Travis needs your help

I am contacting you on behalf of Travis He is innocent
Travis was walking home one day from helping a family friend out working on his car. His family lives in the country club area, which is a really nice area of town, and when he was walking he had been stopped by a officer. The officer asked what he was doing in the area and Travis told him. The officer then said they have had reports of burglaries in the area and that he was going to have to search him. Travis asked, “am I being detained?” and the officer said, “no.” So, he continued walking and the officer again said he has to search him. Travis then finally consented and allowed the officer to search him The officer asked Travis '' Do you have any weapons on you?'' Travis told him he had a gun and as he lifted his shirt to show the officer the second officer pulls up and saw Travis lift his shirt and he saw the gun still in his waistband However, this second officer who pulls up (if you look closely at the reflection on the other police car he pulls up behind) jumps out and then fires at Travis he wouldn’t stop shooting, so Travis ran and hid behind a tree saying he surrenderd but he just continued shooting after being shot in the leg and cest and hip area Travis shot once through the cruisers window and then stared to run to the police cruiser and he jumped in and ducked Then the 2nd officer ran and got a shotgun, the officer blew out the windows and everything with the shotgun (he just wouldn’t stop shooting).

By this point, Travis had been shot three times and was in fear for his life. So, he took off to go get help (a hospital), but he kept drifting in and out of consciousness and he finally passed out and the vehicle crashed. Another officer caught up with him and pulled him out of the vehicle onto the ground and started kicking him in his ribs nonstop. Now Travis has problems breathing and pain in his ribs ever since. He is just now starting to get feeling back in his leg. He was in a wheelchair and they didn’t think he would ever be able to walk again. This was filmed and put online by a pedestrian, but only for a brief time. Now its gone and we cant find the video anywhere. We think the police department scared them into taking if down. And all this cause this second officer pulled up and pulled his gun out for no reason and shot him.

As you can see in the video, the situation was already under control. It’s this second officer who started all of this mess. This second officer also just got off probation for shooting and killing a man in his own home!! He should be in jail and have his badge taken away he should be in jail not Travis. This is still an open investigation and this man is still working and they even gave him an award. Travis is a good kid and was at the wrong place at the wrong time. . Another reason they stopped him is cause they said he looked like he didn’t belong. Basically, he looked too poor to be in that area.

They said Travis shot both the cops when in reality Travis shot through the window one time trying to get away. They also said he shot them three times, but only one of Travis’s shell casing were found they shot each other by mistake and the officers and are blaming him. Now they are charging him with two counts of attempted capital murder and one count of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. His bond is $750,000 and we are trying to get the word out about his case and what really happened. His trial is next month something needs to be done about the police here. They are out of hand. They arrested and beat up a 16 year old boy walking home not that long ago. They stopped him for no reason . And they arrested a man and beat him up so badly that he was in so much pain he hung himself in his cell. They are out of control and as for Travis he was just walking home. ..he is innocent the officer should be in jail not Travis. He acted in self defense. The officer who caused all this just got off probation for shooting and killing a man in his own home. He needs to have his badge taken away and to be put in jail!! Here is all of the links and you can see in the dash came footage the 2nd officeer starts shooting he isnt even looking at where he is shooting he is looking down and its not until after the 2nd officer starts shooting that you see travis's bullet go through the cruisers window how is it that travis only fired once and it went through the police cruisers window and if he only fired once how were the cops shot 3 times? They shot eachother by mistake is why

https://www.change.org/p/police-brutality-free-travis-magill

 

http://www.kristv.com/news/dashcam-video-sheds-new-light-on-shootout/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzB9vQoBRkE

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Travis-Cody-Magill/741850245888267?ref=hl

Change.org

 

www.change.org

Change.org is the web's leading platform for social change, empowering anyone, anywhere to start petitions that make a difference.

UPDATE ON BRYAN SHEPHARD- 1/11/15

At Bryan Sheppards resentencing hearing,they will be allowed to talk about every aspect of the case.....allegations, crime, age, life etc. This is great news. Without a doubt his ,along with the 4 others innocence will be proven. I'm very thankful we have ppl, like the ones working fo the innocence project, that devote their time to helping make right such injustices like this one.

