No Charge

After interviewing the accusers in the Guilford College melee, police have decided not to file charges.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Police have decided not to pursue their own charges in a racially tinged fight between several Guilford College football players and three Palestinian students.

A magistrate judge has charged six players with misdemeanor assault and five of them with ethnic intimidation based on complaints the Palestinian students filed after the campus fight early January 20. Greensboro police, who weren't called to the scene, were not involved in those charges.

"We determined that all of the charges that need to be taken out in this case were already taken out at the magistrate's office," police spokesman Lt. Brian James told the News & Record of Greensboro on Wednesday. "We didn't obtain any further evidence that would allow us to pursue additional charges, which is what we were investigating."

Prosecutors said they would likely wait for the college to complete its investigation before deciding how to proceed.

The accusers - Guilford College students Faris Khader and Osama Sabbah, and Omar Awartani, a student at North Carolina State University in Raleigh - said they were called "terrorists" and other racial slurs as they were beaten by several members of the school's football team, according to court documents.

Parents of three of the accused football players issued a statement last week defending their sons, saying one player was attacked with a belt.

So now the College must complete its investigation before the DA can act? This is a bit unusual. Who is responsible for the chain of custody of the evidence? Who is responsible for witness statements? Who collects the video and photographic evidence? Medical statements from treating physicians? Medical files? etc.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Guilford Student Cleared

Guilford College student Jazz Favor has been cleared by the school and allowed back on campus.

Greensboro, NC -- A Guilford College football player's mom is speaking out, only to WFMY News 2.

Anita Favors, Jazz Favor's mother, says the players and the Palestinan students were friends. She also says at least one of the accusers have already apologized to some of the football players.

Favors says her son was trying to break up the fight between his teammates and the three Palestinian students.

"Our son told us that it was a fight. It started out as an argument and then a whole bunch of people got involved. Jazz was instructed by an official of that school to break up the fight because he's so big and he grabbed a football player and asked him to leave," Anita Favors explained, "In the process of removing the football player he told one of the accusers just run and leave. He was telling everybody just run get out."

An independent investigation by the college is still underway, but Favors says her son has been cleared and allowed back on campus.

A very good video of Jazz's mother talking about the case is available at the above link. Click on the WFMY Video On Demand box on the page. The video is about two minutes. Jazz's mother stated in the video that before the fight the football players and the Palestinians had been friends.

Now all Jazz has to worry about is the court case.

The details are murky but I have heard rumors that the fight was over stolen beer and that the "brass knuckles" may have actually been a gold watch. All rumor so far.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Meet The Accusers

The accuseers in the Guilford College fight have finally met with police.

Last Edited: Monday, 29 Jan 2007, 11:21 PM EST
Created: Monday, 29 Jan 2007, 11:20 PM EST

GREENSBORO (WGHP) -- More than a week after a fight on the Guilford College campus, Greensboro police have interviewed the accusers. Three Palestinian students claim members of the football team beat them and used racial slurs during a confrontation January 20.

After two missed appointments last week, the three accusers met with Greensboro Police and the FBI Monday evening at their lawyer’s office in downtown Greensboro.

This is the first step in the police investigation. The accusers have filed criminal complaints six football players.

Note that the complaints were filed directly with the magistrate bypassing the police, until now.

Normally accusers do not do police interviews with their lawyers present. So that is kind of strange. Waiting a week before making contact (time to get the stories straight?) is also not the regular course of action following an altercation.

Not to worry. The Angry Studies people have it under control.

The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Project chose to enter the public discourse by issuing a news release Monday afternoon.

"May God grant the Guilford College community the courage and wisdom to name, engage, and overcome their own underlying attitudes and cultural prejudices that led to such a tragic event," read the final sentence of the statement.

I wonder if they are talking about prejudice against jocks? Or prejudice against white people?

I suppose it couln't be the white people thing. Half the accused are black.

A look at the Reconciliation Project statement might be helpful.

We pledge to all the members of that college community our whole hearted support as they seek to deal fairly and compassionately with the students involved in this recent event, but also with the underlying spirit of racism and domination revealed in it---a hate-filled spirit from which none of us in this competitive, fragmented, violence-prone society is free.

