Earlier this week, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan warned AG Peter Nickles: "You're playing games with the wrong judge." Sullivan was referring to the AG's near endless stall tactics in the Pershing Park cases. These tactics include attempting to preventing depositions from being taken, and fighting the release of documents to the public. But what about Sullivan's characterization that Nickles is playing games?

In an effort to answer that question, City Desk offers a play-by-play concerning the testimony of Det. Paul Hustler.

Read More "Pershing Park Case: The Games Peter Nickles Plays" »

When news broke yesterday that a D.C. Police Detective had come forward to dispute former Chief Charles Ramsey's assertion that he did not order the arrests in Pershing Park in 2002, I immediately thought of Kathy Patterson.

Few fought harder to get at the truth of what led to Pershing Park than the former D.C. councilmember. Seven years later, Det. Paul Hustler comes forward to say out loud what a lot of people knew: Ramsey was directly responsible for Pershing Park. What did Patterson think?

Patterson responded to Hustler's affidavit with an e-mail. "I'd like to see the District settle," she wrote. "I'd like to have some assurance of lessons learned."

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Patterson Hopes District Has Learned Its Lesson" »

I get a tip from a colleague that Traci Hughes might be out as the D.C. Police Department's spokesperson. This morning, I call her office to get confirmation.

I'm put on hold. After two minutes, I decide to hang up and try again.

I'm put on hold again.

Finally, a pleasant voice gets on the line at the D.C. Police Department's Office of Public Information.

I ask: What happened to Traci Hughes? Is she no longer the D.C. Police spokesperson?

I am instructed that the Office of Public Information can not answer such questions. I am then given a name and number of someone in "Strategic Services." His name is Kevin Palmer.

I get Palmer's voicemail.

Read More "Traci Hughes Is Out As Police Spokesperson" »

Congress Heights on the Rise gives 7D police and Asst. Chief Diane Groomes an "A+." The blogger writes: "The Advoc8te sees the police out in full force in my neighborhood in  response to the carjackings this week. There are about 10 police cars on our street and we feel much safer!  This increased police prescence is MUCH appreciated!" Sure. But what about all the murders in 7D?

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Do The D.C. Police Deserve An A+?" »

Last Friday, Pershing Park case lawyers had arranged to depose  Detective Paul Hustler. All was going according to routine. Hustler showed up. The OAG lawyers showed up. The day before, he had been prepped by the OAG's team.  But just as the deposition was about to start, Hustler made an unusual request.

Hustler wanted his own attorney present.

The deposition had to be put off. OAG lawyers used this speed bump to immediately filed a motion in U.S. District Court to bar Hustler from giving his deposition.

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Nickles Attempts To Prevent Detective From Testifying" »

AG Peter Nickles had promised to settle the Pershing Park cases by Thanksgiving. If he wants to make good on that promise, he might start with picking up the phone, and meeting with the plaintiffs lawyers. According to one lawyer, Jonathan Turley, the attorney general has yet to even call him.

While Nickles may not be such a goodwill ambassador, he did promise the courts that plaintiffs would see a nice payday soon. In late September, Nickles told U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan that he would personally direct settlement talks. He boasted of making huge breakthroughs in the negotiations, and stated that he expects the cases to be wrapped before the Macy's Parade. Yesterday, Nickles announced a settlement in an unrelated protester case, and again expressed hope that the Pershing Park cases would be resolved within weeks.

Turley, who represents plaintiffs in one of those cases (the Chang case), says Nickles has actually shutdown talks. "Despite the statement by AG Nickles that he was going to settle these cases," Turley explains, "he canceled all settlement negotiations with the Chang plaintiffs soon after leaving Judge Sullivan."

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Is Peter Nickles Ready To Deal?" »

After some last minute stonewalling by the Office of the Attorney General, Pershing Park plaintiffs were finally allowed to depose a District employee concerning the vast discovery abuses in this mess of a case. Backed up by a court order, the employee was deposed on October 23. According to a filing submitted in U.S. District Court yesterday, the deposition exposed new  discovery abuses.

What are those new abuses?

During discovery over the cases, District employees culled e-mails related to Pershing Park. There were so many e-mails found that they needed a flatbed dolly to transport the documents. Those thousands of pages were carted to the office of the D.C. Police Department's general counsel.

Years later, the documents have not yet been turned over to plaintiffs attorneys. Even after the U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan slammed the city for its discovery failings this past summer. Even after AG Peter Nickles promised a thorough case review and document dump.

How do the lawyers know this? The District's own witness---Kimberly Thorpe---told them in last week's deposition.

Read More "Pershing Park Case: New Discovery Abuse Shocker" »

In early 2009, the Partnership for Civil Justice filed a lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court in the hopes that the D.C. Police Department would get its act together and comply with a very basic FOIA request. What did the civil rights lawyers want?

