Free Dr Maisha Hamilton Bennett


WRONGFUL CONVICTION OF DR. MAISHA HAMILTON-BENNETT – PSYCHOLOGIST

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UPDATE – Sept. 17, 2009

Dr. Hamilton was FREED from custody today. The charges of perjury were nolle pros’d and she pled guilty to violation of probation in exchange for being sentenced to jail time served.  She believes she is and actually is innocent and will now focus on the appeal of her conviction for theft – the vendor fraud was apparently not a conviction.  When that conviction is overturned, then the violation of probation will also be overturned as you can’t be guilty of violation of probation if the probation never legally existed.

I had filed a petition for habeas corpus that was heard by Judge Biebel. He appointed Prof. Daniel Coyne of the Kent School of law to represent Dr. Hamilton. Prof. Coyne should be thanked for helping orchestrate this deal to get her released.  Now Dr. Hamilton can focus on her appeal and gather the necessary documents as a free woman with no strings attached. The part of her sentence on vendor faud and theft including $400,000 restitution and 600 hrs community service, as well as probation was vacated in the deal.

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                   Dr. Hamilton was falsely indicted, wrongly convicted in an incredibly unjust trial, and wrongfully sentenced to 6 months in jail, 600 hours community service, 4 years probation and $400,000 restitution, for a “crime” she did not commit. The legal, psychological, mental health and civil rights communities should look at this case and gasp at the misconduct of the court, prosecutor, and defense attorney from A to Z! I am sending out a plea for pro bono attorneys, civil rights activists and people of conscience, who support our constitution to come to her aid and the aid of other whistleblowers, including myself, who have been targeted for retaliation against our testimony against corrupt government actions, by corrupt officials in Illinois and Cook County.

Dr. Hamilton treated hundreds of drug addicts, under her LICENSES from DHS as an Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment Center and as a Community Mental Health Center  (HAMILTON WHOLISTIC HEALTH CARE) from 1998 to 2001. She had a subcontract with Advocate Trinity Health Partners to manage this INPATIENT CENTER. Her staff of psychologists, counselors, and psychiatrists treated these inpatients and gave counseling to their families, including some children as outpatients.

Dr. Hamilton’s billing agent (Data Medical Works – owned by Louise Moore) violated their contract with Hamilton Wholistic Health Care, and sent the bills to Medicaid ERRONEOUSLY under the name of one of her Medical Directors, Dr. Mason, INSTEAD OF CORRECTLY SENDING THE BILLS TO MEDICAID UNDER THE NAME OF THE CENTER, HAMILTON WHOLISTIC HEALTHCARE. Ms. Moore did this because the MEDICAID PROVIDER SERVICE UNIT TOLD HER TO BILL THIS INCORRECT WAY. This was an administrative error, NOT A CRIME!

Dr. Hamilton knew nothing about this incorrect billing, because Louise Moore forged Dr. Hamilton’s name on an alternate payee form that caused Medicaid to make the checks out to Hamilton Wholistic Healthcare, so that DR. HAMILTON THOUGHT THE BILLS WERE BEING SENT IN CORRECTLY.

Dr. Hamilton was WRONGLY INDICTED, WRONGLY CONVICTED, WRONGLY SENTENCED and has been in Cook County Jail WRONGLY JAILED due to the vicious misconduct of Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s staff in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit prosecuting Dr. Hamilton without legal authority, likely in retaliation for her testimony in the Baby T and Ryan Harris murder case that criticizes Judge Burke and cost the city millions of dollars in payments to the boys wrongly accused of Ryan Harris’ murder. They said she had a “scheme” to send in the bills under Dr. Mason’s name to get around a Medicaid Physician Handbook Policy No. A-210.4 that states “Psychiatric therapies must be provided by the physician who submits charges. Services provided by a psychologist, social worker, etc., are not reimbursable.”

