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Writer Peter Watts Sentenced; No Jail Time
shadowbearer writes "SF writer Peter Watts, a Canadian citizen, whose story we have read about before in these pages, was sentenced three days ago in a Port Huron, MI court. There's not a lot of detail in the story, and although he is still being treated like a terrorist (cannot enter or pass through the US, DNA samples) he was not ordered to do any time in jail, was freed, and has returned home to his family. The judge in the case was, I believe, as sympathetic as the legal system would allow him to be."
It shows the Judge thought it was bullshit that was a waste of taxpayers money via the court system as well.
Time to get some adult supervision at those border posts.
He writes erotic fiction based on well known science fiction properties. His latest book, Jean Luc Picard: Stone Cold Space Pimp, was amazing, I hear he won an award for it.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Erm...apparently, according to what I've read about this, even IF you give them what they ask for, they can fuck you over.
So...what what was the point were you trying to make again?
I didn't read the article thoroughly enough before I posted the submission; there is more detail on the case on a link from within the story.
(It was not with the intention of gaining karma; my karma has been peaked out for years, ceased to care about it even before that)
A note on Slashdot's submission/moderation system; I had moderator points before I posted the story, and apparently have moderator points within the story. The editors may have their reasons for allowing it, but I don't feel that it's a good idea to allow story submitters to have moderation points within a story they post. Just sayin'
I did find this bit to perhaps be an indication of the judge's real feelings:
He told Peter that he was a puzzle to him; that he thought he would enjoy having a pint with Peter (Peter told him he would buy; Adair said he would get the next round);
It does sound like the judge would like to know a little more about his side of the story than what he could glean from the courtroom proceedings.
Oh, and thanks for the minor editing Timothy, it does read better that way.
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
Yes, indeed. If there is one take-away from all this, it is obey. Hell, if a Canadian isn't polite enough, you need to be on your best behavior. So keep your head down citizen and don't ask any questions. If beaten, be sure to thank the border guard, and try to not bleed on their uniform. They hate when you bleed on their uniform.
Two different officers gave him contradictory orders. No matter which one he obeyed, he was "failing to comply" with the other one. On this pretense, they gave him the "bad outcome" they wanted so desperately.
That nobody involved directly with the case mentioned "entrapment" is an epic fail. His defense lawyer should be disbarred for incompetence.
"This law includes offenses ranging from assault and battery to simply standing too close to an officer..."
"Standing too close to an officer" is a crime? OK, that's about the walking definition of a bad law.
What was Watts' crime? He asked the officers what they were doing.
He didn't strike anyone. He didn't kick anyone. According to the record he didn't even use harsh language. Apparently our law enforcement community has become so vicious and cowardly they'll beat people bloody just for looking at them wrong.
Peter Watts is a geek scifi writer. Judging from his photos, he weighs about 160. My wife could smack him around. He's about as threatening as a tuna sandwich.
But somehow, these law enforcement officers felt they needed to beat him senseless, leave his blood all over the pavement, and then mace him for good measure when honestly, a wedgie probably would have been overkill.
Scifi novelists, small-town mayors, Chinese diplomats, 75-year-old grandmas, epileptics having a seizure -- Is there ANYONE law enforcement doesn't want to beat bloody before talking to them any more?
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
I grew up military. What I heard over and over again was that "The honor of the unit lies with each man."
You see, the fine police officers you know? They have a DUTY to police themselves. That's why "the few bad apples" argument doesn't hold up. Those fine police officers you feel sorry for? They have a duty to ARREST and TESTIFY AGAINST those bad apples.
That's why you can't say, "It's just a few bad cops." The supposedly "good" cops have an obligation to put a stop to it, and they're shirking their duties by refusing to do so.
This makes them culpable as accomplices. That's why there are no "fine police officers" any more, because if there were, they'd clean their house.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
although he is still being treated like a terrorist (cannot enter or pass through the US, DNA samples)
Hi! Are you wondering if the U.S. federal government is treating you like a terrorist? Sure, we all are. Here's a handy questionnaire to find out.
