Posted on 05/12/2017 10:51:44 AM PDT by Publius
President Judge Marsha Neifield of Philadelphia Municipal Court ordered the city District Attorney’s Office on Thursday to reverse course and charge Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian with involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment.
To avoid a potential conflict of interest, the District Attorney's Office responded that it would refer the prosecution to the state attorney general. Neifield issued the order following a request from lawyers for victims of the May 12, 2015, derailment of Amtrak Train 188 that the case be reopened. On Tuesday, the District Attorney's Office had said that, following a lengthy investigation, it had concluded there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.
The following day, lawyers with the office of Richard A. Sprague, a prominent city lawyer and former first assistant district attorney, formally asked the District Attorney's Office to accept a criminal complaint filed by the husband and father of Rachel Jacobs, a young mother killed in the crash.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
Something is wrong in he DA’s office.
The engineer committed the crime while driving an Amtrak train. Amtrak is funded by the federal government and the head of the organization is appointed by POTUS with approval of the U.S. Senate. So charges should be file in U.S. District Court. Philly is chock full of homos and the DA is probably bowing to pressure from that interest group.
And one of his friends said, “If only Brandon had been driving...”.
And he was.
They can't. This out of order and his jurisdiction is the perfect example of these communists judges attempt to rule America. We have already seen examples in the Federal bunch of idiots.
If you want to know how the law operates in Philadelphia, you need to know that the unions have complete control of the system, to include not only prosecutors, but judges, who in Pennsylvania are elected by the people.
Bostian, as a member of a very strong union, was a member of a protected class. There was no chance that the DA would prosecute, which is why the DA's office dragged it out until the statute of limitations was about to expire. Note that the judge intervened at the behest of Richard Sprague, who 40 years ago was the archenemy of Philadelphia's criminal class. His name means a lot in Philly law and politics -- which are inseparable. The bar is set very high for the top judge of the court to intervene and order the DA's office to do its duty.
Also note that the DA is handing the case over to the state, whose prosecutors and judges are not in thrall to the unions. The DA's career would be over if he handled the case himself. If he won, the unions would exact revenge at the next election, and if he lost he would be investigated for tanking the case. He did the smart thing, which was to wash his hands of the case and hand it to the state.
I’m sympathetic but this strikes me as gross judicial overreach.
Actually, during the initial investigation it was revealed that the engineer was texting personal business right before the accident happened!
In Philly, his protection stemmed from his membership in a union, not his sexual orientation.
Post #25 please.
Post #25 please.
Not homosexuals, unions. Post #25 lays it out.
Post #17 please.
Post #17 please.
This must be something wierd, Never heard of a Judge being able to order a DA to do anything, but if they got a Law then So be it, I do agree the guy should be charged though.
Its impractical too.
Post #17 lays it out. Post #25 lays out the politics of the case.
If you’re familiar with Philly and/or PA state politics, you’ll know that there’s a lot wrong in a lotta offices.
Your reasoning is sound but you overlook an important point: criminal negligence and manslaughter are not Federal crimes.
FWIW, which ain’t much since I’m not a lawyer, I’m wondering how much discovery had to do with the PTB wanting this case to go away.
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