TheAgitator.com
Taxpayers Underwrite Prosecutors’ Negligence; Negligent Prosecutors Get Promoted
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010Larimer County, Colorado will pay Tim Masters $4.1 million for his 1999 wrongful murder conviction. Masters was released last year after he was exonerated by DNA testing. The money will come from the county’s risk management fund and from a payment from the county’s insurer. The former is funded by taxpayers, and the latter will almost certainly raise the county’s premiums, also paid by taxpayers.
More interesting is who won’t be paying. Former prosecutors Terry Gilmore and Jolene Blair convicted Masters on flimsy evidence (some drawings he’d made and testimony from an alleged expert on sexual deviants). They were also actually censured by Colorado Supreme Court for not bothering to look into evidence undermining their case against Masters, as well as for withholding exculpatory evidence from Masters’ attorneys. The censure was an unusual reprimand for misbehaving prosecutors. But it was largely symbolic. As noted, Gilmore and Blair won’t have to pay a dime to Masters. And both will get to keep their current jobs: They’ve both since moved on to become judges in Larimer County District Court, where they preside over other criminal cases.
Both negligent-prosecutors-promoted-to-judge said through their attorneys that they oppose the settlement, and are confident they’d have won if the lawsuit had been brought to trial. The way the law stands now, they’re probably right.
Ahem. A hat tip now and then wouldn’t hurt.
I keep thinking that it’s great that Larimer County is paying for its mistakes until I remember that I live in and pay taxes in Larimer County. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad this guy’s getting the settlement, much less glad the prosecution F’d it up in the first place.
Larimer Country, CO: Come for the out of control prosecutors, stay for the Balloon Boy!
In other words, the guilty are still not held responsible for their crimes, and continue to force the already bled-dry tax serfs to cough up yet more cash to pay for someone else’s fuckups.
Justice will not be served until, in Sam Kinson’s words, these bastards are going through KFC garbage bins muttering, “Ah, there’s one with meat on it.”
Taxpayers underwrite all government abuse and stupidity from corruption to war and, ultimately, to our own destruction.
OT…waaaaay off topic.
School used laptop cams to spy on students at home.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/17/school-used-student.html
That is just astonishing. I can’t want to see how many people are prosecuted for that. hahahaha! Just kidding. I know it’s only a crime when someone outside of government does it.
Were they merely negligent? Seems intentional to me.
If the school administrators are using laptop cams to spy on students and their families, then aren’t they engaged in trafficking child pornography as soon as a kid gets into their jammies in front of the computer?
Oh, sweet irony.
Arpaio protest rally ends with pepper spray.
No more information on this incident:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2d9_1266478450
Google “Children Pepper Sprayed, Arizona – there are a lot of references, including You Tube…
The issue came to light when the Robbins’s child was disciplined for “improper behavior in his home” and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence.
I know that SCOTUS has allowed schools to discipline student at anything that can loosely be considered a “school function”, but when did schools get the power to discipline students for what they do at home? How did we stretch in loco parentis to cover situations where parents may actually be present?
Hell since it’s Hijack thread Friday…
Don’t ask why in Atlanta:
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/woman-61-arrested-for-309285.html?cxtype=rss_news_128746
GDI it’s Thursday. My week is reallllly dragging.
This is how you get conservatives to change their minds about our ridiculous hard line, law and order approach to crime. They care about money. When you put into terms of their tax dollars, that is a language they understand. Some people here might scoff at that idea, but you’d suprised at it’s effectiveness.
Works for drug war discussions too.
Doubtful. As the reply will be something akin to “How can you put a price on morality?” or another argument that ignores the sunk cost fallacy.
#12 Atlanta is pretty wild and wacky these days.
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/citizen-board-police-stonewall-301395.html
“Ahem. A hat tip now and then wouldn’t hurt.”
This is one of Radley’s failings, even if several sent the tip a general H/T several readers would feel nice. (sorry Rad, but tis true), still luv ya though.
Our Boyo in Cali will deny this as he knows within his world of LE nothing like this is EVER possible. Ever…. Nifong was a fluke! HAR HAR!!!
Let EVERY prosecutor that falsely accuses someone, and is discovered later, pay up the same penalty he lobby for the person falsely accused by him…. in this case 8 years.
Watch these false prosecutions and innocent lives & families ruined, all over this country drop to ZERO. These prosecutors never had anything to lose by accusing others falsely.
Injustice in America will NEVER disappear until this risk is implemented for prosecutors, cops, & judges.
So-called ‘immunity is false’. They have nothing to lose by lying about you, no skin in the game. Fix America, make them speak under the ‘penalty of the false witness’…. the same sentence.