Originally Posted By WilliamK99 After the conviction, the prosecution openly joined Tate's plea for leniency in sentencing, and even offered to help in his appeal. The trial judge criticized the prosecution for compromising the integrity of the adversarial system, and said that if the prosecution felt that life imprisonment were not warranted, they should not have charged him with murder in the first place. In January 2004, a state appeals court overturned his conviction on the basis that his mental competency had not been evaluated before trial. This opened the way for Tate to accept the same plea deal he originally turned down, and he was released on one year's house arrest and 10 years' probation. Source: Wikipedia
Originally Posted By Mr X ***if the prosecution felt that life imprisonment were not warranted, they should not have charged him with murder in the first place.*** I agree with the judge. It's this kind of shoot from the hip mentality that makes our legal system so screwy. Too much is in the hands of too few, imo. There is a glaring lack of consistency. Heck, if those prosecutors had gone after the guy as a juvenile, he'd likely have served a lot more time paying his debt to society, only someplace appropriate for juvenile offenders.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Heck, if those prosecutors had gone after the guy as a juvenile, he'd likely have served a lot more time paying his debt to society, only someplace appropriate for juvenile offenders.<< He violated his probation and is now serving 30 years....so yeah he won't be getting out anytime soon.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Ummm that came out of left field davewasbaloo, I was talking to Mr. X
Originally Posted By Mr X I think he's just bummed. As far as that one case (your "proof"), is it just that. One case. Perhaps if he'd gone to a proper detention center, he'd be a whole different story. Or maybe not. We'll never know. One thing that always astounds me is when people violate parole in such a manner. I would imagine that, if I ended up in jail somehow, I would do just about ANYTHING to keep from going back. In some cases, I guess that shows how crazy they really are. In others, how desperate. In any case, the whole juvenile issue is a very complex one. The tasering of an eleven year old is complex too, but I don't think we can really get anywhere in a discussion if someone insists on claiming that one example or another is "irrefutable", even the one that lead to this girl getting zapped. I wouldn't really feel as though I knew the whole story unless I was there. Especially for the cop, there is WAY too much motivation for him to justify what he did.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Actually Mr. X, (Damn, I am blowing my whole argument out the window) watch the movie Heat, I feel the way the young man just out of prison is treated in the movie is similiar to how they are treated in real life. Once you get a felony on your record it's like you are carrying a Scarlet Letter, so the chance that you will go back to prison is probably very likely, you just can't catch a break.
Originally Posted By Mr X Okay, I'll check that out. Anything to blow your argument out the window. I've heard some stuff about that. I'm sure it makes things very, very difficult. BUT, on the other hand, I bet there are some highly motivated people out there who manage to get by, somehow, without resorting back to the criminal life that got them in trouble in the first place. And then of course, there are the people wrongly convicted. Those are the worst sort of stories. Honestly, those stories are pretty much the only thing that keep me from being pro-death penalty. Anyway, here's a question. Can a felon leave the country? I wonder because, if I were in that position, I think what I might want to do is get out of that whole situation and make a fresh start somewhere where the felony wouldn't even be an issue. I realize that's not realistic for all, but in some cases of highly motivated people, I can see how that could break the cycle. But something tells me felons can't leave the country, anyway. I haven't heard one way or the other.
Originally Posted By Bob Benchley "I said I wasn't pissed at you. I'm not. I think you're laughable." Perfect! It IS Laughing Place, after all!
Originally Posted By Mr X Sure. If you say so. Who ARE you anyway? I'm just curious. You suddenly chime in here, people get banned, some get depressed, and some even downright SUICIDAL from emails I've been receiving. What is your purpose here? Have you even talked about Disneyland or whatever? Or are you just jumping in to make trouble? IN any case, things are horrible now. Funny that you are right in the thick of it. I doubt Doobie would really care, but I'm in the middle of trying to calm down many posters via email who are extraordinarily upset since you showed up. I don't particularly "want" to, per se, but I feel I must. It's not as if "the community" is much good to all these people I'm hearing from now.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 I find it very strange that someone would actually go to the trouble of getting someone banned from a discussion board. I mean, are people on here really so thinned-skinned that they need to get people banned? I saw this on the Disneyland boards also this week with that princesspaulina. While I found her posts annoying - I was surprised, and a little shocked, that people actually posted that they "reported" her and got her banned from the boards - they were even proud of themselves for doing it. Personally, I find that type of behavior just deplorable - and way to "1984" for my taste. If you don't like a poster, then just ignore their posts.
Originally Posted By Bob Benchley "Who ARE you anyway? I'm just curious. You suddenly chime in here, people get banned, some get depressed, and some even downright SUICIDAL from emails I've been receiving." I'm no one who carries any weight around here whatsoever. I didn't "get people banned". He got himself banned. This would have happened whether I decided to fight back against jonvn or not.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Stop trying to play the victim Bob Benchley, you are far more coniving then you are portraying yourself.
Originally Posted By pecos bill I just wish we could all play in the sandbox together without crying to the teacher because someone else can debate rings around us.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 What exactly happened to jonvn? I know he can be abrasive, but I didn't see him being any more so than usual just before his banning. Was there some big dust-up that just escalated out of control or something?
Originally Posted By dshyates Someone got him going on religion, and found his point of view offensive. I was following along, and best I could tell before the red plague, was he was making some rather harsh statements about christianity in general, not actually attacking someone personally. In other words, just being jon. I feel arguing with him made me a more skillfull debater.
