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Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

innocenceproject.org

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Re: Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If any single person in the US is justified to go on a vandalism rampage it’s him.

Who is justified in getting his property vandalized, and who actually will?

Seeing as our social system itself is responsible for his injustice, whoever is part of that construct that led to him being wrongfully imprisoned is to blame, which is basically all of us on some level. Everyone stood by and let it happen. Sad thing is most that this happens to will never have justice.

Re: Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect at least half the people exonerated by the Innocence Project are in fact guilty. However, I think that sloppy police work should never be rewarded with a guilty verdict, even if it's likely the defendant is guilty.

So are at least half the people acquitted by juries. That's the whole point of the reasonable doubt standard. We believe as a society that it is far more intolerable to imprison innocents than to let the guilty occasionally escape justice.

> We believe as a society that it is far more intolerable to imprison innocents than to let the guilty occasionally escape justice.

That's quite debatable. Our founding fathers believed that, but today's justice and penal systems (and political system that buttresses them) do not reflect that belief.

Re: Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don’t. That’s the problem. All you read about is the propaganda. My friend genuinely cares about making sure that there is justice but the media paints her like she’s some immigrant-hating Trump MAGA warrior. She has worked under Obama and Trump, and her job hasn’t changed.

No, I read first hand experiences. Your friend can be whatever she wants, but if she is trying to argue that ICE doesn't pursue non-criminals, she is untrustworthy.

Technically, crossing the border is a crime. You should clarify you mean violent criminals.

Re: Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect at least half the people exonerated by the Innocence Project are in fact guilty. However, I think that sloppy police work should never be rewarded with a guilty verdict, even if it's likely the defendant is guilty.

I have a friend who works for ICE. She has literally deported assassins for the Mexican cartels. She said the hardest part of her job is that cities like San Francisco give millions of dollars to activist lawyers to help keep these criminals in the US. The activist lawyers and even SF know that these are real criminals but they don’t care. That money could be going to help the cases of real illegal immigrants who are…

Yeah that damn due process. Always getting in the way of extrajudicial punishment.

Re: Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I read first hand experiences. Your friend can be whatever she wants, but if she is trying to argue that ICE doesn't pursue non-criminals, she is untrustworthy.

Technically, crossing the border is a crime. You should clarify you mean violent criminals.

Most "illegal immigrants" are here on visa overstays, which is decidedly non-criminal. So you should refrain from correcting people about things you yourself aren't fully versed in.

Source for most: https://www.npr.org/2019/01/16/686056668/for-seventh-consecu...

More context: https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/24/politics/undocumented-immigra...

Re: Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect at least half the people exonerated by the Innocence Project are in fact guilty. However, I think that sloppy police work should never be rewarded with a guilty verdict, even if it's likely the defendant is guilty.

I have a friend who works for ICE. She has literally deported assassins for the Mexican cartels. She said the hardest part of her job is that cities like San Francisco give millions of dollars to activist lawyers to help keep these criminals in the US. The activist lawyers and even SF know that these are real criminals but they don’t care. That money could be going to help the cases of real illegal immigrants who are…

Why do cities like San Francisco want to keep assassins in the US?

Re: Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

#57

On top of all the other bullshit, his trial was thrown out a year ago but they still forced him to spend the pandemic locked up because... there's no reason given.

If any single person in the US is justified to go on a vandalism rampage it’s him.

A vandalism rampage is never really a productive form of protest. And as shitty as it is to be falsely locked up for 21 years it is far far better than being wrongly killed, which are the events that led to the "vandalism rampages" I assume you are referring to.

Re: Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically, crossing the border is a crime. You should clarify you mean violent criminals.

Most "illegal immigrants" are here on visa overstays, which is decidedly non-criminal. So you should refrain from correcting people about things you yourself aren't fully versed in. Source for most: https://www.npr.org/2019/01/16/686056668/for-seventh-consecu... More context: https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/24/politics/undocumented-immigra...

I said nothing about illegal immigrants. I’m a non-citizen myself. Here is the relevant law for you and other down voters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Ac...

Obviously, we’re talking about ICE so my comment was meant towards non official border crossings.

Re: Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect at least half the people exonerated by the Innocence Project are in fact guilty. However, I think that sloppy police work should never be rewarded with a guilty verdict, even if it's likely the defendant is guilty.

I have a friend who works for ICE. She has literally deported assassins for the Mexican cartels. She said the hardest part of her job is that cities like San Francisco give millions of dollars to activist lawyers to help keep these criminals in the US. The activist lawyers and even SF know that these are real criminals but they don’t care. That money could be going to help the cases of real illegal immigrants who are…

Tell her to get a real job

Re: Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend who works for ICE. She has literally deported assassins for the Mexican cartels. She said the hardest part of her job is that cities like San Francisco give millions of dollars to activist lawyers to help keep these criminals in the US. The activist lawyers and even SF know that these are real criminals but they don’t care. That money could be going to help the cases of real illegal immigrants who are…

Why do cities like San Francisco want to keep assassins in the US?

They don't.

What they do want is for immigrants to not fear deportation, so they want to make a stand that they'll fight immigration enforcement every step of the way. Hence why they'll get involved with these kinds of lawsuits. Even if ICE purely deported only people who committed crimes other than illegal entry or overstaying a visa; you'd still have plenty of immigrants afraid of all law enforcement. Yes, even the legal ones; nobody wants to have to show their papers on pain of having their life uprooted, even if they have those papers.

I don't know exactly what lawsuits SF is filing, but I'm going to assume the actual legal argumentation is less "let the assassains go free" and more "assassains should serve time in American prisons rather than being deported to Mexico where they'll likely escape and reoffend".

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