The InJustice system has been far from impartial, fair, and unbiased. Racism, sexism, classism, all have been enforced by who and what law enforcement protects and serves. In ameriKKKa, Black Folks have felt the brunt of ethnocentric, prejudiced, and discriminatory law. If you are reading this article then you more than likely have either been mistreated and abused by law enforcement or you know someone in your close circle who has. This article is not to prove that this occurs. It has already been exhaustively proven over and over, time and time again that law enforcement disproportionately and unfairly targets and accuses people of color of criminal behavior and activity. So this fact is granted. We all agree, understand, and know, supported by facts, studies, statistics, common-sense, and personal knowledge that Black People and poor people are and always have been abused by law enforcement. This is a true story of one. One of our own. My good friend. A member of the Tacoma Hip-Hop community…Maleek Brian Womack. 

Brian is the middle Womack brother, the oldest brother is Mark Womack (Wojack, formerly MC Deff of Criminal Nation/DCP). Brian is a fast-talker, a quick-witted, on his toes, mover, hustler, go-getter, small business man, active community-member, party-thrower/promoter, and funny-man. One thing he is not, and an accusation of such would be laughable to anyone that knows him, is that he is not a Drug King-Pin of any sort. Keep this truth in mind because the Kangaroo-Court, nightmare of a scenario I am about to tell you is about as ridiculous, made-up, and silly as the thought of Brian being John Gotti. It sounds preposterous because it is not even coherent. The Prosecution that charged Brian with drug-smuggling crimes insinuated he was the John Gotti of a crime-ring. Not only is this highly prejudicial and should have been objected to by Womack’s attorney, but it is absolutely irrelevant in the sense that Womack was accused of a drug crime and John Gotti is a Mafia Boss. The two are completely unrelated and this tactic only clouded the juror’s minds. Even the false accusation/comparison makes no sense. It would and should absolutely be enough to show prejudice and grant a mistrial.

Brian Womack appealed his case and although was ultimately unsuccessful in his appeal the Judge Gould wrote, “I can see no proper justification for introducing at voir dire the images of notorious mob boss John Gotti and murderous mob enforcer Sammy “The Bull” Gravano.”

However it was used in jury selection to end up convicting Brian of crimes that he was not even a part of, was not even at the scene of, and was never even questioned about until eight months had passed and the two prison-informants, the two caught at the border, who were in prison together had time to make up a story to put blame on Brian so they could get away with their crime. Brace yourselves because the amount of times his case was mishandled by his attorneys and the court will be enough to convince anyone that this system, this shit, is just not fair.

Here are the facts of the matter. Brian was never caught with any illegal drugs. The car that was stopped at the border with ecstasy in it was not his car and it was not being driven by him. He is not even affiliated with the two people in the car. Brian was convicted by two informants/snitches in a Canadian British Columbian prison. These two prisoners were given served time and leniency because of their “cooperation”. These two prisoners were convicted drug-dealers who benefited by “turning” Brian in. No actual connection between Brian and these two was ever revealed much less proven. Prosecutors only used the testimony of the two prisoners. No evidence of Brian ever talking to these two individuals exists. Not only that but the prosecutors without any evidence of Brian being a person involved in organized crime told jurors that he is akin to John Gotti. This type of theatrical talk is not allowed in a court and it should be enough to show Brian was not given a fair and impartial trial. Not to mention all twelve jurors in his case were white. In order to show his innocence Brian voluntarily took two lie-detector tests and passed them! Not only that but the Feds know there is something wrong with this case. There is something they do not want the public to see because the trial-records are sealed. 

Even though the weight of the entire federal justice system from the United States of America to Canada tried to bring down Brian, in the end they failed. All they were able to do was steal time from him but he has hit the ground running upon his release and has made major positive moves. Brian Womack is the creator, founder, and CEO of the Fatherhood Foundation that promotes active fathering and community involvement. He also runs and operates a barbershop/activity space in Bellingham, WA called “Headquarters Barbershop”. The moral of this story is not about a victory where we toppled the evils of the justice system or the racism it beholds. This is a story about Brian being able to overcome and rise above it all and be a success despite adversity and persecution of and from the system.