Justice 4 Jbatters

EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE FIRST RAID
It was January 17th 2012 I was at MY home in Rochester, NY. I had been in the house for about 2 and a half weeks since the New Year because me and my girlfriend at the time were expecting our first child together to be born January 18th. Me & fellow Take Money Entertainment artist Money Meach were in the process of finishing up a project that we were working on called "Illegal Lifestyle" which we needed a few videos edited for. Early that day I caught a greyhound to Buffalo to meet up with my videographer Chino so that we could get together and edit some of the videos that we had been working on for the past few months. When I made it to Buffalo we met over my cousin D-Black house at 23 Roosevelt where we would frequently get together to edit visuals. We stayed up all night editing visuals while i waited for the call saying my girl is going into labor. Never got that call. So the next morning January 18th around 10am-11am Chino says he is leaving, then a knock at the door. Black answered, it's my Father coming to ask if my daughter had been born yet I tell him not yet while still on the computer editing. My pop stays for about 15-20 mins then leaves, I walk in the back to the guest room to lay down for a little bit because I had been up editing videos all night and morning. I go to lay down and i hear 3 big booms(ramming the door in), then I hear search warrant, search warrant, so I get on the floor spread my arms and legs. By this time they're in the house and a few of the officers are yelling out "is Kenneth Pettway in the house" while coming back toward the room that I am in with their guns drawn. So I yell out I'm rite here on the floor please don't shoot me. About 7 to 10 officers enter the room with their guns aimed at me asking am I Kenneth Pettway. I say yes, three of them lift me off of the floor by my arms, one officer search me and while searching me he asks if any one else is in the house, I don't respond, he ask is D-Black here with you, I don't respond. So the officer handcuffed me and a few of them starts roughly walking me toward the front of the house. As we make our way, I could hear Black screaming out "Ahh, Ouch, c'mon man, get the fuck off me, what I do". In order to get to the front living room area we have to pass by the kitchen which has a back door which leads down a flight of stairs. While passing by I can see about 4 to 5 officers punching, choking and hitting my cousin with the end of their assault rifles, pulling him into the kitchen from the hallway. One plain clothed officer wearing a mask blocked the door way and told me to mind my business unless I wanted the same thing to happen to me. They then sat me in a chair and faced me toward a wall with my back to all of the officers while they conducted a search of the apartment. The whole time while they searched the apartment, one of the officers attempted to question me about being arrested for guns before in 2006 and about me being Shot in the face back in 2006, mind you it's now 2012 at the time. I told the officers I didn't wish to speak because I have a lawyer. The officers recovered 2 firearms, 2 small baggies of Cocaine, a small amount of marijuana, and my laptop bag which contained mail addressed to me at my dads residence 947 Glenwood. They then told me I was under arrest for what was found in the house. I thought "how and this isn't my house" so I just knew in my mind that I was getting released on OR in the morning. Meanwhile unknowingly at the time they still had my dad detained down stairs. They had stopped him in traffic after leaving the house on Roosevelt, brung him back in front the house while they searched. Once the officers that had my dad detained were notified of what was found in the house, they began to use deceptive tactics on him telling him that they might charge him with what was found in the house on Roosevelt. One of the officers told my dad that if he allowed them to take him to his house and search, they will not charged him with what was found on Roosevelt and if they find something in his house they will not charge him. They also told him that if he don't allow it, they would get a search warrant any way within a half hour and if they had to go through all of that they will charge him with everything they found on Roosevelt as well as whatever is found when they search his home. Mind you, during the search of Roosevelt they found mail addressed to ME at my dad house. So him being put under such duress, he allowed them to search without a search warrant. They found a small quantity of cocaine, a digital scale, shotgun shells and a bag of 45 bullets, my dad was released, and I was charged with what was found in his home.

EVENTS AFTER THE FIRST RAID INCLUDING THE CHARGES
On January 19, 2012, i was arraigned on a criminal complaint charging me with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense
in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c) and related charges. The
Government requested detention and the Probation Officer recommended detention citing no conditions or combination of conditions would reasonably assure the defendant's appearance or the safety of the community. They tried to not give me a bail for a search warrant on a home that was not mine. I then requested a detention hearing. Later that day after the arrangement when I made it back to the Federal Jail hold in Batavia, NY I called home to find out that my girl had went into labor and gave birth to my first daughter "Kayley Parker-Pettway.

