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WIDENER UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
IN THE MA TIER OF
Professor Lawrence J. Connell
SECOND AFFIDAVIT OF SAMUEL ELBARDISSII
State of Delaware SS
County of New Castle
I, Samuel Elbardissi, having been duly sworn, hereby depose and state as follows.
I. This affidavit is based upon my personal knowledge. I am competent to testify.
2. I am currently a fulltime student at the Widener University School of Law in
Wilmington, Delaware.
3. I have been at Widener University School of Law since August 0[2009, when I
started my law school education.
4. I have accumulated, over that time, fifty (50) credit hours towards my degree and
have secn multiple classroom dynamics from multiple Widener Law professors.
5. I have read the entire 39-page First Affidavit of Lawrence 1. Connell (hereinafter
"LC's Affidavit").
FALL 2010 BACKGROUND
6. On September 17th, 2010, I was injured on Widener' s property which required me to
undergo surgery for a broken ankle.
7. The surgery was conducted on October 5th, 2010. I had to miss two classes for the
surgery and others, based on the pain I was in.
I I previously submitted an affidavit dated March 14, 201 I in this maUer. Paragraphs 13-20 have been added to corroborate the affidavit of Daniclle Oppenheim" Otherwise, the affidavit is the same as the previous affidavit that I submitted, renumbered accordingly. ~
"'"
CRIMINAL LAW SPRING 2010
8. In the spring of201O, I was enrolled in Professor Stephen E. Henderson's Criminal
Law class.
9. Our class used as our text, Kaplan, Weisberg and Binder, Criminal Law: Cases and
Matenals (6th ed.).
10. Our class discussed the case of People v. Goetz. As a class, we were told about the
notoriety of the case and that the four youths were African-American. Whether the
conduct was "reasonable," as per the requirements of Goetz' justification defense,
was a question of fact based on the circumstances. The question that caused the most
controversy was whether reasonable entailed an "objective" reasonable person or
reasonable to Goetz, where the latter takes into account who Goetz was and what
Goetz had undergone to create, in his mind, the notion that the conduct was
reasonable. Although I was not in Professor Connell 's class, the classification as to
what happened in that respective class when Goetz was decided is similar to the class
I was in. The fact that the case did not state that the youths were black was integral in
detennining the mindset of Goetz when one has to apply the " reasonable to Goetz"
test.
II . The Goetz case lasted the full class. It sparked question that lasted a significant
duration of the total class time. I was not offended, and to the best of my knowledge,
the students did not take issue with the same facts regarding the same case about the
exact same material during the exact same school semester.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE SECTION B FALL 2010
12. In the fall semester 2010, I was enrolled as a student in Professor Connell's Criminal
Procedure Section B dass.
2
INVESTIGATIONS DURING TilE SEMESTER
13. Prior to the Thanksgiving break, I had a conversation with a fellow student, Danielle
Oppenheim.
14. During that conversation, Danielle told me that she had been called on her cell phone
by Vice Dean Kelly to set up a meeting for the f01l0wing Monday. She told me the
topic of the impending conversation was Professor Connell and that she was told not
to discuss the impending meeting with anyone.
15. Daniene told me not to tell anyone which, until now, I have not done.
16. On the Monday following the meeting, which was days before the Thanksgiving
break, Danielle had another conversation with me detailing the substance of the
meeting.
17. Danielle told me the conversation with Vice Dean Kelly centered around Professor
Connell's inappropriate behavior, namely, sexist and racist comments.
18. Danielle's responses, as Danielle told me on that day. were glowing regarding
Professor Conoe1l as a teacher and his teaching style. In regards to potentially sexist
and racist remarks, Danielle said that she did not see any of his remarks being capable
of being categorized as such. She mentioned a student - a female - whose
interactions in Danielle' s section A class would have totally discounted any sexist
assertions.
19. Danielle told me that Vice Dean Kelly. upon concluding the meeting, toM her that the
meeting was not to be disclosed to anyone. This point was reiterated a few times, as I
was told by Danielle.
20. Danielle proceeded to tell me not to disclose what she told me to anyone. Up until the
preparation of this document, I have abided by her wishes.
3
THE USE OF THE PIiRASE uBLACK FOLKS"
21. Regarding paragraphs 59 and 62 of LC's Affidavit: Professor Connell is alleged to
have said "all criminals are poor and all poor are black folk." The complainants
further allege that "Referring to African-Americans as 'Black Folk' implies they are
uneducated, uncultured and undeserving of respect by the justice system."
22. If the statement "all criminals are poor and all poor are black folk." was ever uttered
in my Criminal Procedure class, I was probably not there or, if I was there, it was not
said. Due to the injury I sustained over the semester, certain days were missed due to
surgery and my recovery. If it was ever uttered, it could not have been on the day 1
was there.
23 . Professor Connell did use the lenn "Black Folks" in class. His "black folks"
comments happened the day we discussed Illinois \'. Wardlow (holding that presence
in an area of heavy narcotics trafficking plus unprovoked headlong flight were
enough to give rise to reasonable suspicion). Dressler pgs 406-11. The comment arose
after we had discussed the case and had moved to discussion of the notes.
24. Note two (2) of the casebook cited an extensive excerpt from a law review article by
Lenese C. Herbert. In relevant part, Herbert wrote that, "[T]he police were using a
code language to suggest their actions were justified because they were directed at
'high-crime people': poor. tmderedllcaled. black and brown males who live in or
Jrequenl depressed .. .inner-city neighborhoods. or who look as if Ihey do. In practice,
people have the implicit authorization to create and apply an inferior set of rights to
individuals in high-crime areas, presumably because those individuals are regarded as
being less worthy than other citizens." (emphasis added).