They wanted the D.C. Police to cough up their operational procedures and general orders. In other words, just the rules on how the police are supposed to govern themselves, and utilize their authority with the general public. The complaint stated:

“Public disclosure of the operational policies and practices, orders and staff instructions of the police department is essential for policing in a democratic society and to establish accountability….The D.C. FOIA mandates that the MPD specifically make public and make available upon demand its policies, procedures, manuals and staff instructions….Additionally the MPD is required to publish a general index of all such records unless the materials are promptly published and copies offered for sale.”

Today, the Partnership announced that the D.C. Police Department has finally complied with the FOIA.

Read More "It’s About Time: D.C. Police Release General Orders In Response To FOIA Fight" »

Just after midnight on Monday, GW's Hatchet reported that senior Royal Gethers had gone missing. D.C. Police and the university had launched an investigation. Gethers was out of sight for a little more than a day.

Friends told the Hatchet that Gethers wasn't the type of guy to just disappear. He was always texting, etc. When he failed to meet up with a friend on Sunday, and didn't text in an apology, people got worried.

Friends started a Facebook group. Others planned to fly to D.C. to help with the search effort. Flyers started going up.

"Jazz Hayes" wrote into the Facebook group:

"GOODMORNING TEAM. LETS BE PRODUCTIVE AND PRECISE TODAY. FLYERS GO OUT, AND LOCAL NEWSTATIONS ARE CONTACTED. I WILL PAPER THIS ENTIRE DAMN CITY."

And this from Hayes: "SEARCH TEAM POST YOUR TWITTERS SO WE MAY STAY UPDATED AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER!"

And then, um, Gethers showed up on campus Monday morning.

Read More "GW Student Goes ‘Missing,’ Creates One More Unnecessary Facebook Group" »

Dee Does The District doesn't appreciate a sad bit of race baiting reported from the marathon hearing on the DCPS teacher layoffs.

Harry Potter and the Urban School Nightmare despairs over their students' poor attendance. They write:

"Our school's enrollment is down, and attendance is lower than I've ever seen it. When I first started at my school, I routinely had between 25 and 30 students in my class each day. Now, I'm lucky if I get 12. Today, less than half of my students were in class, and last week the average was 55%. Now, the kids who are there every day are learning like FIENDS, but at this rate 45% of my kids are going to fail. So what gives?"

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: DCPS Students Discover The Working Lunch" »

There have been a number of shootings lately in Shaw. This has touched off a lot of worries on the part of community leaders that a gang war has started up. Councilmember Jim Graham dashed off a letter to D.C. Police  Chief Cathy Lanier and others concerning these recent events.

Read the letter after the jump.

Read More "Has A Gang War Started In Shaw? Graham Says Yes." »

Today, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia refused to hear the District's appeal on the legality of  D.C. police checkpoints. On July 10, a unanimous three-judge panel of that court ruled that the police checkpoints---which started in Trinidad---were unconstitutional.

The District's only recourse at this point is to take its case to the Supreme Court.

AG Peter Nickles tells City Desk: "I'm disappointed. We'll look at our options including a Supreme Court request....The D.C. Circuit has spoken and we'll take it from there."

In late August, the Examiner published a piece arguing that the District's low homicide rate might be due to the cooler-than-usual summer temps. The story was one of the dumbest crime stories we've ever read. Even D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier called the lower-temp theory "idiotic." But the story did at least provoke a little attention on the police department's stunning successes and the city's big drop in murders. When Lanier speculated that the city could see fewer than 100 homicides for the year, she wasn't laughed out of town. Of course, the District's perps did not cooperate.

As of today, there have been 106 homicides. At this point last year, there were 148 homicides. The plummeting homicide rate is still quite impressive. So why is the District experiencing such a huge drop?

Read More "Chief Lanier Deserves Credit For Drop In Homicides" »

The Metropolitan Police Department just re-upped its emergency supply kit recommendations this morning in honor of September: Did you know it’s National Preparedness Month?

I occasionally think it might be a good idea to create a kit and come up with a plan since we live in a place terrorists most likely dream about bombing, burning, crashing into, or … well, I think you get the picture. And, now with Swine Flu poised for a comeback, there seems even more reason to stockpile the canned food and water, though I don’t know where one is supposed to put all those rations in the average D.C. apartment. You’d need a separate storage unit. And, wouldn't that defeat the purpose? But some provisions seem appropriate.

Anyone know where I can get one of those face masks?

The back-and-forth continues over the Pershing Park mess in U.S. District Court. Today, AG Peter Nickles filed his response to former Councilmember Kathy Patterson's letter to Judge Emmet Sullivan on Aug. 20.

In his barely three-page response, Nickles provides a nearly substance-free denial of Patterson's claims that his sworn statement had contained inaccuracies. Last week, Nickles had expressed his displeasure to the court that Patterson had jumped into the fray and that her letter had been made public. Again, it all centers around the discovery problems.

Read More "Pershing Park Case: Nickles Responds To Patterson’s Charges" »