BAIL HEARING

On January 23, 2012, a detention hearing was held before Magistrate Judge
Jeremiah J. McCarthy. Before the hearing took place Anthony Bruce, lead District Attorney on the case approached my attorney and stated that he is looking to indict me on RICO and other charges involving Murder with other individuals some time in the near future. He did not get into details but he insisted that if I took a five-year plea that day, instead of bailing out, that he would not consider me in that indictment that he had planned for a future date. Me and My attorney Herbert Greenman denied the plea offer and presumed my innocence. During the bail hearing the government reiterated its position that i presented a flight risk and a danger to the community. The government also reiterated that there was a presumption for detention pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 3142(e)(2).
The United States Probation Office also continued to recommend detention but The Court ordered
that I be released on $5,000 bail with very strict conditions such as; EMS-home incarceration, meaning I stay confined to my home for 24 hours a day. I made bail that night. The whole time I knew this was a set up because the government refused to turn over crucial evidence which I needed in order to successfully run a suppression hearing.

On April 3, 2012, my attorney filed an application to the Court seeking a bail condition change from (

MY MOTIONS TO SUPPRESS THE SEARCH WARRANT

May 15, 2012 my lawyer filed Pretrial Motions requesting discovery material he also filed a motion to CONTROVERT SEARCH WARRANT AND SUPPRESS PHYSICAL EVIDENCE, which were both DENIED by Judge McCarthy, along with over a dozen other motions that my attorney filed. I don't understand how the motion to CONTROVERT SEARCH WARRANT AND SUPPRESS PHYSICAL EVIDENCE and my lawyer laid out the facts and basis in our motion reads exactly as follows:

"Counsel has been advised that the gist of the prosecution's case against
him comes as a result of a search warrant which was executed by members of the Erie
County Sheriffs Department.

Upon information and belief, a search warrant was issued by Hon.
Kenneth F. Case, a Judge for the County of Erie. The search warrant was apparently based on the affidavit of Erie County Sheriff Detective Hawthorn. The search warrant was signed on January 9, 2012 at 5:17 p.m.

There was no specific time affixed to detective Hawthorn's application.

The search warrant authorized a search, based upon Det. Hawthorn's affidavit, for the property located at 23 Roosevelt Street, Upper apartment, Buffalo, New
York. It was described as a 2 1/2 wood sided dwelling with the number "23" affixed to the
front of the house. The search warrant authorized the search for drugs and drug
paraphernalia and further permitted the executing officers to enter the premises and search without giving notice of authority pursuant to NYS CPL §690.35. The identity of the
individual whose name appears in the search warrant was identified as Kenneth Pettway, a
black male, DOB 12/31/83, approximately 200 lbs., brown eyes, brown hair."

As noted above, the search warrant was based upon the application of Erie
County Sheriff Warren Hawthorn seeking a search of the premises and property set forth above and the person of Kenneth Pettway. In support of his application. Detective
Hawthorn indicated that he is a Sheriffs Deputy. He advised that he had information
based upon statements made to him by a confidential sources that:

1) The confidential source knows the aforementioned,
Kenneth Pettway to sell cocaine. The source had purchased cocaine from Pettway numerous times over the course of last several months. The source also knows the aforesaid individual to
possess cocaine and sell cocaine from 23 Roosevelt upper apartment. Further information to be developed during in camera
testimony.

Based upon my past experience it is requested that said premises
be entered pursuant to CPL §690.35 without giving notice of authority and purpose, upon the grounds that (a) there is a reasonable cause to believe that the items sought to be seized, cocaine, may be easily and quickly destroyed or disposed of if not seized forthwith; (b) the giving of such notice may endanger the
life or safety of the executing police officers....