I REFUSE TO LOSE

My brother,jay would have been 35 the 16th of this month, if we had’nt lost him 4 yrs ago, and 3 weeks later my brother David would have turned 33. We just lost him 7 months ago. My son will be spending his 25th birthday in prison this year. My daughter had her 21st birthday in prison and looks like she will spend her 22nd in their ,as well. Bryan Sheppard has been sitting in prison for 18 years for no reason at all, completely innocent. Thats just a few personal reasons for me to know how unfair and how painful life is. Yet I will continue to fight for whats right and just. My pain is the fuel that keeps me going. I am just one person, but I will make a difference , I refuse to accept the corruption and injustices thats going on in the world.Its our life our world ,will you fight for whats right? join me and many others , you can’t go wrong by doing what’s right!!

MORE OPINIONS ON THE KCF5(FROM FORUM ON JUSTICE QUEST)

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEAQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.justicequest.net%2Fforums%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D77057&ei=5IdSU4r2DOeh2gWqu4G4CA&usg=AFQjCNEdRGMz13rtqo4SMFATRe1imBZoJA&sig2=JEfFMQALSNAfMy1IyJeR2g&bvm=bv.65058239,d.b2I

Attorneys: Wrongful convictions in 1988 explosion that killed 6 firefighters

Lisa Benson , 41 Action News Staff

10:12 PM, Sep 28, 2012

10:21 AM, Sep 29, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Attorneys are pushing for a new grand jury investigation into the 1988 explosion that killed six Kansas City firefighters, citing new evidence that they saw proves their clients were wrongfully convicted for the crime.

At a press conference Friday, local attorney Cheryl Pilate and Laura O'Sullivan, legal director of the Midwest Innocence Project, said thata 2011 investigation by the U.S. Justice Department unearthed information that points to new suspects in the case.

Five people were sentenced to life in prison for the fatal explosion -- Darlene Edwards, Bryan Sheppard, Frank Sheppard, Richard Brown and Skip Sheppard. Pilate represents Darlene Edwards, and O'Sullivan represents Bryan Sheppard. Skip Sheppard died in prison in 2009.

The attorneys say that their clients were home asleep during the explosion. They want a new grand jury investigation to look into eyewitness testimony of those who saw people at the construction site before the explosion.

"It is clear that substantial new information points towards the guilt of others and exonerates Brian Sheppard and Daralene Edwards and the other three convicted in this case," O'Sullivan said at UMKC Law School on Friday.

Nancy Pointer, Darlene Edwards' younger sister, said she hope a new grand jury investigation will make a difference.

"I grew up with my sister, she wasn't like that," Pointer said. "This was wrongfully done. I just hope and pray something will finally come to justice and come back to court they'll find out that they're innocent and they'll all come home."

It took nearly a decade to convict the five accused of filling a pickup truck and a trailer with explosive materials that ended up killing six local firefighters -- James Kilventon Jr., Gerald Halloran, Luther Hurd, Michael Oldham, Thomas Fry and Robert McKarnin.

In a statement released Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Kansas City said they worked with Pilate, but found no new evidence that would indicate of the five people convicted for the explosion were innocent. They said the Justice Department's findings indicated there might simply be additional parties involved

Firefighters' case demands justice

The Kansas City Star July 14, 2011

It has been three years since the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into a controversial prosecution that resulted in life prison sentences for five Kansas Citians after an explosion that killed six firefighters.

That's an unreasonably long time to complete a report. The defendants, one of whom has died in prison, were convicted in 1997 of causing the tragedy in 1988. Questions about evidence and an investigator's tactics have left lingering suspicions that the defendants were wrongfully found guilty.

Those questions must be put to rest. Former U.S. attorney John F. Wood did the right thing in 2008 by seeking a Justice Department review after reports in The Kansas City Star raised disturbing questions about the integrity of the government's witnesses. But the lengthy process since then has led to worries that the investigation hasn't been a high priority for the agency.

A Justice Department spokeswoman in Washington said this week that the investigative report was recently completed and is "in the final stages of review."

That's progress -- unless the final stage is as long-winded as the work up until now. It shouldn't be. The 1988 explosion left deep scars in the earth and in the city's psyche. The healing will never be complete as long as questions remain about who should be held responsible.

