Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
By Billy Cunningham less continue. Of course, Attorney Doug Brannon
represents Alex Schrevinsky. He was the victim of a beatdown
after the music festival, also a Reds game in which
there were hundreds of thousands of individuals downtown Cincinnati, not
well guarded by the police department. My dad and Alex
(00:24):
Stravinsky was beaten down, and there was a big news
conference held a few weeks later by the city council
members and by the mayor, and by so called civil
rights leaders who talked about the white guy's gotta be
charged because it's only fair the white guy started at all.
Now we have the tape. We have the tape from
three CDC that in the case that's not the case.
Joining you and I now is Doug Brannon, the attorney
(00:45):
for Alex Stravinsky. And once again Doug Brannon, welcome to
the Bill Cunningham Show. And first of all, attorney of Brannon,
can you tell the American people, having reviewed the tape,
what does this do to the case against your client
criminally and what does this say about the investigation.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
The opportunity to come on and talk to you about this,
we have had a chance to review the three CDC
tape and it unquestionably exonerates Alex from any wrongdoing in
the census. He was hit and beaten multiple times. We
have said this from the very beginning of how he
was attacked by multiple people multiple times, long before he
(01:23):
tried to confront one of the attackers and telling him
to stop. And you know, this tape is dramatically changes
or should change the reality of what they've been portraying
politically versus what actually happened that day.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Do you think the city will now drop the criminal
charges against your victimized client? Is that this tape shows
that this tape indicates that your clients should not have
been criminally charged. Correct?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Correct? And I don't think any law enforcement officer ever
wanted to charge Alex because they knew what the actual
facts were behind us. This was politically motivated to charge
him and prosecute him. You know, they needed the public
needs to speak up and voice their concern over this
prosecution because it's wrong, it shouldn't be occurring, and they're criminal.
(02:15):
They're revictimizing somebody that's already been brutally victimized and beaten.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
How's your client doing today? This began July twenty sixth
Here we are October thirty. First, it's been what about
four minds? How's your client doing physically?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You know, physically he is. He has made some strides
in recovering. He suffered a large concussion as a result
of the beating. You know, mentally it has been very
difficult for him to get around other people, large crowds,
you know, having been attacked like this by a large crowd.
You know, he still is suffering greatly from this.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
You're also a noted personal injuries civil rights attorney. What
is this, dude, the pending civil lawsuit against the city
who purposely filed criminal charges against an innocent man because
of his race. What does that do to the civil lawsuit?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I think that it just gives more credence to the
viability of those quaims against any against the city of Cincinnati.
You know, this is not a claim that had to
be brought. This is a claim that they brought upon
themselves for their own wrongful conduct in initiating a wrongful
criminal prosecution against Alex.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Have you considered I spoke to a US senator recently
about this. These are US civil rights violations against the
City of Cincinnati that could have criminal elements, could have
civil elements against it, because a city under the color
of state or city ordinances in law, cannot violate the
civil rights of any innocent person. In the nineteen fifties
(03:52):
and sixties, you had Democrats in the South filing criminal
charges against people because of the color of their skin,
and the Birmingham and etc. Paid big money. Here we
are in twenty twenty five and the same Democratic party
but with different leaders, are filing have filed criminal charges
against an innocent person for racial and political reasons. What
(04:14):
does that do to the civil rights lawsuit and could
it have criminal elements to it?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
You know, that is an interesting question, Bill, and I
think the federal government should be looking at this, and
that falls under the purview of the federal prosecutors in
federal court, and it certainly bears looking at because obviously
I don't think this criminal charge would have been brought
against Alex had he not been white.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, that's what the city fathers and mothers said that
they held a news conference and actually said, including state
Representative Cecil Thomas, this is the color of state law.
Who demanded that their city that they led and continue
to lead file charges against someone based upon their race,
(05:02):
and they felt so comfortable about it they did it
publicly in front of news, in front of microphones and cameras.
That's how stupid this crowd is. If you're going to
act in such a horrible way, do it privately, but
don't publicize your stupidity.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
And they're still doing it publicly because they're still prosecuting Alex.
