The Peppermint Unicorn

Recently there has been a lot of talk in the news and on social media about a case here in Montgomery, Alabama. In 2018, Joseph Lee Pettaway, was mauled to death by a police K-9 and there exists bodycam footage of the whole attack. The judges on the case, Emily C. Marks and Jerusha T. Adams, have systematically allowed certain officers, policies and procedures to fall by the wayside. Family members of the man mauled to death have been fighting to have the body-cam footage released. Judge Adams believes the footage to be too graphic to be viewed stating that “It can’t be unseen” for that reason.

   Judge Marks and Adams are protecting officers, twisting the system and blocking evidence about police action at the MPD. A man was mauled to death and there is body worn camera footage from the officers dispatched to the scene. What can’t we see on the footage Jerusha Adams has sealed from the public view? This is in direct opposition to the reason the cameras are worn by police to begin with. This kind of protected, corrupt and personalized service is all you can expect from the Middle District of Alabama.

It’s a club and if you aren’t a member then you are nobody.

   What many people don’t realize is that these federal judges started out as attorneys and local court judges before they moved up in the ranks to find a federal seat at the bench. These judges have lived much of their adult lives here and can never be unbiased. They know all the cops, lower judges, the AG, everyone at the district attorney’s office, FBI agents and even most of the regular corrupt attorneys like Tommy Gallion, who I have had the displeasure of dealing with over the years. It’s a club and if you aren’t a member then you are nobody.

   Rules are made, systems put in place and laws written and rewritten to protect those at the top and at the expense of the majority of the citizens of Alabama. The people at the top of the local food chain are the ones getting all the cream. Those of us who try to file legitimate complaints and follow procedure do not have access to the back doors and private meeting rooms in the federal world. Where I grew up, on Cloverdale Rd, federal Judge Thompson lives. I know where many of the judges live, I know some their kids and where many of them live as well. After all this was a small town, at one time. I have lived here since 1978 in the same house on Cloverdale. I have personally seen many of the people in power today working in their first jobs in and around Montgomery.

My ex William Bellingrath von Gal, whom I have written about extensively, knows many more of them than I do. He has personal friends that are attorneys, police officers, FBI agents, ALEA officers and public officials. A man like von Gal had to keep people in power in his back pocket, a claim he made regularly. After all Will had to get his ATF license to manufacture his guns at Autauga Arms in Autaugaville. He was wealthy and used to tell me how he had to contribute to political campaigns on both sides of the aisle because he wanted to be in the favor of whomever might be in office at any given time. If a simple gun maker in central Alabama can have all these connections, imagine how connected and protected you would be working directly in the thick of it with all these people.

No one is immune from corruption.

   Judges Jerusha T Adams and Judge Emily C Marks hold a lot of power over the average citizen of Montgomery and Alabama proper. They can and do rule in favor of the city, county, state and even private corporations with the backing of the federal government as well as local law enforcement. Make no mistake, these federal judges go to dinner, soccer practice, parties, vacations, bar mitzvahs and clubbing with members of local law enforcement at every level. No one is immune from corruption. From the governor and mayor on down to the lowest beat cop they all have one goal in mind, to protect themselves and each other from any and all outside forces.

   When my mom and I went to the US Attorney’s office in Montgomery we talked to a woman named Retta Goss, who I believe retired a couple of years ago. We were there reporting how the FBI, MPD and ALEA would not help us or come to our aid when we called the police. We told her about my ex Will von Gal. We told her about my rape by MPD officer Michael McCord. We told her about the death threats, physical attacks, property damage, burglaries, auto thefts and many other crimes being committed against us. From around 2011 through 2015 we talked to Retta on the phone or in person at her office. She told us that unless the FBI gives them [US Attorney] evidence to prosecute then they can do nothing. She said the FBI was not doing their job and that there was nothing she or her office could do about it.

The FBI refused to step in and help me whenever I reported it.

   We have been in constant contact with the FBI since the Spring of 2004. I initially contacted the FBI because the PFA I had filed was going downhill. Judge Tracey McCooey was on that case and allowed Tommy Gallion, my ex’s attorney who was also an attorney for the county of Montgomery, to speak and settle the terms of my case without me present. I was out in the hall and they never bothered to call me in while the case was being discussed initially. They had decided terms of my PFA DR03-841 while behind closed doors. The FBI never bothered to investigate Judge McCooey or Tommy Gallion about the back door deals being made at my expense. Even when I told the FBI, Will von Gal was worried about his ATF license. Tommy Gallion, who profited legally and illegally from his gun sales argued that my PFA would destroy von Gals credibility to his international business. The FBI refused to step in and help me whenever I reported it. I was again denied protection and justice at the hands of city, county, state and federal officials.