Who else helped kill 6 KC firefighters?

 Yael T. Abouhalkah Kansas City Star July 28, 2011

The summary of a new Justice Department report indicates other people also were involved in causing the huge 1988 explosion that killed six KC firefighters.

Who were they? When is current U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips going to try to prosecute these new suspects? Her refusal Wednesday to answer questions about the case and the surprising new information was a dereliction of duty.

The government’s report was prompted by questions raised by The Star’s reporters about the conviction of five people in the 1988 blast.

Yes, the new report claims the five people are still guilty of the crime, something The Star has questioned previously because of statements made by others involved in the case. Those statements to the newspaper essentially have indicated other people were responsible, partly or wholly, for the incident.

The Justice Department needs to release the full, 20-page report so the public can more clearly see why theU.S. government claims the five people are still guilty. (Four are in prison; one has since died.)

But I’d say that - even more importantly - the government needs to release the full report so we can find out whether new trials ought to be held to prosecute others who may have been involved in the deadly explosion.

It’s not enough for the Justice Department to simply say, oh, by the way, others may have been responsible for the crimes.

These people need to be brought to justice, too - just like the government claims the five others were brought to justice more than a decade ago when they were convicted and sent to prison.

Read more here:http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/who-really-killed-6-kc-firefighters...

A Quest for Closure Outweighed the Search For Truth

ARTICLE  FROM THE 'KANSAS CITY FIREFIGHTERS CASE:
This site exists to bring attention to a gross miscarriage of justice. Closure to this tragic incident cannot be attained until those who are responsible for the explosion that killed the 6 Kansas City Firefighters are brought to justice and the wrongly convicted released.

As you read the trial transcripts and the articles on this tragic incident, noticeable are the many inconsistencies in testimony and the erroneous evidence used by the prosecution to construct the case against the defendants.

Noticeable also is the fact that there are 22 volumes of trial transcript for the prosecution and only one for the defense -- exculpatory evidence for the defendants was not allowed to be presented during the trial.

What the prosecution failed to understand is that there are those of us out here who are concerned with how ‘justice’ is meted out. For if these 5 people can be used as scapegoats to put closure to a highly controversial case then all of us are at risk for the same kind of treatment when a similar situation arises.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the content of this web site, please send us your questions or comments. Use the ‘contact’ link.

This site is a voluntary effort and is still under construction. We will add related documents and information as we obtain them. Thank you for your patience.

2 DAYS AFTER EXPLOSION IN 1988

Kansas City, MO Ammonium Nitrate Explosion, Nov 1988

Atchison Daily Globe Kansas 1988-12-01

  

POLICE SEEK CLUES IN KC BLAST.

Kansas City, Mo. (AP) -- The ammonium nitrate that exploded during an arson fire at a highway construction site and killed six firemen had been mixed with other compounds that made it far more volatile, police said.
Firefighters wore black bands around their badges Wednesday to honor those who died in what was the worst firefighting tragedy in the city's history.
Killed in the explosion Tuesday at a construction site in south Kansas City were Capt. GERALD C. HALLORAN, 59, Capt. JAMES H. KILVENTON, 54, and firemen THOMAS M. FRY, 41, LUTHER E. HURD, 31, ROBERT McKARNIN, 42, and MICHAEL R. OLDHAM, 32.
Officials initially thought that only ammonium nitrate, considered one of the milder and more stable form of explosives, had been in the two trailers that blew up in the predawn hours Tuesday.
The ammonium nitrate had been mixed with diesel fuel, pink dye and powdered aluminum to form "Maynes mix," a blasting agent susally detonated by a small amount of dynamite, police said.
The discovery explains why the blasts were powerful enough to kill the firefighters, demolish two firetrucks and create a boom that was heard as far as 40 miles away.
"All it requires is a heat source" to explode, said Sgt. GREGORY MILLS, a police spokesman.
MILLS said there were no significant developments Wednesday in the arson investigation.
The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating whether the explosives were stored properly, said TOM TRUMAN, special agent in charge. Federal regulations govern the distances that must separate stored explosives from houses, buildings, highways and other explosives.
The bureau conducted a routine administrative inspection at the site before Tuesday's tragedy but TRUMAN declined to discuss it.
The six firefighters had been warned by a dispatcher there could be explosives at the scene of a fire that police believe was sparked by an arsonist, transcripts of conversations with dispatchers show.

