Not only that, but Sammy Davis Jr. died in 1990....;-)
Posted on 04/15/2008 1:01:54 PM PDT by secretagent
snip... James Colomb spent the bulk of his career working in an oil field, then was injured. The family’s sole source of income now is his disability check. Ann Colomb—“Miss Ann” to those who know her—is a homemaker.
It was from this unlikely setting, the United States alleged, that Ann Colomb and three of her four sons ran one of the largest crack cocaine operations in Louisiana. Over the course of a decade, prosecutors said, the Colombs bought $15 million in illicit drugs with a street value of more than $70 million...
...But in the ensuing months, the government’s case unraveled, exposing some unsettling truths about the way jailhouse informants are used in America’s courtrooms.
...“It’s wide open now,” Melancon says. “Everybody in the federal prisons knows what’s going on outside. You’ve got these people with extremely long drug sentences who hear about a drug case in a town they’re familiar with. Now they realize they can tell the government things that happened years ago—true or not—and get time off their sentences.”
...“In my 30 years of criminal defense, the federal court system is the worst I’ve ever seen,” Boustany says. “Especially with drug cases. The government is prodding these people to lie. There’s no other way to look at it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
“Guilty Before Proven Innocent”
Nobody in that story was “proven innocent” of anything.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
bookmark
True.
As with most "not guilty" verdicts.
Assuming Balko has the facts right, the Coulomb family looks "not guilty to me. For example:
In the other three incidents federal prosecutors claimed were part of the drug conspiracy, state charges were dropped before getting to trial. In one, an undercover police officer alleged that in December 1999 he met Sammie Davis Jr. under the Colomb home’s carport to purchase cocaine. Years later, at the federal trial, the man who built the carport testified that it had not existed in December 1999. It wouldn’t be built for another year.
FYI
Not only that, but Sammy Davis Jr. died in 1990....;-)
“They pointed their guns at a two-week-old baby,” Hanks says. “My little sister was so scared she peed herself.”
The police found no drugs, weapons, or anything incriminating in the raid. But Danny Davis says they still attempted to get him to plead to a drug charge for a transaction he says never happened. He refused and was never charged. Davis would be hauled into the police station two more times and pressured by local authorities to plead guilty. He refused both times, and both times the charges were dropped.
Great work guys! /sarc
Yes. Another tool - plea bargaining?:
The police found no drugs, weapons, or anything incriminating in the raid. But Danny Davis says they still attempted to get him to plead to a drug charge for a transaction he says never happened. He refused and was never charged. Davis would be hauled into the police station two more times and pressured by local authorities to plead guilty. He refused both times, and both times the charges were dropped.
It's an employment scheme for cops.
L
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Don't forget the prison guards. In California and many other states, they have the 800-pound gorilla of unions, combining the thuggishness of the Teamsters with the sheer numbers and political tentacles of the NEA.
-ccm
Everyone needs to thank their lucky stars that this did not happen to them.Bunch of “kudzoo” commandos.
?
I’ll add “addiction specialists” and therapists to the list of self-interested drug warriors.
And ambitious prosecutors.
Maybe the cops are right on this one. Sammy D looks high in that picture.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.
I read this on Reason yesterday. Longest article I think Balko has ever written.
Maybe he is auditioning for a job at Time or Newsweek.
I don’t know if these guys are innocent or guilty, but what prosecutors will do to gain convictions and gladly allow people in prison to reduce their sentence encourages them to make stuff up. The Prosecutor wins and people get railroaded.
I guess that is why we have juries and high paid lawyers to stop it.
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