Is there a Predator drone overhead firing missiles at your car?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
If you checked "No", congratulations! The U.S. government might not trust you or want you in the country, but they're not treating you like a terrorist.
Robert Heinlein used to claim that an armed society is a polite society but he was wrong. An armed society has these dangerous pockets of paranoia because police, border guards, etc expect to be shot at and consequently behave as if everybody they deal with is going to do that.
I can understand a Canadian being rather confused by this situation.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Paper's please... pic 1 pic 2
Camping on quad since 1996.
About twenty years ago, I once called a police officer an asshole, to his face, in front of his immediate superior. It was justified - that man was behaving like a psychotic over a minor traffic issue (jaywalking) involving a friend of mine. The officer took out his baton and threatened to "beat me into submission", at which time his superior collared him and led him back to the squad car, came back and apologized to us. The first officer was suspended without pay and later dismissed from the force as being unfit to be a law enforcement official. My friend brought suit against the local PD - it scared her pretty badly - and although she wasn't awarded damages, the verdict by the judge contributed to the officer being dismissed from the force.
At what point do citizens lose the right in this country to speak up when they are being harassed unfairly by an official of any kind, or when they see someone else being harassed unfairly?
Watts never offered violence (according to other witnesses; the one border patrol officer who was required to be there at the sentencing and who claimed that Watts attacked him first, Mr. Andrew Beaudry, waived his right to a victim's statement during the sentencing; that and a few other things tell me that he was probably lying about the events.
There are enough incidents such as this that go on to suggest that perhaps we need to start scrutinizing our border guard (and LE) hiring practices in a much more thorough manner, and disciplining them when they step out of line. Yes, it's a stressful job. Yes, it has the potential of danger. But anybody wearing the uniform who loses their head when there is no real physical threat to them simply does not belong in that job .
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
Of being beaten up by police. It's not enough that they beat people with impunity, they want to throw them in jail for the offense of being punching bags.
My Lai was a national disgrace. The Wikileaks/Reuters video depicts cold-blooded murder. You can hang them all as far as we're concerned. We don't want to share a uniform with filth like that.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
There was a time when police used violence as a last resort. It is now the first resort. It is sad that people like you and others willingly accept that.
Camping on quad since 1996.
but what trained officers are supposed to do is expect the subject to do the worst possible thing...
No. Not even soldiers are trained to do that. Civilian law enforcement is trained to use good judgement. It is more important to know when NOT to shoot than it is to know when TO shoot. Keep running Mad Max fantasies through your head like anyone who COULD pull a gun WILL pull a gun, and you end up shooting a kid for no good reason like one ex-officer I personally know.
If you haven't been in a situation where a person wants to argue with cops and then for some unknown reason pulls out a gun,
Here's another nonsense argument I'm sick of. Since you're pressing the point, yes, I have been shot at. No, it's not pleasant at all. No, the fear that someone MIGHT take a shot at you is no excuse for beating civilians bloody.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Yes, they are. Despite that fact, the border guards in this case did lie, claiming that Watts tried to choke one of them. The evidence showed that this was a lie. Despite the fact that the guards were lying, he still got convicted for failing to lie down quickly enough when they ordered him to (after they had already punched him in the head).
they need only act when they perceive a threat
Dammit, Boys, IT'S A CANADIAN! Git him before they burn the White House again!
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
I owned (and had read) first editions of all five (or four and a half) of his novels before the first story about him, so I don't think that he's that obscure. There are plenty of more popular authors whose books aren't as good. And now, because of a felony "non-compliance" conviction, he will be unable to enter the United States again. That's quite a hefty punishment for getting out of your car at a border checkpoint (especially with a superfluous beatdown in the bargain). Is that the result of a "good" law? You might see him at WorldCon 2010, but he'll be SOL if he wins a Hugo in 2011 (Nevada). A felony conviction will fuck over an American citizen.
Most importantly (for slashdot), he has released all of his novels and a number of shorts for free on the web under a Creative Commons license. That makes him as slashdot-worthy as Hans Reiser.
The protect and serve motto is a reminder of police officer's dedication to service.
