Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights
Oakland rapper Zoe Tha Roasta won a $300,000 lawsuit Thursday after being wrongfully accused and serving jail time for a crime he did not commit.
The city of Oakland, California agreed to settle the lawsuit with Zoe, whose real name is Lorenzo Hall, after former police officer Ramon Alcantar was found guilty of planting a gun on the rapper which resulted in a nearly two-year prison stint for him.
Zoe's settlement resulted in a $175,000 payment for him and the rest would be paid out in attorney's fees.
"This was an important case for holding the police officers accountable for their misconduct," Hall's attorney, John Burris, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Because Mr. Hall has a criminal record, the officers claimed a weapon found in a car was his when the evidence was clear that the gun belonged to someone else."
The entire incident occurred back in 2006 when Zoe was attending an aunt's funeral. Alcantar disrupted the mournful gathering to arrest Zoe for various past weapons offenses. Police reports stated at the time that Zoe fit the description of a suspect that they had been looking for based on information that had been provided by an informant. Officers also believed that Zoe had a loaded .40-caliber gun in his possession at the time. According to the rapper, he was detained by Alcantar, who placed him in the back of his squad car and said, "I found your gun."
Zoe's attorney argued that not only did his client not have a loaded gun in his possession but that the weapon actually belonged to someone else. He also proved that the gun was in a parked car not far from where his client was at the time. Zoe was taken into custody and spent four months behind bars before he was even allowed to post bail.
Since California has a strict law which increases penalties for third time offenders, Zoe, despite his vocal protests claiming his innocence, spent 18 months in prison before the case was dropped in 2008. Meanwhile, it is not clear whether Alcantar merely retired from the police department or simply left as a result of the case.
The Oakland police denies any wrongdoing whatsoever and stands strong on their decision to back Alcantar's detaining actions towards Zoe based on the information that the "informant" provided.
I, for one, am overjoyed that Zoe got his retribution. Police cover up has been around since the year of the flood and these heinous acts have raised serious questions over the years with regards to the integrity of law enforcement. Sure, one can argue that there are many ethical law enforcement officials in the United States justice system, but on the flip side, there are also some law enforcement officials who unfortunately commit misconduct during the investigations of crimes.
Dishonest law enforcement officials adversely impact the credibility of other upstanding officials, and they can quite literally destroy the lives of persons who are wrongfully accused.
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