We pray that God will assuage the wounds of our three young Palestinian neighbors and grant them many friends whose love and support will transcend the barriers of race and culture and hasten their healing in body and soul. May God grant the Guilford College community the courage and wisdom to name, engage, and overcome their own underlying attitudes and cultural prejudices that led to such a tragic event. May God grant the young men who participated in wounding their fellow students the tough love of honest friends and the necessary guidance and support by which they may be freed from the destructive power of the spirit of domination and the exclusive attitudes that drove them into such violent and hateful behavior.

That statement sure looks like a rush to judgement to me. What if it was the Palestinians who did the wounding? What if they started the fight?

What if the The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Project are tough loving the wrong people? What if they don't have a lock on truth? What if they are really bigots in disguise?

Me? I smell a rat.

Here is how The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Project got started. The short version: On November 3, 1979, Klansmen shot and killed five communists.

After digging further into The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Project it looks to me like they are a group of "progressive" organizers. i.e. communists. Although the communists did extraordinary work on civil rights, their goal was never the reconciliation of the races. Their goal was to weaken America in the long cold war between the Soviets and the Western world. I think they are still at it.

I checked out some names mentioned at The Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project

More than 1,000 people -- Greensboro residents and national and international supporters -- took part Nov. 13, 2004, in the the 25th Anniversary March for Justice, Democracy and Reconciliation. The anniversary was marked by a collection of other religious, cultural and educational events featuring distinguished guests including Naomi Tutu, the granddaughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, nationally acclaimed playwright Emily Mann and veteran national civil rights activists including Vincent Harding, Elizabeth McAllister and Ruby Sales.

Vincent Harding had this to say.[pdf]

Don't let people fool you when they say they went to Grenada because the communists were taking over. Don't let people fool you when they say that someday they are going into Cuba because that's where the trouble starts. I know what Cuba was like before Castro came to power. I know what it means to be a slave. Don't be telling me about sending our young men to fight communism in Cuba.

Yep. Cuba is the model. Land of the free.

The other names mentioned don't seem to have any obvious communist sympathies. If fact Naomi Tutu's father Desmond appears to have been anti-communist.

Desmond Tutu was Bishop of Lesotho from 1976 until 1978, when he became Secretary-General of the South African Council of Churches. From this position, he was able to continue his work against apartheid with agreement from nearly all churches. Tutu consistently advocated reconciliation between all parties involved in apartheid through his writings and lectures at home and abroad. Though he was most firm in denouncing South Africa's white-ruled government, Tutu was also harsh in his criticism of the violent tactics of some anti-apartheid groups such as the African National Congress and denounced terrorism and Communism.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Magistration

Now I'm not sure if magistration is a word. At least in the sense I intend to use it. So what do I mean by magistration? Getting a magistrate to swear out a warrant without any input from law enforcement. Basically a way to get a person jailed with out any evidence except a sworn statement.

Why is this of interest? It has just happened for the sixth time in the Guilford College case.

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- A sixth Guilford College football player was charged Monday with assaulting a Palestinian student, court officials said.

The arrest warrant states that Rushing hit one of the victims while he was on the floor being beaten by others.

Micah Rushing, 21, of Albemarle, was released on a promise to appear, the Guilford County Magistrate's Office said.

The charges stem from accusations by three Palestinian students who said they were taunted with racial slurs and called "terrorists" as they were beaten by several members of the school's football team just after midnight Jan. 20, according to court documents. Besides assault, the five other players have been charged with ethnic intimidation.

Faris Khader, one of the three accusers, swore out the assault warrant against Rushing, the magistrate's office said. None of the charges against the players are the result of police investigation.

For those of you keeping a race score card, there are now three black and three white defendants. And as this latest report notes: so far there has been no police investigation. Despite the fact that the accuser's lawyer has said that the accusers would meet with police to discuss the matter.

Just a guess, but I think the accusers were jealous of the football guys. What was that old Rolling Stones' song? "I can't get no...."

Here is a recap for those of you who would like to catch up on the case details:
Guilford College Six's Injuries
Palestinians Lawyer Up
Guilford Is A Street In Rockford

H/T reader linearthinker

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Guilford College Six's Injuries

Michael Six's injuries in pictures. Mildly graphic.

In other news on the case doubts about the Palestinian's story mounts.

By BOB BUCKLEY
FOX8 News GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) -- On a campus founded by pacifists, a war of words has broken out.

