(In response to: ‘Township ‘NET? bust nets guns, marijuana,? The Citizen, Feb. 21, page 4):
Your story (from police press release) said police recovered a loaded Uzi 9 mm assault rifle. For your readers, 9 mm is about a 38 caliber. So it’s a 9 mm semi-auto carbine.
However, according to the Pros. Order No. 09-55718 Complaint narrative report, page 9, line 29 by Detective Reeves, OCSO-NET filed in court; ‘Richard told me that there was a third gun in the desk in the dining room. I received the keys, unlocked the desk drawer and recovered the Uzi from the desk drawer and ammunition from another drawer. The Uzi was in a soft case and in that case was a loaded magazine for that weapon.?
That rifle was under lock and key and unloaded. It’s made to sound like Mr. Lajdziak was sitting at home in wait with it next to him. Commander Quisenberry should read the report that his detective filed before making comments to the press.
Quisenberry added, the Uzi recovered was used to protect the suspect’s business.
However, in The Citizen, Feb.11, 2009, ‘Daytime home invasions prompt warning from police,? warns residents of the threat of criminals on the prowl. Mr. Lajdziak’s firearms were used to protect his home from the very predators prowling the communities cited in your story. What are we citizens to do when confronted by an invader in our own home? Use harsh language? Printing his address also makes his home a target.
Again, Mr. Quisenberry: ‘There was an intent to sell-although we cannot be sure it could have ended up in the school system.?
Now he plants the seed in the public mind that Lajdziak was selling (marijuana) to school children. There is no evidence whatsoever in the complaint alluding to that kind of activity. It’s pure conjecture and innuendo and only poisons the pool of potential jurors? minds and manipulates public opinion.
I recently came across some articles on the internet: ‘Legal System Struggles With How to React When Police Officers Lie (The Wall Street Journal by Amir Efrati – Jan. 29, 2009)
Questionable testimony by police comes up most often in firearm- or drug-possession cases…officers often testify that a defendant had a bulge in his pocket ? which they thought might be a gun ? or dropped drugs in plain sight…giving the officers the right to seize the contraband.
According to a 1992 survey, prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges in Chicago said they thought that, on average, perjury by police occurs 20 percent of the time in which defendants claim evidence was illegally seized. ‘It is an open secret long shared by prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges that perjury is widespread among law enforcement officers,? though it’s difficult to detect in specific cases, said Alex Kozinski, a federal appeals court judge, in the 1990s. That’s because the exclusionary rule ‘sets up a great incentive for…police to lie.?
The Supreme Court says Americans have the right to own guns. The case is District of Columbia v. Heller, 000 US 07-290. By Mark Sherman, AP Writer, June 26, 2008. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices? first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history. Justice Antonin Scalia said that an individual right to bear arms is supported by ‘the historical narrative? both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.
The Constitution does not permit ‘the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home,? Scalia said.
The Flint Journal, Feb. 27, 2009 by Bryn Mickle. Police seized 100 pounds of marijuana from a GMC Yukon at 1303 Sixth Ave. in Flint. Former Flint cop Akil J. Young charged with trafficking $1.4 million of marijuana.
The Detroit Free Press by Joe Swickard, March 1, 2009:
Inkster cops admit false testimony. They say drug-unit boss ordered lies in 2005 cocaine trial. Trial judge who was told, allowed it anyway.
In closing Quisenberry stated: ? Drugs permeate every section of our society, urban, suburban, and rural.?
So does police and judicial corruption.
Lawrence Lajdziak (suspect’s brother)