Colorado Church Releases Open Letter Concerning Police & Prosecutor Abuse of Black Parishioners

Aggrieved Church Says Due Process is Manipulated to Ensure Blacks are Convicted & Imprisoned

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, USA, May 10, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In a May 3, 2021 open letter, the Colorado Springs Fellowship Church (CSFC) takes a hard line against Colorado Springs police chief Vince Niski, El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen and Mayor John Suthers for their continuing failure to hold Detective Brian Corrado accountable for conducting a biased investigation predicated on racial and religious bias against black parishioners and for his alleged participation in the theft of $20,000.00 worth of church property.

“People have a tendency to be dismissive of claims against police officers, prosecutors and judges because they are revered in our society as protectors and defenders of justice,” says Lamont Banks, Executive Director of A Just Cause. “But underneath the blue uniform and black robe, and behind the noble job title and prestigious law degree, they are fallible humans who are capable of lying, being racist, biased or committing a crime. There is never a reason to demonize all justice officials for the actions of few, but we need to stop with the God-complex, superhero view of police, prosecutors and judges,” says Banks.

A Just Cause says the Colorado Springs Fellowship Church has every reason to cry foul because court and police records show:

1) Detective Corrado conducted a biased, one-sided investigation against the church
2) Detective Corrado encouraged subjects of the investigation (Nick and Arnisha Gainer) to steal church property
3) Detective Corrado told the subjects of the investigation that he and the Colorado Springs Police Department would treat their theft of church property as a civil matter
4) Detective Corrado and El Paso County Assistant District Attorney Katy Kinney charged church parishioners with felony crimes based solely on the story of the subjects who stole church property
5) El Paso County Assistant District Attorney Katy Kinney rejected and returned CSFC’s property theft complaint without even viewing it, stating that if Corrado didn’t present it to her as a criminal case with probable cause, she wouldn’t look at it.

CSFC permitted the Gainers to temporarily reside in a corporate apartment leased and furnished by the church, provided they follow the rules of no drugs and guns in the apartment. After violating the rules and becoming belligerent with church leadership, the Gainers decided they no longer wanted to attend the church. Seven parishioners went to the apartment to secure its $20,0000 worth of property. Nick Gainer pulled a gun on parishioners, prompting church parishioners to call the police. The Gainers subsequently moved out of the apartment and with the encouragement and approval of Detective Corrado, they stole all the church’s property. Corrado and Kinney quickly arrested and maliciously charged church members with felony burglary and stalking.

Church leadership was shocked and dismayed that Corrado and Kinney charged their parishioners with felony crimes after they called the police to protect them and their property. It appears that Corrado and Kinney conspired together in a scheme to violate the law and civil rights of black church parishioners.

The church filed a formal complaint against Corrado for conducting a biased investigation and participating in the theft of $20,000.00 worth of church property as well as failing/refusing to arrest and charge the Gainers for stealing their property.

According to a report by CSPD Internal Affairs (IA) an IA investigator requested that the district attorney’s office review the complaint of theft by CSFC because it was directly linked to charges against parishioners. Corrado told the IA investigator that Deputy DA Katy Kinney would not even consider reviewing the criminal complaint unless he believed there was probable cause to arrest and charge the Gainers. “I do not believe there is probable cause [to arrest and charge the Gainers with felony theft],” Corrado told the IA investigator
(Click https://bit.ly/33p0TsU to view IA report). “Corrado is a liar and the audio recording of his interview with Arnisha Gainer proves it,” says Banks.

In an audio recording from court records, Arnisha Gainer tells Detective Corrado: “I know they want THEIR STUFF and I don’t know if we- if we take it, if we’re in the wrong from taking it.” The recording then shows Corrado inducing Gainer into committing theft of church property under the guise that Gainer had previously suggested to him that she thought the $20,000.00 worth of church property was a gift. Corrado, who is not an attorney, suggests to Gainer that she should hire a “civil attorney” and tells her with an obvious wink and nod that “the way we look at this case is, they were there to take things back they THOUGHT belonged to them,” Corrado told Gainer (Click https://bit.ly/3uAp7N5 to hear audio of Gainer & Corrado).

A Just Cause poses the following questions to Corrado, Chief Niski, El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen, and Mayor John Suthers (former Colorado State Attorney General and former Colorado U.S. Attorney):

1) If Arnisha Gainer really believed twenty thousand dollars worth of church property was a gift and belonged to her why would she say the church wanted “THEIR STUFF” and ask Corrado if it would be wrong to take it?
2) If Corrado truly believed the property belonged to the Gainers and had irrefutable proof of that why didn’t he just tell her the church has no right to her property?
3) Does Corrado have evidence showing the church board signed over the property to the Gainers?
4) Why was Detective Corrado, who is not an attorney, giving Ms. Gainer legal advice?
5) If (according to Corrado) parishioners went to the corporate church apartment to secure property they THOUGHT belonged to them, why were they arrested and charged with burglary when there was no intent to commit a crime?
6) If Detecive Corrado was conducting an unbiased investigation and searching for the truth, why didn’t he contact the church board and ask them whether the board had gave TWENTY THOUSAND dollars worth of property to the Gainers?
7) Why did Deputy DA Kinney (who is supposed to be searching for the truth) refuse to review a complaint that is directly linked to her case against the parishioners? “Furthermore, isn’t ‘probable cause’ a legal standard that is ultimately determined by the district attorney, not the police?

