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Mother: Son Accused in Officer Killings Had Drug Problem

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This combination of undated photos released the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation shows, Marvin Banks, left, and his brother Curtis Banks. The brothers are wanted in the fatal shooting of two Hattiesburg, Miss., police officers on Saturday, May 9, 2015.  (Mississippi Bureau of Investigation via The Hattiesburg Police Department via AP)

This combination of undated photos released the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation shows, Marvin Banks, left, and his brother Curtis Banks. The brothers are wanted in the fatal shooting of two Hattiesburg, Miss., police officers on Saturday, May 9, 2015. (Mississippi Bureau of Investigation via The Hattiesburg Police Department via AP)

JAY REEVES, Associated Press
JEFF AMY, Associated Press

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Marvin Banks’ drug use and drinking had worsened in recent years and he was hearing voices in his head.

His mother said she had hoped he would get help. He didn’t, and now he is charged with capital murder in the deaths of two police officers in Mississippi. His girlfriend and brother are charged as accessories and a friend faces an obstruction charge.

Banks’ mother, Mary Smith, said when she saw the booking photos of her 26-year-old son, she knew something was off.

“He was sick and out of his head and I tried to get him some help,” she said on the steps of the Forrest County Courthouse, where she had gone to find out more information about her sons’ arrest.

Marvin Banks had been smoking synthetic marijuana, known as spice, every day.

“He was on that spice. He was on every drug there was. Spice, powder, marijuana, drinking,” she said.

Marvin Banks is accused of shooting officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate. The officers died Saturday after Deen was shot in the face, and Tate in the back.

Banks and another man identified as Cornelius Clark were passengers in a Hyundai that Deen stopped for speeding, said Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain. The car was driven by Banks’ girlfriend, 22-year-old Joanie Calloway, Strain said. Deen called Tate for backup when he decided to search the car. Strain said that when officers asked the three to get out of the car, Banks shot Deen and Tate.

Calloway was initially charged with two counts of murder, but authorities lowered those charges to accessory to murder after the fact Monday. Clark, 28, is charged with obstruction. Banks’ brother, 29-year-old Curtis Banks, is also charged with accessory to murder after the fact.

More than 1,000 people filled a hall at the Hattiesburg convention center Monday for a memorial. With photos of the uniformed men projected above the stage, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant — himself a former sheriff’s deputy — said the city was enduring a difficult, sad time.

“We will persevere, we will prevail,” he said.

Marvin Banks and his 6-year-old son lived with Smith, who works the night shift at a nursing home. She said she was resting before work when she got a call Saturday night that her son, known by “Big Boy,” was involved in the shootings.

After that, Curtis Banks called and said he had nothing to do with it and had been at his apartment at the time.

Smith said Marvin was attacked several years ago by a man who hit him in the head with a pipe. The reason for the attack wasn’t clear, but he spent time in intensive care.

She said she repeatedly urged him to get help for his drug addiction and apparent mental illness, but he wouldn’t go.

Katie Walmon, the mother of Marvin’s son, said he had changed.

“He said he was hearing voices in his head. I say it was the devil,” she said.

In their initial court appearance Monday, Forrest County Justice Court Judge Gay Polk-Payton denied bond to Marvin Banks, who was convicted of a felony in 2010 for possession of a stolen gun. She set Curtis Banks’ bond at $100,000. However, both Banks brothers were on bond for 2013 drug charges at the time of their arrest, and Polk-Payton revoked those bonds, meaning Curtis Banks is also likely to remain in jail. The judge set $75,000 bonds for both Calloway and Clark.

Marvin Banks also was charged Monday with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and with grand theft for fleeing for a few blocks in a squad car after the shooting and then ditching the vehicle, authorities said.

Smith said she was trying to get lawyers for both of her sons. She said after Curtis’ arrest, he complained to her that officers had kicked him repeatedly, stripped him of his clothes and were holding him in cold cell. She has not talked to Marvin since his arrest. The mother said officers often stop young black men without cause in Hattiesburg, sometimes simply to ask them what they are doing.

“The way police here in Hattiesburg harass young black men, you could tell something was going to happen, but I never thought it would be my sons,” she said.

