Posted on 05/03/2005 9:35:59 AM PDT by MikeEdwards
I think the DA and city of Duluth are going after her now because they got many complaints after the police chiefs initial remarks that they weren't going to charge her with anything.
Which is the medias fault really. Most of these cases don't even make the local paper let alone national media. I suspect there are a lot of people who deep down believe she should be punished for leaving her fiance at the altar. Perhaps she should, it isn't a nice thing to do, unfortunately for them, it isn't illegal.
I was just talking about the contact at the end of her adventure. Nobody was seriously hoodwinked by her cover story, and she recanted her cover story.
The Audrey Seiler case, in Wisconsin, was different. After the search for Audrey was concluded, Audrey sent the cops off on a phantom abductor chase, complete with composite sketches. Wilbanks recanted before it got that far.
I think there are several motivations for wanting to charge her. The search was in fact a waste. But I sure don't see a clear case for billing her for it, as a matter of law, or as a matter of good public policy.
But what she did wasn't illegal (the running away part). The false 911 call was....BUT if she hadn't called and IF she had just came back in 2 weeks and said "I couldn't take it so I ran", there would be nothing to charge her with.
The searches for her etc were not her doing. Other folks did that part.
You have the freedom, and the right to be crackerpuppies, go where you want to go and not tell a dang person. I think its in the constitution. Think about it. Do we really want to be in such a nanny state that we have to ask permission to leave town?
We all want to charge her with a crime because we're all pissed off. If there wasn't a 911 call, we'd still be pissed off and there would be no reason to squawk.
The evidence suggests the woman has some real mental issues. I don't think she was trying to do anything dangerous on purpose.
That aside, one piece of advice to the determined fiance...
"RUN FORREST, RUN"!
Wilbanks didn't force, or even ask, anybody to make a complete and utter fool of themselves. All the people working themselves up into a lather over this case did that themselves. She can hardly be blamed for the fact that her local law enforcement is run by a self-promoting camera hog and she happened to turn up missing on a slow news day.
Not what I said. You said it would be a deterrent and I disagree.
And if she's so irrational that she doesn't know that filing a false police report is a crime, shouldn't she be in a mental institution?
Again, never said that either.
As for the deterrence issue, anybody else who decides to hatch a scheme like this will have a reminder that they face consequences. Otherwise, you will see case after case like this, with other attention-seeking drama queens looking for their fifteen minutes of fame.
I think that most people would gladly trade a quite misdemeanor trial and conviction for the public humiliation she has to deal with.
Irrational people don't weigh the consequences of their actions, so this won't stop other wacked out people from vanishing from time to time.
And think about it; if she hadn't made the false report there would be no way to take revenge on her. And that is what you and many others want, revenge.
She should be charged for the false 911 charge. Of course the search was started by others, kidnap victims don't usually start searching for themselves.
I'm not saying she should do time, but she should at least take some financial responsibility for her selfish actions.
I agree about the false 911 charge.
Well, there'd still be a reason to squawk ;-)
But you are right about all of us having the right to go crackerpuppies. The 911 call is a tempting factoid, but it's logical error to use the call to hang her with the cost of the search that preceded the call.
I'm more outraged about the cost of the wedding than the cost of the search.
Each of us here should imagine what it would be like to be arrested for a kidnapping we didn't commit, handcuffed, dragged to a police station and forced to prove our innocence. It would be better than 24 hours of pure hell caused by a vicious, inconsiderate woman who wanted to avoid accountability for running away from her wedding and didn't care what frightful injury she did to anybody else. Even worse, what if she had made her story more believable and managed to get two completely innocent people convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap and got them sent to prison for the rest of their lives?
Or, God forbid, she has kids she doesn't want and decides to perform a post-birth abortion on them.
Yeah, sure. When she gets the inevitable book/movie deal, I'm sure she'll be embarrassed all the way to the bank.
Irrational people don't weigh the consequences of their actions, so this won't stop other wacked out people from vanishing from time to time.
So the standard on whether somebody should be prosecuted is whether that person is "irrational"? The prisons are filled with people acting irrationally, and the laws upon which they were convicted were obviously not deterrents. Should we let them free as well?
And think about it; if she hadn't made the false report there would be no way to take revenge on her. And that is what you and many others want, revenge.
Nonsense. People like yourself want to show how allegedly morally superior you are by trumpeting this woman's case. Yet you never see any of thes "who are we to judge" comments when it comes to minorities faking hate crimes, to name one example. There was a case a year or so ago, where a black woman claimed to have been attacked by white supremacists, who carved the letters KKK into her stomach. Using you and others' logic in the runaway bride case, the fact that she has those letters on her stomach was punishment enough. Funny how I don't remember you or anybody else on this board championing her cause when she faced charges for filing a false police report!
And how many of them leave the state, cut their hair in an effort to disguise themselves, and don't tell a single soul where they're going? I'll wait for your numbers on that. And don't tell me that this woman didn't know that anybody would be looking for her -- if that were the case, why cut her hair? And why contact the police at all?
First off, you are a master at twisting, straying off of context, and strawman arguments. I have not taken up her case at all, let alone "trumpeting". You are a propogandist.
Yet you never see any of thes "who are we to judge" comments when it comes to minorities faking hate crimes, to name one example. There was a case a year or so ago, where a black woman claimed to have been attacked by white supremacists, who carved the letters KKK into her stomach. Using you and others' logic in the runaway bride case, the fact that she has those letters on her stomach was punishment enough. Funny how I don't remember you or anybody else on this board championing her cause when she faced charges for filing a false police report!
Totally irrelevant and useless information.
Irrelevant and useless...pretty much sums up all your arguments. You probably invested a great deal of emotion regarding her disappearance and thus feel embarrassed adn betrayed. Therefore you and those like you are more prone to seek a pound of flesh for her offences. Albequerque didn't want to prosecute and even the Georgia DA said that she didn't incur the costs! I am sorry that you feel hurt to the point of needing vengeance; me and those like me are far too morally superior to those type of petty feelings.
Runaway Hoax-(Jennifer Wilbanks "psychoanalyzed;" it's a matter of character, after all, isn't it?)
Get off your high horse. You're the one who's accusing any of us who think this woman should actually face consequences for her actions as wanting revenge.
Totally irrelevant and useless information. Irrelevant and useless...pretty much sums up all your arguments.
More nonsense. Both made false reports to the police. What's the difference, other than the runaway bride is a rich white Christian southern woman who some freepers seem to empathize with? There has been case after case on this board of discussions about those who file false police reports facing legal consequences.Yet I don't remember seeing you or any of the other Save Jenny crowd defending any of those other people. Funny how that works.
You probably invested a great deal of emotion regarding her disappearance and thus feel embarrassed adn betrayed. Therefore you and those like you are more prone to seek a pound of flesh for her offences.
More nonsense -- you're on a roll. I never even heard a word about this case until she was found. Sorry that that doesn't fit your world view of my motives.
Albequerque didn't want to prosecute and even the Georgia DA said that she didn't incur the costs!
Actually, the Georgia DA is saying just the opposite, and the state is looking into pressing charges and getting reimbusment.
I am sorry that you feel hurt to the point of needing vengeance; me and those like me are far too morally superior to those type of petty feelings.
And I'm sorry that you're a sanctimonious prig who's all bent out of shape about us mean people thinking poor widdle Jenny should face consequences. You just wish you could give her a teddy bear and a hug, dontcha? Poor baby!
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