This is how crazy these people are and continuing this
wrongful criminal prosecution, especially after this tape has been made published.
But they'd note about this tape. They've seen this tape previously,
They've note about it since the conception of the event. Yes,
they've done nothing to stop this criminal prosecution.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
As we sit here at twelve forty five pm on
a Friday, Halloween, which is appropriate for this story, the
criminal prosecution of your client continues by the crowd who
demanded he'd be charged because of the color of his skin.
Let's go back in time a little bit here and
talk about how the charges were filed against their crime
their client. I think the fourth degree misdemeanors that carry
(05:58):
up to thirty days in jail. Find a two hundred
and fifty dollars, as was told to me by Sergeant
ken Kober, who, as you know, is the head of
the FOP. He said that the line officers doing the
investigation would not file criminal charges against Zarenski because shall
we say, they weren't proper, they were wrong. And the
(06:19):
man in charge of the Central Business District then was
Captain Henny Hnni, and now that same captain is the
interim police chief. So the mayor and city manager advanced
Captain Henny to the chief's position when the line officers
would not file the charges. Fiji wouldn't file the charges
the chief, but a captain did and he gets rewarded
(06:42):
by being the interim chief of police.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Explain that one to me, Well, what I can tell
you is, after redealing the discovery that was provided to
me in this case, that Captain Henney was not one
of the detectives in charge of the investigation in this case. Typically,
where you see charges being filed by an officer by
investigt any detectives, the ones doing the investigation that are
handling the case are the ones that actually signed the
(07:05):
criminal citation and submit that to the court. That is
not what occurred in this case. Captain Henny was just
the administrator. He was not one of the lead investigators
in this case, so there is a huge disconnect between
him being involved and who the actual detectives are that
are investigating this case.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
A cop sent me the following text quote, Hanny was
in charge of the Central Business District when these violent
crimes took place on July twenty sixth. He did nothing
in response to the violence other than file false charges,
and now he's the interim chief who's being paid off.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
It's like, wow, well, I think that this is still coming.
We need to we have questions for the city manager
and the mayor about how this is occurring, because from
the information that we have been provided, it seems like
they are trying to control this criminal prosecution for political purposes.
So these are city officials that need to answer for
(08:03):
their conduct in getting involved in this particular case. Wow.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Well at this point, uh, this was leaked by somebody
to Fox nineteen Tricia Mackie has do you have any knowledge,
as the attorney for Alex Zervinsky, who leaked this tape?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I do not. I do not. It certainly didn't come
from us. We have been provided discovery in the criminal
case but we have not provided this tape to to
anybody else. We have been using it to prepare for
our defense for trial, which is set for December eight.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Did did the discovery given to you by the City
of Cincinnati in the criminal case include this tape?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
They were provided they provided us with certain case They
the uh, this particular tape initially was not included in
the initial discovery that was to us.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Wow, So have you thought about a referral to the
US Attorney's Office for the possible criminal prosecution of the
city Solicitor Emily Smartwarner, the city manager, and the mayor,
and also for the public officials Cecil Thomas, Scottie Johnson,
lemon Kearney. Have you thought about a criminal referral to
the US Attorney's Office for federal charges against these individuals.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well, we're taking this case one step at a time, villain.
The first step in my first priority is to make
sure that Alex has found not guilty of this bogus charge.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And this tape proofs beyond a shot of a doubt
that the first punch was thrown at the back of
your client, said by one of the criminal defendants other
than your client, who's criminally charged, and this tape clearly
shows that there were lies told by city fathers and
mothers for political racial reasons in order to charge an
(09:58):
innocent man that they knew or should have known, was
not guilty of committing any criminal offense. His head was
treated like a soccer ball on fourth and Alum and
almost was murdered. Many people thought he was dead, kicked
in the head Reginald Denny style from the nineteen eighty
nine riots in Los Angeles, kicked in the head and
add insult literally to injury. Their client's now facing a
(10:21):
criminal charge, goes his head. I guess wasn't a proper
soccer ball. And secondly, the city solicitor, Emily smart Warner
demanded the criminal charges be filed by someone who was
not in the line of the investigation, that being Captain Henny.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Is that correct? You know? That is what the evidence
is showing us right now. Bill, that is absolutely what
we see as well. And it's clear not only did
he not throw the first bunch, he didn't throw the second,
he didn't throw the throw. He was hit so many
times we lost count before he even tried to confront
the victim and stop this. Then he was attacked again.