This Medicaid physician handbook policy is in violation of the Federal Medicaid Code, the State Medicaid Statute and the Illinois Medicaid Administrative Rules. It has NO POWER OF LAW! Federal Judge Lefkow on August 24, 2004 ruled that Illinois Medicaid policies are in violation of the Federal Medicaid Act because they deny access to care to persons on Medicaid! The Executive cannot make law – by writing a policy in a handbook.

The office of Attorney General of Illinois and officials at Illinois Medicaid through a scheme to deny mental health care to Medicaid patients in Illinois, has wrongly convicted Dr. Hamilton-Bennett, wrongfully incarcerated her, and unlawfully indicted the above other persons.

The statutes and administrative rules in Illinois are very complex concerning payment for mental health services, and have been nefariously designed to deny mental health care to the indigent, minority population. Please be patient with the following detailed explanation of the situation in Illinois and the situation affecting the above whistleblowers. Read it in detail several times and you will understand it. Call me if you have questions.

The Federal Medicaid Act requires that Medicaid provide health care that is equivalent to the care provided by private insurance. On August 24, 2004, Federal Judge Lefkow ruled, in a class action suit, Memisovski et al. v. Maram case no.92 C 1982 in the Federal Circuit Court Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, that Illinois Medicaid is in violation of the Federal Medicaid Act because its policies and procedures deny access to care to children on Medicaid in Illinois.

The scheme used by Illinois Medicaid and the Illinois Attorney General to violate this federal law, deny Medicaid patients mental health care and prevent payment to qualified and talented mental health care providers is as follows:

Illinois statutes have been written in a complicated manner and mental health care providers, like those named above, generally contract with a billing agency to register them with Medicaid for payment of their services. The Illinois Medicaid Act, contained in the Illinois Public Aid Code, 305 ILCS 5, and which is required by federal law to follow the Federal Medicaid Act contained in the Federal Social Security Code, by statute and administrative rules allows physicians to bill for services of their employees, and other individual providers to also bill in a fee-for-service manner. There is nothing in the Illinois statutes or Medicaid Administrative Rules that prevents payment to physicians for services provided by employees of physicians, such as Ph.D. licensed psychologists, mastered degree psychologists, or bachelor degreed psychiatric therapist such as drug addiction counselors. Physicians routinely bill for services of their employees such as blood draws by nurses.

Physicians can bill Medicaid fee for services, including for services provided by the physician’s employees. Billing companies, contracted by providers, look to handbooks from Medicaid, and advice from the Medicaid Provider Unit, in order to find out what are the statutes and rules and how to follow them. Handbooks WRITTEN BY MEDICAID, AN EXECUTIVE AGENCY IN ILLINOIS, are guides, with NO POWER OF LAW, meant to reflect and explain statute and administrative rules. Medicaid has a “Physician’s Handbook” and DOES NOT HAVE a psychologist’s handbook.

Illinois Statutes also contain two other laws, enacted through the Department of Human Services (DHS) administrative rules under the DHS. One is the Community Mental Health Center Act (CMH), described in Administrative Rule 59 IAC 132, which allows a center to be licensed by DHS to provide mental health services. The center obtains a contract with DHS, Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), and/or the Department of Corrections (DOC) to provide mental health services, is paid a lump sum by these agencies and fee-for-service bills are sent into Medicaid under the name of the CENTER and NOT under the name of any INDIVIDUAL PROVIDER, for a small supplemental payment to the contract payments. There is also a similar statute regarding Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment (ASAT) Centers, made into DHS administrative rules, 77 IAC 2060 and 2090.