Police didn’t immediately respond to a telephone call Monday.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday that the officers’ deaths “is made even more tragic by the fact that, on the day they were killed this past Saturday, the country began observing Police Week – a time when we pause to remember and honor the more than 20,000 law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty.”

Hulett-Winstead Funeral Home said Deen will be buried Thursday following a funeral in nearby Sumrall. A funeral home McComb said arrangements for Tate will be released Tuesday.

Deen, 34, is a former “Officer of the Year” in Hattiesburg. He was married and the father of two.

Family spokesman J.T. Taylor said he would want his friend of more than 30 years to know that he was going to take care of his family.

Tate, 25, graduated from the police academy last year.

Tate grew up in Starkville, 150 miles north of Hattiesburg. Strain said he was a 2014 graduate of the law enforcement academy. He grew up wanting to be a policeman.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

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To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Issues Statement on Deaths of Humanitarian Aid Volunteers in Gaza 

On April 2, a day after an Israeli airstrike erroneously killed seven employees of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a humanitarian organization delivering aid in the Gaza Strip, a statement was release by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12). “This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

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Congresswoman Barbara Lee
Congresswoman Barbara Lee

By California Black Media

On April 2, a day after an Israeli airstrike erroneously killed seven employees of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a humanitarian organization delivering aid in the Gaza Strip, a statement was release by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12).

“This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

The same day, it was confirmed by the organization that the humanitarian aid volunteers were killed in a strike carried out by Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Prior to the incident, members of the team had been travelling in two armored vehicles marked with the WCF logo and they had been coordinating their movements with the IDF. The group had successfully delivered 10 tons of humanitarian food in a deconflicted zone when its convoy was struck.

“This is not only an attack against WCK. This is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the direst situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said Erin Gore, chief executive officer of World Central Kitchen.

The seven victims included a U.S. citizen as well as others from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Palestine.

Lee has been a vocal advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza and has supported actions by President Joe Biden to airdrop humanitarian aid in the area.

“Far too many civilians have lost their lives as a result of Benjamin Netanyahu’s reprehensible military offensive. The U.S. must join with our allies and demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire – it’s long overdue,” Lee said.

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Commentary

Commentary: Republican Votes Are Threatening American Democracy

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We needed to know the blunt truth. The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

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It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening. That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.
It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening. That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

By Emil Guillermo

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

We needed to know the blunt truth.

The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

And to save it will require all hands on deck.

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening.

That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

No man is above the law? To the majority of his supporters, it seems Trump is.

It’s an anti-democracy loyalty that has spread like a political virus.

No matter what he does, Trump’s their guy. Trump received 51% of caucus-goers votes to beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who garnered 21.2%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who got 19.1%.

The Asian flash in the pan Vivek Ramaswamy finished way behind and dropped out. Perhaps to get in the VP line. Don’t count on it.

According to CNN’s entrance polls, when caucus-goers were asked if they were a part of the “MAGA movement,” nearly half — 46% — said yes. More revealing: “Do you think Biden legitimately won in 2020?”

Only 29% said “yes.”

That means an overwhelming 66% said “no,” thus showing the deep roots in Iowa of the “Big Lie,” the belief in a falsehood that Trump was a victim of election theft.

Even more revealing and posing a direct threat to our democracy was the question of whether Trump was fit for the presidency, even if convicted of a crime.

Sixty-five percent said “yes.”

Who says that about anyone of color indicted on 91 criminal felony counts?

Would a BIPOC executive found liable for business fraud in civil court be given a pass?

How about a BIPOC person found liable for sexual assault?

Iowans have debased the phrase, “no man is above the law.” It’s a mindset that would vote in an American dictatorship.

Compare Iowa with voters in Asia last weekend. Taiwan rejected threats from authoritarian Beijing and elected pro-democracy Taiwanese vice president Lai Ching-te as its new president.

Meanwhile, in our country, which supposedly knows a thing or two about democracy, the Iowa caucuses show how Americans feel about authoritarianism.

Some Americans actually like it even more than the Constitution allows.

 

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1.

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