Violent, Bigoted Cop Accused Of Beating Another Cop Is Upset His Text Messages Expose Him As A Violent Bigot
from the petard-toting-mfers-getting-themselves-hoisted dept
Lawyers for a cop accused of beating an undercover cop during a 2017 protest are pretty angry prosecutors have let the public know just what kind of bigoted dirtbag the indicted officer is.
St. Louis police officer Dustin Boone -- along with four other officers -- attacked undercover officer Luther Hall. Boone is white. Detective Hall is black. This is relevant information, even if Boone's lawyers are claiming his texts -- which contain plenty of bigotry -- aren't. Boone's legal rep is seeking to have prosecutors sanctioned for bringing Boone's texts to his prosecution.
Boone's attorney, Patrick Kilgore, argues in a court filing that the now-public information is "inflammatory, irrelevant, and highly prejudicial" and disclosing them violates a judge's order to file much of the information under seal. He notes that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote about the texts and other information from the prosecutors' filing and claims it could taint the jury pool and keep Boone from receiving a fair trial.
They're definitely "inflammatory." How could they not be? These are former officer Boone's own words. And they seem relevant as they make it pretty clear how easily a bigot like Boone could "mistake" a black undercover officer for a protester in need of a beating. Here's Boone in a group text [PDF] to other St. Louis police officers a few months prior to the beating he's now facing charges for:
It's already a state of emergency! There are r niggers running wild all across the city and even if/when we catch them..... they don't get in any trouble because there are plate lips running the CAO!
Here's what the CAO reference means:
CAO is apparently a reference to the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office, which is under the supervision of the city's first Black circuit attorney, Kim Gardner.
That's not the only one containing the n-word. This term was used in a group text to "Kayla, Kelsea, Mom, Ashley Marie, Dad" that reads:
What city r we in?
These fuckin niggers r the same as St. Louis niggers.
So, the lawyer for this lovely person wants these texts tossed and prosecutors sanctioned for introducing "highly prejudicial" information. And, to be fair, it will certainly make jurors feel things about Boone that they likely wouldn't have felt without them. But is it too unfair? It certainly seems relevant -- not just because of how Boone apparently views black people, but because it also shows how gleefully he participated in the beating of a fellow officer.
Prosecutors say that Boone hooked his phone on his uniform and livestreamed Hall's beating for Ditto. The hour-long video wasn't saved, but prosecutors say Ditto's messages back and forth with Boone prove that she watched what happened — and that Boone was involved. Afterward, Ditto wrote "That was SOOOOOO COOL!!!!"
Perhaps the most memorable part of this exchange (other than Boone's sudden contrition after the news came out he had beaten an undercover detective) is his girlfriend's response to the beating. Everyone tells you "just comply" with cops' orders if you don't want to get hurt. Here's a civilian take, and it's a good one considering it's from someone who was in a personal relationship with a cop:
But damn you guys need to practice more. Even I was confused. One guy was sayin HANDS DOWN, HANDS DOWN.
Next dude saying HANDS UP.
Then HANDS DOWN, HANDS DOWN, GET YOUR FUCKIN HANDS UP.
And that's not the end of the disturbing communications. There are multiple texts celebrating excessive force use -- including Boone's efforts to ensure these beatings weren't captured by nearby CCTV cameras or bystanders. There's a text suggesting Boone stole money from a crime scene. There's a whole string of texts detailing he and his fellow officers' abuse of prescription drugs like Adderall and Concerta.
Here's his recommendation to fellow officer Kyle Santa who was asking on behalf of another police officer.
Depends on if he wants to feel like he feels like seeing in HD and making night turn into day (adderall) or if he just wants to feel a really really focused white guy (concerta). Adderall is essentially cocaine base in a compressed pill form……. It's pretty special. It makes u chew on ur tongue and like ur lips like a crack head and u can't stop talking for the first 8 hours. It is also nearly impossible to get drunk AND cures hangovers in a matter of 11 minutes.