And as the events of the week since the fight at Guilford College have unfolded, uncertainty over what happened has increased as allegations grew, minor details were revealed and speculation abounded.

That which is known for certain is scarce: The FBI is now investigating a fight involving three Palestinian students and a number of football players. Five players -- Michael Bates, Michael Six, Christopher Barnette, Jazz Favors and Jonathan Underwood -- have been charged with assault, battery and ethnic intimidation. The Greensboro police and Guilford College are each conducting their own investigations, and five unnamed students have been temporarily suspended from the school.

Everyone involved appears to be trying to prevent the rush to judgment and storm of accusations that turned the Duke lacrosse case into a national sensation.

The school's dean for campus life, Aaron Fetrow, acknowledged the lack of certainty about the events early Saturday morning: "There are so many varied things out there [that] I don't know what happened, or I would've decided."

Parents of one of the football players said they know what happened: their son was beaten with a belt by one of the Palestinian students. They have photos taken, they said, by Guilford College security personnel as evidence of Michael Six's injuries.

However, not every one is avoiding a rush to judgement.

More than 250 Guilford College students walked out of class Thursday, protesting what they called racism on campus. The students who walked out of class wore red ribbons and gathered at the campus Quad.

I wonder if they mean racism against white people? What are the odds?

The College has already started doing what neither the police nor the FBI have begun to do. Take some statements.

1/27/2007 4:11 PM By: News14Raleigh

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Guilford College officials have about 25 statements from people who witnessed or participated in a racially-charged fight on campus last weekend, but they haven't determined exactly what happened.

Three Palestinian students said they were taunted with racial slurs and called "terrorists" as they were beat and kicked by several members of the school's football team, according to court documents. Five players have been charged with assault and ethnic intimidation, though the charges were not the result of a police investigation.

Rather, the charges were approved by a magistrate judge after the three accusers reported the incident. Greensboro police have not met with the accusers, and a detective has been assigned to the case, police said Friday. The FBI also is investigating.

Based on eyewitness statements, school officials determined the fight broke out just after midnight Jan. 20 near a residence hall. The fight lasted less than five minutes and possibly involved "hate speech during and after the incident," according to the school.

Those involved in the fight were neighbors in a residence hall, and at least a few of them had been drinking alcohol, school officials found. Aaron Fetrow, dean for campus life, said his staff reviewed the information and tried to piece together what actually happened.

"Finally, we couldn't," he said. "Because if we took a stance, or if we said something one way or the other, it could possibly indict in the court of public opinion. And we can't have a process like that."

The accused football players haven't spoken publicly about the case, though the parents of three players said the team members weren't the aggressors.

The accusers - Guilford College students Faris Khader and Osama Sabbah, and Omar Awartani, a student at North Carolina State University in Raleigh - suffered concussions in the altercation, their attorney said.

In a telephone interview Friday, attorney Seth Cohen also said Awartani has a broken jaw, Khader has a fractured nose and Sabbah has nerve damage in a hand. He said none had been drinking alcohol.

The broken jaw and fractured nose ought to be easy to verify. Nerve damage in the hand will be harder to prove.

However, we do have photographs of Six's injuries. Perhaps the Palestinians might want to see that or even raise it with x-rays and MRIs. We haven't seen picture one of those guys.

An earlier anonymous report said Faris was a hot head

Faris and Osama are good guys, I like them a lot, and no doubt they did not deserve this, but as much as I like them they sometimes tend to look for fights.

Here we have confirmation (non-denial) from Cohen, the accusers' lawyer, that Faris was somewhat of a hot head.

Cohen did not answer questions about Faris Khader's suspension from Guilford College last semester or whether any of the Palestinians clashed with members of the football team before Jan. 20.

Palestinians Lawyer Up

In an interesting development in Guilford College case the three Palestinian accusers of the five football players have lawyered up.

Three Palestinians involved in a violent incident on the Guilford College campus last weekend have hired attorney Seth Cohen who announced on Jan. 27 that all were cooperating fully with investigators.

His announcement came on the heels of a press release by the Greensboro Police Department stating that the three had cancelled two interviews this week. Cohen said the students had scheduled an interview with the FBI, which is investigating the incident as a possible civil rights violation, and the Greensboro Police Department. He described the police department's statement as "a misunderstanding."

