Mark Curtis wins suit against Des Moines cops

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Greetings from Socialist Action The following are greetings from Socialist Action to a Feb. 8 rally in Des We have recently learned of the victory in Mark's lawsuit against the police who viciously beat him as part of the frame-up that resulted in putting him Congratulations to Mark himself for this victory, which is in no small part due to his unwavering and principled fight from behind prison walls. He has been an example to all working people everywhere who have or may face govemment persecution for their defense of our rights and living conditions and for Congratulations also to the defense committee and all who support it, for without their efforts this victory would not have been won.

Because Mark was convicted mainly on the testimony of one cop, and the fact that the defense was not allowed to present evidence that even the thoroughly corrupt and racist Des Moines police department cited this cop for a record of lying, nor to present evidence of the vicious beating the cops administered, this victory helps undercut the frame-up itself. Let's use this victory to renew our On Jan. 31, 1992, U.S. District Court judge Charles Wolfe ruled in favor of imprisoned political activist Mark Curtis in his lawsuit against the Des Moines, lowa, Police Dept. Curtis was awarded $11,000 in damages to be paid by Charles Wolf and Daniel Dusenbery, the two cops who severely beat him when he was arrested on March 4, 1988.

Curtis, who is a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), was arrested, framed-up, and convicted on charges of rape and burglary. He is currently serving a 25year prison term. A national campaign is underway to demand that Curtis be paroled.

The following is an interview with John Studer, who is the national coordinator of the Mark Curtis Defense Committee. The interview was conducted by Joseph Ryan on Feb. 1, 1992.

Socialist Action: Can you tell us the background to Mark Curtis's victory against the Des Moines Police Department?

John Studer: The night that Mark was arrested and framed-up by the Des Moines police, they took him to the city jail, they took him in the back room there. They stripped him naked, they handcuffed him behind his back, and then they brutally beat him.

While they beat him they called him a "Mexican lover, just like you love those coloreds," which was what they considered his real crime to be. They obviously knew who he was. They knew that he'd been involved in the fight at Swift [a meat packing plant in Des Moines], and they knew that he'd been involved in a demonstration two weeks earlier against anti-Black racism in the Des Moines police department.

They beat him so badly that they created a blowout fracture to his cheek, which is a fracture that occurs when you are hit so hard that it swells up and the bone breaks from the inside. They caused gashes all over his face, the biggest one of which took 15 stitches to close. And then, as they often do with workers that they beat up, they tried to turn the victim into the criminal and they filed charges against him, claiming that he attacked them.

After his frame-up trial took place that fall and he was convicted, the cops dropped the "assault" charges against him. They claimed he'd already been convicted, so it didn't make any difference. And Mark filed a lawsuit against them in federal court, charging them with violating his civil rights and with brutality.

SA: Can you tell us about Mark's suit?

JS: It had two parts. One, was that the individual cops who beat him committed battery. They beat him and they violated his civil rights under the federal law.

And two, that the city [of Des Moines] was responsible for it, because the police department in Des Moines has a policy that condones or covers up for brutality on the part of the cops. When the case was getting ready to go to trial, the police filed a motion for summary judgment in relationship to the city, saying that at least the city should be let out of the lawsuit because there was no evidence that the mayor said: "Let's beat up Mark Curtis," or the Chief of Police was involved, or anything like that.

Mark and his lawyers, and the defense committee, worked together to draw up a legal brief which drew together the history of the last 10 years of the [Des Moines] police department, which is a blistering indictment of the cops. It demonstrates that they have a continuing record of racism, sexism, brutality, and violations of constitutional rights. Over the years the police department went through four different governmental investigations, ranging from the city level, to the state level, to the federal level, all of which said the same thing.

They concluded that the cops were brutal, that they were racist, and that their internal affairs department was a coverup agency, and not a serious agency to investigate any complaints. And the cops refused to ever do anything about it. So we presented that to the judge. He decided that he wasn't going to let the city out of the case.

How did the judge come to his decision?

8 SOCIALIST ACTION JS: First, he divided the case in half. He said that [in regard to] the case against the city, there's no point in arguing about that unless you can win your case against the individual cops.

So he said "We'll put that off for the future. This trial that we are going to have is just about the two cops."

That trial began last Nov. 25. It took two days. And it was obvious that the judge wanted to believe the cops. He's had to run a lot of trials like this... But even by the cops' own story—it was clear at the trial-he was uncomfortable with their version of the story.

How could Mark Curtis end up looking like he looked? How he could have been so brutally injured?

And that's how the trial ended. He said, "I'm going to have to grapple with this: if it all happened the way you guys [the cops] said, how did he end up looking like this? And then he said, "OK, I'll get back to you." And he had a reputation of making rulings quickly.

Shortly after the trial took place, Des Moines was rocked by another case of police brutality. On Dec. 2, a 35-year-old African American worker named Larry Milton called the police for help when he was afraid for his life. And they came. But instead of helping him, they brutalized him. They beat him so badly, it took 28 surgical staples to close the wounds to his head. And there has been an uproar in the city ever since.

