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Loughner Indictment
National Review ^ | Andrew c. McCarthy

Posted on 01/21/2011 3:30:39 PM PST by ventanax5

There was some head-scratching a couple of days ago over the Justice Department’s indictment of Jared Lee Loughner in the Tucson shootings case because he was not charged with the murders of Chief Judge John Roll and Gabriel Zimmerman, a legislative aide to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Instead, the indictment charges only the attempted murders of Representative Giffords and her two other aides, Ron Barber and Pamela Simon. (My column a few days back explained that there is no federal jurisdiction to charge murder or attempted murder in connection with the victims who were not federal officers.)

I was interviewed by Politico‘s Josh Gerstein for his report a couple of days ago. As I told Josh, I don’t think there is anything mysterious afoot — unusual, yes, but not mysterious. Ordinarily, when a defendant is arrested on a “complaint” (i.e., not a grand jury indictment but a mere arrest warrant supported by an agent’s complaint affidavit describing the probable cause for the charges in the warrant), the feds must indict that defendant within 30 days under the Speedy Trial Act. If that defendant has been denied bail, however, the time to indict shrinks to ten business days.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: arizona; capitalmurder; demoratcorruption; demoratscandal; disgustingslimeball; giffords; holder; indictment; kenyanvillageidiot; law; loughner; murder; tucson; usattorney
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1 posted on 01/21/2011 3:30:40 PM PST by ventanax5
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To: ventanax5

Presumably there’s no fear that any judge is going to turn this guy loose ~


2 posted on 01/21/2011 3:37:43 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: ventanax5
I would assume Eric Holder plans to prosecute Loughner for the murder of Gabe Zimmerman, since he was an aide to a Democratic congresswoman. He probably doesn't care about the judge since he was a Bush appointee, but will at least go through the motions. The state of Arizona could prosecute for murder if Holder doesn't, but if he deliberately botches the cases, then Loughner should be able to use the "no double jeopardy" clause to prevent the state from going after him.

Maybe I'm being overly cynical, but with Holder everything seems to be either about politics or about race.

3 posted on 01/21/2011 3:47:19 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: ventanax5

So when will charges be filed for the Non-Federal employees who were killed and or injured I did not see that in the article was it addressed did I miss it?.


4 posted on 01/21/2011 3:50:03 PM PST by funfan
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To: funfan

Sheriff DipStick will get on that as soon as he gets done watching Olbermann tonight.


5 posted on 01/21/2011 3:53:29 PM PST by Carling (Remember November)
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To: Carling

LOL!


6 posted on 01/21/2011 3:54:54 PM PST by MissTed ( Do women in burqas have fun tagging each other in Facebook photos?)
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To: Carling

So in otherwards Some animals are more equal than others


7 posted on 01/21/2011 3:55:45 PM PST by funfan
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To: ventanax5
Yes I find it odd that no murder charges have been filed --particularly for the murder of Judge Roll.

I saw an article stating that surveillance video shows "very clearly" that Laughner shot Roll and another man, after shooting Giffords.

Then the video apparently shows Roll diving under a table, while shielding the other wounded man from fire. Loughner kept on shooting at Roll, and Roll died.

I haven't heard if the video clearly shows Loughner shooting the little girl. But apparently the evidence is plain as the nose on your face that Loughner murdered Roll.

So why couldn't non-capital murder charges could be filed right now, re Roll, and later upgraded to death penalty charges if Loughner is found mentally competent ?

Could there be something political going on here? Roll was a Republican AND a hero in this incident. Yet we hear almost nothing about him.

8 posted on 01/21/2011 4:02:31 PM PST by shhrubbery!
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To: Verginius Rufus
The state of Arizona could prosecute for murder if Holder doesn't, but if he deliberately botches the cases, then Loughner should be able to use the "no double jeopardy" clause to prevent the state from going after him.

If the Feds don't charge the looney for most of his murders, I don't see how double jeopardy would apply for those acts.

9 posted on 01/21/2011 4:03:04 PM PST by Erasmus (Personal goal: Have a bigger carbon footprint than Tony Robbins.)
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To: ventanax5

Heard some lawyer on a radio show say that because Judge Rolls was not acting in his official capacity when he was killed, his murder does not qualify as a federal case.


10 posted on 01/21/2011 4:05:57 PM PST by Churchillspirit (9/11/01...NEVER FORGET.)
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To: shhrubbery!

Judge Rollis a Federal Judge! Who the Hell is Holder or his minions to discount that Judge Roll was there in His Federal Capacities!! If he was a Demorat Appointed Judge, You can bet the story woulda had him being a Liberal Hero who saved Hundreds while being attacked by a Rightwing Extremist!


