Convicted store owner cites Milwaukee detective's racial bias against Pakistani men in demand for new trial
The former owner of a Milwaukee convenience store says a detective framed him for the near-homicide of an ex-employee because of her bigotry toward Pakistani men.
A jury in 2016 acquitted Syed Rizvi, 41, of attempted homicide, but found him guilty of reckless injury and aggravated battery. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In a new motion in his 2014 case, Rizvi contends the convictions were a "manifest injustice" and should be thrown out given information that later came out about the lead detective's bias.
Rizvi's not relying on a private conversation, a tip or even the detective's old social media posts for his claims about bias. He cites Det. Nicole Reaves' own statements in court:
"Syed Rizvi is of the Pakistani culture. According to a 2011 poll of experts by Thomason [sic] Reuters Foundation Poll Pakistan is the third most dangerous country for women in the world... A certain mentality is deeply ingrained in strictly patriarchal societies like Pakistan. Poor and uneducated women must struggle daily for basic rights, recognition and respect. They must live in a culture that defines them by male figures in their lives even though these women are often the breadwinners for their families. This is strike one for me.
Additionally, for decades the law enforcement entity in Pakistan has been either non-existent or greatly disrespected by citizens.... This is strike two for me.
Lastly, [sic] has been no secret that a lot of Pakistanis have come to America and opened businesses like corner stores and convenience stores in the inner city. We as African Americans that live in the inner city have complained for years of the ill treatment that we have gotten from the Pakistani personnel in these stores. We have been spat upon, beaten, raped, poisoned, stabbed, shot and killed by those of the Pakistani culture as both patrons and employees to them.
It’s been proven those particular Pakistani people feel that they are superior to the African Americans they come in contact with or are racist if not both. This is strike three for me.
Most Pakistanis find themselves in a predicament where this is questioned. They will deny it and say that they love black people. This is a blatant lie from them. It is clear that they only are in love with the African American’s green money and not black people, otherwise they would open their convenience stores on the corners in the suburbs where the majority of the population is white people, not to mention that black people have been the number one consumers for everything for a very long time, will always spend their money[."]
Reaves' comments were part of her victim impact statement during Rizvi's 2017 sentencing in a related case. At the end of the attempted homicide trial, in summer 2016, he made a gesture at Reaves. He later pleaded guilty to threatening an officer, and was sentenced to 2½ years, added to the 15 years he got in the main case.
Reaves, 51, also said Rizvi's jail calls were monitored, that he was speaking Farsi and spelling her name and that she had to be put under extra security.
That was all a lie, Rizvi's motion states. Public record requests to Milwaukee police turned up no evidence of any of Reaves' claims. And Rizvi speaks Urdu, not Farsi, it states.
"Detective Reaves’ willingness to lie about the recorded calls reinforces her anti-Pakistani bias and further undermines her credibility." reads Rizvi's new court pleading.
"Had the jury heard the evidence of her bigotry, it would have been more than reasonable for the jury to conclude that Detective Reaves fabricated" the victim's unrecorded hospital bed statement to corroborate what she got the gun holder to say as part of a plea deal.
Numerous attempts to reach Reaves for response, through the department, the union and by phone and email, were unsuccessful.
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Court records state the following:
Rizvi had fired then 17-year-old Tajerie "TJ" Davis from Annie's Discount Tobacco, at North 40th Street and West Capitol Drive., because Davis couldn't get along with a manager, Sherrone Thornton, 33. On the evening of Aug. 13, 2014, Davis came to the store demanding $90 in unpaid wages.
Rizvi, Thornton and another employee Devonte Williams, 37, were all present.
Rizvi testified Davis and Thornton began to argue and tussle. Williams separated the two and put Davis in a back room, while Rizvi held back Thornton. Eventually, Thornton left the store, and a short time later, Davis followed.
Davis was found bloody and confused, shot in the head but alive, on the ground on Capitol Drive across from the store, just before 10 p.m. Witnesses told police to check out Annie's. The next day, Reaves arrested Thornton at the store. He had a gun, later determined to have fired the shot that hit Davis.
Thornton agreed to testify and plead guilty to being a felon with a gun in exchange for prosecutors dismissing the attempted homicide charge. He was sentenced to three years on the gun count.
At Rizvi's trial, Davis' testimony didn't track with his prior testimony at Williams' trial, Thornton's testimony or his own supposed statement to Reaves. The prosecutor admitted it changed "dramatically" and the judge said the defense's continued impeachment of Davis was "like beating a dead horse."
Reaves testified when she talked to Davis in the hospital, a week after he'd been shot in the head, he was alert and coherent. She testified that Davis told her Rizvi had shot him, which matched Thornton's story.
Reaves did not record the hospital interview or have Davis sign a written version of his statement, and no other officer was present.
Williams, 37, was also charged with attempted homicide, as party to a crime. At his trial a year earlier, Davis — who suffered a brain injury from the shooting — testified he couldn't remember anything about the night, other than that Thornton had grabbed him in the store and Thornton and Williams beat him up.
Reaves again testified to what she said Davis told her in the hospital: that Williams tried to strangle Davis and Rizvi pistol-whipped him until he passed out, he awoke later on grass outside with Rizvi standing over him with a gun, that he heard a shot and woke up two weeks later in a hospital.
Williams' jury found him guilty of being party to the crime of attempted homicide. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Both his and Rizvi's first appeals were filed without mention of Reaves' comments at the threat sentencing. Rizvi's new lawyer says that amounts to ineffective assistance of counsel and justification for raising the issue so late now.
"The problems posed by Detective Reaves's statements are obvious," said Rizvi's attorney, Nick Curran, with the office of Kathleen Zellner, a noted specialist in challenging wrongful convictions. "Based on her hatred of Pakistani men," he said, none of her testimony at Rizvi's trial can be trusted, he said.
"But beyond that, anyone who openly harbors such bigoted views of a group of people (apparently without even realizing it) should not be placed in a position of public trust as is a detective," Curran said, "especially to the extent she is investigating crime involving Pakistani victims, witnesses, or suspects."
Prosecutors have not yet filed a response to Rizvi's motion to set aside his conviction, and no hearing date has been set.
Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or bvielmetti@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee shop owner says detective's bigotry warrants new trial
