By Nigel Parry
The U.S. Courthouse at 700 Grant Street in Pittsburgh. (Photo: Nigel Parry)
Patricia Coleman, who lives in one of the houses outside which Miles was assaulted, was brought onto the stand first thing this morning with her son A-Ron Roberts. Both testified to seeing strands of hair (Miles’ ripped-out dreadlocks) in the bushes outside their house on the morning after the assault. Patricia Coleman also testified she heard someone calling out for help.
The Post Gazette reported that:
Parts of the testimony of Ms. Coleman and Mr. Roberts favored Mr. Miles. They confirmed that he was not a troublemaker and wasn’t known to confront authority.
Mr. Roberts, 18, said he had never seen Mr. Miles cut through yards, undercutting the officers’ theory that he may have been trying to use a shortcut from his mother’s to his grandmother’s house when they saw him that night.
The police attorneys have been champing at the bit to get a friend of Jordan’s, Ryan Allen, on the stand, supposedly to testify that Jordan told him in the aftermath of the assault that he did have a Mountain Dew bottle. Sadly, for the cops, he denied saying of the sort to the FBI agent. This is the second time a report by an FBI agent has contained details that a witness has said they never said.
The City Paper‘s Charlie Deitch described this massive blow to the police case:
During Miles’ testimony last week, defense attorney Jim Wymard asked him if he ever told Ryan Allen, a former high school friend, that he’d been carrying Mountain Dew back in January 2010, when he encountered Pittsburgh police officers Richard Ewing, Michael Saldutte and David Sisak. Police have contended that they mistook the bottle for a gun; during the resulting encounter, Miles claims to have been beaten by officers — who he says didn’t identify themselves.
On the stand last week, Miles testified that he didn’t have a bottle, and that he never told Allen any such thing. This morning, Allen pretty much agreed.
Allen was called to testify by the officers regarding a statement he made to the FBI in February 2011; according to a report made during that investigation, Allen said that Miles told him that he had a bottle. But on Monday morning, Allen repeatedly told Wymard that he didn’t remember saying that to the FBI — and that he didn’t recall Miles ever saying that to him.
“I don’t remember telling [Special Agent Sonia Bush] that,” Allen testified. Wymard appeared frustrated by Allen’s response and began asking the same questions in different ways, but Allen continued to say he didn’t remember. Wymard insinuated that Allen didn’t want to testify to what he heard Miles say because he didn’t want to hurt Miles’ case.
“I’m not here to hurt or harm,” Allen said. “I’m not picking sides.”
During cross-examination, Miles attorney Tim O’Brien gave Allen another chance to defend his story: “There is a suggestion here that you would lie to help Jordan.”
“I’m trying to give you what I remember,” Allen replied.
Allen’s testimony comes as a blow to the defense. No Mountain Dew bottle was taken into evidence — police say they tossed it away at the scene — and Allen was an independent witness corroborating the officers’ version of events. Wymard has mentioned Allen several times throughout the trial, intimating to jurors that he would back up the officers’ claims.
Particularly interesting were questions from Jordan’s attorneys about a visit Ryan Allen got from an official in the Fraternal Order of Police (the police union), which allegedly took place in a coffee shop. Allen didn’t recall this meeting.
Testimony of Charles Henderson, police sergeant who talked to Jordan Miles at the hospital
The first police officer to interview Jordan Miles in his hospital room after he was beaten by three Pittsburgh police officers took the stand.
Pittsburgh Police Sgt. Charles Henderson testified that Miles told him he thought he was being robbed the night this happened in January of 2010.
Sgt. Henderson also told the jury that a lot of the information he got from Miles was a little contradictory from some of the other stories that have been told in the courtroom.
[more court notes will be added later to this section]
The testimony of officer David Sisak
The second of three white Pittsburgh police officers being sued by a young black man who claims he was wrongfully beaten and arrested has taken the stand to defend himself against civil rights allegations.
David Sisak told the federal court jury on Monday that he tackled Jordan Miles through some hedges _ one of several key details in the police version that differs from Miles claims.
[more court notes will be added later to this section]
