"Dana Seawright was deeply loved..."
Phoenix office of the FBI
February 2012
A little over a month ago I chalked the PHOENIX FBI's old sidewalk on Indianola and sent their agent in charge this letter, along with the complete AZ Department of Corrections file on the homicide of prisoner Dana Seawright. In that file are two eyewitness statements identifying who ordered the hit on him, and one hand-written detailed account of his murder by a fellow prisoner who put his life on the line to identify the actual perpetrators just to clear his conscience. I have yet to receive a reply to this letter; perhaps they are still settling into their new building. A hate crime is a hate crime is a hate crime, though, no matter whether it happens in the free world or in prison - for all we know now, Dana's killers are already back on the loose. When state and local law enforcement are ill-equipped or refuse to address such crimes - as is clearly the case in Arizona, where hate festers and those who harbor it flourish - it should become the job of the FBI. The least they can do is let us know whether or not they received my challenge and are up to it...this young man's mother is waiting.
from the AZ Department of Corrections' Criminal Investigations Unit
-------------------
February 9, 2012
James L. Turgal, Special Agent in Charge
Federal Bureau of Investigation - PHX
21711 N. 7th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85024-5118
Dear Agent Turgal,
I’m a local prisoner rights’ activist and blogger who spends a considerable amount of time working with the survivors of prison homicide and suicide. We need your help. On July 3, 2010, Dana Seawright - a state prisoner at ASPC-Lewis in Buckeye, AZ - was beaten down by the West Side City Crips in what was clearly a gang-related hate crime, both of which would seem to fall under your purview:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/
Dana’s homicide is a cold case at the Arizona Department of Corrections now - it was never investigated beyond their own Criminal Investigations Unit, even though their investigation pointed to the criminal complicity of ADC guards in his beating, and consequently in his death. His mother wrote to your office in November asking you to open his case (copy enclosed), and recently received a letter in reply that the FBI is refusing to do so.
I can’t recall the rationale at the moment - just that I found it unacceptable. Therefore, I’m writing to ask that you reconsider that decision. If your own determination is also a denial of jurisdiction or responsibility, then I ask that you please kick it up to the next level. I‘ll keep going with this as far as I need to - I‘ve already taken the issue to my local cops and courthouse (see my enclosed letter), the DOJ’s Special Litigation office, and a state legislator, and Dana’s mother has been cc’ing her US Senators and US Representative on the matter. Her son’s murder can and should be solved - especially before his killers are unleashed again on the rest of us, if they haven’t already been (enclosed is a zip drive with the ADC’s complete CIU files on Dana‘s homicide).
Dana was murdered for being black and having a Mexican lover, according to the narrative written by the AZ Department of Corrections. I don’t know how that could not be a hate crime. He had apparently been targeted when in prison previously because of having a homosexual relationship outside of his race, according to a former prisoner. That former prisoner wrote the enclosed letter to Dana’s mother identifying who he thought was behind his murder was (she wouldn‘t tell the ADC who that prisoner was at the time for fear he would be killed, too. He is now on parole and is willing to talk.). It was the ADC investigators who uncovered the reasons that Dana was attacked, however. They even told her that “if it’s any condolence, they didn’t mean to kill him. They just meant to teach him a lesson.”
The lesson, presumably, was not to get involved in relationships (he wasn’t just having sex with them, which is more acceptable, I guess) with guys outside of his race. Dana was killed for who he loved, not for who he hated, hurt or feared, as is so often the case in prison.
How a criminal investigator can discover the motive for a murder with enough certainty to relay it to the victim’s mother and yet not know the identity of the killers is kind of hard to believe. I don‘t believe it at all, actually. I also don’t understand why the guards involved weren’t even disciplined, much less prosecuted, when Kini’s attorney found evidence of their complicity in the ADC’s own CIU records (see the enclosed civil complaint - the case is still in litigation). Maybe they would lead investigators further up the chain of command.
I have discovered evidence in state documents - CIU reports of homicides and suicides - that at least two deaths with eyewitnesses identifying homicide suspects in the case were simply not investigated further and were instead classified as something else (one as a suicide, one an accidental death). One - the homicide of Pete Calleros - was particularly disturbing because the witnesses served as lookouts for the gang that killed him. One of the suspects was already released and has a warrant. I recently heard from Pete’s family that the state indeed told them he had killed himself - never disclosing the information about the witnesses. They suspected at the time he was murdered, though, and had their own autopsy done, showing that he resisted being choked to death. I think they will be happy to help in any investigation into ADC’s CIU itself.
Furthermore, a former ADC officer by the name of Gary Bullock has blown the whistle on the ADC’s CIU staff, lodging several formal complaints about how they concealed information and avoided assigning responsibility in the death of Brenda Todd last year because of conflicts of interest. It appears the CIU has little oversight, and can‘t even be trusted by their own people.
In any case, that’s why I’m asking the FBI to intervene here - the state can’t be trusted to investigate itself in this matter - in fact, the Attorney General’s office is defending the ADC and staff against Dana’s mother in her civil suit. We’re also talking about a gang-related hate crime perpetrated against a US citizen who was inadequately protected by this state in the first place. I don’t care that prisoners aren’t considered “victims” under our state constitution - this man and his family were criminally victimized because of race and sexual orientation, and I expect the feds to step up and confront what’s happening in the state prisons here - beginning with the execution of Dana Seawright.
Dana’s mother lives with me, so I see her suffering every day that this remains unattended to, and will not relent on demanding a federal investigation until it is. I’m also getting a lot of mail from queer prisoners these days begging for protection from hate crimes by other prisoners, and not getting it from the ADC despite being victims of repeated assaults. The living need your help, too, and re-opening Dana‘s homicide with some emphasis on his civil rights might help other queer prisoners now.
I will be awaiting your reply. Unless you indicate that it contains privileged material, it will be posted to my blogs along with this letter…which means a lot of people are awaiting your reply, actually. They’ve been following this mother’s efforts to get justice for awhile now.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Margaret Jean Plews
Cc:
Ms. Kini Seawright
Amy Wallace, Esq.
US Senator John Kyl
US Senator John McCain
US Representative Ed Pastor
AZ Representative Cecil Ash
US DOJ - Civil Rights Division
NAACP, Maricopa County
Wendy Halloran, KPNX / Channel 12 News
Stephen Lemons, Phoenix New Times
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