"Color of law" civil rights violation

[Marina]

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"Under color of law" has been used as the basis for federal civil rights lawsuits involving child protection agencies.

This is not a child protection article, but shows abuse of authority.

http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20071 ... /712070612

December 07. 2007 6:03AM

Ex-NOPD officer indicted on federal charges

The Associated Press


Donald Battiste, an ex-New Orleans police officer, was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury Thursday on one-count of

depriving another of federally-protected right to be free from unreasonable seizure and from use of unreasonable force, while he was acting under color of law,

U. S. Attorney Jim Letten announced on Thursday.

If convicted, Battiste faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

Battiste, a 9-year-veteran of the New Orleans Police Department, was arrested by New Orleans police on Oct. 6, 2006, booked with theft, armed robbery and malfesence in office after being caught on tape taking more than $500 from a police informant posing as a French Quarter drunk.

The federal charges followed the state case, Letten said.

"We recognized when he had pled guilty to malfeasence in office there was a compelling compelling federal interest that had not been addressed," Letten said.

Battiste resigned from the police department after being booked on the state charges.

At the time of the arrest, Superintendent Warren Riley said the arrest was the result of an ongoing internal investigation launched by the Public Integrity Bureau, after theyd received several complaints of theft against Battiste from mostly Hispanic laborers who hed arrested in the French Quarter.

Though Battiste

never pulled his weapon on the man or threatened him, Riley said he is being charged with armed robbery because he was armed and in full uniform at the time of the incident.

.

[Marina]

I do not find very many "color of law" articles, where authorities use their official positions to violate civil rights. Complaints can be made to the FBI. Lawsuits are done in federal instead of state courts.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20081030/p ... s_the_vote

Law Enforcement Used to Suppress the Vote
Thu Oct 30, 1:52 pm ET



Contact: Sarah Massey, +1-202-445-1169, for Project Vote


WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In 2008, Americans may once again be seeing law enforcement turned into a tool of voter suppression. Under the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) it is illegal for any person "whether acting under color of law or otherwise," to intimidate, threaten, or coerce voters. In the past few weeks, however, partisan forces have manufactured hysteria around the myth of "voter fraud" that they have used to help goad law-enforcement into intimidation and politically motivated investigations into eligible voters.


This climate of suppression and intimidation is all the more troubling because it has happened before. The investigation into the firings of nine U.S. Attorneys revealed how trumped-up charges of "voter fraud" were used to pursue a cynical strategy of law enforcement intimidation designed to hamper voter registration efforts and suppress turnout at the polls.