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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Harassment misdemeanor |
Sentence: |
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Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
2014 |
Year Convicted: |
2014 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Alaska |
County or Region of Crime: |
Bethel Census |
City of Crime: |
Bethel |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Wassillie L. Gregory was wrongly convicted on July 13, 2014 of 2nd degree misdemeanor harassment in an incident with a police officer in Bethel, Alaska on July 12, 2014. The incident occurred in the parking lot of the Alaska Commercial Company store in downtown Bethel. The day after the incident, and without consulting with an attorney, the 48-year-old Gregory pled guilty to 2nd degree misdemeanor harassment in Bethel District Court in exchange for dropping of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges. He was sentenced to two years probation and released after a day in custody. A witness to the incident reported to the Bethel police and the City of Bethel that Gregory had offered no resistance when arrested, and he had been brutally assaulted by the police officer who arrested him. After the witness, Linda Green, a professor from Arizona doing research in the area, got no response from the police or the city she went to the local media. News reports about what Professor Green witnessed, and the failure of the Bethel police or the Alaska State Police to investigate, caused outrage in Bethel and accusations of police brutality of native Americans. Gregory is a native American. Officer Andrew Reid arrested Gregory, and during a a public meeting she told the Bethel City Council, “People treat their animals better then what he did to my brother. People should be outraged.” On April 2, 2015 KYUK-AM/FM/TV in Bethel broadcast a news report that it had obtained the parking lot CCTV video from Alaska Commercial Company that clearly showed Gregory did not resist the officer, while the officer repeatedly body slammed the intoxicated Gregory into the parking lot. The video had been in the possession of the Bethel PD, but it had not been turned over the the District Attorney’s Office. KYUK also reported evidence of an intentional coverup of the incident by the Bethel PD. ACC had provided the harddrive with the surveillance video to the Bethel police at their request, and when the harddrive was returned to the company the video had been erased. ACC took the harddrive to a computer expert who was able to recover the video from the harddrive. ACC then provided a copy of the video Gregory’s attorney, who then shared it with KYUK. Officer Reid was fired from the Bethel PD in March 2015 over a matter unrelated to Gregory’s case. Gregory's lawyer filed a petition to overturn his conviction based on the new evidence. The motion said that Gregory pled guilty because he was intoxicated at the time of his arrest so he relied on the truthfulness of the statement of the arresting police officer. On May 10, 2015 the harrassment conviction was vacated and the charge dismissed by the Bethel District Court based on the new evidence that he was person assaulted by a police officer, not vice-a-versa as depicted in the police arrest report. Gregory's probation was also terminated." |
Conviction Caused By: |
False police report filed by the arresting police officer. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"OIn May 10, 2015 the harrassment conviction was vacated and the charge dismissed by the Bethel District Court based on the new evidence that he was person assaulted by a police officer, not vice-a-versa as depicted in the police arrest report." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
48 |
Age When Released: |
48 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Native American (Indian) |
Information Source 1: |
"Surveillance Video Aids in Dismissal of Bethel Man’s Harassment Conviction, By Staff writer, Alaska Native News, May 13, 2015" |
Information Location 1: |
http://alaska-native-news.com/surveillance-video-aids-in-dismissal-of-bethel-mans-harassment-conviction-17329 |
Information Source 2: |
"Video shows Bethel police officer slamming man to the ground, By Lisa Demer (Staff reporter), Alaska Dispatch News, April 2, 2015" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.adn.com/article/20150402/video-shows-bethel-police-officer-slamming-man-ground |
Information Source 3: |
"Surveillance Video Shows Former Bethel Police Officer Slamming Man to Ground, By Daysha Eaton, KYUK-AM/FM/TV (Bethel, Alaska), April 2, 2015" |
Information Location 3: |
http://kyuk.org/35836/ |
Information Source 4: |
"July 10 – 20 Judgments, The Delta Discovery (Bethel, Alaska), July 23, 2014, Volume 16, Issue 30" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.deltadiscovery.com/story/2014/07/23/cop-shop/july-10-20-judgments/2314.html |
Information Source 5: |
"Allegations of Police Brutality in Bethel, By Daysha Eaton, KYUK (Bethel, Alaska), August 8, 2014" |
Information Location 5: |
http://kyuk.org/allegations-of-police-brutality-in-bethel/ |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org