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Guilt by Association:Facebook Pics Could Help Send a Young Man to Prison for Life
Voice of San Diego ^ | 04 March 2015 | Sara Libby

Posted on 03/06/2015 10:01:35 AM PST by Theoria

Aaron Harvey was leaving his Las Vegas apartment to get some food one day in July 2014, when, suddenly, “man, Seal Team 6 came out of nowhere, pretty much. Guns drawn, dogs, helicopters.”

It was the U.S. Marshals, who’d come to take Harvey back to San Diego.

“They told me that I was wanted for murders in the state of California,” Harvey said. “I laughed. I started laughing. I told ‘em, ‘You’ve got the wrong guy.'”

Harvey isn’t charged with murder, though. That’s precisely why his case is so controversial.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is using an obscure criminal statute, Penal Code section 182.5, for what appears to be the first time ever in California to prosecute a group of 15 San Diego men, including Harvey. The DA has admitted that some of the men had nothing to do with the underlying crimes at the heart of the case – a series of shootings by Lincoln Park gang members in 2013. Rather, they’re charged with conspiracy for belonging to the same gang as the shooters. For that, they could go to prison for life.

It’s guilt by association, basically, and if federal law is any guide, it’s perfectly constitutional.

The law says a person who “willfully promotes, furthers, assists, or benefits” from a gang crime can be charged with conspiracy. The benefit Harvey received out of the shootings, according to the DA, is street cred. If someone in the gang commits a crime, the reasoning goes, the whole gang gets a boost to its reputation.

“They’re saying I benefited because my stature, my respect, went up. I didn’t even know I had any stature. I don’t understand how someone can benefit from something they don’t even know exists,” said Harvey.

(Excerpt) Read more at voiceofsandiego.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; conspiracy; facebook; gang
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To: Pecos
Now, do you want it on the books?

I thinks this is a next step forward to complete tyranny. but the dumbasses who were cheering it obviously have no such concerns

21 posted on 03/06/2015 10:22:47 AM PST by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: Theoria

So if I belong to a ‘group’ that is declared a ‘gang’, like the NRA, and a person also in the NRA commits a crime, then I am guilty as well?...............


22 posted on 03/06/2015 10:25:19 AM PST by Red Badger (If you compromise with evil, you just get more evil..........................)
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To: The Working Man

“Home of the Brave, Land of the Free?”

Nope, it’s been ‘fundamentally transformed’ into a “Homeland Free of the Brave”


23 posted on 03/06/2015 10:26:29 AM PST by MeganC (You can ignore reality, but reality won't ignore you.)
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To: The Working Man

Guilt by ‘Free Association’ guaranteed by the Constitution..................


24 posted on 03/06/2015 10:26:40 AM PST by Red Badger (If you compromise with evil, you just get more evil..........................)
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To: Red Badger

Sure, you are also a member of FreeRepublic...>6<


25 posted on 03/06/2015 10:27:18 AM PST by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
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To: bolobaby

>>>He sounds like a scumbag who cleaned up nice for the picture in the article.<<<

Uh he didn’t even live near the gang anymore. He had no criminal record. And from the info presented in the article, the man was busy trying to get a legit career started.

His charge was a crime for being in a gang. At best if the state is correct, he is a former gang member who has turned his back on his former life. At worst, he’s just a guy from the hood who knew gang members. Should we start to jail the tens of thousands of gang members and possibly the hundreds of thousands of men who might be friends with them?

It’s embarrassing to come to FR and see wingnut comments like this so frequently. And FWIW, the presumption of innocence is something I’ll extend to this man since the circumstances of his arrest are so damn weak. If the state can prove something more substantial so be it. I won’t judge him guilty now.


26 posted on 03/06/2015 10:28:21 AM PST by BJ1
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To: Theoria

Never heard of ‘em!...................That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!..................


