Murder in Memphis--An Unbelievable Travesty of Justice
My Brother Was Murdered at BB King's by the Bouncers & NO ONE WAS EVER EVEN ARRESTED
Dominick Dunne told me to write about this, so here is my start. I spoke with Mr. Dunne on November 17th on Larry King Live.
"I'm very sorry that happened to you. It sounds like no one wants to get involved" "Can you write?" "Why don't you write about it and get some people behind you"
Mr. Dunne was supportive and so kind. I will always appreciate and remember that conversation.
Here is an article about the murder of my brother before scores of eyewitnesses in an unprovoked attack by the bouncers of BB Kings in Memphis. This occurred on the evening of July 17th, 1997. Eight of them crushed, strangled and beat him to death. They were never tried, nor even arrested.....
"Beale Street Club Settles Lawsuit"
B.B. King's Blues Club Inc. recently settled out of court with the family of an Oxford, Mississippi, man who died outside the Beale Street club, shortly after a fight with some of the club's bouncers.
The family of Jeffrey Alexander sought $15 million from both the club and the Memphis Police Department after the July 1997 incident. Police officers had been on the scene after the fight occurred, but U.S. District Court Judge Jerome Turner dismissed any claims against them. The amount of the settlement the Alexander family reached with the club is confidential, attorneys for the family say.
Twenty-seven-year-old Alexander's death was ruled the result of "accidental traumatic asphyxiation" by the Shelby County Medical Examiner's office. The Alexander family claimed that Alexander died because bouncers sat on his chest for about 10 minutes, making it impossible for him to breath. Alexander died in the hospital 11 hours later.
The club's attorneys claim Alexander was drunk, rowdy, and the aggressor, and that club employees did their best to restrain him. The attorneys for the Alexander family, however, argue there was no fight and say Alexander was thrown to the ground without provocation as he turned around to retrieve his belongings.
Not one but two separate videotapes captured portions of the incident. Both tapes, along with the statements of some independent witnesses, contradict the testimony of employees of B.B. King's, who claim that Alexander was conscious and either walking, talking, or cussing as he was escorted out of the club just before 1 in the morning after a party with his Hardin's-Sysco co-workers.
The first tape was taken by Beale Street security cameras. Although much of this footage is obscured by street banners and club signs, it shows four men, apparently all employees of B.B. King's, carrying Alexander's limp body out of the club.
The second tape was taken by a tourist inside the club, who shot footage of Alexander lying motionless on the street. Only his legs are on the curb. The rest of his body lies on Beale Street itself, with his hands cuffed, and his head close to the exhaust pipe of a police squad car.
Had the case gone to trial, jurors might have ruled against the club based on depositions by club employees. The most unconvincing piece of testimony came from Richard Leachman, the assistant manager who was involved in the Alexander fight. "We were being flipped around like rag dolls," he testified during a sworn deposition. "The young man was very strong."
Leachman's testimony is weakened because he gave false statements about his criminal background. Although he claimed to have a clean record during the discovery phase of the lawsuit, he changed his statement during his deposition.
In 1991, Leachman was charged with vehicular homicide in Crittenden County, Arkansas, after his wife died during an illegal drag race. "It was not a case where it was my fault," says Leachman, who pled guilty to the charge. "I didn't understand [the charge] was criminal until it was brought to my attention." Leachman was also arrested a few years before that incident in Virginia, where he was charged, but not convicted, on three counts of armed robbery.
The family of Jeffrey Alexander has promised not to discuss the case further. As for Leachman, he no longer works at B.B. King's. He is currently employed by the Hard Rock Cafe just down the street.
Phil Campbell
No one in Memphis has ever returned my nor my mother's phone calls nor letters. My mother died from a broken heart and disbelief that the democracy that she lived in could violate her son's constitutional rights as they did and say it was OK to murder him.
What can you do to help?
Email or phone the
City of Memphis
Law Division
City Prosecutors Office
201 Poplar LL 10
Memphis, Tn 38103
Phone: (901) 545-5475
Fax: (901) 545-3470
Dottie.jones@memphistn.gov
Tell them that you are appalled that tourists can be beaten to death in a club in their city with no punishment nor charge to the murderers. Tell them to re-open the investigation and to prosecute those who murdered Jeff.
also.....
Here are the ways to contact the Attorney General:
Honorable James N. Ramsey
District Attorney General, Seventh Judicial District
149 North Main Street
Clinton, TN 37716
Phone: (865) 457-5640
Fax: (865) 457-9352
dag7th@AttorneyGeneral.org
And also
Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
BY E-MAIL:
E-mails to the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General, may be sent to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
Thank you for helping. Know this, Jeff would have done this for you. He absolutely would have.
Larry King Live Archives
CNN's Larry King Live Link
What Can I do? Write, Call, Email:
Alberto Gonzales, US Attorney General
Paul G. Summers, Tennessee Attorney General
City of Memphis Prosecutor's Office
AddMe.com, Search Engine Marketing
Contact Us:
ZanderNat@aol.com
Contact:
Website Administrator
