[Tlc] TLC-Roxanna Brown

[Judith Henchy]

Justin,

There has been a lot of sympathy and outrage expressed on the Vietnams 
Studies list also.  Shawn is on that list but I notice that he has not yet 
posted his comments to it; can I suggest that we coordinate this approach to 
AAS through both country groups?

Best

Judith


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <justinm at ucr.edu>
To: <tlc at lists.ucr.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 9:38 PM
Subject: [Tlc] TLC-Roxanna Brown


> As per Shawn McHale's suggestion below, would any more senior and 
> experienced members of the AAS want to assist me and the TLC work with the 
> AAS leadership in calling for an investigation into Roxanna Brown's 
> passing? She was a very important scholar and by all accounts a wonderful 
> human being.
> Sincerely,
> justin
>
>
> Dear list,
>
> This news, plus the news that Roxama Brown died in a Seattle prison, are 
> an outrage.
>
> I did not  know Roxanna Brown at all. And one should perhaps not jump to 
> conclusions that individuals must be innocent. Sadly, a brother of mine 
> has had encounters with the US Justice system and its use of conspiracy 
> statutes  that make me highly suspicious of it.
>
> It is telling that one of the stories on the arrest said the following: 
> "An affidavit filed in the case said the gallery's owners, Jonathan and 
> Cari Markell, used Brown's electronic signature several times to falsify 
> appraisal forms. In one case, an appraisal for items to be donated to the 
> Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena claims Brown had inspected the items.
>
> The couple have not been charged. They have previously declined to comment 
> about the investigation to The Associated Press. Jonathan Markell did not 
> immediately respond to an e-mail sent to him Monday."
>
> This, and other information suggests that the government was putting forth 
> a case based on conspiracy statutes (conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 
> conspiracy to defraud). Conspiracy statutes allow one to pull in a wide 
> range of individuals, from the inadvertently involved (e.g. a person 
> driving a car who transports drugs unwittingly) to the kingpins. The 
> government then tries to get individals to inform on one another as part 
> of a plea bargain. Some of them lie through their teeth.
>
> If Roxanna Brown allowed her electronic signature to be set up on as 
> computer at a gallery, and if the gallery owner then abused this trust 
> used the signature, Roxana Brown  would be liable. And could be charged. 
> In other words, one does not have to commit wire fraud oneself to be 
> charged with it.
>
> May I suggest that the leadership of the TLC group ask Michael Paschal and 
> the leadership of the Association of Asian Studies to press for an 
> excplanation of the death of this scholar?
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> Shawn McHale
> Associate Professor of History and International Affairs
> George Washington University
> Washington, DC 20052 USA
> (on leave, 2007-08, at Vietnam National University --
> Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
>
>
> ______________
> Dr. Justin McDaniel
> Dept. of Religious Studies
> 3046 INTN
> University of California, Riverside
> Riverside, CA 92521
> 951-827-4530
> justinm at ucr.edu
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