The Security Guards (Parts 1 & 2)

The Security Guards (Part 1)

November 29th, 1988:

In south Kansas City Mo., at a construction site, around 4 am, six Firefighters were killed from an explosion which was caused by an arson fire. Robert and Debra Riggs were the security guards on duty that morning. Robert owns Ameriguard security and Debra, his sister, was working for him while she was laid off from her original job.

At 9:30pm Debra called Melvin Stanton, a fellow employee, into work. Melvin arrived around 10:00pm, Seeing Debra stationed on the west side of the highway alone, he took position on the east side. At 11:00 pm Robert tells Stanton to go home. Where was Robert Riggs between 10-11pm?

Debra stated that at 3:30 am, while she was stationed, still on the westside, (Robert on east) she had seen two large people walking across the highway. When they got close to the manager's trailer (sitting in the median between highways) they disappeared. She called her brother to report this suspicious activity. Robert drove over to where Debra was and they both got in his station wagon and drove around the trailer. Seeing nothing, they drove on to Quiktrip. While Debra is in the store, a lady drives up telling Robert there is a truck on fire at the site. Moments later, Debra and Robert head back to the site to find her truck engulfed in flames, along with another fire on the east side up by the trailers that store ammonium nitrate and fuel oil.

Debra admitted after one of many interviews, that she had lied about her brother being on the east side when she saw two people walking. She said, actually, that she was sitting in his station wagon with him when she saw these two people walking.
                                                                                                                                  
A witness stated that as she drove by the site the dome light in the station wagon was on and Debra was sitting in the vehicle alone. Debra then stated her brother was asleep and reclined back.  Robert, when questioned, said he had gone to urinate behind some machinery.

Robert Riggs said it took them 4 1/2 minutes to go from Debra's truck , to the trailer, on over to Quiktrip and then back to the truck, finding it in flames. Vivian Rhodes drove by the truck, already in flames, then drove down the highway, turned around, and drove to the Quiktrip.
                                                                                    
So that gives about 90 seconds for an outsider to set the truck on fire, and also set the trailer full of explosives and a compressor on fire, across the hwy.

Feb. 21st, 1989:
                                                                                                                    
Melvin Stanton told detectives that a few days before the explosion, Robert Riggs had said to him, ""If anything happens out here, you keep your mouth shut!"

The Security Guards (Part 2)

"If anything happens out here, you keep your mouth shut!" That's what Robert Riggs told Melvin Stanton, a fellow employee, a few days before the explosion. That statement alone should have put the Riggs' at the top of the suspects list. Instead, in March of 1989, the police publicly exonerated them from suspicion.

Records show that even after they excluded the Riggs' from suspicion, they continued investigating them. ATF Agent Dave True repeatedly tried to link Debra and Darlene Edwards (one of the convicted) together. Darlene denies knowing Debra Riggs.

Debra admitted that neither she nor her brother ever went to see what was happening on the east side of the highway. But in a deposition she stated that the Mt. Plains pickup was on fire and might have set fire to the trailers full of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil.

Detectives also reenacted the scene, when Debra saw two people walking across the highway the night of the explosion. They determined there was no way that she could have seen anyone where she said she saw them.

Melvin Stanton had also told police Debra always has a large boxer dog with her at work. The night of the explosion, she didn't.

The Riggs' never mentioned Stanton, any of the numerous times they were questioned, coming to work or being sent home. Melvin Stanton was never again questioned by authorities, and couldn't be found by the defense attorneys when preparing for trial.

Here's another thing that doesn't fit. Debra stated, in a deposition, that she told all six of the firemen that the trailers were loaded with ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. A commonly known rule, firefighters do not fight a fire once it reaches ammonium nitrate. They evacuate and let the fire burn out.

One more thing I meant to include : On Feb. 16, 1994, ATF agent True took a signed statement from a woman, which said: "Approximately five years ago, shortly after the explosion which killed the six Kansas City Firefighters, I believe some television news program mentioned the explosion, which caused Sandy DiGiovanni to say she had information about the cause of the explosion. DiGiovanni said that a friend of hers, Donna Constanza (sic), claimed to have worked as a security guard on the construction site where the explosion occurred. Donna Constanza (sic) said that on the night of the explosion, she assisted a fellow female security guard to burn her private pick-up truck. This was done to collect insurance on the truck." 