DHS Licensed ASAT and CMH centers, are required to have a licensed psychologist or physician supervise all employees including licensed psychiatric therapists and unlicensed psychiatric and substance abuse or mental health therapists (whom have at least five years experience.) A physician is required to be a medical director to provide quality assurance and oversight, but IS NOT required to provide the services personally. Greater than 80% of mental health services to indigent Medicaid patients are provided by non-physicians, such as psychologists and psychiatric and substance abuse/mental health counselors (therapists). It is the standard of care in psychiatry to use teams of psychology/counselor/psychiatrists to treat patients. We need 30,000 child psychiatrists in this country and only have about 5,000. The same is true of adult psychiatric care. There is far more need than the number of psychiatrists available to service that need. This means it is humanly impossible for psychiatrists and physicians to provide all mental health care to Medicaid patients. It is not even appropriate for all care to be provided by physicians. Psychologists are better trained to administer and interpret psychological tests. Counselors are better able to give the time to the patient needed for time-consuming counseling at a reasonable cost. Access to mental health care by adult Medicaid patients is also severely limited as, is explained in Federal Judge Lefkow’s ruling, payments to providers are below overhead costs, so psychiatrists have refused to sign up as Medicaid providers and patients are forced to obtain mental health care primarily from emergency rooms and in jails, as many end up in jail when their addictions and mental illnesses are not treated. The costs for neglecting mental health care to society is staggering. This is an extreme example of penny wise pound foolish.

Most physicians and psychiatrists, including myself, until I was indicted, are totally unaware of the concept that ASAT and CMH centers do not bill fee-for-service under a physician name, are required to be licensed by DHS, and have grants from the state for their centers. We assume that our billing companies were legally billing Medicaid for quality services provided by our mental health group practices, which employ psychologists and psychiatric/mental health/substance abuse counselors.

A single sentence in the hundreds of pages long complicated Medicaid Physician Handbook which is not backed up by any federal code, state statute, or Medicaid administrative rule, added in 1998, which most physicians are not aware of (they presume the billing company will guide them) and all psychologists, like Dr. Hamilton-Bennett were unaware of (as they do not receive the physician handbook,) states: “Policy number A-210.4 Psychiatric therapies must be provided by the physician who submits charges. Services provided by a psychologist, social worker, etc., are not reimbursable.” This statement is TOO INCREDIBLE TO BELIEVE, in view of the standard of care, the limited availability of psychiatrists, and the training of psychologists and counselors!

Violation of this policy number is not a criminal act. It is an administrative matter and by statute administrative matters are handled by administrative hearings. Agents of Medicaid, in their provider relations office, had told the billing companies for all those indicted that the “correct” way to bill for psychiatric services was to send the bill in under a physician’s name for any psychiatric services. The billing companies relied on this information and ignored or were ignorant of the “correct” way to send in claims, according to the Medicaid administrative rules, under the name of a licensed center. Note that denying payment for services of physician’s employees, discriminating only against psychiatric therapists and psychologists, is a violation of the Federal Medicaid Act. This is entrapment.

Illinois Office of Inspector General agents Julia Lovett, R.N., and Charlotte Collins, inspected medical records of Right Frame of Mind in 2001 & 2002, including records the Attorney General’s witness stated to the grand jury did not exist, and said they were excellent documentation and in compliance with the law.

Dr. Hamilton-Bennett’s company, Hamilton Wholistic Health Care, during the time specified in the indictment had a license through DHS as a community mental health center. They provided inpatient alcohol and substance abuse treatment with Advocate Bethany Health Partners, which had registered Dr. Hamilton-Bennett ‘s company with Medicaid as a provider and their subcontractor. Most of the patients were adults, but they also treated children of the addicts in order to help them cope with their parent’s addictions and the mental health problems that children suffer when the parents are addicts. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL GAVE FALSE INFORMATION TO THE COURT STATING THAT DR. HAMILTON-BENNETT BILLED FOR SERVICES TO CHILDREN SHE DIDN’T PROVIDE, AND IS COMMITTING FRAUD UPON THE PUBLIC AND THE PRESS TO SAY THAT DR. HAMILTON-BENNETT DEFRAUDED THE STATE BY BILLING FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES TO CHILDREN WHICH SHE DID NOT SUPPLY. ALL SERVICES WERE PROVIDED AND THE MAJORITY OF THE PATIENTS WERE ADULT INPATIENT ADDICTS, NOT OUTPATIENT CHILDREN. SERVICES WERE PRIMARILY PROVIDED IN AN INPATIENT UNIT ASSOCIATED WITH ADVOCATE BETHANY  AND ADVOCATE TRINITY HEALTH PARTNERS.