11 posted on 01/21/2011 4:13:07 PM PST by True Republican Patriot (May GOD Continue to BLESS Our Greatest President :George W. Bush!!)
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To: ventanax5

If the judge had been a democrat then things would be different. It would not matter if the judge had been on official duty or not.


12 posted on 01/21/2011 4:23:39 PM PST by Revel
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To: Churchillspirit

How can anybody decide without a timely investigation, that Judge Roll was there as a private citizen! That just stinks!
Judge Roll was a Federal Judge known to be urset with the Illegal Immigrant problem in Arizona and the cases he was being forced to deal with! and his associates have stated he went specifically to visit that day to call attention to those problems to the Congressman Gifford in an official setting!
Judge Roll could call or see her privately most anytime for personal interaction of a private nature. Holder is full of Sheet! If Judge Roll was a Demorat Judge, Holder would have the pervert on Death Row by now.....But we now know who Holder really is... don’t we, a political Hack....


13 posted on 01/21/2011 4:24:17 PM PST by True Republican Patriot (May GOD Continue to BLESS Our Greatest President :George W. Bush!!)
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To: True Republican Patriot

Darn! What a perfect Post!! AMEN!!


14 posted on 01/21/2011 4:26:46 PM PST by True Republican Patriot (May GOD Continue to BLESS Our Greatest President :George W. Bush!!)
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To: Verginius Rufus
I would assume Eric Holder plans to prosecute Loughner for the murder of Gabe Zimmerman, since he was an aide to a Democratic congresswoman. He probably doesn't care about the judge since he was a Bush appointee, but will at least go through the motions.

The federal government can prosecute the murder of a judge only if the judge was carrying out his official duties while he was killed. That may be hard to prove here, hence the delay in indicting on that count. As the article explains, this indictment is really just a placeholder until the real one can be prepared.

The state of Arizona could prosecute for murder if Holder doesn't, but if he deliberately botches the cases, then Loughner should be able to use the "no double jeopardy" clause to prevent the state from going after him.

SCOTUS has held, rightly or wrongly, that double jeopardy doesn't apply to prosecutions by the federal government and a state. So Arizona will probably indict for all of the killings, both of the federal officials and the other victims.

15 posted on 01/21/2011 4:29:47 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: True Republican Patriot

With the RATS ‘leading’ this investigation, it may boil down to whether he was wearing or carrying his robe or not.


16 posted on 01/21/2011 4:30:37 PM PST by txhurl
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To: Carling
Sheriff DipStick will get on that as soon as he gets done watching Olbermann tonight.

Now that Dupnik knows that Loughner was one of them, he will only want Loughner to be charged with littering. You know what with all those shell casings all over the ground.

17 posted on 01/21/2011 4:35:51 PM PST by AmusedBystander (Republicans may have helped drive the economy into the ditch, but Obama is driving it off the cliff.)
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To: True Republican Patriot
How can anybody decide without a timely investigation, that Judge Roll was there as a private citizen!

Exactly, and since they needed to bring charges quickly, there wasn't time to investigate. They can always add those charges later. Meanwhile, they could bring the Giffords and staff charges immediately.

Seriously, you'd probably have to have a hearing to determine whether a federal judge stopping by to say "hi" to a congressperson (which seems to have been the case here) was engaged in an official activity or not. I can imagine lawyers making arguments on either side of that.

If the feds don't bring charges in the Roll murder, the state certainly can and, I expect, will.

18 posted on 01/21/2011 4:41:21 PM PST by Bubba Ho-Tep ("More weight!"--Giles Corey)
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To: Bubba Ho-Tep

I strongly suggest you read post 16 before giving such a magnamous benefit of support to the Obozo Administration and their Minion, Eric Holder! Please remember Eric also threw out the conviction of the New Plack Panther ThugsElection Intimidation in Philly 08!
Are You per chance an Obama Campaign Volunteer?
Just askin! No Offense intended............:-)


19 posted on 01/21/2011 5:01:38 PM PST by True Republican Patriot (May GOD Continue to BLESS Our Greatest President :George W. Bush!!)
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To: Bubba Ho-Tep

My Extreme Apologies to You!
I just got carried away and know clearly now that your Post was Perfect!
To question whether You were an Obama Plant was totally wrong and displaced!
Again,my total and absolute apologies! I am just furious that they have totally ignored Judge Roll’s heroism and basically erased him, just as they have erased all of Obozo’s Biography and falsified so much of His Past!


20 posted on 01/21/2011 5:08:31 PM PST by True Republican Patriot (May GOD Continue to BLESS Our Greatest President :George W. Bush!!)
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