Posted on 01/04/2013 10:23:39 AM PST by Slings and Arrows
Two remarkable legal proceedings are currently wending their way through the federal criminal courts. The cases involve very different parties: Conrad Black, one of the most consequential public intellectuals and businessmen of our era, and James “Whitey” Bulger, a Boston-based alleged racketeer and serial murderer. But both cases highlight some of the same profound problems with the way federal prosecutorial business is done these days.
In both cases, as in countless others, the feds have used certain techniques that virtually assure convictions of both the innocent and the guilty, the wealthy and the poor, the violent drug dealer and the white collar defendant, indifferent to the niceties of “due process of law,” particularly the right to effective assistance of legal counsel. In order to prevent a defendant from retaining a defense team of his choice, federal prosecutors will first freeze his assets, even though a jury has yet to find them to have been illegally obtained. They then bring prosecutions of almost unimaginable complexity, assuring that the financially hobbled defendant’s diminished legal team (or, as is often the case, his court-appointed lawyer) will be too overwhelmed to mount an adequate defense.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Was Alinsky a lawyer?
The plea bargain is where they get you.
There is no real choice, plead guilty and stay out of jail, or fight, and face 25 years hard time as punishment for not going along.
The concept of justice has been cast aside in the insane rush to establish unquestioned federal government supremacy over all aspects of our lives.
Libertarians warned that so-called "asset forfeiture" laws deprived defendants of life, liberty and property without due process, and also warned they would not be limited to drug dealers once they'd been demonstrated as effective prosecutorial tools.
They nevertheless had support from both sides of the aisle.
Rule of thumb: Any law that has "broad based bipartisan support" is a BAD IDEA.
I’ll say something on the thread, but have little idea what I could do about this (except something that would get me on charges...) to help that I’m not already doing.
“The plea bargain is where they get you.”
And thanks to a SCOTUS decision this year (Rehberg v. Paulk, 9-0) both prosecutors and police officers are immune from civil suit even if they knowingly lie on the witness stand.
And then there’s this:
“We do not see how the existence of a false police report, sitting in a drawer in a police station, by itself deprives a person of a right secured by the Constitution and laws.” (Pottawattamie vs. McGhee)
[that’s because it hasn’t been used at a trial yet; but it can
be used to force a plea bargain]
And this:
“A prosecutor ... may receive absolute immunity from suit for acts violating the Constitution in order to advance important societal values.” -Elena Kagan, Solicitor General, 2009
You thought you had constitutional rights and protections?
LOL! (sarc/off)
Conrad Black was hated by academic feminists more than any other group. He began advocating for conservative fathers’/family rights long ago, when living in Canada. He once owned the National Post in Alberta. He later moved to the UK and published from there. Feminists and homosexual activists of the divorce/cohabitation lobbies (including bar associations) dogged him in three countries.
I hear you. Anyone could be ruined by the fed judicial system. Even a fairly wealthy man cannot hope to counter the limitless resources of the fed agencies. Increasingly the targets are selected and destroyed for political reasons.
These kind of cases scream out for jury nullification.
Yes. Except like the case in Montana of a Med MJ grower busted by the fed, he was not allowed to tell the jury that what he was doing was legal under stste law. Or many gun cases where the defendent is not allowed to bring up the second amendment as a defense. If you are not allowed to mount a defense, it is hard for the jury to side with you.
In some cases jury instructions practically direct the jury to convict.
Exactly so.
Happy New Year Dirt!
You too! Hope all is well out there.
The federalization of crime is truly one of the most despicable trends of the last 50 years. I hope all involved get their due when they meet their Maker.
Sure there is....
Challenge juristiction.
The Constitution and Bill of Rights just get in the way of a perfectly regulated society.
This, plea bargaining and Administrative Law should all be thrown out as unConstitutional. American law isn’t about practicality, but justice.
Louie Gohmert is my Rep and I just helped vote Ted Cruz in... That is where the change has to come from. After that there is only one thing left...
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