The police have gone to court multiple times to fight for the right to neither protect nor serve. It may be a reminder, but if so, it's a reminder of what police were like 50 years ago, not what they are now.
Learn to love Alaska
beating someone senseless as a safety precaution.
That you find this acceptable anywhere at any time 'as a precaution' speaks volumes about you more than anything else.
Society has changed. People used to respect police officers, and the risk to an officer used to be much lower.
It's still less dangerous than being a construction worker or cabbie, what effective police need to do is maintain control of the situation without resorting to physical violence. Any point where it devolves into violence where none is shown by another party is a failure on the police officers behalf.
If you checked "No", congratulations! You are not yet aware that you are being treated like a terrorist!
:(
Peters hopefully has learned not to give police officers a reason to beat him. ... It simply means that since the criminal (he was convicted, remember) was being a criminal in english, that he probably wasn't trying to smuggle anything over the mexican border at that time.
Dude, seriously? Let me guess. You're mall security waiting to hear back from the department on your test results? Got a whole closet full of badges and uniforms you like to try on in front of the mirror late at night when no one's watching, do you? Got the whole "You talkin' to me?" speech in flawless De Niro accent down cold, huh?
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
The sad fact is that if you are given two conflicting orders, asking which to obey is illegal. You must do both at the same time, and if impossible, you are guilty of obstructing justice (of, as they call it here, felony non-compliance). If you put your hands to your face while being hit, you are guilty of assault. CCTV doesn't help when the laws (and application thereof) are broken already.
Learn to love Alaska
Watch Adam 12.
Then compare it to police you've interacted with.
Police have fallen a long way in only 40 years.
I had a cousin who became a cop and he went from a nice boy to a bully telling "funny" stories about intimidating civilians (not criminals). It only took a couple years.
I also know police go to hookers one day and then spend the next day arresting them. Policing used to be about the law- now it's about power.
That's why I support mandatory 24x7 filming of all police activity. Sure- it protects them from false accusations. But the primary benefit is to keep them in line.
The first controversy in my city when the red light cameras went in was about the police running red lights when they were not on a call.
Even when called on it- they felt running reds was just a privilege of the job.
Pathetic.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I'll try. The fault with the statements above is that they equate police officers with DHS guards. Despite having been on the wrong side of the law many times, I do believe that the vast majority of police officers are honest folks who foster good relations with their citizens and have honest intent(the only bad publicity seems to come from Los Angeles, with its officers up against crotch-grabbers and coked-up madmen using babies for human shields). I also agree that they're not out to cause trouble because they want to go home to their families without any bullshit.
However - DHS guards are not police officers. They are glorified security guards gone mad with the power they attained in the wake of 9/11. The vast majority of them face no danger, and the last one to be shot to death(since the '80's) passed under mysterious circumstances with his gun stolen, an obvious cover-up. This ICE "officer" drove at night with tinted windows and plowed through a stop sign, killing 3 women. Calling them "federal officers" is an insult to everybody else with "officer" in their title. They're on par with prison guards, for fuck's sake. I know because I get eye-fucked and sent to secondary on a regular basis by those assholes, because I always lose the staring contest. Why don't you try driving through a few of their checkpoints being preemptively treated like a criminal and having dogs run your car beacuse you "might" be a criminal?
Police (still) don't go around beating people as step 1
Yes, they do. They approach a non-violent man standing in a parking lot, shout an order at him and then beat him. Just like the guy famous for "don't tase me bro" who was tased and beaten for speaking out of turn. OK, then not step 1. They ask nicely once and only once and then start hitting. They don't even need to leave time in there for compliance. So I'll call it step 1(a).
they do it defensively as both a matter of policy and practice.
Defensively? What did he do that was dangerous? Standing still in a parking lot is what they accused him of. If it was so dangerous, why did they talk to him first? And if it wasn't dangerous, why couldn't they have given him an additional 5 seconds to comply before beating him?
your mis-characterization must stem from your lack of understanding.
That's arrogant to the point of being 100% incorrect. "If only you understood, you'd have to come to the same logical conclusion as me." There's absolutely no room for "you may have the same understanding as me and still come to a different conclusion."