"These are three fine young men," he said of his clients. "Osama is from Jerusalem and Omar and Faris are from Ramallah. They have been caught in a media firestorm."

Cohen did not answer questions about Faris Khader's suspension from Guilford College last semester or whether any of the Palestinians clashed with members of the football team before Jan. 20.

Parents of Michael Bates, one of five football players who have been arrested in conjunction with the incident, released a statement on Jan. 26 accusing the media of prejudging the athletes' guilt. Michael Six has accused Khader of stabbing and belt-whipping him.

Hey, It gets curiouser.

The Jewish anti-Defamation League has come out with a statement.

Washington, DC, January 25, 2007 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has condemned the reported bias-motivated attack on three Palestinian students at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina.

ADL commends the Greensboro Police Department for the arrests of the alleged perpetrators, and calls upon the university administration to continue its efforts to heal the rifts that have been exposed on campus in the wake of this incident.

The warrants were not instigated by the police. Let me quote from Guilford Is A Street....

The charges weren't requested by Greensboro police but instead stem from statements the injured Palestinians made to a magistrate, who issued the warrants. Police said their investigation is ongoing.

So far the police have not interviewed the accusers. In fact other that executing the issued warrants the police have been bypassed.

The ADL may have a lot of egg on its face if this is a hoax.

Interesting comment on the NC legal system at Free Republic:

To: SmoothTalker

I am speaking of personal experience in North Carolina compared to California, Florida, Texas and Virginia where I have seen much more fairness.

I know several people who have experienced similar treatment as the Duke students, but they didn't have the resources to fight it. Several were out thousands of dollars, one went to prison, and one fought a civil case for 5 years before it was finally tossed out.

In North Carolina, any idiot can go down to the local Magistrate and swear out a false complaint with little (if any) legal exposure.

18 posted on 01/24/2007 7:20:29 AM PST by TommyDale (If we don't put a stop to this global warming, we will all be dead in 10,000 years!)

Guilford Is A Street In Rockford

It is also a Quaker founded college in Greensboro, N.C.

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) -- Three college students were assaulted on the campus of Guilford College early Saturday morning, according to court documents and the school's Web site.

The Greensboro News & Record reported Tuesday that Faris Khadar, Osama Sabbah and Omar Awartani were the victims of an attack by three others.

According to the newspaper, Khadar and Sabbah are students at Guilford College. Artwani is a student at N.C. State who was visiting friends.

Three football players from Guilford College -- Michael Bates, Michael Six and Christopher Barnette -- were arrested and charged with ethnic intimidation. Bates and Six were charged with three counts of assault and battery each, and Barnett was charged with two counts of assault and battery, according to the News & Record.

Bates is from Reidsville, Six from Greensboro and Barnette from Semora.

Naturally they have the boy's pictures featured at the top of the front page of the story.

Today two more boys were arrested in the case.

From today's News & Record

GREENSBORO — An additional two Guilford College football players were arrested Thursday in connection with a recent attack against three Palestinian students outside a campus dormitory.

The arrests came the same day college officials announced that five people tied to the incident have been charged with violating the school's student code of conduct. And in the morning, students staged a walkout in solidarity with the injured Palestinians.

Police identified the latest people arrested as Jonathan Blake Underwood, of Clinton, S.C.; and Jazz Alfray Favors, of Alpharetta, Ga. Both were released on $5,000 bond.

Their arrests bring to five the number of students arrested in the incident police are treating as racially motivated.

Warrants for Underwood and Favors were issued Sunday but not served until Thursday. The reason for the delay wasn't clear.

Underwood is charged with three counts of ethnic intimidation, two counts of assault and one count of communicating threats. Favors is charged with two counts of assault and two counts of ethnic intimidation.

The charges weren't requested by Greensboro police but instead stem from statements the injured Palestinians made to a magistrate, who issued the warrants. Police said their investigation is ongoing.

Interesting. Police didn't prefer charges.

Here is a press release from the police thinly disgiused as a newspaper report:

The Greensboro Police Department today issued an updated statement regarding the Guilford College case:

As stated in the previous press release, this case was referred to our Metropolitan Criminal Investigation Division and has been assigned to a detective for follow-up. Two interviews have been scheduled with the alleged victims in this case, and the victims have rescheduled on both occasions. As of this time, they have not spoken with us. We have followed up with Guilford College security and have spoken with them about the information they obtained regarding this incident.

