Father Faces Prison For Protecting Daughter

[tailfins]

It's not the legal system that's screwed up here, it's the damn prosecutor charging someone for defending their family. I've seen to many of these cases where prosecutors want to prosecute everybody for anything they can.

He didn't take the law into his own hands, that's just attorney speak for he didn't really do anything wrong but we're going to charge him anyway.

He should plead temporary insanity.

Of course, it's a huge money maker. They can size up the defendant before deciding how much money to extort. The prosecutor can say: "I will drop the charges in exchange for court costs" Of course the "court costs" will be loaded with all kinds of fees and can approach $1,000.

[tailfins]

Mmm.. the prosecutor is doing their job, which is following the law. It is the law that says beating up someone that is presenting to physical threat to you is wrong. Dude standing outside a window as this one was, is easy enough to hold at gun point until the cops come, or quick take down and detain until the cops show up, taser and detain, etc.

Wrong: That's assault with a deadly weapon.

At common law, an assault is an intentional act by one person that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent harmful or offensive contact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault

[logroller]

Not at all Though we are a Nation of laws until fairly recent years, we also had a much lower tolerance when it comes to our children, and such cases would not be popular to bring to trial, like the recent case it Texas were a father beat a pervert to death, No Charges, because it would have been a circus had they tried, there has always been exemptions especially when a child is involved.

It wasn't because it wouldn't be popular or a circus. A grand jury decided the case didnt merit charges based upon it being an aggravated sexual assault, not due to an exemption based upon a child being involved. I'm sure that made the case a no-brainer. By nonetheless, it was decided by due process, a grand jury, not some arbitrary discretion swayed by public fervor.

A Texas father walked in on his five-year-old daughter being molested and wasted no time in beating the man to death. The grand jury found the dad not guilty due to a state law that allows deadly force to be used to stop an aggravated sexual assault.

http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/te.../#.UjRzeWS9LTo

[Arbo]

Wrong: That's assault with a deadly weapon.

If your story is you were detaining a bad guy while awaiting police arrival, and bad guy is alive and not had the crap beaten out of him (vs beating the crap out of him) odds are probably better that a jury will side with you.

[logroller]

Wrong: That's assault with a deadly weapon.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault

Or not.

New Mexico has no statute on citizen's arrest. Instead, our courts have continued to recognize the Common Law concept, ruling that a private citizen can detain a fellow private citizen when there is at least probable cause to believe that the fellow citizen has committed a felony-level crime or a breach of the peace in his presence. Please note that there are specific statutes for security guards which I am not addressing today.

Read more: http://www.abqjournal.com/biz/242227...#ixzz2esak7MAO
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[WiccanLiberal]

While I am sure that the naked idiot was up to no good and certainly should have been apprehended, the family was in no immediate danger of anything but seeing something they did not wish to. The irate father should have removed his children to an area of the house away from the flasher and called 911. If possible a few photos would have served to identify Mr. Showoff who was already apparently well known in the neighborhood. The father has risked his future freedom and ability to provide for his kids for the sake of an unnecessary assault. Different story entirely if this asshat was trying to touch the child.

[hjmick]

There is a little thing called "prosecutorial discretion." The DA didn't have file charges. He had better hope this guy wants a plea deal. I just left Albuquerque after living there for three years and I don't think there are twelve people anywhere in New Mexico who will convict this guy.


I will add, the court system in Abq. is very political, perhaps more so than I've seen anywhere else I've lived.

[logroller]

There is a little thing called "prosecutorial discretion." The DA didn't have file charges. He had better hope this guy wants a plea deal. I just left Albuquerque after living there for three years and I don't think there are twelve people anywhere in New Mexico who will convict this guy.


I will add, the court system in Abq. is very political, perhaps more so than I've seen anywhere else I've lived.

I said early on a sympathetic jury could be found. I don't believe a jury would convict. But prosecutorial discretion is not something that should be suggested without all the available facts. It isn't fair to assume that the DA didnt consider such based on an article that is extremely biased. It is possible that some facts were omitted because they didn't fit the narrative.

I'll tell you what though, where I grew up the DAs were extremely political too. They busted a child molestation ring and after 20 years in prison the guilty were exonerated based on evidence the entire case was fabricated by the DA, complete with coaxed accusations from children. Then one of the asst DAs, my neighbor actually, was murdered by a retired cop who blamed him for his sons death. Apparently the kid was troubled, the DA guy had a personal interest in the kid, possibly sexual in nature and used his discretion to get him suspended sentences and during this period kid was high and drunk and died in a car accident. Guy confronted the DA at his house and stabbed him to death. He was convicted of murder.

So given this experience, I'm not keen on prosecutorial discretion. Let a judge/jury decide it-- that's how our system was designed to work.

[Thunderknuckles]

The father will get either a sympathetic jury or straight up jury nullification. He's gonna walk and rightfully so.