Posted on 01/13/2012 7:01:45 AM PST by expat1000
Sounds like a close call.
This is the first good news I have read on the human rights front in a long time. Although no single case may seem an ideal exemplar of the principle, related to this case is the idea that government can and will be punished for infringements on an individual’s rights. In this case, it is the right to self-defense. Now, let’s put this on the gov’t running the independent nation of NYC.
Hey! “Spjut” is my middle name!
Yep. But instead of the reparations coming out of a state slush fund, the prosecution should pay the proceeds out of pocket. There’s as much (more) corruption in the judicial branch as any other. Bank on it. (They do, daily.)
The problem is that the “government” doesn’t pay anything, you and I do. Hold the prosecution criminally liable and punish them, then they’ll pick their cases more wisely.
1%+ of the U.S. population is in prison at any given time. We have the Largest prision population in the world, and over 5x the prison population per capita of the second largest, China. There was a thread a week ago that said that I think it was 40% of the populace will be detained or arrested by the time they become and adult. It’s a police state already, and now we may not even get trials, under NDAA. The pot is near boiling, and the frog is doomed.
Get rid of the WOD. That’s the main contributor of the large prison population.
You don’t want to do that? Well, you’re stuck with a large prison population.
“You don’t want to do that? Well, you’re stuck with a large prison population.”
Neither is true.
A) Why wouldn’t I want to do that?
-I do.
B) Perpetual prison is relatively new in the U.S. At one time it wasn’t the catch all of the judicial system. People paid fines, had rehabilitation, or even had community service in lieu of prison. Now you get to have all 4 and then some.
You jumped from “the prosecution”, which is an Executive branch function to “the judicial branch” ~ so who is it you imagine should pay?
Counties used to hang folks ~ fast, efficient, no big expensive trials at the capital city with top notch lawyers.
The one that brings a trumped up charges, for personal gain. I’ve seldom seen a judge (judicial branch), that didn’t formerly work as a prosecutor (executive branch), but that’s besides the point.
“Counties used to hang folks ~ fast, efficient, no big expensive trials at the capital city with top notch lawyers.”
Yeah, but I assure you it wasn’t for the tens of thousands of laws we have today. Like having a lobster, urinating in public, or draining a swamp on your own land. I’m not saying that these are punished by hanging, Im saying they wouldn’t have even dreamt of trying to charge/fine/etc. someone for doing any of them.
Prosecutors should have “prosecutorial malpractice” insurance like doctors all have to have insurance to protect them from lawsuits.
If they repeatedly fail and their insurance company has to pay out, they will pay high rates and eventually lose their job.
Not sure why that couldn’t be a workable solution.
Now there’s an idea that I never have considered! The fact is that in this time and place, EVERYONE is a criminal. Prosecutors just charge them with everything under the sun, making sure they have no resources to fight the battle, and then plea down to something that gets them a feather in the cap.
A local woman, bless her heart, was held in prison for 16 years for a murder conviction. The state recently passed an innocence law in which case new evidence can be allowed to exonerate someone. This woman was an aide to the murdered man. The man died, IIRC on a Saturday evening. The police had no suspects, so they just decided she would make a good suspect. The only time period that the woman had no alibi was for Saturday morning. The police asked if the coroner could expand his time frame to say the victim had died Saturday morning, to eliminate the woman’s alibi. He said “Sure,” and changed the time. Now then, many people saw the man at a restaurant in the afternoon. The prosecution surpressed the evidence. The woman then was convicted on the (FALSE) circumstantial evidence.
So, in the exoneration trial the (framed) convict’s attorney’s brought up the witnesses who saw the man after he had allegedly been murdered. The coroner testified about what happened with the police. Guess what the state tried in the exoneration trial...They tried to have it dismissed based upon the fact that they ALREADY KNEW that the man didn’t die when they said he did. They said that the witnesses weren’t “new” evidence because the state had surpressed them in the first trial.
The woman was exonerated and liberated, but the original prosecuter, now deputy DA was pressuring the state to appeal the decision. The Attorney general for the state said that he would appeal, saying (to paraphrase) “All kinds of people could be liberated by this loophole, defeating our system of justice.” Now I have to ask myself, “All kinds of people could be liberated based on police pressuring the witness (coroner in this case), and the prosecution outright framing someone, to get their conviction?”
It’s those moments that make you wonder what else is going on. We have to wake up, and fast. It may be too late to save the system from the corruption, but it’s not to wake other people up to rebuild if it collapses upon itself (the desire of the fascists/socialists).
Exactly. This payment comes from the state coffers at large, and the state government has no input into prosecution decisions, plus it includes money from conservative counties where voters do their jobs and elect good DA's. So they're getting punished for having done the right thing while this provides no disincentive for agenda-driven prosecutions. At least pay the money from county funds in that county, and preferably from the prosecutor's budget. The idea of there BEING a tab is progress. The idea of it being picked up by the uninvolved and in part by conservatives still needs fixing.
Agreed, on all points (And I really like your handle, btw). It’s akin to running over someone and having your neighbor pay the hospital bill. But I guess it’s something. The bigest problem we face as individuals and as a nation, isn’t the rampant corruption. It’s the apathetic public who is entirely unaware of the corruption until it grabs them neck and steals their wallet. Those who can pay, get out with a small infraction and maybe a few years of payments. Those who can’t get locked up indefinitely, to serve as warning to those who think about not paying. It truly is a racket.
“Hold the prosecution criminally liable and punish them”
Good comments...and that’s a welcome recommendation.
Thank you. Having personally followed the exoneration case of the woman framed (see story above), I came to the realization of how corrupt the system is, and started taking note of more and more goings on. The corruption has permeated everything, but I’m not ready to give up yet. A friend asked me yesterday (Well, what exactly can I do about it.” My reply “Light another candle.” (Meaning wake up someone else.)
The job of DA should not exist, i.e. nobody should have any sort of a career or money incentive to simply put people in prison.
“... plus it includes money from conservative counties where voters do their jobs and elect good DA’s.”
You really are delusional if you think that there are any “good DA’s” out there, especially in conservative counties where the mentality is to “lock them all up”. DA’s are not interested in seeing justice done but in maintaining their conviction record, for them it does not matter one bit if they guy is guilty or innocent, just that they get their conviction.
It’s good to see that this will hit the pocket the State of WA, too bad this law isn’t expanded to all criminal cases not just self defense cases as it would change the criminal system in this country very fast. As it is we allow people to rot in jail for years before they get their “right to a speedy trail” just so the prosecutor can pressure them into coping a plea and getting out with time served and in the process destroying the life of the accused. Innocent until proven guilty is no more in this country as only the rich can afford to fight the system which assumes you’re guilty until you can prove your innocence.
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