <BR/><BR/>Since judges certainly don't attend community meetings (attempts have been made to bring them to some) or god forbid live in our neighborhoods, they simply have no idea what impact all these "minor offenses" are having on a whole lot of other people. I'm sure, livability issues in Hawthorne or Central or Phillips aren't real high on their list of priorities. After all, isn't it the goal of all decent people to get out of these neighborhoods?<BR/><BR/>So how do you make them see the other side of the coin? We don't have access to them. If we picketed their homes in mass, I'm sure we would all be arrested. If we showed up in court in mass and made a scene, we would be kicked out and maybe arrested. We can't vote them out of office. All in all, they're pretty isolated. <BR/><BR/>For me, I would love to see a mandatory sentence of X number of hours of community service in the community in which the offense occurred. Lord knows, we could certainly use a 1000 more bodies picking up the trash or mowing lawns of abandoned building or painting over graffiti. What a nice bit of public humiliation for the offender too: one day doing business on the corner selling his stuff, a few weeks later on the same block wearing an orange vest, picking up the mess he and his customers created.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-6193750907632975282008-06-15T17:02:00.000-05:002008-06-15T17:02:00.000-05:00The pressing question has arisen in "back channel"...The pressing question has arisen in "back channel" communication whether this is purely a North Side phenomenon and whether a comparison could be done for "nicer" areas of the city or even (it was suggested) the neighborhoods where the judges live.<BR/><BR/>So I did a little more digging... and I emphasize it was ONLY a little...and here's what I found out. Apparently, this "slap on the wrist" aspect with crime in Minneapolis (especially drug crime) is not merely a North Side phenomenon.<BR/><BR/>Here's two examples in the same vein as the previous examples. My "back channel" commenter suggested doing the "Lowry Hill" neighborhood as an example. First of all, Lowry Hill has less than a dozen crimes listed on the City Attorney website, not MANY MANY MANY crimes like some other neighborhoods.<BR/><BR/>But, all the same, taking what crimes there are on Lowry Hill and pulling out some of them for examination, one sees the same "slap on the wrist" phenomenon as crimes on the North Side, and the same pattern of inexplicable "lack of probable cause" dismissals.<BR/><BR/>* Gregory Steven Laskey, 23, was arrested with another person for possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia near a soccer field where "young females" were practicing. (Already one sees some differences in the neighborhood culture)This was at 600 Kenwood Parkway.<BR/><BR/>Officers questioned the suspects because they "abruptly exited" their parked vehicle (Minn license plate XLD 906) when officers drove by. One of the men was acting very suspicious, wouldn't answer questions. They were both "pat frisked" and a small bag of cocaine and needles was discovered. Another narcotics kit was found in the car where Lasky said it would be found.<BR/><BR/>In fact, there were 100 syringes in the vehicle.<BR/><BR/>The whole matter was dismissed for "no probable cause."<BR/><BR/>Gee, I wonder if the system was kind enough to return all that paraphernalia? I mean...100 syringes? Quite an investment! Once again, it was the Johnston prosecutor/Hopper judge combo.<BR/><BR/>* George Edwin Peffer pled guilty to indecent, lewd conduct in a public place. This was at Irving Ave. S. and Mount Curve Ave. The prosecutor was Elizabeth A. Kelly, the Judge was George F. Mcgunnigle.<BR/><BR/>This guy was fined $300 and given a 30 day sentence; 29 days stayed and one day credited. It seems to me $300 is a real bargain price for a license to commit public exposure from the comfort of one's vehicle.<BR/><BR/>But, in any case, though my examination of the crimes focused on North Side (my area of concern) it appears the "slap on the wrist" phenomenon is all over Minneapolis.<BR/><BR/>Also, gathering this data didn't require any special access, just some time and effort to type it up. This stuff is all on the "submit community impact statements" portion of the City Attorney website. Some of the crimes are past the period where you can submit anything, but the site shows the resolution of the crime.<BR/><BR/>That's how I pulled up these details and sentences. Anybody can do this quite easily, or just browse the website and be, like, really shocked.<BR/><BR/>It's not at all comforting to learn this isn't just the North Side of Minneapolis getting the shaft. Criminal coddling is busting out all over. And--just to be clear on this--I'm a bleeding heart liberal, a card carrying member of the Green Party.<BR/><BR/>But my bleeding heart doesn't bleed THIS much.Johnny Northsidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03694273579383113753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-7548684261899346382008-06-15T12:56:00.000-05:002008-06-15T12:56:00.000-05:00Yes, it is appalling. Anybody who cares to do so, ...Yes, it is appalling. Anybody who cares to do so, please forward links to this blog posting far and wide. I put a bunch of time into compiling this information to make the appalling pattern clear. <BR/><BR/>This scandal (I'll call it that) needs to become the focus of mainstream media, not just little ol' me on the "blog-o-sphere."Johnny Northsidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03694273579383113753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9143409168229764050.post-29476834598146006432008-06-15T12:43:00.000-05:002008-06-15T12:43:00.000-05:00that is absolutely appaling.went to court in minne...that is absolutely appaling.<BR/><BR/>went to court in minneapolis once, in the 90s, for a speeding ticket. the guy ahead of me was there for selling marijuana and the district attorney cut a deal with him - let him off with a warning. when it was my turn to meet with the da i got fined $500 for the speeding ticket and a loud muffler.<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>--cAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com