Why the Blackwater Case Stinks

[placton]

Having practiced law in federal courts for about 30 years, the Blackwater case dismissal stinks. Federal judges (mostly appointed by wingers - Bushes/Reagan or kinda wingers - Clinton) ALWAYS find ways to get around "technical issues" in favor of government prosecutions. The only time they find - to their shock and dismay - that the govt has "erred" is in favor of the well connected. Trust me on this one: the fix was in!

BTW, I hate being so cynical, and I'd love to see federal judges enforce rights of citizens. But, with rare exceptions, they don't.

[EFerrari]

1. Didn't we find out about a week ago that Eric Prince is CIA?

Or did I just imagine that after too much turkey and cranberry sauce?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

2. He tried to get in the CIA but couldn't.

[EFerrari]

7. Politico and RawStory cite a Vanity Fair article that says he was

an asset. I don't know about Politico and RawStory but Vanity Fair pays for good investigative reporting.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/1209/Report_Blackwater_CEO_Eric_Prince_was_CIA_asset.html

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

9. Yes he was an asset because he couldn't get in.

[EFerrari]

10. Oh, gotcha. n/t

[placton]

3. oh yeah

when I first started out defending folks in federal court, they got a fair shake - that has changed, and the appointments are all pro government - again with some rare exceptions - Clinton fucked us badly with his "moderate" appointments.

[placton]

4. had these defendants been black or hispanic

charged with selling drugs - the judge would have excused the government behavior

[Ian David]

5. I suppose the insurgents know how to find Blackwater's U.S. headquarters on a map. n/t

[FLDCVADem]

6. seems to me the court did enforce the rights of citizens

The federal government made a deal then reneged on it. My issue is with the immunity being granted in the first place, but once it was granted, the prosecutors shouldn't have used the statements in their case.

Why would you want a federal judge (or any judge, for that matter) to let something like this slide?

[EFerrari]

8. Could you explain the deal made and reneged on?

I think I'm missing something here.

[FLDCVADem]

11. When the killings were first being investigated

the Blackwater guards were granted immunity in return for giving their statements. The immunity deal was that nothing in their statements could be used against them in any way should there eventually be criminal charges.

The prosecutors reneged on that deal by using the statements to obtain search warrants and to track down other evidence. The judge in the case, Justice Urbina, ruled that the government's case was built on evidence that was obtained by ignoring the immunity deal. As such, the evidence was thrown out, and as a result, the judge dismissed the case.

[G_j]

12. and poof!

a simple way to derail the case,
too easy,

[EFerrari]

13. Thanks.

[d_b]

14. The Ted Stevens treatment