There is no indication on the face of the application or the search warrant
itself which indicates, in any way, that an in camera hearing was conducted or that there was any testimony developed during such hearing. It only appears that Detective
Hawthorn prepared his application for the search warrant and that the issuing judge signed
it. 😧

0n the face of the application there is clearly no indication of the specific
time when Kenneth Pettway sold any controlled substance. Just as important, there is no
indication from the face of the application to connect Kenneth Pettway to the premises which was sought to be searched. The only information contained is the fact that
Detective Hawthorn indicated that "source knows" Kenneth Pettway to possess cocaine and sell cocaine from 23 Roosevelt upper apartment. That information was never established.

What is very clear is the fact that there has been no indication as to the reliability of the said informant; that is, whether the informant had provided information
in the past to establish his reliability or credibility or whether, as counsel suspects, the
informant was a first time informant whose reliability has never been established.

As well, there is, as we have indicated, no nexus between Mr. Pettway and the apartment at 23 Roosevelt Street, upper apartment in Buffalo, New York.

Finally, the information provided by the informant was stale, which is clear from the fact that Detective Hawthorn only indicated that the informant had allegedly purchased cocaine in the past several months.

Simply put, there was no indication of any probable cause which had been set out in the detective's affidavit. As a consequence, because of the bare boned nature of
the search warrant application, the detective, who claimed that he had experience for 12 years could not have expected that probable cause existed and that the issuing judge was
basing his determination upon a probable cause finding. In sum, the search warrant was not applied for in good faith.

As well, it is interesting to note that Detective Hawthorn claimed that he
had information from confidential sources when, in fact, his affidavit went on to indicate only one confidential source.

Upon information and belief, after Judge Case issued the search warrant, officers searched the premises and located what they claim to have been contraband.

Because there is no indication on the face of the search warrant that an in camera proceeding had taken place, there is no basis to consider any other information other than what is contained in the application of Detective Hawthorn.

As a consequence, this Court may not consider any in camera
proceedings. (CPL §690.36(3).

If the Court disagrees with counsel's interpretation of the law, and if the
Court indicates that it wishes to consider any in camera testimony, it is requested that any such testimony be stenographically provided to counsel. As hand written notes were made, it is requested that the notes be provided to counsel as well.

Your deponent hereby reserves his right to amplify this motion and, at the appropriate time, to submit a memorandum of law in support of his application.

We assert that Mr. Pettway has standing in which to file the instant motion
based on the fact that his relationship with the premises provided him with a reasonable expectation of privacy in the apartment at the time that it was searched. If the Court mandates that counsel must provide an affidavit of standing, we ask that the standing affidavit be provided to the Court under seal."

That's what my motion read, yet it was still denied and I was also denied any discovery information to support the officers claim about me selling cocaine from 23 Roosevelt which allowed Detective Hawthorn to obtain a search warrant signed and issued by Judge Kenneth Case.

Furious that I was out on bail, the D.A. made several more attempts to try to have my bail revoked. He would come to court without any evidence just his word saying that he had witnesses that came to him and told him that I hired one of my soon to be co-defendant to murder somebody. The judge denied that motion because the D.A. had no evidence of this.

THE SECOND RAID/ SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT
On August 2nd, 2012 Batters residence in Rochester, NY was raided while he was on house arrest not to mention his 8 month old daughter and her mother was present to witness the incident. The raid stemmed from a 24 count superseding indictment charging Batters and 6 other members of the “alleged” Bailey Boys Gang with violent crimes in aid of racketeering(RICO), narcotics trafficking and firearm offenses all based off of hearsay from witnesses that the government had rounded up for other crimes.

Following the first superseding indictment, I was released on modified conditions on August 9, 2012

ANKLE MONITOR REMOVED
On January 9, 2013, my lawyer filed an application to the Court seeking a bail condition change removing the ankle monitor that was enforcing "EMScurfew". The request was granted by Judge McCarthy the next day by the grace of god. Now I can travel to run my record label only problem is I still had the Buffalo, Ny/Erie County ban.

GOVERNMENT TO USE PICKED UP IN A RAID VIDEO AT TRIAL
Around December 2013 I was notified by my attorney that the government had offered my music videos from my YouTube channel into discovery in order to be submitted as evidence at trial. That discouraged me and I stopped recording and releasing music for some time.