27 posted on 03/06/2015 10:28:41 AM PST by Red Badger (If you compromise with evil, you just get more evil..........................)
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To: Theoria

Be careful because this could one day be used against conservatives and tea party folks. Suppose you are a member of a group and suddenly there is a false flag operation with someone who has joined the organization and maybe even moved up to a leadership position. all it could take is a couple of members discussing and everyone in the group could be implicated.


28 posted on 03/06/2015 10:30:37 AM PST by gunnut
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To: Theoria

This could easily be used against those who belong to gun clubs, militias, etc. etc. All it would take is for one member to turn out to be closet nut who goes postal.


29 posted on 03/06/2015 10:32:54 AM PST by circlecity
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To: SpaceBar

I would rather hunt them down like in “TOMBSTONE”. “Any man wearing a red sash, I’ll kill them.”


30 posted on 03/06/2015 10:33:10 AM PST by longfellow (Bill Maher, the 21st hijacker.)
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To: Theoria

Just remember what they tried to do to the Hutarees.


31 posted on 03/06/2015 10:34:16 AM PST by circlecity
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To: Theoria

We had better hope no Freeper goes off the rails. I don’t like some of these precedents if you follow them to where they could go.


32 posted on 03/06/2015 10:34:54 AM PST by Starstruck (If my reply offends, you probably don't understand sarca only ones we can gesm or criticism...or do.)
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To: Twotone
Read the article.

Where's the fun in that?

33 posted on 03/06/2015 10:35:45 AM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: Theoria
Rather, they’re charged with conspiracy for belonging to the same gang as the shooters. For that, they could go to prison for life.

Hey, fair's fair. If they start rounding up Tea Partiers, will they overlook me just 'cause I haven't blown up any regime targets yet? (Is the < /sarc > needed?)

34 posted on 03/06/2015 10:36:56 AM PST by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & Ifwater the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: Twotone

I agree. Why haven’t all the unions in Philly been shut down, indicted and imprisoned for that old SOB who stored weapons and encouraged people to shoot GWB? HMMM?.


35 posted on 03/06/2015 10:38:33 AM PST by Safetgiver ( Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
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To: Theoria; Dog Gone
A conspiracy is "an agreement to act in concert" to do an illegal act, or to use illegal means to achieve a lawful end. The proof requirements for prosecution of a criminal conspiracy include the accused committing an "overt act" in furtherance of the conspiracy. It sounds like the guy's otherwise lawful Facebook postings are the only overt acts the San Diego prosecutor here is relying on.

If so, this has major federal Constitutional First Amendment implications, with a conviction almost certainly being thrown out on appeal.

OTOH, figuring out what is really going on in a court case, from media other than specialist legal publications, is pretty much useless.

36 posted on 03/06/2015 10:57:03 AM PST by Thud
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To: samtheman

I meant fry all the despicable gang members. Don’t tell me he joined the gang for the free baseball hat and the numerous community service opportunities. Was this an Amish gang?


37 posted on 03/06/2015 10:59:26 AM PST by Regal
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To: cripplecreek

man I have said that for yeeeeeeears...gangs are no different than terrorists or insurgents by every definition of those terms. i’d be ok with shooting them on site


38 posted on 03/06/2015 11:02:06 AM PST by Shamrock498
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To: Theoria

“They’re saying I benefited because my stature, my respect, went up. I didn’t even know I had any stature. I don’t understand how someone can benefit from something they don’t even know exists,” said Harvey.


If I belonged to a group of any kind where someone did something that got me arrested under this pretense my argument would be that as a Christian, their activity did not improve my stature. Rather, it diminished it.


39 posted on 03/06/2015 11:03:47 AM PST by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: Uncle Miltie
According to the state, a person can be entered into the CALGANG database if he or she meets any two criteria from a list that includes: admitting to being a gang member: being arrested alongside known gang members; being ID’d as a gang member by a reliable source; being seen affiliating with documented gang members; displaying hand gestures affiliated with a gang; frequenting gang areas; wearing gang dress; or having gang tattoos.

Consider the implications if a similar list were made for other politically unpopular groups, say, abortion opponents.

40 posted on 03/06/2015 11:03:48 AM PST by Skepolitic
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