The VonFrederick Group Newsletter

Three months after his testimony helped convict a gang member of murder, and just one week before he was to testify in the trial of a second defendant, 19-year-old Elvis Ragland was found dead in a creek. He had been repeatedly shot in the head and neck. And though the killing remains unsolved, the police believe it was related to Mr. Ragland’s testimony.

The police and family members say Mr. Ragland had received several threats warning him to stay away from the second trial. But Mr. Ragland was willing to do what an increasing number of witnesses to crimes are not: testify in court.

Prosecutors around the nation say the intimidation of witnesses, and their subsequent killing, is on the rise, especially in gang-related crimes. People who provide investigators with detailed information about crimes are refusing to divulge the same information in a trial at which they must publicly face the accused. In testimony before a Congressional committee, prosecutors in Washington said the city was failing to pursue 30 percent of 35 percent of its murder cases because people with knowledge of events refused to cooperate.
There are few other reliable statistics on witness intimidation. But the anecdotal evidence is powerful…

In Oakland, California, where we have the highest gang-related criminal activities, the police have reported several cases in which witnesses in upcoming trials for gang-related killings have had their cell phones go off, texting what appears to be the number of a local mortuary. In Los Angeles, prosecutors say that gang members will sit as spectators at a compatriot’s trial, slowly moving an index finger across their throats in a slashing motion as a witness is taking the stand.

And if the witnesses are compelled to testify, they often become a fiasco on the stand – “going sideways,” is what the police and prosecutors call it, saying they do not remember details of the incident or offering an account that would exonerate the defendant. As one law enforcement official recently told me, “The worse the criminal is, the more likely the witnesses are to be intimidated. So, you have the most heinous of criminals about to walk free because these people are so terrified. This is supposed to be about justice, and sometimes you have to just stand there while evil seems to prevail.”

Witness intimidation is most severe in poor urban neighborhoods, where shootings often occur in broad daylight and many witnesses know the killers. Many of these killings are perceived as “private matters” and witnesses may believe that everyone involved is a drug dealer or a gang-banger; - so why put their lives on the line for these people.

The new twist in intimidation is the link to gang activities. There is the traditional witness and victim intimidation, which everybody equates with mob bookkeepers and the likes, but those are rare instances. What we have is the sort of intimidation that occurs in neighborhoods where a great number of people are involved in gang activities or drug sales, or personally know the participants in these activities and are in a position to be intimidated. What we have is somebody who is being charged and perhaps in jail awaiting trial; and then you have his friends on the outside, who, in a sense, do the bidding of the entire gang. It’s the essence of conspiracy. Cell phones are now being smuggled into jails and prisons and the intimidation and killings can be made from inside the prison walls…with just one phone call.

The criminals have become increasingly brazen about intimidating witnesses, since the lack of a witness could mean no prison time. For example, the criminals involved in a homicide will return to the scene of the crime and pose as disinterested bystanders, while the police are conducting interviews. This is not just bravado, but a sure sign that the killer knows who are talking to the police and what they are saying.

There are several things that can be done to prevent or minimize the intimidation of witnesses, one being having systems in place to protect the witnesses and their identities. Police and prosecutors must be trained in this area, something that has been often neglected. Having an iron-clad intelligence collection system in place is another. Many large cities have witness protection programs, though they are more limited than the ones that confer a new identity on organized crime informers. Increasing the penalties for witness intimidation is another way forward and the penalty must be swift, certain, and severe. Adjusting the laws to be able to introduce pretrial statements made by witnesses who change their stories and develop instantaneous amnesia on the stand, is another avenue. However, this leaves the jury the difficult task of determining when the witnesses were being truthful. Finally, videotaping the spectators at crime scenes and in the court rooms can be a deterrent; one thing criminals are afraid of: the camera.

Knowing that you can be a target of criminals if you are a witness to a crime, do you have what it takes to step up and do the right thing? Would the knowledge that your spouse or children might be at risk cause you to change your mind?