In short:
Texas man sells 1 firearm to a Hispanic male that possessed a Texas Driver’s License. Turns out that the Hispanic male was an illegal immigrant and the man who sold the firearm gets sent to jail. Prosecutor states that they know that the Texan did not know that the Hispanic male was an illegal but he should have figured it out because of the way they looked.
What are your opinions on this? Any other examples you may have are appreciated as well.
The problem with your analysis is the court isn’t involved, so criticism of the court is uncalled for. The decision of whether or not to prosecute is at the discretion of the prosecutor. Therefore all criticism should be directed at the prosecutor.
There is an important lesson to be learned in all this. Because most people do not realize the power that prosecutors have. They can destroy peoples lives if they want to. All you need to do is have a momentary lapse of judgment or even make an honest mistake that puts you in their sights then they get a bug up their ass and decide they are not going to let you go.
The problem is prosecutors cannot be penalized or sanctioned for engaging in malicious prosecution.
[quote]Sifu wrote:
The problem with your analysis is the court isn’t involved, so criticism of the court is uncalled for. The decision of whether or not to prosecute is at the discretion of the prosecutor. Therefore all criticism should be directed at the prosecutor.
There is an important lesson to be learned in all this. Because most people do not realize the power that prosecutors have. They can destroy peoples lives if they want to. All you need to do is have a momentary lapse of judgment or even make an honest mistake that puts you in their sights then they get a bug up their ass and decide they are not going to let you go.
The problem is prosecutors cannot be penalized or sanctioned for engaging in malicious prosecution. [/quote]
Agreed that the prosecution holds part of this burden. I also hate that jurors actually went along with this. Also, that judges allow that sort of tactic to be used. The whole system is flawed and the prosecutors are simply exploiting the holes in their particular portion it.
[quote]Sifu wrote:
The problem with your analysis is the court isn’t involved, so criticism of the court is uncalled for. The decision of whether or not to prosecute is at the discretion of the prosecutor. Therefore all criticism should be directed at the prosecutor.
There is an important lesson to be learned in all this. Because most people do not realize the power that prosecutors have. They can destroy peoples lives if they want to. All you need to do is have a momentary lapse of judgment or even make an honest mistake that puts you in their sights then they get a bug up their ass and decide they are not going to let you go.
The problem is prosecutors cannot be penalized or sanctioned for engaging in malicious prosecution. [/quote]
Actually, the state can be sued for malicious prosecution but it’s tough to do and first requires an acquittal. Other than that, your analysis is correct. This is an example of a DA’s office gone wild. The case has a good change of getting dismissed.
Also, I like the fact how, based on one case, the OP proclaims that “the court system is messed up.” Yeah, there are going to be bad lawyers and judges just like there are bad doctors, accountants, architects, you name it. The frivolous cases make the news. The case with merit don’t make the news - that’s just too boring. Overall, the system works relatively well. Get some experience with the court system first before making pronouncements like this.
[quote]MikeTheBear wrote:
[quote]Sifu wrote:
The problem with your analysis is the court isn’t involved, so criticism of the court is uncalled for. The decision of whether or not to prosecute is at the discretion of the prosecutor. Therefore all criticism should be directed at the prosecutor.
There is an important lesson to be learned in all this. Because most people do not realize the power that prosecutors have. They can destroy peoples lives if they want to. All you need to do is have a momentary lapse of judgment or even make an honest mistake that puts you in their sights then they get a bug up their ass and decide they are not going to let you go.
The problem is prosecutors cannot be penalized or sanctioned for engaging in malicious prosecution. [/quote]
Actually, the state can be sued for malicious prosecution but it’s tough to do and first requires an acquittal. Other than that, your analysis is correct. This is an example of a DA’s office gone wild. The case has a good change of getting dismissed.
Also, I like the fact how, based on one case, the OP proclaims that “the court system is messed up.” Yeah, there are going to be bad lawyers and judges just like there are bad doctors, accountants, architects, you name it. The frivolous cases make the news. The case with merit don’t make the news - that’s just too boring. Overall, the system works relatively well. Get some experience with the court system first before making pronouncements like this.[/quote]
There have been many cases just like this. As I stated in the original post, if people would like to add other cases they can. There was the man who chased a home robber out of his house and had to pay money to the robber because he broke his legs trying to run away. There was the Homeowner who got charged when they had a group of illegals trash their land and held them there for the police to get there. There have been numerous cases just like this, I’m just trying to start conversation using one story.
[quote]Sifu wrote:
The problem with your analysis is the court isn’t involved, so criticism of the court is uncalled for. The decision of whether or not to prosecute is at the discretion of the prosecutor. Therefore all criticism should be directed at the prosecutor.
There is an important lesson to be learned in all this. Because most people do not realize the power that prosecutors have. They can destroy peoples lives if they want to. All you need to do is have a momentary lapse of judgment or even make an honest mistake that puts you in their sights then they get a bug up their ass and decide they are not going to let you go.
The problem is prosecutors cannot be penalized or sanctioned for engaging in malicious prosecution. [/quote]
I would contend the Prosecutor and the Court are part of the same system , being the Judicial
[quote]pittbulll wrote:
[quote]Sifu wrote:
The problem with your analysis is the court isn’t involved, so criticism of the court is uncalled for. The decision of whether or not to prosecute is at the discretion of the prosecutor. Therefore all criticism should be directed at the prosecutor.
There is an important lesson to be learned in all this. Because most people do not realize the power that prosecutors have. They can destroy peoples lives if they want to. All you need to do is have a momentary lapse of judgment or even make an honest mistake that puts you in their sights then they get a bug up their ass and decide they are not going to let you go.
The problem is prosecutors cannot be penalized or sanctioned for engaging in malicious prosecution. [/quote]
I would contend the Prosecutor and the Court are part of the same system , being the Judicial
[/quote]
This is not correct. The DA is part of the executive branch, not part of the judiciary. Courts can sanction and hold prosecutors in contempt just like any other litigant. And the government can be sued for malicious prosecution, but it’s hard to prove. The DA’s office can be just as political as any other department. If the DA’s office wants to show that it’s “tough on illegal aliens,” which may be what this DA’s office is trying to do, then they’ll go after relatively minor offenses just to prove a point.
[quote]MikeTheBear wrote:
[quote]pittbulll wrote:
[quote]Sifu wrote:
The problem with your analysis is the court isn’t involved, so criticism of the court is uncalled for. The decision of whether or not to prosecute is at the discretion of the prosecutor. Therefore all criticism should be directed at the prosecutor.
There is an important lesson to be learned in all this. Because most people do not realize the power that prosecutors have. They can destroy peoples lives if they want to. All you need to do is have a momentary lapse of judgment or even make an honest mistake that puts you in their sights then they get a bug up their ass and decide they are not going to let you go.
The problem is prosecutors cannot be penalized or sanctioned for engaging in malicious prosecution. [/quote]
I would contend the Prosecutor and the Court are part of the same system , being the Judicial
[/quote]
This is not correct. The DA is part of the executive branch, not part of the judiciary. Courts can sanction and hold prosecutors in contempt just like any other litigant. And the government can be sued for malicious prosecution, but it’s hard to prove. The DA’s office can be just as political as any other department. If the DA’s office wants to show that it’s “tough on illegal aliens,” which may be what this DA’s office is trying to do, then they’ll go after relatively minor offenses just to prove a point.[/quote]
Except that here, they let the illegal go and arrested the citizen. This is still a messed up system if it allows for such situations in the first place.