Court discovery documents also show that prior to her interview, Arnisha Gainer provided Corrado with a letter she received and signed for from church attorney Bernard Kleinman, telling her not to remove or damage church property (Click https://bit.ly/3tWGo2f to view letter).

Black’s Law Dictionary (Abridged, 10th Edition) defines probable cause as “a reasonable ground to suspect that a person has committed or is committing a crime or that a place contains specific items connected with a crime.”

“There was clearly probable cause under the law to arrest and charge the Gainers with felony theft of church property, or as Ms. Gainer put it, THEIR STUFF!” says Banks. “Court records prove that Detective Corrado is a biased, crooked cop who obstructed justice and lied to Internal Affairs,” adds Banks. “Corrado is a ‘bad apple’ in the Colorado Springs Police Department and the same goes for Corrado cohort Katy Kinney in the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office who apparently conspired with Corrado to wrongly prosecute parishioners,” exclaims Banks. “What is elected District Attorney Michael Allen’s knowledge or involvement in this malicious, biased prosecution against these black parishioners?” asks Banks. “African Americans distrust police, prosecutors and the so-called legal process because of cases just like this,” adds Banks.

The Colorado Springs Fellowship Church explains in their open letter that African Americans deep distrust in policing and the criminal justice system stems from cases like theirs, far more than George Floyd’s which received broad media attention.

“It is the hundreds (if not thousands) of cases like ours that occur daily where blacks are harassed, abused, charged with felony crimes...for the most innocuous conduct as well as being subjected to a different standard of due process—an unfair due process standard where blacks are overwhelmingly presumed guilty and the law is manipulated in the courts to ensure they are convicted and imprisoned,” CSFC’s letter stated. “The mass incarceration of blacks was not happenstance; it was cases like ours where police brass, prosecutors, judges, and mayors support rogue police in destroying black lives,” said CSFC.

In their open letter, CSFC also accuses Corrado and Kinney of having the same indifferent “attitude and hubris” as Chauvin.

“Is what Derek Chauvin did much different than what Corrado and the El Paso County DA are doing?” the church said in its letter. “Chauvin abused his power to take George Floyd’s life and brought immeasurable pain and suffering to Floyd’s family, friends, and community,” added CSFC. “Corrado and the El Paso County DA are abusing their power to destroy lives through the gratuitous taking of liberty—to murder reputations—to bring pain and suffering to black families and the black community,” CSFC’s board wrote. “You cannot take liberty without taking a major part of someone’s life,” exclaimed CSFC’s Board.

“A knee from law enforcement doesn’t have to be physically on the neck of a person to cause irreparable harm to them,” says Lamont Banks, Executive Director of A Just Cause. “As the church said in its letter, Corrado and the District Attorney Allen are, in essence, putting their respective knees on the necks of parishioners liberty through bias and abuse of the legal process. Their apparent goal is to make sure these parishioners ‘can’t breathe’ free air and add them to the mass incarceration totals of African Americans,” says Banks.

CSFC parishioners told A Just Cause that they don’t hate police or believe the entire Colorado Springs Police Department is crooked. But they are very distrusting of Chief Niski, District Attorney Michael Allen and Mayor John Suthers doing nothing about Corrado’s and Kinney’s corruption, the theft of church property, and allowing them to be unjustly arrested, charged, booked, stripped, humiliated and having their lives continue to be disrupted by the Colorado justice system when they had the power to do something about it.

“Prosecutors and judges in America seemed to be obsessed with locking up African-Americans for almost anything yet they tell us to trust in the rule of law when there is a different set of rules for blacks,” adds Banks. “I encourage everyone to read CSFC’s open letter at https://bit.ly/3gYQvjC,” concludes Banks.

To bring attention to Corrado and the district attorney’s abuse of the church, A Just Cause has published three previous online press releases (see links below) and will continue to shed light on CSFC’s injustice on their Internet radio show (www.ajcradio.com).

AJC’s radio show airs on Thursday nights from 8PM to 10PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) and has a listening audience of up to 30 million people.

https://www.einpresswire.com/article/536187404/church-says-cop-s-religious-bias-responsible-for-theft-of-their-property?r=pafcRN-pBcXghm7cUB

https://www.einpresswire.com/article/537092645/colorado-church-praised-for-supporting-law-enforcement-becomes-victim-of-biased-police-detective?r=pa6jH9tt3gD-ZsZgkd

https://www.einpresswire.com/article/537750337/court-records-expose-police-officer-s-bias-and-culpability-in-theft-of-church-property?r=paYsHZ8GcO4x0F5SPe

Lamont Banks
A Just Cause
+1 855-529-4252 ext. 710
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