Sure, I can see why Boone's lawyer wants these messages kept out of court. They make his client look like a violent, racist drug addict. That's certainly not going to help -- not when his lawyer is trying to clear him of charges related to the violent beating of a black man… one that Boone seemingly would never have regretted if the beating victim hadn't turned out to be a fellow officer.
Even if Boone's lawyer manages to get these texts tossed and the prosecutors sanctioned, they'll hopefully be enough to prevent Dustin Boone from ever wearing a badge again. And it should serve as a wakeup call for all the officers he worked with -- the ones who ignored his violence, racism, and drug abuse until he made the only unforgiveable mistake: beating up another cop.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: dustin boone, luther hall, police, police brutality, racism, st. louis, text messages
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
So the only reason he is on trial is because he got a cop?
It would seem that beating up an undercover cop was more of a coincidence that made someone take notice. So what's with the other victims of him and his department? I mean, it's obvious that he was regularly acting in this manner while not stepping far enough out of line to warrant attention.
It seems like prosecuting only him for only this particular incidence is leaving citizens without a badge wide up for more abuse.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
How was I supposed to know he was an undercover cop? He wasn't wearing a uniform!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
With credit to Liar Liar...
Defense: Your Honor I object!
Judge: And why is that, Mr. Reede?
Defense: Because it is devastating to my case!
Yeah, I bet he does want the evidence of what a racist piece of shit he is struck from the record, but given he's in court for beating a black man they are very relevant records in the same way that if someone is a known and confirmed liar that's kinda important for the jury to know before they give any testimony.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: With credit to Liar Liar...
Juries are only supposed to decide questions of fact. That this officer is a piece of contemptible human garbage and a serial offender may be relevant for the sentencing but not for the findings of fact for this case.
Unless we are talking about resolving questions of trustworthiness. And of course any call/text directly involved with the case. Of which there seem to be plenty.
But also more than that. I mean, I get the line of the defense. And frankly, they don't get much of any other strategy rather than hoping the case to get thrown out of court. They'd probably have published those text themselves (taking care not to have them traced back ot them) in order to get at least this pitiful defense.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
If similarly inflammatory texts had been obtained by the police from the phone of a victim of police violence, how long would it have been before they leaked?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Negative five day, those texts would be splashed across the news before it was even mentioned that oh yeah, the person who sent them was beaten by the police.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: With credit to Liar Liar...
Depending on the defenses presented I could see those texts being very relevant for the jury.
If the defense tried to argue that the beating had nothing to do with race for example knowing that the cop was wildly racist kinda shoots that one down, if the argument was that he didn't mean to go as far as he did and it was just an accident again, kinda hard to make that argument when texts like that are visible, any sort of remorse-based defense goes out the window when the texts make pretty clear that the only thing he likely regrets is that he beat the 'wrong' black person.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The government is asserting that the guy got married to prevent his now-wife from testifying against him. That seems like a stretch. Maybe it would seem like less of a stretch if a bunch of that section wasn't redacted.
Regardless, I'm not a fan of introducing into evidence random text messages from months prior to simply suggest a certain state of mind.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Must have been quite the God blessing their union.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Umm
WHERES THE CAMERA(S).
At least one of those officers HAD/HAS a camera.
Why arnt the FBI and others TRYING to scoop up this data??
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Umm
Malfunction for everyone. An apple as rotten to the core as that is not found in an otherwise immaculate barrel.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Guys, I think we found restless94110!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Oh, the horror!
"Boone's legal rep is seeking to have prosecutors sanctioned for bringing Boone's texts to his prosecution."
Because, you know, evidence against bad cops is such a bad thing...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Outstanding
Your reporting is outstanding in so many ways. Unique.
Thank you!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Funny they have no issue with these leaks when they do them pointing out the victim had once pissed on a tree in the park when he was 8 and that totally justifies us killing him.
