SBI done fucked up this time. Mark my words, today is the end of North Carolina's death penalty.

8/24/2010 8:37:58 PM

for context:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/8175550/

8/24/2010 9:41:53 PM

http://reason.com/archives/2010/08/23/north-carolinas-corrupted-crim

Excellent points in this article. How objective do you really think the state's crime lab will be given the fact that it falls under the control of the AG and really works for the cops and the prosecutors. It needs to be under the control of a totally unrelated organization and it needs to follow basic testing protocols (like not knowing who samples came from before testing).

8/25/2010 5:14:30 AM

Cops, DA's, Judges...all crooked. The entire system is rigged against the accused, with 12 dumbass jury sheep added as a quaint formality that let's them pretend it's fair.

8/25/2010 11:08:44 PM

^

8/31/2010 3:40:46 PM

^^What fair system do you purpose?

8/31/2010 4:02:39 PM

^
Duh.
Non-crooked cops, DAs and judges.
Major emphasis on the rights of the accused. (Way more than now.)
Complete overhaul of jury selection process.

Also,
Official legal recognition and nationwide education of everyone's Constitutional right to jury nullification.
(banning judges and attorneys from lying about it, saying it's illegal, or instructing the jury to not do it.)

8/31/2010 4:08:18 PM

The official stance of the court system is that jury nullification IS illegal. If you start talking about it as a juror you're pretty much guaranteeing a mistrial(which means the state will just keep trying the guy until they get the result they want) You might even find yourself in jail for contempt of court. No, jury nullification is a right only in the sense that you have the ability to keep your mouth shut and vote "Not Guilty" without explaining your decision. Of course, any libertarian that wants to try this will probably open their piehole early on, start gabbing about it, and be dismissed as a juror.

I agree that dismissing jurors is a mess though. It should be a rare occurrence reserved for extreme bias, because it's a safe bet that people who can actually survive the selection process are the "hang 'em high" type. Anyone who actually has experience with the crime in question is right out the door. How much sense does that make?

8/31/2010 4:57:35 PM

Quote :

"Cops, DA's, Judges...all crooked. The entire system is rigged against the accused, with 12 dumbass jury sheep added as a quaint formality that let's them pretend it's fair."

You forgot to mention that forensic labs have monopolies and very little incentive to give the police results they don't want.

Also, finger-print evidence is laughably flimsy and has basically no methodology (when humans do it, at least).

8/31/2010 5:00:00 PM

Prosecutors are whining these days about CSI-type shows. They say jurors come in with expectations of state-of-the-art evidence analysis and are disappointed with the real "experts", acquitting too often. Cry me a river.

8/31/2010 5:03:10 PM

Speaking of police doing whatever they want, a friend of mine the other day left a bar after having two beers and barely tripped against the curb (clumsy). Three police officers saw him trip and immediately rushed him down, cuffing and arresting him.

The charges? Drunk and disorderly conduct. They arrested his friend as well who was walking two meters behind him because the story was "they were fighting each other drunk outside".

They also accused him of being a crackhead (he was extremely anxious due to being arrested by a bunch of yinzer douchebags) and made him go to the hospital before going downtown lol.

TO SERVE AND BADURFADURF

8/31/2010 5:07:57 PM

I support law and order and good cops, but I cannot stand jackbooted thugs. Surely, there must be some levelheaded middle ground between the hero worship of cops by some and demonization of them by others.

In any event, concerning the OP, if I were governor (I know, God forbid), I would have no choice but to declare an immediate moratorium on executions in North Carolina. Given the recent revelations of alleged impropriety (to say the least), I honestly think that it is the only thing to do.

And, on a related note, North Carolina state government should be scrutinized even more from top to bottom. After all, there have been problems in the SBI, SHP, ABC, and the DOT.

8/31/2010 5:51:35 PM

^ agreed on all points

[Edited on August 31, 2010 at 6:23 PM. Reason : except for maybe the jackbooted thugs part. i don't know what that word means so i defer comment]

8/31/2010 6:21:58 PM

^ WOW! Perhaps a first!

But the "jackbooted" thing goes back a while. In this context, I mean cops who are more concerned with assaulting under the color of authority or otherwise mistreating people than actually protecting and serving the citizenry.

8/31/2010 6:27:24 PM

My objection to the death penalty has been that the justice system is does not adequately determine guilt. I'd rather err on the side of, uhh...not executing an innocent person.

8/31/2010 6:56:48 PM

So with three of the defendants in question having already been executed, are we going to see some arrests of SBI employees since, you know, they were accessories to murders?

j/k lol I say crazy things sometimes

9/1/2010 12:23:29 PM

Nah, they were probably guilty of something else anyway.

9/1/2010 12:37:55 PM

GUILTY OF BEING BLACK AMIRITE?!?!

9/1/2010 6:00:51 PM

Quote :

"I support law and order and good cops, but I cannot stand jackbooted thugs. Surely, there must be some levelheaded middle ground between the hero worship of cops by some and demonization of them by others. In any event, concerning the OP, if I were governor (I know, God forbid), I would have no choice but to declare an immediate moratorium on executions in North Carolina. Given the recent revelations of alleged impropriety (to say the least), I honestly think that it is the only thing to do. And, on a related note, North Carolina state government should be scrutinized even more from top to bottom. After all, there have been problems in the SBI, SHP, ABC, and the DOT."

fucking signed. However I think our retarded ass governor would fuck this up somehow.

9/2/2010 12:07:14 PM

Quote :

"Speaking of police doing whatever they want, a friend of mine the other day left a bar after having two beers and barely tripped against the curb (clumsy). Three police officers saw him trip and immediately rushed him down, cuffing and arresting him."

What city was this in? Any update?

9/3/2010 3:35:06 AM