Accused drug dealers get off - Judge agrees racial profiling was at play

THE NEWS-TIMES ^ | May 31, 2006 | Karen Ali

[LurkedLongEnough]

Here's a classic Fourth Amendment case, I think. Also a precedent for race-based decision-making for the defense lawyer, according to the article.

Come hence, libertarians.

[the invisib1e hand]

dog-bites-tail.

[Army MP Retired]

Would love to know what the probable cause was in this case...

[AppyPappy]

Rather ironic that they managed to hit major pay dirt.

[sgtbono2002]

Here is a perfect example of where guilt or innocence dont mean Jack Sheit.

Turn them boys loose they is just a couple of poor old black boys being caught because they was black. Sure they was dealing dope, but what difference does that make?

I still say when caught with drugs make the perp eat what they have on them.

[Blueflag]

Apparently none, so the case was tossed.

[conservativehusker]

I don't know anything about this case or judge..but I wouldn't want to be stopped simply because I was a white guy in a black neighborhood. Unless a cop can show good cause to stop someone, as hard as it is, they should be let go..watched like a hawk for the NEXT time to be sure but no one should be stopped without just cause IMHO.

[conservative physics]

quote "If my client was a white male walking out of the Sheraton hotel with a suitcase in his hands, he never would have been stopped and searched"

BS ! If some white guys covered in tattoo's wearing gang style clothes with their pants hanging down to their knees, gold chains around their necks and pagers on their hips came out of the hotel carrying bags while looking suspicious and guilty while sweating profusely and constantly sniffing... they sure as heck would of been stopped and searched!

[The Brush]

Aren't law enforcement professionals trained to recognize suspicious activity?
I don't have a criminal mind but I imagine that if I had something illegal in my possession I might act abit more cautious around others. If the perps didn't have drugs with them they wouldn't have been arrested.
Seems the police used their training. If the perps were carrying suitcase bombs these professionals would be receiving awards for their police work

[Tzimisce]

Meanwhile racial profiling in the form of Affirmative Action will continue and be expanded...

[bk1000]

"...but I wouldn't want to be stopped simply because I was a white guy in a black neighborhood. Unless a cop can show good cause to stop someone,..."

That would make you suspicious in my book. You likely have no legitimate business there.

[toddlintown]

I'd be suspicious of anybody driving on Beaver Street.

[CT-Freeper]

For your ping list...

[Ganymede]

"...but I wouldn't want to be stopped simply because I was a white guy in a black neighborhood. Unless a cop can show good cause to stop someone,..."

That would make you suspicious in my book. You likely have no legitimate business there.

***
BUT THIS IS AMERICA AND HE IS FREE, AS AM I AS A BLACK WOMAN, TO BE IN ANY NEIGHBORHOOD AT ANY TIME - white, black, asian, latino, mixed, etc. It gives no cop the right to stop and search. It does not equal probable cause.

[BlueStateDepression]

"If my client was a white male walking out of the Sheraton hotel with a suitcase in his hands, he never would have been stopped and searched," Diamond said.

I am a WHITE MALE and I HAVE BEEN stopped and searched at an airport. This is a simple racist lie by this person named Diamond and it makes me sick!

This is yet another example of how wrong it is to dismiss truthful evidence. I oppose deleting evidence because of how it was gained. If something was done improperly then punish those that did such a thing after a trial shows that they indeed gained the evidence in some wrongful way. Noon but a criminal is served when truthful evidence is kept from a jury. Hiding truth is the undoing for the rule of law. We should address this issue by any means needed to stop the hiding of truthful evidence.

[nutmeg]

Thank you! I'll ping the CT list now...

[nutmeg]

Connecticut ping!

Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.

[bk1000]

"white, black, asian, latino, mixed, etc. It gives no cop the right to stop and search. It does not equal probable cause."

Sure it does! The cop is looking for things out of place. A black guy in a white neighborhood or a white guy in a black neighborhood looks out of place. Neither has any likely legitimate business there. Neither likely wandered there by mistake. Chances are good that in either case someone is up to something. But then, I want to search muslim-looking people trying to board airplanes. Yes, you have the 'right' to be in any neighborhood, but that 'right' won't stop me from getting beaten up just for being a white guy in a black neighbohood and it won't prevent the cops from scrutinizing black people wandering through white neighborhoods. In a mixed neighborhood, things are different.There are rights and then there are responsibilities. And there is common sense as well. PC seldom allows the application of the latter, however.

[54-46 Was My Number]

I oppose deleting evidence because of how it was gained. If something was done improperly then punish those that did such a thing after a trial shows that they indeed gained the evidence in some wrongful way.

The problem here, as I see it, is this: the police had no reason to detain these men in the first place. They were investigating a wholly separate crime---they weren't patrolling the area on the lookout for drug dealers. They had no probable cause to detain these men on suspicion of the crime they were investigating, so that detention was unjustified. Anything the police discovered as a result of that detention would never have been known or realized had not that detention taken place, and since that detention was unjustified, it's as if the evidence against them never existed.

And this is the way it should be. Otherwise, the police would have carte blanche to stop anyone, for any reason, absent suspicion, and search them. That notion should be completely abhorrent to freedom-loving people.