Dear Chief Justice Stark,
My name is Douglas Wade Beatty [ personal info redacted]
On April 8, 2019 this citizen attended a proceeding in the Chief Justice's court room entailing oral arguments for pre-trail motions in the matter of Dr. Jahi Issa vs Delaware State University and others.
I am not an attorney or party to the case, I have followed the case since December 2012 when I attended the pre-trial motion hearing for Dr. Issa's criminal trial. My interest in this case is as a citizen concerned with the quality of justice and as a human being concerned for my fellow human beings.
Your respondent was running for the honor of representing the thirty fourth representative district of Delaware in October of 2012 when a group of citizens in Dover asked a group of candidates to assist in investigating a death and an assault at Silver Lake park in downtown Dover Delaware.
Your respondent was the candidate that could not turn away from the small group of concerned neighbors that included now Dover City Councilman Roy Sudler. I told the people I had no power or authority to do anything but gave my oath to do my best with what I have and here I am.
Dr. Jahi Issa was there and told me that he had been arrested for nothing in addition to the concerns of the neighbors. We were both former residents of the District of Columbia and I was intrigued.
Nobody your respondent ever had to restrain professionally was doing anything wrong either by their account. I had to hear this story.
Dr. Issa was dead serious, police officers lied on the stand to ruin him for no good reason.
I was there. Still in disbelief after my own experience working around police officers in asset protection. I didn't believe Dr. Issa after the preliminary hearing such as it was with only the state presenting evidence.
Dr. Issa's integrity was not in question, but his recollection and knowledge of statute were unproven to me and I believed he had done something in a moment of anger that he didn't remember or that he perceived differently than others did due to his larger than mean size and apparent athleticism for a man of large size. .
The story told in the pretrial motion hearing of 'the hit' or 'the shove' whether it were 'forearm' or 'an elbow shot' was credible as there was just enough variation to suggest it may have been truthfull.
It was disturbingly easy for these men to fool me.
That night on December 5, 2012 I viewed the Youtube video of the arrest you saw in your court room on Monday April 8, 2019 and I nearly fell out of my chair. The man was truly arrested for nothing.
During the proceedings Monday, this citizen heard the Chief Judge say that Chief Downes did not arrest Dr. Issa due to the content of his speech. I did not hear that from the attorneys during their presentation and did not read the motions and responses. So I do not know the origin of the grounds for that statement but the statement is false.
During the criminal trial, Samuel Guy Esquire, counsel for defense, asked Chief Downes why he approached Dr. Issa.
Chief Downes expressed that a student holding a pro-DSU sign or a group praising and promoting DSU would not need a permit. Protesting any policy or condition at DSU according to Downes did require a permit.
Downes admitted that if no permit had been required he would not have approached Dr. Issa. Mr Guy made an oral motion to dismiss the case because the statements of Chief Downes were so offensive to the First Amendment that the matter should be dropped. Judge Charles Welch ruled that the trial could proceed because the sole remaining charge was resisting arrest and it didn't have to be a lawful arrest.
Also, the state used more than the two videos on Youtube at the trial. Deputy Attorney General Ben Snyder showed Dr. Issa an image of the student standing on a table holding the poster of a black power fist and questioned him about it. That image apparently came from a cell phone video and this citizen is curious as to how Mr. Snyder came to be in possession of said image.
There is also a letter from the Attorney General's office to Sam Guy which lists a surveillance video that would be provided to defense, it never was and the letter is dated before a student posted the video "Copy of Attack on Dr. Issa" on Youtube used at trial. I know because I saw the video the night it went up in December 2012 and I downloaded it to an SD card and gave it to Mr. Guy. I had to testify to that on the witness stand during the criminal trial. The state indicated that there was a surveillance video then and there isn't one now. No matter who did what evidence was not preserved.
I am a certified protection officer by the International Foundation for Protection Officers in Manitoba Canada and I was a the night and weekend security supervisor at Union Station in Washington D.C., sworn in as a special police officer in the District of Columbia under the administrative management of Metropolitan District of Columbia Police Department Special Officers Management Branch and employed by LaSalle Partners ltd of Chicago Illinois in the late 80's.
Based on my experience with closed circuit television in security it was my opinion in 2013 after visiting the Martin Luther King jr Student Center at Delaware State University which was intended expressly in University literature as a facility for student organizational activity which by definition includes confrontational meetings where Dr. Issa posits that he was assaulted that the camera footage may not have been probative for either party in the case due to image quality but looking from the patio through the glass at the camera lenses something should have been recorded. My opinion only.
The Camera over the escalator appeared to be mounted to cover the doorway and depending on the field of view should have captured some image of Dr. Issa, Officer Buchwald, and or Chief Downes based on their proximity to the door in the video you saw in your courtroom. That's all opinion.
The fact is that the state said they had a surveillance video, and now they say they don't.
Whether or not a state actor did it intentionally has no bearing on the fact that this evidence did exist according to the state, and now it doesn't according to the state.
Plaintiff counsels' assertion in motion for spoiliation that it is "unclear" whether the A.G. referred to surveillance video or cell phone video is beyond upsetting to this citizen.
The only cell phone videos extant on September 12 2012 on YouTube of Dr. Issa's arrest were uploaded raw and the phones were not held horizontally so the video is horizontal on Youtube.
In your courtroom, and in Judge Welch's court room I saw counsel for plaintiff refer to and show you a rotated video that did not exist when the AG letter was sent. The rotated video counsel presented to the Court on April 8. 2019 was uploaded on December 5. 2012 some months after the A.G. letter stating that they had a surveillance video.
Is the Plaintiff counsel asking the Chief Judge to believe that a Delaware Assistant Attorney General would characterize a sideways YouTube video from a hand held cell phone as a surveillance video? This citizen is also curious as to whether the Chief Judge would accept such a notion after careful consideration?
I saw her prosecute the case. She presented as impetuous. She is the only lawyer besides Mr. Guy I have met during this process who didn't act like they were intimidated by witnesses to the process. Were your respondent in need of and in a position to retain counsel Ms. Taylor would be sought out by me before anyone I saw before you on April 8, 2019. Again only an opinion based on observation.
There are other factual issues I noted and shared with Dr. Issa but hopefully this letter has outlined enough of the issues for me to communicate my concern over the process I have observed so far. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Yours Truly,
Douglas Wade Beatty
Magnolia Delaware
PostScript:
This citizen apologizes for the intrusion into the Chief Judge's domain.
Your respondent knows that the Court has taken the same oath of office I have sworn to seven times. My conscience and my colleagues no longer among us would not allow me to sleep were silence kept.
I sincerely regret any unintended offense to the court and having read a bit of the Chief Judge's background and responses to congress at confirmation would like to thank you for your service.
