on Friday November 18th the trial was held appealing the conviction of my client William who was pulled over in Nicholas County West Virginia for flashing his lights to warn oncoming traffic of a speed trap this is the one where during the stop he was arrested for laughing at the police officer who was writing him a ticket for the non-existent crime about a month earlier I posted the body cam footage taken by this police officer J.D Ellison a deputy with the Nicholas County Sheriff's Department that was the one titled West Virginia's most ignorant cop and people were shocked by what they saw just as I was my video went well over 1 million views others covered it as well including audit the audit and lackluster I'm not going to make you wait for the fantastic news about the appeal trial the client was Victorious the conviction was overturned and thrown out he was Vindicated and I was proving correct all along about the law though that shouldn't really have been a difficult issue in the first place you'll want to wait around to hear the details about the appeal trial as well as what else I uncovered about the past conduct of this police officer [Music] the ticket itself for allegedly improper flashing of Lights wasn't that big of a deal it's more than that though it's about the very concept of justice and life in a free country if a police officer can pull you over in the absence of reasonable suspicion that an actual crime was committed and then put you in handcuffs and illegally detain you without justification just because he wants to or because you hurt his feelings then there's nothing stopping him from doing more than that it's a slippery slope with no Safety Net in that type of world a government via a police officer can destroy your life figuratively or even literally speaking for any reason at all because he doesn't like your skin color because you laughed at him and heard his delicate feelings because of your political speech because of your vote and so on I think that part of what made me so angry about this footage is the fact that William is just such a nice guy he was so polite forthright and Cooperative during this traffic stop then you just see the brutal and malicious nature of this police officer rise to the surface then instead of just seeing will William suffered the abuse of this man you see others your own father your grandfather your son your friend that's when you realize that bad cops those controlled by their ego and by their anger they prey on the weak on the innocent they don't pull over a group of Hell's Angels and abuse them they pull over someone like William and arrest him and put them in handcuffs not because he committed any crime but just deflects the government power that they wield for ego and for control pick up the can citizen people frequently ask me why do police officers act in this way perfectly aware that they're recording themselves with their own body cams the answer probably is that they don't see anything wrong with their behavior that's why the title of the original video here was so spot on West Virginia's most ignorant cop he's completely ignorant to the fact that a normal person would watch this video and be shocked and appalled to him though it's just another day at work these guys aren't going to pick on someone their own size they'll prey on those that they see as easy victims and now IRA remember this guy we've seen him before after the first video was published information just flowed in about this particular police officer usually with these types of cops where there's smoke there's fire now many of you have driven through West Virginia over the years have been aware of this notorious speed trap on the four lane US-19 through Summersville West Virginia which is in Nicholas County same county in the past it was widely regarded as the worst speed trap in the state and now we know why this particular cop was so triggered by The Audacity Of one citizen warning another citizen about a speed trap back in 2018 my local community was outraged after a disabled local man who worked at our grocery store collecting the shopping carts was apparently pulled over by the same guy the victim of this Thug cop is just the sweetest guy that you'll ever meet everyone loves him everyone looks out for him he suffered through spinal meningitis as a child which left him 90 percent deaf and with severe physical limitations but nobody in the community could protect them when he drove through Nicholas County West Virginia the notorious speed trap this sweet man driving to visit his family gets pulled over by our friend Deputy JD Ellison supposedly supposedly got at that time for having no brake lights later these brake lights would magically start working again when this man's brother retrieved his vehicle from impound he ended up getting arrested for DUI based solely on the word of Deputy Nelson who claimed that he failed field sobriety tests but he probably looked to Allison like he was a drug dealer or up to no good combine this with the fact that the man has difficulty communicating with people due to his disabilities and no doubt has physical issues performing these bogus field sobriety tests we saw how Deputy Ellison treats his victims at traffic stops imagine being a black disabled man with difficulty communicating and hearing you get put in handcuffs and accused of DUI all it takes is Deputy Ellison determining that you look like a criminal or you're offending him in some way this is why body cams are so important this is the only way that Deputy Ellison was exposed this is the only way that so many other bad cops have been exposed if we have no footage and all we have is their police report written by that cop they're not going to put the truth in there so this sweet man gets arrested by Ellison in 2018. Ellison tows this man's vehicle this man mind you had very little money he worked at a local grocery store returning cards for people his brother ends up coming and bailing him out and paying the tow bill for him this cost him 350 bucks that he didn't have when people find out about this back in our local community they are angry across the board a local legislator finds out it hits the news he calls for an investigation by the Attorney General next thing you know the cops are backtracking according to wvva news after they aired their original story The arresting agency at least on paper issued a shocking statement here it is Summersville police chief John Nowak said Thursday his officers did not participate in the arrest of Jeffrey Jones on Sunday August 5th although patrolman R.L McClung with the Summersville Police Department signed both pages of the criminal complaint the chief said the officer merely notarized the document for the arresting officer Deputy JD Ellison with the Nicholas County Sheriff's Department so it wasn't us it was that guy basically originally Ellison's name wasn't on the document everyone thought it was this McClung guy but wait a minute Deputy Ellison didn't sign the document the town claims to the news media that their officer merely quote notarized the document and submitted it on behalf of Deputy Ellison so the first person narrative I.E the police report and the criminal complaint was written by Ellison but not signed by him instead signed by some other cop working for an entirely different agency in West Virginia the state supreme court provides these criminal complaint