(10:57):
And if you watch the video very carefully, as this
infamous where he sticks his hand down and touches the
other guy's face and tells him to stop. Another one
of these thugs goes up, says I'm going behind him
to get him, and that's when he's hit from both sides.
An attack from both sides, both the front and the back.
This mob had no intention of stopping. Anything he did
(11:18):
at any time was an act of self defense and
get out of there alive was all he could do
that day.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
It was lucky he got out with merely serious injuries.
He was lucky he got out alive. And the fact
that Captain Henny, not in the line of command, would
file criminal charges against an innocent person, I would have
to assume that Captain Henny knew at the time that
the charges were false, because he either should have seen
this tape or if he didn't see it, he should
(11:48):
have demanded to be shown to him before the criminal
charges were filed. And the prosecutor's office, Connor Keelly just
said repeatedly, there's more to this than meets the eye.
The county prosecutor is saying, look, we have more tapes,
and she's under fire from the so called civil rights
crowd not to file more criminal charges against an innocent person.
But at least she's standing up to say no. But
(12:08):
your information is that Captain Henny, who's now the interim chief,
was not in the line of command, but he's the
one that signed the charges, according to ken Kober. Ken
Kober said on our air with Me that the reason
he did it was to save his men from being
disciplined by the city manager for refusing in order to
file false charges against an innocent person based upon race.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Think about that for a moment. It's mind boggling, isn't it. Bill?
And you know, when you look at this and as
we're facing trial, I'm wondering what Captain Hinny, if he's
going to testify for the prosecution, what he will have
to say as a non investigating personnel from the police
department that seems to be the state's representative here.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Well, let me make a guess. They're going to dismiss
these charges after the election. They do not want you.
They have Captain Henny under oath. Uh he's not you know,
a cops I know say they like him. Captain Henny
is now the interim chief. They like him, and he
was putting in some impossible position of following false criminal
charges on one hand because the city solicitor ordered it,
(13:16):
and on the other hand, he wanted to protect his
men from future action against them because they wouldn't follow
an elicit, illegal order. And now Henny and Henny in
consequence has been elevated because he did what the city
fathers and mothers wanted them to do. And so Henny
and I say, once again, the men respect Henny, but
(13:39):
at this point he's in a bad light. Would you
get out your crystal ball where the city continue to
pursue these charges against your client when they know they're false.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Well, they've indicated nothing that they are going to stop
pursuing these charges at this point. And like you, with
this election looming, these things are certainly coming out and
right now that seems to be very important to them.
But let's see what if common sense may come to
them after this election and they dismiss these charges. If not,
(14:09):
I can't wait to get these people on the road.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Well, you're get to under oath either the criminal case,
which you'll be dismissed, or you're going to under oath
in a civil case, and none of them can avoid
that because in this opinion, a civil case, and I
know federal authorities are watching this case to see what happens.
I'm gonna make sure this tape goes all over the
federal officials, I know, because we can't live in a
society or person innocent persons are charged with criminal offenses
(14:34):
because of the color of their skin.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
And no, you don't victimize victims. It's just not right, Bill,
and you're all over it.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Attorney Doug Brandon, representing Alex Stravinski. Thanks for coming on
the Bill Cunningham Show, and I'm sure we're going to
talk again, but get ready for a dismissal right after
the election.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Sounds good. Thanks for having me, Bill.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
God bless you. Let's continue with more. Well, the truth
will set you free or the truth could imprison you?
After a peer of all, Bill Cunningham, News Radio seven
hundred WLW