51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Maureen Hanlon is playing a real-life game of 鈥淲here鈥檚 Waldo?鈥� to get her client a day in court.

Hanlon, an attorney with the nonprofit , represents Janis Mensah, former co-chair of the 51黑料 Detention Facilities Oversight Board. In the summer of 2023, Mensah went to the City Justice Center to do some oversight and check on a rumor that a detainee had died. The jail director at the time, Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah, didn鈥檛 appreciate the attempt at oversight.

Clemons-Abdullah called the cops on Mensah, who refused to leave the jail until talking to some detainees. Mensah was arrested and charged with trespassing and resisting arrest, both misdemeanor ordinance violations.

In a hearing this month in 51黑料 Circuit Court, Hanlon explained to the judge a problem: She couldn鈥檛 find Clemons-Abdullah to serve her a subpoena to testify in a trial, and the city counselor鈥檚 office wasn鈥檛 helping.

鈥淚鈥檝e never had this happen before,鈥� Hanlon told me.

Normally, in a case involving city employees, the city counselor鈥檚 office will accept service on behalf of the person being subpoenaed.

But Clemons-Abdullah was removed from her position by the previous mayor, Tishaura O. Jones, after a series of deaths and other problems turned up the political heat. The city counselor鈥檚 office 鈥� now under the direction of new Mayor Cara Spencer 鈥� told the judge that it would be a burden to help Hanlon track down Clemons-Abdullah.

Fine, Hanlon offered. Just drop the charges and everybody can go home.

Here鈥檚 where things got weird.

An assistant city counselor, Christopher Carenza, told the judge he鈥檇 be glad to drop the charges 鈥� but only if Mensah signed a waiver promising not to sue the city. The city has long had a practice of dropping resisting arrest charges if the accused agrees not to sue.

I first wrote about the practice in 2021, when it surfaced in a lawsuit over the shooting death of Mansur Ball-Bey. An assistant city counselor testified in a deposition that it was the city鈥檚 practice to require such releases 鈥渙n every resistance case.鈥�

That鈥檚 plainly illegal, intended to silence victims of police violence or victims of overcharging by the city counselor鈥檚 office, Ball-Bey鈥檚 attorneys alleged at the time.

鈥淭here are boxes of these things in the city counselor鈥檚 office,鈥� attorney Dan Dailey told me then. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e telling people they can鈥檛 sue, keeping them quiet.鈥�

It鈥檚 easy to understand why the city wants to avoid lawsuits over police misconduct. The Ball-Bey case, for instance, led to a nearly $19 million verdict by a federal jury earlier this year. But the policy of not dropping dubious charges unless a person agrees not to sue is questionable at best.

Former 51黑料 County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, now a congressman, told me in 2021 that his office did not have a similar policy. 鈥淚t seems inherently wrong and unethical,鈥� he said.

Hanlon agrees and her client, Mensah, will not be kept quiet by signing such a document.

鈥淲e see this often where someone was arrested for a dubious reason or clearly too much force was used by the police. The city counselor鈥檚 office has in the past denied that they have this practice, but it is clear from Mr. Carenza鈥檚 comments in open court that the sole reason they continue to prosecute Janis Mensah is to get Janis to give up their right to sue for violation of their constitutional rights,鈥� Hanlon told me in an email. 鈥淲hat would make city residents safer is fewer needless arrests, rather than paying the city counselor鈥檚 office to prosecute individuals in an attempt to avoid lawsuits.鈥�

Hanlon鈥檚 game of 鈥淲here鈥檚 Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah鈥� continues. The judge ordered the city counselor鈥檚 office to 鈥渕ake reasonable efforts鈥� to get her address, and Hanlon has issued a subpoena in hopes of getting it served. Mensah鈥檚 trial date has been pushed back.

In the meantime, Hanlon has a suggestion for Spencer, who inherited this drama.

鈥淚f the new mayor does value transparency and oversight,鈥� Hanlon says, 鈥渙ne key step would be for her office to ask the new or interim city counselor to stop criminally prosecuting Janis Mensah, who was arrested while trying to conduct that oversight.鈥