At trial they had one “patient” witness, a grandmother who was housing several children of an addict who was an inpatient in the center. The therapists and Dr. Hamilton-Bennett due to patient confidentiality laws could not tell the grandma, who was not the legal guardian, that the children received mental health counseling while visiting their mother, the inpatient addict. The grandma testified that Dr. Hamilton-Bennett did not have a doctor or anybody provide therapy to the children. This was false, as the grandma had no legal right to this information and was an incompetent witness on this topic as she was not even the legal guardian. Dr. Hamilton-Bennett’s legal counsel Stanley Hill was incompetent and ineffective at not objecting to this testimony and not introducing more than one page of medical records, which were available. He also did not call patients, therapist or any official from DHS as witnesses to prove that her company was a community mental health center, provided quality services, and did not bill for ANY patients who were not seen.

There was extreme prosecutorial misconduct in the conviction of Dr. Hamilton-Bennett. The Assistant Attorney General Nimrod had State Police Investigator Reibel give totally false information to the grand jury and withheld all exculpatory information about the billing company Data Medical Works and the fact that Hamilton Wholistic Health Care provided mostly inpatient, not just outpatient service (which was legally billed for) and that the patients were primarily adults, or that the company was licensed under DHS and that the billing company wrongly submitted the bills under a doctor’s name instead of under the company name.

Dr. Hamilton-Bennett had signed a contract with Data Medical Works, owned by Louis Moore who held themselves out to be a medical billing company. Her contract said that Data Medical Works would send the bills to Medicaid from Hamilton Wholistic Health Care. Louis Moore forged the names of Dr. Hamilton-Bennett and one of her medical directors on a power of attorney form, giving Ms. Moore the “legal” right to sign their names, fraudulently, without Dr. Hamilton-Bennett’s knowledge or consent. Ms. Moore then in violation of the contract, and in an act of fraud, signed one of the medical directors, Dr. Myrtle Mason up as a fee-for-service provider, instead of registering Hamilton Wholistic Health Care as the providing CENTER. Then Ms. Moore took the fee slips given to her by Dr. Hamilton-Bennett’s staff which documented what services were provided, the fees billed, and the names of the psychologists or therapists that provided the care and typed them into an electronic invoice, sent to Medicaid, changing the name of the provider, without the consent of Dr. Hamilton-Bennet to Dr. Myrtle Mason. Dr. Mason saw some patients, but her role was as a quality assurance supervisor, not primarily as a provider. It was fraudulent for Louise Moore to change the information and send false information to Medicaid electronically. It was also a violation of her contract. Dr. Hamilton-Bennett was convicted of fraud for sending in bills to Medicaid under Dr. Mason’s name as provider, when services were provided by psychiatric therapists. Without proving intent to defraud, this case should have been dismissed. Dr. Hamilton-Bennett’s billing agent made an administrative error upon the instructions of the Medicaid Provider Service Unit. Administrative errors ARE NOT CRIMINAL ACTS!

Louise Moore and Data Medical Works, also did the same thing with Right Frame of Mind & Associates. She contracted with the group to set up their billing with Medicaid and send in the billings. She forged the name Dr. Shelton on a power of attorney form, and then used this to sign up the group as a fee-for-service mental health provider with Dr. Shelton providing all services. The encounter forms, or fee slips sent to her from Right Frame of Mind & Associates listed the therapist, psychologist or physician who provided the service and Louise Moore changed this illegally to Dr. Shelton or one of the other Doctors, without the knowledge or consent of Dr. Shelton. Ms. Moore admitted on the stand that she had no understanding of billing through a community mental health center and claims that a person at the Medicaid Provider Unit, told her to set up all billing as a fee-for-service type using a doctor’s name. Ms. Moore also forged the names of Dr. Shelton and Dr. Hamilton-Bennett on Alternate Payee forms, so that checks were sent from Medicaid not to the doctors, but to the companies, Hamilton Wholistic Health Care and Right Frame of Mind. Dr. Hamilton-Bennett’s company, Hamilton Wholistic Health Care, cashed the checks, but at trial, without objection by Mr. Hill, the prosecutor said that Dr. Hamilton-Bennett cashed the checks and took the money for personal use in an act of fraud and theft.