   These Judges who rule against the general public in favor of their coworkers, friends and business acquaintances do not have the average citizen on their minds. They are generally more concerned with how their next term will hold up or who they can protect as a favor rather than rule by the law. Look at Mayor Steven Reed who was probate judge when my house was taken from me. The whole office, including Judge Reed knew I was in California with my mom trying to get life saving medical treatment. I was in constant contact with Alabama’s many offices regarding mine and my mothers well-being.  He, along with the probate office employees never told me he authorized the sale of my home. They did however, list the sale in local Montgomery papers knowing I was in a California hospital with my mother for over 20 months. My mothers home was owned outright and she was tax exempt. I have written about this in my blog and countless times on twitter @silentnomore9 but it has yielded no response from now Mayor Reed or his officers.

   Jerusha T Adams was the Assistant US Attorney from Feb 2007 to November 2018. She knew about mine and my mothers complaints and did nothing. She was working there when my house was burglarized and destroyed by people using it as a meth lab, the MPD explained. I also have a witness neighbor who saw the same things, called the police and turned over video and suspect identities. Major John Hall claims that he could only write that up as criminal mischief. I have relayed all this information to Judge Adams and Judge Marks who have yet to hear me in federal court.

   Judge Adams and Marks use their position to manipulate the system, protect coworkers and rule forever in favor of the city and county of Montgomery and the State of Alabama. With the help of people like AG Steve Marshall, Mayor Steven Reed, DA Bailey and the DA’s office, ALEA and a whole box of lawyers on the take, no one can get through the wall of corruption. Everyone in the justice system should be taken to task over the way the Alabama government deals with it’s citizens, we are only mushrooms.

   The family who is fighting to get the body-cam footage released is fighting an uphill battle with people like these judges-for-sale. There is a lot more that is being hidden on this footage. Improper procedures, illegal searches and seizures, use of excessive force, the identity of all officers present and excessive force. Something other than a judge’s conscience is protecting the footage. More than likely it is the AG Steve Marshall, Chief of Police Darryl Albert and the ‘mother hen’ of the CID Chief John Hall.

What are the procedural guidelines to be followed here? When my house was burglarized in 2018, and the MPD caught the suspects in the act, the MPD let them go! There were even neighborhood witnesses that stood there giving statements. Our home was empty because we were in a California hospital 2000 miles away. The MPD claimed they could do nothing because the homeowner was not reporting the crime and was not present. No one has ever been arrested in our home burglaries, even after I signed the burglary report in February 2020. However when the MPD officers got to the the Pettaway home, on a call of a possible burglary, they just released a hound that mauled a man to death. What causes the MPD to act this way?

My house was actively being burglarized. The guys were loading stuff up onto a truck and the MPD let them go. This poor man, Joseph Pettaway, was asleep in a house he was remodeling and the police just kill him? It makes me wonder, because the two men caught in the act of burglarizing our home in 2018, Tommy Ryan and JR Hanson were both white and known drug addicts. Tommy Ryan, Jr. is the son of Greenville, Alabama, former city councilman Tommy Ryan, Sr. I have contacted Tommy Ryan Sr. numerous times about his son and he refuses to return calls or emails.

Joseph Pettaway was black, in his mothers house with permission and a key, was just sleeping there while remodeling it. As recently as July 20, 2022 Chief of the Criminal Investigations Division of the MPD John Hall, is on record explaining that “The police can do nothing without the homeowners filing the report and present.” He said they don’t know who is or is not allowed to be in the house.

MPD Corporal Mark Lanicci was given the information and video evidence of my home being burglarized repeatedly by the white drug addicts, by a neighbor in Cloverdale. Corporal Mark Walter Lanicci also did not act, even to this very day. So how does the MPD make an argument that they could attack and kill Pettaway, who was legally and lawfully allowed to be in his Mom’s home that he was remodeling? I believe the body-cam footage is where we will find that answer and two federal judges are making sure it stays locked up. Something has to be done to protect the people of this state or many more will die and the justice system will pick and choose who gets to walk and who gets put into the ground. No justice, no peace.