The family and friends of Hannah Fizer in Sedalia, Missouri appear to be under duress from the Pettis County Sheriff's Office (PCSO). Hannah Fizer was murdered by Deputy Jordan Schutte back in June, prosecutor Stephen Sokoloff refused to prosecute him, and Pettis County Sheriff Kevin Bond will not name let alone fire him. In the months since Cop Blaster has been following the case closely due in part to Sheriff Bond personally refusing to turn over public records we requested and threatening us with criminal prosecution (https://copblaster.com/blast/25797/pettis-county-sheriff-kevin-c-bond-refuses-to-comply-with-foia). As part of our activities we became active in Facebook groups started by people seeking justice for Hannah Fizer. Our interactions with those Facebook groups and protest organizers have led us to conclude that people in Pettis County are operating under duress from the PCSO.
Why would someone seeking justice for a woman murdered by police censor information about those responsible? We have heard a variety of reasons from Facebook groups such as Sign the Petition Justice for Hannah (https://copblaster.com/blast/25807/sign-the-petition-facebook-group-complicit-in-hannah-fizer-cover-up) and Justice for Hannah Fizer (https://www.facebook.com/groups/396720184645496/). Those reasons usually include a disagreement with our methods, statements saying that our way is not their way, and usually claims that Hannah's family asked that they not post certain types of information about people involved in Hannah's murder. Back in June, Cop Blaster was banned from Sign the Petition Justice for Hannah after posting links to information that could have helped the public identify the killer. That group enacted a rule against naming deputies that you suspect. That rule inspired people to create groups like Fight for Hannah (https://www.facebook.com/groups/552564372094989/) and 100% Real Justice for Hannah Fizer (https://www.facebook.com/groups/984287642016888/) so that people can discuss the case without being censored. We continue to actively participate in the censorship free groups. Fight for Hannah specifically is run by someone that is not in Missouri and not under duress. Cases such as this one need outside eyes watching and it has that thanks to groups like Fight for Hannah as well as websites like this one.
A week ago we were happy to hear that one of the admins at Sign the Petition Justice for Hannah had left that group and formed her own group called Justice for Hannah Fizer. We eagerly joined the group and enjoyed having discussions with people that were not possible in the old group. One of the group's first posts said "Invite who you want to I will not limit post or censor anything unless facebook flags a post this group is for Hannah so feel free to post pictures videos and say what you want !" (https://www.facebook.com/groups/396720184645496/permalink/396733091310872/) Our response was to share a link to information about Deputy Schutte, Sheriff Bond, and Stephen Sokoloff (https://copblaster.com/blast/25966/stephen-sokoloff-calls-the-murder-of-hannah-fizer-justified). That link appeared welcome. We also shared a link to an article about another protest movement that used the Fizer case as an example of ineffective protest tactics (https://copblaster.com/blast/25967/breonna-taylor-settlement-should-inspire-all-that-protest-police-abuse). We believe that their self-restraint is one reason why justice has not been served in this case. It appears that they are only willing to conduct themselves within the same rules that enable bad cops like Jordan Schutte to get away with murder. We are not aware of any successful protest movement that operates that way. When patriot militias stared down the Bureau of Land Management in Bunkerville, Nevada they openly did all that was necessary to prevent the theft and slaughter of cattle at the Bundy Ranch. That would not have been possible had those men decided that they did not want to appear anti-government. Had they cooperated with the government, the whole thing would have accomplished noting besides maybe a few headlines about people picketing near some ranch. When Black Lives Matter protested in the streets of Louisville for months, the city realized that they had to settle a lawsuit with the family of Breonna Taylor and pay them $12 million. Had the city fought and won in court, the consequences for the city from protests of such a verdict would have probably been far more than the settlement figure. That could not have been accomplished had they exercised the restraint that friends and family of Hannah Fizer have so far. We are not saying that they should break the law, but we are saying that more aggressive protest techniques are available and those techniques would better motivate local government to cooperate.
The use of those techniques are not without risks due to the lack of police accountability in that county. The PCSO lacks body cameras, so unless people are filming them they can do whatever they want and make up a story to justify it later (https://copblaster.com/blast/25925/pettis-county-it-director-luke-goosen-speaks-out-against-sheriff-bond). We have seen activity online indicating that people want certain information to be out there, but then they delete later. Hannah's father named the shooter back in July before quickly deleting the post and saying he should not have posted it (https://copblaster.com/blast/25835/did-pettis-county-deputy-jordan-schutte-shoot-hannah-fizer). That seemed like the actions of someone that wanted the truth to be known while fearing retaliation at the same time. Other members of the Fizer family posted his name in the days that followed only to delete it later. Why would someone seeking justice for Hannah remove the name of her killer from their social media pages?