Since the checks came to Dr. Hamilton-Bennett made out to Hamilton Wholistic Health Care, Dr. Hamilton-Bennett assumed that Ms. Moore was sending the claims in under the CENTER’S NAME and not under a PHYSICIAN’S NAME. Dr. Hamilton-Bennett had NO KNOWLEDGE that the billing was set up incorrectly by Ms. Moore. She DID NOT CAUSE FRAUDENT CLAIMS TO BE SENT TO MEDICAID.  This is what she was wrongly convicted of doing! If the bills had been sent in properly under the name of the center and grants paid to the center, then Hamilton Wholistic Health Care actually would have been paid at a higher rate by Medicaid and the income over the four years 1998-2002 would have been several million dollars. Dr. Hamilton-Bennett did not benefit from the $435,000 paid to Hamilton Wholistic Health Care. Almost all of it was used for overhead and to pay the psychologists and therapists whom provided quality mental health care to the clients. THERE WAS NO FRAUDULENT BILLING SCHEME BY DR. HAMILTON-BENNETT.

The Medicaid program prior to March 2000 (the period Dr. Hamilton-Bennett was indicted for allegedly submitting fraudulent claims and not having a physician provide all the services) did not prohibit psychologists from being Medicaid service providers. Dr. Hamilton-Bennett was the one and only psychologists registered with Medicaid as a provider prior to March 2000. She was therefore, should have been grandfathered into the Medicaid Program as the only psychologist in the state allowed to bill Medicaid by a fee-for-service arrangement instead of through a CMH or ASAT center. Carol Adams, the Director of DHS has all the documentation to prove that Dr. Hamilton-Bennett was a licensed provider and a licensed community health center and alcohol and substance abuse treatment center, at the time in question. After March 2000, Medicaid refused to enroll psychologists as Medicaid Providers.

Naomi Jennings also ran a company that was a licensed community mental health center. Her billing company also, upon the instructions of Medicaid Provider Service staff told the billing company wrongly to send in the bills (claims) under the name of a physician (the medical director) instead of under the name of the company, Youth Empire Services, WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT OF NAOMI JENNINGS.

The billing companies erroneously changed the information, SENT IN BY THOSE INDICTED TO THE BILLNG COMPANIES, that either a counselor, psychologist or physician provided the service on a specific date and sent the bills into Medicaid under a physician’s name without the consent or knowledge of those persons indicted. This is an administrative error and not a criminal act. The indictments were based on perjury by State witnesses, misinformation and withholding of information about the complex rules of billing for mental health care in Illinois, and on the basis of an error in billing that violated Medicaid Physician Handbook policy no A-210.4, which has NO POWER OF LAW, and violation of which is not a criminal act.

It is outrageous and ludicrous to say that Dr. Hamilton-Bennett, Dr. Shelton or Naomi Jennings sent in fraudulent claims or caused fraudulent claims to be sent to Medicaid, in some “scheme.” They all sent their billing company true information that quality services were provided by psychologists, psychiatric therapists, drug addiction and mental health counselors and physicians. Patients benefited in that their addiction was treated, suicides were prevented, families learned how better to cope with mental health problems, and the public benefited by reduced crimes committed by these persons, by stronger families, and by reduced suicides.

Dr. Shelton received less than $10,000 for her four years of services, instead choosing to ignore the inadequate reimbursements and provide her services primarily as charitable care. Dr. Hamilton-Bennett did the same in receiving very inadequate pay for her services because she is so devoted to providing mental health care to the indigent population. Drs. Shelton and Hamilton are now bankrupt due to the false and retaliatory attacks on their character and businesses and resulting legal bills and inability to practice. Some of the last and best providers of mental health services in the South Metropolitan Area have been shut down and the providers destroyed.