HARASSED BY BUFFALO POLICE
On August 2, 2014, I was granted permission by my probation officer to travel to Buffalo to visit my Oldest child, my son Amarion Pettway. While in the city i was harassed and arrested by officer Donald Myers and David Kimmins of the Buffalo Police
Department for Disorderly Conduct, Obstruction of Governmental Administration and
Resisting Arrest. I was the passenger in the vehicle with my brother Collins headed to my mother house after seeing my son, when we were pulled over on the corner of Bailey & Martha. Once pulled over officer Meyers approached my side (passenger) and officer Kimmins approached the driver side where my brother sat. As officer Meyers approached the car I tried to put my cellphone on video recorder but my memory was low. So the officer asked me to roll the window down with his hand on his gun. At this time I'm trying to put my cellphone on audio record with one hand, and roll the window down with the other. Once the window was down and Meyers recognized who I was, he immediately drew his gun from his waist and told me to get out the car. I refused because I was scared of what he would do to me if I got out. By now I finally get my phone to record audio, and I finally agree to step out the car because I didn't want to put my brother in danger. Once I stepped out, he placed his gun back on his waist and ask me to put the phone down while I record because he had realized I was recording. He sat the phone on top of the car and he began to rough me up screaming out "why are you reaching" while trying to move me away from where the phone was. He managed to successfully wrestle me away from the phone while my brother watched helplessly screaming out how the officers were acting prejudice toward us and officer Kimmins yelled out "shut up, he's reaching for something". You can listen to the recording of them harassing us on my latest Album "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" track 10 called Slow Down featuring fellow Take Money Entertainment artist Yung Stizz. This is all a part of the government's schemes to revoke my bail and have me sitting while the case drag on for years.

Sure enough, on August 8, 2014, Judge McCarthy issued a summons in
light of this arrest being a bail violation in this case

On August 21, 2014, i appeared on the summons and the matter was adjourned until September 22,
2014. I was released pending that adjournment.

THE THIRD RAID
On March 7, 2015 a search warrant was executed at me and my girlfriends residence at 300 Ridge Road in Lackawanna, New York where we were staying along with our 2 baby girls, Kayley(3) and Kennedy only 2 months old. I was feeding Kennedy a bottle at the time the warrant was executed. This was now the 3rd raid that I had been in since 2012. Ironically the subject of the search warrant was my brother Collins Pettway and not me but the whole time they were searching the house an officer on his radio was talking to another officer and he asked "Did you get KPJ" referring to me. The officers never found anything in my home so they had no choice but to let me go. Not aware at the time but according to authorities my home was raided in reference to a so-called investigation involving my brother, which is frivolous as well. They were doing this in hopes of dragging my brother in on my case and in the midst they'd hopped to bring new charges against me and revoke my bail.

Although i was not arrested at that time, the government filed a motion insisting that I violated the terms and conditions of my release by failing
to disclose to my probation officer that I was the subject of a SWAT SEARCH WARRANT which is a lie.

After this raid my family began to break apart. My girlfriend didn't trust me living at home with her and our kids anymore. She wanted me to get my own place until the case was over because she didn't want the kids to have to keep going through this. This was a hard pill to swallow for me. I felt like the moon had crashed on me because the world had already crashed on me.

