TheAgitator.com
Coupla’ Raid Updates
Thursday, June 26th, 2008Guizan died for nothing more than some resin and a scale, and the hope that a den of iniquity would be destroyed.
Should Terebesi accept admittance into a six-month rehab program, the actions of the special task force involved in the raid are given credence. The accused’s not-guilty plea keeps the focus on the actions of the police, which resulted in a death. Terebesi’s crimes, should he be found guilty by a jury of his peers, pale in comparison; at no point was he accused of taking a life.
Yes, crimes are crimes and should be treated as such, whichever direction on the moral compass they point. But actions must be viewed in context, and the possession of a scale, some paraphernalia and some resin in no way justifies the force needed to take an unarmed man’s life.
If the law does not take such things into consideration when prosecuting what by comparison are minor crimes, it has failed to be balanced and blind. And if law enforcement personnel are not trained to use judgment and discretion when using deadly force, they have failed to bring professionalism, respect and dignity to the law enforcement profession.
We wait with bated breath for the real charges - those of unnecessary force - to be brought.
Keep waiting.
Unless your breath is baited with the sweet aroma of the hemp plant you may wait for a long time before you see any charges.
“That a law is ethically and morally valid is beside the point for law enforcement personnel. It is the job of legislatures to debate the validity of a law - the prohibition against marijuana for example - not those police personnel charged with the task of enforcement.”
This is very similar to the just following orders argument, and we saw how well that worked for the Nazi regime.
“That a law is ethically and morally valid is beside the point for law enforcement personnel.”
Do you think they meant invalid, and not valid?
Luck and good Karma to ryan, and great editorial in the minuteman. People are taking notice, too bad the body count is going to have to get much higher before anyone actually does anything about it.
Sorry to double post, but it just hit me that the trial is at the end of january, and you know it will get at least a couple of delays before it actually starts. Meaning, Ryan will have spent over a year in jail just waiting. Seems more like a prosecutor tactic than anything else. How much more time do they need to prepare for what is, according to them, an open and shut issue?
Relevant, but didn’t find anything about it on this blog:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS/703140547
Homeowner had ‘a right to resist’
Judge acquits John Coffin on 5 felony charges; Coffin gets time served on 6th.
BY Todd Ruger
Published Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 4:30 a.m.
Last updated Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 5:36 a.m.
SARASOTA — John Coffin won’t spend any more time in jail for beating up two sheriff’s deputies inside his house, striking one in the head with a Taser gun he took from the other.
Circuit Judge Rick De Furia said at Coffin’s trial Tuesday that he doesn’t condone the violence against the deputies.
But Coffin, 56, had a right to defend his family and property because the deputies had no right to be in Coffin’s house in the first place, De Furia said.
“Law enforcement was responsible for the chain of events here,” De Furia said. “I think in situations like this, officers become so frustrated they go beyond what the law allows them to do.”
Slightly off-topic, but this is one of those stories where police are asserting that it is a crime to audio tape them:
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060701/NEWS01/107010079
worth checking out.
[...] drug raid earlier this year, has filed lawsuit. I hope they get a lot of money. The police are typically stonewalling, but the more we learn about that raid, the uglier it [...]