Crime

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Vancouver Police: forensic fumbling & racial profiling

by jr | April 14, 2007 at 12:39 pm | 788 views | 2 comments | 10 recommendations

A cliffhanger. That’s how the murder trial of Dennis Knibbs ended it’s third day on Thursday. A witness who had dropped by the New Wings Hotel to buy cocaine, spotted a 2 foot long barrel of gun as the door to one of the rooms flung partially open. Then the gun went off. A man in the hall fell forward. Who was holding the shot gun behind the door? It wasn't the defendant, Dennis Knibbs. He was standing in the hall.

The cliffhanger came at the end of a long day, after court spectators had suffered through VPD forensics report mistakes and even racial profiling in which Black males were assumed to be pimps. Did I mention the witness with a bad case of cocaine withdrawal and a worse case of amnesia.?

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jordan

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:27 on April 14th, 2007

jr, very nice coverage. Thanks for shedding some light on a less-covered element of the criminal justice system: No celebrities, no high-profile cases, just people trying to survive.

You've convinced me you've done the work - it's authentic. I also think that you've been fair and thorough. I didn't get the sense that you were hiding your biases, or passing off other's work as your own. Or worse -- getting paid by those you cover -- so it's transparent and independent. I think you deserve praise for your investigative efforts.

Good stuff.