Northwest Indiana man’s book details his lengthy history with ‘corrupt police, corrupt judges’
Brian Vukadinovich is convinced that all of us should be “highly suspicious” of the U.S. justice system, its attorneys, and a vast number of police officers. He has written a new book on his personal interactions and courtroom experiences.
The question is are we willing or prepared to go through life harboring such suspicions or contempt, as Vukadinovich, whose troubles with police and the justice system date back more than 35 years, has done for much of his life?
In his late 20s, while with his mother outside a Valparaiso bank, Vukadinovich was arrested, then released by police in a case of mistaken identity. Vukadinovich was arrested or detained by police 10 more times, with the charges dropped each time.
“I couldn’t drive to the store without getting hassled by police,” said Vukadinovich, who’s now 66 and lives in Wheatfield.
On April 20, 1987, Porter County Superior Judge Mary Harper ruled, “… there was no probable cause in fact and law for the stop, detention, and arrest of defendant, and that the stop, detention and arrest of the defendant were and are invalid and … dismissed with prejudice.”
“Up until that time period in my life, I had the utmost respect for police,” Vukadinovich told me last week. “That viewpoint has since changed.
“Do I think all police are corrupt? No,” he said. “Do I think a lot of them are? Yes.”
He also distrusts the legal system.
Vukadinovich sued the Hanover Community School Corp. in 2013, claiming he was unfairly fired from his job as a teacher. He also claimed Hanover violated his right to due process.
In March 2016, after a weeklong trial, a federal jury ruled in favor of Hanover schools for the age discrimination and retaliation claims, but ruled in Vukadinovich’s favor for the due process claim. The trial attracted more publicity than usual because Vukadinovich represented himself in court.
The jury awarded him $203,840 in damages.
“My case just proved that it can be done,” he told the Post-Tribune after the trial.
After that eye-opening ruling, the school corporation and its attorneys filed post-trial legal motions arguing that the verdict shouldn’t stand. In October 2016, U.S. Chief District Court Judge Philip Simon affirmed the jury’s finding and tossed out multiple post-trial filings from both sides in a tersely worded opinion.
Vukadinovich was awarded an additional $6,566 for court costs and post-trial interest.
“In the end, they ended up writing a check for $210,407, and nine cents,” Vukadinovich said, sharing with me legal docu- ments of his court proceedings.
If anything, Vukadinovich has documented well his personal life, his “pro se” courtroom experience, and his dealings with the justice system. These experiences prompted him to write the book, “Motion for Justice: I Rest My Case.”
“The book covers in great detail the many injustices I had to deal with in Northwest Indiana at the hands of corrupt police, corrupt judges, unsavory lawyers, and public school administrators who were all intertwined,” Vukadinovich said. “I don’t hold anything back.”
He never does, I learned.
“Too many people are brainwashed, in a way, when it comes to the U.S. justice system,” Vukadinovich said. “There are things going on behind the scenes that most people know nothing about.
“I’m a teacher, and I’m continuing to teach the public as to what is actually taking place in the courts and in our society.”
Last week, Vukadinovich spoke to Yale Law School students via Skype along with retired United States Court of Appeals Judge Richard A. Posner.
Vukadinovich is one of two executive directors of the Posner Center of Justice for Pro Se’s, created to assist litigants without lawyers around the country. (Find more information at www.justice -for-pro-ses.org.)
On Sept. 2, 2017, Posner retired after 35 years as a court of appeals judge for the Seventh Circuit, stating at the time that such litigants “are not receiving a fair shake from the courts.”
“Many judges are hostile to pro se’s, seeing them as a kind of trash not even worth the courts’ time,” Posner said. “We are just touching the surface, for there are reliably believed to be at least a million pro se’s in the United States. Many of those pro se’s, however, don’t realize they can obtain legal assistance.”
In his own book from earlier this year, “Helping the Helpless: Justice for Pro Se’s, a Company Handbook,” Posner wrote, “The ‘poster child’ of the Posner Center is Brian Vukadinovich, a nonattorney from Indiana who has the distinction of being one of the most successful pro se litigants in modern history.”
Posner wrote the foreword for Vukadinovich’s book. (Watch a video preview of the book at www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uOGV931XFY.)
“I’m now able to look in the mirror knowing I did the right thing in my life,” Vukadinovich said.
I asked him if he still has a chip on his shoulder after all these years.
“I guess you can say that my book has lessened that chip on my shoulder,” said Vukadinovich, who doesn’t have a wife or children or any regrets.
“I’m at peace these days, knowing I stood up for myself,” he said. “More importantly, I hope I can educate other people about their fundamental, constitutional rights. And, yes, they should be highly suspicious about a justice system that can take away those rights.”