hamptonroads.com/2008/06/prosecutor-wont-seek-death-penalty-ryan-frederick

As far as I’m concerned, Shivers deserved to die as much as any home invader without a badge deserved to die. The police hired criminals to burglarize the home in the hopes of finding evidence for a warrant, got the warrant under false pretenses, then placed the occupant of a dwelling in fear for his life. All for a bunch of maple trees. Shivers was a criminal engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise with his fellow gang-bangers, the badge is irrelevant. The people who should be facing felony murder charges are Chesapeake police officers, not Ryan. The wrong man is in prison denied bail and I’m supposed to have a sense of proportion?

And there are lots of police out there just like Shivers in departments just like Chesapeake, and some of you people want to play Neville Chamberlain in the face of blatant German aggression. Wake the ph|_||< up! The only action that has any hope of success short of actually taking up arms is for someone to play Malcolm X against someone else’s MLK. We certainly can’t depend on the government to do anything about it, they WANT us cowering in our homes praying they’ll go kill someone else.

Frank,
you are displaying the same self-righteousness and lack of sense of proportion that the police and prosecutors have shown.

I disagree because invading homes is a criminal enterprise (and that’s what it is as it looks like the Chesapeake Police fabricated the excuse, had no legitimate justification).

This criminal activity is even worse as it was performed under color of law, by the people we pay and trust to protect and serve us.

The problem of criminal home invations under color of law is even worse as it is covered up systematically by prosecutors and judges whome we also employ and trust to serve us.

Finally, this problem of criminal home invasions under color of law by our public servants who are then protected by our other public servants is rampant nationwide.

So I don’t think Frank’s comment was over the top. The problem should cause outrage within people who desire freedom. That it doesn’t is an outrage itself.

Was the home invasion reckless and irresponsible? Yes. Was it the fault of the Cleveland Police Department that Detective Shivers died? In large part yes. Was his death in part his fault? On the evidence that is available to us , probably yes. Did he deserve to die for his actions? No. Did he deserve a good thumping for his part in the raid? Probably yes. Was Ryan Frederick in part at fault? On the evidence available to us, probably no. Will your over the top rhetoric help reduce public support for this sort of police tactic? No.

I’ll take a wild guess now and state that while Ryan might avoid getting the needle, the real criminals will continue to be criminals with badges.

I support the death penalty in certain cases; unfortunately, some of the people who are most deserving of it (e.g. the people responsible for Kathryn Johnston’s murder) are unfortunately the least likely to get it.

I consider myself very much a “law and order” type, but unfortunately many people seem to confuse “law and order” with “support government personnel in everything they do”. We are headed toward totalitarian anarchy, where those in power exercise absolute authority over the serfs but are not bound by any legitimate rule of law. While I periodically read debates about what should happen to cops who perform illegal searches and other such acts, I would posit that the starting point should be simple: a cop who performs an action without legal basis shall be considered no better than a non-cop who does likewise. If a cop breaks into someone’s home illegally and attacks the occupant, he is a robber. If he gets shot at, too bad for him–robbers do not have any ’self-defense’ rights against their victims. If the victim gets killed, the cop is a murderer. Anyone who is involved with a raid which he should reasonably know to be illegal is an an accomplice to any crimes therein; if someone dies in such a raid, the accomplices are murderers regardless of whether the decedent is one of the attackers or one of the victims.

I think this is all brewing up for something to happen. Anyone watch “V for Vendetta” lately?

I read the trade paperback version of the comic book…much better, IMO.

I look forward to the land of “do as you please”.

If the cops had fired a shot inside the house and wanted to cover it up, you would think he would patch the hole AND pick up the spent brass.

I wouldn’t think the cops would be firing full metal jacketed bullets from their M4’s. There should be some fragments of the bullet left in that wall. This story from WTKR TV certainly has more holes in it than that wall does.

http://www.theagitator.com/2008/06/13/report-from-chesapeake-possible-second-informant-emerges-in-ryan-frederick-case/#comment-135359

There is one other possibility. The officers where standing near the one who fired his weapon and they where all contaminated with GSR. Its not specific to the one who fired the weapon. That means every officer that tested positive should know which one of them it was.

The cover-up is probably to prevent administrative action whoe lied, because now he’s making the department look bad.

Police officers have this sense of entitlement…like they’re entitled to do what they want and have no repercussions.

I think this is all brewing up for something to happen. Anyone watch “V for Vendetta” lately?

It’s too bad that we’re never going to find out who patched the hole. At this point, it’s only speculation that the hole was patched by the police. I would be tearing open the wall to find the bullet. Ballistics might be able to match it to a police officer’s weapon.