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In Florida, Secrecy Around Stingray Leads To Plea Bargain For a Robber
schwit1 writes The case against Tadrae McKenzie looked like an easy win for prosecutors. He and two buddies robbed a small-time pot dealer of $130 worth of weed using BB guns. Under Florida law, that was robbery with a deadly weapon, with a sentence of at least four years in prison. But before trial, his defense team detected investigators' use of a secret surveillance tool, one that raises significant privacy concerns. In an unprecedented move, a state judge ordered the police to show the device — a cell-tower simulator sometimes called a StingRay — to the attorneys. Rather than show the equipment, the state offered McKenzie a plea bargain. Today, 20-year-old McKenzie is serving six months' probation after pleading guilty to a second-degree misdemeanor. He got, as one civil liberties advocate said, the deal of the century.
so let me plea down and get out sooner to get back Jack and do it again.
6 months probation is about right for what he did anyway. I can't believe they're clogging prisons with petty criminals like this then turning violent criminals out because of over crowding. A BB gun as a deadly weapon? They're turning the legal system into a farce with that kind of bullshit.
Call your congressman and ask them why they're using illegal surveillance tools to let criminals get away.
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
This. There should not be an incentive for pleading guilty. One should never have their freedom taken away merely for inconveniencing the system.
And, if they were so keen not to reveal their kit, couldn't he have refused to bargain all the way, waiting for the judge to insist at each stage that this equipment be exposed? Or is the judicial system too broken to throw out a case where a prosecutor has deliberately changed the charge because it refuses to follow the judge's instructions on the initial charge?
I'd still rather take the deal bankers got when they effectively stole billions and we gave them more money.
So when I buy low quality weed can I demand a refund now? Where are we? The robbed dude was a criminal, and he shouldn't have got any protection by the law. Illegal goods can't be robbed -- they are illegal.
also fucking bitch stupid defendant.
he just fucking caved, his defense team could have got to see this device and perhaps document it's abuse in the court of law..
the plea bargain has allowed their crooked shit to slip by for yet another case, they avoided exposure..
obamasweapon.com
Hopefully the guy's learned his lesson. Pulling a BB gun on a drug dealer seems like a pretty good way of getting yourself killed.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Because the uses are highly illegal, nearly certain to intercept the calls of law abiding citizens, and absolute proof that they intend to become big brother as soon as they can.
Because they dont want to give anyone standing to force the issue into a court they cant withdraw from. You cant sue if you dont have standing. They want to keep the tool without allowing it to be vetted by the justice process.
Good-bye
I recommend you do something rather unreasonable. That thing is to learn about what you're talking about. You say the constitution didn't have that right, but someone amended it. If you're familiar with the bill of rights, you'd be aware that the constitution has never existed as law, without it. So yes, technically you're right that it's an amendment, but the constitution has never been without that right.
And now, since I know you can't be bothered, here's the amendment process. Congress must draft a bill to do the amendment. It must gain super majority (2/3rds support) in both the house and senate. Then it must go to a popular vote where again, it must be a 2/3rds super majority in favor. And this, in a political climate where 70% is considered a land slide and the norm is more like 55%.
And why must we have them in our daily lives? Why not? If you're going to bring up the UK as to lower rates of shootings, I'm going to bring up Brazil who also has outlawed guns yet has one of the highest shooting death rates in the world. I'll bring up that most shooting deaths (in excess of 75%) are suicides, and if you try to bring up that it would stop suicides, I'll bring up that the suicide rate isn't significantly different in the US than in the UK and South Korea actually has one of the highest (who oddly enough also has some of the strictest gun laws on earth). I'll also bring up that the UK has a horrible problem with violent crime in areas other than gun violence. Wasn't it a few years where they were contemplating banning knives longer than 3 inches to try to combat the knife crime problem. And apparently it never occurred to them that it would have outlawed the profession of chef, since the standard chefs knife is between 8 and 10 inches.
Wish I had mod points. The plea bargain system usurps the intent of laws. At a min it leaves the public wishing there was a law against X,Y, and Z, and it has turned into an extortion game called Throw the Book at You (tm).