On yesterday, warrants were issued on two additional subjects accused of assault. These warrants were not issued as a result of our investigation.

With an assault investigation, we begin by speaking with the alleged victim or victims in the case. At this point, we have not been afforded this opportunity. We will continue to make efforts to interview the alleged victims in this case and anyone who has information that will lead us to the correct version of events. The Greensboro Police Department will conduct a fair and impartial investigation into this matter. We will issue an updated press release as new information becomes available.

You know the police appear a bit sceptical on this one.

Here is a statement from the family of of a football player.

It is very apparent that the media and many uninformed individuals have unfairly prejudged Michael Bates, Michael Six, and Christopher Barnette of the beating of three Guilford College students during an unfortunate altercation involving several students last Friday night. Since media coverage has been so one sided the Bates, Six, and Barnette families issue this statement to allow for more balanced reporting of this event.

None of these accused young men have yet to be interviewed by any college official. The Greensboro Police Department has refused to take their statements and declined to review physical evidence including pictures of a vicious stabbing and belt whipping that was inflicted by Khader (an alleged victim) upon Michael Six during the altercation.

We also believe that a letter emailed on Sunday, by a college official, to all students of color greatly inflamed emotions needlessly. Here is the first paragraph from that letter from the Guilford College Director of Multicultural Education:

"By now, most of you have heard about the situation that occurred on Friday night between some football players and Faris Khader, Osama Sabbah, and Omar Awartini (a student from N.C. State). Faris, Osama, and Omar were defending themselves against students (and possibly perspective students) that were attacking them physically and simultaneously verbally with phrases like "sandnigga," "terrorist," etc. The incident was a hate crime."

We are deeply saddened by the inaccurate portrayal of these young men in this altercation by their school. When all of the FACTS are revealed, we believe that those who are sensationalizing this story will be rightly embarrassed and hope the retractions will receive the same level of visibility as premature and false charges. Under our system of government, our sons are presumed innocent of these charges and we hope that the community and the media will let the system run its course in determining their innocence or guilt.

The Bates, Six, and Barnette families would like to thank those in the communities, who know the true characters of these young men, for their continued support throughout this ordeal.

Isn't that interesting. It appears that the Palestinians may have attacked and then blamed their victims for responding. Where have I heard that story before?

In fact, according to this anonymous reportthat is exactly what happened.

gcstudentathlete, Jan 24, 2007 11:30 PM

As a Guilford College student athlete I have been appalled by the reaction to this incident by not only the student body but also the media. Most of the students that are so intent on screaming hate crime are extremely uninformed about the actual occurance of events that night. No, I did not witness the fight the fight but I withhold judging or condemning the parties of either side until all accounts are fully investigated. It seems that even the news has not refrained from prematurally passing judgement. All of the articles and stories I have viewed on the television have been biased and from the most part over victimizing one party why already passing the other off as guilty. From the eyewitness accounts I have heard it was Osama who struck first, taking off his belt and hitting one of the football player. Osama himself has admitted this Also there were no brass knuckles involved in the fight, these so called brass knuckles were actually a watch. I am not saying that it is ok to beat anyone, I hate violence just much as anyone, but you also have to realize that mistakes were made on both sides. I know both of the parties that were involved. Faris and Osama are good guys, I like them a lot, and no doubt they did not deserve this, but as much as I like them they sometimes tend to look for fights. I also know one of the football players who has been arrested, and he is a good guy. He does not deserve to be slandered all across the news when he has not yet been convicted of anything. So get your story straight, stop being one sided, and stop trying to use this unfortunate event as an excuse to get all riled up and protest a hate crime that didn't occur. Further the student body needs to discontinue their DISCRIMINATION against the athletes of this campus. We are your classmates, and your equals. We get no special treatment, we work hard at our classes, our sports, and our held accountable for all our mistakes just like you. So any divide that has been created on this campus has not been created by me or by any of my teammates. So the question I pose to you is who is hating who right now?

It will be interesting to see if the police get to the bottom of this. So far the accusers don't seem to be very interested in coming forward.

I wonder if the football guys have good lawyers?

This page has a picture of Michael Six's injury alleged to have come from the fight.

Cross Posted at Classical Values