SavannahMann
Platinum Member
- Nov 16, 2016
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I waited several days to post this to see if some of the Law and Order throw them all in prison types would shout that it was an outrage. Nothing from the shoot first and establish their guilt later crowd, so I am going to go ahead and post it myself.
There are several lessons obvious to even the casual reader of the news stories. Ineptitude by the Police and Prosecutors is first. But before we get to the lessons obvious in the story, I suppose we should post the story itself.
Prosecutors drop all charges in deadly shootout involving Texas biker gangs
The new DA blamed the old DA for not prosecuting the cases in a timely manner. Well why didn’t he? Because prosecuting someone leaves the option of Not Guilty as a Verdict, or of a Hung Jury, which was the result of the only case tried.
Why was the case so hard to try? Well first we can assume several things. Having witnesses pick out which large hairy guy with a beard from a line up of large hairy bearded guys is going to be tricky. Even in the case of Surveillance Video, picking out the large hairy guy in the video, and explaining to the jury that the large hairy bearded guy is the one you can see in the video, and only he could be the one, is another of those tough sells.
But how do prosecutions work today? Plea Bargains, or people talking themselves into trouble by answering questions of the Police. Both are the usual way that such cases are handled. Someone talks. But if no one talks, you are left with explaining that the big hairy bearded guy is the one in the video, and if he shaves his beard, forget it.
The bikers were obviously smart enough to shut the hell up. By staying silent, they make the cases against themselves harder to prove. Someone apparently explained all that to them, otherwise there would have been more trials. The Outgoing DA probably hoped that one of the 24 remaining open cases, would talk. But apparently none of them did. Think about it. It wasn’t until Sammy the Bull started talking about Gotti that they finally convicted the best known Mob Boss since Al Capone. If Sammy had shut the hell up, then Gotti probably would have stayed in control of the Mob until he died.
I’m sure that none of you had considered this case, as it seemed like a no brainer with the obvious conclusion that several of the baddies would be spending life in Prison, or perhaps getting the Death Penalty. Truthfully I hadn’t thought of this case in years myself. The first lesson is say nothing to the police. Say nothing. Do not explain it away, do not explain that it wasn’t your fault, just say nothing. As this news story shows, if you do nothing to help them build the case against you, you are far less likely to be convicted.
There are several lessons obvious to even the casual reader of the news stories. Ineptitude by the Police and Prosecutors is first. But before we get to the lessons obvious in the story, I suppose we should post the story itself.
Prosecutors drop all charges in deadly shootout involving Texas biker gangs
The new DA blamed the old DA for not prosecuting the cases in a timely manner. Well why didn’t he? Because prosecuting someone leaves the option of Not Guilty as a Verdict, or of a Hung Jury, which was the result of the only case tried.
Why was the case so hard to try? Well first we can assume several things. Having witnesses pick out which large hairy guy with a beard from a line up of large hairy bearded guys is going to be tricky. Even in the case of Surveillance Video, picking out the large hairy guy in the video, and explaining to the jury that the large hairy bearded guy is the one you can see in the video, and only he could be the one, is another of those tough sells.
But how do prosecutions work today? Plea Bargains, or people talking themselves into trouble by answering questions of the Police. Both are the usual way that such cases are handled. Someone talks. But if no one talks, you are left with explaining that the big hairy bearded guy is the one in the video, and if he shaves his beard, forget it.
The bikers were obviously smart enough to shut the hell up. By staying silent, they make the cases against themselves harder to prove. Someone apparently explained all that to them, otherwise there would have been more trials. The Outgoing DA probably hoped that one of the 24 remaining open cases, would talk. But apparently none of them did. Think about it. It wasn’t until Sammy the Bull started talking about Gotti that they finally convicted the best known Mob Boss since Al Capone. If Sammy had shut the hell up, then Gotti probably would have stayed in control of the Mob until he died.
I’m sure that none of you had considered this case, as it seemed like a no brainer with the obvious conclusion that several of the baddies would be spending life in Prison, or perhaps getting the Death Penalty. Truthfully I hadn’t thought of this case in years myself. The first lesson is say nothing to the police. Say nothing. Do not explain it away, do not explain that it wasn’t your fault, just say nothing. As this news story shows, if you do nothing to help them build the case against you, you are far less likely to be convicted.