HELP FINALLY CAME
With my trial being set to finally began October 9th 2016, Anthony Bruce, the lead D.A at the time retires ironically at the beginning of January 2016. This is the guy who put all of this together, now all of a sudden he wants to retire. Now the fishy smell I always smelled is really beginning to reek. That whole year at every court date the judge would stress that the new DA try to work out pleas seeing that this case had been going on for so long. 6 of my co-defendants had taken pleas and 2 of the other co-defendants cases were severed from mine leaving just me and my cousin Demetrius Black left to either take a 15 year plea or go to trial and risk getting life in federal prison. As the year went by I began to read up more on my case myself and I started to realize that my lawyer had been misrepresenting throughout the proceedings. So one day I was kicking it with 2 OG friends of mine (Paul Byrd and Rodney C) who ironically are now both deceased. I was telling them about my case and who my lawyer is and they told me they knew somebody who had known the law very well and could be if my assistance. Pauly made a phone call and 20 minutes later a guy by the name of Michael Ray Funderburk pulled up. Pauly had introduced us and Mike aka OG began to help me work on my case. He showed me how the Government along with the aid of my attorney had knowingly violated my rights under the United States Constitution by not allowing me to face my accusers while they testified against me in front of a grand jury, denied me a Felony hearing and a bunch of other violations. Due to my lawyers conduct I was forced to file an informal complaint based off Judiciary Law sec. 90.(2) professional obligations under the lawyer's code of responsibilities inter alia. I sent copies of my informal complaint to the Attorney Grievance Committee, Supreme Court Appellate Division 4th Dept., the Judge that we are going to trial in front of William M Skretny, as well as the Court Clerk. Once the complaint is filed, the judge sets a court date for September 29th to hear my arguments. The court date was to allow me to speak and finally give my side of the story on the record so I came prepared with my letter for the Judge which reads:

"Good Morning Judge, before these proceedings move under way and the defendant is subjected to any further prosecutorial misconduct it is germane that attorney of record Mr. Herbert Greenman relinquish himself from the case at bar for his failure to conform to judiciary law 90.2. Under the lawyer's code of responsibilities. Also Judge the courts need note that the defendant has not had his due process to a felony hearing, nor was he afforded his 6th amendment right to appear in front of a grand jury which the defendant strongly objects to your honor. Your honor with respect to Estelle v. Gamble, due process and equal protection of law is a guaranteed right afforded to the defendant under our United States Constitution. Your honor the 6th amendment to the constitution provides access to court and right to effective assistance of counsel which defendant hopes the courts would make its ruling on today since defendant has not enjoyed his right under the 6th and 14th amendment. Let it be noted for the record that Constitutional Law prohibits that. Your honor, directing the court's attention to the original search warrant prior to the first superseding indictment which implicated the defendant with having violated RICO, there stand a 4th amendment issue that has further violated the defendant's rights under the illegal search and seizure clause which defendant also objects to.
The search warrant was defective under Title 18. Sec. 242; the conspiracy that these wilful participants acted in joint activity to deprive defendant of his Constitutionally protected rights under color of law violates Title 42 USC sec. 1983.
Further, the government has submitted to the courts that upon detention of the defendant that there had been a person of interest that alleged upon information and belief, sold drugs to him on a regular basis from 23 Roosevelt, which the defendant never resided at and defendant strongly objects to that because it violates due process of law notwithstanding federal rules of criminal procedure.
Finally let the record reflect that defendant was denied access to court when the court failed to allow defendants lawyer to cross-examine the detective (during a suppression hearing) who allegedly received information that led Judge Case to honor a search warrant to a residence which did not belong to the defendant as stated by the owner Ms. Dorthy Love-Brown during a grand jury proceeding held by the Government.

Wherefore defendant prays that the courts will allow defendant to be assigned an attorney who will diligently pursue this matter and communicate with the defendant on a regular basis in preparation for the trial proceeding. As a course of law, defendant respectfully request that the courts entertain the informal complaint that was submitted to the courts, bar association & attorney grievance committee to demonstrate this miscarriage in justice, and for whatever the courts may deem just and proper."
TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE
Judge Skretny is what I would like to call a fair and considerate Judge. He was polite enough to allow me to note my objections on the record. Following this hearing, my trial date was moved back to October 19th 2016. While awaiting trial, the government had filed a motion to Amend the Indictment claiming that there had been a misprint in the indictment. On October 5th 2016 the government submitted their motion to the court, the face of the motion reads:

"THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, by and through its attorneys, William
J. Hochul, Jr., United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, Michael P.
Felicetta and Meghan A. Tokash, Assistant United States Attorneys, of counsel, hereby submits its motion to amend the indictment. For the reasons cited in the accompanying memorandum of law in support of this motion, the government respectfully request the
Court grant the following relief:
Counts Four, Five, and the Forfeiture Allegation of the Redacted Fourth
Superseding Indictment contain a misnomer that the government moves to strike. It currently charges, in relevant portion, that the defendants possessed a firearm, namely, "a J.P. Shuer & Suhl CHL 7.65 mm pistol with no serial number." The government requests that this language be stricken in the relevant portions of the Indictment and replaced to read: "a J.P. Sauer & Sohn .32 caliber model 38 pistol with serial no. 355206"
The judge denied the motion based on the facts that it would be prejudice to the defendants, he also told the government that they would not be allowed to use that specific firearm at trial. The government was furious and he filed an interlocutory appeal based on the judge's decision. The appeal forced the judge to push the trial proceeding back until we receive a decision from the second circuit.

On October 18th 2016 ironically my attorney received an email communication from the new lead district attorney Michael Felicetta in reference to the KEL recording which was associated with the confidential source who had supposedly made a buy from me at 23 Roosevelt. Before my lawyer had given me a copy of this communication he had made one last attempt to get me to take the 15 year plea. I declined. Later I would get a copy of the email which reads:

"Hi Sean and Herb,

Although I do have a copy of the KEL recording from the December buy, we are not going to disclose
it at this time. I'd like to meet with the confidential source first before I turn over a disc that exposes
his/her identity. What I can represent to you is that the recording mimics what is relayed in the DEA
6. You can hear muffled conversation about dollar and drug amounts between the CS and
Demetrius Black. Immediately after the purchase, the CS explains on the recording that Pettway wasn't home and that the CS dealt with "DBIack."

Once I have met with the CS and confirmed his/her availability to testify, I will disclose the disc and
their identity.

If either of you wish to listen to the recording, you may do so without your clients present in our office. Just let me know.

Thanks,
Mike "

That was the DA's email to my attorney finally admitting that I was not a subject of the initial search warrant which means my initial motion to CONTROVERT SEARCH WARRANT AND SUPPRESS PHYSICAL EVIDENCE back in 2012 should have been considered and granted instead of denied.

On April 18, 2017, an Erie County Family Court Judge ordered that I
have no contact with my two children (ages 2 and 5) as well as their mother.
The issuance of this order of protection lists my kids mother as a victim but there are no police reports associated with this order. The government still filled this in a motion to revoke my bail along with other alleged reasons.

GOVERNMENTS ATTEMPT TO REVOKE MY BAIL FOR REVEALING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SEARCH WARRANT APPLICATION
On May 11, 2017 I decided to post to my Facebook account a copy of the original search warrant application which is public information, alongside a copy of the communication between the government and my attorney(not part of the protective order). I had done this with the intention to show my following that I had been Innocent the whole time and to show that I've been trying to get the world to see that I was set up by law enforcement. Only to find out later that the government was notified by analysts at the Erie
Analysis Center and had filed a motion to revoke my bail stating that:

"items protected under the Protective Orders in this case had appeared on the defendant's social media sites, including Facebook.

The posted items clearly show a copy of
the search warrant affidavit that was utilized to obtain a warrant at 23 Roosevelt. The
defendant lists the affiant in the affidavit as a liar and also posts a confidential communication sent from the government to his attorney. The posted email communication lists your
deponent's personal contact information and the communications between the attorneys. In
the posting, the defendant urges others to share the posting, and he also "tags" local media sources in an effort to increase the dissemination of these protected items.

These postings are in direct violation of the Court's Order which prohibits the
defendant from having access to or copying images of the documents released in this case.
The postings on social media are intended to expose information about the Cooperating
Source and also to reveal information about your deponent.

Government counsel believes that, based on the defendant's actions, there is
probable cause to believe that the defendant has committed violations of Title 18, United
States Code, Section 1509 (Obstruction of Court Orders) and Title 18, United States Code.
Section 401(3) (Contempt of Court). The government now moves this Court to revoke the
defendant's Release Order, pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 3148."
CURRENTLY
And this is where we are as far as my case stands.After a long fight against the government Kenneth Pettway jr. was wrongfully convicted and we need justice by getting this conviction over turned oct,15 2018 kenneth pettway was sentence to 40 years in prison, and we ask for the public support