There have been demonstrations, meetings of over a thousand, all kinds of protests. And the last thing we expected was, in that context, the judge would issue a ruling in Mark's case, but that's what he did. On Jan 31, he issued his ruling. He awarded Mark $11,000 in damages for the injuries caused by the beating.

And the judge has now set a hearing for Feb. 11 to discuss whether there will be a second trial and what the scope of it will be. We say that to really be able to prove that the cops systematically coverup for brutality in the department, we need to see all of their files.

The judge said that would be a reasonable thing for him to consider if we got to this point. The city is dead opposed to it!

SA: So you envision a situation where you have the right to discovery in the second phase of the trial in the context of an uproar in the Black community about the beating of Larry Milton?

JS: That's right. That's why the city authorities are really going to have think about what to do with it. And that is why a lot of people in Des Moines are very excited. People who went into political motion around Larry Milton feel they now have a victory...

SA: Who would the cops brutalize? Would it just be Blacks or Hispanics, or would it be white workers?

JS: They have a non-discriminatory beating policy. They beat working people in general in Des Moines, and they beat working people in general all around the country. The cops are not there to serve and protect; the cops are there to intimidate and brutalize people. And they are going to need to do it more, because the program of the rulers of this country for the future is more prisons, more cops, and more violence against working people.

But they give special attention to Blacks and Latinos, and other oppressed nationalities. That is certainly true in Des Moines, and it is true around the country.

The first protest meeting that took place MARCH 1992 Mark Curtis: Prisoners see his victory as their victory after the beating of Larry Milton was a meeting of a thousand people. It was largely Black. And according to federal census statistics there are 14,200 Blacks in Des Moines, so that means one out of every 15 men, women and children who are Black in Des Moines came to that meeting. It was a powerful meeting.

SA: Could you give us a feel for the effect this has had on Mark and also on his case?

JS: Mark is probably the best known prisoner in the state. He's been transferred seven times from prison to prison as different wardens get fed up with his political activity or nervous about his influence. He has met a lot of the prisoners who were in these institutions and a lot of people know him. And they know he is fighting for justice, both against the conviction and against the police brutality.

His lawsuit against police brutality was tremendously popular in the prison. Opposition to police brutality is deep-seated in the prisons, because a lot of these prisoners have faced brutality in the course of their arrest or in other dealings they have had with the police.

For instance, after Larry Milton was beaten, Mark and one other Black prisoner drew up a letter of solidarity with Larry Milton. And of the 138 people in the John Bennett unit at the prison he is in, 25 of them signed the letter, which takes a lot of Moines celebrating Mark Curtis's lawsuit victory.

Dear Friends, behind bars on a 25-year sentence, Congratulations!

the socialist future of humanity.

efforts until Mark Curtis once again is free! courage, because their signatures are seen by the people who review the mail.

When Mark was brought back to the prison after the police brutality hearing, some prisoners gave Mark a bunch of clippings that people had kept from newspapers in their areas about the question of police brutality.

Four people wrote messages about what had happened to them and sent them to the defense committee to be read at the rally we had the day before the trial began. People really followed the police brutality trial. So they were really celebrating out therethe best you can inside a penitentiary-when the judge ruled in favor of Mark. They view it as their victory, and they feel more confident.

SA: At this juncture, what would you tell people to do to assist in freeing Mark Curtis.

JS: I think that the best thing that people can do right now is to get out the truth about his story. There is a unique opportunity here. If you read the ruling by the judge, he says that after listening to these cops, he believed that they lied. They lied to coverup the fact that they knowingly used unnecessary brutal force against Mark Curtis. If the cops did that, it is not hard for people to think: Maybe the cops lied to cover up for themselves so they could frame up Mark Curtis.

I think this victory will open the door to a tremendous broadening of support for the case. So, I think the best thing people can do is to get the video on the case, the literature on the case, and step up efforts to get it around. It's important to tell people about the victory in this case, and to try to sign up and win new supporters for the Mark's defense.

SA: And if people want to get in touch with the Mark Curtis Defense Committee, who should they reach?

JS: Our office in Des Moines is the Mark Curtis Defense Committee, P.O Box 1048, Des Moines, Iowa 50311. And our phone number is (515) 246-1695.

SA: Before we wrap up, is there anything else you'd like to add?

JS: Just that I think that there is something happening in this country right now in relationship to the political question of police brutality. I think that there are more and more people who are standing up to fight against it. And the context is a context of worsening economic conditions.

And I think the more that people lear that fights against police brutality are taking place in other cities as well as their own, and that victories are being won, it's going to inspire people to keep fighting back.

We plan on having a victory rally in Des Moines next week, and I know that there are people coming who are involved in police brutality fights from Los Angeles to New York. They are inspired by Mark's victory and they view it as an opportunity to meet other people like them who are fighting.

In Solidarity, Jeff Mackler for the Political Committee