Articles Posted in Police Brutality Misconduct

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Williams Oinonen LLC is proud to announce that each of its lawyers was honored for the 5th year in a row by Georgia Super Lawyers.

Mario Williams and Julie Oinonen were both named Super Lawyers Rising Stars in 2019. Only 5% of lawyers in Georgia receive this distinction after a rigorous selection process and third-party validation of their accomplishments, including reviews and ratings from fellow lawyers.

Williams Oinonen LLC is made up of civil trial attorneys who regularly handle serious injury, employment, education, business, and high profile civil rights cases. For more information, contact us at 404-654-0288.

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A Federal District Court has ordered a trial in a wrongful death civil rights case brought by our client, Lena Williams, individual and as administrator of the Estate of her son, the Decedent, Mr. Melvin Williams. On May 14, 2010, an officer of the East Dublin Police Department fatally shot Mr. Melvin Williams.

Plaintiff argued before the District Court that the officer’s conduct was unreasonable and thus violated the constitutional and state law rights of the Decedent. The officer attacked the Decedent, who is heard on the video repeatedly screaming, “what is wrong with you?” Then seconds later, the officer fatally shot the Decedent while standing numerous feet away, and while knowing the Decedent was unarmed. The alleged criminal violation at issue was a “rolled” stop sign about 10 minutes prior to the attack on the Decedent. We dispute that a traffic violation ever occurred because all the independent evidence demonstrates that no traffic violation occurred.

One interesting aspect of the case is that, at the time the officer attacked the Decedent, the officer did not have his general police powers or specific powers of arrest under Georgia law, according to the District Court’s factual findings.

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d74173891.jpgGood Georgia Civil Rights and Government Lawyer Mario Williams’ flash bang case on behalf of our client Treneshia Dukes was featured in the Atlantic magazine this week that you can read here.

Treneshia Dukes was pregnant when a flash bang grenade was thrown on her by the Clayton County Police Department while she was sleeping in bed causing her terrible burns and injuries. Flash bang grenades burn “Hotter than Lava” hence the name of this excellent article by Julia Angwin and Abbie Nehring. (Above photo as featured in the article by Bryan Meltz for ProPublica.)

These flash bang grenades which were originally created for military forces to use in hostage situations, now are common amongst the growing militarization of police. The Clayton County Police, deployed flashbangs on around 80 percent of their raids in the year before her injury, according to records.

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Good Georgia Civil Rights Lawyer Mario Williams received an order from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Robert Kopperud v. Dexter Mabry denying the Defendant’s appeal of the District Court’s denial of summary judgment. The District Court denied qualified and official immunity for Defendant Deputy Sheriff Dexter Mabry who was sued by Robert Kopperud, represented by Mario Williams and Julie Oinonen.

This decision comes on the heels of several other appellate victories by Mario Williams, civil rights lawyer who regularly represents multiple civil rights victims who have been wrongfully killed or catastrophically injured due to civil rights violations such as excessive force.

This Wednesday, Mario Williams will be arguing before the Eleventh Circuit in oral argument on behalf of Delma Jackson who is suing wardens from the Department of Corrections in a retaliation First Amendment claim. Delma Jackson is the wife of a prisoner who has had her visitation to her husband taken away indefinitely as a result of exercising her First Amendment rights concerning issues of prison strike and abuses.

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Good Georgia Serious Injury Civil Rights Lawyer Mario Williams represents Treneshia Dukes, a pregnant woman who was seriously injured with burns when a flash bang grenade landed on her bed while she was sleeping. Just this past week, the AJC reported how the Clayton County police were sued in this case as the media’s focus has been on the use of these flash bang grenades.

Below is a copy of the complaint. It may take a minute to load on the web page but it is worth the read:

First Amended Complaint -T. Dukes by julie9094

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justice-scales-gavel-fb.jpegChoosing a good lawyer to help you with a case, such as wrongful death, contract dispute, employment termination; asset forfeiture, and excessive force, can be very difficult.

Many blog posts advise you to make sure that (1) you feel comfortable with the lawyer you choose and that (2) the lawyer you choose has sound experience and understanding in the area you need representation in. While all that is true, there is one area that also demonstrates the quality of representation you will be obtaining to handle your case: your lawyer’s willingness and ability to handle an appeal of your case in front of a higher court.

Foremost, you may not read a lot of blog posts that talk about handling an appeal of your case in front of higher courts, because that means something may have went wrong with your case in the lower court. But here’s the reality: when you are going up against cities, school districts; law enforcement officials; public officials; big corporations; and hospitals–whether you win or lose at the lower court (trial court), one party is going to appeal, or threaten to appeal the loss, to the higher court (Appeals Court).

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Police UODF.JPGHave you, or has someone you know, been shot by a police officer that resulted in death or serious injury to yourself or another? If yes, then you may be wondering what to do. Williams Oinonen LLC handles cases in which police officers fatally shoot or seriously injure people by the use of unreasonable deadly force. Unreasonable use of deadly force is commonly referred to as excessive force, meaning deadly force that was both not necessary and unreasonable under the law.

For the next couple of weeks, our law firm is going to post about deadly force in the context of “officer involved shootings.” Today, we are going to discuss a few reasons why you must ensure that a lawyer is contacted as soon as possible, when you have, or someone you know has, been shot by a police officer in Georgia.

Before discussing that, however, you should know that police misconduct cases, especially ones that involve excessive force (for example, deadly force) are extremely difficult. The law favors police officers and courts throw out (dismiss) many cases against law enforcement, daily. But that does not mean your case will be thrown out. Everything depends on the facts and how those facts are applied to the law.

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Good Georgia Civil Rights Lawyer Mario Williams obtained $350,000 for Terrance Dean, a prisoner at Macon State Prison who had been beaten by correctional officers. Mr. Williams, who specializes in wrongful death police misconduct cases filed suit against correctional officers many of whom have been recently indicted for their crimes by the Department of Justice after a GBI and FBI investigation. Several news organizations have featured the story involving this prison abuse incident.

Terrance Dean Civil Rights Prison Abuse Case by julie9094

https://www.scribd.com/doc/155611668/Terrance-Dean-Civil-Rights-Prison-Abuse-Case

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Atlanta, GA 30326
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