Dr. Hamilton-Bennett is the psychologist who testified that Baby T should go back to his mother, that Judge Burke is violating the Supreme Court Rules of Judicial conduct by being a foster mom for Baby T, that it is ludicrous to declare the mother fit to take care of Baby T’s brother, but not fit to take care of Baby T. She is one of the psychologists in the Ryan Harris murder case that testified that Chicago Police mentally injured the young boys wrongly accused of her murder. She has been counseling a person who has evidence proving Mayor Daley’s office is involved in the truckers for hire scandal. She was one of the principal targets of the council wars during the Washington administration, having had to kick out of her office as a deputy commissioner of health persons from the Daley administration who told her she was a figure-head and they would run the department.

Dr. Shelton has exposed corruption at DCFS, where the Attorney General’s office, the State’s Attorney, and DCFS attorneys withhold exculpatory evidence in child abuse cases, falsely accuse parents of having poor parenting skills, not having adequate bonding with their children, inciting bad behavior in their children during the inadequate one-hour supervised visits per week allowed when children are removed from parents, when the original child abuse charges are unfounded in order to make work for caseworkers so they can hire a larger army of patronage unqualified caseworkers. Dr. Shelton testified before Judge Obbish that a child was been starved in the custody of DCFS. She has evidence of cover-up of abuse of children in foster homes. She has complained that Village of Evergreen Park Police profile her minority patients. (Note Mayor Sexton is the cousin of Cook County Sheriff Sheahan and Sheriff staff are protected by Village of Evergreen Park Police when they rough people up when drunk after going to bars in Evergreen Park or having drunken and loud parties in Evergreen Park and Oak Lawn.) Dr. Shelton has complained to the Hospital Planning Board that Advocate Christ Hospital abuses mental health patients, engages in predatory pricing and collection practices, discriminates against minority and Medicaid patients in many aspects of their operations, has an incompetent social worker and child abuse nurse specialist who give false information to DCFS that leads to families being broken up and false child abuse allegations. Dr. Shelton assisted one mother in 2003 to have a false child abuse allegation, initiated by this incompetent social worker, overturned on appeal. Advocate Christ Hospital CEO Carol Schneider lied to the police in an act of felony obstruction of justice to kick Dr. Shelton off of the medical staff, defame her as incompetent and crazy, and unlawfully arrest her for trespass at the hospital in 2002 (she was acquitted by a jury in 2003), and then used this defamatory complaint that she has “bad behavior,” buttressed by a couple of her administrative friends’ lies about Dr. Shelton’s “behavior” to permanently revoke her medical staff privileges, through unethical Advocate Christ Hospital attorneys leading the Hospital Governing Board on a string like puppets, in denying Dr. Shelton due process, resulting in the Board rubber-stamping the unlawful and unethical revocation of Dr. Shelton’s medical staff privileges based on baseless lies. This prevents Dr. Shelton from  practicing medicine, as without hospital privileges insurance companies will not pay her to see patients, including Medicaid and DCFS.

Persons at Right Frame of Mind & Associates, where Dr. Shelton was medical director testified in juvenile court that parents were not endangering their children, that child abuse and neglect charges were phony or that parents had successfully completed rehabilitation programs and still DCFS refused to return their children. The average time it takes for a family to be reunited with their children when they are innocent of child abuse and neglect allegations is over two years. Imagine you can only see your children for one hour per week for two years when you are innocent! Perhaps this is because DCFS associated agencies get a bounty of $3000-$4000 for every child they adopt out. Termination of parental rights is lucrative, and generates a whole lot of jobs for patronage workers! Why should the State try for family preservation? It’s much more lucrative for supporters of corrupt officials and generates more jobs if families are broken up and kids adopted out!