New Allegations Uncovered In Blast That Killed 6 KC Firefighters

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 KANSAS CITY, MO.

A yearlong newspaper investigation of an explosion that killed six Kansas City firefighters in 1988 has uncovered new allegations about who was responsible for setting the fires that led to the fatal blast. In a copyright story in Sunday's Kansas City Star, an ex-convict who worked at the highway construction site where the explosion occurred says he knows who set the fires. And it wasn't any of the five people who were convicted in the case and sentenced to life in prison. Howard Ed Massey II, a former woodcutter at the construction site, told federal agents in January that he saw a security guard running from a burning truck on the night of the explosion.

On Nov. 29, 1988, Kansas City firefighters were called to a blaze at a southeast Kansas City highway construction site. They arrived to find a burning, 40-foot trailer that held 25,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. The trailer exploded, killing firefighters Thomas Fry, Gerald Halloran, Luther Hurd, James Kilventon Jr., Robert D. McKarnin and Michael Oldham. A jury in 1997 convicted brothers Frank and Skip Sheppard; their nephew, Bryan Sheppard; Richard Brown, who was a friend of the nephew; and Darlene Edwards, who was Frank Sheppard's girlfriend. The five were believed to have burned an explosives trailer and a security guard's pickup at the site to cover up a botched burglary. All five still deny any involvement. Federal prosecutors have told defense attorneys about Massey's claims, which surfaced during an ongoing, yearlong investigation by The Star.

One defense lawyer says she will use the information to try and free the defendants. "I think his statement raises troubling questions, and regardless of whether you believe Massey's allegations, they certainly suggest the need for further investigating," said defense attorney Cheryl Pilate. Some of the new allegations are supported by evidence found during the Star's investigation, the newspaper reported. The newspaper also raised questions about alleged admissions by a site security guard who talked of setting a truck on fire that night with a fellow guard, false testimony by one defendant's daughter and recanted testimony by prosecution witnesses. Massey told federal agents he saw a woman he believed to be security guard Donna Costanza running from a burning truck. Massey said that was after an encounter he had with Costanza's roommate and fellow guard, Debbie Riggs, who he says offered him money to set fire to her truck to collect insurance. Both Costanza and Riggs have denied the allegations.

Massey went to federal agents after talking to The Star, which interviewed him extensively and conducted a polygraph examination that found his information to be credible. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul S. Becker, who prosecuted the five defendants, told The Star that his office doesn't believe Massey's statements and has no plans to open a new investigation. "If the defense attorneys want to do something with (Massey's allegations), then it is their job to do so," Becker said. Becker said Massey has changed his story about the explosions over time, even claiming in the past that he didn't know who was responsible. Massey told The Star he did not admit what he knew then because he was a felon with a pending warrant, and he didn't want to be charged as an accessory. "Nobody was supposed to get killed in this," Massey said, "but it got out of hand, and six firefighters died, and I have carried around a lot of guilt for 17 years because I still wonder if I could have stopped it."

There was little physical evidence in case, and no witnesses placed the defendants at the scene. Jailhouse informants provided most of government's evidence in getting the convictions. Since the trial a decade ago, four prosecution witnesses have recanted their testimony and allege that federal agents threatened or manipulated them. One of those witnesses was Becky Edwards, daughter of Darlene Edwards.

FFCC.COM NOTES : FFCC.COM NOTES

                                                                   -Published in the 'FirefighterCloseCalls.com'

Bryan Sheppard Has Been Granted A Resentencing Hearing

FROM THE KANSAS CITY STAR:

The office of U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson agreed in a brief filed late Wednesday that Bryan Sheppard, who was 17 at the time of the explosion, deserves a chance to make his case before a federal judge.

Sheppard and his attorney sought the re-sentencing hearing under a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that found that mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

READ MORE HERE:
http://www.kansascity.com/2014/02/05/4800673/defendant-in-kc-firefighter-deaths.html#storylink=cpy

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