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Atlanta Eagle Eight – Not Guilty!

March 14, 2010 by Jason Shaw · Leave a Comment 



The Atlanta Eagle Eight – NOT GUILTY.



Atlanta municipal court judge, Cystal Gaines,   handed  not guilty verdicts to three men charged in connection to the raid on the Atlanta Eagle bar last year.  Charges against four other men were dropped during the trial that took place on Thursday.   Charges against one man remained in place because he failed to appear in court.



The  case,   which should never really have been bought, pretty much collapsed from the very start for the prosecution.     The Eagle Eight attorney, Alan Begner, said  the city’s case was “weak from the start” and was an effort to justify “heavy-handedness” on the part of the Atlanta Police Department,   “To me, this is less about a message than defending people wrongfully accused and it feels good.  You don’t always successfully defend people wrongly accused. We did this time and we had a judge who stood up for what was right.”


Judge Crystal Gaines said Atlanta  city police had  failed to produce evidence proving that men danced naked without permits or that the bar operators were running an unlicensed adult establishment,  which was the main basis of the charges bought against the men.


The Police investigator in charge of the case,  detective  Bennie E. Bridges,  said one of the defendants dancing on top of the bar at the club just dressed in  bikini underwear.   The police officer said  ”He was pulling down the front of his underwear and exposing himself.   Men would reach up and put money into the waistband”


However,   Bridges could not identify  all eight defendants in the court room,  which  prompting Alan Begner to push for dismissals.     Slowly,  one after another, Larry Gardner solicitor for the city agreed to the dismissals, until only three defendants were left.  They were Robert Kelley, co-owner of the bar,  dancers Leandro Apud and Tadareius Johnson.        Gardner argued that the dancer according to police were clad only in underwear had exposed themselves  ”the same way money would be accepted in any other nude bar.”


Begner produced eight witnesses who all contradicted the police,  the mix of bar employees and customers  said they saw no nude dancing at the bar that night.

Judge Gaines said the city had to overcome “all these witnesses” and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that nude dancing happened.

“I don’t believe that the city has met that burden,” she said.



Jason Shaw.
GayAgenda.com’s UK Correspondent









© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw

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Christian Death Threats: Elton John Must Die!

March 14, 2010 by Jason Shaw · 5 Comments 


A  65 year old man from Atlanta, Georgia was arrested last week after   posting a video of himself on  YouTube  holding a sign that said “Elton John must die”

Neal Horsley  whose  65, was arrested early Wednesday in Carrollton,  a town around  50 miles west of Atlanta, confirmed Atlanta Police officer Curtis Davenport.
In the video Horsley held up the sign in front of a building where he said Elton John has a condo.  He was upset and enraged by Elton’s comments in a recent interview that Jesus was gay!

“What Elton John has done is desecrated the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, blasphemed the Lord Jesus Christ,”  Mr Horsley said in his YouTube video.
Horsley  has  previously gained notoriety during the 90’s when he published a list of doctors on a website who performed abortions,  including their home addresses.

However,  local local sorces claim the Horsley was standing outside the wrong apartment building,  Elton John has one in the next door building apparently.   However,  the singers  his publicist refused to comment.
Jason Shaw
GayAgenda.com’s UK Correspondent.

Jason’s own blog,  The Seafront Diaries,  more tales from the life of absent mindedness!

© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw

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AJC: AE Defendants ‘Not Guilty’

March 12, 2010 by Gay Agenda News Team · 1 Comment 

An Atlanta judge found three defendants in the Atlanta Eagle gay bar case not guilty Thursday, and the prosecutor agreed to dismiss the charges against the other five defendants.

Municipal Judge Crystal Gaines said city police failed to produce evidence proving that men danced naked without permits or that the bar operators were running an unlicensed adult establishment.

The decision comes as defendants and others involved with the Ponce de Leon Avenue bar are countering with a lawsuit in federal court against the city and Atlanta police officers.

More on this by Ty Tagami and Larry Hartstein at: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution!

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Atlanta Eagle Eight Trial Set To Start Today!

March 11, 2010 by Jason Shaw · Leave a Comment 

Atlanta Eagle Eight – have their day in court.

Today sees what’s becoming called the Atlanta Eagle Eight go on trial for violations of city ordinance regulations.    The eight is comprised of four staff and four dancers who where arrested at the Atlanta Eagle gay bar in Atlanta back on 1oth September.

It’s alleged the four employees are charged with business licence charges and the four dancers are charged with providing adult entertainment, without a license.  Alan Begner, the attorney  representing the defendants,  said “Dancing  in your underwear does not violate any code section of Atlanta,”  And the other four defendants — the owner, manager, bartender and doorman — are charged with allowing adult entertainment to happen.”  Each violation carries a maximum punishment of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

There has been much controversy surrounding the police raid some six months ago,    more than 20 police officers took part,  searching and detaining around 60 customers.  They made  some lie handcuffed and face down on the club’s floor.  Some of those detained say they were not allowed to move for more than an hour and that they also had to  endure anti-gay slurs, and insults  from the officers.#

The raid was orchestrated  because of alleged  reports of drug activity and because undercover officers reported seeing men having sex at the club while customers looked on.  However,  most note worthy,  no drugs were found during the raid, and no one was charged with having illicit sex.

There have been many complaints about the way the police conducted themselves during the raid, and accusations of stonewalling a subsequent investigation into the events of that night.  Indeed 18 of the officers involved in the raid have been subpoenaed to appear before a city council committee hearing  as part of an investigation in the raid.

At the time of writing the judge,  judge Crystal Gaines had delayed the start of the trial, with no reason given.

Jason Shaw.
GayAgenda.com’s UK Correspondent.

Jason blogs his heart out on www.seafrontdiary.com tales of life in the England’s gayest sea side town!


© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw

Elliot is a fan,  visit www.seafrontdiary.com to find out how being a Seafront fan could win you £100.

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Police Accused of Stonewalling

February 16, 2010 by Gay Agenda News Team · Leave a Comment 

The Atlanta Police Department, under fire from some LGBT activists since the raid of the Eagle last year, is facing renewed criticism for the refusal of more than two-dozen officers to answer questions about the raid.

The Citizen Review Board, frustrated over the lack of cooperation from the police department as the panel investigates the Sept. 10 raid, publicly aired its grievances on Friday. The board is now threatening to subpoena at least 10 officers as it investigates a complaint filed by Eagle patrons after the raid.

“We have been dealing with this issue of officers’ refusal to cooperate for a long time,” attorney Seth Kirschenbaum, vice chairman of the review board, told the AJC Friday. “While Pennington was chief, officers were refusing to cooperate and no discipline was ever imposed.”

Altogether 25 APD officers involved in the Eagle raid have refused to answer queries posed by the board, created following the 2006 death of 92-year-old grandmother Kathryn Johnston, shot and killed by undercover officers in her Neal Street home.

More at: Project Q Atlanta!

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