Al Sharpton has LOTS to answer for, and hasn't apologized...===1987 Tawana Brawley===Don't forget Al's part of this....and several other events over the years....
This guy and Jesse Jackson need to be brough to heel as well....
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Tawana Brawley
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Tawana Brawley at a press conference in 1987Tawana Brawley (born 1972) is a black woman who received national attention in the U.S. when she was 15 years old for her claim that she was raped by six white men, some of them police officers, in the village of Wappingers Falls, New York. The alleged incident soon became a media sensation, championed by Reverend Al Sharpton and by attorneys Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason. There were no indictments in an investigation conducted by a grand jury in October 1988, who cited a lack of evidence, concluding she had not been abducted, assaulted, raped or sodomized.
On Saturday, November 28, 1987, Brawley, who had been missing for four days, was found lying conscious but unresponsive in a garbage bag several feet away from an apartment she had once lived in, her clothing torn and burned, her body smeared with feces. She was taken to the emergency room, where various slurs and epithets were discovered written on her torso with a black substance described as charcoal.[1]
A detective from the Sheriff's Juvenile Aid Bureau, among others, was summoned to interview Brawley, but she remained unresponsive. The family requested a black officer, which the police granted. Brawley, described as having an "extremely spacey" look on her face, communicated with this officer with nods of the head, shrugs of the shoulder, and written notes. The interview lasted 20 minutes, during which she uttered only one word: "neon." Through gestures and writing, however, she indicated that she had been raped repeatedly in a wooded area by three white men, at least one of them a police officer. A sexual assault kit was administered, and police began building a case.
[edit] Public response
Public response to Brawley's story was at first mostly sympathetic. Bill Cosby, among others, pledged support for her. Articles about Brawley captured headlines across the US. Public rallies were held denouncing the incident. However, racial tensions also climbed, and when up-and-coming civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, with attorneys Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason, began handling Brawley's publicity, the case quickly took on an explosive edge.
Under the wing of Sharpton, Maddox, and Mason, a full-fledged media sensation was born. The three claimed that the entire case was a coverup going all the way up to the state government. They named New York prosecutor Steven Pagones specifically, calling him a racist and a rapist, among other accusations. [2]
[edit] Grand jury hearings
On October 6, 1988, the Abrams Grand Jury released its extensive and thorough 170 page report concluding that Tawana Brawley had not been abducted, assaulted, raped and sodomized as had been claimed by Brawley and her advisors. The report further concluded that the "unsworn public allegations against Dutchess County Assistant District Attorney Steven Pagones" were false and had no basis in fact. To issue the report, the Grand Jury heard from 180 witnesses, saw 250 exhibits and recorded over 6,000 pages of testimony. [3]
In the decision, the grand jury noted many problems with Brawley's story. Among these were the results of the rape kit, which did not indicate sexual assault. Also, despite her claim of having been held captive for days, Brawley was not suffering from exposure, was well nourished, and appeared to have brushed her teeth recently. There were no burns on her body, despite her clothing being charred. A shoe she was wearing was cut through, yet she had sustained no injuries to her foot. Testimony from her schoolmates indicated that she had attended a local party during the time of her supposed abduction, and one witness claimed to have observed Brawley climbing into the garbage bag.
A total of 180 witnesses were called during the hearings. Brawley herself never testified.[4]
[edit] Aftermath
Brawley and her mother were issued subpoenas to testify in front of the grand jury, and refused to do so. This may have prompted Brawley and her family to move hastily to Virginia, taking with them a "defense fund" of $300,000 which had been contributed by well-wishers. There is still an outstanding warrant in New York against the two for ignoring the subpoena.
The case still hangs over Sharpton, particularly following his entry into mainstream politics (his race for the 2004 Democratic Presidential nomination involved his addressing the convention from its podium), not merely because he defended Brawley's story but for the unfounded accusations he leveled, and, according to some of his critics, his "playing the race card".[5]
Maddox was later disbarred after being accused of billing and abandoning clients in an unrelated series of incidents.
In 1997, Brawley changed her name to Maryam Muhammad.
In 1998 Pagones was awarded $345,000 (he sought $150 million) through a lawsuit for defamation of character that he had brought against Sharpton, Maddox, and Mason, in which the jury found Sharpton liable for making seven defamatory statements about Pagones, Maddox for two and Mason for one.[6]
Pagones had also sued Brawley. She defaulted by not appearing at the trial, and the judge ordered her to pay him damages of $185,000. As of 2003, none of the award had been paid. [1]
[edit] Maintaining innocence
Brawley maintains she did not invent the story, and she still has supporters.[2] Sharpton has never apologized to Pagones for naming him a perpetrator.
[edit] References
At above link:::::
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The skeletons and suits in Sharpton's closet
The controversial political leader and Democratic presidential candidate delivers a pointed warning: If you attack me, you risk being sued.
By Jake Tapper
Pages 1 2June 20, 2003 | With the threat of a defamation lawsuit against an obscure GOP state representative from Michigan, the Rev. Al Sharpton officially gave the political and media worlds notice on Thursday: If you intend to write negative things about the activist and fledgling Democratic presidential candidate, you had better be certain that you have your facts straight. But it's unclear whether Sharpton's team has as firm a hold on the ugly realities of his past as their threat would seem to indicate.
Sharpton's attorney, Michael Hardy, told Salon on Thursday that Sharpton is serious about the lawsuit against Michigan state Rep. Marc Shulman, and will likely file it if Shulman doesn't apologize within the next month for the allegations he made in a letter to a fellow Michigan politician.
CONT'D at link below..........
dir.salon.com
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BUSTED: Caught on an FBI Surveillance Tape Discussing a Cocaine Deal
The television show HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel showed a 1983 FBI videotape in which Al Sharpton is seen talking about laundering drug money with former mobster Michael Franzese, a Mafioso-turned-undercover-FBI informant posing as a cocaine dealer. Now you might think something like this might be bad news for a presidential candidate, but to hear Sharpton talk about it, there's nothing unseemly about it.
Now, to be fair, no indictments were issued and the sting operation was never completed. But those are pretty thin excuses for a president of the United States. (At least he didn't blame a DUII on his political enemies.)
Sharpton got into this mess through his friendship with boxing promoter Don King, a longtime friend of his. Franzese, a former Colombo family captain, alleges that a South American drug dealer looking to launder money through boxing promotions approached him. According to Franzese,Sharpton was going to arrange a meeting between the dealer and King.
CONT'D at link at below....
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