All persons of conscience, activists, and the mental health community should be outraged and should come to our aid. Help us provide mental health services to the needy. This reduces crime, reduces suicide, and makes more productive citizens who contribute to the tax base. Help us root out corruption in State, County and Local Governments. Make the South Side of Chicago and its suburbs the beginning of the end of corruption in Illinois.

This scheme, started by prior Republican administrations and now continued by the “Democratic” Blagojevic administration, by the Attorney General, Jim Ryan and now continued by Lisa Madigan, to use a policy in the Medicaid Physician Handbook, that has no power of law and is not a criminal offense to violate, as the basis for criminal charges, after misleading and entrapping physicians and billing agencies into billing fee-for-service using medical director’s names as the service providing physician, instead of the names of their corporations which were licensed and registered with DHS as community mental health centers or whom should have been told to register as a community mental health center, to retaliate against whistleblowers and witnesses against County and State corruption is a violation of civil rights, criminal retaliation, and outrageous government corruption. The time is now to CHANGE THE SYSTEM, EXPOSE IT, AND BRING PROPER MENTAL HEALTH CARE TO PERSONS IN ILLINOIS, WHICH WILL SAVE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN PREVENTION OF CRIME, DECREASED RECITIVISM, DECREASED INPATIENT COSTS FOR PSYCHIATRIC AND MEDICAL CARE, IN INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY OF CITIZENS, AND WILL PREVENT SUICIDES.

Contact Dr. Linda Shelton or Dr. Maisha Hamilton to help citizens take back Illinois from MISGUIDED politicians AND START ILLINOIS ON THE PATH TO JUSTICE, COMPASSION, AND WISDOM.

Write Dr. Hamilton at Cook Co Jail and show her support!

Contact Dr. Shelton at picepil@aol.com

3 Responses to “Free Dr Maisha Hamilton Bennett”

  1. TA Says:

    Hi Dr. Shelton,
    My mom has a case that is similar to yours. In August 2006 she was wrongfully convicted of aggravated battery to a peace officer. The suburban police abused her in the parking lot causing her to pass out. Paramedics were called to the scene to resuscitate her. She was then accused of biting the paramedic. After conviction she was placed on mental health probation. The judge ordered her to receive a psychiatric evaluation. My mom completed three evaluations before January 2007, and they showed that she did not have any mental health problems. In January 2007, the judge ordered my mom to be taken into custody because she did not complete the evaluation. She was taken into custody by male sheriffs. Later two female sheriffs accused her of biting and scratching her. The pictures taken of their “injuries” show nothing. There is no broken skin or redness. The prosecution kept postponing the trial. The trial was finally set for May 2009. That day the prosecution came to court and said that their witnesses (the two female sheriffs) were on vacation. The trial was then set for June 2009. Two days before the prosecution changed the charge. Instead of accusing her of biting and scratching the sheriffs they now accused her of making physical contact of a insulting and provoking nature. The pictures of their “injuries” were not introduced in trial. One of the state’s witnesses was a defense attorney who was in the lock up at the time. He testified that he did not see my mom bite anyone or scratch anyone but he saw her flailing her arms around (this is impossible because my mom has herniated discs in her neck and a left shoulder injury that limits her range of mobility). The judge convicted her and said that he believed the defense attorney. Her sentencing was supposed to be in early July 2009, but it has been postponed to July 28, 2009. In the mean time she has to wait in the cook county department of corrections. Today I became aware that she has been physically abused by the cook county correctional officers. She now has to get an x-ray to determine how much damage has been done. Please advise me on what to do next, and if possible could you come to the sentencing mitigation.
    Thanks

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  2. gail kaplan Says:

    welcome back!!!!!!

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  3. cindie clayton Says:

    my father is in this situation! He is a dentist who was convicted of Medicaid fraud and a “scheme” to steal from the government for incorrect billing codes and supposedly not doing the fillings he said he did. many things done wrong by the prosecution. What can we do?! He had no idea he was doing anything wrong and didn’t even get a lawyer when they first told him he was being investigated! He is 67.

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