We have noticed people posting our Jordan Schutte Wanted Poster on some of the aforementioned groups only to have it deleted (https://copblaster.com/blast/25839/deputy-jordan-daniel-schutte-wanted-for-murder-poster). Justice for Hannah Fizer was one such location. That group was started for the stated purpose of letting people post anything that Facebook does not flag, we saw people with no connection to Cop Blaster post our wanted poster, we then shared our recent articles, and other people were saying things they could not say on Sign the Petition Justice for Hannah. That all changed earlier today when the admin suddenly said "I had to change some settings on here today and remove a couple of people. We're also going to pre-approve post just so we can watch a little better what's being put on here." (https://www.facebook.com/groups/396720184645496/permalink/401221744195340/). That statement was a clear about face from the stated purpose of the group and it was made a day after the admin ran into Kevin Bond as he got off work (https://www.facebook.com/groups/396720184645496/permalink/399589444358570/). She said that she ambushed him with questions about Hannah's case, that Bond stated he was waiting for the final report, and she encouraged people to flood his office with phone calls before voting him out in November. What caused this admin to go from that to deleting links to important information about Bond and his associates? She claims that Hannah's family asked her to remove them because their lawyer recommended that she do so.
The admin of Justice for Hannah Fizer told Cop Blaster that the lawyer representing the Fizer family believes that our posts about Sokoloff are harmful to their upcoming lawsuit, so links to those posts are not welcome in their group anymore. They even refused a link to the best article ever written about the case, we assume because it has a lot of links to Cop Blaster. That same admin liked the article so much that she posted a link to it on Sign the Petition Justice for Hannah but it was eventually taken down by the group's founder (see source link above this article for more). We find this development alarming because although lawyers can be valuable sources of legal information and services, they are also officers of the court and bound by certain rules that render them useless in some scenarios. No lawyer would have recommended to Cliven Bundy that he invite hundreds of armed militia men to his ranch and allow them to take up defensive positions for the purpose of deterring federal agents from seizing cattle pursuant to a court order. Eventually the Bureau of Land Management retreated, the criminal case against Bundy was dismissed, and Bundy kept his cattle. Bundy won because he was smart enough not to listen to attorneys. No attorney would have recommended that people in Louisville use less that completely peaceful tactics to protest the murder of Breonna Taylor, but they did it anyway and eventually the city realized that setting the lawsuit was preferable to winning or losing in court. No lawyer would recommend that protesters in Portland, Oregon commit any number of minor offenses that the DA no longer prosecutes people for, but they protested anyway, overwhelmed the court system so that it could not possibly prosecute all of them, and as a result the protesters in Portland are winning. We do not see the protesters in Sedalia doing anything like that. We do not see them doing all they can to motivate the government to do the right thing because they are restraining themselves, why? Are they restraining themselves because doing what is necessary to beat the government violates their own sense of right and wrong? Or, have they been threatened by the PCSO?
We find it highly suspicious that the admin of Justice for Hannah Fizer ran into Kevin Bond the day before she started censoring her new group. We believe that Kevin Bond probably said something to her about the Cop Blaster links. We believe that the PCSO has most likely said similar things to other friends and family of Hannah Fizer to deter them from using enhanced protest techniques like some of the ones we have advocated for. We believe that they want to speak out like we have been and would love to protest in ways that we have recommended, but are afraid to do so. PCSO has no body cameras, so they can pull someone over or go to their home and do with them as they like when they are least expecting it. That threat can be somewhat mitigated with live streaming if your streaming service saves the footage and the cops know that they are being recorded, but what is to stop them from finding an excuse to take your phone? As long as the PCSO does not wear body cameras nobody is safe in Pettis County.
We have heard from many people in recent months that say Pettis County is dirty. Almost all of them have seemed to imply that they are worried about what the PCSO might do to them. They have mentioned several suspicious deaths in recent years, conspiracies involving freemasonry (https://copblaster.com/blast/25806/sedalia-missouri-masonic-granite-lodge-272-conspiracy-theory), and a culture within the PCSO of doing as they please while always looking out for each other. If we were in Pettis County we would not feel safe running this website. In fact, we too are under duress to a point because we censor home addresses of local law enforcement officials in order to maintain the peace with them. That allows us to use Oregon as a base of operations while trying to help similarly situated people elsewhere. We know what it is like to live in places where the police can do what they want and it is just your word versus theirs. We know how they feel and for that reason we believe that they are under duress. When people are under duress they say and do things that they would not otherwise. When people are known to be under duress it is important to question anything they ask you to do. You need to ask yourself if they are competent to make the best decisions in that matter or are they under duress.