Detroit 2011: Lessons In Unnecessary Death by Murder

M. Dante pondering in Philly: What can we do to change the way prostitutes, people exploring gender identity and police interact?  There has to be a better way to address differences in lifestyle choices to prevent violent  situations from continuing on this level. Minor amounts of marijuana should not lead to murder, and prostitutes should not be forced to make bad deals with police. Sex work  doesn’t have to  end  like this, not even if smoking pot while working as a prostitute.

COYOTEri shares: This is so screwed up on so many levels. The cops caught a 19 yr old sex worker in a hotel with weed, and rather than go to jail, she asks about working off the charge, by calling her drug dealer.They have her sign the paperwork to be an informant which said that the cops would use reasonable means to protect her identity, however it couldn’t be guaranteed . She calls the drug dealer who says that he will be there in 20 minutes, but the cops plan to pull him over in a traffic stop before he gets to the hotel. Then the cops tell the drug dealers companion in the car the identity of the woman and she is murdered. The cop also gave the prosecutor the informants name, so it could be used in the pleading summary. Then the city releases her name, social security number and her family info to the defense council who shared it with his clients who were gang members. Then the cops tried to claim that she was murdered because she was engaging in illegal activity, prostitution, but the jury ruled that this was just the method that the killer used to gain access to her and kill her and not the cause of her death.