25. After directing the class' attention to Herbert's observation, Professor Connell came
4
from behind the podium and said so "Who docs this case (Illinois 1'. Wardlow) affect
the most? Who is it directed at?" After receiving no response from anyone in the
class, Connell said, ""Black folk." He followed that up by saying "I think the law
review is right." The "black folk" comment arose from the note of the text. Ifa
student had not read either the case, the note, or both, he or she easily could have
attributed those remarks to Professor Connell. Had these students been paying any
attention at all to the class, they would know that Connell was discussing the content
of the literature in the notes rnther than injecting his own beliefs, precisely the
opposite of what the complainants say he meant.
USE OF DEAN AMMONS IN HVPOTHETICALS
26. I reiterate that I have been a member of Widener University' s School of Law student
body since I started my law school education in August of2009.
27. I have seen different professors for different classes.
28. The use of colleagues to the Professor or Dean Ammons herself has been common
place. John Culhane has been in transactions with Professor Reed. Professor Reed has
also been charged with the tort of negligence. Susan Goldberg has been a party to a
service of process hypothetical. Dean Ammons has also been charged with multiple
crimes over that time. These scenarios have occurred in other classes, as it did in
Criminal Procedure.
29. In Professor Connell's Criminal Procedure class for Section B, Dean Ammons, and
this is the only time I recall her being a party to my learning in this course, was a drug
dealer. At the time, the class was discussing what was needed for probable cause to
obtain a warrant.
30. The class started by discussing the predecessor cases of Aguilar v. Texas and Spinelli
5
v. u.s. which required a conjunctive two prong test to be met for probable cause to be
established. The two prongs were the reliability of the witness and the witness' basis
of knowledge. In the case of confidential informants to police officers, the first
element, reliability of the witness, was always subject to failure when the infonnant
had no "track record" to speak of. Any oath or affinnation by the police officer would
lack any basis for how reliable the infonnant is.
31. The class then turned to the reading for the day which was lI1inois v. Gates. The
Supreme Court, in that case, overturned twenty years of precedent by eliminating the
requirement that both elements be met on their own basis. By allowing for the use of
the "totality of the circumstances" test, the weakness of one prong could be overcome
through the strength of another. Hence, if the basis of knowledge of an informant was
so particular and strong, the fact that he previously had no track record for which the
officer could vouch for would not be as detrimental to the attainment of probable
cause.
32. To illustrate the significance of the Supreme Court' s marked change in direction,
Professor Connell said "What if an infonnant comes to me and says ' I saw Dean
Ammons selling drugs out of her office. ' Would that pass Aguilar-SpineHi?" There
were a few responses from the class. Professor Connell continued by saying, "What
about under Gates?" After determining that the case would fail under both tests,
Professor Connell said, "Now, what if the infonnant says that 'Dean Ammons is
sell1ng cocaine oul of her office. I bought some from her. She keeps it in a paper bag
in the left bottom drawer of the desk: Would this pass Aguilar-SpineHi? Would this
pass Gates?" This sparked discussion about the difference between both standards.
Under Aguilar-Spinelli, the infonnant who had no track record could still not
6
establish probable cause to search, but under the Gates standard, the particularity with
which the infonnant described the drugs, their placement, and that he had seen the
transaction would be enough to reach probable cause based on the strength of the
infonnant's basis of knowledge.
INCIDENTS WITHIN CRIMINAL PROCEDURE SECTION B
33. Two incidents occurred in the class that required the other students to take notice.
34. The first student, who sat middle of the class in the second row, raised her hand as we
had just finished a case. The issue was, as I recall, referencing another note in the
casebook that dealt with racial profiling and the latitude that officers have in making
their detenninations whether to stop or not.
35. Professor Conne1l had gone over the note and discussed the statistics that pointed to
blacks being heavily targeted by police. The student raised her hand. When called
upon, the student started her response, in an aggressive tone, with the words " I don ' t
know what you agenda is ... " Her comments lasted about 45 second to a minute, to
which Professor Connell replied, "If you can tell me what I have said that makes you
think I have an agenda, I will gladly respond to your question." The student continued
with her tone and Professor Connell said that we were going to move on.
36. I have been with this student in other classes and her approach, at times, is to take
personal the topics at hand. When such a situation arises, her tone and aggressiveness
to attack the situation that is very personal to her is similar to what occurred on that
day.
37. On a separate day, Professor Connell had opened the floor for a question he had
posed. A student, sitting two to three rows behind me, was called on to answer the
question. The student asked a question and Professor Connell asked her to answer his.
7
Her rcsponse to thi s request was "You never answer minc. Why should I answer
yours?"' The situation was awkward fo r the class who had seen tension from these two
students bui ld over the semcster. Professor Connell did not conti nllc the tiradc, but
simply stat ed "That when you answer my question first, I will answer yours." and
then moved on to anot her s tudent on the opposite side o rthe roo l11.
38 . I am cun-entl y in class with thi s student. Unloltunately. her comments in response to
the professor's question or the general topic at hand, tends to start with " 1 believe" or
" I think." and never addresses the question posed or Ihe topi c al hand . I have 110 iss lle
with thi s perso ll, but the consistency that a the train of substan ti ve leaming gets
derailed when she participates is too consisten t to not notice.
Samuel Elbanhssi =-SWORN TO AND SUBSC RIBED before me on the ___ ~""="" _____ day of
Apri l, 201 1.
8
lHOMAS S. NEUBERGER, ESQ. NOTARIAL OffiCER
STA1EOfOE!.AWARE 29 OEl. C. SEC. 4323(All31
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