forms to law enforcement to effectuate pre-indictment arrests these are basically arrest warrant applications they're completed and signed under oath by a police officer and then submitted to the magistrate in that county who is then required to review those sworn allegations and then make one of two choices either yes there is probable cause to issue an arrest warrant or no there is not probable cause and therefore there is no arrest warrant which would also order the release of an arrestee should he already be in custody so here a narrative was provided by Deputy Ellison but his name is nowhere on it some other cop's name is on it but those aren't that other cops sworn words the document didn't mention the allegations that were written in the first person narrative style as having come from some other police officer just looking at the document a magistrate would know the identity of the actual police officer whose words they're reading and making this decision about in any event the whole thing just apparently went away quickly the fact that Deputy Ellison did that to this man and completely escaped accountability in 2018 demonstrates why he felt emboldened to treat William the way he did in 2022 did he have any supervision who was supervising him was his supervisor doing the same thing did his supervisor share the same ethics and morals as Ellison was he just turned loose to do as he pleased at the end of the day in West Virginia the prosecuting attorney is actually the top law enforcement official in the case of William's interaction with Ellison in 2022 there would have been no conviction without the prosecutor same with the magistrate who entered the conviction I don't see how any member of the bar or even any freedom-loving American can look at that body cam footage of William and Ellison at this traffic stop and not instantly conclude that the charges should be dropped immediately and an apology given and then some so let's for one second assume that the prosecutor did not see the footage prior to the conviction taking place let's just assume that now fast forward to the appeal so here's what happened after publishing the YouTube video apparently people started just blowing up the county now in one Communication Center the county reached out to me to clarify that it was the Sheriff's Office who engaged in the conduct you see in the video and for people to direct I it them rather than the 911 Center thus I provided an update about that information in the video comments and description it was clear very clear that members of that community did not like what they saw in the video here was the problem technically the conviction was in place that means that we have a big problem with being able to succeed in a civil rights lawsuit the conviction had to go otherwise the federal courts would be barred by something called the heck Doctrine from everholding that the stop was unlawful if a West Virginia Court rendered an adjudication that William committed a traffic violation under West Virginia law and that conviction stood no federal court could thereafter even rightfully conclude that the conviction was garbage the federal court would be forced to treat William as having violated West Virginia law which would mean valid justification existed for the initial stop and detainment even though it didn't that's a problem because the point is valid justification did not exist so the conviction had to go at the same time however the video had gone viral no doubt the local prosecutor may be the judge and others they might not be happy with me this creates a problem if William appeals it and walks in with me that might actually end up hurting him because maybe they don't like me they then see what's coming as well obviously that is a distraction as well as a possible conflict so I found another lawyer a patriot I've worked with before John belinovich out of Charleston West Virginia he volunteered to do the job and to help he got the appeal filed in time which is not easy by the way they make it so difficult that two or three lawyers together can hardly figure out how to make it through the red tape to appeal one of these things I can imagine how difficult or impossible it would be for someone acting per se as William was initially here so the other John gets the appeal filed and it gets scheduled for November 18th at 2 o'clock P.M that was Friday in West Virginia the appeal of a misdemeanor goes to the next court to the local Circuit Court there you basically start over and just redo the trial you have another trial this time before real judge not just a magistrate most of whom have never even been to law school or practiced law so a saint this is the judge that you would have for a first degree murder trial so the same assistant prosecutor who was at the first hearing shows up thus it was a good call to bring in the other John in our debriefing session John told me that the prosecutor still wasn't backing down he hadn't changed his mind he still wanted the conviction so they had the trial Deputy Ellison was there he was placed under oath and John began to question him Ellison admitted that he pulled over William for flashing his lights just like we see in the video so we already knew that but and there was no attempt made at coming up with some other valid reason to make the stop which sometimes happens didn't happen here that's good eventually the judge stopped the trial and said he was acquitting William of the charge because the flashing lights statute that he was charged with violating pertains to equipment it does not pertain to Williams behavior and this is is exactly correct so the charges were dismissed and William won so now we're more clear to proceed with the Civil Rights lawsuit the other John also is going to come along for the ride as well but I can't get out of my head the anger that I feel at this prosecutor who even after watching this video footage couldn't bring himself to do the right thing here again it's not just about William if William was undisputedly treated this way taken for a ride through the criminal justice system for no lawful reason how many others are there out there the discretionary power of prosecutors is enormous it's life and death I just find what happened here shameful but of course like the judge prosecutors have absolute immunity generally now they can lose that immunity under some circumstances if they act in concert with the police during an investigation they can be lowered to qualified immunity there actually was some suggestion in the footage that Deputy Ellison was in contact with the prosecutor during the stop we'll just have to wait and see what information comes out when he's put under oath this time in federal court and much more has been learned about Deputy Ellison that will be covered in future videos so stay tuned this one will be interesting as always thanks for watching you can find more detailed information on this at the blog at the Civil Rights lawyer.com please make sure to subscribe if you enjoy this type of content which really is the best way to learn the law you use specific facts and then try to apply the law please comment like And subscribe as it helps the video and helps me spread this content in this message I have a lot of exciting stuff in the works that you don't want to miss including in Williams case freedom is scary deal with it I'll see you next time foreign [Music]