Robert C. Mitchell: Forensics Report Update

<strong>Police Report Casts Doubt on Black Activist's Accuser</strong>
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by JoNina M. Abron<br>
NNPA Writer<br><br>
(Battle Creek, Mich.) -- The fingerprints of black anti-police brutality activist Robert C. Mitchell were not on a drinking glass that he is supposed to have touched during his alleged assault on a white woman, according to tests by the state police laboratory.
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Mitchell, 42, is accused of assaulting and kidnapping Deborah Sparks Gordon in her apartment here on July 12 of last year. Gordon testified at Mitchell's preliminary hearing on May 12 that during the alleged assault she asked Mitchell for a glass of water, which she said he gave her.
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The glass was examined Aug. 17 by Sgt. Gregoire P. Michaud, a specialist in the forensic science division of the Michigan State Police laboratory in Lansing. In his report, Michaud said that six fingerprints were found on the glass, all belonging to Gordon. There were no other fingerprints of value, Michaud said.
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According to Michaud's report, he received the glass Aug. 16, almost five weeks after Mitchell's preliminary hearing.
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A report from the Battle Creek Police Department shows that the state forensics report did not reach the department until Sept. 18, a month after Michaud finished his laboratory tests.
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Police claim that Mitchell and Gordon, 46, argued after she threatened to tell the black woman with whom Mitchell was living that he and Gordon were having an affair.
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Documents from the Calhoun County Justice Center show that the black woman, who asked not to be identified, secured a personal protection order against Gordon on July 11, the day before the alleged assault. Gordon, armed with a gun, came to the black woman's home and threatened to kill her.
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Mitchell is founder of the National Police Misconduct Project. Less than a month before he was charged with assaulting Gordon, he organized a local march against racial profiling and police brutality.
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A trained paralegal, Mitchell is the lead plaintiff in a federal class action lawsuit that he and 18 other inmates filed in July against Calhoun County Sheriff Allen L. Byam and several deputies at the county jail where Mitchell is a prisoner. Among other things, the lawsuit charges the jail staff with ethnic intimidation of inmates of color. Mitchell prepared the lawsuit, which is now before the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
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Since August, Mitchell has suffered a series of heart attacks and strokes and has been rushed to the hospital at least twice with severe chest pains. He says Sheriff Byam is disregarding the wishes of doctors, whom Mitchell says want him to be hospitalized for long-term treatment.