Last one was a woman in her 80's or 90's accused of doing horrible things to the cops who beat the crap out of her they found a 4rd cousin who once visits the Bundy compound to make her look scary.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
White privilege on this one its over 9000! (Ok I will see myself out) on a serious note tho, is the lawyer insane? Those texts are absolutely pertinent to the case. Has he ever heard of motive or establishing character?! Those are things they routinely do against most black people. They drag their faces and reputations across Fox news whenever arrested and dredge up theor past in an attempt to paint them in the worst possible light with talkingheads speculating in ways that truly could poison a jury pool. So much for the folks of personal responsibility.
White guys wanting their bigotry be treated like a right is just too dumb to even consider. If he wanted to be viewed in the best possible light at a trial behaving lile a decent human being should have been a priority for him.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Well Done
The cop's lawyers are correct and their objections should prevail.
What a person says in private has nothing to do with the trial: only their actions should be judged.
Furthermore, a cop using the n-word, the same word that black people use 10 times a day means nothing. If blacks can use the word, so can others including cops.
Moreover, what the cop said is obviously true: A corrupt black-supremacist DA is not prosecuting violent crimes, which are committed most of them by black people (vastly out of proportion to their population). You just don't like the way he said what was true in his eyes and the eyes of most people.
You apparently think that if someone's speech is not polite according to your sensibilities, it should be prohibited and/or used to pillory the speaker, the opposite of the principle of Free Speech.
You are letting your emotions cloud your thinking. If the cop broke the law, convict him of breaking the law and punish him. Don't convict him on his speech.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Well Done
Because the body cams had an oh so unfortunate malfunction and the cop took extra care not to be in CCTV vicinity, the accompanying commentary of his appreciative girlfriend for the running and non-malfunctioning phone camera he used (for a recording that has since then become unavailable) is certainly evidence relevant for the case.
And since straightforward evidence has been deleted and/or avoided, we have a situation where there is statement against statement, and establishing the respective reliability and possible motives of the involved parties is certainly relevant for the jury to determine correctly whether a law has been broken.
Of course this is so blindingly obvious that this kind of garbage argument is not even of "police union" quality but a rather pathetic attempt at trolling.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
They're doing what they're supposed to do, which is present a vigorous defense of their client. When they don't have much of a case, they may have to do something desperate like this. It's up to the court to then shoot it down.
I'm sure he was never expecting to be on trial.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ditto?
Was there an early draft of this article that explained who or what the fuck "Ditto" is?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Ditto?
Obvious from context but also from the complaint: Ashley Marie Ditto is now the spouse of Boone (likely not least in order to be able to refuse testifying) but was his girlfriend applauding his actions via text at the time he live-streamed them to her.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Well Done
That's one killer of an argument, sugar plums. However, chéri, I've rarely heard black people refer to one another as "plate lips".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
You guys fall for the bait every time. I'd do a deconstruction of your garbage if it wasn't for the fact that you do hit-and-run on these threads, so I'm going to settle for a "fuck your feelings" instead.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Well Done
'Black supremacist' that's a new low for conservative 'No U!'-ing.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Well Done
Show of hands:
Anyone surprised that restless94110 shows he's completely ignorant about relevance of evidence in trials like he is about every single other subject he's trolled on?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Well Done
I think what's surprising is how badly he wants to surgically attach himself to police phallus...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
OJ on every TV was designed to destroy Jury independence
Juries are only supposed to decide questions of fact
WTF? "The jury must be independently and indisputably responsible for its verdict free from any threats from the court." https://constitution.org/1-History/trials/bushell/bushell.htm
Read the 7th amendment to the US Constitution.
Without INDEPENDENCE, a jury is a farce.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: OJ on every TV was designed to destroy Jury independence
Juries decide questions of fact; judges decide questions of law.
https://law.jrank.org/pages/9609/Question-Law.html
[ link to this | view in thread ]