Chuck Turner Sentenced to Three Years
January 26, 2011 in Local Party News
According to Boston.com:
A federal judge today sentenced Chuck Turner to three years behind bars for accepting a $1,000 bribe, a stinging rebuke to the former Boston city councilor.
US District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock rejected an appeal for leniency by defense attorneys, who had asked that the 70-year-old civil rights crusader receive probation and be spared prison because of his more than four decades of service as a community activist and elected official.
Woodlock’s stiff sentence came at the urging of prosecutors, who accused Turner of lying on the witness stand and making a mockery of public office and the criminal justice system. They had sought a prison term of 33 to 41 months.
After a jury convicted him in October of attempted extortion and three counts of providing false statements to FBI agents, Turner maintained his innocence and blamed his conviction on a government conspiracy to discredit elected officials of African-American descent.
KingCast said on January 26, 2011
Here’s some interesting footage from yesterday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTm8z8UgYsg
U.S. AG Ramsey Clark, former AAG KingCast.net and 700 support letters show the targeted, racist prosecution and sentencing of Chuck Turner in vivid detail.
I will say this right now and directly to Judge Woodlock and everyone else involved, particularly the prosecutors who ignored my questions: If you seriously think that Chuck Turner deserves more jail or prison time than John Buonomo who orchestrated hundreds of thousands of dollars of theft from actual taxpayers you need your individual and collective heads examined. More.
Ditto John Forbes, who got PROBATION.
Ditto Nick Mavroules, 15 months for all of his criminality.
Meanwhile, as to the Herald….. it’s lawsuit, lawsuit, lawsuit….
http://christopher-king.blogspot.com/2011/01/kingcast-review-of-boston-herald.html
Later guys.
Richard Kuszmar said on January 27, 2011
Its too bad even Greens succumb to temptation. I see nothing here that says he is innocent only that he was singled out for prosecution. We shouldn’t be screaming that Turner was treated too harshly but that Forbes and Mavroules were treated too leniently. All corrupt lawbreaking officials should be prosecuted and dealt with harshly.We can start with Bush and Cheney for their War Crimes.
Ross said on January 27, 2011
There’s a good argument to say that he was entrapped by the FBI and that he doesn’t deserve this conviction, as well. Open Media Boston has made that clear. I wrote a letter, inspired by the following editorial, asking for probation for Turner and all Greens should do the same:
Supporters of Chuck Turner should head over to the Moakley US Courthouse on Tuesday at 2 p.m. for the former Boston City Councilor’s sentencing hearing in front of US District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock on charges of taking a $1,000 bribe in 2007. Turner’s in a tough spot and needs all the moral support he can get. According to the local press, he is looking at doing 33-41 months in jail for a crime that I still don’t think he committed – generally agreeing, as I do, with the analysis that Turner was entrapped (at significant expense) by the FBI at the behest of former US Attorney Michael Sullivan … a Republican with an ax or three to grind. But, I’ve already spilled much digital ink on this topic in the past, and I don’t think rehashing my views on the matter is going to change anything at this point. And there’s no question that it’s going to be tough going for Turner in front of Woodlock – with US Attorneys John T. McNeil and James P. Dowden pushing very publicly this week to make an example of him. The only thing that might ameliorate a bad situation for Turner at this late date would be for people to write letters in his support. The letters will be turned over to the presiding judge by Turner’s attorney prior to his hearing.
So if you’d like to help Turner out in an even more concrete way than showing up at his hearing, send your letter (or email) of support by Tuesday morning to
John Pavlos
Pavlos & Vitali Law Offices
142 Main St.
#406
Brockton MA 02301
pavlosandvitali@aol.com
Otherwise, stay tuned to see if Turner’s bid to be reinstated to his City Council seat finds favor with US District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf before the special election is held to find his replacement. Would be pretty wild if that happened, and would throw a major monkey wrench into the current horse race for Turner’s District 7 council seat.
http://openmediaboston.org/node/1644
Michael Cavlan said on January 28, 2011
This is just like Dean Zimmermann. Green Party City Councilman of Minneapolis and friend of mine.
Who was one of the most uncorrupt City Council persons Minneapolis has ever seen. He was set up by the FBI and an FBI informant. He did 20 months.
Now Minneapolis has the FBI targeting the Peace community, specifically AWC Anti-War Committee and WAMM Women against Military Madness in a current Grand Jury investigations.
Pity the Greens decided to tell their friends and allies who supported Ralph Nader or considered Nader supporters allies, to fuck off.
Solidarity. It is a two way street.
So is no solidarity.
Still committed to building an opposition to the corporate one party system with two wings.