I do understand. I've been pulled over multiple times for being in the wrong neighborhood. I've been harassed. I know friends harassed. I understand exactly what they do and why. "Contempt of cop" is a felony, and that's what he did. I understand that. I don't think it's right. I don't think it's defensible. There's no reason to beat an unarmed man who's standing still when they attack. He was a threat to no one.
Someone posing a threat is not the same as someone who is non-violent.
I agree. Evidently, you are ok with beating non-violent people. You think that if someone who has a distorted thought of threats thinks a non-violent person who isn't acting in a threatening might, at some time in the future, become a threat, then it's ok to start beating them before that happens. I understand what you are saying. And I disagree. No claims of "if you only understood" will change my thoughts on this.
Two minutes of sitting in your car and waiting for the officer to walk over to speak with you is much better for you and the officer in the sense that the officer doesn't have to decide whether or not you are an idiot or a threat and probably you will be able to travel into or out of the US instead of ending up in a jail cell.
You are making things up. The officer was talking to him, then walked off. He was looking for clarification of the situation from the person who was talking to him. He had no idea it would be 2 minutes until he was dealt with. There was no "pull over there and wait for a minute and I'll get right back." The officers treated him like a child. They gave him an incomplete order and expected him to guess the rest. And they acted like bad parents, spanking him when he exposed their bad orders and stupid policies. And he wasn't even trying. He just wanted to know that he was being subjected to the very-rare screening on exit and how long he'd have to wait before someone could get back with him.
Learn to love Alaska
Yeah, it's always a mistake to stand up for what you believe in...or even demand to be treated like a human being. Better by far to grovel and kiss the ass of the douchebag with the gun. You'll survive, probably. And what could be more important than that?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
I didn't say 'grovel'. I said 'take it up with higher authorities'.
Part of freedom is not just knowing the good fight, but knowing who to fight it with.
The douchebag with the gun is the *immediate* problem. The authority that gave the douchebag a gun is the *real* problem.
Think of it as votes on a jury.
Look, Kramerd, I've been pretty hard on you tonight, and I apologize. I'm sure your Dad is a cop, and you look up to him, and wanna defend him, and there's nothing wrong with that.
But your Dad and his friends, well, they've been kinda hard on the sheeple lately. When you taser a dozen autistic kids, baton pregnant women in the stomach, taser and club an epileptic for not obeying commands while he's having a seizure, and beat a little girl while she's trapped in a holding cell....
Well, let's just say the other men who carry guns in uniform lose respect for you. And the sheeple, oh my, well the sheeple do truly horrible things.
They start voting against you on juries.
So do me a favor. Go tell your Dad that if he and his little buddies can't get their act together, then We the People are about to introduce them to the wonderful world of private security, where they can make almost a whole eight dollars an hour. :-)
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Have you ever considered there is a connection between officers using violence on the public and the loss of public respect for police officers? Respect is earned and easily lost due to bad behavior.
Camping on quad since 1996.
They aren't equating the two. It's just subject drift.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
The problem isn't corruption in itself, the problem is fear of harassment among the officers.
Actually, that harrassment IS corruption. It's also a felony called witness tampering and intimidation.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
I visited the US and drove around as a tourist once, got stopped by the police and did what folk in the UK do - I got out of the car to wait by the side of it to show the police that I wasn't going to do a runner. I didn't know that you sit inside the car until the police come to you in the USA, nobody told me this when I got my tourist visa stamped at immigration or when I picked up the hire car.
Things escalated very fast and I found myself surrounding by two or three police cars with people shouting stuff and pointing guns at me. Very scary when you're not quite sure why this is all happening. Fair play to the police officers, after a couple of minutes of me putting my hands in the air and shouting "Sorry, I am a tourist, I don't know what I've done" things calmed down to the point that we could have a chat and sort things out pleasantly (we all shook hands at the end of it and the cops pointed out where a local hotel was, my mission of the moment).
Not sure what the answer is, should foreign nationals have to read the local written driving test / read the handbooks before being allowed to drive a car in another country?